Chapter 3

Kuro’s POV

Part of me knew that this was most likely a trap, but I wasn’t going to be able to live with myself if it wasn’t and I just allowed this girl to be at the mercy of those two scumbags.

I could just make out the backs of the two guys chasing the girl and picked up the pace to catch up to them. With the way the girl was running aimlessly in any direction, I could tell that she wasn’t acquainted with the area, she turned a corner and I lost sight of them. Just before I was about to get to higher ground, I heard a scream and raced round the corner at max speed. It was a dead end and the two were gradually creeping up on her.

“You gave us quite a bit of trouble there little lady…”

“Haha, you broke our very priceless vase when you bumped into us, how do you plan on paying for it?”

“N-no, I-I...Didn’t mean to…”

“Not to worry, there are plenty of ways of paying us back.”

“Haha, yeah, plenty of ways…”

This was obviously a scam, with how cliche this was. I was surprised how this girl wasn’t able to figure it out. Going by the look on her face, she was obviously scared and I got the impression that she was someone that hadn’t experienced too much of the world. Her demonic energy reminded me a little of Seir’s so maybe she was nobility that had lost her bodyguards in this mess of people.

Just before the guys got close enough to touch her I decided to intervene.

“Hey arseholes, how much does she owe you?”

“Huh? Get lost!”

“Haha, can’t you see that we’re busy here.”

Well I tried talking things out. I dashed towards the two and knocked their heads together to get their attention.

“Ouch!”

“You’ll pay for that!”

“What is it with you guys and paying for stuff?”

The two surrounded me from both sides and lunged at me simultaneously. I ducked down and there heads collided once again. There size was at a disadvantage in this narrow alleyway.

“This girl is an acquaintance of mine, I will give you one chance before I start to get serious, leave this place and never cause trouble for her again, or you will have to deal with me.”

“Haha, did you hear that bro? This little punk is trying to threaten us, do you know who we are? We are the…”

Just before he finished talking I released bloodlust at max output for a split second. Both of their faces went white and they fell to their knees.

“L-let’s get out of here!”

“Damn it, we’ll get you for this!”

“...*sigh* glad that’s over.”

I turned round towards the girl who had fallen down and was staring up at me in awe. I extended my hand out to help her up but she continued staring at me and not moving. Going by the way she was dressed, she was definitely upper class, she had extremely light strawberry coloured hair tied in what I could only describe as buns on either side of her head and was wearing a luxurious fuschia dress to match.

Eventually she took my hand and got up only to stumble and fall forward, I just about managed to catch her before she landed flat on her face.

“It seems that you’ve twisted your ankle. Did you get lost? I’m Kuro Fuji...Kuro. I’ll help you find your friends or bodyguards, any idea where we should start looking?”

“N-no, I got separated from Uncle Pu Yi when we were looking in some item shops. Then I bumped into to those two and started running when they accused me of breaking their vase.”

“Hmmm, well I suppose we have no choice but to wonder around and hope we run into him. With your ankle like that, it’ll be a little difficult so I’m gonna have to carry you.”

“Wha….what!”

Before she could respond I picked her up in a princess carry and leapt to higher ground.

“This should be high enough, any idea whereabouts you last saw your uncle?”

“U-ummmm, I think we were last together somewhere in that direction...”

“Hmm OK, I’ll go towards that way then, if you spot anything, let me know to stop OK?”

“O-OK.”

I started jumping across buildings in the direction that she pointed to. Initially she held her eyes shut tightly and became tense in my arms everytime I would jump across to another building, but when she realised how easily I was able to do it, she became more relaxed.

A few moments passed and I realised how big the surface area for the summit really was. The number of buildings and space was never ending. Just when I was about to stop and reassess my options, I felt a strong bloodlust behind me and came to a halt.

“M-my Lady! P-please forgive this useless old vassal for losing sight of you for even a moment. UNHAND HER THIS INSTANT FILTHY COMMONER!”

“U-uncle Pu Yi, there’s no need for such hostility. This gentleman just rescued me and was helping me search for you.”

“O-ohhhh, a thousands pardons my lady…”

“Shouldn’t you be apologising to me? Anyways, it looks like we managed to find you without too much trouble. She seems to have twisted her ankle while she was running away from the two guys chasing her. I don’t think they will be giving her much trouble from now on though. With this, I’ll take my leave.”

“W-wait! I-I want to properly show my gratitude to you for rescuing me. If you return with us to my father’s estate, I’m sure he will give you a reward.”

“No thanks, I should be getting back to my friends, no doubt Seir is causing trouble for Alice and Shiro must be starting to worry.”

“I-I see…”

“Y-you show some respect and honour my lady’s request! Do you have any idea who this is!?”

“No, listen I don’t want any trouble so…”

“This is Lady Mei-Lien, youngest female heir to the noble house of Paimon.”

“Paimon?”

“Hah so now you’re interested lowly commoner!”

“Hahahahahahaha, did you say Paimon? Hahahahahaha. It was nice meeting you Mei-Lien, I hope your ankle heals up quickly, I’m sure we will meet again.”

With that I left the roof of the building and made my way back to the cafe that the others were probably still in. I looked back and managed to get one last look at the girl I had just rescued. It seems the vassal was contacting his subordinates to let them know that he had finally found her. Mei-Lien was staring after me, but the second our eyes met she quickly looked the other way. Paimon huh…

I walked into the cafe and spotted Alice feeding Seir some ice-cream and Shiro sipping away at some green tea.

“Ohhh, Kuwo-kn, yrs buk”

“At least swallow before you start talking!”

“*Gulp* how’d it go? Did you swoop in like a knight in shining armour and save the princess from the ogres? Or was it a trap after all?”

“Actually that was...nevermind.”

“Ohhhh, I think you’d better tell us, or Shiro-chan is going to break that cup with the amount of pressure she’s putting on it.”

“Huh? Oh, Shiro, n-nothing happened.”

“Eh? It’s not like I have any business in your affairs Fujioka-san. You can chase after every damsel in distress in hell, it doesn’t bother me…”

“C-come on Shiro, no need to act like that...”

I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening attempting to get Shiro to come round.

The reason I didn’t want to tell Seir that I had just saved the youngest female heir of the Paimon house, was because I didn’t want him to attempt to use our encounter in some convoluted scheme to win favour with Earl Paimon. If we wanted to really make a play for the top two spots, then there was no doubt that China was a key piece, plus it would be more impactful on both the masses and the other great families if we beat the Paimon house cleanly and forced them to join our cause.

I’m sorry Seir, but this time I’ll have you play along to my plan. I just hope that when the time comes, I’ll be able to follow through with my decision by beating the Earl.

I could feel the old dragon stir a little within me and thought about how I was going to handle the fearsome battle that awaited us.