From the Warlord's Empire

by Gakuto Mikumo

  “Like that can happen!! Whaddaya think a vampire is?!”

  “I wouldn’t put it past you. You drank my Yukina’s blood—you drank my Yukina’s blood!!”

  With a resentful tone of voice, Sayaka made a subdued groan. Kojou thought, Well, this is depressing, making a deep sigh.

  Thanks to that, Kojou somehow realized for himself that both of them were just being stubborn.

  If he was dealing with someone younger, like Yukina, he’d just smile and let little bits of trouble roll off of him; if it was someone older, like Natsuki—appearances aside—he’d be plenty willing to exercise humility.

  As he was thinking about that, he suddenly met Sayaka’s eyes. She seemed to have been watching Kojou for the whole time he was thinking. Then…

  “Hey.”

  “Hey.”

  After getting along so poorly, both opened their mouths at the same time. Sayaka made an annoyed snort, urging Kojou, “You go first.” Kojou shrugged his shoulders in dismay.

  “Er…I mean, sorry. For stuff.”

  “Huh?” Sayaka’s eyes widened in shock. “Why are you apologizing? It’s creeping me out.”

  “Oh shut up! I mean, I think you were right to say what you said, Kirasaka.”

  As Kojou spoke, he pulled the hood of the parka he was wearing down over his eyes. Talking about this while looking into the other person’s eyes was making him blushy somehow.

  “With the Armed Apostle old man not long ago and with the terrorist business this time, Himeragi’s been involved in troublesome incidents on my account. So I thought, it’s natural that her friend would be upset about it.”

  For some reason, Sayaka tapered her lips with a look of dissatisfaction.

  “Certainly it is your fault, but it couldn’t be helped because it’s Yukina’s mission to watch over you; it’s not like she’s helping you because she wants to. You don’t really need to worry yourself about it.”

  “Ah…well, that may be so, but it’s still true she helped me.”

  Kojou shook his head with a pained smile mixed in. Sayaka was such a contrarian that she’d switched to consoling Kojou midway through her words. Having herself realized that midway, Sayaka made an expression of loathing.

  “You’re certainly an odd vampire… Usually I don’t think one would thank someone watching him. Or maybe you go for that sort of thing?”

  “I’m not thanking anyone for being watched,” Kojou said back in a sullen voice.

  “It’s just, the watching’s a bother, but Himeragi’s a good person.”

  “I thought you were a completely hopeless man, but it seems you’re at least somewhat sentient. I’ll concede that much.”

  Sayaka looked pleased somehow as she spoke. It seemed his complimenting Yukina put her in a good mood. She really does like Yukina, Kojou thought with a smile, so why does she have to look down on me like this?

  “But I can’t give credit for such plain compliments. If you’re going to properly praise Yukina, you need to show more resolve and respect.”

  “…What’s a way to compliment with resolve and respect?”

  “It’s nothing complicated. All you need to do is faithfully describe Yukina as she really is: her fair skin; the soft, golden hair of her cheek; the little mole under her collarbone; those lines from her shoulder blades, just like an angel’s wings, to her oh-so-tight waist to her curvy hips, weaving into that golden rump…!”

  “…That’s all physical appearance, isn’t it?!” Kojou interrupted, unable to bear Sayaka’s starting to ramble on about Yukina’s charms any further. “There’s other things to compliment, too, aren’t there?! And you sound totally obsessed!!”

  “…Besides her appearance?”

  On her guard, Sayaka looked at Kojou. This man is dangerous, indeed…

  “I suppose. Certainly there’s when I quietly slipped into Yukina’s bed and had her lingering scent all around me… Ahh, such bliss…”

  “…Who compliments people on their scent?!” Kojou raised his voice, a sharp headache coming on. “I don’t mean that; talk about her personality, geez! She’s so serious, and she works so hard. She goes a surprising way for other people even though she’s shy, and she’s really strong-willed, but also has some soft spots and weaknesses and stuff…”

  “N…not bad, Kojou Akatsuki.”

  Sayaka looked at Kojou with a dumbfounded expression.

  “To think you could compete with me…”

  “Er, not that I’m trying to compete with you, but…”

  We ain’t exactly on the same page here, thought Kojou, feeling fatigued.

  “I’ll have you know, I’ve been in the bath together with Yukina!”

  “Like I care!! This crazy contrarian stuff’s gettin’ on my nerves!”

  “Oh, shut up! I’ve been with that girl since she was seven years old. I’ve spent a longer time with her than her actual family has, so…” As she spoke, Sayaka thrust her cell phone before Kojou, as if delighting in victory.

  Displayed on the screen was an old photo showing two young girls.

  Their ages were around seven or eight. There was a girl with a strong glint in her eyes and a girl with light chestnut-colored hair.

  Set against a chilly backdrop in the middle of winter, the barefoot girls strongly held each other’s hands, cuddling close together, as if it was the two of them against the whole world.

  Looking at the picture, Kojou suddenly remembered.

  Yukina had said she didn’t remember her own parents.

  It was probably the same for Sayaka. The Lion King Agency gathered up orphans from all over the country, raising them to be young, elite Counter-Demon Attack Mages. Sayaka had said she’d spent more time with Yukina than her real family. But to her, that also meant Yukina had been by her side for an equally long amount of time.

  To Sayaka, having lost one family, had finally gained another one in Yukina after who knows how many months or years. Thinking of it that way, he could completely empathize with the level of love and affection Sayaka had for Yukina.

  “Hmm. That’s certainly cute.”

  Kojou looked over the picture of the girls one more time. Both Yukina and Sayaka had traces of their looks from childhood even now, he thought. They looked a little like super-deformed character mascots in the photo.

  Of course, Sayaka puffed her chest out, full of satisfaction.

  “I said it from the start, didn’t I? My Yukina is an angel.”

  “Er, of course this goes for Himeragi, too, but you were quite pretty back then yourself…”

  “Huh…?!”

  Like a statue, Sayaka’s entire body froze at Kojou’s comment, made without any thought whatsoever.

  Internally, Kojou had no notion that he’d said anything odd in the slightest. Certainly there were issues with her personality, but if she weren’t speaking, she’d no doubt be a beautiful girl. Especially in that childhood photo, she was as adorable as a fairy. If Yukina was an angel back then, Sayaka must surely have been one as well, he thought.

  “Th-that’s…crazy…what are you…”

  However, Kojou’s casual comment had caused an amusing-looking level of panic in Sayaka. She was bright red, as if her pale skin was coming to a boil; both of her shoulders trembled.

  Then…

  “…I really should kill you here and now!”

  “What for?!”

  As Sayaka suddenly drew and raised her sword, Kojou leaped back from her in a hurry. As they did so, for a moment, a powerful beam of light glimmered in the corner of their fields of vision.

  Slightly after the fact, a dull exploding sound echoed through the air. In midair, an orange fireball swelled up, looking like fireworks, breaking apart into black fragments before vanishing. Finally, flame shrouded in ominous black smoke rose from the ground, high into the air.

  “What was that?! It looked like a chopper got shot down…”

  “An accident? Or perhaps…”

  Kojou and Sayaka mur
mured while standing still in shock.

  To shoot down a helicopter in one shot—that meant a surface-to-air missile or a similar weapon. The only kind of people who’d let something like that loose in an urban area were those one normally called terrorists.

  “Maybe it’s the Black Death Emperor Front?!”

  “That direction… That’s the sub-float extension under construction!”

  Sayaka and Kojou shouted at the same time as both began to rush down the emergency stairs.

  Yukina may have told them to meekly reflect, but if the Black Death Emperor Front was truly running amok, this was no time to loaf around.

  Kojou didn’t think the helicopter crash had anything to do with the Nalakuvera, but the Dead Black Emperor Front was a terrorist group in the first place. He couldn’t reject the possibility they’d begin indiscriminate attacks on the city. He couldn’t ignore this.

  But just as they hurried down to the first floor of the gym, Kojou suddenly stopped. Annoyed, Sayaka tried to throw Kojou, now an obstacle in her path, out of her way.

  “What is it, Kojou Akatsuki? You’re in my way!”

  “What’s this scent…?!”

  “Scent?”

  As if baited by Kojou’s words, Sayaka made a loud sniff. Her expression then changed to one of confusion. She, too, noticed the strange smell drifting inside the school.

  “The smell of blood?!”

  “No…it’s similar, but this isn’t blood…”

  Kojou opened the nearest window and leaped into the school building. The strange smell of almost-but-not-quite blood grew only stronger. Realizing the source of the scent, Kojou sprinted, forcefully opening the clinic room door.

  “…Astarte?!”

  What Kojou saw there was the homunculus girl, lying on her side on the floor, covered in light crimson body fluids.

  “These wounds…gunshots?! What the hell happened?!”

  Sayaka ran over and pulled Astarte’s clothes away to check the condition of her wounds. There were ghastly scars remaining on her body from having been pumped full of lead.

  Though no longer able to move of her own volition, Astarte seemed to have barely retained consciousness. Identifying Kojou by sight, she made a frail exhale mixed with blood.

  “…Report to the Fourth Primogenitor: twenty-five minutes, thirteen seconds prior to present time, a person calling himself Kristof Gardos appeared within school grounds. He has taken Asagi Aiba, Nagisa Akatsuki, and Yukina Himeragi with him.”

  “Wha…?!”

  Kojou was in complete shock at the information Astarte conveyed.

  Certainly, Yukina had said she was bringing Asagi to the clinic room. Nagisa had to have gone with them. But in the clinic room, only the bloodied Astarte remained. There was no sign of Yukina or the others…

  “Their destination is unknown. I apologize… I was unable to protect…them…”

  Astarte’s light blue eyes wavered as she spoke. A large clot of blood spilled out from her throat. She shouldn’t have been speaking in a condition like hers. It was a near miracle that she was alive at all.

  “H-hey, Astarte?! Astarte, stay with me…!” Kojou desperately called out to the homunculus girl.

  To the side, Sayaka began stopping Astarte’s bleeding in earnest.

  3

  Yukina and the others were in a cramped room with the windows covered.

  Originally, it had probably been a warehouse for storing foodstuffs and the like. It was a dreary room, not furnished with even a single chair. The pipes on the ceiling were bare and exposed; the floor was slightly rusted.

  Having been blindfolded when they were brought in, they didn’t know the conditions around them. The room was probably belowground. The gentle rocking of the building that they felt might have simply been from being brought by helicopter.

  “Hey…where do you think this is?”

  Asagi, curled up on top of an empty wooden crate, asked tentatively.

  The look on her face was harder than usual, perhaps because she felt responsible for Yukina and Nagisa being abducted along with her. But that didn’t mean she was in a panic.

  Taking relief in that, Yukina shook her head.

  “I do not know. I believe that the helicopter flew for about ten minutes, so I do not think we could have been brought very far but…”

  Watching that reaction from Yukina, Asagi narrowed her eyes in apparent suspicion.

  “You’re very composed, huh? You’re not scared?”

  “Eh? Ah, er…that is not so, but ah, you’re calm, too, Aiba.”

  “Is that so?” Asagi murmured, looking slightly embarrassed as she glanced at the side of Nagisa’s face as she slept.

  Nagisa was still out cold as she clung to Yukina’s shoulder. Asagi must have thought that Nagisa had fainted from fright at the abduction.

  However, the truth was, as she was falling into a state of panic, Yukina knocked her out with a blow. Though she took no pride in her violent means, it was the only way she could protect Nagisa in that situation. She’d have been in danger of a complete mental breakdown if Yukina had left her alone like that.

  Yukina felt that Nagisa’s fear toward demons was indeed abnormal. It was clearly unnatural for a resident of a Demon Sanctuary.

  “…It’s because I saw Nagisa like that. I felt like, I have to keep it together, see.”

  As if noticing Yukina’s misgivings, Asagi spoke with a strained smile.

  “Do you know why Kojou and his family moved to Itogami Island?”

  “…No.”

  Yukina slowly shook her head. Kojou and his family had relocated to the Demon Sanctuary four years ago. Even the reports of the Lion King Agency did not contain the reason why. This was in spite of all immigrants to the Demon Sanctuary undergoing thorough background checks…

  “I’d like you to keep this just between us.”

  Asagi stood her index finger up against her lips as she lowered her gaze slightly. It was rare for her to display a frank, serious expression.

  “Nagisa almost died once.”

  “Eh?”

  “Four years ago, she got wrapped up in a train incident involving demons. She somehow survived, but they were saying she might never regain consciousness, let alone return to a normal life…”

  Asagi shook her head a little as she spoke. Yukina’s lips quivered in complete astonishment.

  “But Nagisa doesn’t show the slightest sign of…”

  “Yeah. I don’t know the details myself, but she’s apparently getting some kind of special treatment. This is a Demon Sanctuary, after all.”

  Yukina fell silent at Asagi’s explanation.

  The Demon Sanctuary of Itogami Island was a scholarly city. Research was performed on demonic bodies and abilities on a daily basis, leading to the development of new technologies and products. And that research included top-level medical technology: experimental, unapproved medical technology.

  “Her wounds are completely healed, but I expect she gets regular checkups even now; seems like it cost a lot of money, too. I think it has something to do with why, after their parents divorced, their mom doesn’t get back to the house much.”

  Having said so much, Asagi made a large shrug of her shoulders. She seemed embarrassed at having spoken in such an uncharacteristically serious manner.

  “So that might be why Nagisa’s afraid of demons?”

  “You’d have to ask her about that, but I wouldn’t be shocked if it is.”

  Yukina nodded without a word.

  She felt like she understood why Kojou, having gained vampiric powers against his will, was so desperately trying to hide the fact from his little sister. The daily life they currently enjoyed couldn’t possibly continue if Nagisa learned that one of her blood relatives had become a demon himself.

  Seeming concerned as Yukina fell silent, Asagi suddenly spoke in her usual, lighthearted tone of voice.

  “Also, sorry. It’s my fault you’re involved in this.”

&
nbsp; Yukina felt guilty as she shook her head. Asagi didn’t need to feel responsible for the Dead Black Emperor Front’s crimes. If anyone was responsible, it was Yukina for having been unable to protect them.

  “Aiba, are you aware of why they would abduct you?”

  “Nope, dunno.”

  Asagi carelessly spread her arms wide as she sighed.

  “It’s not like I have no clue, though. They did say they have a job for me to do.”

  “A job, you say?”

  Yukina parroted the words back, a blank look on her as she tilted her neck.

  “I keep this secret from school,” Asagi said, sticking her tongue out a little. “I do something like part-time freelance programming, see. Sometimes what’s requested is a lot like illegal hacking. Of course, I’ve never had my arm twisted this much till now.”

  “Part-time…hacking, you say?”

  Yukina was more and more confused. Though Yukina was a nationally qualified Counter-Demon Attack Mage with in-depth knowledge of ritual magic, the drawback of that special education was that her knowledge of other subjects was below that of other girls in middle school. Even though she’d heard the term hacking before, she couldn’t picture the details in any concrete way.

  “It’s a special job using computers. It’s stuff like writing custom programs, invading corporate networks, deciphering passwords…”

  “…Why would the Black Death Emperor Front go out of their way to demand you do such work for them?”

  With the Island Guard in pursuit, the Black Death Emperor Front was taking quite a risk abducting a mere high school girl like this. She couldn’t understand why they wanted a single programmer to the point of courting such danger.

  “I think it’s strange, too. The Black Death Emperor Front’s terrorists who were causing problems in Europe a few years ago, right? I wonder what got their attention on me.”

  Asagi, using her receptionless cell phone in place of a mirror, straightened out her disheveled front locks. As she did so, she indeed looked like nothing more than an ordinary high school girl. Yukina didn’t think she was a person of such unusual ability as to catch Gardos’s eyes. But…