As Yogiri and Tomochika boarded the train at noon, Jorge and Captain Edelgart of the First Battalion of the City Guard were visiting the local lord's castle.
The ten-story stone structure towered over the center of the town. With most of the buildings being only one or two stories tall, it stood out rather conspicuously. The roof of the castle was a flat, open space where Jorge, Edelgart, and the lord now stood.
The two guards had shed their armor and were wearing only their uniforms. The lord wore clothes that spoke loudly of his frivolous spending habits.
"Was the incident last night truly serious enough to require the attention of a Sage?"
Edelgart's only concern with the incident was her failure to get a lead on the organization that she had been pursuing. While notoriously good at covering their tracks, they had gladly snapped at the bait of two powerless otherworlders. But in the end, her investigation hadn't managed to produce a single clue."Is it so strange that they would take an interest? An entire group of people were killed by causes unknown, after all," Jorge replied, surprised at Edelgart's lack of concern. In the middle of their investigation, ten of the people they'd been tracking had died mysteriously right in front of them. Such an abnormal incident would be huge in and of itself, even under normal circumstances.
"You think they care at all about some random criminals dropping dead?"
"The issue is how they died, not who was killed. There are already numerous possibilities, from disease to poisonous gas. I don't think it's strange at all for the Sages to be interested in finding out what happened."
"Even so, I can't imagine them taking such a personal interest. But there's no point in us arguing about it. There's no way we can guess what the Sages are thinking anyway!" Edelgart spoke with her chest puffed out proudly, although Jorge had no idea why."Make sure you guys shut up when we're in front of the Sage," the lord standing beside them said.
There was no direct hierarchical relationship between the lord and the City Guard. That was because the City Guard also held the role of keeping the local otherworlders in check. In short, being Japanese himself made the lord a target for the City Guard's activities.
"I'm quite sure that we were the only ones who were ordered to greet her," Edelgart replied.
"Well, she's arriving at my castle. I have to at least welcome her, don't I?"
"Is that all?"
An unpleasant silence settled between them. After a while, a silver disk descended.
The majority of the Sages lived on the floating continent. They moved to and from the surface primarily by way of aircraft.
The disk landed on the roof of the castle. As its hatch popped open, a woman in a dark red dress stepped out. It was the Sage named Lain. Bearing the title of the Great-Granddaughter of the Great Sage, she was the one responsible for protecting this territory."Thank you for meeting with me," Lain said with a haughty air as she stepped towards the lord. "It's been a while, hasn't it, Masahiko? Have things been going well?"
"A pleasure to see you again, Miss Lain. There have been no issues."
Apparently, Lain and Lord Masahiko had known each other since their time as Sage candidates.
"So you're Edelgart? I read your report. Take me to the survivor."
"Yes, ma'am! The survivor is currently being held within the castle," Edelgart replied with a salute before guiding Lain inside.
◇ ◇ ◇
The group soon reached one of the castle's smaller rooms. The beastkin in question had been restrained and was lying on a simple bed, the lone survivor of the previous night's incident. He had no particular external injuries, but with his eyes, ears, and nose completely nonfunctional, there was no way to interrogate him. Approaching the dog man, Lain stared at him intently."Hmm. At first glance, nothing appears out of the ordinary." Pulling back the beastkin's eyelids, she saw no signs of damage. But even the light from the nearby window shining directly into his eyes sparked no reaction.
"We attempted treatment in order to proceed with our interrogation, but our efforts have proven fruitless."
"Your report said that even healing magic failed?"
"That is correct."
Listening to Jorge's reply, Lain held the beastkin's eye open as she pushed a finger into his eye socket.
"Miss Sage?!"
"I can't tell what's happening unless I see for myself."
Naturally, the prisoner began to struggle, letting out an agonized scream as Lain plucked out one of his eyes with her bare hands.
"Quiet."
At that one word, the beastkin froze. He was supposed to be deaf, but even so, he had immediately stopped moving. Perhaps the threat of her words had somehow penetrated in spite of his inability to hear.
Tearing the optical nerve off, Lain held the eyeball up to her face. She inspected it thoroughly but it looked like a perfectly normal eye.
"Nothing out of the ordinary. Masahiko, would you mind if I swapped one of your eyes with this one?"
"Wha —?! You can't be serious!" The lord's face instantly paled, but it wasn't long before he realized she was, in fact, only joking. Her words hadn't been an order. But that didn't mean he could relax, either. There was no telling when Lain might change her mind.
"Well, who cares about the eyeball itself. This is the real test. Heal." Discarding the useless organ in her hands, Lain turned her healing magic on the beastkin. As she did, the now empty socket began to change, and within moments, a new eye had appeared.
The powerful abilities of the Sage could recreate a missing body part in an instant — but there was still no indication that the newly grown eye could see at all.
"Hmm. Seems like he still can't see. The organ itself was perfectly reconstructed, but the function hasn't been restored. So...how about this?" Lain lifted the corners of her mouth, and her canine teeth began to extend. Once they were long enough, she sank them into the beastkin's neck.
"Wh-What are you doing?!" Edelgart shouted in surprise.
"Didn't you know? Sage Lain is a vampire."
"But she was perfectly fine standing in the open sunlight on the roof!"
Being undead, vampires were weak to sunlight. That was just common sense.
"Miss Lain's class is Origin Blood. As the highest rank of the undead, she is also known as the Queen of Undeath. For someone of her level, sunlight is nothing to be concerned about.""You seem to know a lot...I thought the Sages were simply powerful mages."
As Edelgart worked through her shock, Lain finished feeding. As soon as she took her mouth off the beastkin's neck, his body began to change. His claws began to grow and his muscles started to ripple. His lips curled back and fangs began to grow. With a single movement of his arms and legs, the ropes binding him to the bed were ripped apart and he fell to the floor.
"Kneel," Lain ordered the creature now lying at her feet. At her words, he began to thrash around, but that was all. He seemed to recognize that he had been given a command, but in spite of his desperate efforts to comply, he had no idea what he had actually been ordered to do.
"Apparently even being in the same bloodline doesn't help," Jorge muttered. "Interesting that not even telepathy works."
Vampires increased their numbers by drinking the blood of others. Those new vampires could then communicate with each other via telepathy, but in this case it had failed to get through."Well, I've made him part of my bloodline now regardless. Do you mind if I take him with me?"
"V-Very well. Understood," Edelgart agreed.
In truth, Jorge was relieved. He'd been wondering how they would even deal with a suspect in this sort of condition on their own.
"Now then. It seems this individual has been put into a rather interesting state. And the ones who did this were Yogiri Takatou and Tomochika Dannoura, correct?"
"Um, actually, those two have no powers, so I can't imagine they were involved."
"Don't be stupid, Edelgart. Ten people died and only those two were left unharmed. Are you saying you have another suspect?"
"Th-That may be true, but if they did something, I have absolutely no idea what it could have been. And without any evidence, we can't just arrest them."
Jorge steeled himself to meet his end. Edelgart must have been feeling the same way, but she made no excuses for their actions. If she didn't know what had happened, then she didn't know. That was all there was to it. She wasn't clever enough to come up with a bunch of justifications for her choices.
"Sorry, I teased you a bit too much. Forgive me. The truth is, I already knew about those two beforehand," Lain said with a smirk. Once again, Jorge felt relief wash over him as he realized his life wasn't yet in danger.
"Is that so?"
"Sage Sion has an attendant named Youichi. He told me about them. Apparently, they used something along the lines of Instant Death Magic to kill a dragon. He was pretty vague with the details, but it was enough to make me curious. And then I received this report from you."
"I see. Then how did those two...?"
"About that —"
Lain started to say something, but the rest of them couldn't hear what it was. A tremendous explosion rocked the building, shaking the walls of the castle around them and throwing the room into a state of confusion.
Edelgart grabbed Jorge and flung him to the ground, rolling into a corner and out of the way.
"Wh-What's happening...?!" Jorge lifted his upper body off the ground as he asked.
"It's him!" Edelgart pointed towards the door. Standing on the threshold was a man with a sword, showing no gaps in his defenses despite being in the middle of the afterswing of his attack.
The ground beneath his feet was riddled with cracks. Although hard to believe, it seemed the massive vibrations had been a result of his footsteps. Half of the door, now split cleanly in two, had fallen to the floor. His sword had shaken the entire room when it slashed its way in.
A red line now ran straight through Lain. The intruder's sword didn't seem capable of reaching anywhere near her, but even so, she had been cleanly cut in half."A Hero..." Jorge instantly activated his Discernment skill.
"What?!"
"That's what my skill is telling me! I don't know who he is, but his class is Hero!"
The two of them could only stare in shock.