Leviathan:Volume 7 Chapter 1
Chapter 1 - September Revolution
Part 1
"How boring—"
Luna Francois Gregory sighed.
"The plan is proceeding smoothly without any impediments at all. And to think that I painstakingly prepared countermeasures ahead of time to win over various people involved with SAURU in the Kantou region, for the purposes of poaching, tempting, bribing, negotiating, intimidating, threatening or extorting personnel."
"Miss Gregory, I believe it is a good thing for the plan to be proceeding smoothly."
"Of the countermeasures you listed, isn't the latter half somewhat problematic in character?"
Hiiragi Yukari had responded with a cordial smile while Kenjou Genya chimed in casually from the side.
Hiiragi-san was an intellectual beauty with spectacles in her twenties and served as the chief of SAURU's Kantou branch in Japan. In charge of SAURU's Tokyo New Town office, Kenjou was a good-looking man with unkempt facial hair.
The three of them were meeting at Yokohama's Chinatown.
The trio was sitting at the open terrace section of a Chinese restaurant that was a brief walk from the train station.
The dishes on the table not only included staples of Japanese-adapted Chinese dishes like chilli shrimp and mapo doufu but also luxury delicacies such as shark fin soup and abalone steak.
These were ordered by Luna, the master-class witch commanding an extraordinary income.
Yokohama City was the heartland of SAURU's Kantou branch.
Hiiragi Yukari's office was also situated in the city. As an executive of SAURU, Luna Francois Gregory had come to this city to meet face-to-face with members of the organization—
Naturally, this was to discuss clandestine plans.
"Because everyone was so cooperative. 'Are you willing to join us...?' The new organization, the GUILD, formed around Tokyo New Town's witches and Haruga Haruomi, requiring them to quit SAURU depending on circumstances—I can't believe that currently 68% of the Kantou personnel have agreed at the first opportunity."
Luna Francois was holding several A4-size sheets of computer printouts.
Having curled up the stack of paper, she was fanning herself.
It was the name list of hundreds of SAURU members active in the Kantou region. Those who had answered "YES" were crossed out in red.
The papers were marked full of red lines.
In addition, those who consented were enchanted wtih oath magic, sworn to absolute secrecy.
"I am happy that time was not wasted, but it is rather boring."
"It's only natural for people to decide this way."
"Because everyone at SAURU knows... At this rate, mankind will only continue to suffer under the dragons' oppression, headed on a slow course for destruction."
The master-class witch at the tender age of seventeen—Luna Francois.
As representatives of ordinary people, the two adults, Hiiragi and Kenjou, responded to her tactless lament.
"Whatever, things will soon be getting hectic anyway." Luna pouted with displeasure and used magic.
The list she had been using as a fan suddenly started to burn. Within the blink of an eye, the paper was incinerated into ash by a mysterious flame, disappearing into oblivion.
At the same time, the flame vanished. This was Tinder magic.
The entire process only lasted but an instant, hence nearby people would not notice.
Even had someone noticed, they probably would have convinced themselves it was merely a fire started from a lighter.
Such was the magical power and stylishness of a Level 5 witch, whose skill in even the smallest of magic spells would still dwarf that of weaker witches.
"Looks like there are no issues in the first stage of our plan, 'in any case, let's take over the Kantou region first.' Could you two continue with advance preparations inside the Kantou branch?"
"By the way, don't we need to deal with that guy?" Kenjou nodded and asked after receiving orders from Luna.
"That elite dragon has been reported lurking at Tokyo New Town in human form. I remember the first time when he appeared before us Japanese, the location was..."
"In front of the Yokohama Landmark Tower, right?"
Hiiragi Yukari was referring to a super tall building standing at a height of 296m.
As long as the sky was clear, It was possible to see this majestic structure even from Chinatown.
"An entity named Pavel Galad, a false dragon king like Haruomi-kun."
"Leave him be. Or rather, given the current circumstances, we have no choice but to ignore him for now."
Luna showed a serious look on her face for the first time since sitting down in the open-air seating in Chinatown.
The silver dragon, successor to the Rune of the Sword, was a formidable foe who posed a threat to Harry, the boy of her love. He was very likely going to be their biggest obstacle apart from the few dragon kings.
"During the summer vacation, we had the Metropolitan Police Department search New Town but all that turned up were a few eyewitness accounts. If an elite dragon with high intelligence and magical power was truly serious about infiltrating human society, it would be very difficult to root him out... Our long-time worries have now been proven true."
During the summer, Hal and company had gone off on expeditions one after another to Izu, the American East Coast and other places.
With the turbulent vacation concluded a few days ago, September was now rolling around. For high school students like Luna Francois and Haruga Haruomi, it was also the beginning of the second school term.
After returning to Japan from New York, while drafting up plans for the GUILD, Luna and others have not lowered their guard against "the enemies."
The enemies. Countless dragons as well as Pavel Galad.
Most prominently, there was the queen who had declared Tokyo as her territory. The white dragon making her temporary residence at the Old Tokyo Concession, Princess Yukikaze—
President M, a wielder of mysterious powers whom even Luna could not ignore, had issued the following warning.
'I have been feeling uneasy the whole time recently.'
'There is a very strong premonition—Something huge will happen to the city in the near future and might need your party's power.'
Would the cause of a huge incident be Princess Yukikaze? Pavel Galad? Or a dragon previously unencountered?
Regardless, Tokyo New Town's current situation must be very dangerous.
Part 2
"Uwah... This is weird after all~"
Funaki-san—Funaki Kyouka—looked at her hand and frowned.
She was sitting in a train, what would be known as commoner's locomotion, taking the New Town Loop Line which circled Tokyo New Town, gazing at the pocket watch she had taken out from her schoolbag.
"It's been like this all the time recently."
This was a old-fashioned pocket watch with a long hand, a short hand, and a hand for indicating seconds.
The watch was just big enough to hold in one's hand. Currently, the three hands were spinning nonstop, like a compass under interference.
This was not Funaki-san's own possession. Her classmate, Haruga Haruomi had lent it to her.
This classmate, reputedly a treasure hunter and a mage for two generations starting from his father, always looking sleepy, had cast a certain spell on his personal pocket watch before lending it to her.
This was Sense Magical Power.
"When something or someone possessing powerful magic is nearby... Or some kind of creature, the tip of the long hand will point directly at the source—I remember that's what Haruga-kun said."
He apparently used this spell for hunting treasure.
Before the summer vacation, Funaki-san had asked him to lend her a "searching tool" so that she would instantly know whenever the silver dragon in the guise of the super handsome guy was nearby.
His answer was "Stealth magic can counter it, so just remember this thing isn't infallible."
However, if the other party were using stealth magic, the hands on the watch would simply remain still'. Normally speaking, the hands would not spin nonstop like now.
This response had started appearing late August.
She had discovered it while strolling around New Town.
"So this means that something weird is going to happen all over Tokyo... Right?" Funaki-san murmured.
'Haruga-kun, are you there? I'm at Class F's homeroom.'
"I'm still in school, killing time on the roof right now," Hal's answer sounded even more lethargic than usual.
It was early September, during the second school term, on an afternoon after lessons were over.
The one calling Hal's cellphone was his classmate Mutou-san. Recently, she had been helping out as a part-time employee with business matters in the founding of the GUILD.
Also, in contrast to Hal, Mutou-san's tone was energetic as always and full of cheer.
'What? That's just upstairs. I'll go find you. Don't go anywhere.'
"You're going to make a special trip?"
'Yes, I need to return the report to you. The collection of dragon trivia that's usually treasured secretly at the Haruga residence.'
"You sure read fast. Didn't I lend it to you only three days ago?"
'Because it's interesting stuff. If possible, please bring me something else to read tomorrow. See you later.'
Mutou-san hung up, so Hal put his cellphone away.
It had probably been two months since he started providing knowledge about dragons and magic to Mutou-san. Extremely thirsting for "knowledge of that sort" to begin with, the classmate read the materials with unexpected speed, reaching a level of comprehension that would put even SAURU members to shame.
I must keep increasing the number of people famililar with this type of knowledge...
Leaning against the railing, Hal thought to himself absentmindedly.
Looking down at the sports field from a height of fifteen meters, he naturally noticed.
"As one might expect... Much fewer than before."
Hal was referring to the number of people hanging around on campus.
Students participating in club activities or on their way home seemed to be fewer than even during the first school term—
This was merely Hal's personal impression, so he could be mistaken. However, it was the truth that after suffering dragon attacks repeatedly, some of Tokyo New Town's residents had decided to "move away or evacuate temporarily."
"Oh, I found you at last. Hello, Haruga-kun."
A voice called out to him from behind.
The telephone conversation had ended less than ten minutes ago and Mutou-san was already here. She was a short-haired girl with plenty of energy in both mind and body.
"Here you go. This is what I need to return to you."
Receiving the documents she handed to him, Hal nodded. "I got it. Then I'll pick out something for you tomorrow."
"Sorry for troubling you all the time. Say, Haruga-kun, are you currently writing that GUILD proposal?"
"Yeah, I even used your opinion for reference, to make a revised version."
"Have you addressed the part that everyone was concerned about? Basically, it would be desirable to have a theme that could serve as the mission statement for the second stage of 'the first stage is establishing the new organization GUILD, while the second stage is to take control of Japan's Kantou region,' something that could represent the organization.""
"This aspect is still fluid, so there's currently no way to make an official announcement yet."
Hal was quite vague.
"But we have a number of plans prepared behind the scenes. While I was in America, I came up with many different ideas."
"Oh?"
"Well, when the time comes, I'll ask you to help out."
"Understood~ Oh right, on an unrelated note..."
Mutou-san suddenly pointed behind her—The entrance to the school building's roof. The metal door had separated from its hinges and was lying on the floor.
"What's with that door?"
"Oh... During summer, it was malfunctioning a bit and couldn't be opend. I think someone broke it off by force."
"Oh~ And that door was so sturdy too."
Mutou-san widened her eyes, very impressed.
In fact, the hinges were made of metal too. If one were to look closely, they would discover that the hinges were ripped apart by brute force.
Fortunately, Mutou-san did not seem to have noticed.
Smiling, she bid Hal goodbye and left the roof.
"Kukukuku... Even you do not have the guts to admit that you were the perpetrator, huh?"
"Duh? I intend to finish my school life as 'an unassuming male student.' Besides, no one will believe that it was done by someone like me who looks like a weakling."
After Mutou-san left, a young girl in a kimono appeared.
Needless to say, this was the haughty and conceited former dragon king, Hinokagutsuchi. Laughing maliciously, she was looking at the top of Hal's head.
"The wisdom of Ruruk Soun—You are fairly experienced at using it now."
"So-so, I suppose. But this time, even I think I overdid it. This is beyond using a sledgehammer to crack a nut, it's using a sledgehammer to smash a speck of dust."
Someone with magical sight, such as a witch, probably would see five magic symbols on top of Hal's head, releasing potent magical power.
They were runes of Ruruk Soun, different from any language in the world.
The arrangement signified "telekinesis." This was magic for moving objects by emitting mental energy invisible to the naked eye.
—Thirty minutes earlier, Hal wanted to come to the roof but discovered that the door could not be opened. It looked like it had malfunctioned over the summer break.
Hal originally thought of giving up, then an idea occurred to him.
Could the telekinesis magic used by the first elite dragon he encountered, Raak Al Soth, be applied to this kind of situation?
...The reason why he had used such a mystic technique in this situation was ultimately due to his unease, probably.
Hal and his faction's current position was quite precarious. Even disregarding President M's warning, it was still necessary to be on maximum alert.
In that case, shouldn't Haruga Haruomi get used to "the wisdom of dragons" that he had yet to explore?
Since he did not know when he might need this power...
"Although I accidentally broke the door because I didn't control my strength with enough care—" Hal said quietly. "I feel like praising myself on a job well done, actually. As long as I master this magic, it's definitely possible to uproot the entire school building and suspend it in the air. The power of elite dragons is truly amazing..."
"Hmph. Compared to elites, your current power is closer to the dragon kings."
Hinokagutsuchi did not hide the smile of mockery on her face at all.
"Let alone suspending a building in the air, pulverizing it would undoubtedly be an easy task."
"Sheesh... Whatever, looks like there's no problem. It's time for me to leave. I still need to meet with Luna and the others."
"Oh?"
Hal shrugged and the eyes of the former queen of dragons instantly brightened up.
"Will the little lass with the big appetite be there?"
"No, but one of either Juujouji or Shirasaka will come. Hii—the adults on good terms with us might be present too. What's it to you?"
"Nothing of consequence. Just do your work, brat."
Hal turned his back to the maliciously smiling Hinokagutsuchi and walked to the entrance that was missing a door.
His expression was lacking in motivation and passion, the same as usual. However, Hal was feeling quite anxious inside.
Hii____. Ke____.
He could not recall the names of the two adults who were on very good terms with his group.
What a disgrace to be so forgetful at the young age of sixteen. Pretending nothing had happened, Hal took out his cellphone and swiftly operated the touchscreen to check his contact list.
Oh right. Hiiragi-san and Kenjou-san.
Hinokagutsuchi's sharp gaze was stabbing into Hal's back.
Just before leaving, Hal glanced back, only to see the self-styled devil in the guise of a young girl seeing him off, gazing at him gently as though she were observing the ecology of an exotic beast.
Part 3
(placeholder)
Part 4
(placeholder)
| Back to Illustrations | Return to Main Page | Forward to Chapter 2 |
