— — — — — —
In the afternoon, when the scorching sun finally slipped behind the clouds—
At the military airport on Itogami Island—
The private jet touched down, the stair car rolled up, and Ryo walked out at an unhurried pace. At the bottom of the stairs, Natsuki Minamiya—holding a parasol and wearing a full gothic outfit that looked like pure heatstroke—was watching him with a face full of resignation.
As soon as he reached her, she sighed and complained. "Seriously, you always act on impulse. One moment you're going, the next you're canceling. The Aldegyr Kingdom has already sent three formal inquiries just to confirm what's going on."
"By the way, when I came over, they were already filing for an official visit to Itogami.... Looks like you scared them pretty bad."
"Aldegyr wants to send a delegation?"
Ryo blinked. He hadn't expected that.
Then, after a quick moment of thought, he figured it out.
They probably think the Fourth Primogenitor has set his sights on their women… His mouth twitched a little and he replied, annoyed. "If they want to come, then let them. It's just a diplomatic visit. Just deal with it however you want."
"You sure about that?"
Natsuki gave him a very amused look. "Because their delegation includes Princess La Folia Rihavein herself. She's a powerful spirit medium. You sure you want me to just 'deal with it'?"
(Spirit Mediums are those who can channel both Magical Arts and Spiritual Arts into their weapons. They also possess exceptionally high spiritual energy.)
"???"
"You really think I'm going to suck their blood or something?"
"I'm not even a vampire, to begin with…" Ryo rolled his eyes. He was the proud, problematic human of Arcadia.
"But La Folia? Why is she coming? Shouldn't it be her mother, the current Crown Princess?"
La Folia might technically be fifteen and high-school age now, but she was still way too young for diplomacy.
If the goal was to establish official relations with the Empire of the Dawn, Aldegyr would send Polyphonia Rihavein—the heir apparent, set to become Queen in a few months according to the original timeline.
Ryo frowned. "Wait, did the King's affair finally get exposed? Did Polyphonia take the throne already?"
If Polyphonia ascended, La Folia would become the Crown Princess and part of the ruling circle. Sending her as a diplomat would make perfect sense.
"An affair? The King actually had the guts?"
Natsuki's face twisted in disbelief. The Aldegian King cheated?
Aldegyr was literally known as 'Kingdom of Valkyries.'
So who actually ran the country was… pretty obvious.
Even if the current King came from nobility and married into the royal family, a cheating son-in-law in a matriarchy… yeah, no need to imagine how that ends.
And come to think of it, that info could be used for leverage. Threaten him with it once, and he'd probably fold instantly.
Technically, that meant Natsuki finally gained a valuable piece of intel from Ryo.
"I can only tell you Polyphonia hasn't taken the throne. And I don't actually know why Aldegyr is sending La Folia."
She paused there and stared at him strangely, "But how did you even know about the King's affair?"
"Are you stupid?"
'I read most the source material…' he roasted silently.
Out loud, his story was different. He smirked, cornering her with. "I found it in the dossier on their sorcerous engineer. You didn't notice anything weird about his 'adopted' daughter?"
"Sorcerous engineer?"
Natsuki blinked, taking a moment before remembering who that was.
The one who defected from Aldegyr—Kensei Kanase.
He'd arrived about a year ago, shortly after Ryo left, asking the Empire of the Dawn for asylum.
Cases like his were common enough. The new empire lacked talent, so Natsuki had been recruiting magical criminals with minor charges.
Which led to several nations calling the empire a 'lawless nest of misfits.'
Thinking back, Kensei's daughter… Kanon Kanase? Was there something odd about her?
Wait… wasn't Kanon Kanase silver-haired and blue-eyed? That was literally the hallmark of Aldegyr's royal bloodline.
Suddenly everything clicked for Natsuki.
Yeah… an illegitimate child wouldn't be something they'd make a public spectacle out of.
Natsuki shook her head, baffled. "So that's it… you noticed his daughter was off. I actually thought you used some kind of divine insight."
"You mean precognition?"
Ryo snorted. "There are a lot of ways to probe Aldegyr's weaknesses. But anyone strong enough to do that wouldn't waste the effort scheming against a country they could crush with one finger."
"Who would be that bored?"
'But Aldegyr's supposed to be a major power. They can even stand toe to toe with the Warlord's Dominion…' Natsuki thought wryly.
"So, do we approve the visit request?"
"I told you, do whatever."
Ryo sounded exhausted, then sighed. "What matters right now is The Cleansing."
"Huh?" Natsuki's eyes widened. "It's only been a short while and you already have intel?"
She stared at him suspiciously. "The Order of End hides their stuff better than anyone. How did you even get information?"
"A dumb vampire told me."
Ryo's expression was complicated. "He only told me where to get The Cleansing technique, but technically it counts."
"There's someone that stupid?"
Natsuki was really stunned.
The Cleansing was a major secret technique Cain used to turn gods into demons. And someone casually gave away how to get it?
Was the Order of End collectively brain-damaged?
"So where is it hidden?"
Ryo looked awkward at that.
He was silent for a moment, then answered helplessly. "Itogami Island. Tenth level under the Keystone Gate. Inside that dragon egg I brought back."
Natsuki froze.
A long pause... Then, flatly. "So after scouring the world for a treasure map… turns out the treasure was at home the whole time."
.
.
.