"Why must the two of you be so impatient?"
She had the body of a young girl, yet her tone sounded unusually seasoned. The mismatch between appearance and voice created a strange scene. Even though Koyomi Shizuka had already witnessed it several times, it still felt unsettling to him.
"Sigh…"
Seeing that the two still looked ready to clash at any moment, Kuraki Shirona could only let out a helpless sigh.
"I support continuing this operation."
As soon as she said that, the reactions of the two were completely different. The middle-aged man revealed a smug smile, while Koyomi Shizuka stared at Kuraki Shirona in disbelief.
"Kuraki Shirona, perhaps you didn't—"
"I know what you mean, and I know your reasoning makes sense, Koyomi Shizuka."
"Then why would you still agree? If you truly understood what I just said, you should be opposing this plan with me."
Kuraki Shirona simply shook her head.
"He's right. You really are too young. You have not carried the name of Koyomi Shizuka for very long."
Although she did not mention anyone by name, Koyomi Shizuka knew the "he" she referred to was the middle-aged man present. Kuraki Shirona clearly believed her ideas were too naive.
"You make good points, but what of it? Once the arrow leaves the bow, there is no turning back. Since we have already taken action, the only path left is to follow it through to the end."
"No, we still have…"
"That is exactly why I say you are too young. The matter has already reached the Church. How could we possibly stop now and pretend nothing happened?"
Koyomi Shizuka had not even finished speaking before Kuraki Shirona interrupted her.
"What is done is done. Nothing can erase that fact. If this matter is exposed, it will bring a disaster upon the Lion King Organization. Our only option now is to continue maintaining this plan. As long as we succeed, it will not matter even if the plan comes to light."
"But…"
"That is enough. Two votes against one. I hereby declare that the Blood Partner Project will proceed."
Watching Kuraki Shirona make the final decision, Koyomi Shizuka knew the plan could no longer be stopped, at least not for now. She could only force down the anger rising in her chest and turn to discuss how Yukina Himeragi should be handled.
"Yukina Himeragi?
The Sword Shaman we originally sent to stay by Kojou Akatsuki's side?
Since she failed to become the Fourth Primogenitor's first companion, what right does she have to appear in this meeting of ours?
Transfer her away or have her continue carrying out the plan. If she refuses to obey orders or cannot keep her mouth shut, eliminate her. After all, she is only a Sword Shaman who might one day become one of the Three Saints."
When the middle-aged man heard that Koyomi Shizuka was discussing how to deal with Yukina Himeragi, he looked puzzled. He was not the only one. Kuraki Shirona was also confused about why Koyomi Shizuka had specifically brought her up during a meeting of the Three Saints.
As a training organization, Sword Shaman, a type of Attack Mage, were not so numerous that they could be treated as expendable. Still, losing one or two was a price they could afford. Otherwise, the death rate among lower rank Sword Shaman sent on extremely dangerous missions would be enough to make them hesitate every time.
Although Yukina Himeragi possessed tremendous potential and might one day become one of the Three Saints, there were many geniuses with high potential. What truly mattered was not simply talent, but whether that talent could grow into real strength.
"She has joined the Mitsugoshi Company."
That calm, matter-of-fact statement made both of them fall silent. After thinking for a moment, Kuraki Shirona was the first to speak.
"Since she has joined the Mitsugoshi Company, then we should change Yukina Himeragi's mission objective. Instead of becoming the Fourth Primogenitor's Blood Partner, her task will now be to build a good relationship with the Mitsugoshi Company. It just so happens that we currently lack any communication channels with them."
After Kuraki Shirona finished speaking, the middle-aged man also voiced his opinion.
"I have no objections to that. Building relations is building relations no matter with whom. But now that Yukina Himeragi has left, who will replace her as Kojou Akatsuki's Blood Partner?"
The middle-aged man truly had no objections. Compared to Kojou Akatsuki, who currently brought them no tangible benefits, establishing a relationship with the Mitsugoshi Company, which controlled most of the resources in World No.3 and whose true strength remained a mystery while showing signs of becoming a new commercial giant, was clearly far more profitable.
The only problem was that a Shrine Maiden with top tier aptitude was a treasure anywhere. The Lion King Organization did not have many of them, and it was difficult to find a reasonable excuse to send one to Kojou Akatsuki's side on short notice.
As for the Sword Shaman who previously awakened Kojou Akatsuki's Regulus Aurum?
First, she was severely injured by a surge of Kojou Akatsuki's runaway magical power. Later, although she was healed by Shadow's magic, she was struck by falling rocks while escaping the Keystone Gate. By the time she was found, she practically lost her spiritual essence.
To be fair, the Lion King Organization also shared part of the blame for this. If they had not arranged for Kojou Akatsuki to drink her blood, which opened a breach in her spiritual essence, those injuries would never have caused most of her spiritual essence to leak away. At worst, she would have been seriously injured. She would not have lost almost all of her spiritual power.
Now that Sword Shaman only had two possible futures.
One possibility was that the Shrine Maiden they sent to Kojou Akatsuki in the future would fail. If that happened, they would send her again to Kojou Akatsuki's side and use her identity as the first person whose blood he drank to get close to him.
The second possibility was for her to marry someone within the Lion King Organization and give birth to several talented daughters to replace her. After all, what she lost was spiritual essence, not talent. If two individuals with spiritual power had children together, their daughters' talent would not be poor.
"I remember that among Yukari Endou's disciples, there is a Shrine Maiden with extraordinary talent who also has a very good relationship with Yukina Himeragi. We can inform her about the mission Yukina Himeragi was carrying out. She will volunteer to take over Yukina Himeragi's work herself.
Koyomi Shizuka, is there anything else you need to report?"
"No."
With that, Kuraki Shirona made the final decision and selected the candidate who would replace Yukina Himeragi.
The room fell silent again. Unlike before, all three of them clearly knew what topic would come next, yet none of them wanted to be the one to bring it up.
After a long silence, seeing that neither of the other two intended to speak, Kuraki Shirona finally chose to open the subject that no one wanted to discuss.
"Next, we will discuss the punishment Japan's government has imposed on us for failing to properly handle this matter, as well as…the compensation that should be given to the Church."
The expressions of all three darkened as soon as the topic was mentioned.
...
"I said, can you stop laughing already?"
Her furious tone, combined with Claire's fierce expression, carried enough pressure to make most people obediently shut their mouths. Of course, that would only work if there were actually someone standing in front of her instead of empty air.
Yes. In the living room of the room she had rented, Claire was sitting alone on the sofa, angrily shouting at a patch of empty air. The scene looked both strange and unsettling.
As the seconds passed, the anger in Claire's eyes did not fade in the slightest. Instead, it burned even more fiercely.
Her fists clenched tighter and tighter as the magical power within her body began to circulate, building up and ready to burst out at any moment.
Finally, as if she had reached her limit, Claire suddenly drew the mithril sword from the scabbard beside her. Magical power surged into the blade, igniting black flames around it as she swung it down with full force.
A silver line flashed through the air.
The table in front of Claire split cleanly in two, the cut smooth and flawless.
Yet even after cutting the table in half, Claire showed no sign of calming down. If anything, it was like adding fuel to the fire. Staring at the broken table with killing intent in her eyes, she shouted angrily.
"Sooner or later, I will cut you down."