Red, big, a smell of Red Dragon.”
—! A red and big Dragon. She must mean Great Red. My current body is made from borrowing a section of Great Red’s body. It’s not weird if she can smell Great Red from me. From the way she said that, it seems like she doesn’t know much about Great Red like the real Ophis does. But I’m surprised. The real Ophis is very interested in Great Red, but even this girl recognises that Sekiryuushintei……
The relation between Ophis and Great Red must be more complex than I imagined. I got my head clear and introduce ourselves to Lilith. “I’m Hyoudou Issei. She’s Asia, the ones over there are Xenovia and Irina, and the one over there is Rossweisse-san.”
Asia and the others also greet her with a smile. “……Hyoudou, Issei…..Issei……”
She says my name to remember it. Huh? Is my name a bit too hard to remember? “You can just call me Ise.”
I say it in a friendly manner, but—
“…………”
She becomes silent, and I witness the difference between her and Ophis. She has less expressions than Ophis. What did they do with the stolen power of Ophis and how did they use it? Those are the things I’m concerned about now. Maybe she is satisfied, so the girl doesn’t say anything and stands up from her seat. “What, are you going home?”
When I ask, Lilith doesn’t turn around but says,
“…………Rizevim, protect, Lilith’s duty.”
That’s what she simply says. After we look at each other, we head back towards the castle after finishing our meal quickly. We, the group that went outside, return and talk with the other members since Azazel-sensei finally came back. Sensei then talks to us. “Oh, it’s you guys. I’ve just come back. ……So how was it outside?”
“It was normal. Like you said, they don’t seem to know anything about the coup d’état.”
—When I tell him my impression, Sensei mutters out saying, “Thought so”. Gasper makes a rare action by talking to Sensei. He puts on a smile with a high tension—. “Azazel-sensei, please listen to me! Marius-san promised me that he will release Valerie! I’m so glad~. With this, I can take Valerie to Japan!”
He reacts to Gasper’s reaction and words, so he looks at us right away. “……Tell me, what happened?”
We tell Sensei about Valerie. We already heard about the discussion with the Head of the House of Vladi from Rias (we avoided telling Gasper about the information regarding his birth), but he seems like he has a good grasp of it already. Sensei waves his hand to call me, Rias, and Akeno-san to the corner of the room. Sensei says it in a small voice to make sure Gasper and Asia can’t hear us. (I’m sure you guys know this already, but what he means by releasing her is……)
(Yes, as I thought, it’s something that isn’t good……)
Sensei nods to my words. (He must be planning to take that, the Holy Grail, from her. From Valerie’s body that is. The Fallen Angel’s technology has been leaked outside. So it won’t be weird if they have the techniques to do that over here. After all, the ones behind them are the Khaos Brigade.) ……Pulling it out. Asia who got her Twilight Healing pulled out flashes back in my head. ……That bastard Marius is planning to do the same thing. So he’s planning to make Gasper watch that happen……! Rias burns in rage. (……Since Marius used the word “releasing” her, I’m sure he’s planning to make his move very soon. We need to tell this to Gasper soon. ……That man, Marius Tepes, sure is a despicable Vampire……!) Maybe she can’t forgive Marius who fooled her servant, so she must be feeling mad because she can’t let herself tell the truth to Gasper who is in so much joy. This is a problem she is facing since it’s Rias who is so kind. I also have anger piling up inside me, but it’s not like we can do anything about it right now. (But if the time comes, I want to take her with us by force. At this rate, it’s certain that something dangerous will happen for real.) I say that with heat in my words. Rias feels the same, so she shakes her head. (I want to find a chance and leave this country together with her. I am having Bennia prepare an escape route just in case…… We need to rethink about this case.) Yeah, we can’t just ignore this. What’s left is the timing……
We return to where everyone else is from the corner of the room. I shake my head and change the subject. “By the way Sensei, what were you doing for the past two days?”
“……I was researching the Sacred Gears possessed by the half-blood Vampires. It seems like there are many half-bloods that are born with Sacred Gears lately. Though I don’t know the reason behind it.”
Half-blood Vampires who are Sacred Gear possessors huh. Gasper and Valerie are part of them as well. ……So the number of them are increasing. The half-blood Vampires that are Sacred Gear possessors……
Sensei continues. “The problem lies in the fact that the knowledge regarding the Sacred Gears has increased among the researchers of the Vampire’s side. It seems like there are those that are trying to find out more about them on their own like Marius, but you can clearly see the areas they haven’t advanced to if you were to compare them to the research level of the Grigori. So I taught them things they should know.”
“……Is it okay? To do that at this time in the country where their government still isn’t stable due to the recent coup d’état…… And don’t Vampires hate that kind of treatment……?”
If things go wrong, I’m worried that the coup d’état faction that is currently controlling this country will use that information for their benefit. I also assume that Sensei’s advice will be something which isn’t necessary for them since they hate other forces coming into their problems. Then Sensei says. “The researchers that I spoke with are the ones that had been researching about the Sacred Gears even before the coup d’état. They were more willing to listen to what I had to say rather than taking their so called pride of Vampires as their priority. It also seemed like Marius was the one who mainly researched about the Holy Grail, so they didn’t have any intention of taking such direct rebellion. Well, that’s why I gave them the minimum information they should know. After all, this country is also showing signs of being in danger in terms of the Sacred Gears.”
“How is that so?”
Sensei answers with a complicated expression when I asked. “—The Balance Breakers. You do know that Cao Cao leaked the information of how to reach Balance Breaker to every force, right?”
Irina says it as if she realised something. “Oh, if the half-blood Vampires that are dissatisfied with the current situation were to go wild using their Sacred Gears……”
Sensei nods. “That’s how it is. Escaping from the ones that bullied you using your Balance Breaker will be fine. It’s quite common for it to be used for revenge. The problem is for them to go wild without any care of their surroundings by being bewitched by the Balance Breakers. They did observe such signs of that happening after all.