Strike the Blood - Volume 19 - Chapter 3.2

2

“Twenty-fourth in the ruler rankings?” Yaze asked while heading down an extravagant corridor reminiscent of a Western castle.

He was inside Tensou Academy’s elementary school section. Nagisa Akatsuki walked beside him as she stared at the school building with beautiful stained glass like it was quite a rare sight. She was wearing a standard Tensou Academy school blazer instead of her own tattered blazer. A student she didn’t know had lent it to her.

“Indeed,” Lydianne answered with pride as she dismounted from her robotic tank. “Class is grade B, group two. Ruled domains: two. Subjects obtained: nine thousand—in other words, nine thousand Itogami City residents have gathered in this domain and depend upon Lady Yume.”

“It is not through my strength alone,” Yume said, blushing slightly and looking away. “We have Miss Lydianne and these children to thank.”

Neatly following behind Yume were threatening-looking demon beasts as if the creatures had overrun the elementary school. However, from Yume’s point of view, it was more akin to taking domesticated dogs out on a stroll. The other students seemed used to it; several were petting their favorite demon beasts as they walked by.

“And these demon beasts? Were they raised here?” Yaze asked.

“Our Creature Club and our affiliated university’s Demon Beast Veterinary Club take care of raising them,” Yume replied.

“That’s amazing…,” Nagisa murmured in admiration. “Well, this is the Demon Sanctuary’s top school for young girls…”

“Well, the top private schools on the mainland raise horses for horseback riding, too… I guess this isn’t too different?” Yaze shrugged with a strained smile.

Tensou Academy was already famous for its high admission fees; the creatures it raised only further separated it from the common rabble.

Lydianne looked back at the demon beasts with a slightly sad smile. “Appearances aside, we doth know they are quite tame children, so we wishest not for them to fight if at all possible.”

“They sure make a striking first impression, though.” Yaze stared straight at the demon beasts, recalling how the Rogues Alliance remnants ran for it.

Among the various demon beasts, there were ferocious dogs three to four meters in length and carnivorous, monstrous birds. Watching them closer, he couldn’t say they lacked charm, but that didn’t make them not scary.

“Come to think of it, what are the other students doing? Why do they have to depend on li’l Yume here? Tensou Academy should have lots of other registered demons.”

In place of the eerily silent Yume, Lydianne replied, “Two days ago, they were all injured, and so they were transported to the MAR infirmary ship.

“’Twas not only our registered demon seniors. Lady Dorm Mother and the other teachers with Guardsmen training were all injured protecting this domain. They were entrusted to Lady Yume, who soldiers on as the youngest of the ruler candidates.”

“It really poses no problem,” Yume said with a composed air about her. “Our remaining seniors and peers are assisting, and the name Lilith makes for an effective bluff—”

Yaze patted Yume’s head, mussing up her hair as she tried to maintain a strong front. “Baby Yume’s working hard. Good girl.”

“Do not touch me in such a condescending way. Also, I have told you many times I do not desire rude nicknames.”

“Ha-ha, you don’t need to blush like that.”

“How can you interpret everything I say according to your own convenience…?!” Yume coldly glared at him. “You are incorrigible.” However, her face reddened, blushing from Yaze’s shower of praise.

“But you really are amazing, Yume. And thank you, too, Lydianne,” Yaze added. “You really saved us.”

Lydianne puffed out her chest in her school swimsuit-style pilot suit. “’Tis nothing, ’tis nothing. It is a warrior’s natural duty to protect others.”

Yaze smiled with genuine admiration. “Your personality makes you reliable in a situation like this. Or maybe I should say you’re lively…?”

“’Tis a product of training day after day,” Lydianne said, taking on a serious tone. “That said, it is in truth most painful I cannot make use of communication networks. It is electronic warfare where my truest strength dost lie.”

She came off as a silly kid sculpting her personality around her obsession with period dramas, but she was also a genius hacker whose value was recognized by Asagi herself.

However, with Itogami Island’s network currently fragmented, Lydianne couldn’t exhibit her true skills. Because she had been on Itogami Island immediately after the start of the war, she might feel even more frustrated than Asagi.

“I am concerned for Mr. Kazuma as well,” Yume said quietly.

Kazuma was Yaze’s older brother-in-law and the director of the Gigafloat Management Corporation. He was also Yume’s legal guardian.

Kazuma was probably close to the scene when the Order of the End assaulted Keystone Gate, hence Yume’s worry.

“Well, nothing gets by him. I figure he’s all right,” Yaze said.

Unusually, Yume did not object to his irresponsible words. All she did was brush him aside with annoyance, pushing past the hand Yaze used to pat her head.

A student in a standard uniform appeared with a cart and greeted Yume when the group arrived at the demon-beast stables. “Ah, Yume, nicely done. You’re not hurt?”

She was a pristine girl and older than Yume—probably a high school student. As befit a young lady at a famous school for girls, she appeared far more mature than Yaze or Nagisa.

“Yes, I am all right. Thank you very much.” Yume removed her beret and bowed reverently. She, too, was unusually well-mannered.

The upperclassman girl fondly narrowed her eyes. “Yume, food has arrived, so we’ve been distributing it to the people taking refuge in the school. We also brought your group’s rations from headquarters, so do have something to eat when you have time.”

“I am sorry for the inconvenience. Thank you very much. Um, if you could use our help—”

“It’s fine, it’s fine. You’re our ruler after all, so it’s fine to act bolder about it.” The upperclassman smiled.

There were cardboard boxes with MAR Inc. logos placed atop the cart the girl was pushing. These appeared to be meals for refugees supplied by the Electoral War Administration Committee.

Just as she was about to leave with the cart she was pushing, she stopped next to Yume and leaned close to the younger girl’s ear. Then she glanced at the side of Yaze’s face.

“Hey, is that person Yume’s big brother?”

“Ah, no, he’s not really my brother… Though he is family in a sense.”

Seeing Yume’s knee-jerk hesitancy, the upperclassman girl narrowed her eyes in delight. “He’s cute. Introduce us later, would you?”

“Er… I… Um…”

“Tee-hee, later then.”

Before Yume could compose herself, the girl pushing the cart had already left.

Watching her as she left, Yume let out a large, audible sigh. Realizing that Yaze was standing quite close, she glared at him.

“Why are you grinning like that?”

“No reason. I’m just happy you acknowledged me as family.”

Yume brusquely brushed him off before scurrying to the stables.

“Please do not get excited over something so trite. You are older and you’re supposed to be more responsible after all.”

Yaze made no attempt to conceal the smile on his face as the demon beasts cut in front of him. They returned to their cages in the stables just as Yume commanded.

With her powerful succubus ability, Yume was able to control demon beasts as she pleased. If she seriously tried, she could probably directly control another ruler’s subjects and put them to sleep. She was a powerful player in this game. The tranquil air within the Tensou Academy Domain was likely a product of the large amount of faith people placed in Yume.

Yaze felt a little uneasy about that. The rulers of nearby domains had surely noticed the menace Yume posed. He didn’t think they’d just leave the Tensou Academy Domain to its own devices.

Yaze pondered that alone until he heard a voice from inside the stables—a hearty, amiable voice.

“Hey there, little ruler. I brought the demon-beast feed. Is here good?” A very tall foreign man tossed the sack of feed grain on his shoulder to the ground.

One might call him handsome, but the man was very good-looking in general. He was slender, yet his physique was reminiscent of a modern sports athlete. He had tough-looking cargo pants and rugged work boots, but they nicely matched the atmosphere he gave off. That said, it didn’t change the impression that he was out of place in a famed school for young ladies.

“Thank you very much, Ki. The children will be delighted,” Yume said.

There was a woman standing beside the tall man. She embraced Yume with incredible force.

She was a mature-looking beauty with golden-red hair. The clothes she wore were simple, yet they looked frighteningly gorgeous just from the fact she was wearing them. The volume of her breasts and the curvature of her hips were also amazing.

In spite of that, she had an innocent face like a young girl as she rubbed her cheek against Yume’s.

“Oh my goodness, Yume! You’re so cuuute today! I love you!”

“Z-Zana… It hurts to breathe…”

“Oh, sorry. So sorry…!”

Even as she said that, the woman didn’t stop squeezing Yume. When Yaze glanced over, Lydianne was hiding in the shadow of the stables, her hands clasped as if wishing for Yume’s happiness in the next life. It looked like the woman named Zana had already given Lydianne a similarly painful experience.

For a time, Yaze and Nagisa stood in a stupor, watching the strange actions of the mysterious foreign couple.

“Oh!” Nagisa exclaimed, remembering something. She pointed at the tall man, the one named Ki. “He gave me the sugar plum at the airport!”

Ki looked back at Nagisa with a dubious expression. Then it hit him as well. “The young miss from back in Aldegia!” he said cheerfully. “So we meet again!”

“I’m so glad that you’re all right. You said you were going to Itogami Island, and I got worried.”

“That goes for both of us. Man, the Electoral War? I had a good scare when I arrived on Itogami Island to find something like that going on. I don’t know what would’ve happened to us if this little ruler hadn’t lent a hand.”

Ki held out his large hand toward Nagisa as a huge grin stood out on his face. Nagisa exuberantly shook his hand, but Yaze’s expression froze. He knew this man’s name from what they’d been told back at the Aldegian airport.

Founder of the Holy Ground Treaty, the oldest of the vampire primogenitors publicly acknowledged to exist; Emperor of the Warlord’s Empire, the Dominion boasting the world’s greatest military force; the First Primogenitor, aka the Lost Warlord.

That was the true nature of Ki Juranbarada.