A weary day.
With a ripple in space, Natsuki Minamiya's figure slowly materialized upon her luxurious velvet-upholstered chair.
The moment the hem of her black dress appeared in the room, a cup of tea, perfectly warmed, was placed before her.
"Thank you, Trimmau."
She took a sip of the freshly brewed hot tea and set down the report in her hand.
It concerned the attack on Dimitrie Vatler a few days prior.
'He is from the Warlord's Empire, after all,' she thought. 'I should handle this with a bit more care.'
However, thanks to Vatler's strenuous denials, the matter had already been resolved.
But still...
"Gave himself a shoulder throw while researching how to use his beast vassals...?"
The bizarre reason made the corner of Natsuki Minamiya's mouth twitch slightly. Gave himself a shoulder throw?
And managed to throw his entire body out of existence? How... impressive.
Since he clearly didn't want them investigating further, she'd let it be.
Remembering Vatler's knowing smile, Natsuki Minamiya shook her head helplessly and began looking for her maids.
She wondered what progress they'd made in the past day...
Then, a strange doorframe caught her attention.
"Since when did we have a golden doorframe," Natsuki muttered, turning her face away to continue searching for her maids.
But her averted gaze suddenly froze.
Hiss... Wait. Let me look again.
Her blue eyes gradually shifted back to the golden doorframe.
Twenty-two eyes met hers.
Natsuki Minamiya's eyes widened slowly.
This wasn't a doorframe turning gold—it was a bunch of little girls clinging to the doorframe!
"One, two, three... Eleven." Her expression shifted to one of astonishment.
Including Avrora, who was sprawled out on the sofa, that meant six new golden-haired lolis had appeared in her house in just one day.
Before she could process it, the little girl at the very top suddenly vanished.
At the same time, Arcueid's voice came from inside the doorframe.
"Ah... stop running around, come back, Number Nine."
Holding the previously topmost loli, Arcueid poked her head out and waved at Natsuki Minamiya.
"Natsuki-chan, you're back?" Her lively red eyes blinked, and then Arcueid turned back into the room. "Sorry, Natsuki-chan, I'm a bit busy right now."
The doorframe led to her bedroom within Natsuki Minamiya's house.
Leaving Natsuki Minamiya alone to stare at the ten remaining golden-haired lolis.
Stare—
A few seconds later, Arcueid emerged from the room again.
Beaming, she sat down opposite Natsuki.
Her mood had been excellent lately; she was quite satisfied with the six lolis that had practically fallen into her lap.
"...I'll buy out the lower floors tonight."
The house was getting rather crowded.
Natsuki Minamiya let out a soft sigh and handed another report to Arcueid. "When do you plan to start the Blazing Banquet?"
"In a couple of days. We'll start once the Beast Vassals within the new arrivals have been separated," Arcueid replied offhandedly, flipping through the report in her hands. "The Mystic Eye Collection train will arrive then too."
"Have you decided on a location?"
"The old southeastern district of Itogami Island."
An abandoned area?
Natsuki Minamiya nodded. She could have free rein there.
She just hoped things wouldn't get too out of hand.
Arcueid's eyes, scanning the documents, narrowed slightly. Found it.
This was the information she had asked Natsuki Minamiya to collect.
Magus Craft, a company in the northern district of Itogami Island that manufactured cleaning robots.
Her slender finger tapped on the name 'Kanase Kanon' on the employee list, a faint smile gracing her lips.
A sudden sense of foreboding struck Natsuki Minamiya. "Don't make too big of a scene," she said quickly.
"I'm going to rid the people of a scourge," Arcueid declared, standing up and beckoning the Kaleid Bloods over. "This is a company conducting human experiments behind the scenes. They're super bad."
"Even so, try to keep the commotion to a minimum." Natsuki Minamiya gently lifted the teacup from the table; the aroma of the tea helped soothe the day's fatigue. "The island's management committee will have complaints."
True enough. It wasn't ideal to act too recklessly since the administrators weren't on their side.
Arcueid narrowed her eyes, then walked out the door with Trimmau and the Kaleid Bloods in tow.
'I'll give Natsuki-chan some face for now,' she thought. But...
The administrators... Heh.
--+--
Under the clear, bright moonlight.
As if giving a pep talk, Arcueid stood before the Kaleid Bloods.
"We're here to do just three things."
She raised a finger, her expression deadly serious. "Stealth. Stealth. And more stealth."
"Understood?"
The surrounding Kaleid Bloods nodded repeatedly.
"Good." Arcueid nodded in satisfaction, waving her hand grandly. "We find the woman in the photo, then we pull out."
Seeing the Kaleid Bloods nod again, she took the lead, leaping down from the rooftop. "Now then... Primogenitors, moving out!"
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.
Golden hair fluttered against the night sky as the twelve golden-haired girls silently and swiftly infiltrated Magus Craft.
Only Avrora remained on the roof, looking left and right, utterly lost.
Click.
A soft sound as the door slowly opened.
The silver-haired maid gradually melted into a puddle of mercury, the silvery liquid systematically destroying all the electrical circuits within Magus Craft.
Arcueid strolled leisurely down the hallway, hands clasped behind her back, curiously observing the rooms around her.
Even in the middle of the night, the lab personnel at Magus Craft were still working, though not on the new cleaning robot models.
They were working on human experiments.
Every laboratory door they passed was pulled open by the Kaleid Bloods. The researchers inside walked out blankly, as if bewitched by something.
After passing many labs, Arcueid slowly stopped in front of a particularly special one.
Behind the window in the door, a young girl lay on a marble bed.
She had silver hair reminiscent of pure white snow and pale blue eyes that held a glacial light.
Crunch—
The lab door was violently wrenched open by the mercury. Facing the somewhat childish face, Arcueid offered a kindly smile.
"Good evening, Kanase Kanon."
"You are..." The researchers inside the room didn't get a chance to say much before their expressions suddenly went blank.
After meeting those red eyes, they seemed to be under some kind of control, walking out of the room calmly and placidly.
As if sensing something, the girl on the table slowly woke up.
Bleary-eyed, she looked at the girl before her, whose short golden hair seemed to radiate a dazzling light under the lamps.
Kanase Kanon's lips trembled slightly, and she spoke her first words upon waking to Arcueid.
"...An angel?"
The 'angel' before her paused for a moment, then broke into a bright, cheerful grin.
"Not an angel. A vampire."
Like pulling a drowning person from the water, the self-proclaimed vampire lifted her from the marble bed.
The handcuffs that had bound her had already broken apart without her noticing.
"...Why are you..." Kanase Kanon shrank into Arcueid's embrace, her gaze hazy.
"Do you know what was happening to you?"
"...Papa said he was going to save me."
Arcueid raised a delicate eyebrow. She gently lifted the girl's head, directing her gaze towards an adjacent room.
It seemed an experiment there had failed; the girl on the lab table lay limp, arms and legs hanging down, completely still.
After watching for a couple of seconds, Arcueid resumed walking, her footsteps echoing once more in the hallway surrounded by Kaleid Bloods.
"..." Having witnessed something she'd never seen before, Kanase Kanon lowered her eyelids, her mood visibly plummeting.
"Don't worry. Everything's fine now."
Holding her, Arcueid walked gently out the entrance.
Avrora, who had been waiting for them on the roof, was unceremoniously fished down by Trimmau as if she were a catch.
She looked at Kanase Kanon, then back at Magus Craft.
Weren't we supposed to be stealthy?
Her eyes held nothing but confusion.
"Don't worry, they won't remember a thing. The experiments will continue, but as for the test subjects..." Arcueid smiled faintly.
Surrounding the researchers were a group of Neco-Arcs wearing white lab coats.
Yet the researchers acted as if they couldn't see them, continuing their experiments on the empty space before them.
One of the Neco-Arcs tilted its head curiously and voluntarily lay down on the marble bed.
"You... why did you save me?"
The temperature difference between inside and outside made Kanase Kanon shrink deeper into Arcueid's embrace. After a glance at the receding Magus Craft building, she asked softly.
"Why?" Arcueid tilted her head, the smile still gracing her face. "I'm just a vampire who follows her whims."
A breeze ruffled the clouds, illuminating her exquisite profile in the pure moonlight.
The capricious Princess carried her rescued Angel in her arms, walking down the path home laid out by the moon's glow.
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.