PrologueErica Blandelli was a girl who stood out.Her combination of reddish blond hair glittering like a crown, dazzlinglooks, perplexing volume showing a balanced sense of beauty, and thefact that she still is not even fully developed attracted attention wherevershe went.And she was a foreigner.In this secluded island country, that was reason enough to attract stares.Then again, in the neighborhood in Aoyama, there were far moreforeigners than elsewhere. It was only a bit, but you could say that theusual causes of her radiance were less effective.It was past ten at night. She was sitting in an open air cafe along theAoyama DooriJ ^Wearing leather pants that matches with her jersey, Erica was waiting forher appointment.September had only just begun. If it were noon, she would be wearingsungla.s.ses right about now. While showing off her 160-plus centimeter tallmodel-like body, Erica was idly spending her time."I am very sorry for making you wait, Erica-sama.""You certainly did, Karen. Such a mistake is unlike you."Erica elegantly gave her reply to the latecomer.Karen Jankulovski.She was the personal maid for Liliana Kranjcar, Erica"s rival.But right then she was not wearing her usual maid dress, but a camisoleand a short-sleeved cardigan. She could well be on her way for a night outin town."I was caught by Liliana-sama on my way out. She wanted to know where Iwas going...""I a.s.sume you managed to put her in a box?""Without a hitch. We are talking about Liliana-sama here. You can saycoaxing her is no more than child"s play."The women denouncing their old friend/rival and Mistress, respectively,exchanged malicious smiles.The two women from Europe beautifully displayed what many j.a.panesewould see as a well-acquainted relationship. In short, they were like twohappily plotting villains."You"re a bad girl, Karen. Very reliable.""You"re flattering me, but compared to you I still have a long way to go,Erica-sama... so then, this is the promised item."Karen put a batch of copy-paper on the table.The girl also known as [Diavolo Rosso] took it with graceful delicacy andchecked its contents.It was the latest edition of the literature that Liliana had been writing sincea few years back.It contained love stories, poems, and her occasional thoughts. Karen hadstealthily copied them and Erica purchased them for a high price. Thesebusiness transactions occurred exactly once a year."Oh Lily... this time you"ve become even more of a poetic maiden...""Ohh, but this is because she"s experiencing the season of love for the firsttime in her life. There"s nothing she can do about it... ohh, doesn"t this topiccause you a bit of discomfort, Erica-sama? I am very sorry."Erica just shrugged her shoulders to Karen"s nonchalant statement.It was not a pleasant topic, but she was neither honest nor carelessenough to let it show on her face. She maintained a very elegant att.i.tude,implying a subtle cynicism."I don"t care about what you did in Naples anymore. I just won"t show anymore openings that will be taken advantage of... By the way, Karen, do youreally think Lily has a chance of winning that certain person over from me?This is not a sword duel, you know?""That certainly is a pending problem, but, well, I am with her in this," Karensaid, half admitting Erica"s point. "What Liliana-sama lacks, the staffaround her just has to make up for... And more importantly, you areextremely unfair in this regard, Erica-sama. Apart from your magicalprowess and political strength boosted by your feminine wiles, you are alsovery intelligent. Couldn"t you give us a handicap?""What do you want me to do about it? All of that is what makes me EricaBlandelli."Erica calmly smiled at both the compliment and the complaint."Ann, but if you"re going to compliment me like that, please also praiseG.o.dou"s good luck of meeting a woman like me. He has no idea, but hereally is one blessed fellow!""G.o.dou-sama, you say? ... Is it possible that that gentleman likes womenwho will make him spoil them?""I"m sure he doesn"t hate them, why do you ask?""Nothing; Liliana-sama was so proactive and yet it didn"t appear to leave abig impact on his emotions. So I thought, rather than proactive, a.s.sertivewomen, maybe a selfish woman who makes him spoil her... If he hasreached that level at his young age already, I can see him become aconsiderable playboy in the near future," Karen said in deep thought. Shewas probably thinking about how Liliana was behaving lately.Erica laughed silently and showed a victorious smile."No matter how proactive she is, if she says she does it "as a knight — ,"that blockhead will take it at face value. If you put those two together forjust a while, they might get better...""Ahh, are you talking about that j.a.panese miko^ Right, speaking ofmiko..."Suddenly Karen changed the topic.""Hime-Miko""- 3 ^... just what kind of people are they? There was also thatsomething-or-other-committee. The j.a.panese magic a.s.sociations seem tobe quite peculiar."For a European magician, that impression was only natural.Erica nodded. The a.s.sociations the girls belonged to were "Copper BlackCross" and "Bronze Black Cross."Both of these a.s.sociations were based in Milan, Italy and were noteworthyon an international level.At least one a.s.sociation existed in every current and historical major city,and they formed the world of magicians, different from the public society.That went without saying in Europe.However, j.a.pan had few magic a.s.sociations.Most of them were sects rooted in Buddhism, but they did not gather in thecities.Magicians living in the cities did not create their own a.s.sociations but wereinstead organized and regulated by a state-controlled group called "HistoryCompilation Committee." And then there were the Hime-Mikos in question."Let"s see. Yuri has gone to Europe a lot, so there are people who knowabout her, but... the truth is that her involvement in the group called"Hime-Miko" isn"t very well known. You see, apparently the "Hime-Miko" arescouted from families having an amiable relationship with the HistoryCompilation Committee and receive a special education to make the mostof their spiritual powers."There was not much information on Hime-Miko. Its membership wasprobably controlled by the History Compilation Committee.Even with the power of an a.s.sociation like the "Copper Black Cross",details such as their numbers or what kind of spiritual power each oneholds were unclear."Probably, the trick that brings forth new Hime-Miko lies in their lineage. Ibelieve the Committee always keeps track of those families that easilyproduce people with exceptional spiritual powers; the Committee alsoobserves and protects them so that their bloodlines don"t die out. Duringthat process, those with greater spiritual powers are selected asHime-Miko... something like that."It was easier for girls than boys to manifest special spiritual dispositionssuch as spirit vision.In Europe, it was the same with those who held the qualities of a "witch".The point was, women had a higher chance of holding exceptionaldispositions."You mean, there are people with special abilities like Yuri Mariyascattered all about?""It appears there aren"t "that" many, but at least a few. According to theinformation I have gotten hold of, Yuri Mariya seems to be veryhigh-ranked even among Hime-Miko."Erica certainly did not just played around during the three months she hadbeen in j.a.pan.Although she could not skip school much due to G.o.dou"s nagging, as aknight serving a Campione, she had seen to various arrangements andinvestigations.Putting the copy-paper she had come for into a bag, Erica stood up.Karen bowed respectfully with a composed expression."Thanks as always. It really helps me out to have such a generousbusiness partner.""It"s only natural to pay a proper price for such excellent commodities.Although I would gladly pay even more if important information about the[Bronze Black Cross] comes along with it.""Your feelings alone are more than enough. I don"t want to be purged as atraitor yet."She would stop at the least possible danger, when it could still be settledas an amusing tale. That was what Karen wanted to say.To her reasonable reply, Erica responded with a ladylike smile.That was the type of the people with whom Erica liked to maintainlong-term business relationships. After all, those who did not know theirown limits could fail when others least expect it.In that regard, Karen was Erica"s ideal accomplice, for she would be ableto supply Erica with her mistress"s personal information for years to come."I see. Then, see you some other time. Ahh, if you have any otherinteresting information on Lily, I"ll pay a lot for it as well.""Understood. If I come upon such a thing, I will certainly contact you. Goodnight."Sent off by Karen, Erica left her seat.The night was long. There were still many things that she had to do.In the end, it was nearly 3am when Erica was in the vicinity of her homeagain.There were no strong magic a.s.sociations in Tokyo. However, there werequite a few wizards.After parting with Karen, Erica headed to a certain hotel and took part in anauction they held in a room there. It was a secret meeting where foci andgrimoires were sold on a large scale.Some items seemed like they would be confiscated right away if theHistory Compilation Committee were to find them.Erica was partic.i.p.ating because she hoped to obtain a rare fetish, and shewanted to make personal connections with magicians unrelated to theCommittee.There were no valuable goods so she did not buy anything, but her othergoal went well.This was another night where she had made her name and face known.It had been three month since she came to j.a.pan. Apart from being thegenius magician who came from Italy, she was also the lover of a devilking, a Campione. By now, there were not many people "in the business" inTokyo who still did not know of her.After getting out of the taxi, Erica walked up the short path to her mansion.The night had gotten late and there were no signs of life whatsoever.Nevertheless, Erica stopped in her tracks, feeling an unpleasant presence.Sixth sense... did not nail it. It was a smell mixed into the nightly air.A faint smell of iron stimulated her nose. Immediately after she felt it, theattack came.Cutting the air, a lump of iron came flying.Swords.The gently curving blades belonged to refined, old-style j.a.panese swords.However, there were no handles. The four swords were welded together atthe base.The curvature grew stronger as it traversed down the blade, formingsomething like a swastika symbol.^ Although no one held the strangesword, it was floating in midair and continued to attack her while rotating athigh speed.Erica immediately jumped away and used magic to call forth her magicsword.Cuore Di Leone.The lion"s magic sword had an elegant, slender blade and shone with acool and clear silver radiance.With it, Erica tried to knock down the swords flying in the air. However, herstrike was returned by the swastika. The blades rotating like an electric fansent Cuore Di Leone flying from its wielder"s hands.Erica had been disarmed.The swastika sword attacked right away.However, with a magnificent smile decorating her lips, Erica startedreciting."Arges, Steropos, Brontes. Bestow thy blessing of lightning upon mysword!"At that moment, Cuore Di Leone, which had been knocked high up into theair from her hands, gave off purple sparks.There was a flash descending from the heavens.The magic sword that held the name of the lion was draped in lightning asit swooped down and pierced the swastika from above.This time it pierced the center, where the four blades were linked together,without being blown off.The swastika was completely run through. Smashed to pieces, its bladesfell to the ground."Its structure is too simple to be some kind of golem or gargoyle. So is thisa "Made in j.a.pan" thing after all?"While muttering, Erica pulled out a handkerchief.With it, she picked up one of the smashed fragments and tucked it away. Itappeared that a new danger was closing in on her — just what she wanted.With her adventurous spirit stimulated, Erica walked the rest of the way toher home with a light skip in her steps.References1 . t Aoyama Doori: Main street in Aoyama, Tokyo.2. t Miko: Miko are usually j.a.panese shrine maidens. However, in thisstory the term also refers to a type of magic-user, and not all of thosemagical miko are shrine-maidens. That is why we left the term as mikowhenever it shows up.3. t Hi me- Miko: j.a.panese for princess-shrine maiden. It is the nameof a group of people and as with miko, we decided to leave it as it is fornow.4. t Swastika [Ft!]: do not a.s.sociate with n.a.z.ism; see EasternSwastika Use (Wiki)