"Don't let anyone put you down. Stay strong," her sister used to tell her.
Sakuna wasn't really bullied, but since she stood out in the vampire country due to her Sapphire blood, she often found herself the target of thoughtless gossiping.
Her older sister always received her with a warm smile.
"What's wrong? Did something happen again?"
Sakuna told her about how they had to make groups in class, and she was the only one left out. And they'd laughed at her for it.
"Oh. What a bunch of awful kids. I'll go kill them."
"Don't. Please." She grabbed her arm in a hurry.
Her hotheadedness was her sibling's one flaw.
Sakuna looked up at her sister with concern.
"Why does this happen?"
"I think it's a product of the way the world is built. The Dark Core encourages each of the nations to stick to themselves—people only care about their own race, and discriminate against others. It's awful."
"What should I do?"
"Hmm, the thing is you're too shy. You should try being more outgoing. Maybe they'll fight back if you get too assertive, but that's better than doing nothing. And I'll take care of everything if something happens. I'll kill anyone who dares do anything to you."
"Please don't kill anyone…"
"It's actually better to have this mentality. People with strong minds have a special sort of power, and you have what it takes, Sakuna. I can tell."
The gave Sakuna a bit of courage. Though she still felt like her sister's words were too vague.
"…But um, what should I do, exactly?"
"The next time you feel like crying will be your signal. You will feel bad, but you must not give in. Think about what made you unhappy, think very hard about it, and then act the way you want to get out of there. You'll see that you'll be happy then."
Her sister wasn't that much older than her, but she liked talking in this abstract, pedantic way. Sakuna liked that about her; she thought it made her sister seem out of this world. Like a pretty constellation.
"…I'm not sure I get it, but I'll try." Even if she didn't understand, Sakuna respected her sis a whole lot. "Thank you… Komari."
This happened many years ago.
Her kind sister was no longer with her.
★
The patrol had ended with no results.
Sakuna had parted ways with Commander Komarin and her maid Villhaze and was now skipping her way home in the dark. Her cheery spirit was infusing her body with energy.
Working from nine in the morning to ten at night was hard, for sure, but Sakuna Memoir felt no weariness in that moment. Her heart was beating fast. She felt like a little girl who'd gotten to meet her idol.
And how could I not feel like this?! I got to meet Supreme Commander Terakomari Gandesblood! And she patted my head! So gently… So softly… I can still sense her hand on my head! Is there any vampire in all of Mulnite who wouldn't feel like skipping after this?!
"Hee-hee. Hee-hee-hee-hee-hee-hee…"
Sakuna couldn't help but grin. She knew she couldn't afford to be seen behaving like this, but her cheeks didn't care. Though she passed by a drunkard in a military uniform, she barely noticed.
Terakomari Gandesblood was Sakuna's idol. And the reason was quite simple: She had lots of things Sakuna didn't. Komari was cute, charming, strong, and charismatic. She was much more approachable than Sakuna had expected. She was so kind with this mess of a newbie. And despite being the strongest vampire ever, she didn't rely on violence to solve everything.
Sakuna felt like she had to be dreaming, getting to work alongside her like this. She'd thought becoming a Crimson Lord would only bring her misfortune, but strangely enough, it had ended up a blessing.
As all those thoughts rushed through her mind, she unlocked the door of her home—the Imperial Army's women's dormitory. It was a run-down building on the other side of the river, in the middle of the Imperial Palace grounds. The Crimson Lords had much better lodging, but Sakuna liked this old one-room place she had and wasn't planning on moving. She felt at peace there.
"I'm home!"
The door opened with a creak. It was dark inside, obviously. Sakuna forged a small amount of mana, then poured it into the magic lamp on the ceiling. The room lit up immediately.
Before her stood Komari. Not any regular Komari, no. Her handmade Komarin—a life-size doll she'd crafted with the mid-level molding spell Mud Creation. You could tell it was a doll just by squinting a little, but at a glance, you could mistake it for the commander herself. And this wasn't the only onethere—there were fifteen of them throughout the room.
"I'm home, Komari."
Sakuna greeted the Komarin doll with a broad smile. She couldn't leave it at that, however, or her other sisters would feel bad. She greeted them all one by one. "I'm home, Komari." "I'm home, Komari." "I'm home, Komari." Once she finished addressing all fifteen of them, she nodded in satisfaction and threw herself on the bed without even taking off her uniform. She hugged her life-size Commander Komarin pillow and squirmed around as she thought back on the events of that day.
Ahh. Ahhhh… I finally got to chat with my precious Terakomari!
Her heart was overflowing with joy. And the best part was that this joy would continue for a while more. Just thinking of that made her chest throb harder and the grin on her face grow wider.
Sakuna stared up at the ceiling. Spread across it were the all the clandestine photos of Komari she'd bought at the black market. Having Komari filling her entire view as soon as she woke up every morning gave her the energy she needed to make it through the day.
"Hee-hee. Hee-hee-hee."
She glanced away from the ceiling, but Komari was always in view wherever she looked. And it wasn't only the Komari dolls. She had
Commander T-shirts in her closet, newspapers clippings that talked about Commander Komari's exploits, Commander Komari portraits she had drawn
herself—Komari was everywhere. Komari, Komari. Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari, Komari.
There were a total of one hundred Komari products.
There was no denying it: Sakuna was a huge Commander Komarin fan.
If the genuine article saw this room, she'd give a mighty shriek and pass out. Sakuna had no intention of showing it to her, though, so that was A-OK.And should it ever happen, she was prepared to graciously slice her belly open in recompense.
"Ahh… Big Sis Komari…"
Sakuna didn't want to work. She neither wanted to kill nor be killed. That being said… It was also thanks to this same job that she'd gotten to meet her idol.
"And we'll see each other again tomorrow…"
She wanted to talk more with her. To get closer to her. She wanted to know more about her. Everything about her, from A to Z, and once everything was ready, she'd invite her to a dark place and—
Just then, the Correspondence Crystal at her bedside started glowing.
Sakuna's face turned pale. All the joy she'd been feeling vanished in an instant.
It was happening again. All her terrible memories were about to be brought up once more. But she had to answer, or something even worse would happen.
The Crystal kept on glowing, as if to taunt her.
She took a deep breath and, with shaky hands, poured mana into it.
"What in the world are you doing, Sakuna Memoir?!"
She winced.
Violent insults echoed around.
"You goddamn fool! Stupid, cowardly wench! It's been three days already and you haven't killed a single Crimson Lord! Stop your dawdling or the Empress will catch on to us!"
"I-I'm sorry… But I'm not sure I'd be able to overcome them… Besides, the Crimson Lords are rarely alone."
"Then challenge them to a duel or something. They're no civil officials, you can kill them in public! Use your damn brain for once!"
"Th-there's this thing called the Imperial Military Law… According to article eleven, paragraph three, dueling between Crimson Lords for personal reasons is strictly prohibited."
The man went quiet for a moment. It was then that Sakuna realized she shouldn't have retorted like that.
The yelling came like a storm.
"And your job is to do something about that sort of crap!"
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…"
"Shut the hell up! Enough of your whining! Fine, I get it, you're absolutely useless. I'll set the stage for you."
"The…stage?"
"Flöte Mascarail seems to be planning some interesting things, so we'll take advantage of them. Remember that you cannot fail this mission. You'll be a disgrace to Inverse Moon if you do, and there'll be punishment waiting for you. How many family members did you have, again?"
Sakuna could feel him sneering. Chills crept down her spine.
"Did you not hear me?! Answer!"
"Th-three! My father, my mother, and my sister…"
"I'll kill them all. I'll murder them with my Divine Instrument every time you fail. If you don't want to lose them, then kill all Seven Crimson Lords, Sakuna Memoir."
He cut the connection.
Sakuna remained frozen for a while. Her mind was blank, paralyzed, until the clock on her wall chimed at eleven.
She fell back to her bed.
She didn't want to be killed, and she didn't want to kill anyone. But she'd die if she didn't.
Life was unfair.
"Komari… Sis…"
Sakuna whispered the name of her idol as she hugged her pillow. She was crying before she knew it, her tears staining the bedsheets. If only she could be as strong and courageous as Komari, then perhaps she could've broken out of this horrible situation.
No… Remember what she said. Why was she in this miserable predicament? How should she act to get out of it? There was still something she could do.
"…Fifty-one. Fifty-two. Fifty-three. That's all."
She took a group of shining rocks out from her drawer. Magic Stones containing the power of teleportation—nothing particularly rare.
She didn't know what would come from doing this, but she did know that she couldn't stand taking it lying down any longer. This was her slight act of rebellion. Her little revenge against that heinous terrorist.
Sakuna took a deep breath, poured some mana into a Stone, and activated the Teleportation spell.
She disappeared from the room full of Komaris.