Editing The Unexplored Summon Blood Sign:Volume7 Chapter3 (section)

===Part 3===

Discovery meant instant death.

And it was not just her physical strength that made the White Queen the strongest. She was a cut above in every single field. And that of course included her sensory organs and thought ability. Setting up a situation in which they could see her but she failed to notice them was nigh impossible. In fact, it was much, much more likely that ''the opposite'' would happen.

In that case, Kyousuke’s group’s options were extremely limited.

The only effective method they could think of was using the White Queen’s traits against her:

*1. The White Queen is only interested in Shiroyama Kyousuke.

*2. The White Queen can only infect humans.

In that case…

“Hiss…”

A sound like a broken flute echoed quietly across the surface of the underground lake.

It came from the white snake vessel contracted with Biondetta.

He(?) was not human and he was not Shiroyama Kyousuke. Thus, the Queen''s'' would not lock onto him any more than one of the cave’s bats or rats when he was acting alone. He was no different from a weed on the side of the road.

Aoi put her hands on her hips and took a deep breath that caused her shoulders and breasts to rise and fall.

“Hmm. In that case, would I have worked too since I’m artificial?”

“There’s no guarantee with you since your structure is too close to human.”

Kyousuke’s group discussed it while traveling through the underground area and approaching the cruise ship near the summit. They had used the aforementioned ladder in the giant crack as a shortcut to escape the enemy surrounding them. The level of danger was little different no matter where they were, but they wanted to stay as close to their trump card as possible.

It was currently around 10:30 PM.

After more than three hours, the white snake returned after gathering as much information as he(?) could. Only Biondetta could communicate with him due to her contract, so she was in charge of that.

Biondetta and Olivia had spent 24 hours in the loser state, so ingesting nutrients was an important job for them. They had borrowed some biscuits from the emergency food in the shrine(?) by the underground lake, so they split them and ate a quick meal.

“Still…”

Kyousuke looked around once more.

They were inside an unlit ship.

The cruise ship had only been made to slowly cruise along the crater lake which had had no exit, so it was not made to sail at sea. It was modeled after a sailing ship, but it probably only used an electric motor to turn a propeller. It did not have any cabins for spending the night. Only the deck giving a view of the scenery and the dining hall for a light meal had been open to the public. It would have been full with only 30 passengers.

They were inside what had been the kitchen next to the dining hall.

Glass test tubes and flasks were packed in tight along with the cooking tools. A lot of mysterious emblems were carved on the walls and floor. As was readily apparent with a vacuum coffee maker or a pressure cooker, kitchen equipment and lab equipment fit together quite well.

“This should be enough to at least reach the Jewel Blood,” concluded Aoi.

It could be done dry or wet and hot or cold, but the narrow glass tubes resembled a roller coaster.

“To be blunt, preparing a full Joruri Method in such a short time would not be possible. The White Queen has almost certainly begun her search already,” said humanity’s oldest artificial vessel. She began negatively, but then she puffed out her large chest. “So use my body. We can’t prepare it all from scratch, but we can modify what we already have. Just add what you need to my body to remake me into a vessel that can contain the irregular Material you’re thinking of.”

Adding to that artificial being may have been a lot like intentionally implanting a pacemaker in someone to control their heartrate even though they were not seriously ill.

“…You’re willing to do that?”

“I do not mind. I am a shrine god, so protecting people is my job. Why wouldn’t I use every method available to me at the time?”

“I’m asking you as Meinokawa Aoi not as the Queen’s lookalike.”

“…”

The silver-haired girl fell silent for a moment.

A smile appeared on her lips.

“…Don’t underestimate me. I had always wanted to escape my role as the White Queen’s lookalike. I’m not about to complain about gaining some originality, especially when it gives me the power to finish off the Queen.”

Meinokawa Aoi slowly placed a hand on the center of her chest.

And she gave a faint smile.

“Humans are always afraid that the changes to their bodies will mean they are ‘aging’ rather than ‘growing’. But never changing at all is also frightening.”

“…”

Kyousuke was not a Joruri Method, so he probably could not understand that mindset. But if that girl with eternal life wanted to change, he had no reason to press the matter further.

“Mhh.”

And then another voice shattered that solemn mood.

It was Olivia Highland who had come to earlier.

The small girl used both hands to rub the back of her head. That caused her slender bodylines to show through her school swimsuit, which had grown a darker shade of blue after absorbing so much moisture, and even revealed the curves of her ribs which looked as delicate as glass, but she showed no sign at all of caring.

She pushed out her tiny chest and the light pink rose decoration adorning it, she shook the thick chain worn diagonally across her body and the bag-sized lock hanging from it, and she asked a sulking question.

“My head is still throbbing. This is more than just sleeping on it wrong. Onii-chan, you hit me, didn’t you?”

“I guess there’s no hiding it then. …Oh, right. Your memories come back while you’re looking at me even though your contract was ended.”

“I can’t believe you!! If you want to indulge in me, then just say so! I won’t stop you! If you feel the need to knock people out just because you can’t work up the nerve unless they’re asleep, then I’m really worried about your future, Onii-chan!!”

“And ''I'' can’t believe ''you''. That leap of logic was downright acrobatic…”

“I-I’ll help you recover, Onii-chan. Work me with me to become normal, okay?”

“I wasn’t asking you to stare up at me and expand on the topic.”

Meanwhile, Biondetta seemed to have finished communicating with the white snake.

“Outta the way! This sounds like a job for his big sis. They’ve always said big boobs are the best way of curing abnormal proclivities.”

“Oh, no. Now she’s added a bizarre conclusion on top of the bizarre premise!!”

“Hold it,” said Aoi. “Are you saying my size is not enough, you symbol of gluttony?”

“And now it’s spread to all of them? Where do I even start with this!?”

“False accusations are like a long chain in a falling block puzzle game. But anyway, I have something to report.”

Biondetta translated what the white snake had seen into human language.

And her conclusion was as follows:

“Vessels?” Kyousuke repeated the most important word. “The infection has only spread to human vessels?”

“So it seems. The action that triggers it seems to be a bite, but at its core, it’s still a summoning. The Queen descends into the vessel’s body. It only looks like a massive, spreading infection because she’s summoned into so many of them at once. That seems to be the truth of what’s happening here.”

“So there were simply that many vessels in Houbi Village? It makes sense for Bridesmaid, but I thought the Meinokawas had developed the Joruri Method to make up for their lack of vessels.”

“Not necessarily.” Aoi shrugged, causing the chest of her shrine maiden outfit to jiggle rather dangerously. “Why do you think the Meinokawa family understood the bodily structure of a vessel better than anyone else? Why were they blessed with the opportunity to investigate them until they could artificially reproduce one? Because they had enough samples who were willing to help with their research.”

“You mean…?”

“The Meinokawa family was originally a bloodline which tended to produce vessels. But if they had turned themselves into a vessel family, they would have been at the mercy of outsider summoners. That became what you call a ''kom-pleks'' for them. That is the reason why they wanted to be summoners instead of vessels.”

…Kyousuke recalled that Meinokawa Higan was an excellent vessel even after having her ability artificially worn down. It was rare for someone of that talent to be born to a normal family, so it was safe to accept that the Meinokawa family held that kind of secret.

Just because someone relied on a computer did not necessarily mean they were bad at mental arithmetic.

Just because someone relied on a microwave did not necessarily mean they could not cook.

“So between the Meinokawas and Bridesmaid, Houbi Village contains far more vessels than would normally be possible.”

“But normally just one Queen can appear in just one vessel, so they must have a way of breaking that limitation and summoning her into multiple vessels at once,” said Biondetta. “That would be the key to this.”

“So simply put, there is a core Queen who is being used to bend the normal rules?”

“I suppose she would be something like the queen bee. No, maybe more like the one real kid’s meal toy placed in a house of mirrors.”

Meinokawa Aoi’s eyes widened at that.

“So if we got rid of that one doll…?”

“…All of the Queen’s would disappear and the vessels would return to normal?”

They all exchanged a glance.

The only one looking displeased was Olivia Highland who wanted Kyousuke and the Queen to get along.

She puffed out her cheeks while her slender fingers toyed with the brim of her large straw hat.

“Why do you just assume you have to fight her? Mhhh…”

“Because it’s necessary.”

“You just have to hurry up and apologize, Onii-chan. If you try to act like you’re in charge and challenge her, it’s obvious she’ll just beat you up and make you behave.”

“Via.”

Not even using her nickname was enough to control her now. She only stuck out her tongue. With her undeveloped bodylines showing through her school swimsuit, which had grown an oddly dark shade from all the moisture, that double blonde braid girl truly seemed to believe Kyousuke could make up with the Queen if he made the first move. And that may have been why she did not sense the danger they were in.

She did not view the White Queen as someone who brought death, even though that was the most basic thing about her. She ''Simply believed in that'' just like those who believed that an army was there to protect their nation or that police officers carried guns to protect the peace.

That could always be written off as “childish”, but that purity was far too dangerous here.

“We have to figure out which Queen is the core. And whether or not we can just kill that one.”

“Yes, even if the other ''infected Queens'' are like reflections in a house of mirrors, there has to be some trick in place for the original one’s permanent summoning. Simply put, that one uses a different system. We might be able to find a way to tell them apart if we look into that.”

“Hey, if we’ve identified the enemy we need to defeat, isn’t it about time you got to modifying my body?”

All at once, the situation had started to move.

They were still at a serious disadvantage, but it meant a lot to have an actual goal in mind.

The enemy was quickly leaving the category of “incomprehensible”.

“…White Queen, it’s true you’re still the strongest ''for now''.”

Kyousuke spoke quietly inside the cold kitchen lined with strange lab equipment.

The blue flame in his eyes was cold, but there was great heat hidden in his voice.

“But that’s only at the peak of the known route up the mountain. It’s time I showed you what humans are capable of.”