Strike the Blood - Volume 18 - Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE 

A PRINCESS’S WISH 

1 

Sayaka Kirasaka arrived at Tenotia House at just past eleven PM. 

She had received a request from the Japanese embassy and the Aldegian police to cooperate in guarding the commemorative celebration in three days. Her main task was determining positions snipers might take and where could infiltrate through ritual magic. That day, she had visited several spots, and she ended up encountering two teams of actual terrorists along the way. Combat ensued, resulting in the capture of some of them. Now that her harsh first day had come to an end, she finally reached the villa to rendezvous with Yukina. 

“The room is this way.” 

When Sayaka inquired as to Yukina’s whereabouts, a housekeeper low on social graces showed her all the way to the room—a visitor’s suite. 

The comfortable rooms were by no means vast, but their fine quality was more than sufficient. Yukina had one of them all to herself. 

“Thank you. Sorry it’s so late,” Sayaka said. 

The housekeeper nodded wordlessly to the apology and returned to the antechamber. 

After knocking on the door shown to her by the housekeeper, Sayaka peered into the room. Her lips spontaneously broke into a smile when she saw a small girl sitting in the chair next to the bed. 

“Yukina!” 

“…Sayaka? Is your work over already?” 

Yukina looked back at Sayaka with a smile. 

That beautiful, adorable smiling face caused a loud ba-dump to echo from Sayaka’s chest. 

The situation, being greeted by Yukina in a room upon her return, reminded her of their time at High God Forest. 

Sayaka and Yukina had been roommates during their Lion King Agency training era. To Sayaka, sleeping in the same room and waking up in the same room as Yukina was the best time of her life. 

Sayaka put down the case for a bass guitar she was carrying and abruptly straightened her posture as she looked at Yukina. She reported in a hard tone, “Investigator Kirasaka of Lion King Agency External Department Three. I shall now deliver this Schneewaltzer to Investigator Candidate Himeragi of the Mobile Attack Mage Corps.” 

“M-Mobile Attack Mage Corps, Investigator Candidate Himeragi. I accept the Schneewaltzer.” 

Yukina stood up and straightened her own back. Sayaka handed Yukina the silver spear stored in the case. 

A Schneewaltzer, secret weapon of the Lion King Agency, could not simply be handed over to an aircraft from Aldegian Airlines, a civilian corporation. Besides, a spear that was clearly a lethal weapon could not be taken into the cabin as carry-on luggage. 

Sayaka, who had been made a provisional employee of the Japanese embassy, possessed the right to freely bear arms within Aldegia as a foreign dignitary. This was how Sayaka brought Snowdrift Wolf into Aldegia in Yukina’s place. Naturally, Sayaka had her own beloved sword, Lustrous Scale, right with her. 

“Thank you very much, Sayaka.” 

Relieved to have Snowdrift Wolf in her hands again, Yukina smiled pleasantly and bowed her head. 

Seeing this, Sayaka’s own expression softened, and she drew her face to Yukina with enough vigor that it seemed like she might break into a hug at any moment. 

“I’m so glad to finally see you, Yukina. Are you all right? Happy and healthy? Did that idiotic perv-ogenitor Kojou Akatsuki do anything to you?” 

“N-no… Not at present, at least.” 

“Haaah… I’m so tired. Listen, Yukina. It was rough. Since yesterday, I’ve had to run through a series of seven meetings, and I’ve had to play tour guide and interpreter, all the while protecting VIPs. When I was called for assassination countermeasures, I did security check after security check. And on top of that, the Aldegian Army chief of security is a man, the chief of foreign affairs is a man, too, the cabinet secretaries are all men, and all of them were smelly and gross!” 

Sayaka seized the opportunity to vent all of her pent-up frustrations toward Yukina. Since Sayaka was a specialist in curses and assassination, none of the staff had enough of a death wish to sexually harass her. That said, to someone who was uncomfortable around men—Sayaka—having to be in the same vicinity as so many of them was stressful enough. 

“That’s, um—thank you for your hard work.” 

Yukina’s demeanor somehow seemed impersonal, which made Sayaka puff out her cheeks in dissatisfaction. She stripped off her shoes and rolled onto the bed, kicking her legs around like a child throwing a tantrum. 

“No way, no way. Not like that. Praise me more! Tell me I’m a good girl like you always do!” 

“Eh?! But that’s…!” 

Yukina glanced around the room with a conflicted look. However, Sayaka would not relent. Sayaka had always made Yukina indulge her like that when hard training was over back in their High God Forest days. One might call this Sayaka’s special privilege from being her roommate. 

“Say it—! Console me—! If you don’t, I can’t work anymore—! I’m so tired—!” 

“Er…err…you did your very best, yes? Good girl.” 

With an air of resignation and a deep sigh, Yukina stroked Sayaka’s head. A childlike, unguarded smile came over Sayaka as she seized her chance and grabbed onto Yukina’s thighs. 

“Eh-heh-heh-heh. Yeah, Sayaka did her very best. Thanks to that, I can be with Yukina from tomorrow onward—” 

“O-oh. Um, but, Sayaka, it might be good to let go already…” 

“I don’t wanna! This, this. The touch of Yukina’s bare skin has healing power all its…own…” 

In the middle of doting on Yukina and looking completely defenseless, when Sayaka heard a sudden rattle sound, she opened her eyes wide and lifted her face. The door in the back of the room had opened, and standing right there was Kojou. He was wiping his hands with a towel as if coming straight in from the washroom. 

“K…K…Kojou Akatsuki…?!” 

“H-heya.” 

Kojou awkwardly returned her greeting with what appeared to be a guilty demeanor. He had an expression that said he’d seen something he should not have, leaving him unsure as to how to respond. 

Sayaka pointed a trembling finger at Kojou. 

“W-why are you in…Yukina’s room?” 

“Uh, no, this isn’t Himeragi’s room. It’s mine.” 

Kojou gently corrected Sayaka, trying not to provoke her. Sayaka’s brows shot up in indignation. 

“Excuse me?! I asked the mansion person where Yukina’s room was and she told me to come here, I’ll have you know?!” 

“Well, Himeragi’s certainly right here.” 

“Nagisa and Kano went to sleep ahead of me, so I imposed upon this room. I thought I should speak with senpai about tomorrow’s schedule.” 

As she said this, Yukina lifted up the book she had been reading. The book’s title was Wandering the Earth: Kingdom of Aldegia Edition—a famous guidebook catering to travelers. 

“Ah… Kojou Akatsuki…um, by any chance, did you hear? Earlier, I mean…” 

Finally grasping the situation, Sayaka sought to confirm with a faltering tone of voice. 

After a brief silence, Kojou gave up on glossing things over and nodded. 

“By earlier, you mean being pampered by Himeragi? ‘Praise me more’ and stuff, ‘tell me I’m a good girl’—yeah?” 

“N-no!” shouted Sayaka, vigorously rising to her feet. 

“Huh?” said Kojou as he looked back at Sayaka. 

“That’s…just an inside joke, I’ll have you know! I’m the upperclassman. There’s no way I’d have Yukina pamper me, right?! It’s just a little performance we put on once in a while!” 

“Ermm, I feel like it’s more accurate to say you do this every time…” Kojou glanced back with a suspicious look as Sayaka continued desperately making excuses. 

Sayaka grumbled, her words catching in her throat. She hung her head and began shaking a little. “Heh…heh-heh-heh-heh-heh…” 

“K-Kirasaka?” 

Kojou peered at Sayaka with concern as a hushed, laughing voice trickled out from her. 

In the corner of Kojou’s vision was a single silver flash of light. Without a sound, Sayaka had leaped off the bed and drawn her silver long sword. 

“Dieeeee!!” 

“Whoaaaa?!!” 

When Sayaka thrust her sword straight at Kojou’s heart, he bent backward and dodged by a paper’s breadth. His face twitched at the genuine killing intent with which Sayaka infused her attack. 

“Wait a…! Stop messing around! Just now you activated that something-spatial severing ritual, didn’t you?! You trying to kill me?!” 

“P-please calm down! Sayaka!” 

Sayaka brusquely shook off the two hands with which Yukina hastily tried to stop her. The eyes with which Sayaka glared at Kojou gave off a glint of despair, like a wild beast backed into a corner. 

“Don’t stop me, Yukina! If this man dies, there will be no one left who knows the secret of our shame! There’s no other way for us to be happy!” 

“Like I’m gonna get killed over a crazy reason like that?! In the first place, you getting pampered by Himeragi didn’t exactly start today, did it?!” 

“Th-that’s not the case at all! Not at all!” 

As Sayaka was shaken, Yukina seized the opportunity and snatched Lustrous Scale from her hands. Sayaka had lost her weapon, yet she did not falter for even an instant as she thrust her fingers toward Kojou’s face. 

When Kojou realized that the fingers were aimed at his eyeballs, he was aghast as he jumped backward. Sayaka, an expert in assassination, was monstrously dangerous even with her bare hands. 

When Sayaka tried to take her sword back, Yukina put distance between them while earnestly continuing her attempts to calm her down. “Ah, um, I think that is just fine, Sayaka. That aspect of you is adorable.” 

Sayaka swayed slightly as a hollow smile came over her. “Thank you, Yukina. Now all I have to do is kill this man and we can be happy together.” 

“What kind of logic is that?!” Kojou shouted at the top of his lungs. 

At present, Sayaka had completely lost herself due to accumulated stress and shame. No persuasion would suffice in that situation. 

That moment, the door behind Sayaka opened. Yaze and Asagi entered the room, accompanied by the rattling of an ice pail. 

“We’re baaack. Got the glasses and drinks we asked that mansion maid for. Plus some ice.” 

“Er, Kirasaka? When did you get here…er, what are you doing?!” 

Back from a trip to get drinks in the stead of a nighttime snack, Asagi and Yaze’s eyes went round with astonishment at the violence blowing through the room’s interior. 

Sayaka froze as unexpected outsiders barged in. During that time, Kojou explained. 

“Er, I kind of walked in when Himeragi was stroking Kirasaka’s head, and—” 

“Shut up?!!” 

Regaining her senses, Sayaka picked up a pillow that happened to be beside her, slamming it into Kojou’s face with maximum force. 

2 

“Aww, crap, that hurt. Kirasaka didn’t need to be that angry about it, sheesh.” 

Having left the bedroom, halfway fleeing from it, Kojou was strolling around the villa’s courtyard. He figured he’d get some fresh air while waiting for the frenzied Sayaka to calm down. 

The villa’s courtyard was beautiful as it welcomed the late spring. 

The tree branches swayed in the nighttime breeze. Silver moonlight shone on the flowers as they slept in their flower beds. Rosebushes had been landscaped to resemble a majestic corridor that continued to the edge of the water. Tiny waves rippled across the surface of the dusky lake, almost like a carpet of pure silver. 

It was against that phantasmal scenery that a slender figure stood. 

She had long, silver hair and white skin. The side of her face was as beautiful as that of a goddess straight from myth. The hem of her thin negligee was being toyed with by the wind as the girl gazed up at the moon. 

“La Folia…?” 

Kojou was in a daze, unable to even call out to her as he watched her from behind. 

The princess turned around as if she had sensed Kojou. 

A strong breeze immediately blew. 

Rose petals danced upward like snow, blinding Kojou for an instant. 

By the time he brushed off the flower petals sticking to his hair and returned his gaze to the lake, the La Folia he had surely seen there had vanished like an illusion. 

“Where did…she go…?” 

Unable to comprehend what had happened, Kojou hastily looked around the area. 

Someone’s voice abruptly spoke into his ear. 

“Are you looking for someone, Kojou?” 

“Dwah?!” 

Turning around in surprise, Kojou set eyes upon La Folia, who was smiling with both hands crossed behind her back. Under the moonlight gently pouring upon them, the silver-haired princess in the negligee shook her head as if admonishing a little brother. Her forward lean allowed him to peer past the outfit’s neckline to the swell of her surprisingly ample breasts. 

“No, Kojou. Peeking is wrong.” 

“Sorry. I just happened to be passing by and saw you standing over there. Then…” Kojou apologized. Even if it was for a brief time, the fact remained that he had been staring at her from afar. But when Kojou’s words vaguely trailed off, the princess looked back with a mischievous narrowing of her eyes. 

“And? You were enchanted by the sight of me?” 

“Pretty much.” 

Kojou forced a smile as he nodded. He didn’t think it was embarrassing for his eyes to be stolen by the ethereal princess. All the same, Kojou hadn’t stared at La Folia simply because she was pretty. 

“Ah, err. It’s kind of cold, so are you all right wearing something so thin?” 

“Yes. I have the blessings of the Spirits, after all.” 

With those words, the princess spread both arms wide in the night’s refreshing air. 

Even with April over, Aldegia’s nights were chilly, on par with Japan’s winter. However, with her entire body covered in a faint light, La Folia showed no sign of feeling the cold. 

Even among all the girls of the Royal Family of Aldegia born with powerful spiritual abilities generation after generation, hers were particularly strong. The Spirits residing in La Folia’s body were protecting her from the low temperatures. The effect probably had something to do with the divine aura enveloping the princess. 

“However, Kojou. If you wish it, I do not mind revealing all of myself to you here and now.” 

When Kojou went “Oh” and nodded in apparent admiration, La Folia giggled and let a provocative smile slip. 

However, Kojou looked beside himself as he gazed at the princess putting a finger to the neck of her negligee. 

“That’s a lie, isn’t it?” asked Kojou in an oddly calm tone of voice. “You don’t show anyone what you really feel, do you?” 

“Oh my.” 

La Folia raised her eyebrows in apparent amusement. Kojou mixed a languid sigh with a critical look. 

“The story about Kanase getting assassinated was a lie, wasn’t it? From the beginning, the queen mother was never after her at all.” 

La Folia readily acknowledged that Kojou’s assertion was the truth. “I suppose not. The one to blame for the past adultery is Grandfather, so Kanon has committed no crime whatsoever. I knew that my grandmother would judge as much. She is a very fair individual.” 

Kojou glared half-lidded at La Folia. “Figures. There’s even less reason for other royals to target Kanase. She has no royal succession rights, so even if they assassinated her, they’re not getting anything out of it, plus they’d put their own positions in danger.” 

“Yes. Besides that, did you really think my grandmother and I would allow foolish knaves to run amok and inflict harm upon guests of the royal family?” 

If anything, La Folia seemed amused by Kojou’s somewhat hostile follow-up as she tossed a question back his way. 

“Albeit, even I did not truly know whether Grandmother would take a liking to Kanon. However, that appears to have been a needless concern. I have never seen Grandmother in such a good mood in my life.” 

“That’s…a good mood?” Kojou asked, surprised. 

Thanks to her powerful dignity and charisma, he couldn’t help but have a frightening impression of Musette the queen mother, but now that La Folia mentioned it, he could sense some kindness in Musette’s eyes when she looked at Kanon. 

“Well, fine. And? Why was us coming to Aledgia so important that you had to lie to get us here?” 

A bitter expression came over Kojou as he glared at La Folia. If there wasn’t anyone aiming at Kanon’s life to begin with, there was no reason for Kojou and Yukina to escort her. It was far more natural to believe that it had merely been an excuse to get Kojou and company into the country. 

However, the princess shook her head, quite serious for once. 

“We very much wish for you to protect Kanon. Even if there is no danger of assassination, the possibility of a sudden terrorist attack cannot be dismissed. That, Kojou, is why I wanted not just you to come along, but Yukina and Sayaka as well.” 

“Come to think of it, you mentioned that part at the start.” 

“I expected that Asagi would come with you. Though, I did not expect Motoki and Nagisa to tag along…” La Folia made a pained smile as she seemed to reflect upon the naïveté of her calculations. “Nevertheless, Kanon’s protection was not my sole aim. The other reason I called you to Aldegia is for the fulfillment of my very own wish.” 

“Your wish?” 

“Yes, a meager, truly meager and personal desire. Surely you, too, will understand as tomorrow comes. I shall keep it a secret until then.” 

“It’s not a wish that’s gonna expose someone to danger, is it?” 

Kojou locked eyes with the princess. 

If it was a matter of involving Kojou alone in something troublesome, he’d leave it at that. He owed La Folia that much, but he would not honor a request that would harm Yukina and others—not even from the princess. That was a line he absolutely would not cross. 

“Yes, I swear. I shall not involve the people of Itogami Island whatsoever.” 

La Folia crisply made the pronouncement, seemingly seeing straight through Kojou’s resolve. He trusted her words at face value. La Folia might be a strategist, but she wouldn’t lie about this, for she understood better than anyone that words of truth were the greatest weapons in her arsenal. 

“Well, then I’ve got no complaints. I just have to wait till tomorrow, right?” 

La Folia smiled and a nodded. The princess standing by Kojou’s side turned to the lake. Then she looked off into the distance, remembering something fondly. 

“Do you remember, Kojou? The place where we first met was a lake much like this.” 

“The deserted island Magus Craft used for experiments. You saved me and Himeragi when we were attacked by Automata, didn’t you?” 

“Oh my, I was certain we met once prior to that.” 

“Eh?” 

“Did you not peek at me while I was bathing?” 

La Folia looked up at Kojou’s suspicious expression and broke into laughter. 

The image of the princess washing her pale, naked body in a lake with no one around returned to the back of his mind like a flash of light. He coughed on reflex, loudly and fiercely. 

“Peek…?! Er, you’re wrong. I was looking for Himeragi at the time and heard a sound, and before I knew it, I saw by pure accident—” 

“And then?” 

Amused, the silver-haired princess was paying close attention to Kojou’s reactions. Apparently, La Folia had been well aware of Kojou blundering his way into an encounter with her while she bathed. 

“Er, well, I was taken by the sight, but…well, I couldn’t help it! Like I could even imagine someone like you bathing there like that!” 

He couldn’t exactly say it to her face, but at the time, Kojou had genuinely wondered whether he was seeing an angel or not. The impression the crown princess had made on Kojou had been that vivid. 

Accurately reading Kojou’s inner turmoil, La Folia smiled beautifully. “Then take responsibility.” 

“Eh…?!” 

The princess’s deeply suggestive words made Kojou go stiff. 

It was the next moment that the moon was obscured. 

The glimmering silver lake was covered by a dark shadow. 

It was above Kojou and La Folia’s heads. Something had gently interrupted the cloudless sky of beautiful stars. A giant ship was leisurely sailing in the upper sky at an altitude of tens of thousands of meters. It was an enormous airship clad in gray armor. 

Though there was nothing floating in the sky to compare it with, Kojou still had a firm grasp of its bizarrely large scale. 

Including its stabilizer wings, its total width was easily four or five times that of a civilian passenger plane. It was a twin-fuselage, armored airship reminiscent of a steel, two-headed shark. 

“What is that…?” Kojou exclaimed. He sensed malevolence from the enormous airship crossing the sky. 

“Bifrost, first ship of its class of flying battleships—our largest, most cutting-edge armored airship, and the pride of our kingdom of Aldegia,” La Folia answered quietly. “It is most likely escorting guests from the Warlord’s Empire, along with engaging in a show of force.” 

There was faint anguish on the side of her melancholic face, as if she was foretelling an ominous future. 

“It would be good if the terrorists targeting our kingdom gaze upon it and cower, but…” 

3 

The early morning sky was quite bright. Led by La Folia, Kojou and company left the villa and headed toward Verterace, royal capital of Aldegia. Their objective was to tour the capital. 

When they crossed a bridge separating the royal city from the outskirts, they got out of the vehicle and into a silver-colored tram. Pedestrians were prioritized, and driving vehicles for personal use was heavily restricted in Verterace, so the tram was a crucial way to move around the city. However, Kojou and company were fine with this. The tram was several times better than being hauled around in a paddy wagon. 

“So this is the kingdom of Aldegia’s capital, huh? Pretty city.” Kojou voiced his simple impression as he gazed at the royal city’s landscape beyond the window. 

Verterace, surrounded on all four sides by the sea and canals, was small for a city; it would only take one half a day to walk from one edge of it to the other. 

The skyline and structures were functional, and the whole city looked like it had an art nouveau, handicraft chic to it. For an urban area, it had numerous parks and other greenery, and its intricate water’s edge scenery engendered a refined atmosphere worthy of its nickname, the Goddess of the Baltic Sea. 

“This city repeatedly suffered great damage in wars with demons, with large areas lost to the flames. Today’s Verterace was rebuilt by Lande to enter the twentieth century.” The silver-haired princess, disguised in a hooded poncho and glasses, elucidated for Kojou and the others. She was without question the most extravagant tour guide in the country. 

“Lande? Who’s that?” Kojou asked. 

It was not the princess who replied, but rather Yaze. “Balthazar Lande. A famous sorcerous architect. Incidentally, he was also Senra Itogami’s mentor.” 

Kojou looked at Yaze in surprise. “Senra Itogami—you mean the guy who designed Itogami Island…?!” 

A Demon Sanctuary floating on the ocean said to be technologically impossible—the giant artificial isle Itogami Island had been designed by the genius sorcerous architect Senra Itogami. The very decision to name it Itogami Island was to extol the greatness of his work. 

However, Kojou and the others already knew about Senra Itogami’s fearsome side. He’d used a saint’s relic as the keystone to support Itogami Island and had revived Meiga Itogami, his own grandson, as a jiangshi. Itogami Island, praised as his masterpiece, was itself an enormous sorcerous device for conducting forbidden magic. 

So it was the teacher of that fearsome sorcerous architect who was the father of this beautiful city. 

Kojou and the others looked around in a daze at the odd and surprising amount of green in the capital’s cityscape. 

“So that makes Verterace and Itogami Island something like sisters?” asked Asagi. 

“I feel like that’s not what sister city actually means, but I suppose they’re works of the same style.” 

“Now that you mention it, the atmosphere does feel kind of similar.” 

“No doubt Senra Itogami used this as a reference when he designed Itogami Island,” Yaze said bluntly. 

An important trading city since ancient times, Verterace, too, was a city constructed atop dragon lines. Though this natural terrain and the artificial isle were very different, there were numerous similarities in the technology they used to control the vast energies hailing from the dragon lines. Chances were high that Itogami Island’s design had been influenced by Verterace. 

When the tram reached its stop, Nagisa and Kanon let out their own casual impressions as they got off. 

“I have to say, it’s really lively. Is everyone here to see the commemoration ceremony in two days?” 

“I feel like I could get lost here.” 

Their stop was the entrance to a large street known as Nakaris Way. It was one of the several shopping districts within city limits, lined with the fashion brand and sorcerous device stores that represented Aldegia. 

Along the street were rows of various stores such as restaurants, flower shops, and accessory boutiques and the like being visited by a large throng of residents. Many foreign tourists could be seen among them. 

The street was especially lively, bustling with activity drawn in by the peace commemoration ceremony taking place in two days. 

“Let us partake of the Nakaris Way market before heading off to Senate Square in front of the central station. It is also the site for the commemoration ceremony, and it is close to the Aldegian government ministries and the Verterace Cathedral.” 

La Folia pointed to street signs oriented toward tourists as she told them her recommended route. Sayaka’s expression hardened at the sight of the princess so very used to the place. 

“Um, Princess? I am grateful for you showing us around the royal capital, but is it really all right for you to walk around the city like this?” 

“Well, Sayaka. You are here as my bodyguard, are you not?” 

When Sayaka furrowed her brow in concern, La Folia tossed back her head in amusement. Sayaka’s expression grew darker still. 

“No, ah, I can manage against an assassin, but what if the general populace notices you are here? I feel like it would be a large uproar?” 

“There is no need for concern. The masses shall not realize a thing. As you can see, my disguise is perfect.” 

“Perfect…? Is it…?” 

Sayaka made a pathetic face as she gazed at the princess wearing only glasses and a poncho. A disguise of that level was not nearly enough to conceal La Folia’s beauty. If people noticed the princess, who boasted such passionate popularity among the masses, there was a high chance of a major clamor breaking out. Naturally, even Sayaka had no confidence in her ability to protect the princess from a large crowd rushing in all at once. 

For her part, La Folia’s expression was thoroughly composed. She probably snuck in and walked around the city regularly. Kojou could only imagine the trouble her escorting knights went through. He sympathized a little with the leaden look that had come over Sayaka. 

When they entered the market district, fragrant scents hovered in this place and that, emanating from the various food establishments along the way. 

The aromas came from all kinds of seafood and grilled vegetables, sandwiches and soups, meatballs and sausages, and numerous dishes unfamiliar to Kojou. 

“That’s a country of gourmet food for you. The dishes from those shops look super-delish.” 

“Huh?!” 

“You’re gonna eat more?!” 

Asagi’s immediate response to the food made Kojou and Yaze stare at her in surprise. After all, they’d only just finished an extravagant breakfast at Tenotia House. 

“What? I’ve come all the way to Aldegia. It’d be a shame not to try the food.” 

Asagi promptly approached the nearest establishment as she spoke. In terms of fully enjoying the royal tour, perhaps her demeanor was the right one. 

“Hey, Kojou, let’s go, too.” 

“R-right.” 

Pushed by Nagisa, Kojou also looked at the establishment’s colorful sign, but he took note that Yukina was standing still, almost in a daze. 

“Yukina? Is something the matter?” Kanon asked, her sharp eyes detecting the abnormality. Gasping as she came back to her senses, Yukina shook her head with a slight blush. 

“Oh, it’s nothing, but I thought, you can see so many people dressed up in outfits like that.” 

“Dressed up?” said Kanon, turning her eyes in the direction Yukina was looking. 

“For sure. I mean, they’re cute… Really cute…!” exclaimed Nagisa, letting out a breath as if deeply moved. 

Yukina and the others were gazing at the colorful native clothes worn by the Aldegian townspeople. They included tunics tailored from felt fabric in vivid pastel colors and hats decorated with fine embroidery. The hems of their skirts were heavily pleated, and they wore stoles ornamented with countless straps over their shoulders. They were warm defenses against the cold while retaining the beauty of dresses, and they were adorable outfits. Small wonder they had attracted Yukina’s interest. 

“That is native dress from Aldegia’s northern reaches. By rights, it would be customary to wear such outfits as determined by one’s place of birth, but…,” La Folia began explaining as they entered a nearby building. It was a building where many people in native dress were gathered and seemed to be some kind of tour guide office. 

The building’s shelves were lined with bags and accessories that looked like traditional handicrafts. All were intricate and beautiful, and every product seemed to radiate handmade warmth. 

Finally, La Folia returned with a tour guide in tow. The woman grinned and nodded as La Folia introduced Yukina and the others to her. 

“It seems that as a special exception, they shall lend out outfits for the sake of pretty young ladies arriving from far-off lands.” 

“Huh?! Really?! Yay!!” Nagisa cheered. 

“I introduced you after all, so please. Kanon, Yukina, you too!” 

“Yes.” 

“B-but I…” 

Kanon smiled pleasantly and nodded, while Yukina hesitated as she turned her eyes toward Kojou. She seemed to feel she would be neglectful of her observation of Kojou while changing into native dress. 

Yukina remained like that when Sayaka tossed her a smile with a particularly buoyant expression on her face. 

“It’s all right, Yukina. I’ll keep a tight watch over Kojou Akatsuki. Don’t worry, I’ll snuff him out if he tries anything!” 

“Cut it out! Now I’m worried! You still have a grudge about yesterday, don’t you?!” 

“Be quieeet!” 

When Kojou lodged a complaint, Sayaka tried to pound a hand chop into his neck in earnest. Apparently, she was still mad about the night before. 

Yukina was still watching Kojou and Sayaka’s bitter glares with concern as Kanon and Nagisa pushed on her back, taking her into the tour guide office. 

It was about ten minutes later when the girls finished changing clothes and came back out. 

Yukina, Nagisa, and Kanon each wore colorful outfits. 

The dresses, made out of vibrant blue fabric, used complex embroidery with red and yellow thread to be more vivid to the eye. They fitted their small statures well, making Yukina and the other girls clad in the outfits look like faeries straight out of a picture book. The sight of the three petite people stood out even amid the throng of a bustling market. 

Nagisa looked up at Kojou with eyes filled with expectation as she asked, “What do you think, Kojou? We’re cute? Cute, yeah?” 

“Ohh, looks great on you. Right, Kojou?” Yaze voiced words of praise before Kojou could state his own impression. 

Kojou nodded. “Ahh, yeah. You look like an ornament, somehow.” 

“Huh? An ornament?” 

Kojou’s assessment, far from the words she was hoping for, made Nagisa taper her lips. 

“Idiot,” whispered Asagi, delivering a swift elbow to Kojou’s ribs. “If you’re gonna say that, say ‘like a doll.’” 

“Yeah, that,” he hastily said. 

Nagisa glared at Kojou’s perfunctory correction as she sighed in resignation. Kojou had meant to give fervent praise; he didn’t know how he’d earned his little sister’s ire. On the other hand… 

“S-so cute…! An angel! An angel is here among us!” 

In contrast to Kojou’s blunt response, Sayaka was extremely excited. She forgot all about being entrusted with watching Kojou and did nothing but take photos of Yukina with a digital camera, almost like an indulgent mother come to watch her beloved daughter standing on a bright stage. 

“S-Sayaka… Don’t you think, even for you, you’re taking too many pictures…?!” 

“It’s fine. These precious images must be recorded for the sake of human history. It is my duty to convey them to the world that shall follow.” 

“But is that not a camera for Lion King Agency reports?!” 

Yukina, not accustomed to being photographed, was thoroughly red-faced as she attempted to chide Sayaka, who, burning with a solemn sense of duty, did not lend her ears. If anything, she derived sadistic pleasure from seeing Yukina blush, spurring her to continue taking photos from ever more risqué angles. 

“You know, though, figures that Kanon doesn’t look out of place at all,” Kojou said. 

“I suppose not. I can’t win against Kano. She’s too perfect for this.” Nagisa smiled and agreed. 

Kanon humbly smiled and shook her head. “Nagisa, you and Yukina look splendid as well.” 

As a matter of fact, Yukina and Nagisa respectively wore quite adorable outfits. But the Aldegian native dress’s use of vivid colors made Kanon’s hair and skin stand out in particular. Kojou keenly felt that even if she had no memory of it, this country was indeed Kanon’s other homeland. 

Blushing as she attracted the eyes of others, Kanon timidly asked, “Akatsuki, do you like it?” 

Kojou gave her a big grin and nodded. “Yeah. It’ll be a hell of a good memory.” 

“I suppose it will. I believe I am proud to be her niece.” La Folia praised Kanon in roundabout fashion. 

Kanon shrank as her face reddened further. The princess smiled as if satisfied to see Kanon like that before slowly looking at the people in the surrounding area. 

Thanks to Yukina and the others changing outfits, the front of the tour guide office Kojou and company were at had at some point turned into a fairly popular spot. People were pushing their way in from hither and thither to get a look at the cute girls from abroad. The guide office staffer smiled in satisfaction at the drawing of customers as a result. 

La Folia confirmed the situation with her own eyes as a typically elegant smile came over her. 

“Well then, I believe it is about time, Kojou.” 

“Eh?” 

Faster than Kojou could shift his gaze, the princess pulled down the hood concealing her face. Her beautiful silver hair spread with a flutter, attracting the eyes of many. Further, La Folia removed her glasses before the surprised Kojou, exposing her characteristic blue eyes to view. 

“H-hey, La Folia! If you take those glasses off in a place like this…” 

“Kojou, you idiot!” Asagi strongly smacked shut the mouth with which Kojou had blithely called out the princess’s name. 

“Ah…!” 

But it was far too late. Exclamations spread across the people gazing at La Folia half in disbelief; a rumble arose that resembled an earthquake. 

“Her Highness La Folia…?” 

“The princess? You don’t mean…it’s really her…?!” 

“What’s La Folia doing in a place like this…?!” 

The interest of those gathered to watch the show given by Yukina and company switched to La Folia all at once. The shocked voices hailing from them served to bring over others still. 

“Oh myyy… This is terrible… It seems that I have been noticed…” 

La Folia seemed to raise a nervous voice on purpose. It was as if she was reading from a script. 

The throng gazing at the princess had a vortex of excitement and zeal that was borderline dangerous. 

In that country, La Folia’s popularity was incomparable to that of any mere voice actress or idol. One false move to provoke them and Kojou was worried they’d be crushed by the gathering crowd. 

That didn’t mean he seriously thought they could fool anyone now. There was barely a human being in the entire country who didn’t know La Folia’s face. 

And during the time Kojou and others were in a daze, the numbers gathering around the princess increased further. 

“Princess, you must take shelter!” 

Judging that any further mixing with the crowd was dangerous, Sayaka shouted and rushed to the front as if to shield La Folia. That served as the trigger for the throng to race toward Kojou and the others like an avalanche. 

“Well, if Sayaka says so. Let us be off, Kojou.” 

When the throng turned its gaze on Sayaka, La Folia did not let the momentary opportunity slip, entwining her own arm around Kojou’s. Having at some point pulled her hood back up, she gracefully mixed in with the throng, pulling Kojou along as she broke into a run. 

“Eh?! Hey, La Folia…!” 

Kojou was helpless but to follow the princess. Whatever was going on, he figured the first priority was getting La Folia out of there. Asagi and Yaze seemed to gape as they looked back and realized Kojou and the princess had fled. 

Unfortunately, the furious force of the onrushing human wave was in their way, leaving them unable to move. Sayaka and the rest were awash in the throng as La Folia grew ever more distant. Then, the quick-witted staffer escorted the trio of girls who had just changed to take shelter inside the tour guide office. 

“Senpai!” 

From inside the building, Yukina earnestly stretched out a hand toward the fleeing Kojou. 

The anguished voice with which she called out to him was obstructed by the noise of the crowd, never to arrive. 

4 

Racing through the barest of openings in the bustling crowd, they were exiting a narrow canal lane. When they couldn’t hear the uproar from the market on Nakaris Way anymore, La Folia finally stopped running. 

“It would appear we’re fine here. It seems the escorting knights were nicely ensnared as well,” La Folia said as she checked behind them. Then she flashed a smile toward Kojou. 

There was no sign of La Folia’s escorts through this seldom-used lane. The knights had apparently been tailing the group from a distance so as not to tip off the general populace about the princess’s presence. 

“You…planned to do this from the start, didn’t you…?” Kojou was slightly out of breath as La Folia continued leading him by the hand. 

The princess nodded without a single shred of guilt. “I could not think of any other way to be alone with you.” 

“Alone with me? Why do all this…?” 

Kojou warily stared at La Folia. If anything, it was far more natural to worry that the princess had manipulated this situation into being because she had some other scheme in mind. 

La Folia never lost her composure. “Kojou, do you remember what I spoke of last night at the villa?” 

He nodded. “You mean wanting me to fulfill some kind of wish?” 

La Folia smiled. She seemed pleased, but when Kojou looked closely, he could faintly see loneliness behind her expression. 

“Even I, wanting for nothing and able to obtain everything I desire, have one matter in which I do not have total freedom,” she said, drawing herself close to Kojou—close enough they resembled an amiable pair of lovers. 

“That is, to walk in the city side by side with the man I adore…,” she whispered, stretching up a little to reach his ear. “Just the two of us, like a normal couple.” 

A mischievous glint hovered in the princess’s eyes. Kojou’s, on the other hand, were merely exasperated. 

“Is that…really what you want?” 

“Are you surprised? Whatever I may seem to you, I am a girl of tender age, yes?” 

La Folia looked up at Kojou, pouting cutely. Even though he knew it was an act, the adorable expression still tugged at his heart. 

He still broke into a tiny laugh when he stared at her, though. 

“You laughed, did you not?” she asked, eyes wide in surprise. She hadn’t expected that reaction. Kojou could tell she felt put off by his chuckle. 

He hastily shook his head. “I don’t mean anything bad by it. I just thought, it figures that even you don’t understand yourself very well.” 

“What are you talking about?” La Folia asked peevishly, no longer putting on an act. 

Cold sweat coursed down Kojou’s back as he gave up on smoothing things over. He would have to be honest; this princess couldn’t be mollified by superficial words. 

“I don’t want you to take this the wrong way, but to me, you always seem bound by something, working harder than anyone else to get what you really want.” 

“Eh?” 

La Folia’s usual composed smile vanished. Before he spoke, Kojou had suspected his words might anger her. When she glared at him a little, he uncomfortably averted his eyes. 

“To be honest, I respect that part of you. It’s got nothing to do with lineage or rank or anything,” he said after a pause. That’s what he truly felt. 

La Folia gazed at him in silence for a time. Even with her glasses on, her beauty shone through loud and clear, leaving Kojou feeling restless. 

He couldn’t endure the silence any longer. “…La Folia?” 

Adjusting her glasses, La Folia touched both hands to her cheeks and lowered her eyes. For some reason, her cheeks were red. Surely she was accustomed to praise, yet she was genuinely blushing. 

However, her hesitance vanished as if an illusion, and in the blink of an eye, the princess was gazing at the Fourth Primogenitor with her usual composed face. The strength of the glimmer in her blue eyes took Kojou’s breath away. 

“I suppose you are right. I shall amend my statement,” she said. “What I really want, I will obtain by any means necessary. That is how it has always been and how it always will be.” 

“R-right.” 

The odd force behind La Folia’s grinning declaration made Kojou squirm slightly as he nodded. 

The princess entwined her arm around Kojou’s once more. 

“So let us go and see my first wish fulfilled. I believe we should first try what is known as ‘eating around.’” 

Kojou exhaled briefly as he gazed at the crepe shop at which La Folia was pointing. “…Well, fine. We’re all meeting up in front of the station later anyway.” 

The chaos from the princess’s appearance at the market was still ongoing, but Kojou figured his little sister and friends were unlikely to have been caught in the uproar. Yukina and Sayaka were with them, and they could handle a decent amount of physical peril. 

At the moment, if anyone was in danger, he felt it was La Folia. If the situation got rowdy again, Kojou honestly had no confidence he could protect the princess all by himself. 

Whether or not La Folia knew of Kojou’s concerns, she grinned enthusiastically as she charged straight into the crepe shop. 

“Tee-hee, leave the haggling to me. I have not been handling numerous international negotiations to date for nothing.” 

“Er, I think it’s overkill to show off your royal negotiating skills on an old man in a shop.” 

Feeling a swift onset of fatigue, Kojou stuck with La Folia as she bought food for dining in. Watching the princess smiling so innocently, he didn’t feel like blaming her for running away from her escorts. He figured he’d put up with her selfish ways, at least while he was visiting. 

La Folia was eating a crepe stuffed with free toppings as they strolled down a lane at the canal’s edge. The pair got into a gondola for tourists and went down the canal itself. She played with a flock of countless doves at the water’s edge and raised a delighted voice at a street performer’s show. 

She could be mistaken for any normal girl like this. Her smile stole Kojou’s eyes many times over. Her face was charming to an unfair degree. If anyone published a photo of her like this, he had no doubt the magazine containing it would fly off the stands. 

“Let’s make our way to the park next, Kojou.” 

“The park?” 

Although Kojou thought the sudden proposal was odd, he turned in the direction the princess pointed. 

She led Kojou to a little park on top of a slightly tall hill. 

At the top of a long stairway was a fountain, in the center of which stood a beautiful sculpture. It was a magnificent bronze statue in the image of a Valkyrie. The park had neither a wonderful view nor any statuesque buildings, but it was still crowded with tourists. 

“Maybe it’s my imagination, but it feels like there’s a lot of young couples here,” Kojou murmured, suspicious. He suddenly stopped on the stairs. 

It wasn’t so much that there were a lot of couples as there was nothing but couples. Young boys and girls with their bodies intimately nestled together were speaking loving words in that not particularly large park. 

“In a sense, this is the most famous tourist attraction in Verterace,” La Folia explained, her voice taking on a mildly suggestive tone. 

“Really?” He scrutinized their surroundings. He wondered if this was a historical monument or something. 

Kojou’s reaction made the princess let out a giggle in an adorable voice. “According to legend, lovers who kiss before the Valkyrie are together for all of eternity.” 

“Ahh, that sort of thing. So there’s romantic charms like that in Aldegia, too.” 

Kojou looked like he’d been thrown around as he let out a pained breath. He’d heard of similar folklore on Itogami Island, too. Most of it was made-up nonsense for tourists. 

However, La Folia lowered her voice and continued with a serious expression. “Yes. It is said that even if they flee to the ends of the earth, the man who breaks his promise will be slain by the Valkyrie’s curse without fail.” 

“That’s not romantic at all! That legend’s scary as hell!” 

A chill rocked Kojou; that was beyond what he’d expected from the legend. It was less of a charm and more of a curse, but maybe easy-to-grasp content like that was more popular with the Aldegian populace. At the very least, it fit La Folia’s temperament like a glove. 

“Well then, Kojou. Please.” 

La Folia stopped in front of the statue and removed her glasses. She placed her hands before her breasts like making a prayer as she stared up at Kojou. 

“…Huh?! Wait, you want me to kiss you?! Me?!!” Kojou exclaimed, flustered, only just realizing what La Folia had meant. She must have planned to bring him here for this very purpose. 

“Were you not going to fulfill my wish?” 

La Folia defenselessly closed her eyes; Kojou felt backed into a corner. He wouldn’t have minded if this was a prank, but La Folia didn’t play those sorts of tricks. If she ordered you to do something, she was 100 percent serious. 

“This is your wish?! But this is bad—bad on a whole bunch of levels…!” 

“What exactly is so bad about it?” 

“Er, I mean this is something you should only do with someone you genuinely love—” 

“That is where you’re mistaken. This situation is precisely the opposite, Kojou. If I allow this opportunity to slip, never for all eternity shall I have another. I shall be a pitiable daughter of the royal family, never permitted romance as I choose.” 

The princess spoke with a composed tone. Her words were gentle, yet they had power behind them. 

La Folia, first in the royal line of succession, had no right to select her partner for marriage. The condition sought for a groom was someone of influence who would bring national gain. That was all. Her will had nothing to do with it. 

Rumor had it that La Folia had not yet been forced into a political marriage thanks to the current king’s doting upon her, and thus she remained at his side. Such a circumstance would not be permitted forever, though. Just as the princess had said herself, this was the first and final opportunity for her to experience playing at romance. 

“Or rather than a kiss, is it my fresh blood you desire?” 

However, not a single shred of sadness could be sensed from La Folia’s tone as she brushed her hair upward, seemingly to seduce Kojou. When she removed her hood, her long silver hair tumbled forth, exposing her slender neck. 

“Uh…” 

Kojou’s eyes were drawn to the princess’s white skin. Thump went the ragged leap of his heart. His vision turned crimson, and his throat was struck by an abnormal sense of thirst—vampiric impulses. 

When Kojou resisted his powerful craving for blood, La Folia provocatively drew her body even closer. 

Spurred by his desires, Kojou’s arms moved to embrace her. 

Just before he reached her, a hostile energy out for blood came at Kojou. 

“I have found you, La Folia Rihavein!” 

The air quaked with an angry voice as an enormous man wearing a silver cloak in bad taste leaped down from behind the Valkyrie statue. 

The muscles of his arms and legs, his shoulders and chest covered by armor—basically everything was thick. His red, disheveled hair and his thick eyebrows were reminiscent of a lion’s mane. The masculine aura emitted from his entire body made Kojou feel his breath was catching from just the sight of him. 

The man held an aged, round shield in his right hand, and his left gripped a huge sword. The blade spanned over a meter, but the man wielding it made it seem shorter than a normal sword. The blade itself was as thick as a Demon’s war ax and was engraved with intricate magical symbols. 

“Wha—?!” 

Kojou’s face paled when he realized that the tip of the huge sword was being swung straight down at his cranium without a single word of warning. 

“Diiiiiie!!” 

With a powerful shock wave, the huge man’s swing downward smashed the stone paving over the ground, kicking up a cloud of white dust. 

Pandemonium whirled about. In the blink of an eye, the tranquil park where lovers were gathered had turned into a battlefield. 

5 

“Nnngh!” 

With great force, the man pulled the great sword from where it had plunged into the ground before he shot Kojou a wrathful glare. 

Having reflexively picked up La Folia and jumped away when they were attacked, Kojou landed four to five meters removed from the man. 

“He escaped?! Impudent tricks…!” 

The man readied his sword again. His outfit, reminiscent of a Viking in the Middle Ages, was silly, but he had no openings. He was a far more skilled swordsman than Kojou had expected. 

Was he an assassin after the princess’s life, or was he a terrorist opposed to the peace commemoration ceremony? Either way, he was dangerous. Kojou had to take him seriously. 

“Get back, La Folia!” 

“Yes, darling.” 

“…‘Darling’? Well, fine.” 

After Kojou bid the princess to flee, he lowered his center of gravity. Gazing at the sight of Kojou acting so dependable, La Folia politely obeyed his instructions. 

The huge man’s cheeks contorted with rage. “Brat, you are a vampire, yes?! The rumored Fourth Primogenitor, I am sure!” 

“Who’s asking?” 

Kojou defied the bloodlust directed at him. Rather than a reply, a ragged slash resembling a cannonball came in its stead. 

“You dare ask my name?! A foul insect leeching off the daughter of royalty?!” 

“Wha—?!” 

Kojou barely evaded the blade, but the mere shock wave created by the man’s attack sent his body flying with ease. This opponent’s upper body strength was superhuman. 

“He’s strong… Stronger than Old Man Eustach…?!” 

The incomparably powerful slashes generated by his large-framed physique made Kojou think back to Rudolf Eustach, the Lotharingian Armed Apostle. Although Eustach had worn augmentation armor to bolster his strength, the herculean might of the man before him was equal—maybe even greater. Not only was the man not using such augmentations, but also his attacks were so quick that even the vampirized Kojou’s motion perception couldn’t completely keep track of them. 

The fact that Kojou still managed to dodge his attacks left the man indignant. 

“Don’t jump outta the way, brat!! You call yourself a man?!!” 

“You nuts?! If I don’t dodge, I’ll be dead meat!” 

“If you have the stones, block my attacks from the front! If not, perish! Your coward’s blood will be scattered all across the soil of Aldegia!” 

“That doesn’t make sense no matter how you slice it, old man!” 

Kojou desperately continued dodging the attacks even as the man’s high-handed words grated on him. To protect La Folia and the other people in the park, he couldn’t run away, even if he was losing. He needed to keep the man pinned there until relief came, be it from the police or the army. 

However, Kojou’s passive combat tactics further fanned the flames of the man’s anger. As if in response to the stirring of the man’s emotions, his sword was enveloped with a magical glow. 

“Very well. Then I no longer recognize you as a man worthy of a fair fight! I shall dispose of you like the whimpering stray dog you are.” 

“Stop it, you idiot!” 

Kojou’s expression froze as he sensed the explosive magical energy residing in the man’s sword. It felt so hot that he scarcely believed a human being in the flesh could control it. If he released such a thing indiscriminately, many ordinary civilians would be caught in it as well. 

Realizing he couldn’t dodge, Kojou released a portion of his vampiric power. 

One of the tamed beasts dwelling in his own vampiric blood—a Beast Vassal of the Fourth Primogenitor—took the form of a glimmering diamond crystal before Kojou’s eyes. Mesarthim Adamas, the bighorn sheep with diamond skin, formed a crystal defensive wall that blocked an opposing attack and reflected it against the foe. 

“Raaah!!” 

The huge man sliced the wall apart but let out a bestial growl at Kojou’s unanticipated counterattack. The flying crystals mutually slammed into one another, altering their angles as they turned into countless bullets that assaulted the man. 

Bathed in the might of his own attack, the man’s huge frame was sent flying. The aftershocks of Kojou’s attack dug into the ground and sent dust dancing in the air. It was a blow powerful enough that any normal person might have been torn to ribbons. 

“Crap… Did I overdo it…?” 

Kojou’s face blanched at the greater-than-expected destruction wrought by the Beast Vassal of the Fourth Primogenitor. No matter how vile a criminal the opponent might be, this was excessive for self-defense. 

“Kojou, the fight isn’t over!” La Folia sharply called out from behind him. When he looked up in surprise, he saw the man rising and brushing a downpour of rubble aside. 

“That blow just now…he shrugged it off?!” 

“Attacks from the likes of a cowardly stray dog such as you will not work against a real man!” 

The huge man bellowed his nonsensical logic as he raised his sword high once more. Kojou turned his remaining crystals into bullets and fired them at the man, but… 

“Kaaaa—!!” 

“What?!” 

The man’s sword smashed the tough diamond crystals into dust. That instant, Kojou realized the true nature of the magic the man wielded. But it was too late now. 

The man closed the distance with Kojou before he could react. With his defense destroyed, Kojou had no way to fend off the attack. 

However, the sword the man swung did not slice Kojou apart, for a silver flash launched from the side knocked the man’s sword away first. 

“Nnngh?!” 

“Senpai!” 

The man’s groan overlapped with a girl’s clear voice. 

It was Yukina, silver spear raised, who had saved Kojou in his moment of peril. She’d no doubt noticed the uproar in the park in the middle of looking for Kojou and La Folia and come running. 

“Himeragi, watch out! This guy’s attacks—” 

“I know. The Völundr System, yes?” 

Yukina, changed back into her school uniform once more, pointed her spear as she landed. She glared at the large opponent, ready for combat. Her brief attack had surely told her this was a formidable foe she could not afford to be careless against. 

As a general rule, weapons capable of slicing down the demonic energy of the Fourth Primogenitor did not exist. One of the extremely few exceptions was the so-called Völundr System, a pseudo–Holy Sword spawned from a magical device. Linked to a vast essence transmitted from a spiritual reactor, it raised the might of a normal weapon up to Holy Sword class. 

However, this was the kingdom of Aldegia’s greatest national secret, employed exclusively by the Knights of the Second Coming. 

The wielder of the Völundr System could not be some no-name small fry. He was either from an organization with technology equal to the Knights of the Second Coming, or perhaps he was some kind of traitor from within their ranks. Either way, it was certain that he was a dangerous foe. 

However, in contrast to when he’d been fighting Kojou, the huge man was suddenly shaken when he found Yukina’s blade trained toward him. 

“Wait, girl! Why do you side with this man?! He is an insolent lout who attempted obscene acts with the princess and has not a single whiff of manliness in him!” 

“Hey, some terrorist trying to kill the princess shouldn’t go off flapping his lips like that!” Kojou retorted on reflex. 

It was true that Kojou had been falling for La Folia’s seductions, but some unknown assailant had no right to complain. 

However, for some reason, the man had an exaggerated reaction to Kojou’s words. 

“Wh-who’s a terrorist—?!!” 

“Crouching Thunder!!” 

Yukina’s roundhouse kick exploded into the tip of the man’s wide-open chin. It was a magnificent surprise attack that made the man’s huge frame totter. “Gahhh!” went the man with an anguished exhale, dropping the left arm with which he guarded his chest. 

Yukina did not let that opening slip as she crept to the man’s flank. Then, at point-blank range that left him utterly unable to evade, she slammed a fist into the man’s solar plexus. 

“Resound!” 

Transforming ritual energy into physical concussive force, Yukina pounded that fist into him. It was an attack targeting the internal organs, which could make even high-vitality beast people faint. It was the trump card of the Sword Shamans, specialists in close-quarters anti-demon combat. 

But Yukina’s expression froze over at the unusual feedback she received from that critical blow. 

“Rrraaarrrgh!! This is nothing!” 

“Wha…?!” 

The attack bounced off the man, sending Yukina’s small frame flying. 

It wasn’t that Yukina had misfired her attack or that the man had used some special defensive technology. He had simply forced himself to endure Yukina’s blow through muscles and guts alone. 

That said, even this man had suffered significant damage. Now that the man’s movements had finally slowed, La Folia extended her right hand. Her surroundings were enveloped by a pale phosphorescence as a vortex of cool magical energy formed around her. 

“Daughters of the gods that inhabit my flesh. Binders of the host, rage forth!” 

“W-wait! La Folia!” 

The man’s eyes flew wide when he realized what incantation the princess was chanting. 

Of course, La Folia did not cease. The Spirits controlled by the princess generated an extreme chill sufficient to freeze the air itself. That chill transformed into a small-scale whirlwind that blew violently around him. 

“Sto—Guoah…?!” 

Even if generated via magic, the low-temperature air was a physical phenomenon itself. Even the magic-nullifying Völundr System could not fend off the princess’s attack. 

The huge man was frozen solid, armor and all, this time completely ceasing to move. 

“Did we…beat him?” 

Concerned, Kojou stared at the man who had become an ice statue. 

La Folia’s devastating magical attack might well have instantly killed a normal human, but he didn’t think it was enough to kill this man. At most, it had probably knocked him unconscious from being frozen. 

“How did a terrorist learn the princess’s whereabouts?” Yukina asked, tilting her head as she kept her spear raised. 

Since she was a princess, it wasn’t so strange that someone would be after La Folia’s life, but this assault was baffling even so. That she had set out on a walk in the city in disguise was a closely held secret known to but a few even within the royal palace. Why, then, did the man know La Folia’s whereabouts? 

And why had he aimed not for the princess’s life, but that of Kojou alongside her—? 

During that time, with no answer to Kojou’s misgivings arising, several vehicles approached and came to a stop in front of the park. Coming out of the vehicles were men dressed in unobtrusive black clothing. Kojou didn’t know whether they were officers or royal guards, but it seemed that La Folia’s escorts had arrived. Kojou felt at ease again. 

However, the men in black had hard, strained expressions on them as they rushed over not to the princess, but straight toward the assailant-turned-icicle. Hovering in their eyes were looks of concern, melancholy, and resignation. 

“Y-Your Majesty!” 

“Your Majesty, are you all right—?!” 

“Oh no. This is La Folia’s freezing magic. We do not have the equipment to dispel it here. Take him to the palace immediately. Contact the Court Sorcerous Engineers! Hurry!” 

Several of the men in black hoisted up the man’s huge frame, carrying him to a vehicle with stuttering steps. Kojou and Yukina stood still, dumbstruck as they observed the men’s actions. They had no idea what was going on. 

“M…Majesty?” Yukina murmured, forgetting all about hiding her spear, seemingly beside herself. 

“Majesty, as in king? Wait, then that’s the king of Aldegia…?” 

Hold on a sec. Kojou covered his eyes and put his thoughts in order. He recalled the assailant’s words and deeds since first appearing before Kojou. If he was the Aldegian king, that would have made him La Folia’s father. If he saw the daughter he doted on cuddling with and about to be kissed by a vampire he didn’t know from another nation, he might have been spurred to fatherly anger… Never mind might. He would definitely be angry. Absolutely furious. 

The hell is this all about? Kojou turned to La Folia, but the princess simply smiled, feigning innocence. 

Cold sweat came over Kojou and Yukina as they met each other’s faces. 

The World’s Mightiest Vampire had unleashed the demonic power of his Beast Vassal toward a nation’s king, and his Lion King Agency observer had kicked the king’s jaw and slammed a blow into his gut. The two shouted as one: 

“Wh-whaaat?!” 

Before the watchful gaze of the Valkyrie statue, the silver-haired princess let out the tiniest of giggles.