"We've been waiting for you, Yozuki Sho-sama, Mine Riko-sama. Please, this way."
"..."
"..."
Riko and I got out of the car and followed the guide without saying anything. The young man, whose expression didn't change at all in the face of our lack of manners, began walking down the path leading to a large mansion. In the moonlight, his mouth gleamed with a flash of light.
I followed the young man's back, holding Riko's hand, which had been pale since we got in the car.
Riko was wearing her usual bulletproof uniform, but it was likely packed with countless weapons. Given the location, that was only natural.
Tonight was the day of our invitation from Vlad.
We were already in enemy territory. However, I wasn't that on guard.
We had come to this mansion today at Vlad's invitation. He apparently wanted to talk to the two of us and had prepared a dinner party. He had gone to such roundabout lengths, and there had been nothing in the car that picked us up, so I didn't think he would resort to a cowardly attack on the way. But that didn't mean he would confront us head-on either.
I, for my part, was thinking about the new weapon I had acquired. A battle was inevitable. The fact that I couldn't gauge the enemy's strength was a great concern, but I had no choice but to fight with what I had.
Fortunately, or perhaps as expected, Vlad's mansion was on a vast piece of land. The surrounding area was also filled with the mansions of other famous people, but I was confident we could fight with all our might without having to worry too much about the space.
"Please wait in this room. I will call the master now."
The room we were led to had a table so big I had never seen one like it before. There were three chairs. I knew which chairs we were supposed to sit in without being told. One of them had different decorations.
We sat down and waited quietly.
After about 10 minutes, he finally appeared.
"Welcome to my mansion. Yozuki Sho-kun, and... welcome back, Lupin the Fourth."
It was Vlad.
---------
The table was covered with food. The dishes seemed to be centered around meat. Women who appeared to be maids brought them in the moment Vlad took his seat.
"Now, please, don't be shy. As for alcohol... you're still minors, but you're Butei, so you should be able to handle at least a light drink."
The maids, who carried out Vlad's unspoken intentions without fail, moved around the room. It was truly professional how they made no sound at all while placing the dishes.
When the serving was done, they left the room, leaving the two of us behind.
The delicious aroma of the food in front of me made my mouth water and my stomach growl, telling me that my body was hungry. But even I was too nervous to swallow anything. Riko was probably the same.
In stark contrast to us, Vlad began to eat his meal with great relish.
"For our kind, the night for humans is like the morning. This meal is breakfast for me."
I don't need to know that.
"Artificial blood isn't so bad. No, at first, I didn't think I could drink such a thing. You shouldn't knock it until you've tried it. It's refreshing and perfect for a morning drink."
That red drink, it wasn't wine, it was blood. So he thinks of it like tomato juice.
By the way, artificial blood is distributed to the vampires here. Apparently, if you drink it, you can suppress your craving for blood.
"Vlad. We didn't come here to have a nice dinner with you."
"Oh, then why did you come here, following my invitation?"
He was playing dumb.
"You already know the answer to that. Do you have so much time that you can afford to put on a charade? Are you so bored?"
"It's true that when you live for a long time, you get bored and seek entertainment. Although, lately, things have been quite amusing."
He was still trying to be flippant.
"V-Vlad...! Today... I came to arrest you...!"
It was Riko's tough persona talking, but her voice was trembling. It was a line she squeezed out, enduring her fear.
"Hmph... The Fourth."
"!"
With just that, Riko stiffened.
"Don't you understand yet? You have no right to say anything. You should be ashamed of yourself for inheriting only inferior genes and have been a little more humble in your actions."
Riko's tears began to flow. I squeezed her hand.
"However, you seem to have a good eye for who to fawn over. To catch such a big fish. Just like your mother, you seem to be good at charming men."
"Don't... talk bad about my mother...!"
"Hey, stop it, Vlad. It takes a coward to speak ill of the dead."
Looking at me, Vlad rested his hand on his chin.
"Are you lured by her body, Yozuki Sho? It's true that The Fourth is very attractive for a human. If you look at that alone, she inherited it from her mother, so you might not be able to call her genes completely inferior, but... there was something more valuable she should have inherited. It's a shame."
Vlad is a supreme DNA supremacist. He truly believes that DNA is everything. And despite Riko being the daughter of a brilliant phantom thief, she inherited none of his talent. In Vlad's eyes, this was the worst-case scenario.
Even so, she was still from a distinguished lineage. She was raised in confinement from a young age to produce the next generation.
The condition for Riko's release was to defeat Aria. As it turned out, she failed, but anyone who has heard our conversation so far can easily tell whether or not Vlad had any intention of keeping his promise.
"And you say you'll arrest me. Indeed, unlike those who are friendly with humans, I have no intention of following their laws. If this gets out, it will be troublesome. If it gets out, that is."
Vlad wiped his mouth with a napkin.
"But I would prefer to resolve this peacefully. Did you know? Humans are surprisingly more hot-blooded than us vampires?"
"I'm sorry, but even if you repent for your past actions and apologize to Riko, your crimes won't disappear. The crimes you've committed have been blamed on someone else. If you want a peaceful resolution, you'll go and confess to the proper authorities now."
"Ah, Holmes the Fourth. It seems my crimes have been foisted upon her mother. What a terrible thing. To have such a short lifespan."
This guy just called her de facto life sentence a consequence of her short lifespan. He really does think of humans as trash.
"I don't want you to misunderstand, but I don't treat all humans like this. I believe I am treating you with due respect and courtesy."
The respect you have is for the possibly talented DNA you think I possess.
"Yes. I respect your God-given talent and want to have a gentlemanly and peaceful discussion to form a mutually beneficial relationship. What do you say? If you listen to my demands, I have a reward prepared for you."
"This is going nowhere."
"Is that so?"
The charade is over. With this, the completely pointless time has finally come to an end.
I cut off my conversation with Vlad.
"Speaking of which..."
I reached for my weapon from my watch-type cellphone.
"It seems two of your acquaintances are here as well."
My movement stopped.
"..."
"You don't have to hide it. About my Stand ability. It seems White Snake carelessly let it slip... but you should know it well."
"Scary Monsters, is it?"
A Stand that turns living things into dinosaurs. Last time, we were just surrounded, but we didn't get into a fight, so I shared the ability with everyone.
"This mansion has a lot of dinosaurs roaming around. They're like surveillance cameras. All the information the dinosaurs gather comes to me."
The two people who infiltrated are Kurumi and Tina, who has the Fantasy Install of Hassan's card. I don't think they'd be found so easily.
I had entrusted the two of them with gathering evidence of Vlad's crimes under the guise of an all-out brawl. Even if there are rumors, on the surface, he's known as one of the great vampires, unlike in the original story. If we just go on a rampage, we might be the ones who get branded as the villains.
I thought the two of them, with the ability to enter shadows and suppress their presence, would be able to move around the mansion freely.
"There are also very small dinosaurs roaming around. As small as ants. Perhaps you might have accidentally crushed one without knowing. I make sure my dinosaurs avoid the ones who live in the mansion, but..."
"!"
I see.
It was a double surveillance system: by the five senses of Scary Monsters and by when a small dinosaur is crushed. Most people are found by the former, and even those who aren't unknowingly signal their presence by stepping on a trap switch on the floor. The death of the crushed dinosaur is relayed to Vlad.
"I won't tell you twice. You still have time. Scary Monsters are inferior animals with the bare minimum of intelligence, but they are still the strongest creatures of attack. I think you'd better surrender before your friends get hurt."
I can't back down now. And I have a trump card, too.
"Aria, fire."
"Got it! I'm letting it rip!"
"What?"
I gave the command into the small earpiece I had on.
Immediately after, a large tremor shook the mansion.
"What?! ...! This is it!"
Vlad seemed to understand what was happening.
Aria's Dendrobium, which was on standby in the air, had rained down a flurry of missiles.
"Heh, hehe, hehe. You've got guts. This will be the talk of the town tomorrow morning."
"I refuse to run and hide or to pretend to agree to your proposal. With this, I can't back down. A cornered human is strong."
"You say that after cornering yourself. I'm even more intrigued now. If your DNA is good, too, you'll be perfect."
A certain vampire in a card game sacrifices his own life to seek revenge. His words are difficult.
Then, a communication came through my earpiece.
"No good. It seems there's a defensive barrier. Have you already picked a fight with Vlad?"
"Yeah. He's furious from that."
"Let me talk to him for a second."
"Go ahead."
I switched the earpiece settings and held it up to Vlad.
"Hello? Can you hear me? You can hear me, can't you? Vlad, I've heard everything you've said! How dare you make a fool of humans and insult my mom! I'm going to expose all your evil deeds, blow a hole in this mansion, and throw you in jail! Be prepared!"
"...Very well. Since you say so, perhaps I should deal with you directly. I'll make you feel the consequences of your disrespect towards me, Vlad the Vampire...!*"
"Do you think I'll let you?"
I stood in Vlad's way. Riko also drew her gun.
"...Hmph."
Vlad sighed and snapped his fingers. The door to the room opened, and a blonde girl entered. In this situation, the person Vlad calls for must be an enemy to us.
"Then, Leticia-san. I'm leaving this to you."
"...Alright."
"...What did he say?"
Leticia? I think I've heard that name before... Ah, I remember!
Leticia Draculea. A character from "Problem Children Are Coming from Another World, Aren't They?". She's supposed to be the strongest vampire princess in the series, a noble woman known as the "Knight of the Little Garden." There's no way she would agree with Vlad's ideology...
"I have no grudge against you, but you'll die here."
Reality doesn't wait. She seems to be all ready to fight.
I'll deal with her first. I can think while I'm moving.
Time to use one of my new powers.
I wrapped a belt around my waist.
---------
Gamer Driver
A transformation belt from Kamen Rider Ex-Aid. By using this belt and an item called a Gashat, a user can transform into one of the Ex-Aid series of Kamen Riders.
This belt can only be used by the first person to wear it.
---------
Dual Gashat!
The strongest fist! What's the next stage?
"MAX Dai-Henshin!"
Gacchan! Mazaru Up!
The strength of the red fist! The chain of the blue puzzle! The crossing of red and blue! PERFECT KNOCK OUT!
My body changed into a fusion of two bodies, the blue Perfect Puzzle and the red Knock Out Fighter. This was Perfect Knock Out Gamer Level 99, a form that was finally made possible after getting the Gamer Driver.
"Hmph... you really do resemble him."
"Him?"
"You should know him. Dangerous Zombie. Well, you only resemble him in appearance; your personalities are complete opposites."
Vlad said something that shocked me.
"You're not originally from this world, are you?"
"W-what are you talking about, Vlad!"
Riko tried to rush forward, but a black, shadow-like blade blocked her way.
"I'll be back soon. Leticia-san, please."
I'll deal with my questions later. For now, I'll focus on what's in front of me.
---------
Yukina, Kuro, Asuna, and Yo, who had infiltrated by using the divine vibration wave driving technique of the Yuksekkaro to neutralize the intruders' barrier, were in a big fight against Vlad's subordinate vampires.
Since Kuro had projected a Noble Phantasm with an anti-vampire curse, they were able to fight without fear of the vampires' regenerative abilities.
These four were originally supposed to be a diversion. They were supposed to gather evidence for Vlad's arrest while Aria caused a commotion, but the plan had changed a bit.
Then, a man appeared.
"Hey, get out of the way. Scram."
He kicked a young vampire away and walked toward them.
"I thought there were fireworks going off in the middle of the night, and now there's a dance party in the yard, huh? Hey, you, what's the meaning of this? I hate being woken up like this, you know that, right?"
"I-intruders! They're the ones to blame!"
The young vampire tried to defend himself with a terrified expression.
"Hey, hey, hey. You were also making a ruckus. Didn't you also wake me up?"
"I-I-uhh-- Ahhhhhhh!"
"For now, I'll borrow your medals. I'll give them back to you if you're not dead from that wound."
The young man, who had his medals stolen, screamed in pain that he had never experienced before.
"And you guys. Why would you do something like this? I was having a good time and sleeping well."
DANGEROUS ZOMBIE
"Henshin."
Gashat! Buggle Up!
Danger, danger, death, the crisis, DANGEROUS ZOMBIE!
"Guess you'll have to pay me with your bodies."
--------------------------------------------
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