Published: September 10, 2025
※2018/10/30 Typo corrections applied.
“Fuu-han, Fuu-han—”
In the audience chamber of the Saga Empire, the hero Fuu, who had been summoned to this place by his attendant, looked around searching for the owner of the voice calling him in a familiar tone.
“Fuu-han, if you keep looking around like that, people will get suspicious.”
The hero Fuu was tapped lightly on the shoulder and turned around.
“—Eh?”
The person there was not the short man he had expected, but a young man dressed in a chamberlain’s attire.
The appraisal skill granted by God Parion revealed to hero Fuu that this young man was a homunculus.
“This is what you call a messenger boy.”
The young man, producing a voice that didn’t quite fit his face, took a pocket watch out of his pocket and offered it to hero Fuu.
“—Made in Japan?”
“Yeah, a friend imported it from the Itachi Empire.”
Noticing the "MADE IN JAPAN" engraving on the back of the pocket watch, hero Fuu asked, and the homunculus answered.
“In about ten minutes, exactly at noon, the barrier will briefly weaken. Take that chance to ask Ramiko-han for help.”
The homunculus gave a light tap on hero Fuu’s shoulder and then left behind him.
“Why do you even know about Ramiko-san—”
When hero Fuu turned around, the homunculus was already gone.
“The Demon King’s head has turned into a goat and regenerated!”
Voices of the people in the audience chamber reached hero Fuu’s ears as he looked around.
Apparently, the Demon King, who had lost his head due to a sniper’s shot, had regenerated.
“A goat-headed vampire? Sabbat? What’s going on?”
Hero Seigi’s agitated voice was also heard.
It seemed both ministers and heroes were equally confused.
“Be quiet, Seigi. We’re going to burn the Demon King— you come along.”
“Hey, Yuuki, don’t drag me along. Aren’t you taking Fuu?”
“—Fuu? He’s fine staying here.”
Hero Yuuki’s words pierced straight into Fuu’s heart.
Because of that, he didn’t hear the following words from Yuuki: “He hasn’t had much actual combat training. If we take him, he’ll get badly injured.”
If hero Fuu had properly heard those words, the future might have turned out differently.
◇
“Anything will do! Gather something to brace the door!”
A black-armored knight holding the large chapel door shouted.
In addition to the black knight, nearly ten soldiers were pressed against the door, pushing with the rhythm of booming knocks, their feet lifting each time, they desperately kept the door from giving way.
Behind them, children from the orphanage annexed to the temple and the apprentice priests caring for them watched anxiously.
“Lord Parion, please bless these brave knights—”
One apprentice priest began praying to the god, prompting the others and the orphans to pray fervently.
But the world is merciless.
The thick door creaked and groaned, and from it, a pair of bright red eyes peered out.
The knights and some soldiers cursed, and many others screamed.
The mouth that appeared in the crack twisted into a mocking smile.
When the red eyes vanished from the gap, people sighed in momentary relief—but the next moment—
With a heavy boom, the thick door burst open, blowing away the black knight and the soldiers holding it.
The figure revealed was a hunched black vampire knight.
His predatory eyes fixed on one of the apprentices beside the orphans.
The vampire knight’s tongue writhed like a snake; his red eyes and slit mouth curved like a crescent.
Satisfying his sadistic desires, the vampire knight slowly advanced.
“No way! As long as I wear the black steel armor bestowed by His Majesty, I will never kneel before demons!”
The black knight stood up, drew his sword, and stepped forward to confront the vampire knight.
The sword glowed red, and that light formed a second blade atop the sword.
“—Demon Blade!”
One orphan shouted, and hope ignited in the eyes of the other orphans.
“Here I come, scoundrel!”
Despite wearing heavy full armor, the black knight approached the vampire knight with astonishing speed, striking with a furious swing trailing a red afterglow.