Strike the Blood - Volume 20 - Chapter 1.3

3

The lightening sky poked through the gaps of the shut curtains.

It was a small classroom in a section of Saikai Academy, a clubroom for the Demon Sanctuary Research Club, or Dem-Club for short.

Roused from her nap, Asagi Aiba, wearing a gym suit in place of a nightgown, sipped on some banana juice and watched the video feeds on PC monitors that filled up an entire wall.

The screens were displaying a local Itogami Island comedian. The morning talk show they were on had changed its programming to do a special broadcast on the Electoral War.

“So let’s begin the show where you get your Itogami Island Electoral War news faster than anywhere else, Electoral War Digest— Yes, today’s topic is none other than the vampire primogenitors and rulers of the Dominions joining the fray. And what a surprise that is.”

After the comedian babbling in a needlessly high-energy voice passed off the topic, a university professor taking the role of commentator started speaking.

“I suppose you’re correct. Five months ago, the Third Primogenitor met envoys from the CSA face-to-face, but the last time the First Primogenitor’s presence was confirmed was during the Fourth Dnieper Conflict some eight years ago. It’s actually been twenty-two years since the Second Primogenitor has been in foreign lands.”

“Can we take that to mean this Electoral War is just that important?”

“Yes. This is not an issue of a single Demon Sanctuary called Itogami Island, but rather it is likely the turning point that will determine the world’s power balance going forward.”

“Wow, that’s heavy. So this really is a conflict that the whole world is watching. Without further ado, I’d like to show you the ruler rankings. First, there’s been a major shake-up in grade C group two—”

Gazing at the music chart–style show as it introduced the various ruler candidates, Asagi sipped longingly at her now-empty juice box.

“…What’s he going on about? We’re the ones caught up in all this. Who cares about the rest of the world?”

“Keh-keh… Well, don’t say that, li’l miss. It’s really only the demons punching it out in the Electoral War, so to most of the regular subjects, it’s someone else’s problem.”

Hovering in a corner of each monitor was an avatar shaped like a badly sewn teddy bear, mouthing off to her with a rather sardonic tone. Asagi sullenly knit her brows.

“It’s not someone else’s problem at all, sheesh. Who knows when someone’ll be blown away by a stray bullet?”

“Flip that on its head, an’ it means stray bullets are the only thing they got to worry about. If you think of it as a slightly rambunctious festival, it’s hard for them to get worked up about it. Hell, if these people had nerves so sensitive that this much bothered ’em, I don’t think they’d be livin’ in a Demon Sanctuary to begin with.”

“Uu…well, that might be true but…”

Asagi vaguely beat around the bush.

Mogwai, the badly sewn teddy bear, had spoken the truth. Now on their fourth morning of the Electoral War, the trouble-accustomed residents of Itogami Island had begun quickly acclimating to the situation.

Enterprises and stores had closed for business without warning, but MAR had announced it would compensate them for profits lost during that time, along with insuring the full cost of any homes destroyed in the ensuing violence.

It was inconvenient not to be able to walk around at night, but on the flipside, the tangible damage didn’t extend much beyond that.

The Electoral War system had been set up so that the risk of harm to ordinary civilians without a will to fight was low. Since the residents inside each domain were the source of the ruler candidates’ power, courting their displeasure would result in the demonic energy provided by the demon registration bracelets to be cut off, which would put them at an immediate disadvantage.

On the other hand, even if an enemy force invaded your domain, so long as gaining new subjects was the objective, the interlopers could scarcely afford to harm the general populace. Thanks to the residents’ ability to freely alter their “recommended ruler,” they could not be suppressed through fear.

The ruler candidates were not in a contest for territory but for the support of the people living there—in other words, the Electoral War was a sort of popularity contest. Even the primogenitors, who possessed inexhaustible demonic energy to begin with, were superficially obeying the rules of the Electoral War, at least for the time being.

Understanding all of this, the residents had begun not merely quietly observing the Electoral War but seeing it as a game to be enjoyed to the fullest. The winner of the Electoral War became the subject of betting—and T-shirts, acrylic charms, and similar goods related to popular rulers had swiftly begun making the rounds in the marketplace.

And more than all of that, numerous sorcery-related corporations had pushed into the information-gathering field to obtain lucrative data from demons locked in mutual combat. That’s just how the Demon Sanctuary rolled.

“…So what’s the actual situation like right now?”

Asagi was crushing the tip of her straw between her teeth as she posed the question.

Mogwai gave an amused keh-keh laugh and switched one of the monitors to a map of Itogami Island’s urban landscape.

Divided into colorful regions, the map had undergone a great change since the day before.

“After all, we’ve got the vampire primogenitors throwing in. The small, weak domains below C rank have had their subjects completely overtaken, so they’re basically destroyed.”

“Ahh—…well, you’d figure that would happen.”

Asagi sighed slightly. With the Dominion military forces joining the fray, many ruler candidates must have lost their morale and given up without a fight. As a result, the Electoral War faction map had undergone a massive reorganization before even half a day had passed.

“Most of Island East’s main facilities have come under the occupation of the Fallen Dynasty’s airship unit. The Second Primogenitor’s domain has a tentative ruler ranking of eight. In combat strength alone, it’s clearly A-class, but the turf they have in the east doesn’t have the pure population numbers for that.”

“I don’t think they’re very worried about rankings, though. With primogenitor-class demonic energy, what they’d suck up from the subjects doesn’t even amount to a rounding error.”

“That’s how it is. Case in point, the First Primogenitor doesn’t even have his own domain.”

“He doesn’t have a domain?”

Mogwai’s unexpected report made Asagi gasp in disbelief.

“Yeah. The Tensou Academy Domain is treating the First Primogenitor and the Warlord’s Empire unit as guests.”

“Tensou Academy… You mean they’re freeloading off Yume?

“What in the world is he thinking?” Asagi muttered to herself. Certainly Yume Eguchi, who could control even Leviathan as the Witch of the Night, was powerful; in terms of pure combat ability, however, she was no match for a vampire primogenitor. The First Primogenitor, Ki Juranbarada, surely had no reason to rely on her.

Of course, getting the backing of the First Primogenitor wasn’t exactly a bad deal for Yume but—

“Thanks to that, the Tensou Academy Domain stands as the undisputed leader of the ruler rankings. At this rate, that li’l miss’ll be the next ruler of Itogami Island.”

“Not that I have a problem with that…”

Asagi let out a languid sigh as she spoke.

“And Kasugaya?”

“Our li’l ruler is a tentative fourth place. Part of that comes down to the depletion of combat power of domains in the upper ranks, but managing to repel that Chaos Zone invasion really does seem to have had an effect.”

Mogwai asserted this in a grandiose tone.

The prior evening, around the same time as the Order of the End’s attack, the Dominion under the Third Primogenitor’s command known as the Chaos Zone had declared it was interceding in the Electoral War, beginning its invasion with Island South. It then launched a surprise attack on Itogami Island’s coastline using large submersible aircraft carriers that had surfaced.

Since it was in Island South, Saikai Academy had been at risk. However, the Saikai Academy Domain had the good fortune of having Asagi Aiba, the Priestess of Cain, on campus grounds.

After obtaining permission from Shizuri, the ruler, Asagi had been able to employ a limited version of her Cleansing abilities.

Since Mogwai’s powers were split between her and performing calculations, she hadn’t been able to hope for The Cleansing to have anything like its real power, which could rival the primogenitors themselves. But even then, it was complete overkill for sending the Chaos Zone’s minions packing. Thanks to Rui Miyazumi, Yuno Amase, and Misaki Sasasaki’s efforts on top of that, they succeeded in driving the Chaos Zone out of Saikai Academy Domain. They’d managed to protect their own independence.

That being said, Asagi mused with a sigh.

“Even if we drove them back, that was only one unit, right? We don’t have any idea what’s coming next time. Plus, our ruler, Kasugaya, is still MIA, and who knows how long the Third Primogenitor is going to behave herself…”

“Ahhh, about that Third Primogenitor.”

Mogwai spoke in a nonchalant, gossipy tone of voice.

“You have something on her movements?”

Asagi gave the familiar avatar a nakedly wary glare. For some reason, Mogwai’s tone sounded almost giddy.

“Yeah. I’ve finally deduced her whereabouts.”

“Where is she?”

“Right outside. She’s at the Saikai Academy front gate.”

“Haah?!”

Bolting from her seat on reflex, she yanked open the window curtains.

Asagi saw the schoolyard illuminated by the light of dawn.

Standing out in the open in front of the firmly shut gates was a girl with light green hair.

Although the girl had bodyguards, they didn’t have even a single weapon on them. That’s because her attendants were a pair of leopards.

Noticing Asagi leaning out of the window, the girl—Giada Kukulkin—narrowed her jade eyes and made an oddly amiable wave.

“She told me, ‘Bring out your ruler. I have spare time, so I have come to play.’”

Mogwai delivered this report to Asagi, eager to see how she would react.

Asagi put a hand to her forehead, as though enduring a dizzy spell, and exhaled deeply.