“Boy. Your name?”
That same Aradahl suddenly looked at Kojou and asked that question. His voice was quiet and tense.
“Kojou. Kojou Akatsuki.”
Aradahl’s oddly formal demeanor put Kojou off. Aradahl solemnly nodded, removing the glove that covered his right hand, tossing it at Kojou’s feet.
“Then, Kojou Akatsuki—in the name of Velesh Aradahl, chairman of the Imperial Assembly of the Warlord’s Empire, I formally challenge you to a duel.”
“…A duel?”
Aradahl’s extremely behind-the-times phraseology made Kojou’s jaw drop.
Of course, seriously being challenged to a duel was a first for him. Yukina, standing beside Kojou, was also rigid, seemingly taken aback.
However, the black-haired vampire nodded with an extremely serious expression.
“Yes, a one-on-one match at sunset tonight. We meet at the breakwater in District D in the northern section of the artificial isle. We fight until an opponent acknowledges defeat or is rendered unable to continue fighting. Should you lose, you will surrender the Dragon of the Swamp to me.”
“…And if I win?” Kojou asked, regaining his senses.
He understood that Aradahl wasn’t kidding around whatsoever.
“Yuiri and Shio, you said… I shall return the two Attack Mages of the Lion King Agency to you. In addition, my Warlord’s Empire shall promise never to raise a hand against the Dragon of the Swamp again.”
“Can I trust you?”
“I swear upon the name of our Primogenitor.”
Aradahl, perhaps taking Kojou’s words as implicit acceptance of the duel, strongly made that declaration.
Kojou was left with no option but to accept his proposal.
Judging from his exchanges so far with the black-haired vampire, Kojou understood that he was a stickler for formality. This challenge was unlikely to be a trap.
Nor were his proposal’s details so one-sided that Kojou got nothing out of them.
Either way, fighting him was unavoidable if Kojou wanted to protect Glenda. At the very least, a duel meant that no one other than Kojou would get caught up in the fighting in the process.
“Sword Shaman of the Lion King Agency and Witch of the Void—I request your presence as formal witnesses for the duel. I imagine this makes my proposal more trustworthy to you?”
“Very well. That would only be proper,” Natsuki agreed.
Yukina, on the other hand, hesitated, clenching her spear as she shifted her eyes toward the side of Kojou’s face. Then, her mind apparently made up, she nodded.
“If that is what the two of you desire.”
“Well met. Then, I shall leave the Dragon of the Swamp in your custody for now.”
Aradahl nodded in satisfaction, the sleeves of his coat draped over his shoulders fluttering as he turned his back to them. Smoky black mist surrounded him, and his back dissolved into thin air. Finally, all traces of his presence vanished, leaving behind only the single glove he had taken off and discarded. It was unclear whether the exasperated sigh that followed began with Kojou or Yukina.
“Velesh Aradahl…chairman of the Imperial Assembly of the Warlord’s Empire, huh…”
“Yes. I have heard of him. It is said he is a martial artist aristocrat, wielder of the Seven Sword Beast Vassals.”
As Kojou clutched his head lightly, Yukina bit her lip, conflicted. She’d voiced no complaint over the duel only because she knew he’d had no other option.
“He is strong, Kojou Akatsuki… Quite possibly stronger than that Dimitrie Vattler,” Natsuki said, delivering the cold, hard truth.
“Seems like it, yeah,” he acknowledged.
Having actually fought the man, Kojou had sensed that as well. Aradahl had bottomless strength, even compared to that maniac Vattler. His power was legitimate, backed by finely honed might. On top of that, he had no openings. Even with the power of the Fourth Primogenitor, he wasn’t sure that he could win.
But still…, he thought.
“Kojou.”
The fingertips of the dragon girl grasped hold of Kojou’s back. Glenda, trembling in fear up to that point, looked up at Kojou as she desperately pleaded to him.
“Save Yuiri and Shio…”
Kojou nodded with a smile. Aradahl was, without doubt, a frightening opponent. In terms of combat proficiency and experience as a vampire, Kojou couldn’t hold a candle to him. He couldn’t even dream of how to bridge the gap.
But even so…, he thought. If there’s any meaning to the stupid power, the stupid name of the Fourth Primogenitor, it has to be for the sake of protecting the people within my reach.
“Yeah, of course—”
Kojou responded resolutely to Glenda, which helped to put her at ease.
Immediately afterward, the girl’s expression brightened. “Dah!” she called out in her usual tone of voice, tackling Kojou into a one-sided hug with the force of someone leaping off a diving board.
Kojou only remembered the rather crucial fact that she was naked when his parka, the only thing Glenda was wearing, slipped down off her shoulders. The dragon girl’s smooth skin and innocent breaths mercilessly stimulated Kojou’s senses. Kojou detected a metallic scent in his nose as he toppled over in spectacular fashion. Gazing at this, Yukina’s shoulders quivered with silent rage.
“Kojou! Kojou!”
“I get it! I get it already; so, Glenda, back up a little, okay?!”
“Senpai, your nose is bleeding! A-and how long are you going to embrace each other?! Glenda, put some clothes on—!” shouted Yukina, who had somehow become the third wheel. The commotion echoed across the school rooftop.
Natsuki shook her head in exasperation as all tension vanished in the blink of an eye.
It was at that moment when the students remaining within the school grounds began to notice them. Nervousness hit Kojou like a ton of bricks as he sensed the impending doom of his own public standing.
Even amid that uproar, Kojou felt a faint whiff of doubt in a rational corner in the back of his mind.
Chairman of the Imperial Assembly of the Warlord’s Empire, Velesh Aradahl—
Why was he after the dragon girl’s life to begin with…?
CHAPTER TWO
DUEL AT TWILIGHT
1
“Whaaat? A duel?!”
Sayaka Kirasaka’s exclamation reverberated throughout the building.
The air was dry and a little dusty. The color-coordinated furniture was antiquated. Old-school dolls and clocks lined the shelves in a disorganized fashion.
The atmosphere of the run-down antique shop’s second floor resembled that of a foreign café. This was the Lion King Agency’s branch office on Itogami Island, a duty station that handled communications and resupply for Lion King Agency personnel active within the Demon Sanctuary.
Thanks to the uproar stirred by Aradahl’s flying boat, which forced Saikai Academy to suspend classes for the day, Kojou and Yukina were visiting the antique shop for the first time in a while. Their objective was to report about Yuiri’s and Shio’s current circumstances, and if possible, they hoped to get information on Aradahl and maybe even hammer out countermeasures against him.
It was an unexpected coincidence that they came face-to-face with Sayaka inside that shop. Apparently, she’d just arrived on Itogami Island on some sort of secret mission. The fact that she was wearing her usual trendy blazer meant she was likely meeting some kind of foreign VIP.
It was this Sayaka who raised her refined eyebrows high in agitation as she closed the distance with Kojou.
“What the hell were you thinking, Kojou Akatsuki?! The opponent’s the chairman of the Imperial Assembly of the Warlord’s Empire, you know?!”
“Uh… Yeah, seems like it.”
“Seems like it; why, you little…”
Kojou’s lackadaisical response made Sayaka gawk, her quivering lips betraying her desperation.
Mounted on her shoulder was a black cat with a
refined mane. Glaring at Kojou with golden eyes, the black cat suddenly began to speak with human words.
“Goodness. A duel with Velesh Aradahl of all people. And over a woman, no less. We have known each other but a short while, Fourth Primogenitor lad. I shall at least pray that your soul might pass on.”
“Master…!”
Yukina made a nervous rebuke as the black cat mercilessly fanned the flames of Kojou’s despair.
The black cat that understood human speech was the magical familiar of Yukina and Sayaka’s master—an elven magician named Yukari Endou. Yukari was using her feline familiar to speak to Kojou and the others from far away on the mainland. This was frighteningly high-level sorcery. However, that aside, seeing Yukina and Sayaka in genuine conversation with a cat always struck Kojou as a comical scene no matter how many times he witnessed it.
“So you open by saying that I’m gonna get killed…,” Kojou grumbled, grimacing in dismay.
“Heh-heh,” said the cat with a twitch of her whiskers. “Of course. You’re facing someone who can boast over nine centuries of combat experience, a monster even among monsters. I can hardly imagine a half-witted vampire like you holding your own against such an opponent. Goodness, how foolish. Even dogs and cats know better than to pick a fight with an opponent they cannot defeat.”
“…I didn’t pick a fight with him at all. He’s the one who challenged me to a duel.”
Kojou gave a weak rebuttal. He was well aware that he might not have been the one to make the challenge, but he was the one who’d foolishly given in to provocation.
“I am sorry, Master. I was right there, yet I was unable to stop either of them…”
Listening to Yukari Endou’s conversation, Yukina dejectedly hung her head. She seemed to genuinely regret not having stopped Kojou from agreeing to the duel.
“Nothing you gotta apologize for, Himeragi. Glenda was depending on me in the first place, and it would’ve been bad if that Aradahl bastard let loose on school grounds any further.”
Kojou both stood up for Yukina and added some excuses for himself.
Looking back on it objectively, he didn’t think there had been any great blame to cast on their decisions at the time. No matter how many words they might exhaust to persuade him, Kojou didn’t think the uptight Aradahl really would have given up on capturing Glenda. The duel with him was unavoidable…even if it was a hopeless battle.
“Glenda… The dragon hatchling resting at the bottom of Kannawa Lake… The Kuraki lass awoke something truly troublesome, didn’t she? Hmph.” The black cat sourly exhaled.
“Master, you knew Glenda’s true nature?” Yukina asked quizzically.
“I knew nothing of her. I have simply heard various rumors about her. As a matter of fact, beings said to be relics of The Cleansing are not as rare as you might believe. Legends of dragons have been left scattered all across the globe. For there to be one more at this late hour is hardly enough for a ruckus this size.”
“So why is that Aradahl guy after Glenda, then?”
Kojou furled his brows as he posed the question. This was the same misgiving he’d felt when he first encountered Aradahl. He didn’t understand why a key player of the Warlord’s Empire would be so obsessed with a mere dragon hatchling that he would resort to a method as idiotic as a duel.
Furthermore, it wasn’t because he saw any value in using Glenda; if anything, it was the exact opposite. Aradahl was trying to capture Glenda so he could dispose of her.
“I truly do not know,” the elf’s black cat familiar replied with an indifferent tone.
“One might pass it off as the distaste vampires—particularly those close to the primogenitors—have for relics of The Cleansing, yet, it is quite abnormal for such a major figure to put in a personal appearance. As for the talk of this dragon being dangerous—in the first place, is the girl truly a dragon?”
“I’d love to ask someone that, but I don’t personally know any other dragons, so…”
Kojou shook his head in indifference. Whether Glenda truly was a dragon or something else didn’t really matter to him. The Glenda that Kojou knew was a cheerful, outgoing girl with a somewhat eccentric personality. On top of that, he owed her for saving his life when he was on the verge of being annihilated by Nod. He couldn’t just abandon her no matter what the reason might be.
“Well, either way, it is not something you need to be concerned about.”
The black cat cut off the conversation coldly.
“And why’s that?”
Kojou stared at the animal in dissatisfaction. However, Yukari Endou’s familiar seemed to mock him as she narrowed her eyes.
“Well, think about it. In half a day’s time, you will have been destroyed by Aradahl, and the dragon girl will have been handed over to the Warlord’s Empire. Two troublesome issues solved for the price of one, something for which the Lion King Agency shall be most grateful.”
“M-Master! Even if it is to Kojou Akatsuki, there are some things a person simply should not say!”
Unexpectedly, the one whose cheek nervously twitched as she chided her master was Sayaka. As if to escape her words, the black cat shifted to the top of her head, whereupon Kojou glared at her.
“And you’re fine with all this? He has Yuiri and Shio hostage, you know.”
“Be it fair or foul, it is those girls who turned their blades toward Aradahl after he made his identity known and invoked the name of the Holy Ground Treaty Organization. That is a far graver matter,” the cat said, annoyed, letting out a sigh.
Yuiri and Shio had thus ended up hostile to Aradahl, an envoy of the Holy Ground Treaty Organization, of their own free will. Their position was fundamentally different from Yukina, who had merely come to Kojou’s aid. Worst case, the Lion King Agency itself would be viewed as opposing the organization—that was the delicate situation they were in.
“Well, I’m sure there is no need to worry about them. Aradahl is a stiflingly formal man, after all. At the very least, he will surely hold them captive under polite conditions until the duel is over.”
“What’ll happen to Yuiri and Shio if I lose the duel, then?” Kojou asked with a serious expression.
There was no guarantee that Aradahl would simply let the girls go unconditionally after defeating Kojou. But nor could it be said that his releasing them was a certainty. When that time came, the Lion King Agency would rescue the girls—even if it was a lie, it was what he wanted Yukari to say.
However, Yukari’s familiar made no such reply. The animal somehow smiled, admiring Kojou. “My, my. You’re quite composed, aren’t you, Fourth Primogenitor lad? If you have time to worry about other people, shouldn’t you be focusing on the things you really want to get done? You should not leave behind any regrets.”
“You sure like delivering bad omens, don’t you…?”
“Ngh,” Kojou grumbled, his face contorting. Yukari’s sardonic statements rubbed him the wrong way, but he knew full well that this was no mere sarcasm.
Even if vampire primogenitors were said to have near-limitless immortality, that didn’t make them invincible. It was possible to neutralize one through petrification or freezing, for instance, and there was also the method of simply destroying the mind.
And combat between fellow vampires always came with the danger of cannibalism. Through a vampiric act, one could rob the opponent of his very identity—something Kojou had experienced for himself when he obtained the power of the Fourth Primogenitor.
At any rate, it meant that losing to Aradahl came with a fairly high possibility of Kojou being annihilated. So she was warning him to ensure he had no regrets.
“Even if you tell me to do whatever I like…” Kojou shrugged. Nothing really comes to mind.
Despite being told he might vanish from the face of the Earth, Kojou just didn’t think it felt real, nor did he feel much like writing a will. If he greeted his friends to say good-bye, he’d only be exposing them to danger.
What
should I do?
Feeling a need to seek advice, he turned to Yukina beside him. In that instant, Sayaka’s eyes opened wide in shock, as if she’d just realized something…
“By things you want to do, you don’t mean— N-no, you mustn’t! If you’re thinking of something lewd with Yukina, you mustn’t, okay?!”
“Wha…?! What the heck?! I wasn’t thinking of anything like that, geez!”
Showered in unjust blame, Kojou’s voice went shrill as he launched a retort. “Oh, really?!” yelped Sayaka as she wedged herself between Kojou and Yukina, lobbing a suspicious gaze toward him. And that’s your fantasy, Kojou was about to point out, but when he opened his mouth to do so—
“Hmph, that might not be a bad idea.”
It was Yukari’s black cat familiar making that murmur in an oddly overserious tone.
“Master!!”
Though Sayaka’s voice made a shout approaching a lament, the black cat distinctly ignored her as she turned and faced Yukina directly.
“You have only just formed a pact with your lord, and here you are on the brink of possibly losing him. Because you are his Blood Concubine, no one would chastise you for giving him one final little freebie. Am I wrong?”
“Freebie…you say?” Yukina’s voice went cold.
“That’s right,” said the black cat with a nod, not forgetting to add, “a very generous one at that.”
Hearing this exchange, Sayaka stopped moving, as if a lightning bolt had struck her dead on the spot. She had just noticed the presence of a ring on Yukina’s left ring finger.
“No way… Concubine… You don’t mean…”
Her gaze wandering about, Sayaka stretched a hand to an instrument case standing against the wall. Then, with a half-instinctual motion, she drew the silver long sword within, pointing its tip toward Kojou.
“K…Kojou Akatsuki! How long have you been enjoying such a depraved relationship with Yukina—?!”
“Whoa?!”
Kojou just barely managed to evade the tip of the sword thrust at him with bloodlust evident. As Kojou’s face stiffened in shock, Sayaka glared back at him with teary eyes.
A War of Primogenitors Page 6
