Fourteen hours remained until the Fourth Assault Garden arrived at the first defensive line. Excalibur Academy’s elite units gathered in the Capital’s military harbor. Each platoon was to gather there and board the battleship Hyperion.
“Princess Altiria will be joining the battle, too,” Riselia whispered as she looked up at the large vessel.
“Without the Spirit she uses, Carbuncle, the ship can’t show off its top-of-the-line specs, after all,” Regina whispered back.
The last time they snuck onto the Hyperion was roughly six months ago. They were attacked by armed terrorists at the time, making for a scary experience.
“Oh, Riselia Crystalia!”
Someone called out Riselia’s name from behind. The two turned around, spotting Fenris Edelritz from the Executive Committee approach.
“Fenris. You volunteered to join, too?”
“Hah, but of course.” Fenris threw her hair. “If you volunteer, how can I, your eternal rival, not do the same? I-I most certainly didn’t do it out of concern for you.” She then looked away, her cheeks flushed. “Which reminds me, where have you been for the last day or so?”
“Oh, I was, uh…outside the city on a mission.”
“Don’t lie to me. The eighteenth platoon wasn’t ordered to go on any such mission.”
“W-well…”
They were given a gag order about the events at Elysion Academy, and she surely couldn’t tell Fenris they were investigating the Void World.
“Not that I was concerned for you or anything of the sort, but as a member of the Executive Committee, I can’t approve you acting without permission.”
“Right, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to worry you.”
“L-like I said, I was not concerned for you!”
“Captain Fenris, what are you doing? Everyone’s here!” a member of the eleventh platoon called her over.
“I’ll be right there. I will be off, then. A good day to you—ow!”
Fenris made to turn in place dramatically and saunter off, but then let out a cute yelp and held her forehead.
“Wh-what is this? It’s like I bumped into a pane of transparent glass…” Fenris walked off, looking baffled.
“Lady Fenris is always so hot and cold when it comes to you,” Regina shrugged.
As Fenris walked away, they noticed Leonis approach.
“Oh. Leo!”
“Over here, kid!”
“—I’m sorry, was I late?” Leonis walked over to them, and then… “Huh. Is there something there?”
He squinted, staring into thin air.
“Master, my stealth mode has been spotted.”
“Whoa!”
Space contorted for a moment, and Schwertleite’s head appeared, everything under her neck still invisible.
“L-Leite, having just your head visible is a little creepy…”
“You brought Schwertleite along…”
“Yes, if the Fourth Assault Garden is out of control, there’s a chance the city’s defense systems have been fully taken over. So I thought bringing her along might be a good idea.”
“Yes, you might be right…”
“…By the way, Leo,” Riselia asked. “Where did Veira go?”
Veira vanished from the training ground and she hadn’t seen her since. Rivaiz, who had been out on a date with Regina in town, disappeared somewhere when Regina was distracted with playing a dance game.
“I don’t know. Those two go wherever their whims take them.” Leonis shrugged.
“I just wish I could have thanked her…”
Honestly, Leonis wished he could have asked for their help, too.
But that would probably be asking for too much… He shook his head internally.
He couldn’t impose on them any longer, and the two of them had their own problems and business to attend to.
“Oh, Sakuya’s here… Wait, what’s that?” Regina pointed ahead, frowning in confusion.
Sakuya approached on the back of a large black dog, who came over with leisurely steps.
“Oh hello, you three. I’m sorry I’m late.”
“…Why are you riding Fluffymaru, Sakuya?” Riselia asked, bewildered.
“Oh, I ran into him on the way here. I gave him some specialty millet dumplings and he let me ride on his back. He’s much faster than a vehicle.” Sakuya hopped off the dog’s black and scratched him behind his ears.
Fluffymaru narrowed his golden eyes pleasantly.
“Mm? What’s wrong, kid?” Regina said, noticing the mixed expression on Leonis’s face.
“Nothing,” he replied.
“So we’re all here now. LET’S GET ON BOARD.”
Riselia turned to the Hyperion’s boarding gate.
“What about Fluffymaru, Miss Selia?”
“Don’t bring him on board.”
✦ ✦ ✦
The eighteenth platoon were allotted a cabin on the Hyperion’s second floor.
…Blast it all, Blackas. She completely has you domesticated. Leonis sighed, sitting on his bunk bed.
Riselia and Regina were called to the tactical headquarters by their commanding officer, Diglassê. Schwertleite was likely with them.
Leonis glanced out the window, where he got a view of the majestic Endymion—a ship that was now his.
It really is nice, though. Having my own battleship…
He smiled despite himself. Leonis had ships in the past—a fleet of haunted vessels, in fact, with the skeletal ship the Wild Hunt as its mothership. But the subordinate he ordered to serve as the Wild Hunt’s captain, the Bone General Derlich Death Lord, got carried away and encroached into the Lord of the Seas’ domain. This incurred Rivaiz Deep Seas’ wrath, who subsequently sunk the entire fleet.
…Well, that was all over one thousand years ago. I don’t begrudge her for it.
Leonis used his terminal’s camera to snap photographs of the Endymion, when suddenly—
“What are you up to, your Dark Lordliness?”
“…?!”
Leonis turned around with a fright. The air-lock door opened, and Sakuya walked into the cabin.
“M-Miss Sakuya… Why did you call me…?” He hushed his voice, looking around.
“Oh, it’s fine. It’s just you and me, and no one’s listening in.”
Sakuya slipped out of her shoes and sat on a bunk bed.
“That’s not the problem here…”
“Heh-heh, the two of us sharing a secret like this is kind of exciting, isn’t it? Your Dark Lordliness.” Sakuya smiled and poked Leonis on the cheek.
The other day, Sakuya easily discovered Leonis’s identity as a Dark Lord.
“What do you think would happen if the seniors found out that you, cute boy that you are, are actually a Dark Lord?”
“…Wh-what are your terms, Miss Sakuya?” Leonis puffed up his cheeks in a pout and asked defiantly.
…She was extorting a Dark Lord.
“I’m glad you catch on quick, boy… But actually, I need to consult the Dark Lord.” Sakuya stopped poking his cheek, her expression turning serious.
“…About what?”
“Boy, do you know anything about moving dead bodies, or what people call the undead?”
Leonis fell quiet for a moment and then said curtly, “I’m fairly familiar with it.”
Not only was he familiar with it, as the Undead King, he was second to none when it came to knowledge of the undead.
…Well, no. Now there’s someone who’s my match.
As that thought crossed Leonis’s mind, Sakuya edged closer to him on the bed.
“…So you do know about that. I thought so.”
“I’m familiar with it, nothing more. What about the undead?” Leonis asked back cautiously.
Did she realize that Riselia was an undead? But no, what Sakuya said next caught Leonis by surprise.
“The thing is, I think my older sister may have been raised from the dead.”
“Your sister? You mean the one from the ruins…?” Leonis trailed off, and Sakuya nodded.
A blue-haired girl had tried to assassinate Sakuya in Old Town’s sealing area. Since she worked alongside Nefakess, Leonis assumed she must have been another Void apostle. Indeed, Leonis didn’t sense a living presence from her.
…I think I can say with certainty she was a high-ranking undead minion.
✦ ✦ ✦
