“Valerie, you may go to Japan. You may live over there peacefully with Gasper Vladi.”
“But the Holy Grail is……”
Marius smiles as he puts his hand on Valerie’s shoulder who is putting on a confused look. “You don’t need to worry about it. You don’t have to use it any longer. You did fulfil a lot of your duty. So you may be “released” from the Holy Grail.”
“I-Is that true? Oh my, Gasper. It seems like I can go to Japan.”
“Yup! I’m so glad! T-This really is good news!”
The two childhood friends take each other’s hand in joy. Gasper bows his head to Marius. “Thank you very much! Thank you very much!”
“No, it’s okay. Fufufu.”
Towards Marius who is putting on a meaningful smile—me, Rias, and Koneko-chan keeps our mouth closed. ……You can’t just call this suspicious. This is impossible. For him to let go of Valerie and the Holy Grail. Just like me, Rias and Koneko-chan also realise that so they look at him with doubtful eyes. Gasper and Valerie are simply in joy without even doubting Marius’s words. —“Releasing” her, huh. Words filled with bad premonition. While we feel dubious, the tea party with Valerie ends there. “Oh, it’s unexpectedly normal here huh, the town of Vampires that is.”
What spreads in front of my eyes is—an unfamiliar town covered in pure white snow. There are many buildings all lined up in front of me. The group of five people consisting of Asia, Xenovia, Irina, Rossweisse-san, and I, came down to the castle town late at night for an observation. Saying that, two days have passed since the tea party with Valerie and nothing particular has happened since then. So Rias suggested for us to go down and observe the castle town since we have so much time to spare in the guest room. The one who came out are the five people I just named. For the remaining members; Sensei hasn’t returned since he was taken away by the Vampire’s Sacred Gear institute. Just like that, he hasn’t returned even once during the past two days. ……I’m sure nothing bad is going on, but I do wonder what Sensei is doing……
Rias and Akeno-san have been continuing their discussion with the Head of the House of Tepes in the basement for the past two days. Kiba is with them as their guard. Apparently Rias is continuing her discussion where she can formally take Gasper from the House of Vladi. Since it’s a discussion between the nobles of the Devils and Vampires, I hear that their discussion is progressing smoothly despite having different values on things. Gasper himself is having a tea-party with Valerie together with Koneko-chan every day. Valerie who is the temporarily Queen has quite a lot of free time, so it makes us even more dubious instead. ……A Queen usually doesn’t have that much free time. Even more so under this situation where the coup d’état just ended. Even an idiot like me thinks a Queen needs to take action even more under this situation. She may be a puppet used for politics, but even so, I think they are giving their Queen too much freedom. ……I’m also concerned about the word “release” Marius said…… It just sounds like a bad omen no matter how I think about it. I’m also concerned because there hasn’t been any eye-catching movement in the past two days….. It may be good to somehow take Valerie with us, but the fact about the Evil Dragon being next to her is……
No, I can’t remain scared about it. If I have to, it will be wise to take Valerie by force even if that means I have to fight the Evil Dragon. I appreciate Ddraig’s warning but doing nothing while seeing her being in danger doesn’t seem right. Now then, what am I supposed to do? We can’t remain in this country forever……
“Ise-san, is something wrong?”
Asia looks into my face. “A-Ah, sorry. I was thinking a bit.”
I need to get my head straight. Rias went far to allow us to go out. So let’s just look around the town with this opportunity we are given. —While I was thinking such things, we arrive at the shopping district. The signboards for different kinds of shops are out, and it seems like there’s everything from a clothing shop to a general store. Looks like there are also restaurants. It’s possible to eat human food besides consuming blood for those who became a Vampire from a human. Except, the closer to a pure-blood you are, the more blood you have to consume. But our Gasper happens to take more human food if you put it in ratios. Though it seems like he also needs to drink blood. …….I tried to look around the shops but the reaction from those around us makes it difficult. There are many of those who are looking at us. “Seems like they know that we are outsiders.”
Xenovia says that. Irina shrugs her shoulder. “Even if this is a castle town, it’s still a world shut-in from the world outside. As I thought, those who came from outside must have a different vibe. You remember how we stood out when we went to foreign countries for our missions, Xenovia?”
“You are right. The obstacle faced by those raised in the Church would be the different cultures of the countries they are sent to for their missions.”
Yeah, both of them certainly did stand out when they first came to Japan. Well, they did dress like an agent so they probably didn’t have the intention of mixing in with Japan’s atmosphere. Asia continues. “I was also confused since there were many things I didn’t know about when I just arrived in Japan.”
Even Asia was shocked at many things till she became familiar with Japan. Not only about the food but also in terms of the living style. She was especially shocked at how convenient the home appliances are. Since she had a simple plain life, the culture shock she had must have been big. Speaking of convenience, the residents here are also using transport methods such as cars and bikes. They walk outside normally once they exit the buildings. It’s a normal action since I hear that the majority of those living here turned into a Vampire from a human. They sure are convenient, the home appliances from the human world that is. I had the impression that they were using horses for transport. I made an assumption that they hated other cultures since they took quite a distance from the other forces. The items and the appearance of the mediaeval Europe stood out inside the castle instead of the modern home appliances. Even the armour of the soldiers inside the castle had a middle-age look. But the atmosphere of the town is different. I then come to witness modern things over here and there. If I think about it, the Carmilla-faction also had a vehicle. Just like the Devils of the Underworld, it seems the Vampires also have flexibility where they take in convenient things into their culture. Well, the time when they are active is the opposite of the humans since they sleep during the day and are active at night. Xenovia then breathes out. “……I don’t like having myself followed by someone.”
Yeah, just like Xenovia said, there are several of those following us. They are the ones that have been dispatched from the castle to watch over us.