Editing Saijaku Muhai no Bahamut:Volume 5 Episode 3 (section)

===Part 9===

Dozens of minutes later.

When Lux woke up from his sleep, he slowly lifted his head from Philuffy’s lap pillow.

It was a really pleasant sensation so he was reluctant to part from it, but Lux still had things to do.

「Thank you Phi-chan. Thanks to you I’m feeling really comfortable.」

「I’m glad.」

When Lux faced Philuffy once again and thanked her, she showed him her usual very faint smile that only Lux could understand.

Perhaps because of her dress appearance that was different from usual and the faint light illuminating her, she looked so lovely that Lux was unconsciously charmed by her.

「It’s still a bit early, but I have to go to where Lisha-sama is, any time now──!?」

The words of Lux who stood up from the bench were cut off in the middle.

Inside the tranquility of the anniversary’s night, there was intense killing intent that resembled the spray of blood on the battlefield mixing in.

──Nearby.

The owner of the presence was most likely in the vicinity of this cathedral.

「Phi-chan. Can you go back to the inn from here alone?」

「Yes. No problem.」

「Sorry I’ll go for a bit! Really thank you for today!」

Lux said only that and went down the stairs, left the cathedral and chased after the presence.

Because people were gathering in front of the castle gate where the spirit statue would head for last, there was practically no sign of people nearby.

After Lux walked a bit through the street heading to the castle, a girl stood in front of Lux.

The native dress of a foreign country──the black outfit with high exposure rate and that black hair that shined beautifully from the night’s lamp.

The Empire’s Assassin Blade──Kirihime Yoruka.

The same as when he met her for the first time in the Academy previously, a bewitching smile that stirred up emotion and uneasiness at the same time was tugged on her lips. She was merely staring at Lux with that smile.

「Long time no see, Aruji-sama. It’s an honor to be able to meet you again.」

Yoruka showed a cheerful smile earlier than Lux could raise his voice.

「But, Aruji-sama is a bit too careless. Aruji-sama is the only man left from the Arcadia Empire, so I believe that you ought to place a guard that is a bit more capable by your side.」

「Don’t tell me, the footsteps pursuing us at that time was──?」

Lux who heard Yoruka’s words reflexively asked that.

Several pursuers followed Lux and Celis when they were in the middle of going back from their date.

The reason that their footsteps disappeared in the middle coincided perfectly with Yoruka’s existence.

「Yes, it’s just as Aruji-sama surmised. But──that’s not all you know?」

Yoruka suddenly turned her gaze to the street’s corner──at the narrow opening of an alley.

Over there were the figures of several people lying down on top of each other.

「Those are the assassins were aiming at Aruji-sama just now. They are carrying short swords coated with poison so──surely, they planned to slip inside the crowd and attack there. Their method was ill prepared though.」

「Are they as I thought, Hayes’s……?」

A special unit that wasn’t regular army──surely they were several names from among the company that was previously led by Sania and the others who were Hayes’s subordinates.

「Please rest assured. Because I have exterminated the human pursuer too with my Yato no Kami’s search function. In this capital there are no more enemies of Aruji-sama.」

「You protected me during the festival?」

「There is no way I can let any riffraff other than me kill Aruji-sama.」

「…………」

Lux responded to Yoruka’s seductive smile with silence.

When they parted at Cross Field, Yoruka said that she would restore the Old Empire.

Those words most likely weren’t a lie.

「If Aruji-sama is going to walk for a while then I will accompany you. Though if I am a bother, allow me to protect you from the shadows again──」

「……Can you come together with me? I still haven’t asked anything about Yoruka yourself after all.」

「Then, please treat me well Aruji-sama.」

Yoruka nodded and followed right behind Lux.

When Lux gestured her to walk at his side, Yoruka lightly bowed and stood at Lux’s side.

「Please don’t hold back on my account, I will be happy if Aruji-sama asks me anything. In any case I have no intention to fight against Aruji-sama tonight.」

Lux didn’t know whether Yoruka’s words were honest or not, but hesitating would be a waste of time, so he determined himself and got to the point.

「Yoruka, you were a princess of the nation of Koto weren’t you? Why are you──not a princess anymore?」

「…………」

「Sorry. Perhaps I’m asking about something unpleasant. But──」

「Because I don’t have the qualification.」

Yoruka muttered suggestively with an unchanging smile.

「Qualification……?」

Right after Lux’s mutter, Yoruka ran toward a stall that was remaining at the street’s corner and beckoned at Lux with her hand.

Over there was glass wine for the share of two.

「Please Aruji-sama. If it’s alright with you I’ll also taste it for poison.」

「After this I have a bit of a plan though……」

「I don’t know about that, but getting a bit drunk will also raise your vigor you know?」

In the end Lux folded against Yoruka’s forcefulness and drained up a glass.

Perhaps because Lux wasn’t used to alcohol his body immediately became hot inside.

When Lux loosened up his collar slightly, a small wind blew from his side.

「……Wait, what are you doing with that?」

When he looked, Yoruka was fanning at Lux’s direction using a half round paper in her hand.

「This is what they call a folding fan in Koto. It doesn’t exist in this country, but it’s convenient when summer comes you know?」

「……Thank you. But I’m fine. Rather than that Yoruka, what do you mean by saying that you have no qualification?」

「『A monster without a human heart』, my father said that to me. Since I was a child──no, since I was born, somewhere inside me was broken.」

Yoruka self-deprecated herself with a tone that was vaguely lonely.

「The first time I killed, it was the assassin that was employed by a concubine. Inside the castle where I spent my childhood, it was always a whirlpool of violence and scheming, no one knew when they would be killed. But, I have a talent. The talent to see through a person’s killing intent and kill my opponent without any hesitation──」

「…………」

The dispute for the throne succession right inside a confined world.

For Lux who had spent an oppressive childhood inside the imperial court, he felt like he could understand it somehow.

「After that, father also died from sickness and the country was succeeded by my twin little brother who was still a child then. Unlike me, he was a sickly child, but my brother possessed a splendid human heart. In order to protect the nation of Koto and its people, he did everything in his power despite his inexperience. He even swore that he would protect his elder sister, me who was hated and shunned by the surroundings──what a stupid child he was.」

The poison of the muttered words erased Yoruka’s calm smile.

The war princess of Koto that even the overwhelming force of the Arcadia Empire couldn’t defeat.

Lux heard that due to the contract she exchanged with the emperor, Yoruka was put under the empire’s control.

「Don’t tell me, my father took your brother hostage, and forced the contract──」

Lux immediately thought so, but he immediately noticed that it was strange.

The reason was, if Yoruka’s little brother was still alive, it would become a talk whether someone of the New Kingdom had captured him, and if that little brother had died, it was meaningless for Yoruka to be completely loyal to the Old Empire even now.

「──If I’m allowed to say despite how rude this will sound, Aruji-sama resembles my little brother. Even though the hair and eye color, the strength, and everything between the two of you are completely different.」

Hearing that question, Yoruka abruptly made a soft smile and stared at Lux’s face.

「…………」

「My little brother died a long time ago. ──But there was just one promise that I made. I promised that I would continue being a servant who devotes my loyalty until the end for the sake of my lord who was my brother.」

──Lux guessed something from that sentence.

In order to fulfill that promise, Yoruka obeyed the contract she tied with the Old Empire and fought.

「I intend to fulfill my contract with the emperor of the Arcadia Empire──your father. I will protect the empire, and if it’s stolen then I will take it back. As the last person who devotes her loyalty to the Old Empire, I intend to destroy the New KingdomThis Country.」

「Yoruka, you──」

「Can you allow me to listen to your answer, Aruji-sama? What do you intend to do with this country?」

Lux’s voice was erased by Yoruka’s smiling face.

Even without any words, the presence the girl was clad with told him clearly.

That she absolutely had no intention to pull back anymore──

「Even so, I cannot comply with your will. Because──」

「It’s unfortunate. Even though there are a lot of important things that I wish to report to Aruji-sama right away.」

When Yoruka said that with a smile that was completely unchanged from before, they had approached near the castle’s gate before they knew it.

His appointed time with Lisha wouldn’t be that much longer after this.

「Can I ask you one last thing? Was it you, who controlled a Drag-Knight of the New Kingdom’s military and attacked a selection member of the Vanheim Principality?」

「Who knows? I really don’t understand what Aruji-sama is talking about.」

Yoruka answered instantly with a bright smile that played the fool.

「──Really?」

When Lux asked once more with a cold glint in his eyes that was different from usual, Yoruka also changed her smile into a fearless one.

「This is unexpected isn’t it? I thought that Aruji-sama is similar to my little brother, but I misunderstood.」

Yoruka finished that sentence and twirled on the spot, then she brought her face close in front of Lux’s eyes.

「Aruji-sama is similar to me. You look like you are fitting into this country more than anyone──but you are a heretic whose nature cannot comply with this world more than anyone. Though I don’t know if Aruji-sama is the same as me who was broken right from the start or not.」

「…………」

「My protection ends here. Please don’t die until you are killed by me. I too──won’t die until I am killed by you.」

Yoruka said just that before turning on her heel without waiting for Lux’s reply.

And then, she slowly vanished into the darkness.

「Fuu……」

When her presence completely disappeared, Lux let out his breath and looked down.

Even more questions popped up from the conversation just now.

He didn’t talk to her about the Imperial Capital Recapture Plan that was formulated by Heiburg’s military division and the Rebel Army, but the possibility was high that she was also related to that.

After all, putting aside the substantiality of it, on the surface her objective was the reinstatement of the Arcadia Empire.

「Important things she wanted to report right away……huh.」

He didn’t understand the true meaning of Yoruka’s words.

But, something sounded the alarm bell inside Lux.

At this rate, would it end with only fighting her in the future, he wondered.