Editing Leviathan:Volume 3 Chapter 4 (section)

===Part 6===

In any case, Hal and company managed to survive a dragon king's attack.

No one spoke for five minutes after the white dragon's exit. Not a single word.

Instead, they all stared blankly at the sky&mdash;where Princess Yukikaze had flown away. Whether Hal, Asya, Orihime or Hazumi. Even Luna Francois.

The encounter and battle was this shocking.

But soon after, Orihime finally spoke up.

"Although so much has happened, I'm glad we survived."

Phew<nowiki>~~</nowiki> She expressed her opinion while sighing deeply. Then sweeping her gaze across everyone's face, she seemed to inquire "Are you okay?" with a carefree smile. Influenced by her, Hal smiled wryly in return.

"Yeah. I guess that's right, Juujouji."

"Thank goodness. Seeing such depressed looks on everyone, I was thinking someone might raise an objection."

Orihime winked and joked.

She was deliberately being humorous to ease the atmosphere. At times like these, Orihime would always be the first to show care for others, trying to change the ambiance. To Hal, this aspect of hers was very dazzling.

"I-I'm not depressed at all..." Asya concurred. She had her head lowered limply.

"A technique of assured annihilation, right? When firing the queen's divine bow, Rushalka needed to Double Cast pseudo-divinity to pour in magical power..."

Hal's childhood friend murmured, looking utterly drained.

To think she tasked her "serpent" with such a challenging job in that instant, Asya was impressive as always. And Hal also knew what she was going to say next.

"Due to the aforementioned reason, I'm completely famished..."

An expected confession. Hal smiled wryly again.

Orihime smiled cheerfully as well. On closer examination, the corners of Hazumi's lips finally curled up too. As for Luna Francois, she was shrugging in a somewhat exaggerated manner.

Hal concluded he had to make things clear sooner after all. He walked over to Hazumi.

"Shirasaka, can I have a word with you?"

"Y-Yes. Is something the matter!? Senpai."

"About what we talked about last time... I want to entrust the rune's power to you."

"&mdash;!?"

"But let's be blunt, this is something like the devil's temptation. If you continue to follow me, I'm guessing there will be repeated encounters with monsters like earlier. Monsters that think nothing of elites. You might even shoulder unnecessary burdens."

"S-Senpai..."

"Since that's the kind of invitation it is, I won't force you. The same goes for Asya and Juujouji. If you don't think you can follow me to the bitter end, I don't mind if you stop assisting me."

"Haruga-kun..."

Hazumi and Orihime showed surprise in their eyes while staring at the shrugging Hal.

Perhaps the number of comrades to entrust the power of dragonbane might increase from now on.

However, Hal believed that this type of behavior was tantamount to the devil's temptation. The exact same as when Hinokagutsuchi had invited Haruga Haruomi in the past. Nevertheless, Hal was also a SAURU agent who had cultivated many witches.

The self-styled devil and Hal's positions were very similar to begin with&mdash;

One could perhaps assert that. Meanwhile, Asya sighed and cast a warm gaze&mdash;more precisely, it was lukewarm at a somewhat low temperature&mdash;towards him.

"You intend to seriously confront this matter&mdash;involving stuff like dragon kings and the power of dragonbane, etc... Is that what's going on?"

"Yeah. For the moment now, I'll work on a rental basis per offer."

"Like lending the power of dragonbane to the TPDO or autonomous entities like Tokyo New Town, then exacting a reward for every contract?"

After Hal voiced a roughly conceptualized plan that had been sitting in the back of his mind, his childhood friend swiftly understood and nodded in response.

This sort of mercenary-like system was precisely Asya's business model.

Namely, signing contracts that specified the compensation amount per sortie to provide Asya's outstanding power as a witch and Rushalka's services to local authorities, government agencies, military organizations, NPOs, etc around the world.

"This is not a bad idea. But since the rune's power can only be conferred upon specific 'serpents'... Wanna operate the business together?"

"Yeah. Come to think of it, that's no different from before."

Hal had returned to New Town originally because of Asya's invitation.

Like the two of them accepting the job of making Juujouji Orihime a witch, they had also worked together in the past to handle jobs referred to them from SAURU.

"...Since it's decided, I'd like to make a suggestion to Luna."

"Is it something interesting? I love under-the-table deals where I can profit without lifting a finger."

Seeing Luna answer so confidently, Hal wondered if she might have already guessed what he was going to say.

While feeling a sense of camaraderie as "birds of a feather" towards Luna Francois' excellent perception, Hal said, "Basically, I'd like to invite you to serve as something like a representative for me."

"Oh my, you mean handling requests coming from various places then negotiating with the other parties?"

"Yeah. You've got a wide network and an excellent way with words, so there shouldn't be any problem... But this will have to wait until the current mess gets settled."

Hal looked west. The other witches followed suit.

In the distance, the imposing Monolith could be seen. A triangular prism of pure black, over a thousand meters in height. It was a terrifying landmark in the Tokyo area.

If one were to stare intently using magical sight, the Rune of the Sword would be faintly visible in the air over the Monolith.

Pavel Galad was currently hiding somewhere. Tokyo still remained under his "occupation."


Evening at the Academy&mdash;

In order to deliver the still unconscious President M to a police hospital, Luna Francois had summoned a police officer from the MPD. The witches all went over to help.

Meanwhile, Hal went to the sports ground on his own.

Under the setting sun that was dyeing everything bright red, Hal spoke aloud on purpose, "...In the end, you still accepted my proposal."

"Nothing noteworthy. After all, there seems to be more value in using you than I originally thought. Rather than squeezing you dry, it would be better to extend a helping hand as your benefactor."

The girl dressed in the scarlet kimono appeared next to Hal and bragged.

Naturally, it was Hinokagutsuchi, the one whose resume included titles such as former dragon queen, ghost and self-styled devil.

"Although you're currently taking residence in my gun... Is that really okay?"

"I am guarding your wand, fool. Now that my wisdom is added to it, this wand houses supreme power that is in no way inferior to the wands of dragon kings."

When Hal attempted to control the Crimson Queen, the interfering Hinokagutsuchi had been dispersed by Hal's fighting spirit, causing her spiritual body to enter the magic gun.

"Be that as it may, I am exhausted from using too much power recently. I might very well vanish if I did not find something to possess. This happens to work out perfectly, yes."

"No option to move on obediently to the afterlife huh..."

Despite exchanging annoying words with each other, the atmosphere between them had changed greatly from before.

Perhaps because during that moment in the contest for control over the queen, Hinokagutsuchi had compromised on purpose.

Then again, it was also possible that Hinokagutsuchi had revised her opinion of Hal slightly in a favorable direction.

"Listen here, brat. I would like to have the man named 'Solomon' resurrected in the modern era."

"By Solomon... Are you referring to the ancient king of Israel? The one who controlled seventy-two demons?"

King Solomon was a legendary sage as well as a great mage. The son of the hero, King David.

Hal was taken aback by the unexpected name.

"You sure know some weird stuff even though you're clearly a dragon... Why the heck?"

"Well, it's just for fun. After all, I am dead with nothing else to do. And it was a request from someone long ago in the past. If memory serves me correctly, it might have been a human little girl&mdash;from somewhere."

"That's really crazy. Who would make such a ridiculous request?"

"Hmph. To think you would pry into a lady's past. How tactless of you, brat?"

"Technically speaking, you're a female dragon, not a lady."

"Rein in your twisted logic. It seems that we still need to get along for a period of time. Never forget that kneeling in worship is necessary to appease me."

"Come on, change it to 'a show of care' instead."

"Furthermore, allow me to continue in assisting birth rituals. It is too dangerous relying on you alone."

"...Somehow, I get the feeling that you're harboring impure motives."

"...Then I shall try a different description. Give me some perks. Excellent opportunities for enjoying the tender skin of young ladies should not be wasted, after all."

"You're honest only during times like these. How unreliable."

Regardless, with the subject concluded, Hinokagutsuchi disappeared again.

By the time he noticed, the setting sun had sunk far in the west. Just as he was about to return to the school building, Hal noticed Orihime waiting for him there.

"...Have you finished talking to Kagutsuchi-san?"

"I guess. It feels like we're slowly going back to normal."

"Isn't that great? She is our comrade after all. Oh right, by the way, about what you said earlier regarding working with Asya-san..."

Orihime smiled mischievously and pointed at herself.

"The prior assumption is that I will be participating too, right?"

"Are you sure? Although it seems like you'll be handsomely rewarded, life will most likely be tough. And the effort demanded might rival sweatshop labor. There's so much work to do that it even feels like I've got no choice but to revise the plan I've been brewing for many years, 'saving up a huge sum of money so as to retire in leisure at the age of thirty,' postponing my retirement to the age of forty instead."

"Haruga-kun, your plan is so dull and lifeless even though you're only in your teens right now..."

After expressing her poignant opinion, Orihime said cheerfully, "Although I'm not one to go looking for hardship, I believe it is a good thing for work to be busier. Besides, it's not like I can keep foisting troublesome tasks on you and the others, Haruga-kun."

Smiling in a carefree manner, Orihime looked dazzling as always to Hal.

Whether the former dragon of shady origins or a human like Hal with a suspicious business for a career, she considered both of them "comrades" whom she could confide fully in.

"...Wait a sec, this is about kings, right? Wouldn't it be fun if we simply made Juujouji the figurehead sovereign while I serve as the regent or archbishop? Asya lacks charisma as a leader, so she's not suited to be the sovereign..."

"What was that, Haruga-kun? Look at you, muttering to yourself over there alone."

"Nothing much, a thought just occurred to me."

This was a notion brought about by Hinokagutsuchi's mention of "King Solomon."

However, what they currently needed to think about was the unknown whereabouts of Pavel Galad as well as the possible upcoming battle. As it happened, night was soon about to fall. With the rising of the moon, the consumed usage counts of pseudo-divinity by Rushalka and the others would be reset.

Side by side, Hal and Orihime walked into the school building.