“We will be backing up the Self-Defense Forces in mopping up the swarm of demon beasts that has emerged in the vicinity of Kannawa Lake. I thought I should tell you this before I go.”
“Demon beasts…emerging from Kannawa Lake?”
All warmth vanished from Kojou’s voice. On top of Nagisa, they’d lost contact even with Asagi just after she’d arrived near Kannawa Lake.
“Heh-heh,” went the synthesized voice coursing over the smartphone’s speaker.
“Unfortunately, that is all I can tell you. It would seem that things did not go as the Lion King Agency planned. Or might this be the result they desired, I wonder…?”
Kiriha murmured, seemingly posing that last question to herself.
Then, just as she got up, adorned with droplets of clear, warm water, she said:
“If we both live, let us meet again, Kojou Akatsuki. When that time comes, it would be nice if we could have an actual date, naked.”
“Wait, Kisaki! What do you mean?! What the heck’s happening at Kannawa L—?”
Just as Kiriha began to depart, Kojou instantly stretched his arms toward her back.
In the very next moment, a new intruder burst through the doorway to the bath.
“Kisaki! What are you doing in the men’s bath?! What is the meaning of this aversion ward?!”
The expression on the face of Yukina Himeragi, dressed in a yukata, changed as she rushed into the men’s bath.
She brandished Snowdrift Wolf, which she had likely used to destroy Kiriha’s barrier by force. With a patter, the Oceanus Girls, dressed in pseudo-Japanese maid attire, followed Yukina into the bath.
“H-Himeragi…?!”
Kojou murmured with a raspy voice, frozen with his arms locked around Kiriha.
And of course, Kojou was still naked as the day he was born.
“Eh…?!”
Yukina froze, her eyes going wide as she and Kojou stared at each other in silence.
Kiriha, dressed in a swimsuit, averted her eyes, wearing an expression like it was no big deal. “Kyaaa!” exclaimed the Oceanus Girls, squealing with delight. Then Yukina, still silent, pivoted and turned her back on Kojou.
With quick steps, she returned to the changing room and, as she closed the door, she gave Kojou a sideways glare for only a second as she said:
“It… It is all right… I am your watcher, senpai, so this level of sexual harassment is nothing… I knew you were this kind of person, senpai, so…”
Yukina spoke in an apparent rebuke, scarlet to the tips of her ears as she ran out the door.
“My, my,” Kiriha said. “It seems she is in a fair bit of shock.” She spoke as if it wasn’t any problem of hers as she, too, departed.
Kojou, having let the timing to complain slip through his fingers, was left alone in the bath as he shouted into the sky.
“Why—?!!”
Yelling to no one in particular, Kojou cursed his irrational fate.
CHAPTER THREE
THE KNIGHT OF THE SINFUL GOD
1
Iblisveil Aziz, a second-generation, blood descendant of the royal family ruling the Fallen Dynasty of the Middle East, glared at the instant ramen in a white disposable cup.
It seemed he found it difficult to believe that a dish existed that was complete as soon as you poured hot water into it.
“I am supposed to eat this within the container?”
The prince tried to follow Asagi and Lydianne’s example as he separated his chopsticks before gingerly bringing the noodles to his lips. The peculiar scent of the soup had roused suspicion within him, but…
“This is…quite good…”
…his eyes widened in surprise as he slurped a mouthful of noodles.
Though he was a prince, the cheaply seasoned emergency rations packed into the robot tank had agreed with his palate surprisingly well.
“Told you. At high altitudes, the boiling point drops, so the trick to enjoying it is to let it sit until the temperature is just right.”
It was Asagi who spoke those words with a proud look as she dwelled on the finer points of adjusting the water temperature and cooking time.
In contrast, Lydianne said, “Even though I told the chief mechanic over and over that I most prefer miso broth…”
She was mumbling complaints in a small voice as she sipped noodle broth made from a soy base with seafood added in. Asagi quietly made a pained smile at Lydianne acting her age for once when she said, “Come to think of it, are you all right with garlic, Your Highness? Many people take issue with its pungent aroma, no?”
“Only the weaklings of the Warlord’s Empire. There are few of us in the dynasty who mind. Also, you may address me as Iblis. I mind not.”
“All right, Iblis, how about giving this chocolate a try? And after that, try this juice, too. It’s powdered, though.”
“You may have my bean jelly if thou prefer. The coffee-flavored one comes highly recommended by yours truly.”
Asagi and Lydianne continued butting heads over the emergency rations spread out on the vinyl seat. For a time, Iblisveil gazed at the spectacle as if finding it quite mysterious.
“You said Lydianne and Asagi, did you not…? …You both appear to be rather…eccentric.”
“Ah? You think?”
Asagi could not conceal her dismay as she looked back at Iblisveil. Unsurprisingly, she couldn’t quite wrap her head around being treated as an eccentric by a vampire prince.
“Just to get this out of the way, I’m not wearing this weird outfit because I want to. This girl just twisted my arm into wearing it…”
“It makes no difference to me what clothing a pair of brats without a shred of sex appeal like you put on.”
“Hngh…?!”
Asagi’s face twitched in response to Iblisveil’s cold words.
Though Iblisveil had the appearance of a child himself, his chronological age surely ran into the centuries. When thinking of it like that, his treating Asagi and Lydianne as anything but little children seemed too great a stretch.
“However, there are few who address me without fear or favor.” The prince continued, somehow seeming at a loss. “That said, I do not believe you have learned such sorcery that you might be able to oppose me. I am mildly interested in just what your intentions might be.”
“I’m not really…sure what you’re trying to say, but…” Asagi inclined her head a little as she spoke. “If you have no intention of hurting us, there’s no reason to be afraid of you, is there?”
“Even though I am a vampire, and a direct descendant of a primogenitor, at that?”
Something about that seemed to disagree with Iblisveil as he turned his golden eyes toward Asagi.
“Ahh, that’s what you mean,” said Asagi, shrugging her shoulders as she continued. “Well, I was raised on Itogami Island, so…”
“I see… So you are a human from a demon sanctuary.”
This time it was the prince’s turn to understand.
“Ohh,” went Asagi, displaying her interest in Iblisveil’s reaction. “You know about Itogami Island?”
“I had visited it once previously. This time, I merely passed through the airport.”
“Oh, okay,” said Asagi, seeming a little pleased as she nodded. Itogami Island’s central airport was the only place inside Japan from which you could fly nonstop to a demonic Dominion. Naturally, he’d arrived from the Fallen Dynasty by air, entering Japan via Itogami Island.
“I guess I could say, I’ve had normal contact with vampires since I was a little girl, so why should I be afraid now? After all, there’s a lot of good and bad people out there, humans and demons alike.”
“I grant thee, ’tis the first time I am meeting a prince, but I have lived near royals, primogenitors, and the like for some time,” Lydianne agreed, having apparently lived on Itogami Island for a long time herself.
“Goodness,” said Asagi, clicking her tongue. “Ah, right. Iblis, if you came through Itogami Isla
nd, are you heading home the same way?”
“I may well be… But what of it?”
Asagi’s sudden question put a curious look on Iblisveil’s face. Seeing it, Asagi glared at Iblisveil with renewed vigor as she said:
“Then, coming to Fighting Ramen at the international border terminal might be worth your while. Itogami Ramen’s thick back fat ramen has its fans, though. Lately, instant stuff is pretty nice, but still, with real ramen, you’re getting the good stuff.” As Asagi began earnestly mulling the issue, she added, “No, wait, Pacific Ramen’s another option.”
Iblisveil continued gazing at her in amazement, his brows still knit as he said, “You are indeed an eccentric.”
Finally, able to restrain himself no longer, the prince of the Fallen Dynasty broke into laughter. He had a cheerful, smiling face, which, if seen by his usual subordinates, would have induced abject panic.
Of course, Asagi had no way of knowing such a thing.
“Er, did I lose you somewhere…?”
Asagi twisted her lips in visible dismay, annoyed as Iblisveil continued laughing and laughing.
2
“Hey, what was with those demon beasts from before anyway?”
Shio Hikawa was standing still in the middle of an icy plain when she posed her question to Gajou Akatsuki.
A Shamanic War Dancer in the field asking Gajou, nothing more than a civilian, for aid was a failure in its own right, but she felt it wasn’t the time to worry about how it looked.
“Demon beasts…huh? If they really are demon beasts, great, but…”
However, Gajou had an abnormally pensive look as he replied. That he, with such an air of composure and mystery about him, had such a hesitant reaction only served to worry Shio all the more.
Shio felt annoyance tinged with resentment at that fact as she asked, “What do you mean by that?”
“I mean, this area might’ve been some kind of ruin. The old hag’s words about calamity being buried down here might have been right, after all.”
“Calamity… Could you mean the dragon from earlier…?”
Shio lowered her voice as she recalled the pitch-black shadow in the mist that she’d only see for a second.
Though Shio was an Attack Mage, a genuine dragon was uncharted territory for her. It was said that they were already on the verge of extinction, with only a tiny handful remaining in the Chaos Zone and Africa, but she didn’t know if it was true. It was said that the species, said to achieve greater intellect than human beings over the course of their long lives, occupied a place at the upper extremity of demons and demon beasts. They were known to possess incredible combat capabilities rivaling that of Old Guard vampires.
If a dragon truly had appeared in Kamioda District, she didn’t think the Lion King Organization and the Self-Defense Forces’ encirclement were enough to fend it off. Certainly, calamity was a fitting moniker.
However, in response to Shio’s murmur, Gajou bluntly shook his head.
“Nah, I’m pretty sure you’re wrong about that.”
“Excuse me?”
“Dragons are guardians, y’see.”
“Guardians…?”
Gajou’s vague, evasive words made Shio turn a perplexed gaze toward him. As she did, he turned straight toward her, giving her the same fishy smile he always did.
“Anyway, we’d best pull back for now. Either way, quelling demon beasts ain’t a specialty of either of us.”
“I suppose you’re… Yeah…”
Shio accepted Gajou’s suggestion with good grace—not because she bought his ambiguous explanation, but because the unconscious Nagisa Akatsuki’s physical endurance tugged at her mind.
The temperature of the cold air shrouding the surface of the lake was clearly below the freezing point. If she continued her defenseless sleep, she was in danger of hypothermia; worst case, she’d freeze to death.
“The mist is…lifting…?”
Just as Shio and Gajou set out, walking toward the nearest riverbank, Gajou murmured thusly with visible displeasure. Still carrying his sleeping, beloved daughter in his arms, his feet came to a halt as he slowly surveyed the surrounding area.
Certainly, Shio sensed that the mist covering the environs of the lake had thinned out, just as Gajou had said. The landscape was still nothing but white mist in the distance, but they were just barely able to make things out on the opposite shore of the lake. I don’t like this, Gajou’s little snort seemed to say, and he added:
“It’s quiet all of a sudden… This ambiance ain’t good.”
The self-described archeologist stared at the ice stretching up above them.
The top of the icy hill he stared at was scarred in an irregular manner. The slope was covered with countless diagonal cracks, marred by bits and pieces with metallic coloring. When Shio realized that this was no mere marring, but the remains of demon beasts ripped to shreds, she made a tiny gasp.
“Who…did this…?!”
It wasn’t simply one or two demon beast corpses. There were forty or fifty, or perhaps even more—the swarm of steel-colored monsters had been slaughtered in one-sided fashion.
Thanks to being concealed by the mist, she hadn’t realized it previously, but in her mind, the surviving demon beasts had likely all been gathered in that place. Then, they had fought someone, perishing to the last.
There was a diminutive figure standing still halfway up the icy slope.
It was a white-haired woman dressed in a dougi uniform. Her hands held a drawn naginata.
“Lady Hisano?!”
Perhaps she heard Shio’s surprised voice, for Hisano slowly turned toward them. Seeing Gajou at Shio’s back, she did not seem especially surprised, merely heaving a tired sigh.
“Shio Hikawa… I see you have rescued Nagisa. You have my thanks.”
“Ah, no, I didn’t really do anything…”
When Hisano voiced her thanks to Shio, the latter hastily shook her head. As a matter of fact, Shio had done nothing save take the unconscious Nagisa into her care.
“Heya, old hag. Is this all your doing?”
Gajou posed the question to Hisano in a coarse tone of voice. Hisano coldly looked back at her own son, thrusting her naginata before Gajou, apparently to show him the lack of blood spatter upon it.
“Surely you jest. I only discovered what you see here a short time ago.”
“…Doesn’t seem to be the SDF’s work, either.”
So spoke Gajou as he turned over a demon beast corpse with the tip of his shoe.
The wounds left on the steel-colored demon beasts were all from bladed weapons, or perhaps sharp talons or the like. The attacks were unthinkable from the firearm-reliant Self-Defense Forces.
“It kind of looks like they were fighting to protect something…”
Shio seemed to be stating her subconscious thoughts out loud. She felt some kind of firm, unified will behind the annihilated demon beasts’ actions. Like a swarm of bees protecting their queen, they hadn’t once attempted to stop the fight until there were none left standing.
Hisano, silent as she listened to Shio’s words, lifted her face as if she had realized something.
“Gajou…”
He nodded back to her with an anguished expression, not turning his head as he posed a rapid-fire question.
“Shio, you use physical enchant magic, right?”
“…I can, but what of it?”
Shio rebutted in mild annoyance at the instructor-like air with which Gajou had spoken. However, when Gajou looked back at her, his face had lost all of its previous composure and reserve. He pushed the body of the still-unconscious Nagisa Akatsuki into Shio’s arms, practically hurling the girl.
“Take Nagisa and go. Get as far from here as you can.”
“Ah?”
Shio felt bewildered as the sun above their heads seemed to darken. A giant, pitch-black shadow was circling above their heads as it descended.
Shio was speechless when she realiz
ed what it was.
There was a demon beast above them. A beast far more dangerous and terrifying than mere snake-hornets—
It had a wingspan of forty to fifty meters. It had armor-like scales, and its hind legs were armed with talons like thick blades. It had a long, whiplike tail and a ferocious maw like a carnivorous lizard—
“A w-wyvern…?!”
Dumbfounded, Shio murmured as she looked up at the enormous demon beast descending from the sky.
Once employed as tools of war, a wyvern’s combat capabilities were unquestionably the top class of all flying demon beasts. Though not on par with a true dragon, they were in a different league than other demon beasts. Even a Priestess of the Six Blades from the Bureau of Astrology probably could not destroy it alone.
What rocked Shio even further was the knight’s saddle resting over the wyvern’s back.
Atop the saddle sat a cavalryman with a poised lance—a knight in an iron suit of armor wearing a pitch-black mantle.
“So that’s the guy who slaughtered all the demon beasts, huh?”
Gajou spoke as he raised the machine gun he’d pulled out from the Land of the Dead. Boasting high firepower, it was a brutal-looking heavy machine gun for military use, but it felt terribly inadequate against the enormity of the malevolent wyvern before them.
“…Not one of the good guys, I take it?” he asked, glaring at the iron knight.
The grave expression on Hisano’s face remained as she nodded, glancing toward Shio, with Nagisa Akatsuki in the girl’s arms, and said, “No. Having revealed himself here and now, his objective is most likely—”
“The calamity of Kannawa Lake, huh…? Shit, my worst prediction just had to come true!”
The knight of iron went into motion at the same time that Gajou cursed. All at once, he charged at Shio and the others from above, controlling the wyvern as nimbly as his own hands and feet.
“Gajou, I leave the wyvern to you. I shall deal with the rider—”
“Hey, don’t push it, you’re no spring chicken!”
Hisano and Gajou readied and unleashed their respective weapons.
The Knight of the Sinful God Page 11