NOVEL WEB Book 7: Chapter 5
Part 1
Erika had disappeared.
This was completely unexpected.
We had no time. We had to deal with this as soon as possible.
“Karen, you take care of the 13 Eastern European Families! I’m honestly not interested in who’s on the Traditionalist side and who’s on the Hidden Cloud side. Figure it out however you like!”
“Aye, sir.”
“But don’t kill them or use any kind of torture.”
“I have no real reason to do as you say, but what can you even do if I break my promise?”
“I’ll be disappointed. I’ll think, ‘oh, gods act so high and mighty, but they can’t do anything without relying on violence, can they?’ ”
“…Okay, that I can’t ignore. Fine. It was mostly thanks to you we captured them all so easily and gods can be particular about repaying debts with things like karma and whatnot.”
“Ayumi, come with me!”
“F-fugu?”
I took a confused Ayumi with me as I reentered the building from the roof. We returned to the conference room and it was as I feared. The 4 Vampires were still collapsed inside, but Erika – or whoever had transformed into her – was nowhere to be seen.
“Maxwell, I’m going to record the inside of the room. Search for anything that might lead us to the next hint.”
“I can see what looks like animal fur here and there. I will highlight it on the screen.”
…Sure enough.
Hmm, was it dog fur? I was hardly an expert since my family didn’t own a pet, but it didn’t seem catlike. It was stiffer than that.
“Examples of Archenemies similar to a Vampire are the Sutriona Witch, the Werewolf, and the Moroi,” said Maxwell.
“What about that fur? It’s definitely not human hair.”
“That would suggest a Werewolf. They are only active at night, they blend into human society, those they kill are turned into an Archenemy, and they are weak to silver bullets, so there are quite a few points in common. In fact, there is a folk belief in Eastern Europe that Werewolves transform into Vampires when they die. It would not be surprising to find both legends have been mixed together.”
“Fuguu. In that case, it wouldn’t matter to them what happens to the 13 Eastern European Families or Vampire society as a whole, right? I mean, they’re not a Vampire, so they’d probably be one of the ones that fell for the Hidden Cloud.”
“…”
Just once more, I looked around the conference room with 4 Vampires lying on the floor.
“Maxwell, send an email to Itou Helen and Kuroyama Hinoki who have their umbrellas open outside.”
“Do you want them to provide witness information?”
“No, you idiot. The situation has changed and I can’t get them any more involved. Tell them to blend into the crowd and get home right away. Oh, but tell them to take an indirect route and check for anyone tailing them.”
“…Umm. I suppose I will say ‘sure’, but you aren’t trying to win over their maiden hearts, are you? You buffoon(・Д・)”
What? Why?
Someone capable of knocking out and abducting Erika (even if it was a surprise attack) might be walking around out there. How could I put those girls in harm’s way?
“I don’t need everything, Maxwell, but search the entire internet for data concerning Werewolves. I want to know what kind of Archenemy they are.”
“In all likelihood, you will only find sites related to movie reviews, RPG walkthroughs, and party games.”
“Don’t be so sure, Maxwell. Werewolves are one of the more well-known Archenemies. Start by listing up all the formal universities and research labs in the results and then narrow it down to specialist sites and personal statements by professors or equivalent people. We just have to find someone who’s seriously investigating something so silly sounding.”
“You could save a lot of time by skipping the lead-up and giving the machine an accurate command from the get-go. It’s impressive you managed to build me when you feel the need to show off before doing anything. (´ω｀) What a pain.”
“…Do you want a front-row seat to your administrator breaking down crying after losing an argument to his own creation?”
“Well, this is hardly the first time I have seen you make everything overly dramatic. You do love pressing the enter key harder than necessary when completing a task after all.”
“Maxwell, do you have to go in for the kill even after I warn you!?”
“Anyway, I am executing your command.”
Maxwell was a reliable companion at times like this. Instead of just using a crawler to search out all the necessary data, that simulator would also judge each piece of data’s value and order it all by priority.
…Now, then.
“To me, a Werewolf feels like a fruit knife while a Vampire is a Swiss Army knife, but what’s it actually like?”
“Fugu. At the very least, they can only transform between human and wolf, right? I don’t think they can turn into any other animals like bats, wolves, rats, ravens, and flies.”
Yes, if the Werewolf attacked Erika and took her from the building, it was unlikely they flew out from the roof or an elevated floor. So we naturally made our way down to search for clues.
Inside an elevator (not the one Fly was trapped inside), my little sister and I looked at my smartphone.
“If you focus on the fundamental fear, a Werewolf represents the fear of your neighbors changing when day turns to night, while Vampires represent the risk of a cult spreading without your knowledge,” explained Maxwell. “While they both are hidden below the surface in densely populated areas, they have entirely different meanings. Also, Vampires seem to have thoroughly differentiated themselves from Werewolves by giving themselves the image of the elegant nobility of the night thanks to Ruthven and the Transylvanian count. If Fly Villiers is to be believed, it would seem Miss Erika and the other Vampires here today had intentionally worked to distinguish themselves from other Archenemies like that.”
“With that many variations, there must be more Vampires overall. In that case, it’s the same as the Kuchisake Onna legend.”
“Fugu?”
“The Kuchisake Onna might seem played out now, but it started as a simple story. That she can run 100m in 3s, that her mouth was the result of botched plastic surgery, and that she can be repelled with bekko ame or pomade were all added later.”
“Stories say the people killed by a Werewolf will become one, but there is no sign of them gaining a large army like with Vampires or Zombies,” said Maxwell. “In exchange, they take no damage from sunlight. All it seems to do is seal away their special strength as an Archenemy.”
“So they’re good at hiding on their own, but they can’t charismatically rule a group,” I said. “Sounds like we don’t have to worry too much about them spreading. Even with Erika as the ultimate trump card, the Werewolf isn’t all powerful. They’ve got to be nervous as hell that someone is going to attack while they’re carrying that prize. They’ll be curled up and trembling alone in the darkness.”
“Fuguu. Then they might leave the city ASAP and bring Onee-chan with them.”
“I’m not so sure. This Werewolf can’t act as a member of the 13 Eastern European Families group any longer, so would they really make such a smart decision? I mean, they won’t know it was us siblings that took out the entire Vampire organization in a single night.”
“Ah.”
“They only know one thing: their enemy is skilled enough to obliterate the 13 Eastern European Families which has survived for centuries. And it wasn’t 4-to-8; their enemy took out all 13 of them, Erika included. Not knowing who did it will probably make them hesitate out of self-made fear. …Just think about it. If special forces, a criminal group, or some other large organization was after you, would you calmly walk out of the city with a bulky hostage in tow? Wouldn’t you be afraid of someone uploading a photo to a message board or social media or of coming across a checkpoint or ambush? Don’t forget that Kukyou City has limited access due to the ocean and mountains surrounding it.”
“Now that you mention it, you’re right,” said Ayumi. “If I was running away from the Bright Cross, I would never make such a careless choice. I would avoid standing out at all costs.”
“They ran away to avoid fighting, so we know they’re afraid. They should be sealing off their own options while they overestimate our abilities and bind themselves with fear. They’ll be afraid to flee the country or even stay at a proper hotel. And Erika is their final shield, so they can’t treat her too roughly either. Whether it’s done openly or behind the scenes, police dramas and gang movies are enough to know hotels and inns will be on the lookout for wanted criminals. They can’t exactly bring an unconscious and bound girl anywhere like that.”
Yes, until the Werewolf regained their cool, the odds were good they would be hiding somewhere within our reach.
They could not skip town and they could not secure a proper hideout, so they would be stuck in the middle, waiting to see what happened. They might be in an abandoned building, a park, a parking garage, below a bridge, or in a forest. So right now, we could catch up to them, capture them, and take back Erika. Surely we could!!
The elevator arrived on the first floor.
The multi-purpose building had exits in the four cardinal directions, an emergency exit that doubled as a staff entrance, and the underground parking garage which we had used before. Which one had the Werewolf used to take my unconscious sister out of the building?
“Maxwell, there’s no sign of a commotion outside, right?”
“Sure. Based on social media and local community message boards, there are no reports of a large furry individual carrying an unconscious girl.”
“So they weren’t that stupid. Then they must have used the parking garage. The standard plan would be to steal a car and stuff Erika in the trunk.”
A car would give them mobility and a roof to keep out the rain and wind if they chose to use it for shelter. It was a crucial item for someone who could not use a hotel or inn, but I felt like it would also increase the fear of a checkpoint. The Werewolf couldn’t leave the city as long as they assumed a large organization was after them.
I walked down the stairs to the underground parking garage with my smartphone in one hand.
“Maxwell, pull up the footage from when I arrived with Fly and compare it to the current scene. There should be a car missing. But Erika and the others checked to make sure no one else was here before the meeting, so only the Werewolf would have moved a car.”
“Sure. A red coupe is missing.”
“A two seater? That’s pretty small if they were going to sleep in it. Maybe they plan to change cars somewhere. Use the past footage to get the license plate and determine the car’s route using its navigation system, drive recorder, or the license scanning systems installed on the roads.”
“You want me to break through the National Police Agency’s firewall when we are short on time? There appears to be an underground civilian app that lets you scan a license plate and view data on who it is registered to. It is a variation on social media facial recognition. We can make use of its users here.”
“If they’re using a wireless internet service, they’ll be sending out their wi-fi key data while they drive. Track that too.”
With two or three different sources, we wouldn’t end up heading down the wrong path.
Now, where was the Werewolf hiding in fear with Erika?
“I have found it. It is part of the plains district scheduled for residential redevelopment. Simply put, it is a long-abandoned factory.”
“Oh, that’s pretty close to that bridge,” said Ayumi. “Y’know, the one where you had that secret base way back when, Onii-chan.”
“I guess everyone ends up in the same place when they have nowhere else to go. Even that Elf girl was trying to live there when she was suffering from the abuse created by the TV station.”
…And Erika and Ayumi had ended up huddled together below that bridge after escaping from the Bright Cross.
I knew my way around that area, so there was nothing to fear. It was my home ground.
“It would be a pain if they found a new means of transportation while we aren’t looking, so let’s go settle this.”
Part 2
The factory in question had not created anything dangerous. I was pretty sure it was canned drinks or something like that. Also, it had gone out of business and all the crucial equipment had been removed by the time I found it as a little kid, so I only saw it as a huge empty building.
The bridge in question was technically a private road on the factory’s grounds. The size of the abandoned factory had seemed intimidating to the neighborhood kids and me, so we had dragged some abandoned materials out and built a more compact secret base below the nearby bridge. It was something like how you would sit at the very edge of the seats on an empty train.
I didn’t use my collapsible bicycle today. After walking there with my little sister, I did indeed find something intruding on the familiar scene.
“Fugu. Is that it, Onii-chan?”
“A red coupe. That shiny waxed car really stands out here.”
We found a parked sports car with the same garish coloration as a pair of high heels. I peered in the window, but there was no one inside. But when I placed a hand on the hood, it was still warm and I detected a faint scent of exhaust. I got the impression they had only just arrived. We had made our way directly here, but the Werewolf would have arrived after wandering all over the place.
“Okay, that’s that confirmed.”
“Huh?” asked Ayumi. “We’re leaving? But I thought we were short on time.”
“We only have one shot at this and a family member’s life is hanging in the balance. I’m not going to do this on the fly.”
I wanted to send out a drone, but if they had good night vision, that might just provoke them. Those flying toys were convenient, but there was nowhere to hide in their low-altitude territory. For now, I stuck to disabling their car. And that didn’t even require popping the hood and messing with the battery or fuses. I just had to shove some dirt or grass in from below.
You even heard about stray cats getting in from time to time.
“Maxwell, frankly speaking, which is stronger: a Zombie or a Werewolf?”
“It would depend on the situation, but a single Zombie does not seem to have much of a physical advantage. Those Archenemies truly shine as a swarm.”
“Fuguu!”
Ayumi puffed out her cheeks, but we were up against someone who, whether by surprise or not, had knocked out and carried away Erika. It would be best not to underestimate them.
“As you would expect, a Werewolf is an Archenemy that incorporates a broad interpretation of a wolf’s abilities into the human body,” explained Maxwell. “So in addition to excellent night vision and hearing, you also need to be cautious of their sense of smell. Even normal dogs and wolves far surpass humans on that front and we cannot predict how far that has been enhanced in the Archenemy’s abilities.”
“Uuh, I’m not going to give you away because I smell weird, am I?”
Really? Ayumi’s pain-in-the-ass Zombie complex has to rear its ugly head here!? It’s okay! You only have the sweet scent of a girl! Sniff sniff!! Have I ever looked unhappy when I smelled you!? Sniff sniff sniff!!
Anyway.
“We might be able to use that to our advantage.”
“Please provide a specific method,” requested Maxwell.
“Night-vision goggles amplify light, but you can’t use a camera flash to blind someone using a pair. However, that’s because the range of amplification is predetermined and it’s programmed to cut off anything too bright.”
“Fugu? Oh, I think I get it!”
“Of course, our physical senses have no programmed safeties. There are insane peppers that are hundreds of times spicier than red chili peppers. Variety shows love using them, but what would our super-smelling Werewolf think of them?”
Part 3
Convenience stores were everywhere these days and their shelves were lined with spices an Eastern European noble would have never seen before.
So I made a quick search with a smartphone map app and made use of a late-night oasis hidden in the residential area near the abandoned factory.
“What is this, Onii-chan? Wasabi paste???”
“Sounds like a joke, right? But even if a foreigner can handle yellow mustard, one lick of this packs enough of a punch to sends tears streaming from their eyes.”
The stinging in your nose was quite unique, so even someone used to Western mustards or spicy Chinese, Korean, and Indian foods tended to have trouble with it. Even if the numerical spiciness value wasn’t that high, they wouldn’t have had many chances to grow accustomed to the sensation.
It could be hard to imagine for us Japanese people who grew up with wasabi, but it might be easiest to think of it like the Japanese pepper used to spice eel.
I also wanted a spray container, so I grabbed some window cleaner. I wanted a can of compressed air to increase the internal pressure, but they didn’t carry those at the convenience store. I was a little afraid of starting a fire, but I bought a can of hairspray instead.
The ten or twenty thousand yen for a can of pepper spray was mostly about the brand name. You could make your own with the products at a 100-yen store and it could easily spray 5 meters. That range was more like a spear or man catcher than a projectile.
That said, it was really hard to make it safe enough to ensure you didn’t harm the target’s eyes, so I wouldn’t recommend trying it at home. After all, eye damage would last a lifetime and harming someone with a joke product like this could have you paying damages for years and years.
After preparing two sets, I gave one of them to Ayumi. And then…
“Here, Ayumi. Take this too.”
“Hm? Anti-pollen glasses?”
“Make sure you wear those if you don’t want to be hit by your own spray.”
Your average swim goggles had enough of a gap to let it through, but you could buy disposable glasses and masks airtight enough for use in labs. This country really was wealthy.
“And don’t rub your eyes with your wet hands. That would defeat the purpose of the glasses.”
“Fuguu. I’m not stupid.”
“It might sound silly, but it’s as common an accident as zapping yourself with your own stun gun.”
“I said I’m not stupid! Hmph!!”
…We were up against a Werewolf who we knew had greater specs than us, so there was no telling how much a single mistake would hurt us. I was just legitimately worried about my little sister, but it seemed I had hurt her pride. I may have entered the same downward spiral as when my mom asked if I had done my homework.
Once our preparations were complete, we returned to the dark abandoned factory.
The red coupe was still there.
There were three or four large buildings, a few storehouses, and a backup power facility on either side of the river. They were all as large as a school building. We didn’t know where the Werewolf was hiding, so we couldn’t afford to let our focus slip.
“Let’s start by checking the building closest to the red coupe.”
“Okay.”
Before entering the building, we put on the anti-pollen glasses to make sure we could use our spray at any time.
Despite being an abandoned factory, mysterious metal machinery was not set up everywhere like a jungle gym. The liquid storage tanks, injectors, and conveyer belts had all been removed, so it was just a wide open space like a gym. Some of the wall and ceiling panels had fallen away and created piles taller than we were, so we had to check behind there. Also, there were a few smaller rooms in addition to the main factory floor – probably bathrooms, a break room, locker rooms, a security room, and so on. They were similar to the storeroom and broadcast room at the walls of a gym.
I wanted to avoid using lights if at all possible, but feeling around blindly would also just be asking to be killed. After all, a Werewolf could see in the dark. I hated doing it, but I had to rely on the backlight.
“Ayumi, since we have the inferior specs for once, we have no hope if we don’t get in the first move. Even if you don’t see them, start spraying if things look suspicious.”
“Fugu?”
“It’s best if you hit them in the face, of course, but it isn’t strictly necessary. The aerosolized wasabi will hang in the air for a bit, so that should have an effect on the Werewolf’s overly sensitive…”
I heard a dull sound like a metal bat swinging through the air.
“…eyes and nose. Dammit!!”
Before even turning around, I aimed the sprayer toward the sound and pulled the trigger. With assistance from the hairspray gas, it sprayed out like a water gun with a 5m range. I had no way of knowing if it had actually hit, but the primary component of wasabi would have been scattered around by our homemade pepper spray.
They knocked me down regardless.
Was that…a right arm!?
The one hit turned the world red before my eyes and my vision tilted so far to the side that I thought my entire head had been taken off. It actually scared me that I didn’t feel any pain. I was apparently spinning through the air and I finally slammed into the concrete floor.
Those killed by a Werewolf became one.
If that was true, I should be fine as long as it wasn’t a deep enough wound to tear through my body and kill me instantly.
I heard an odd rumbling that may have been the Werewolf’s roar. It sounded more like an animal in pain than a threat. I had been left with something thick dripping out of the ear pressed against the floor, but the attack may have been slowed somewhat by the pepper spray.
“Onii-…!?”
“…!”
And even if I was on the verge of death, this was no time to act like someone who wanted to be pampered while they had a cold.
Ayumi was here. So was Erika. So if I was going to die, I could do it later. Eliminating the threat of the Werewolf came first!!
“Ahhh!!”
I could barely gather any strength after being knocked down, but I still managed to move the hand holding the modified spray bottle. I couldn’t hope to hit a Werewolf running through the darkness, but they had only fought close-range with their fangs or claws.
So I had to change targets and spray it at Ayumi.
It wouldn’t damage her thanks to the anti-pollen glasses, but the wasabi components would spread around her to create a spherical barrier.
In other words…
No matter how the Werewolf tried to approach her, the aerosolized substance would reach their nose. And they were an Archenemy whose nose would be even more sensitive than a normal dog’s or wolf’s.
Something exploded in the darkness.
No, it may have been the Werewolf’s scream.
“A…yumi. Stay where you are!!”
My cowering little sister still didn’t know what was happening, but when I shouted from behind her, we both aimed our modified sprayers at the shadow lurking in the darkness.
This time, we aimed directly for the face.
But the silhouette moved away from us and our cheap water gun trump card accomplished nothing. No, they were getting away. Had they recovered from their confusion and figured out what our secret weapon was!?
I heard a series of banging sounds.
When I aimed my smartphone’s backlight in that direction, I saw the wall broken open near the exit. They had smashed their way out near the rectangular hole for a door.
“…So we did rob them of their senses.”
“Wait, Onii-chan! That red…are you bleeding!?”
“I took some damage, but we can’t stop now. We have to get Erika back…”
I moved my unsteady legs to pursue the Werewolf while spraying the pepper spray around us.
Did they think they would have the advantage if they took their time? Pepper spray still has some effect without a direct hit. And with their sensitive senses, we could render an area off limits for them.
…And if they fled this building, then Erika had to be in another one.
“Maxwell, I’ll film the ground, so check for tracks. We’ll track the Werewolf.”
“Sure.”
The area was surrounded by grassy fields and there was a thin layer of dried mud on the asphalt since no one had been here in so long. Since Werewolves couldn’t fly, we could use existing methods of tracking animals.
“Based on the footprints and crushed grass, they appear to be headed to the remains of Can Production Plant B. However…”
“Fugu?”
“It is troubling that they have made no attempt to hide their tracks. It even looks like they rubbed their shoes against the dirty asphalt to leave footprints on it.”
“…So that’s bait,” I said.
I slowly moved my smartphone around.
The area was mostly undeveloped wilderness, but the old roadside trees must have grown too much because there were some trees with quite thick trunks. There were also power poles without power lines, phone booths with the lights out, covered bike parking, and some cheap storage sheds like you might find in someone’s yard.
“Maxwell, check for evidence of them using an elevated route.”
“Sure. Here is some mud in an unnaturally high location and I doubt it is a wasp or swallow nest.”
“Highlight it on the screen. Oh, and draw a line along the footprints to help follow their escape route.”
There it was.
It was a product storage building on a hill. Since they were luring us somewhere with a view of the entire factory grounds, it was possible the ceiling might collapse on us if we investigated it.
“Ayumi, let’s continue eliminating their options by spraying all around the building.”
“W-wait, Onii-chan. Werewolves have good noses, right? Wouldn’t it be bad to let them know we’re coming?”
“Think about it, Ayumi. Where did they run to?”
“Well, that storage building, right?”
“To where they’re holding Erika hostage. If they’ve fled to the same building as the hostage, they’re bound to use her. They’ve crossed a line with us. When someone is afraid of being attacked and uses a hostage as a shield, you can’t sneak up on them. I am going to save Erika and I’ll push myself to the limit to do it.”
“Fugu…”
“Maxwell, check the wind direction. There’s no door, so it should be blowing inside. We can spray this stuff in there and restrict their world.”
“Sure. It is only an estimate as it is based on the geographic data and the acoustic data taken from your smartphone’s microphone, but here it is.”
After spraying the aerosolized wasabi, I heard some coughing inside, but there were no threats using the hostage.
Were their eyes and nose too badly affected, or would it have hurt their pride as an Archenemy?
After constructing that invisible minefield, we stepped inside the doorless entrance as if parting the oppressive air of that hot night. With no equipment, it was just a single large space like a gym.
“There’s no one here?”
“They’re holed up with a hostage, so they’re going to be wary of intruders. They’re going to avoid open areas with lots of entrances.”
We had already sprayed all around all the exits, so the Werewolf had no escape save breaking a wall.
Just like the other building, this one had a simple break room and bathrooms along the walls. That would be where Erika was trapped.
Now, then.
“Ayumi.”
“Yeah, leave the fighting to me.”
“Thanks, but listen. The Werewolf has a few different options here, but the most troublesome one is transforming into Erika again.”
“Fugu?”
“I was fooled by it already, so be careful. While the Werewolf can only choose to be a human or a wolf, they can create a perfect disguise in the human form. I couldn’t tell them apart from my own sister.” I glanced down at the modified sprayer in my hand. “Their sense of smell shouldn’t change even in disguise, so we might be able to tell them apart by their reaction to this. …But even that isn’t a guarantee. They might be able to disguise their reaction just as perfectly. For one thing, we don’t know the mechanism behind the transformation. If they use EM or pheromones to mess with our senses or perception, we might not be seeing what’s really there. There’s a possibility we would truly believe the furry macho beast in front of us is our lovely older sister.”
“B-but…fuguu. How are we supposed to tell them apart then?”
“That’s easy. …No matter who it is, we spray them on sight. Once we open that door, don’t trust anyone you see, not even me by your side. Once you silence everyone, you can figure out which one is the Werewolf.”
“Wha-…?”
“No matter what method they’re using, they can only disguise themselves into someone. They can’t turn invisible or make clones of themselves. Since the number of suspects can’t change, you can easily solve this by attacking every one of them.”
“Fugu. Th-then you wait here, Onii-chan. There’s no need to add you to the list of suspects.”
“We can’t create any assumed safe zones. The Werewolf could always escape the room during the fray. Have you forgotten that a Werewolf has better specs than a Zombie when it comes to pure muscular strength? It’s game over if you let your guard down, approach a familiar face, and get attacked. I won’t let that happen, so if we’re doing this, I’m going too.”
“Fuguu…”
“Ayumi. We’re weaker than them and they’ve taken a family member hostage. You only get to choose your methods when you have the advantage, so we don’t have that luxury right now.”
“…Ugh, fine then.”
“That’s what I wanted to hear.”
“But, Onii-chan, if I go too far, you can hit me in the head afterwards.”
Like I could do that, you moron. Little sisters’ heads are for patting. Like when they claim they agree, but there’s still a cloud over their face.
“Fuguu. Stop that. You’re only making it harder for me to do this.”
While listening to Ayumi complain, I glanced over to the metal door on the wall. The doors leading outside had been removed, but this one led to some office space that included a break room and bathrooms.
The two of us slowly approached.
I held up my smartphone, raised the microphone’s sensitivity, and listened to the conversation occurring beyond the metal door.
“Cough, cough! You knew. You knew from the – cough! – from the beginning, didn’t you!?”
“Knew what?”
I raised my index finger. I recognized one of the voices. Unless the Werewolf was playing both parts, Erika was trapped inside there.
Ayumi pointed at the hinges and then gave me a thumbs up. She seemed to be saying she could break through that.
Meanwhile, the conversation in the room continued.
“I wasn’t a Vampire…”
“Well…that classification is a meaningless definition with all the legends that have been mixed by now. It’s like the millibar and the hectopascal. There is no need to abase yourself.”
“I only just now found out!!”
I could hear both anger and pain in that voice.
He hysterically crushed Erika’s gentle argument.
“When everyone collapsed inside that multi-purpose building, I stood there with no idea what was happening. Yes, even you grew pale as you struggled to endure it, Queen. You knew it was a cheap trick like food samples made of wax, but you were still suffering! That’s the proof! The proof that you are a noble Vampire… But not me! Not me! Goddammit! I believed it! I believed it all this time! Why!? Why did I have to be standing there like a goddamn fool!?”
…That was a feeling I might never understand as someone who had been born a human but still accepted a Vampire and Zombie as family.
I would never know what it was like to have your very species denied.
I would never know the shock of discovering that everyone else had been considerate enough to treat you like you were also one of the chosen elite.
I may not have meant any harm.
But my actions had still revealed Erika and the others’ lie.
“You must have been mocking me behind my back…”
“Meslayate, I swear to you that isn’t true! From the bottom of our hearts, we are proud of the time we spent with you. Accepting you Werewolves was the greatest achievement of the 13 Eastern European Families!!”
“You all shared that secret knowing you were better than me and you laughed at me!! You laughed at me!! You accepted me out of pity and didn’t tell me the truth because you felt sorry for me!!”
“You are an ugly duckling. Unlike the rest of us, you had no reason whatsoever to hold back! We didn’t tell you the truth because we were afraid. Afraid you would learn of your true stage, turn your back on our tiny gathering, and rise to much greater heights!! Yes, yes! That was all it was…”
Erika must not have realized it.
She had shown kindness.
Truly faultless kindness.
But that did not always soothe someone’s heart. The more she lifted him up as someone weak, the more she shredded his pride as a noble Vampire.
As a complex teenage boy, I kind of understood the contradictory spiral the Werewolf found himself in. Although he would only resent it if someone from outside his community claimed to understand. Still, I understood.
What he wanted now was not justice or kindness.
It was nothing that smart. He wanted to throw all his power out there and – win or lose – determine his own strength. Whether he was right or wrong, he wanted to get rid of all the unresolved feelings inside his chest. So he was left unsatisfied when Erika would not even climb into the ring and unconditionally forfeited the match out of justice and kindness. No matter what answer he got and no matter how much she gave him what he wanted, it would not satisfy him.
That wasn’t it.
This wasn’t the time for mercy and wisdom.
He wanted someone to accompany him in his idiocy until he was satisfied. He wanted to fill everything with complete and utter stupidity. But instead, one of the most important people he knew had smartly and cleverly dodged the issue leaving that “Vampire” alone in the ring and unsure what to do.
I understood.
I understood it painfully well.
I had been the same when my new family had first arrived. Everyone had given me everything I could want, from choosing what to have for dinner to getting the first bath, but it had all felt so flimsy and not at all like a real family. I had only felt an oppressive distance there. Yes, yes! I hadn’t wanted a perfect model room! Even if it was muddy, I had wanted someone to do stupid stuff with me!! All I needed was for them to prove that they would stay with me to the end and wouldn’t let go of my hand partway through. That was all!!
Erika hadn’t noticed.
She cared for him so much that she did not notice how cruel a dividing line she was drawing here.
He wasn’t afraid of physical pain. He didn’t care about the balance between power and beauty that Fly Villiers had mentioned. Even if it worked against him, he just wanted to be accepted as an equal being. That was all.
To him, this 13 Eastern European Families must have been like a true family. None of the other 13 Eastern European Families would have worked. That framework had been so important to him he was willing to put it ahead of himself.
Hey, “Vampire”.
I only just learned that your name is Meslayate. I don’t even know if your true form is a lovely noble of the night or a furry beast. I don’t have a face to match to your name and I couldn’t confidently state whether you’re part of the Traditionalist side or the Hidden Cloud side. Yet I still destroyed your life and drove you to this based on no more than a vague suspicion, so it’s entirely shameless for me to say this.
Still, I understand, so I’ll do this with you.
I’ll stick with it to the very end. I’ll keep fighting to the last second. That must be my duty for doing this to you.
From here on, there’s no such thing as cheating or playing fair.
I won’t use that as an excuse to avoid fighting with everything I’ve got. I won’t restrict any of my options. I won’t prepare any clever excuses in case I lose.
That’s what it means to go all out, right?
So out of respect for a powerful “Vampire” of the historic and stylish 13 Eastern European Families, I won’t hold anything back. Listen, I will do it. I really will. I’ll stop worrying about appearances and I’ll use every option available to me to challenge this formidable foe. So you come at me with everything you’ve got. So that neither of us has any regrets.
If I had to classify you as an enemy or an ally, you’re undoubtedly an enemy. So we’ll never get along.
But.
This I will promise you: I will rid you of all those unresolved feelings in your chest.
“Ayumi.”
“Yeah?”
“Let’s settle this.”
Now.
Let’s dance in the moonlight, “Vampire” Meslayate!!
With a loud bang, Ayumi mercilessly kicked down the metal door.
Part 4
My sense of time had long since left me.
I don’t know if it was adrenaline or endorphins, but an excessive amount of brain chemicals left my world abnormally clear and everything actually seemed to move in slow motion as Ayumi and I aimed our modified sprayers into the room.
Unlike the large and specialized factory equipment, the ordinary household items in this room were worthless, so the dirty tables, metal lockers, electric water boiler, microwave, and such had been left behind. Of course, the electronics would have no power. In that cramped and cluttered room, Erika sat in a folding chair. She wore her new type of gothic lolita dress with a crimson corset emphasizing her large breasts, her black-gloved hands were tied behind her, and a blindfold covered her eyes. Even so, she gathered all her strength in her gut and raised her voice with no concern for what it meant to her.
“Satori-kun? Wait!!”
Shut up.
Sorry, but your justice and kindness can butt out right now.
It was time to be an idiot.
Yes, a complete and utter idiot.
I was challenging a noble “Vampire” to a fight between men. Meslayate, you’re the kind of scum that uses people’s families as shields, but I’ll still preserve your pride and dignity. I won’t even let that warrior woman from heaven take issue with that!!
“!?”
“!!”
My eyes met with those of my enemy.
Time seemed to have stopped altogether as my smartphone backlight revealed a figure in the darkness. It was a large man with beautiful silver fur covering his upright body. So that was Meslayate. The voice had given it away, but I was honestly disappointed he wasn’t a cute girl. Still, this wasn’t bad. He had the perfect look for the enemy boss. He really wasn’t the type to inspire sympathy or a protective urge. Even if he was being given more of that than he wanted. He would have looked at home seated on a throne in the demon king’s castle.
I was thankful.
This made it worth risking my life here!
“I’m taking back my sister, ‘Vampire’!!”
When he heard my shout, there was a slight waver in those large bestial eyes.
C’mon, it’s too soon for those tear glands to loosen up. I’m not your friend. I’m here to kick the ass of a real piece of shit!!
Unfair or not, I had decided to show my respect to this most formidable of foes by using everything I had available to me. So I would use weapons and gang up on him 2-against-1. Ayumi and I both sprayed our homemade pepper spray around. Meslayate nimbly and boldly swung his body around like a pro boxer to keep it from hitting his face, but this was a cramped space. The aerosolized particles quickly filled the break room.
“Dhhhhh!?”
The beast covered his face with a hand and screamed in something other than human language. Still, his feelings got through to me. There was definite joy showing through the pain and rage.
Yes, this was what he really wanted.
Flimsy niceties were meaningless when you were risking your life, so his true desires were stripped bare here. It makes you happy, doesn’t it? Yes, once you see how clear the world becomes, you’ll realize how foolish it was to curl up and narrow your vision! You feel like spreading your wings and flying free once more! Right, “Vampire” Meslayate!?
I heard the dull sound of a metal bat swinging through the air.
I didn’t have time to protect myself. It was far too late by the time I heard it.
He was fast!
My vision flew to the side. No, my body flew through the air like a scrap of paper and slammed into the wall to the right. A filthy mirror broke and my entire body was somewhat embedded in it.
“Gbh!?”
This was an Archenemy.
The true paranormal.
No matter how much I prepared, they could turn everything around with a single blow. My pain had passed the upper limit and the gauge’s needle showed no sign of returning to the normal range. I tried to gather my strength and stand up after sliding down to the floor, but I only convulsed a little. I did not have any choice here. This was what it meant for death to be approaching. I wasn’t a battery-powered toy, so I couldn’t move around like nothing was wrong just before breaking. That harsh truth became all too clear.
…Unlike in dramas and movies, real people readily died from a single stab of a knife or blow from a hammer.
But have you forgotten, Meslayate?
No matter how much of someone’s freedom you take and how many of their options you close off, the will to resist doesn’t vanish until you really and truly kill them.
I don’t have to stand up.
As long as I can move my right hand, I can still use the modified sprayer!
“…———!!!???”
I finally got a direct hit.
Right to the side of the face.
A howl void of all meaning erupted like an audio feedback loop. This wasn’t about my skill. His luck had run out when he assumed he had defeated the puny human and focused on Ayumi instead.
While tormented by the intense pain ruling his senses, Meslayate swung his log-like arms around a few more times. Ayumi kept her distance and seemed to be watching for a chance to rush at him.
I pulled over an electric water boiler lying on the floor with the shards of the mirror.
Had he noticed the quiet sound even in the maelstrom of pain?
He gave a roar that only sounded like a staticky audio feedback loop to human ears and he charged toward me. Sitting up with my back against the wall had been the most I could manage, so I had no chance of rolling out of the way.
I had only one option.
I held the electric water heater, performed a simple operation, and threw it with just the strength of my right hand.
Meslayate’s hand tore through the air with the force of an anti-ship weapon. He likely intended to pierce my head or heart along with the flying object.
“Onii-…!?”
Ayumi’s shout did not even arrive in time.
But not everything in the world was determined by meticulous preparation. Hey, “Vampire”, thermoses and electric water heaters are made to keep the water from cooling. There are two ways of doing that. One is to place a layer of air in between to prevent the heat from escaping. The other is to silver plate the interior to prevent the heat from being absorbed as infrared radiation.
Yes, silver.
The same silver mentioned in the fairy tales.
I heard a silly “boh?” of escaping air. It came from Meslayate’s mouth. His right arm had plunged straight into the opened water heater pot, but that was all. The pot had not broken. In fact, it was not knocked backwards despite flying through the air with nothing to support it. Instead, Meslayate’s right arm bounced backwards as if he had punched an invisible wall.
And that wasn’t the only product made with silver. If a thin layer of silver plating was enough…
“Ayumi!!”
I gave a shout, selected a shard of mirror as large and sharp as a knife, and threw it with what little strength I had left. The shard spun through the air and flew over Meslayate’s shoulder. That “Vampire” turned to follow it with his eyes while he suffered from the damage to his right arm, so he had to have seen it. My little sister had already run up to him and she easily caught the weapon in her bare hand.
Mirrors were made by applying silver plating to the back of a plate of glass.
She did not hesitate.
Ayumi swung it down like a stake and mercilessly plunged it into “Vampire” Meslayate’s thick chest.
[crucial notice] Memo to an Apprentice [on the pinup board]
–The following is an abbreviated list of common knowledge that could affect the market value depending on the amount discovered.
- Gold: Highly prized because it symbolizes an eternal shine, but it can actually eternally fix a curse in place, leading to endless reports of an object bringing ruin to its owners.
- Silver: Effective in warding off evil. Highly prized for active uses more than passive ones. Simply put, better suited for weapons than shields. Changes color in response to certain poisons, so it is also favored for use in dishware.
- Copper: Does not carry much protective meaning on its own, but it can change the nature of various objects such as with bronze or shakudo. Functions as a connector to assist the bonds between different substances.
- Iron: This might seem surprising, but it wards off evil just like silver. But unlike silver, it functions as a passive talisman such as the horseshoe hanging from the front door or eaves to keep fairies away. Good for armor. If you need to give an object more offensive meaning, silver is preferred.
- Lead: As should be obvious from the fact that silver bullets are a thing, it has little occult meaning. And if you are wondering why gold bullets, copper bullets, and iron bullets don't sound as impressive, you should learn more about the traits of metals.
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