La Folia’s eyes sparkled as she looked at Kojou.
Her unexpected proposal made Kojou’s eyes bulge as he looked around the area.
“Right now?! Here?! That’s a little…”
“Giggle…then with all haste.”
“No, ah, that’s too much haste…!”
“Come, Yukina. Please give me my ring.”
“Eh?”
Yukina, thrown off from the sudden invocation of her name, raised a clueless voice.
La Folia smiled and stared at Yukina as if to test her.
“You still have rings left from those you received from Zana Lashka, yes?”
“Ah…er, well, yes…”
Yukina took a silver ring out from her uniform pocket. The pact ring sealed a portion of Kojou’s body within, a catalyst for the sake of producing a mimic vampiric Blood Servant.
“I, too, expended spiritual energy beyond my limits to seal the rampaging black Beast Vassals. If it is a countermeasure against angelification, I believe that qualifies me to be Kojou’s servant just as much as you and Kanon?”
“That…may be so…”
Yukina’s words vaguely trailed off. Her expression told them she didn’t really know if it was a good thing to hand that ring to La Folia.
“Aaa…”
That moment, La Folia let out a tiny moan, losing her balance as if she was dizzy.
“La Folia…?!”
Yukina instantly reached out with her hand to support the tottering princess. Slipping right past Yukina’s flank, La Folia twirled around to face her again. The princess’s fingers were grasping the silver-colored ring. She’d plucked it from inside Yukina’s hand in the moment they passed each other.
“I see. So this is a catalyst ring.”
“Wh-when did you…?!”
The suggestive way La Folia lifted up the ring made Yukina stare with a shocked expression.
The princess swiftly put the stolen ring on her ring finger.
“Zana Lashka provided eleven rings in total. Of these, the Attack Mages of the Lion King Agency and the Bureau of Astrology have taken four. The ogre of the Castiella family took one for the sake of bringing the Electoral War to a close. Kanon has used one to halt her angelification… Now that I have taken this one, this would leave four.”
“No, that leaves three. I’m taking mine right now.”
While Yukina was distracted, a tiny hand came in from a blind spot and snatched another ring from her hand. A smile of relief came over the small primary schooler wearing a beret now that she’d obtained her own ring.
“Eh?! Yume…?! But that’s…”
“I understand. This is just a preview.”
“P-preview?”
“Yes. You just watch. In another three years, I’ll be able to be lovey-dovey with Mister Kojou as much as Miss Yukina and everyone else!”
“Wait…wait a moment. I am not lovey-dovey with Akatsuki-senpai…!”
Yukina was desperately trying to deny it, but Kojou was thinking, That’s not the problem here, sheesh.
For her part, La Folia shot the primary schooler a gaze as if they were powerful enemies on equal footing.
“Yume Eguchi, also known as Lilith, the World’s Mightiest Succubus, yes? As I shall be Kojou’s lawful wife, I cannot have you frittering around him.”
“Princess La Folia of Aldegia, I am surprised, you are just as pretty as the rumors say. However, I will someday snatch the throne of lawful wife from you!”
“Why is La Folia being his lawful wife being taken for granted…?!”
Yukina muttered in a quiet voice so that neither Yume nor La Folia could hear her. It was then that a tall, slender girl appeared right behind Yukina without the slightest warning.
“Hmmm…if you have a spare one, I guess I’ll grab one for myself.”
“M-Miss Yuuma, you too?! Wait a… Give that! Give that back!”
With a light toss, Yuuma whisked away a third ring. Realizing this, Yukina hurriedly tried to take it back, but the height difference between the two meant Yuuma could raise her hands too high for Yukina to reach.
“Return it…? I cannot comply with your request. Properly speaking, these are Kojou’s to administer and not yours, are they not? Right, Kojou?”
La Folia critiqued Yukina’s words with a calm tenor. The blackhearted princess was in her element when it came to negotiations like this.
“Ahhh…well, feels like it now that you mention it…”
Kojou hesitantly acknowledged what La Folia was saying. Yes, Zana Lashka had directly handed the rings to Yukina, but that was because Kojou had fallen unconscious from Zana having carved a hole in his chest. Under normal circumstances, Kojou should’ve held the rings because the pacts were being made with him.
“Uuu…”
Exposed not only to La Folia’s objecting gaze but those of Yume and Yuuma as well, Yukina reluctantly handed the final ring over to Kojou.
Kojou sighed wearily before simply stuffing the thing into his pocket.
“So what of the acts of vampirism? Shall we do them here and now?”
Watching that course of events with visible satisfaction, La Folia looked up at Kojou and posed her inquiry. Kojou reactively distanced himself from the princess.
“In a situation like this? Like hell I can!”
“You do not need to be concerned for my sake…having others see…that might well be a turn-on, giggle.”
“The fact that I can’t tell how much you’re joking is really scarin’ me…!”
“Well, let us leave it at receiving the ring for the time being.”
Pfft, went the tiny laughter escaping La Folia’s lips as she gracefully shrugged her shoulders.
“You need not be concerned for my physical condition. Unlike Kanon, I did not employ my spell with my flesh alone. Large-scale spells employed by the Royal Family of Aldegia are fashioned with support from a spiritual reactor as a premise.”
“So Kanase pushed herself too hard takin’ a Beast Vassal on all by herself, huh?”
I get it, said Kojou, accepting La Folia’s explanation. Yes, said the princess’s smile.
“I suppose she did. It must indeed be the power of love?”
“Er, love…she’s kind to everyone, right?”
“…I suppose we can leave it at that.”
For once, La Folia murmured in a slightly exasperated tone of voice. She then shifted her gaze to the jewelified Aradahl and Zana once more.
“More importantly, the immediate issue is what to do about them.”
“Himeragi, can’t you use your spear to lift the jewelification?”
Kojou suddenly thought of something and asked Yukina. Yukina sank into thought with a serious look on her face.
“I believe it is possible. Snowdrift Wolf cannot reverse normal petrification, but their current state seems to be a type of sealing so—”
“Yeah, but you should probably pass on that anyway.”
Yuuma interrupted Yukina midsentence. Kojou looked at Yuuma with a bit of surprise.
“Why’s that?”
“Himeragi’s spear might be able to neutralize the magical energy, but the shock from destroying the seal with brute force from the outside might wreck the cells of people on the inside. If you’re gonna lift it, better to take your time and do it slow.”
“…So it’s like thawing frozen food, then.”
Kojou aired a silly-sounding comparison, but even he could understand how the more powerful the magic, the bigger the backlash from lifting it.
“Besides, Snowdrift Wolf’s attack would inflict damage on Chairman Aradahl to begin with so…”
“Ahhh…”
Yukina’s apologetic-sounding explanation made Kojou back down for good. The Divine Oscillation Effect emitted by her spear neutralized demonic energy, allowing it to inflict lethal damage to vampires.
“It is no doubt safest to return them to the Warlord’s Empire without any excessive intervention, though in that case, the standing of Chairman Aradahl might become somewhat frayed.”
La Folia spoke in a thoughtful tone.
If word of Aradahl, feared as a vampire of martial prowess, being neutralized by a little Deva girl spread through his homeland, it would likely be a humiliating stain on his reputation. Losing only his status as chairman of the Imperial Parliament would be the light version. Failing that, he might have his lands and title stripped from him—Kojou couldn’t even dismiss the worst possibility that he might be executed. If that happened, Kojou would have an awful time sleeping at night.
La Folia sank into thought with rare earnestness.
“If possible, I truly do not wish to pass on an opportunity to put him greatly in my debt…”
“Debt, sheesh…”
Kojou sighed wearily at the princess’s very calculating words.
The very next moment, a reserved voice flowed from the robot tank’s speakers.
“Ah…ladies and gentlemen…I pray you, pardon me. Concerning Sir Aradahl and Lady Zana…”
“Lydianne?”
Knowing how high-tension “Tanker” normally was, her meek demeanor made Kojou look back with deep suspicion.
A pile of rubble. Island Guard members hastily moving to and fro. Hovering dust particles illuminated by the rays of the setting sun through the broken ceiling. The scene was the same as before.
Nothing was happening to throw Lydianne into a state of confusion. Nothing, save one tiny change—
“The remains of both have vanished.”
“…?!”
The sudden disappearance of the jewelified Aradahl and Zana made Yukina, Yuuma, and even La Folia gape.
None of them had felt someone taking Aradahl and Zana away. There was no trace of someone having used teleportation. The two jewel statues that had been there were simply gone.
It was a small anomaly with neither the objective nor the means being known to them. Amid Yukina and the others’ unrest over this mystery—
Er, they aren’t remains, damnit, Kojou thought to reassure himself.