From the Warlord's Empire

by Gakuto Mikumo

  “Y-yeah?”

  “This outfit… It’s ridiculous, isn’t it?”

  “No, it’s not at all… But! Eh?! Wa… Why’re you pointing that spear at me?!”

  Seeing the tip of her spear thrust right before his eyes, Kojou’s expression tensed in a hurry. Still keeping her silver spear at the ready, Yukina coolly gazed at Kojou, finally speaking in a sharp tone.

  “I’m sorry. I sensed danger and reacted without thinking.”

  “Th-that so.”

  Kojou’s face scowled as he sensed the presence of a metallic scent inside his nostrils.

  Though he was poorly aware of it himself, Kojou was now a vampire, and the vampire species was known as such because of the existence of a dangerous instinct. Namely, vampiric urges—the craving to sink his fangs into another’s neck and suck on blood that he desperately wanted to resist. And the trigger for vampiric urges was lust. Just now, Kojou, aroused from looking at Yukina, had apparently been in danger of having his mind taken over by vampiric urges. Yukina had no doubt drawn Snowdrift Wolf because she’d instinctively sensed that.

  So this is a Sword Shaman’s Spirit Sight, he thought in quiet admiration.

  “…You’re too easy to understand, senpai. When you’re thinking indecent thoughts, it’s written all over your face.”

  Timed as if she was reading Kojou’s mind, Yukina spoke with a sigh mixed in.

  “The back really is…too exposed, isn’t it? The fabric’s thin, the skirt so short, it’s just…”

  “Means it’s easy to move in, doesn’t it? It’s better than if the skirt’s in your way if it comes down to a fight.”

  “…Even if what you say is sensible, your ulterior motive’s smeared all over your face.”

  “It is not.”

  Kojou sullenly groaned. Yukina made a small shrug, and thinking something, she suddenly tugged down on the edge of her skirt a little.

  “Well, it’s fine. The underskirt the cheerleading club gave me has been put to good use.”

  “An underskirt?!”

  Unconsciously leaning his body forward, Kojou slumped his shoulders as he lamented.

  “Senpai, so you really were…”

  “Er, no. I wasn’t trying to peek at all, I just mean, an underskirt with that outfit is like, unfair, I feel like my dreams have been shattered, I mean, the reason Schrödinger’s cat has philosophers all worked up is because they don’t know for sure if it’s dead or alive…”

  “I have no idea what you are referring to, but I do take from it that you have an extraordinary interest in what is under a girl’s skirt, senpai.”

  “So stop pointing that spear at me already!”

  Kojou, driven all the way back to the wall, made desperate, pleading gestures.

  “Senpai, really, you’re…”

  For some reason, Yukina made a sigh of apparent surrender, quietly lowering her spear. She transformed it back to its storage configuration and put it in the case at her feet.

  What she had with her was not the usual black guitar case, but a case with an attaché-style handle. It didn’t seem all that out of place with her party-dress look. She looked like a player of a classical instrument heading to an orchestral theater performance. Then…

  “This outfit…it’s really not ridiculous?”

  Yukina, closing the case and standing up, suddenly looked up at Kojou with upturned eyes, inquiring in a quiet voice.

  “No, not at all. It looks good on you.”

  “Is that so?”

  Kojou nodded curtly in reply and proceeded to walk with Yukina ahead to the elevator. Where her hair was raised, her nape was faintly red. She seemed to be secretly blushing.

  Kojou inclined his head as he noticed the hair ornament holding Yukina’s hair up. It was a silver hair clip styled like a Christian cross. It wasn’t in the box of stuff sent by the Lion King Agency, either. It was rare for Yukina, who had few personal possessions, to accessorize herself in this way.

  “Himeragi, that hair ornament…”

  “Eh…?”

  Yukina put her hand to her hair in surprise, wearing an expression like that of a child whose prank had been discovered.

  “Is this…odd, by any chance?”

  “No, not at all. It suits you.”

  Kojou repeated the exact same line from earlier. This time, too, an honestly happy look came over Yukina.

  “Sayaka…my roommate when I was at High God Forest…gave this to me.”

  “Roommate? Is she a Sword Shaman like you are?”

  Kojou asked, his interest somewhat aroused.

  High God Forest was the name of the all-girls school Yukina had attended until only the last month.

  However, it was really a Counter-Demon Attack Mage educational facility for the Lion King Agency.

  Yukina had told him that her own Sword Shaman abilities were drilled into her in that place.

  He thought it highly unlikely a girl living together with Yukina would be an ordinary person with no connection to ritual magic.

  “She is not a Sword Shaman, but Sayaka is a CDMA for the Lion King Agency as well.”

  Yukina gave the answer Kojou expected. For some reason, her voice was tinged with pride.

  “She’s one year older than I am, so she’s already left High God Forest on an official assignment.”

  “Huh… Good friends, you two?”

  Yukina made a shy assenting nod to Kojou’s murmur.

  “I suppose so. I think of her as a sister, really. She’s beautiful and cute, and her personality is cute, too; she’s so gentle… I’m proud to have had her for a roommate.”

  “Makes me wanna meet her a little,” Kojou thought out loud in a casual mood. That instant, Yukina’s expression suddenly darkened.

  She touched her hair ornament once and informed him in a very small voice, “It might be best that you do not, senpai… I think it’s likely she’d seek to kill you.”

  10

  The cruise ship of Dimitrie Vattler, Duke of Ardeal, was moored at a huge pier on Island West. The party was due to begin at 10:00 p.m. They could see a large group of invitees climbing the gangway and getting aboard the ship.

  “…A floating graveyard…huh? Name’s in pretty bad taste.”

  Looking up at the name engraved onto the hull, Kojou was beside himself as he read the ship’s name, Oceanus Grave.

  But in spite of the ominous name, the lit-up hull had a palatial, elegant dignity proudly on display under the evening sky.

  “That’s his personal…? Geez, how rich are these Warlord’s Empire aristocrats, anyway?”

  “I believe there is a strategic objective in proudly displaying his authority in this manner,” Yukina explained in a serene tone.

  “Though it is mere superstition that vampires cannot cross the ocean, it is nonetheless true that their abilities are limited when over water. For a Dominion such as this, its nobles merely boarding ships openly acts as a show of force toward other nations. That’s even if it’s mere civilian ships rather than warships.”

  “Hmm…or maybe it’s just that they like showin’ off.”

  His mood rather weighed down, Kojou looked up at the blue-white hull once again.

  The civilian vessel Oceanus Grave bore no weaponry. However, the ship’s owner was a vampire noble. The Beast Vassals he could summon had combat ability equal to top-notch aircraft carriers. In other words, Itogami Island currently had the equivalent of a Dominion warship here, right before its eyes—a delicate situation.

  Perhaps because of that, many of the people boarding the Oceanus Grave had faces he’d seen on the news. They were big-shot politicians and financial heavy hitters, VIPs from the government and Itogami City.

  Since the party’s host was a noble from the Warlord’s Empire, this much was not unnatural by any means. But…

  “…We’re the only ones who look out of place, huh?”

  Kojou muttered to himself, “I wonder if coming here was the right call,” feelin
g quite uneasy.

  Now that he thought about it, that invitation could have been a forgery sent by someone to trick Kojou and Yukina. Given the circumstances of the invitation’s arrival, it wasn’t exactly baseless speculation.

  However, as Kojou thought of such things, Yukina looked up at him, looking beside herself.

  “No, an envoy from the First Primogenitor arriving on this island should greet the ruler of this land, the Fourth Primogenitor, before all others. You are the main guest of the party, senpai. Please act more appropriately.”

  “Easier said than done, geez. I’m just a normal high schooler!” Kojou weakly objected. Though arbitrarily treated by others around him like a primogenitor, Kojou himself had been a normal human being until a few months ago. Even if he stuck out like a sore thumb here, there was no reason for him to know how to act “appropriately.”

  When his invitation was checked and he boarded the ship, he felt even more like a fish out of water: The lighting was dazzling, the food was exquisite, all these important-looking people gathered in one place. A young man like Kojou walking around warranted no more of a glance than a rock on the side of the road.

  “So…where’s the guy who called us over here, anyway?” Kojou murmured as he looked around the interior of the reception hall, continuing to feel very out of his element.

  The reception hall inside the ship, now a party venue, was unthinkably large. There had to be at least five hundred invitees.

  Finding an envoy of the First Primogenitor, whose face he didn’t even know, in the middle of that was no simple task.

  But on the other hand, Kojou had had a strange feeling since the moment after he came aboard the ship.

  It was like the rise one got just before starting a basketball game. Fear, delight, the sense of urgency and exhilaration all seemingly combined into a single pleasant sense of tension.

  Realizing he was close to one of his brethren possessing great power, he felt like every nerve of his body was sharpened. As a vampire, Kojou’s blood…and the Beast Vassals that dwelled within…boiled in anticipation of encountering a powerful enemy.

  That stirring told him that the noble from the Warlord’s Empire was without doubt very close.

  “Above us. Duke Ardeal is likely on the external upper deck…”

  As if to confirm Kojou’s premonition, Yukina spoke while looking up above her head. Similar to Kojou, Yukina likely knew where Dimitrie Vattler was thanks to her Sword Shaman’s Spirit Sight.

  “Upper deck…huh? How do we get up there then?”

  “This way, senpai.”

  Yukina pointed to a stairway in the corner of the hall, making her way along a path where invitees were mingling.

  As Kojou hurried to catch up to her, Yukina looked back and extended her hand. Without questioning at all, he moved to grasp her hand.

  It was the next moment that Kojou sensed a silver flash, accompanied by bloodlust, swooping down at him.

  “…Sei!!”

  “Uoo?!”

  As Kojou instantly leaped back, the well-sharpened tip of a fork right before his eyes grazed his arm.

  The fork was gripped by a young woman. She appeared nearly 170 centimeters in height, but seemed to be a girl still in her midteens. She had long, chestnut-colored hair and white skin. Her face had a charming, eye-catching elegance about it.

  The cheongsam-style outfit she wore over her slender body suited her very well.

  “Pardon me. My hand slipped.”

  The long-haired girl spoke, not acting like she was particularly sorry. Kojou glared at her in displeasure.

  “If you know how someone can slip and swing a fork down at someone else’s arm, by all means, tell me… Wait, weren’t you yelling like some martial artist just now?!”

  “It is because you tried to touch Yukina with your filthy, lust-stained hand, Kojou Akatsuki.”

  “What…?!”

  Kojou stared at her in surprise at her knowing his name. She continued to hold her fork backward while giving Kojou a frigid glare.

  The aura she gave off was a little like Yukina’s right after they met, but this one was far more hostile. It seemed like, if he showed the slightest opening, she would attack him without mercy.

  “Who the heck are you?”

  Kojou was perplexed as he asked her. The party guests all around them were raising their voices in alarm. Yukina arrived back the next moment.

  “…Sayaka?!”

  Wedging herself between the glaring parties, Yukina looked dumbfounded as she called out the long-haired girl’s name.

  That moment, the girl named Sayaka showed a highly dramatic change. Like a hard bud blossoming into a flower, an elegant smile broadened over her entire face, with the surge of bloodlust emanating from her entire body replaced with an aura full of gentle affection.

  “Yukina!”

  The long-haired girl gave Yukina an earnest hug. Kojou felt like he was watching sisters who got along well being miraculously reunited. Her hair, in a ponytail behind her, swayed like the tail of a happy dog.

  “It’s been so long, Yukina. Have you been well?”

  “Y-yes.”

  Yukina seemed a bit at a loss at being suddenly reunited with the girl. She looked like surprise was winning against her joy at being back together. But not paying any heed to Yukina’s reaction, the girl called Sayaka pressed her own cheek against Yukina’s neck, rubbing it.

  “Ahh, Yukina, Yukina, Yukina…!! You poor thing, having watcher duty on the Fourth Primogenitor pushed on you while I wasn’t there! I wonder what made the Lion King Agency Executive Committee treat my Yukina in such a cruel manner!”

  “Ah, er…Sayaka…?!”

  “But it’s all right now. If this pervert lays one finger on you, I will immediately eliminate him. Both in a societal and a biological sense…”

  “Wa…! S-Sayaka…that’s a bit…yah!”

  “Hey.”

  As Sayaka fawned over Yukina, leaving herself wide open, Kojou delivered a chop to the back of her head. “Eek!” Sayaka exclaimed in a bitter voice, seemingly startled as she pulled back.

  Yukina, finally released from Sayaka’s clutches, had a look of relief on her face as she circled behind Kojou’s back.

  Sayaka, pressing a hand to the back of her head where she was smacked, glared sharply at Kojou.

  “What are you doing?! Don’t touch me, Fourth Primogenitor! No, Pervogenitor!”

  “Who’s the pervert?! Take that back! Primo and Perv don’t sound anything alike, so you did that on purpose!” Kojou bared his teeth as he yelled back.

  With a “hmph,” Sayaka exhaled roughly “I suppose. I’m sorry, oh Great Pervert Primogenitor. First off, I don’t want Yukina breathing the same air as you, so I don’t want you entering a five-meter radius around her. After that, I’ll gouge out your eyeballs. I won’t have your impure gaze looking at Yukina.”

  “Like hell you will! What the heck’s with you, popping out and mouthing off like this?”

  “Don’t come any closer. It’s gross,” Sayaka shouted as she threateningly thrust the fork at Kojou.

  What a rude woman, Kojou thought indignantly as he turned back toward Yukina.

  “Sayaka, that’s the ex-roommate you mentioned, isn’t it, Himeragi?”

  “…Yes.”

  Yukina looked up at Kojou and nodded in a way that seemed apologetic somehow. As if trying to interrupt their conversation, Sayaka wedged herself in from the side.

  “Sayaka Kirasaka, War Dancer of the Lion King Agency, Kojou Bakatsuki.”

  “It’s A-ka-tsu-ki. Don’t say it wrong on purpose!” Kojou yelled back, having had quite enough.

  Mysteriously, in spite of having raised such a ruckus, the guests in the party venue didn’t seem to be taking much notice. It seemed Yukina had quietly used an aversion incantation.

  “What’s a War Dancer? Is that different from a Sword Shaman?” Kojou asked Yukina another question. Yukina shook her head a little.

 
“Both are Counter-Demon Attack Mages, but the skills we are trained in differ.”

  “Skills?”

  Looking at Kojou raising his eyebrows, Sayaka announced with pride. “War Dancers specialize in curses and assassinations. In other words, it is my duty to eliminate perverts hovering around Yukina, like you.”

  “I’m not hovering around her! If someone’s being hovered around, it’s me!!”

  “What are you so proud of?! It’s not like I’m jealous or anything!”

  “Then don’t say stuff that makes people think you’re jealous!”

  Kojou and Sayaka both glared at each other indignantly. Yukina covered her eyes while weakly shaking her head.

  “But why are you here, Sayaka? Weren’t you assigned to Multinational Sorcery Crimes in the Foreign Branch?”

  “I still am. I came to this island because of my mission.” Sayaka answered in a gentle tone of voice that seemed to come from a different person. Yukina narrowed her eyes in surprise.

  “Your mission?”

  “Same as yours, Yukina. Watcher duty over a vampire. It’s my duty to watch over Duke Ardeal so that he does not bring about any harm to the residents of Itogami City. At the moment I’m here because he asked me to show you in.”

  Hearing Sayaka’s careless explanation, Kojou finally grasped the circumstances.

  Just like Yukina had come to Itogami Island on watcher duty, Sayaka had been ordered to observe Vattler.

  Not that it accounted for her trying to stab Kojou with a fork out of the blue, but…

  “Fine then. Show us in already.”

  “I’ll bring you with me, but not because you said so. So please die already, like now.”

  “Hell no!” Yelling back in annoyance, Kojou trailed behind Sayaka up the stairs. Yukina, last in line, gave both of them a worried look.

  Looking over Sayaka’s graceful form from behind, Kojou let out an exasperated sigh.

  She’d said Vattler requested that she bring Kojou and Yukina to him.

  That being the case, she’d likely been the one who’d sent the invitation along with the shikigami that had attacked Kojou during the day.

  It wasn’t that she had any strategic objective; she just plain hated Kojou’s guts.