While Yogiri and Tomochika were departing by train at noon, George of the first guardian unit and Edelgard, the leader thereof, arrived at the feudal lord's castle.
At its top there was a wide open area, where him, Edelgard and the feudal lord were currently awaiting a guest. The two guards were in their military uniforms, not wearing their regular armors, whereas the feudal lord was clad in most extravagant clothing.
"I know this is about what happened last night, but did we really have to call for a Sage because of it?"
Edelgard only had the now lost trace to the still hidden background syndicate in mind.
Despite how cautious the criminals usually were, they finally got careless when they jumped at the ungifted Japanese, but in the end the guards weren't able to find any useful clues once more.
"Well, isn't there the possibility for it to be that important of a matter? After all, a whole group of people died right before our eyes, yet we don't even know why or how."
George was at his wit's end.
As turned out during their investigation, ten people were victims of the mysterious death. Calling it a major incident wouldn't be too unreasonable.
"Even though the ones that died were random thugs of some provincial city?"
"Isn't it less about who died and more about how they died? We might be dealing with some kind of infectious disease or poisonous gas here, I wouldn't be surprised if one of those responsible for governing this world, namely a Sage, showed interest in the matter."
"Mhm, I still doubt a Sage would concern themselves over it. Then again, no point in trying to think it through; not like we could ever grasp a Sage's thoughts!"
Edelgard threw out her chest as she spoke, although the reason she said it in such a bragging manner was beyond George.
"You guys, don't act up in front the sage, aight?"
The feudal lord warned them.
Incidentally, as far as hierarchy went there was no leader-subordinate relation between feudal lords and guard soldiers. Reason for that was the guardians' task of keeping Japanese individuals in check, which meant that the feudal lords among the sage acolytes, who were Japanese, could very well turn into targets for investigation.
"Say, weren't we two the only ones ordered to be present?"
"Hey now, if a sage's gonna pay a visit to my castle then obviously I gotta be around to welcome them."
"Hmph. Is that so, eh."
The discussion stopped and the mood turned sour, but that didn't last long. Soon a floating disk appeared in the sky above them.
Because the sages resided on top of the floating continent, this was their usual means of transportation.
The silver disk landed on the roof, its hatch opened and a woman in a deep red dress exited the vessel.
Sage Lain. She held the title of the Great Sage's great-grandchild as well as the responsibility for this city and its surrounding area.
"I appreciate the reception."
Lain received their welcome with an arrogant air and walked up to the feudal lord.
"Been a while, hasn't it, Masahiko? Everything going well?"
"It's been a while, indeed, Lain-sama. Yes, there are no problems."
It seemed like Lain and the feudal lord, Masahiko, knew each other from their time as sage candidates.
"And you're Edelgard? I read the report. Take me to the survivor."
"Yes, ma'am! He was already moved to this castle."
Edelgard answered with a salute and lead Lain inside.
＊＊＊＊＊
After entering the castle they all changed location to a room with only a simple bed, on top of it a beastman bound by rope.
The sole survivor of the previous night's incident.
There were no external injuries, but his eyes, nose and ears no longer served their purpose. As such, there was no way for them to question him.
The sage requested to see this beastman, so George and Edelgard relocated him to the castle.
Lain walked up to the dogman and inspected him with interest.
"Hmm, no issues as far as looking at him tells me."
Lain went ahead and pulled up his eyelid. The eye was fine, not squashed, crushed or anything alike.
Even so, when she made him face the light that was pouring in from the window there was no reaction whatsoever.
"Indeed. We applied medical treatment for sake of questioning him, but there weren't really any signs of healing."
"In the report I read that healing magic proved ineffective as well?"
"Correct."
Having heard George's answer, Lain moved the finger that had been pulling up the eyelid and shoved it into the eye socket.
"Sage-sama!?"
"I'm the kind of person that's not convinced until they've taken a closer look themselves."
The dogman squirmed on the bed and raised a voice of anguish. His reaction wasn't surprising; Lain was literally pulling out his eyeball.
"Quiet."
That word alone was enough to make the dogman stop moving. His ears shouldn't have been able to hear, and yet his body went stiff; perhaps he could feel the terror with his skin.
Lain tore the eyeball off the optic nerve and held it before her eyes.
She took a long hard look, but it was no more than a regular eyeball.
"Doesn't look too unusual. Masahiko, you feeling like giving a new eye a try?"
"O, oi! Please spare me with such jokes."
The feudal lord's face went pale for a moment, but it looked like he realized it was a joke right away. Surely those words weren't actually an order.
And yet, he couldn't exactly breathe a sigh of relief. Even if she was joking this time, her mood may just change at any time.
"Anyway, the eyeball's besides the point. Let's move on to the real deal. Heal."
She threw away the eyeball and casted healing magic on the beastman.
Change occurred in the empty socket right away: from one moment to the next a new eyeball appeared.
Indeed, the sage's incredible magic power made the dogman's eyeball regenerate in an instant.
However, the new pupil seemed just as empty as the previous one, void of any reflection.
"Doesn't look like he can see. So despite his organ making a full recovery, its function is still lost. Interesting. Let's try this then."
Lain raised the corners of her mouth, upon which her canines grew longer.
Right after, she sunk her teeth into the beastman's neck.
"What are you doing, Sage-sama!"
Lain's sudden action gave Edelgard a shock.
"Sage Lain-sama is a vampire, were you not aware?"
"But wasn't she completely fine back on the roof!"
Vampires were of the undead, which meant that the sun weakened them. This was common knowledge in their world.
"Lain-sama's class is Origin Blood. The highest rank among undeads, also called Queen of Unlife and Immortal Empress. It goes without saying that such a person wouldn't be bothered by the sun."
"Ooh, you sure know your stuff! And here I thought the Sages' amazingness was only in their magic."
While Edelgard was getting over her surprise the vampire had finished her deed and separated from the neck.
The dogman's body began changing right away.
His nails started growing, his muscles began bulging and his lips gave way to the long canines characteristic for vampires.
When he moved his limbs about, the rope that was supposed to restrain him ripped just like that. He rolled over and fell off the bed.
"Kneel."
Lain commanded the beastman at her feet.
In response, her new underling flapped his limbs, but that was all. It appeared he could tell that he had been given an order and was desperately trying to fulfil it, but he had no way of knowing what kind of order it actually was. At least, that's what it looked like to George.
"So even turning him into my blood won't do. Now that's funny, not even telepathy is working."
Vampires are creatures that turn people into their followers by sucking their blood, which normally made communication through telepathy possible, but even that was being cancelled in the beastman's case.
"Oh well, now he's one of my followers. Do you mind if I take him with me?"
"T-that will be fine, certainly."
Edelgard gave her agreement.
Hearing that, George was relieved. He was worried they might end up stuck with their suspect in his current condition.
"I have to say, this guy has turned into quite an interesting state. The ones responsible for this are the two Japanese by the names of Yogiri Takatou and Tomochika Dannoura, correct?"
"No, well, since they're ungifted we doubt there is anything they could have done, really."
"What kind of idiot are you, Edelgard? Ten people died and those two were the only ones present. Who else are you telling me to suspect?"
"O-of course, that's certainly true, but even so we have absolutely no clue how to proceed under that assumption. We can't lock them away without evidence."
While Edelgard replied, George prepared himself for death.
Actually, it was most likely the same for Edelgard, but despite that she didn't resort to petty excuses.
There were things that were beyond her understanding. She wasn't the kind of shrewd person to try hiding that simple truth.
"I suppose I said some tasteless things there, pardon me. Regarding those two candidates, I actually already heard about them."
Seeing Lain's smug grin, George calmed his heart, realizing his life was no longer in jeopardy, and Edelgard replied.
"Is that so?"
"One of sage Sion's acolytes, Youichi Sudou, contacted me. Apparently those two killed humans and a dragon with instant death magic, or at least something that seemed like it. The whole story sounded more than a little ambiguous, but it did spark my interest. That was also when I received your report."
"I see. How should we proceed in dealing with the two ungifted then?"
"Mhm, about that――"
Lain was about to say something, but neither of the guards were able to hear it to the end.
A blaring roar blasted through the room and made the castle tremble.
George fell into panic, Edelgard clung onto him and both of them were thrown to the floor, where they rolled about until they bumped into a corner of the room.
"What in the world just――"
George voiced his confusion as he rose to his feet, no idea what just happened.
"There!"
Edelgard pointed to the entrance of the room, where a man was standing in the pose of having just swung his sword, excellently transitioned into a stance with no openings.
The floor at that man's feet had formed cracks.
Difficult to believe as it may be, the earlier earthquake appeared to have been the aftermath of that swordsman's step-in.
One half of the door, which had been perfectly split in half, fell to the floor with a thump. However, the man's sword had cleanly chopped in half not only the door, but the whole room: A red line ran through Lain, vertically and exactly through her middle.
That the sword shouldn't have been able to reach that far was undeniable, but George couldn't interpret the scene as anything other than the sudden attacker having cut Lain into two pieces.
"Hero…"
George had analyzed him right away.
"What!?"
"I performed analyze, it's the result! Don't ask me who it is, but he has the Hero class!"
Surprise, shock and awe were written all over the two guards' faces as they witnessed the Hero's sudden appearance.