Others might not know who was behind the incident at Itogami Island's port, but there was no way Natsuki Minamiya wouldn't.
She had known for a while that Vatler would be coming to the island—and exactly who he was coming for—so it hadn't taken her long to piece together the truth. She knew who had fought that "serpent" at the port that night, causing such an uproar.
That person had not only destroyed one of Itogami Island's ports but had also gone toe-to-toe with that dangerous serpent—and, on top of it all, happened to be her own business rival and an unwelcome outsider mage-for-hire. Layer all of those factors together, and it was no surprise that Natsuki was in an exceptionally foul mood.
As a result, she hadn't shown Kaiser so much as a pleasant expression for the past few days, deliberately targeting him at every opportunity—just to vent her irritation.
If it weren't for the fact that he had the Lion King Organization behind him, with even high-ranking national officials running cover and clearly unwilling to pursue him for the excessive damage he had caused, Natsuki would have loved nothing more than to treat him to an all-expenses-paid "one-day tour" of the local prison.
And now, this man had the nerve to casually bring up the incident, sending her temper flaring even higher.
"You—fooling around with that snake is one thing, but are you trying to get on my bad side too?" Natsuki's eyes took on a dangerous glint. "Don't think you're all that just because you've got a few 'pets' living inside you, animal handler."
"That level of power isn't enough to impress me," Kaiser shrugged. "I'm just returning the favor in conversation, Natsuki-chan."
"And I told you, stop putting '-chan' after a teacher's name!" Natsuki clicked her tongue. "Forget it—talking to you just makes me more irritated. Let's get to the point."
"The point?" Kaiser smirked. "So there was something you wanted from me. That's why you suddenly showed up?"
"What else? You think I'd want to see you for no reason?" Natsuki said sourly. "Even though talking to you about this is equally infuriating, I don't have much of a choice—this matter might involve you."
Without giving him time to voice his confusion, she shifted the topic.
"Last night, there was a serious assault in the West District. You know about it?"
Kaiser frowned.
"You mean that unregistered demon brawl they only reported on this morning?"
It had been on the news earlier that day, right after Vatler's interview.
Since Nagisa Akatsuki had deliberately brought it up, Kaiser still remembered it.
It was said to have happened in the dead of night, in the West District. The quiet streets had suddenly erupted into large-scale destruction, as two highly dangerous unregistered demons fought high above the district for an extended time, causing extensive collateral damage to the surrounding buildings.
The destruction included several high-rises; even the streets had collapsed. Fires had spread to nearby structures, causing power outages, water supply cuts, and shattered windows across the area.
Afterward, a large number of Island Guard units had poured into the disaster zone, but they apparently hadn't been able to stop the battle.
At the time, Kaiser had wondered if it was more of Vatler's people stirring up trouble—after all, a demon capable of that level of destruction was most likely an Old Generation vampire.
But as it turned out, that wasn't the case.
"They couldn't prevent the incident, but the Island Guard did manage to arrest one of the two unregistered demons—seriously injured—at the scene," Natsuki said with displeasure. "But they couldn't identify him. The Demon Registration Database in Itogami City had no matching entry, which means we can't pin down the other suspect's identity or whereabouts."
An unregistered demon—one without a registration card—was an illegal resident, making them nearly impossible to track.
"That does sound troublesome," Kaiser said with a nod. "But what's it got to do with me?"
"Of course it's related," Natsuki shot him a look. "According to our tracking data, the fugitive unregistered demon briefly hovered over the apartment building you live in."
"And not long after that, an armored flying ship from the Kingdom of Aldegyr in Northern Europe went missing. Its coordinates cut off one hundred and sixty kilometers west of Itogami Island—likely the work of that unregistered demon."
"For the record, when the suspect left your building's airspace, they headed west."
Kaiser fell silent.
"Aldegyr…"
It was a small Northern European country facing the Baltic Sea, famous for its natural beauty and advanced industry, especially in the field of magical engineering.
Ruled by the Rihavein Royal Family, its main industries were tourism and magic technology. Its borders touched the War King's Domain and other demon territories, and it had been at odds with demonkind for centuries—winning some conflicts and losing others—gaining vast experience in anti-demon combat. Its anti-demon weaponry was considered world-class.
It was said that all royal women of Aldegyr were powerful spirit mediums, so the nation placed great importance on the female royal bloodline and combat prowess—earning it the nickname "Valkyria Kingdom."
The country's most famous military force, the Holy Ring Knights, included many women who had achieved great victories, earning them the reputation of being demons' natural enemies.
The armored flying ship was one of the nation's signature magical engineering marvels: a military airborne fortress bristling with countless autocannons.
And now, one such warship had apparently vanished.
"Frankly, this is a real problem," Natsuki sighed. "Someone very important was on that ship, visiting Itogami Island. Now they're missing, and the Kingdom of Aldegyr is on the verge of losing its mind."
Kaiser knew exactly what she meant.
He hadn't connected the dots at first, but the moment she mentioned Aldegyr, the whole picture clicked into place.
In his mind, a silver-haired girl's image flickered by.
"You want me to investigate this?" he asked.
"No. I don't want to," Natsuki replied bluntly. "This is a magical crime on Itogami Island. How could we hand it over to business competitors like you? That would just make us look incompetent."
Still, she muttered begrudgingly, "But since this might have something to do with you, you might be the most suitable person to handle it."
Kaiser almost wanted to ask why she thought it was related to him. Just because the suspect had hovered above his apartment for a few seconds? That was a stretch.
Natsuki thought so too—but the incident had drawn the attention of the homeland, and the Lion King Organization had learned about it.
That wasn't surprising. If the disappearance of an important foreign figure could escalate into a major diplomatic crisis, the Lion King Organization—Japan's own intelligence and anti-magic disaster response agency—was bound to take notice. They were responsible for handling such large-scale magical incidents, gathering intelligence, and hosting important international guests while protecting and monitoring them.
And so, the order had come down to the Itogami Island Administration Bureau:
"The suspected incident leading to the disappearance of the Kingdom of Aldegyr's armored flying ship is to be handled entirely by the Lion King Organization's special attack mage—Kaiser."
That was why Natsuki had come to him.
Unfortunately for Kaiser—who knew the original plot—he couldn't refuse.
In truth, the incident had nothing to do with him… except that the unregistered demon who had hovered over his building did.
If that person was really her…
"…Fine," Kaiser said after a pause, lifting his head. "I'll handle it."
"Then I'll look forward to your good news," Natsuki replied flatly. "I'll send the relevant info to your phone later. No need to rush catching the culprit—just find that armored flying ship first."
That was no doubt the Lion King Organization's real priority.
After all, hosting and protecting important international figures was part of their job. Now that one had gone missing, of course they'd act.
She just didn't know why they'd assign the task to this transfer student—someone with an even more important job: monitoring the Fourth Primogenitor.
And with his current level of power, they should have been more cautious…
Before she could figure it out, Kaiser turned and walked away.
Only then did Natsuki snap out of it. She glanced at his departing back, then at the tightly bound Sayaka Kirasaka beside her, and snorted.
"Whatever the reason, it's none of my concern."
With that, she vanished.
....
Saikai Academy, Middle School Division.
Just before lunch break ended, Kaiser arrived, making his way easily to the third-year Class A classroom.
Naturally, he was here to see Kanon Kanase.
Even though the younger boys in the middle school division glared at him with murderous eyes, Kaiser strode right in and asked for her.
To his surprise, one of Kanon's classmates told him—
"Kanon-san took the day off today. She's not at school."