Strike the Blood, Vol. 7: Kaleid Blood Read online

  “—Pardon me, but would you be Nagisa Akatsuki?”

  “Yes, I am… Ah, and you are?” Nagisa was a little thrown off as she replied.

  The woman replied in fluent Japanese, “I am Liana Caruana. Professor Gajou Akatsuki asked me to come pick you up.”

  “Eh?! Then you’re Gajou’s…er, my father’s friend, then…?”

  “Yes. I have been assigned to the Fourth Gozo Ruins Joint Examination Team as senior adviser,” she answered in a serious tone.

  Being the senior adviser at such a young age implied she was as capable as she looked…and she was beautiful, too.

  Kojou and Nagisa exchanged glances, murmuring with some resignation.

  “Guess this is why Mom was in a bad mood when Dad called.”

  “Even with those looks, Gajou’s oddly popular with the ladies, huh…”

  Liana expressed some concern. “Um… Is something wrong?”

  Nagisa smoothed things over with a vague smile and courteously bowed her head. “No, nothing at all. Ah-ha-ha-ha. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

  3

  When Kojou and the others arrived on the island of Gozo, a lightly armored, military four-wheel-drive vehicle awaited them. Liana took the wheel, cutting through Città Victoria in the center toward the opposite side of the island.

  Gozo’s natural bounty made it a magnet for tourists, but the island was also a registered World Heritage Site due to the ancient ruins. A particularly famous ruin among them was a giant stone temple known as the Temple of G˙gantija.

  Liana explained away, with Kojou offering perfunctory responses.

  “That temple is one of the world’s oldest, constructed in the Neolithic Age some fifty-five hundred years ago. According to local legend, the temple was constructed by a female giant called Sansuna. The name G˙gantija means Tower of the Giants.”

  “Giant…huh?”

  Liana certainly had an encyclopedic knowledge of ruins befitting the adviser of an examination team. However, Kojou, not being an expert in the field, couldn’t understand more than half of what the young woman was saying.

  She continued:

  “The beings called giants were said to have ruled the world prior to the emergence of mankind, a mythological theme that can be found in every land. Greek mythology has the Titans, Norse mythology has the Jötunn, Chinese mythology has the Pangu, the Old Testament has the Nephilim… It is written that these were descendants of Adam and Eve that towered above humans.”

  Nagisa, sitting in the back, watched Liana through the rearview mirror. “So you, Gajou, and the others are studying the legend of these giants?”

  The question put a somewhat bewildered look on Liana’s face.

  “Don’t tell me the two of you haven’t heard anything about it from Doc?”

  With little enthusiasm, Kojou and Nagisa nodded and said in unison, “Not a thing.”

  Liana bit her lip a little. “Is that…so…? Then why did Doc…?” she murmured, mostly for her own benefit.

  Nagisa, deciding it was best to change the subject, called out to Liana in a cheery voice. “Ah, by the way, Liana, that bracelet… Is that a…?”

  Liana lifted up her left hand.

  “Bracelet? You mean this registration bracelet?”

  The band around her arm was about twice as thick as a watch. It was a demon registration bracelet—specially made in Demon Sanctuaries to guarantee the safety and prove the identity of a demon, and a transmitter for monitoring that demon.

  “I thought so!! So you’re a demon, Liana?” Nagisa countered.

  Seeing her surprise, Liana appeared somewhat forlorn.

  “Y-yes. I am a vampire born in the Warlord’s Empire. I am also here to protect the examination team, you see.”

  Even though the Holy Ground Treaty had been in effect for over four decades, a considerable number of humans still feared and loathed demonkind. Liana must have been concerned about how Nagisa would react now that she knew the woman’s true nature.

  But Nagisa’s eyes twinkled as if to blow those concerns away.

  “Wow, that’s awesome! This is the first time I’ve spoken to someone from the Warlord’s Empire. Oh, right, this island’s a Demon Sanctuary, too. I’m surprised Gajou has such a pretty vampire friend… How long have you known each other? The sunlight’s really strong on this island. Are you all right?”

  “Er, ah… Umm, that’s…”

  Kojou reluctantly intervened before Nagisa’s rapid-fire interrogation went any further.

  “…Let’s leave it at that, Nagisa. You’re scaring Liana here.”

  Liana was still in shock as Kojou strained a grin and bowed his head.

  “Sorry. She talks a lot.”

  Liana sighed but smiled pleasantly.

  “…You are quite an eccentric pair, as I would expect from Doc’s children.”

  It probably wasn’t just Kojou’s imagination that she looked…happy. He replied, “Not sure I get all of this, but there’s no way that’s a compliment, right?”

  Liana broke out in giggles.

  “Hee-hee, forgive me.”

  Even though her first impression was very proper, her smiling, unguarded face was simply adorable.

  Kojou looked back as the stone wall of a ruin receding into the distance and asked, “Is that all right? We passed right by it.”

  “It’s fine, since the Temple of G˙gantija isn’t the ruin we’re studying.”

  “So it’s some other ruin, then?”

  “Yes. Last year, an underground tomb was discovered at a hill about two kilometers from here. It has no formal name. We call it the Fairy’s Coffin.”

  “Underground tomb? A grave?”

  “Yes. I think it’s a ruin from just before or after The Cleansing.”

  “The Cleansing…? That’s what Dad’s doing research on, isn’t it…?” Kojou didn’t express much confidence.

  For some reason, Liana’s cheeks reddened as she nodded. “Yes, it is. There are traces of a great genocide and large-scale destruction left in every corner of the world…all said to be the Great Calamity wrought by the Fourth Primogenitor.”

  “Huh…”

  Kojou and Nagisa’s father, the man named Gajou Akatsuki, was an archeologist, but not the studious type who sat in an office, calmly poring over ancient documents. He worked in the field, slipping into every war-torn country on Earth to plunder antiquities unguarded amid the confusion, little better than a looter after a blaze.

  The theme of Gajou’s research was an event known as The Cleansing. It was recorded in the bibles of the Western Church and was apparently a large incident over the course of history.

  “But that’s just a legend, right?” Kojou said. “I heard no one’s actually found any solid proof that it actually happened…”

  For some reason, Liana looked morose as she muttered, “Yes. It would be nice if it was just a legend, but…”

  Kojou thought her demeanor was a little suspicious, but before he could follow up with a question, the car left the main road, entering a rough, boulder-strewn stretch. Apparently, the ruin was just ahead.

  Liana desperately clutched the steering wheel as she said, “I see it now. This is the examination team base camp.”

  The car was shaking violently as it moved over a large section of uneven rock. It was so bad that careless dialogue could lead to a bitten tongue.

  Finally, they arrived at the base camp, a collection of tents and prefabricated huts. Several heavy excavation machines were sitting idle, with little in sight that could be called proper surveying gear. Instead, what stood out were the armed Private Military Corporation guards and their heavily outfitted armored cars. It looked more like the forward base of a guerilla unit than the site of a ruin excavation.

  Nagisa and Kojou mouthed off on their own as they exited the car.

  “Wow, lots of guards here. Maybe there’s buried treasure?”

  “If there was, I’m pretty sure Dad would’ve swiped it first and
run off…”

  Out of the blue, a man came close and embraced their shoulders from behind.

  “—Who’s swiping what?”

  He was middle-aged, wearing a fedora and a leather jacket, with the scent of alcohol and explosives hovering over him.

  Reunited with her father after so long, Nagisa looked up cheerfully. “Gajou!”

  Gajou casually picked up his daughter and hoisted her onto his shoulder like she was a little child.

  “Ohh, Nagisa! Here I was thinking an angel had arrived, and it turns out to be my own daughter! Ha-ha, it’s good to have you here. Have you become even more beautiful since the last time I laid eyes on you?”

  Nagisa, atop his shoulder, objected as her cheeks reddened. “Wait a—Gajou, you’re embarrassing me!”

  Gajou continued smiling heartily with his sunbaked face.

  “You must be tired from the long trip. Nothing bad happened to you?”

  “Nah, because I had Kojou with me.”

  “Mm…Kojou?”

  That moment, Gajou seemed to finally remember that he actually had a son. With a thoroughly mystified look, he asked in a rather blunt tone, “Hey, runt. What are you doing here?”

  “I’m her chaperone, chap-er-one! As if we could let Nagisa go on a trip by herself!”

  With Nagisa’s small frame still resting on his shoulder, Gajou put a hand to his chin and mulled something over.

  “…I don’t think you’re gonna be any use while you’re here, but…oh well. Don’t get in the way of my work, runt.”

  Kojou curled his lips in resentment. “You sure treat Nagisa differently than me. Shitty dad you are.”

  Certainly he was annoyed, but he was also used to the man’s foul tongue. When you looked at it as banter between two equal men, it didn’t seem all that bad.

  Gajou redirected the conversation. “Anyway, how ’bout something to eat? The cooking on this island’s pretty good stuff. The special sausages and local beer go together real well.”

  Kojou felt a sudden headache coming on from Gajou’s typical nonsense.

  “I’m totally a minor here, you know!”

  But Nagisa, usually the first to complain at a time like this, wasn’t even listening to them speak.

  “Nagisa…?” her brother asked.

  Noticing the shift in her behavior, Gajou murmured gravely, “She noticed, huh…?”

  The girl was silently gazing at the base of the rocks. It was a stonework entrance for a passageway that called to mind a shrine.

  It was by no means a magnificent ruin. The reddish-brown volcanic rock sat in a pathetic state, eroded by wind and rain, and it hadn’t been adorned in any way. Wreckage from destroyed vehicles was strewn around the area. Perhaps there had been some kind of accident during excavation.

  But more than that, an eerie presence hovered over the place. There was an oppressive feeling, a kind of majesty within telling others not to approach lightly.

  “That’s…a ruin?” Kojou inquired.

  “Yeah. A relic of The Cleansing—the twelfth Fairy’s Coffin.”

  “Fairy’s…Coffin…”

  Kojou pondered how that poetic echo in his mouth clashed with the plainness of the ruin.

  Nagisa continued silently examining the structure from afar, as if captivated by something within…

  4

  Before daybreak the next morning, Kojou and Nagisa slipped out of the base camp, heading toward the nearby forest.

  On Malta, which was surrounded by the sea on all sides, fresh water was a precious commodity. However, the island of Gozo was comparatively rich in water due to its natural springs.

  Nagisa immersed her body in one such small spring. This bath was to clear her mind and rid herself of all impurities.

  Malta’s Mediterranean Sea climate was said to be temperately warm, but even so, it was decently cold that morning. The only thing she was wearing was a thin white undershirt. The water-drenched fabric clung to her flesh, making the petite girl’s body look even smaller.

  Nagisa shouted to Kojou, who was waiting in the shadow of a rocky area.

  “Keep a good lookout so no one comes, Kojou!”

  “You got it,” Kojou replied with a desultory wave. He didn’t think there were any perverts ready to peek on a kid in the bath out in wasteland well removed from human habitation, but he couldn’t just let her go alone, so he tagged along.

  But Nagisa looked in the direction of her thoughtful brother and said, “Don’t you peek, either, Kojou!”

  “As if I would!”

  “Wha—?! I told you, don’t look this way!”

  Nagisa, who had just finished bathing and was in the middle of changing clothes, yelped. She threw something at him. A wet bath towel blocked his vision, followed up by a leather boot that hit him solidly, provoking a loud groan.

  “Kojou, your nose is bleeding! You’re gross!”

  He ferociously objected to the unspeakable slander.

  “That’s because you hit me with your boot!!”

  Meanwhile, Nagisa finished changing into a shrine maiden’s outfit, complete with a white robe and a red pleated skirt. Her long black hair was tied with a string made of twisted paper.

  “Sorry for the wait! All right, let’s go. This is what I came here for, so I’ve got to do my best!”

  Kojou was still holding his nose when he said with a muffled voice, “No need to overdo it. It’s not like you have to help Dad with his work.”

  Nagisa glanced up at him with a teasing smile. “Yeah, but I’m interested in these ruins, too.”

  The girl in shrine maiden garb walked with a spring in her step, the heels of her wooden footwear clicking against the ground. She continued, “I feel a sad presence filling the ruins, you see.”

  “A sad presence…?”

  “Like there’s…someone who’s lonely and crying by herself.”

  “Well…if there’s a coffin, it means that someone’s been buried here…”

  Kojou followed behind Nagisa as they returned to the base camp.

  A burly man with a heavy beard stood at the camp entrance. He looked tough, but he didn’t act intimidating. A friendly smile came over his thick lips as he spoke in somewhat awkward Japanese.

  “So you’re the kids Gaho said he was calling in from Japan, huh?”

  The unfamiliar name made Kojou do a small double take.

  “…Gaho?”

  “My name’s Dimas Carrozzo. Gaho’s helped me out on the job a whole bunch of times. Right now I’m head of the staff on-site. Pleased to meet you.”

  The man offered his right hand. Kojou, figuring that the man was speaking about Gajou, accepted the handshake.

  “Same here. I’m sure Dad’s caused you lots of trouble.”

  “Ha-ha. Incidentally, what’re those clothes the little lady’s wearing? I’ve never seen a dress like that.”

  “It’s a Japanese shrine maiden outfit. She doesn’t actually need to wear it, but it puts her in the right frame of mind, I guess.”

  Nagisa smiled happily, blushing heavily, as Carrozzo gazed at her in admiration.

  “Shrine maiden outfit? So Gaho’s daughter is a shaman, then…?”

  “Well, it’s not like she got formal training. She just helps out Grandma at her family’s temple once in a while. Inheriting Mom’s Hyper Adapter blood helps out a little, I think.”

  As Kojou complimented her, Nagisa adopted a determined pose that seemed to say, I’ll do my best!

  Carrozzo went “Mm-hmm,” nodding in apparent acceptance. “I see. That’s good to hear. After all, ultrasonic probes and scrying magic won’t work on these ruins, so we were pretty stuck, to tell the truth. We’re counting on you.”

  Nagisa was an extremely rare variety of Hyper Adapter, inheriting both the qualities of a spirit maiden from her grandmother on her father’s side, and her own mother’s Hyper Adapter power. That was why Gajou requested she come all the way from Japan.

  Several times before, Nagisa’s
psychometry had accurately pinpointed the location of buried ruins and had decoded “indecipherable” ancient writing. Those exploits had made universities and scholars the world over beg her for volunteer help.

  This was actually the first time Gajou was using Nagisa’s power for his own work. That made Kojou feel uneasy somehow. If rumors could be trusted, Gajou had been opposed to having Nagisa come over until the last moment. But the sponsors of the examination team for these ruins strongly insisted on contacting her, with Gajou reluctantly consenting. In other words, there was something more important, and more dangerous, about this ruin than anything before. He’d vaguely figured as much from glancing at the airtight security all around base camp.

  Carrozzo, in charge of that very security, asked Kojou in a nonchalant tone, “So are you spirit sensitive, too?”

  “Nah, not at all. I’m just a chaperone.”

  “That so? Well, everyone has their place in the world. Do a good job protecting your sister, then.”

  Kojou shrugged his shoulders as if to say, Will do. He turned his attention to look at the automatic weapon Carrozzo held.

  “That’s quite some gear you got there. Guess keeping law and order is pretty rough in a Demon Sanctuary.”

  “Not at all. Management’s on the ball out here, so the sorcerous crime rate is way under what it is in other countries.” Carrozzo smiled cheerfully in an attempt to ease Kojou’s and Nagisa’s concerns and continued, “But as for what’s inside this ruin here… I don’t know the details, but apparently it’s something pretty valuable, enough that the Warlord’s Empire sent that noble girl over.”

  “…Noble? Wait, you mean Liana’s some kind of big shot?” Kojou said in surprise.

  A noble of the Warlord’s Empire would make her a pureblood descendant of the First Primogenitor, the Lost Warlord, complete with her own fiefdom and personal military force. And without exception, they were served by powerful Beast Vassals, summoned creatures rivaling state-of-the-art fighter aircraft and heavy tanks. That would make Liana Caruana the mightiest protection this ruin had.

  Carrozzo laughed. “Oh yeah. When I got drunk and gave her a pat on the butt, I almost got myself killed. The woman has no sense of humor.”