Read Online From the Warlord's Empire by Gakuto Mikumo - Free Book Online

was a special type that had ritualistic seals piled upon it, it was empty, the seals already broken.
    Someone must have taken the stone tablets contained within somewhere else.
    “So we’re too late, in other words?”
    As she asked herself in a voice of displeasure, Natsuki looked up at the image displayed by the monitor.
    Somehow, Makimura had used his own company’s research facilities to decipher the stone tablet. But the deciphering was not yet complete; the only thing he’d managed to decipher was a single word. Natsuki’s expression sharpened as she looked over the characters that spelled “Nalakuvera.”
    “This is insane… What are you thinking, Kristof Gardos…?”
    Makimura, still on the floor, made a high-pitched laugh as he listened to their conversation.
    It was the loud, mad laugh of a terrorist who yearned for global destruction.
8
    Kojou Akatsuki was walking along a seaside footpath illuminated by the rays of the evening sun.
    Beside him was Yukina, carrying her guitar case on her back. Thanks to Asagi’s whims turning sports festival practice into a pretzel, they’d ended up just going home together.
    Both were taking a minor detour, heading to a supermarket close to where they lived. Thanks to Nagisa coming back late from club activity, buying ingredients for supper on the way back to her place had become a daily ritual for them.
    “The sender is…Dimitrie Vattler, Duke of Ardeal… Who’s that?” Along the way, Kojou gave her the sealed envelope they picked up behind the gym, mumbling with a perplexed look.
    The letter left behind by the metal
shikigami
was an invitation to a party to be held that night. It was apparently a pretty big deal held on a cruise ship moored at Itogami Island.
    But Kojou didn’t know anyone named Vattler. Of course, he couldn’t imagine why he’d been invited to this party. He had a bad feeling about the whole thing.
    “The principality of Ardeal is one of the self-governing territories within the Warlord’s Empire,” Yukina explained in a grave tone. Kojou and Yukina had just arrived at the supermarket they were headed for. The air-conditioned air flowing out of the automatic door entryway felt really good.
    Kojou replied with a question as he put a shopping basket on top of a shopping cart left near the entrance.
    “The Warlord’s Empire?”
    “A Dominion in Eastern Europe…the land under the control of the First Primogenitor. You know about the First Primogenitor, the ‘Lost Warlord,’ yes?”
    “I’ve heard the name, at least. That’s the vampire conqueror served by seventy-two Beast Vassals…isn’t it?”
    Kojou was flabbergasted that something so completely nonsensical had come out of his own mouth.
    After all, even a single Beast Vassal controlled by a primogenitor-classvampire could wipe out a city or two; they were genuine monsters. He couldn’t wrap his mind around controlling
dozens
of them.
    He felt like he should doubt that such a being could even exist.
    It was actually Kojou, thinking such thoughts, who was the World’s Mightiest Vampire, surpassing even the First Primogenitor, but…
    “It is said that the Holy Ground Treaty that enabled the coexistence of man and demon was made possible only with that ruler’s cooperation. Otherwise, the remaining primogenitors probably never would have joined the negotiations, for even among fellow primogenitors, the Warlord’s Empire boasts overwhelming military superiority and is the oldest Dominion.”
    Yukina explained the frightening power of the First Primogenitor like she was chiding the nonchalant Kojou. Kojou quietly shrugged his shoulders. At any rate, the problem in front of him wasn’t the “Lost Warlord” himself.
    “…So, this Vattler guy is a retainer of that First Primogenitor?”
    “That’s what it amounts to. He’s a noble ruling his own autonomous territory—in other words, a blood relation of the First Primogenitor himself, what one might call a pure bloodline