Editing Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance:Volume19 Chapter2 (section)

===Part 1===

After the demon spirit Vlad Dracul showed up, Kamito and his friends went over to the headmistress' office.

With her gray<!--her hair was described as silver in the previous chapter--> hair was bobbing about, Vlad Dracul was quite cute.

Kamito had crossed blades with her in her elemental waffe form at Dracunia&mdash;

"I can't believe there's a demon spirit with human form..."

Kamito spoke quietly, out of earshot of the girl walking in front.

"That's the highest-ranked spirit out of all the demon spirits, crowned with the title of 'Duke.' Truly impressive as ever, the Dusk Witch, to be able to tame such a powerful spirit."

"Don't tell me you're acquainted with her?"

"Only by reputation. After all, she went on a wild rampage during the Spirit War&mdash;"

"Yes, Miss Sword Spirit over there, I've fought you before, you know~"

The girl looked back and giggled, baring her sharp teeth.

"Pretty much every Elemental Lord's direct subordinate was strong, but this wild child Est was super dangerous. To be honest, I really don't want to go against her again."

"Est, do you recall any of this?"

"No, Kamito."

Upon hearing Kamito's question, the sacred sword at his waist flashed several times. Separated from her principal body, Est currently retained only fragments of her memories from the Spirit War.

"What~, you don't remember~? Tsk."

The demon spirit girl grumbled quite disappointedly then half-skipped half-ran up the stairs.

"According to the Spirit Research Society's understanding, it is theoretically impossible for humans and demon spirits to communicate with each other. I never expected a spirit like her to exist."

Claire murmured with curiosity.

"You elementalists might think you know everything about spirits, but there are still many more mysteries in Astral Zero."

"Can't deny that."

Claire admitted it honestly with a shrug.

Arriving before the headmistress' office, the demon spirit girl pushed the door open without knocking.

"I brought 'em here~, shitty witch hag~"

"Who do you think you are calling hag? I'll annihilate you, demon spirit."

Sitting at the office desk inside, Greyworth invoked void spirit magic without delay.

"Woah!"

Kamito hastily dodged.

"Ehehe, so scary&mdash;Woo♪"

Somersaulting in the air with a flutter of her skirt, the demon spirit Vlad dodged the magic projectile spectacularly.

The floor was dug up with a huge hole in the office wall.

"H-Hey, Greyworth!?"

"You're in the way, lad. I need to teach a disobedient bad spirit a lesson."

Still with her finger pointed at the demon spirit girl, Greyworth spoke with a serious demeanor.

"What's wrong with calling a shitty hag out for being a shitty hag?"

"How dare you&mdash;"

Vlad stuck out her tongue.

"Shitty hag so scary, Vlad's gonna play outside now~"

With a turn of her jet-black overcoat, she immediately escaped out of sight.

"...My goodness. My previous contracted spirit was so much better, even though they're both demon spirits."

"Where did you contract this spirit from?"

Kamito asked while walking into the office.

"A sealed spirit kept in secret by the Ordesian military. Unearthed from ancient ruins, but no one was able to tame her. Okay, please take a seat&mdash;"

Greyworth stood up and invited Kamito and company to sit down on the sofa for guests.

Leaning Est against the side, Kamito sat down on the sofa.

Occupying his left and right were Claire and Restia respectively. Faced with Greyworth, who looked like she was the same age as them, Claire seemed a bit nervous.

''Well, who could blame her?'' After all, the legendary witch recorded in the Academy's textbooks was appearing before her, looking identical to during the olden days.

"Have you recovered?"

"Yeah, pretty much. At least I can walk."

Nodding, Kamito shrugged a bit.

"I see. Sorry for pushing you too hard, lad."

Greyworth spoke quietly with a solemn look.

"What's going on, this is totally unlike you."

"I became the Holy Kingdom's pawn and hurt you. I must apologize for this first."

Saying that, Greyworth slowly bowed her head.

"...!?"

Seeing that, Claire widened her eyes in surprise. Kamito gasped too.

To think the witch would bow her head. Was history being made?

"What happened to you in the imperial capital? It's not like I don't care about what happened twenty-four years ago, but I want to clear this up first. An elementalist of your level, manipulated by others, that's unthinkable&mdash;"

"...You are right."

Lifting her monocle, Greyworth stared intently into Kamito's eyes.

"Did you hear from the princess about the attempted assassination of the emperor?"

"Yeah..."

She was referring to how the Bloodstone in Fianna's possession had run amok and released a powerful demon spirit during the Imperial Council's discussion of how to handle the Theocracy's coup d'etat.

"I was labeled a traitor to the country and imprisoned in the infamous tower of Guas Gibai. Everything was planned by the Holy Kingdom backing Arneus."

Guas Gibai. Commonly known as the "torture tower," it was a military research facility used during the Ranbal War for a series of cruel human experiments involving cursed armament seals and others.

While Kamito and his companions were infiltrating the imperial capital, the Numbers special operative knight Virrey Branford had disappeared there during her mission to rescue Greyworth.

"I heard that the Holy Kingdom's warrior priestesses are implanted with faith towards the Holy Lord using mind magic&mdash;"

Resting her chin on her hand, Claire murmured.

"It was not mind magic."

Greyworth shook her head in response.

"I'd have trouble believing that an elementalist like you could get brainwashed by mind magic, even having lost your peak power."

Restia commented while preening her jet-black feathers.

"Oh? I never expected to receive such high praise from you, darkness spirit."

"Oh my, I have no choice but to acknowledge how scary you are. After all, you are the witch who took away my Kamito before."

Faced with Restia's combative gaze, Greyworth smiled wryly in return.

(...Oh well, I can't imagine this witch getting brainwashed either.)

Also, it would not explain why she had regained her youthful appearance either.

Like resurrection of the dead, regaining one's youth was not something any spirit's power could achieve.

If there was an exception, it would only be&mdash;

"The Holy Kingdom made me remember my ''covenant from the past''."

"Covenant?"

"Indeed. Twenty-four years ago, I entered into a covenant with the Holy Lord."

Greyworth began to narrate in a calm tone of voice.