To become a king and a magician

Natsukawa Torato was very interested in these differences.

Seeing the somewhat expectant look in Natsukawa Torama's eyes and expression, Aozaki Aoko couldn't help but laugh: "What's wrong with you? Aren't you becoming more and more like my real 'junior'?"

"Is there?"

“Yes. Well then... although I’ve been leaving it to Yuuki all this time, I’ll do my duty as the manager of the spirit veins of Misaki City this time—junior, let’s go and deal with the vampires that are threatening the safety of Misaki City!”

Aozaki Aoko made this suggestion directly.

————————————————————————

Several tens of minutes later.

The crime scene mentioned in the morning news was outside the cordon.

"The body has already been removed. Judging from this location, it looks like the attack happened on the way home from get off work."

Aozaki Aoko observed the surrounding situation.

The crime scene was on a slope. According to news reports, the crime occurred around 3 a.m., and the victim was a company employee.

He was attacked by a vampire on his way home after working overtime. What an unlucky person. If he had just stayed at the company, he probably wouldn't have encountered this.

"Speaking of which, junior, where are you looking?"

“The direction Shiki mentioned earlier, where she found the body,” Natsukawa Tora leaned against the side of the slope, gazing into the distance. “This place is nearly ten kilometers away from where Shiki found it as the crow flies.”

Ten kilometers.

Even without considering any obstacles or height differences, the actual straight-line distance should be much greater.

Are there several vampires?

"I think so."

On his way here, Natsukawa Tora checked the news reports about vampires and confirmed that the victim found last night was only from this area. However, in an alley ten kilometers away, Ryougi Shiki found several people.

Did they commit the crime here and then move to an alley ten kilometers away to continue their rampage?

This is far too much trouble. If the goal is simply to kill and drink blood, the principle of proximity should be followed. The most conceivable outcome is that there isn't just one vampire, and the events on both sides were committed by different vampires.

"Multiple vampires... When did Misaki City become so dangerous? What is Aoko doing?" Aozaki Aoko frowned slightly. "If there are multiple vampires, it means that there may be Dead Apostles creating vampires in Misaki City... This is a bit troublesome."

(Dead Apostle...Tono Shiki?)

After a moment's hesitation, Natsukawa Torato said to Aozaki Aoko, "Miss Aoko, I'd like to investigate some things myself, so please excuse me."

"Huh? Where are you going?"

"church."

Find Hiel.

17. Professor, you're here!

Hierre.

The female protagonist of the Tsukihime route, Roa's previous reincarnation. About three years ago in Paris, Natsukawa Torama had some interaction with her. If you're investigating Misaki City for vampires, seeking her advice would be a good option.

therefore--

"It really startled me. The church staff suddenly said someone was looking for me. I thought it was headquarters sending someone for me to take care of again. I didn't expect it to be you."

Inside a restaurant, Hiel looked at Natsukawa Tora sitting across from him.

"How dare you, a magician, walk right onto church territory? Aren't you afraid of being attacked by the mob?"

"Then I'll just tear down the church, and you'll be the ones who suffer the loss."

Hier was stunned upon hearing this.

(I almost forgot, this guy is a monster that can directly fight against pseudo-dragons.)

Hier still remembers what happened in Paris three years ago. After all, once you've seen a dragon, you'll probably never forget it. And Natsukawa Tora could even knock a dragon down with a single punch.

"You really are the same as you were a few years ago, you haven't changed at all."

"Aren't you the same? Your appearance and figure are still the same. Have you been eating properly these past few years?"

(That's because my body had already stopped at that point...)

With a wry smile, Hiel took a sip of black tea and asked, "So, what brings you here? Judging from your expression, it seems you already knew I was here? Where did you get that information?"

"That involves my personal secrets, which I don't want to talk about. Also, the purpose of contacting you is very simple: I haven't seen you for several years, so I wanted to catch up—and incidentally, talk about vampires."

Seeing that Hier was about to leave, Natsukawa Tiger quickly added the second half of his sentence.

vampire.

This topic made Hiel's expression turn serious, and he sat down again: "You encountered a vampire?"

“It’s the morning news, and I also just went to the crime scene,” Natsukawa Tora said. “I came to you to ask you a few questions.”

"What do you want to do?"

"If I said it was for the sake of maintaining peace—would you believe me?"

Hiel's eyes flickered, then he chuckled, "I wouldn't believe it if other magicians said something like that. But I find your words somewhat believable. After all, you started out as an idiot who would fight against pseudo-dragons to protect civilians. I'll just assume you have half a heart of justice."

"Can't it be one? What's half a piece?"

After chuckling, Natsukawa Torama said seriously, "There are several vampires, right?"

"I've already taken care of five of them, and I don't know how many are left. Although my actions have caused the remaining ones to go into hiding recently, there are still some like last night who are fearless and cause trouble."

"Did you take care of it last night?"

Hier shook his head: "They had already escaped by the time I arrived. I was eating curry in the city center when I received a call from my men and rushed over. As a result, I didn't even finish my curry."

Towards the end, Hier's words were clearly tinged with intense resentment.

(Speaking of which, she really loves curry, doesn't she?)

No wonder there's resentment.

"So, do you have any leads on the matter of the vampires appearing?" Natsukawa Torato continued to ask. "Including what you said, the number of confirmed vampires is already close to double digits. It can't be a coincidence that so many vampires have appeared in one city, right?"

"I'll just get straight to the point—is it [Roya]?"

Roya.

Hiel's eyes turned cold in an instant: "Why would a magician know about this?"

“About twelve years ago, a large-scale vampire outbreak suddenly occurred in France, and almost an entire village turned into vampires.” Natsukawa Tora mentioned another incident. “Was it done by a Dead Apostle named [Roya]? Although it’s a bit troublesome to investigate, the Clock Tower still has some information, and I have my own connections.”

—The French Incident.

This was information that Natsukawa Torato had gathered after returning to the Clock Tower from Paris. He didn't know many details—how it happened, how it was resolved, or the outcome. He only knew one thing: a girl named [Alesia] was the root of the incident. And Alesia was Hiel's real name.

This naturally leads to the conclusion that the French incident was related to Roya.

This time too.

“You really have nothing better to do,” Hiel sighed. “Aren’t magicians supposed to be so busy trying to reach the Root that they can’t even eat? It’s amazing that you can find the time to investigate something from so long ago.”

"Because I'm not interested in the root of things, I have more time—that's definitely Roya, isn't it?"

“Yes. But it’s not just Roya,” Hiel said. “According to the Church’s intelligence, two of the now-confirmed ancestors are heading towards Japan.”

Are the 27 patriarchs traveling to Japan?

Natsukawa Tora frowned: "Why?"

"The reason is unclear, but... it should be related to Roya. Roya is a Dead Apostle who has been reincarnating for eight hundred years. Although he is destroyed shortly after each reincarnation, there are also cases where he is discovered and destroyed after reincarnating for a long time. No one knows what he did in these eight hundred years."

"So... he summoned the ancestors who were willing to help him in order to avoid being wiped out this time?"

"It's not impossible."

That being said, almost without exception, none of the twenty-seven ancestors acknowledged Luo Ya's status as an ancestor. Their reason for coming here... was less to protect him and more to witness how long it would take for him to be eliminated this time.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, here's your curry rice."

The waiter placed a plate of curry rice in front of Hiel. It was noon, lunchtime. Hiel picked up his spoon and said, "So, do you have any more questions? If not, I'm going to eat."

"One last question—if I told you that we might have to kill all the rampaging Dead Apostles and vampires, would you help?"

He put a spoonful of curry rice into his mouth and licked his lips.

"of course."

——————————————————————————————————————

After the meal, while watching Hier leave from the restaurant entrance, Natsukawa Tora took out his phone and sent a message to Aozaki Aoko, telling her about the situation.

"Thank you for your hard work. I've also asked a friend to investigate some things about vampires. I'll tell you when we meet."

"Friend...are you going to see Kuonji Aratsu?"

Then there's no need to worry about Aozaki Aoko.

Next is...

Clang!

A sensation as if something had pierced through him suddenly descended upon Natsukawa Tora.

Behind!

"crow?"

When Xia Chuanhu turned around, he saw a row of completely black crows standing on top of the street lamp. He didn't know if it was his imagination, but he felt that the crows were staring at him.

Crow...bird...wild beast...

"Nero Chaos?"

18. A famous scene from the Seventeenth Division.

into the night.

Inside the hotel.

After sleeping like a corpse in bed for a whole day, Aozaki Touko finally woke up groggily after nightfall.