“Suggestion. I request the lending of your cell phone and permission to contact Master again.”
Astarte suddenly spoke, extending her hand toward Kojou.
“Huh? Ahh, you wanna try calling Natsuki again?”
Kojou handed his own cell phone to Astarte’s tendered hand. With Natsuki on duty, she’d tried calling repeatedly earlier but had yet to get through.
“Well, I’ll look after her for a bit, so…,” Kojou said, kneeling beside the bed. He was bereft of medical knowledge, but he could at least stay close to Celesta as she slept.
“I thank you, Fourth Primogenitor.”
Astarte politely bowed her head and left the room.
With nothing else to do, Kojou stared absentmindedly, watching Celesta as she slept.
She had light-brown skin and hair the color of honey. Her graceful visage was the sort typical of those descended from multiple races. However, her sleeping face seemed very young, giving the impression that she was no special individual at all. In short, Celesta was just a normal girl—albeit a little prettier than most.
After all, Astarte’s examination had determined she wasn’t a demon, and even up close, there was no whiff of magic about her. He couldn’t think of a single reason why Vattler of all people would give her the time of day. Kojou began to wonder if the man had sent Celesta to him just to get under his skin again—
It was when such doubts began to creep into Kojou that his and Celesta’s eyes suddenly met.
Ostensibly sleeping, Celesta opened her eyelids, and her big, bright brown eyes looked up at Kojou’s face. Her gaze was unfocused; maybe she wasn’t fully awake.
“H…heya…”
Kojou led off by greeting her with a raised hand, displaying his lack of hostile intent. Then—
As Celesta’s eyes looked at Kojou, they suddenly overflowed with tears.
“Su Excelencia…”
Words trickled from Celesta’s lips—foreign words unknown to Kojou.
“Huh?”
“¡Su Excelencia Señor Vattler! ¡Nací para amarte! ¡Quiero verte!”
Celesta strongly rose to her feet. She proceeded to embrace Kojou without hesitation, with fervor as if she’d been reunited with a long-lost lover—
“W…wait, Celesta! C-calm down! Wake up!!”
Kojou’s voice went shrill as his entire body froze. He could feel the bounciness of Celesta’s breasts through the T-shirt’s fabric. The sobbing girl’s breaths were hot on his neck.
“¡Su Excelencia! ¡Su Excelencia Señor Vattler! Sí, me salvaste la vida…”
Celesta cried out in a tear-choked voice. Kojou gasped and came back to his senses from the one word he managed to make out.
“Vattler…? Wait, you’re confusing me with Vattler?!”
Kojou pried Celesta off him and peered into her face.
That instant, Celesta’s eyes saw Kojou distinctly. She blinked several times over, as if unable to believe her eyes; her expression twitched with shock.
Then, after taking a deep breath, she screamed at an incredible volume.
“Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”
“—Oww!”
Slapped by Celesta, Kojou was sent flying, crashing right into the wall.
“¡¿Quién eres tú?! ¡¿Dónde estoy?! ¡¿Por qué me engañas?! ¡Qué bestia! Hentai!”
Celesta huddled onto a corner of the bed, unleashing a string of rapid-fire insults. A look of fear and hatred came into her eyes as she glared at Kojou.
Hearing the ruckus, Yukina and the others hurried over to the bedroom.
“Senpai?! What was that sound?!”
They were greeted by the sight of Celesta, shivering with tears in her eyes, and Kojou with the mark of her hand on his cheek. Emotion drained from Yukina’s eyes as she stared at him.
“…Senpai…what did you do to Celesta…?”
“W…wait, Himeragi. This isn’t what you think…!”
Nervous, Kojou desperately shook his head. As he did, Kanon stared at him and sadly shook her head as she said, “Akatsuki, I trusted you…and yet…”
“So not only are you the Fourth Primogenitor but a vulgar sex offender as well. Perhaps this is the libido of youth running wild?” Nina remarked in a strangely analytical tone, squatting on Kanon’s shoulder.
Furthermore…
“Upon reflection, supervision was inadequate,” Astarte murmured calmly as she returned.
“Gaaah! Wait, all of you! Shut up and listen instead of just calling someone a sex offender! She’s the one who was hugging me!”
Kojou, irritated at the reproachful gazes trained on him from all present, pointed at Celesta and shouted. Celesta’s shoulders quivered in fear. Watching this, Yukina exhaled slightly.
“So she was hugging you… I see…”
Her voice was devoid of warmth, oozing with unconcealed anger.
“No, I’m innocent,” Kojou insisted, fleetingly shaking his head. He looked up at the ceiling and shouted:
“It’s a misunderstandiiiiiiiing!”
4
Space distorted, and Natsuki leaped.
Her destination was the security control room on the top floor of the airport building. It was the command center for all security inside the airport. The interior of the room, reminiscent of the bridge of a warship, had eight operators and the head of the command center on standby.
In normal times, their work was, in a word, tedious. All the security personnel did was exchange banter between them or quietly watch images from security cameras.
However, that day was different. The monitors in the control center were packed to the brim with countless warnings, and the replies over the radio were in shouted voices on the verge of bursting. Behind the operators, desperately tapping their keyboards, the security room chief stood rooted to the spot in blank astonishment.
“What is it, chief?”
Natsuki bluntly posed the question to the pale-faced officer.
“A-Attack Mage Minamiya!”
Noticing her presence, the chief made an expression as if salvation had arrived.
Natsuki, an independent federal Attack Mage, was less an official member of the Island Guard than a gun for hire. Normally, she was often treated as a pest, relied upon only in times of emergency.
Apparently, an emergency was precisely what prevailed that moment.
“An incident at the entrance’s inspection gate! A passenger suspected of false documentation was being led to a side room when she attempted to break through by force—!”
“A female passenger from a flight from Haneda, yes?” Natsuki murmured while glancing up at a security room monitor.
They’d already visually identified the passenger who’d kicked up the incident: a Caucasian woman wearing a fur-trimmed coat. Her characteristics matched those of Angelica Hermida as described by Gajou over the phone.
She was slender but had excellent posture and long limbs. Her ashen hair was cut short, giving off the impression of some kind of fashion model. However, anyone looking closer would immediately notice that her movements were not like a model’s but more akin to a well-trained soldier’s.
“It pains me to admit it, but it’s just as he expected…! Tell the squad captains, the enemy is military special forces. Do not underestimate her, even if she is unarmed. She likely has squad mates nearby,” Natsuki cautioned, opening her lace-trimmed fan.
Angelica Hermida had already defeated a number of airport security personnel attempting to arrest her. And she continued calmly walking along, even with armed members of the Island Guard surrounding her. The guardsmen had delivered a succession of commands and warning shots, but Angelica had shown no signs of caring.
“Special forces…? But what could she be trying to do, without weapons or magical gear on—”
Thus did the security room chief attempt to rebut Natsuki. However, before his words finished, one of the operators let out a shriek.
“S-squad six, two guardsmen wounded— No, eight casual
ties! Communications cut! They’ve been wiped out!”
“What?!”
The chief’s expression froze over. Natsuki emotionlessly glanced at a monitor, but the corresponding security camera had already been destroyed. Angelica Hermida’s subordinates had begun moving in earnest.
“They’ve broken through Section Five’s exterior wall! No response from squad five or squad seven! Criminal group will arrive at the lobby at any moment!”
“Ugh…! Urgently assemble all units able to respond. Blockade the gate! Don’t let them escape! Get in touch with Island Guard headquarters and the Gigafloat Management Corporation! Hurry!”
“Wait, chief. Don’t blockade the gate,” Natsuki cut in, interrupting the security room chief’s words.
The chief’s eyes widened, as if unable to believe his own ears.
“B…but, Attack Mage!”
“The safety of civilians takes priority. This is a group that can break through exterior walls unarmed. Blockading the gate is futile. As long as they don’t start a gunfight in the lobby, there’s no point trying that hard to stop them.”
“Th-that’s… No, you’re…!”
The chief grunted, Natsuki’s level-headed assertion seeming to make him swallow his words. Apparently, even if the sudden uproar had rocked him on his heels, the man was not so incompetent that he couldn’t assess the situation.
“N-notify all squad captains! Avoid unnecessary combat and prioritize the safety of ordinary travelers!”
“Roger. Notifying all squad captains. Gate blockade, lifted!”
“Squad thirteen, contact lost! Requesting medical personnel—!”
The chaos within the control room increased. However, on the other side, Angelica Hermida and others, appearing in arrival lobby, were, if anything, walking serenely. They seemed keenly aware that the Island Guard lacked the combat strength to stop them.
“Non-lethal wounds, is it? You’re loyal to theory, Angelica Hermida,” Natsuki murmured offhandedly to herself.
Angelica’s unit passed by, leaving only bloodstained guardsmen on the floor behind them. Though all had undoubtedly been gravely wounded, no guardsmen had yet died on duty. Angelica and her people had avoided their vitals.
But that was certainly not an act of mercy toward their enemies.
The presence of casualties in pain lowered the enemy army’s morale, and transporting and treating the wounded cost it more manpower than actually killing the enemy’s soldiers. That was battlefield theory—something that Angelica’s unit strictly practiced.
That fact provided Natsuki with another piece of information.
Namely, that Angelica and the others were not engaged in simple criminal acts. They were soldiers through and through. In other words, their infiltration of Itogami Island was an operation as part of the CSA Army to which they belonged. Angelica Hermida and her subordinates had landed on Itogami Island to carry out some kind of mission.
“Let’s give something a little try—”
Natsuki drew close to the control room window. With Angelica and her people exiting the airport building, she was basically looking right down at them. Then, Natsuki made a swipe with her folded fan.
One moment later, the ground at Angelica’s group’s feet swayed like a ripple.
Silver chains spewed forth from the surface of the ground. This was Laeding, forged by the gods, a magical object used for capture. Countless chains under Natsuki’s control moved to bind Angelica Hermida’s slender body—
“…?!”
The instant she thought she had accomplished her capture, a dazzling purple ray raced across the space surrounding Angelica.
The silver chains bounced off the glow that now surrounded her. Then, without warning, the glass window of the control room was smashed to pieces before Natsuki’s eyes.
“A-Attack Mage…?!”
The control room chief called out to Natsuki in a quivering voice. Natsuki did not respond. All she did was sway her fan without flourishing it, brushing away the glass fragments that had showered her entire body.
“Goodness…and I really liked this outfit, too.”
Natsuki spoke with a tone of displeasure. Her own body was largely unharmed. However, the extravagant dress she was wearing had been cruelly sliced to ribbons by the glass fragments.
The instant she’d been attacked by Natsuki’s chains, the “unarmed” Angelica had unleashed vast demonic energy rivaling that of an Old Guard vampire, which coursed back through the chains, attacking Natsuki in turn.
Without a word, Angelica Hermida looked up at the control room and glared at Natsuki.
She and Natsuki shared a gaze for only a single moment. Angelica proceeded to walk away, and Natsuki watched her go without a word. It was all over in an instant.
“‘Bloodstained’ Angelica…yes? You will pay dearly for this.”
Natsuki’s little lips curled up as she laughed beautifully.
Stretched before her eyes was Itogami Island’s evening sky.
The cityscape, illuminated by the dazzling rays of the setting sun, was an ominous scarlet, as if submerged in fresh blood.
5
Nina Adelard was an alchemist. Her immutable physical body was a liquid-metal life-form composed of what had been dubbed Wiseman’s Blood.
Wiseman’s Blood—living metal said to be the pinnacle of alchemy—was in and of itself a vast source of magical energy, and a high-spec magical object capable of freely altering its own form.
Using a piece of that liquid metal, Nina had created a small silver earring. With an expression of unease still on Celesta’s face, Nina affixed it to her ear.
“Very good. Written text is a step too far, but it should suffice for spoken conversation.”
Nina chanted a brief spell, and a magic symbol emerged on the surface of the earring. The magical translator had been activated.
Yukina politely bowed her head.
“Thank you very much, Nina.”
Not being able to speak to Celesta now that she had finally awoken had them in a bind. According to Nina, the words used by Celesta were similar to, but oddly different from, the lingua franca of the Chaos Zone. That was a solid lead indicating Celesta was native to a land somewhere nearby.
“As expected of you, director.”
Kanon smiled warmly and lifted Nina up.
Nina arrogantly reclined with a grandiose expression and said, “Indeed, you should extol me greatly. However, such a spell is child’s play for a master of alchemy such as I.”
“…That’d come off a little more majestic if it wasn’t you saying it, though.”
It was Kojou, lying on the floor, who grumbled those words with a sullen look on his face.
Kojou’s limbs were bound with chains, measures taken to reassure the frightened Celesta. Incidentally, Kojou’s parka had been used as the raw resource for those chains, transmuted, of course, by Nina the alchemist.
Nina shook her head at Kojou’s sulky stare with a look of amazement and said, “It seems you do not wish it said that you are a perverted primogenitor who enjoys being bound.”
“I’m not enjoying it! The understanding’s been cleared up, so lemme go already! And for that matter, you’re gonna turn my parka back to normal, right?!”
“Not a problem. There may be a twenty- to thirty-percent reduction in volume, but do not be concerned.”
“Like hell I won’t! A parka’s not something you can wear if it shrinks twenty to thirty percent!”
“—Senpai, would you please be a little quieter?”
Yukina scolded Kojou, whose voice was rising as he complained. Then, she began to speak to Celesta, sitting on the bed and holding her knees, like one would approach a small animal with its guard up.
“Do you understand me, Celesta? Celesta Ciate—yes?”
Responding to Yukina’s address, the foreign-born girl gradually raised her face.
Naked suspicion hovered in Celesta’s eyes. She gave Yukina’s entire body a
once-over, going “Hmph,” seemingly disparaging her with a little, scornful laugh.
“Before asking another’s name, should you not first state your own, Plain Girl?”
“P-plain…?!”
Blindsided by insults from the purportedly frightened Celesta, Yukina was momentarily at a loss for words. That said, it was a fact that Yukina came off as less distinctive compared to Celesta’s showy, glamorous looks. Yukina, perhaps tentatively aware of that herself, quickly recovered her senses.
“Forgive my rudeness. Yukina Himeragi. Sword Shaman of the Lion King Agency.”
“Sword Shaman? Lion King Agency?”
Celesta tilted her head slightly, clearly at a loss. Apparently, Nina’s translation spell did not go so far as to translate proper names outside of the person’s own knowledge.
Noticing this, Yukina quickly shook her head and corrected, “Ah… In other words, a priestess. A combat variety.”
“Priestess? You too?”
Celesta raised her eyebrows in visible surprise. Yukina faintly narrowed her eyes at the words Celesta had spoken so casually. However, the foreign girl shrugged her shoulders, seeming to immediately lose interest with Yukina.
“And the pervert over there as well?” Celesta asked.
“Who’s a pervert?!”
Kojou, still rolling around on the floor, bared his teeth in irritation. Surely there was a no reason for someone he’d barely met to peg him as such.
However, Celesta leaned forward, glaring antagonistically at Kojou as she said, “If you do not like pervert, then swindler. You criminal! Human scum! To think you would pretend to be Lord Vattler in an attempt to seduce me!”
“Like I’d pretend to be him! And you mistook me for him all on your own while you were still half asleep!”
“Shut up, pervert! Garbage person! Dung beetle!”
“Y-you’re just a girl who was stuffed in a box…!”
Kojou growled, clenching his teeth while overwhelmed by Celesta’s vilification. However, for her part, Celesta began to wheeze and make little coughs, perhaps because she’d become so suddenly worked up. For all Kojou knew, maybe she was not yet fully recovered from the aftereffects of cryostasis.
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