“The stars have aligned. It’s time to awaken, Riselia.”
…She heard a voice. The voice of a girl, as clear as quartz.
“…?”
Spanning endlessly before her eyes was a wasteland. A wasteland littered with countless weapons. Not simply swords and spears, but all manner of strange weapons, the likes of which she had never seen before.
Riselia could tell right away these weren’t ordinary weapons.
“Are these all…Holy Swords?” Riselia whispered, looking around.
It was like this wasteland was a graveyard for Holy Swords.
“Yes, these are Holy Sword Prototypes, created by the wills of humans resonating with my soul.”
“…?!”
Atop a hill where weapons were piled up was a girl. A beautiful girl with dark-colored hair, crucified atop a pike.
“…Miss Finé?!” Riselia called out at first.
But she was wrong. This inhumanely beautiful girl who carried a transcendental air, was someone she did recognize. Yes, she had seen her when she touched the crystal in the ruins in the Void World…
The one who reached out to Leo when he was down…
The girl smiled at Riselia serenely, still crucified.
“Wait, I’ll save you!”
Barefoot, Riselia raced up the weapon-littered hill. But for some reason, no matter how much she tried, she couldn’t reach the top.
“Awaken, Riselia. Before the other me awakens…”
Riselia tripped and fell prone on the ground. And at that moment, the sword made up of countless Holy Swords collapsed.
“Wait… Who… Who are you…?”
Riselia reached out to the girl as everything descended into darkness.
✦ ✦ ✦
“…Wake up… Lady Selia, wake up.”
“Mm…” Riselia opened her eyes, feeling someone gently shake her shoulders. “Oh, Regina. Good morning…”
Riselia rubbed her eyes sleepily, finding Regina was standing there in her maid uniform,.
“You’re the heir of House Crystalia. You shouldn’t be sleeping at a place like this.” Regina placed her hand on her waist in a huffy pose.
“Mm…?”
Riselia looked down at herself with a start. She was resting on the desk, still clad in her uniform. Looking at herself in the mirror, she saw a triangular impression on her cheek from resting against the desk’s corner.
“Breakfast’s ready, so get up, please.”
Regina pulled open the curtain, filling the room with morning sunlight.
“I-it’s bright… Close the curtain, I’m gonna get reduced to ashes…”
“Why are you talking like you’re some kind of vampire?” Regina frowned. “Just get ready and come for breakfast. I’ll go wake up the kid.”
“…Mm, all right.”
Regina left the room, and Riselia stretched in her seat. She had slept in a very bad posture, but being undead, her body felt no pain anymore. The terminal resting in front of her had entered sleep mode automatically.
I guess I fell asleep after that…
Late last night, after recovering Elfiné’s Cait Sith, Riselia looked up information on the Fourth Assault Garden in her room’s terminal. But halfway through, she’d been overcome with drowsiness and fallen asleep. An undead being can forgo sleep if they so wish it, but for some reason, her mana reserves had suddenly become low, and she had fallen asleep on the spot.
That’s weird. Leo did give me his blood…
She pondered on it for a second before concluding things like that probably just happened every now and then, and switched on the terminal. The same information she’d been looking up last night was still displayed on it.
The Fourth Assault Garden. The Phillet Foundation’s headquarters, governed by Duke Deinfraude Phillet. Its role within the Human Integrated Empire was that of an industrial city that sailed different areas of the sea and gathered resources.
Its Holy Sword–rearing school, the Academia, didn’t make many striking accomplishments in the Holy Sword Dance Festival of recent years, but many of their students had manifested very powerful support Holy Swords.
Duke Deinfraude had moved Elfiné to the Fourth Assault Garden in order to use her for his plan involving the Demon Swords. At least, that was Elfiné’s own speculation, but for now, this was the only clue they had as to her whereabouts.
Right now, the Fourth Assault Garden is in the waters near the Second Continent…
The deployment and formation of the Assault Garden was planned carefully by the Wiseman Council, and according to the schedule, the Fourth Assault Garden would only approach the capital in four months’ time.
We can’t wait that long… Riselia bit her thumbnail bitterly.
Handing over the information Elfiné had about the D-Project to the administrative bureau was too risky. She didn’t know if they could be trusted, and to begin with, at least part of the military was involved with the D-Project. This was why Elfiné was so meticulously cautious as she gathered information.
And what’s more, exposing the information publicly didn’t mean Elfiné’s well-being would be any safer. If anything, Deinfraude might decide to get rid of her.
…So what do I do?
Riselia turned off the terminal, lost in thought.
“Kid, if you don’t wake up, I have methods I can resort to! Royal Hip Attaaaack!”
“Mgha?!”
Only to hear Leonis squeal from the adjacent room.
✦ ✦ ✦
“…That wasn’t nice of you, Miss Regina.” Leonis glared at Regina reproachfully as he took a seat at the living room table.
“It’s your fault for not waking up. And I’ll have you know my butt still hurts from doing that,” Regina said, rubbing her fist on Leonis’s head.
The fragrance of bread baking in the oven and freshly ground coffee beans hung in the air.
“That said, it’s pretty unusual for the two of you to oversleep.”
“I stayed up late last night, looking into something…”
“Listen to this, kid. Lady Selia fell asleep on her desk!”
“…Huh?” Leonis furrowed his brow dubiously.
Riselia wasn’t a low-ranking vampire. Severe mana shortage could make her go unconscious, but she wouldn’t fall asleep on her own from sleep deprivation.
“…Are you feeling sick or something?” he whispered.
“No. This never happened to me before, but…” Riselia cocked her head, confused. “I did have a strange dream this morning.”
“What kind?”
“Hm, I was in a wasteland, and I saw this really pretty girl… H-huh?” Riselia brought a finger to her temple, confused. “…I forgot. And it was such a striking dream, too.”
“…Hm.”
“By the way, Lady Selia, what were you up investigating all night?” Regina asked as she placed plates of omelet rice on the table.
“Right. It’s important, Regina, so take a seat.”
“…All right.” Regina nodded, picking up on the serious atmosphere.
Riselia told Regina about their infiltration of the Phillet Garden and how they discovered Elfiné’s Cait Sith.
“…You threw yourself into danger again, Lady Selia.” Regina sighed with a shrug.
“But what we found was worth the risk,” Riselia said, taking out her terminal and showing a black cat sleeping soundly inside it.
“So Miss Finé is in the Fourth Assault Garden?”
“Yes. Or, well, it’s not certain, but it’s highly likely,” Riselia lowered her voice to a hush and nodded.
“Then we can’t storm in like we did with the research facility.”
“Yes, it won’t be that easy. First, we’ll need to figure out a way to travel to the Fourth Assault Garden.”
“They won’t give us permission to use a tactical aircraft for anything but an extermination mission.”
“We should discuss this with Miss Clauvia for now.”
“That’s a start.” Regina nodded.
But their conversation was cut off by two voices.
“Hmm. Quite the fragrant smell.”
“Oh, this looks good.”
The two Dark Lord appeared from the hallway, dressed in sleeping gowns.
“Oh, good morning,” Regina got to her feet and made to the kitchen. “I’ll get your breakfast ready.”
“Morning, Leo—”
The Dragon Lord and Lord of the Seas sat across from Leonis, making themselves very much at home.
“…Won’t you two go back to your sea and mountain already?!” Leonis chided them in a hushed voice.
“Oh, you really want us to go back?” Veira asked confidently.
“…What are you getting at?”
“I mean, your minion asked me to train her.” Veira glanced over at Riselia.
“—Y-yes, please!” Riselia bowed her head.
“See? Unlike you, Leo, she’s sincere.”
“…Guh.”
The boastful look on Veira’s face was incredibly insufferable, but if this was what his minion wanted, Leonis wasn’t in any position to say anything. The Undead King took pride in not being an intolerant tyrant.
“We get to training after breakfast, so you better brace yourself.”
“Thank you, Teacher!”
“Oh. I was hoping to finally go sightseeing today, though…,” The Lord of the Seas whispered with a hint of disappointment.
“Oh, would you like me to show you around?” Regina suggested as she poured some tea.
“Oh, you’d do that, Lobster Girl? Much appreciated.”
“You can count on me. I know all the hot spots in town better than anyone!” Regina said with a thumbs-up.
It seemed the cold, unapproachable Lord of the Seas had developed a liking to Regina.
And so after breakfast, Riselia and Veira went to the training grounds, and Regina and Rivaiz went to the shopping area and leisure facilities. Left all alone in the dorm, Leonis slowly rose from his chair.
“—I should make my move, too.”
He reached into his pocket, took out the skull mask, and sank into his shadow.