However, to Asagi, a high schooler working a mere part-time job, such unrealistic specs were worthless pieces of trivia.
“Damn that Motoki… What’s the big idea, calling me over here?! I’m…so…bored!!”
Asagi set her legs up on the desk in unladylike fashion while she grumbled in annoyance.
“It’s a rush job so we’ll pay, and you can use the supercomputer however you want,” Motoki had said. Seduced by her childhood friend’s rosy words, Asagi had gone to work, wasting a precious vacation day in the process. But all she’d ended up doing was staring into space at a desk, waiting. Out of great tedium, she’d applied for about a dozen software patents, crushed the world champion in computer chess, and hacked the surveillance cameras at Kojou’s apartment building, but naturally, such ways of killing time had their limits.
“Hey, Mogwai. Are you listening? I’m getting hungry here… I’m hungry!”
Asagi flailed her limbs around like a child as she called out to the surveillance cameras. Then, with unexpected timing, Asagi’s cell phone made a noise—the tone for an arriving message.
The sender of the message was Yaze. The contents were simple. Namely: “Today’s business is all done, so you can head on home. Thanks for the hard work—”
“Excuse me?! Geez, what the hell?!”
Asagi glared at her cell phone’s screen and shouted. Behind her, she heard the sound of air draining away. The airtight lock sealing Asagi in had been released.
“Why that…! Mark my words…you’ll pay for this…!” Asagi muttered as she menacingly clenched her fist.
Thus, without fanfare, did her day come to an end—
In a cabin on the giant cruise ship Oceanus Grave II, Dimitrie Vattler tilted a wineglass. The crimson liquid, with a whiff of iron hovering around it, swayed within his hand.
There was a tablet device placed on the table displaying a newspaper company’s website. The top headline proclaimed CIVIL WAR COMES TO AN END. The rebel army in the Chaos Zone had been suppressed without the Chaos Bride needing to take to the field.
Combat had ended with a whimper and no major civilian casualties. This had the unintended effect of elevating the Third Primogenitor’s stature as a stateswoman.
Evidence of the civil war being a CSA military scheme had been publicly unveiled. There were allegations that this evidence included the name of a commissioned female special forces officer who’d been wounded and taken prisoner.
As a result, the CSA had been showered with international condemnation and was instructed to pay reparations to the Chaos Zone.
As Vattler gazed out the window, a youthful vampire with a handsome, androgynous face asked him, “Are you satisfied with the matter…? It would seem that aiding the Chaos Bride has antagonized most of the elders.”
His jade-green eyes seemed melancholic somehow as they turned toward the article on the tablet.
Dimitrie Vattler was an aristocrat native to the Warlord’s Empire, a pure-blooded vampire directly descended from the First Primogenitor, the Lost Warlord. His vampiric kin could not be very pleased that he had aided the primogenitor of another bloodline. However…
“I don’t mind. My grandfather probably found it funny. We showed him something somewhat amusing, after all.”
Light shone through the expensive, hand-cut glass as Vattler shook his head with a smile. The look of enjoyment in his eyes seemed to leave the youth, Kira, both pleased and conflicted.
In other words, it was the same as usual.
“C, is it?”
Kira murmured with a sigh. The corners of Vattler’s lips quietly curled up in a smile.
“Had Kojou not stopped Zazalamagiu, the Gigafloat Management Corporation would no doubt have activated the circuit. That is why they placed the Priestess of Cain within the chamber. Thanks to this, we saw the other part of Itogami Island, the true form of the Demon Sanctuary, for a brief time.”
For a moment, Vattler’s blue eyes glowed crimson.
Reflected in his eyes was the building at the center of Itogami Island—Keystone Gate.
The sun was just setting over the horizon. The dazzling reflections gave the building a golden hue.
“Besides, thanks to treating the Chaos Bride well, I have received such marvelous presents.”
Drinking the crimson liquid dry, Vattler looked over his shoulder with the expression of a child who’d laid his hands on a new toy. Then, he called out to the girls standing at the edge of the window.
“Is that not so, Hektos, Dekatos—?”
The two girls, both with beautiful, fairylike visages, replied to his address with a nod.
Depending on the angle, their thin, billowing blond hair seemed to change into the colors of the rainbow.
In the evening…
Kojou and Yukina were restlessly looking up at the clock in the hospital corridor. It was a medical facility under the Gigafloat Management Corporation, home to a medical wing that specialized in diagnosing demons and Attack Mages in the Demon Sanctuary.
Along the way, the pair had also met up with Kanon and Astarte, who were sitting on a nearby bench. They all held uneasy expressions, save for Nina, who wore a sulk instead. This was because the hospital did not allow pets, forcing her to pretend to be an inanimate doll.
Finally, the door that led to the diagnostics lab opened, and Natsuki Minamiya emerged. She was, as usual, wearing an out-of-place outfit—namely, an extravagant dress and a folding fan.
Kojou rushed over to her and asked, “Natsuki…how’s Celesta?”
The Attack Mage had arranged for Celesta, who immediately lost consciousness after the prior events, to be taken to that hospital. Thereafter, Celesta had undergone testing. Even if she had somehow been rescued, she’d been fused with a dark god. She’d been extremely frail, and there was concern about aftereffects and other reactions.
Natsuki looked at the worried faces on those present. “Well, aren’t you all worked up?” she remarked with a sigh. “Though it was basic testing, no signs of lingering divine essence from the dark god were found.”
She spoke in her usual, composed tone of voice.
“Then that means—,” Kojou began.
“It means that she is no longer the bride of Zazalamagiu.”
“That so…” Kojou leaned weakly against the wall. “I’m so glad.”
That eliminated the possibility someone else would go after Celesta to sacrifice her. Now, she was free.
Overhearing this, Kanon and Astarte also touched their chests in relief.
“I wonder, is Celesta’s body all right?” Yukina inquired as she supported Kojou’s slumping form before he fell to the floor.
Celesta’s flesh and blood had surely borne quite a burden from the sorcery used on her in rituals past and the strain of being bathed in divine essence. That must have affected her mentally, too.
“There are residual effects to some degree requiring treatment here on Itogami Island, but it shouldn’t be too serious. After all, unlike Angelica Hermida, she was the proper bride, meaning she had high compatibility with divine essence,” Natsuki explained in a perfunctory tone. Having only completed basic testing, she had nothing more to say about the girl’s health.
“Ahh, beyond that, it seems that the Chaos Zone is covering the costs of Celesta Ciate’s treatment and her living needs thereafter. The formal paperwork should be on its way in short order,” she added.
“The Chaos Zone—you mean Giada…? Why would she…?”
Kojou blinked, looking like he’d been slapped in the face. The Chaos Zone was only indirectly connected to the incident. In terms of nationality, Celesta herself was likely a subject of the Chaos Zone, but he didn’t think that warranted direct national support to one little girl wrapped up in an incident with another country.
“It’s not really that surprising, is it?”
Natsuki looked back his way; if anything, she seemed to find his skepticism to be strange.
“Thanks to Celesta Ci
ate’s incident, they were able to demand hefty reparations from the CSA. I would think this is the least they could do.”
“Ah…you have a point.”
Put that way, Kojou understood. The Chaos Zone had been the prime beneficiary of Kojou and the others interfering with Angelica Hermida’s mission.
“Nothing for me or Himeragi, then…… It just doesn’t feel right…,” Kojou mumbled, his honest opinion trickling out.
Regardless of the fact that they’d been involved solely on Vattler’s whim, Kojou and the others had faced death several times over in the process. He thought they had a natural right to demand an apology and fair reparations. Of course, he genuinely felt he didn’t need a reason to rescue an acquaintance, but this was a separate issue.
Overhearing Kojou, Natsuki curiously tilted her head.
“Mmm? I think you gained something quite significant this time around…”
“…I did?”
What does she mean? he thought. Of course, he had no idea what she meant. However, that did not seem to be the case with Yukina. Abruptly, she looked up at Kojou as if just remembering something.
“Come to think of it, senpai, it seems you were using a new Beast Vassal, so—”
“…Huh?!”
Kojou’s entire body seized up like a rusted gear.
Stiffly rotating his head to look back at Yukina, the hushed voice in which he spoke was the most he could manage.
“Th…that so?”
“Yes. During the battle with Zazalamagiu.”
The look in Yukina’s eyes made him feel distinctly uncomfortable.
The Fourth Primogenitor was said to be served by twelve Beast Vassals, but Kojou had not actually tamed them all yet, for bringing a new Beast Vassal under his dominion required acts of vampirism. That meant drinking the blood of a powerful spirit medium, the only feed suitable for a Beast Vassal.
Of course Yukina, being Kojou’s watcher, knew all this. Engaging in vampiric activities when her back was turned was a big, serious issue between them.
“Ah, come to think of it, didn’t you say at the time you had something to talk to me about?”
Kojou, feeling cornered by Yukina’s suspicious gaze, tried to force a change in subject.
“Er, yes…but…not in a place like this…”
Unexpectedly, he easily deflected Yukina. Maybe I can get her to back off, thought Kojou, but when he embraced that slender thread of hope, an unanticipated disturbance in the corridor only added to the chaos.
“—Kojou Akatsuki. Is this funny-looking foreigner an acquaintance of yours?” Natsuki asked with an exasperated expression on her face.
“What?”
Kojou shifted his gaze. Standing there without any aura about her was a female, silver-haired knight, wearing a military uniform modified to look more like a ninja outfit.
Of course Natsuki’s outfit stood out, but the lady knight’s appearance stood out even more. White-gowned hospital staff were glaring at Kojou and the others, wondering what in blazes was going on.
“J-Justina…what are you doing here?”
Kojou looked at her in a fair bit of shock. For some reason, Justina, said to be always covertly guarding Kanon, had come right out into the open. She was carrying a large-screen tablet PC at chest level.
“I, Interceptor Knight Kataya Justina, have been commanded by my liege, Princess La Folia Rihavein of the kingdom of Aldegia, to visit thee. Sir Kojou, please look at this.”
“R-right…”
Kojou, nodding despite not understanding, looked down at the tablet’s screen. It was a video chat being transmitted over the Net. In front of the camera sat a silver-haired girl who greatly resembled Kanon, but she was wearing an ornate, ceremonial military uniform.
“Tee-hee. It has been a while, Kojou. I am glad you and Yukina are well.”
Perhaps the silver-haired girl could see Kojou and the others as she spoke with an elegant, highly dignified, smiling face.
Kojou’s eyes popped wide at the unexpected individual’s arrival on the scene. This was a girl whose beauty was said to be the Second Coming of Freya, crown princess of the Aldegian royal family of Northern Europe, La Folia Rihavein—
She was beautiful, noble, kind, and wise, boasting enormous popularity among the populace, and basically a storybook princess, but actually, Kojou had a fairly hard time dealing with her. That was because she was so smart, he couldn’t tell what she was thinking, and on top of that, her occasional schemes frightened him.
“La…Folia…what are…?!”
“I received a report from Justina. By rights, I should drop everything and join you so that we could celebrate together, but unfortunately that wish cannot be granted.”
The beautiful princess of the Northern European kingdom of Aldegia spoke those words, lowering her eyes in apparent regret.
What is she talking about? Yukina’s stare at Kojou seemed to say.
A cold sweat broke out on Kojou’s back.
Interceptor Knight Kataya Justina was always monitoring Kanon from the shadows. So if there was something that she had witnessed, it had to be referring to…
“B-by report, you mean—”
“Why, this video, of course.”
At La Folia’s instruction, one of the princess’s waiting ladies operated a terminal. The chat screen cut out, only to be replaced by an already-edited video.
It showed a dimly lit cabin—one with piles of sheets, towels, and other linens used aboard a ship. In a narrow pathway between those piles sat a wounded Kojou.
Behind him was a half-naked Astarte, and in his arms rested Kanon, dressed only in her underwear.
Kojou’s mind went blank as the air chilled all around him.
“Wait a… Th-this means… Don’t tell me she was peeping?!”
“Justina is an excellent bodyguard, after all. I apologize for the resolution and audio.”
La Folia appeared on the screen once more with a somewhat proud smile.
“Bodyguard?! Ain’t this just being a photographer?!”
“You do realize that this was an illegal act of trespassing on a ship privately owned by the Duke of Ardeal? Surveillance camera footage would appear to remain in the Duke’s hands, as well.”
“Wha…?!”
Kojou was struck speechless. Now that she said it, it made perfect sense. At the time, Kojou and the girls were aboard the Oceanus Grave II. Dimitrie Vattler was the last man to let such an amusing scene slip through his fingers.
“Kanon is my precious relative, so I should count her tying her destiny to yours as a blessing. But I am a little jealous, of course. Tee-hee.”
La Folia stared at Kojou, speaking in a tone that he couldn’t peg as either joking or serious. Kojou felt fiercely anxious about the implied meaning of her roundabout way of speaking.
“T-tying her destiny to mine…? Um, La Folia…”
“Also, this is a message from Father. He said, ‘I want to meet Kojou—and soon. Tell the bastard to say his prayers.’”
“Wait a— By your dad, you mean the king of Aldegia?! You mean at the head of his entire army…!”
“You really should take responsibility for us, then.”
“Uaaaaaaaaa!” Kojou finally screamed. He hadn’t even had time to notice that La Folia had deftly inserted herself into the situation. Kojou didn’t know why he, who had done nothing he should be ashamed of, should find himself backed against the wall to that degree.
“B-but that was just one act of blood donation— Kanase, come on, say something.”
If the other party concerned explained things, even La Folia would understand. It was an act of medicine. Kojou called out to Kanon with that belief. But perhaps Kanon did not grasp the situation they found themselves in; her typical, reserved little smile came over her as she lowered her eyes, visibly embarrassed.
“I—I was very clumsy, but…”
“No—! Not that—!”
Why did she repeat that of all lines? thou
ght Kojou in despair.
With Kojou unnerved, Yukina stared at him, seemingly beside herself as she made a little sigh. He really is incorrigible, said her somewhat sympathetic expression.
“Himeragi—”
Seeking rescue, Kojou shifted his gaze toward Yukina.
He remembered how the two had felt like one when they struck down the dark god at the end. Yukina knew that Kojou had been injured and that he’d used a new Beast Vassal to rescue Celesta. In the end, one more time, she was the only one left for him to rely on.
“I understand,” Yukina said, nodding as she looked back at his pleading eyes. “It is all right. I already knew that you are an indecent person.”
“Whyyyyyy?!” shouted Kojou, facing the window.
And so the menace of the dark god passed, and the anguish of the Fourth Primogenitor, the World’s Mightiest Vampire, deepened just a little bit more.
A peaceful night befell the Demon Sanctuary—
Afterword
There was a bit of a gap since the publication of the last volume. Hi, it’s been a while.
So Strike the Blood, Vol. 10 has reached the shelves.
This time, while following classic Strike the Blood style, I aimed to change things up a little and feature characters I hadn’t had much of a chance to portray lately. It feels like Jagan, Kira, the Oceanus Grave II lady brigade, Nina, and Justina have settled into Itogami Island rather nicely, so I think that worked out well.
Perhaps someday I’ll tell the tale of events in the Chaos Zone, not directly portrayed in this volume, from that side’s point of view. It certainly feels like the queen of that foreign land is due for a return, so I think it’s just a matter of waiting for the right opportunity.
I suppose my main regret this time around was not writing more scenes with Kojou and Yukina all by themselves. Since most of the story is during Nagisa’s absence from the apartment, I would have liked to show off just a little more of them alone.
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