Prologue
It was during early December.An unexpected visitor had come knocking on Alexandre Gascoigne"s door.He was currently located in one of Spain"s leading metropolises, theCatalan capital city of Barcelona. This was a harbor city famous both in theWest and East for the arts, tourism and soccer, among other things.Alec was sitting in the deeper interior of a bar located not far from theharbor, having his dinner alone.Baaar. To j.a.panese ears, that was what the Italian p.r.o.nunciation of theword "bar" sounded like.At any rate, it was a restaurant that combined the elements of a cafe, barand an eatery.Alec leisurely enjoyed his meal comprising of small fish and prawn fritters,along with a tomato and olive salad, while sipping his white wine.Seeing the two females both of whom he had known for a long timeapproach him, he raised his eyebrows."This is quite the rare combination... I should say. Not counting thatprincess over there, even you have gone out of your way to come here andmeet me.""Fufu, there are times when even I leave my island."The one who was smiling and answering was Lucretia Zola.The witch who lived on the island of Sardinia, in Italy. Although she shouldbe an elderly woman, her appearance had strangely maintained itsyouthful look. To Alec, she was an "advisory partner that he would finddifficult to meet even once in two or three years".And there was one more person who was yet to be mentioned."I"m not that discourteous a person to do something like chasing after youall over the place, you know? You"re the same as always, judging peoplewith only biased prejudice."The person who had calmly said that was Princess Alice.She was a beautiful lady from England, with whom he had an inseparablerelationship as bitter enemies for the past decade. With the pure beauty ofher wavy platinum hair, she gave off the atmosphere of a holy womandisconnected from this world, which made her stand out even more thanLucretia.However, her nature was not quite as pure as her appearance.Laughing scornfully, Alec disregarded her words. This princess was aDuke"s daughter who often paid extra notice in investigating Alec"smovements. Her aim was to be earlier than anyone else in knowing whatdisturbances the Campione of England would be bringing to the world."You"re not doing so because of goodwill to the public, but rather to satisfyyour own officious nature. Which is rather deplorable, to be honest....""Alexandre, that"s not something you should say to a lady.""If you call yourself a lady, then you ought to act like one. Didn"t you sendyour subordinates to investigate my location this time?"Alexandre Gascoigne was an elusive Campione.However, he had no intention of erasing all traces and news of hismovements, and was never particularly wary of the subordinates he hadaround him. After all, he could throw them off anytime he wanted."So, what do you want? Seeing that you ladies have expressly grouped upand come together, it"s obviously going to be nothing good."Looking intently at Alice"s and Lucretia"s faces, Alec brought the gla.s.s ofwhite wine to his lips, taking a sip."What are you talking about? I heard that our Prince had a conflict with thatj.a.panese that we"re all acquainted with and thought I"d come and have atalk about that. Since we haven"t had one in a while."Without asking for his consent, Lucretia took a seat directly opposite him,while Alice sat down right beside him."But first, let us give a toast; a moment of silence for Princess Guinevere,she who was tied to all three of us by a fateful bond."The waiter then brought them gla.s.ses of Sangria.Lucretia lightly raised her gla.s.s, and took a sip. Alice"s gla.s.s did not haveanything in it. The princess" body was materialized by "spirit bodyseparation", a spirit power. Hence, she could not consume any food ordrink."What we want to discuss is the [King of the End], whom that princess hadgambled her eternal life seeking. My Prince, what is the actual truth behindthat?""Behind what?""I"ve been concerned about it ever since Kusanagi-sama and Sir Lancelothad their deathmatch... Alexandre, do you have any clue of what the [Kingof the End]"s true name is?""And before anyone else finds it — we want to obtain the remains of theDivine Blade of Salvation."The old witch was looking as though she was enjoying herself with thesolutions to a riddle while the princess had a rare serious look on her face.Fixated under both their gazes, Alec shrugged his shoulders."If only it were that simple. This is a mystery even the Divine Ancestorscould not figure out after a thousand years. Could we even discoveranything with just a few years of investigation?""And that, is what our Prince says. What do you think, Princess?""Those are merely the laudable words of a sourpuss who hates losing.Surely, there are a few hypotheses inside his head, but due to lack ofevidence, he did not mention them. Anyway, once he has enoughconfidence, he would then explain with an arrogant look on his face,Obaa-sama."The pair of witches of differing ages before him entered into a discussionwith each other, in hushed voices.Alec decided to maintain his silence. Alice was the same as before, lovingto speak as though she could see through a person completely — whileraising her eyebrows and expressing her regret.No, it was the truth that this problematic hero had already thought ofseveral hypotheses, however...It happened when Alec was drinking white wine from his gla.s.s, keeping hissilence.Lucretia had suddenly whispered that name. Alec was stunned in aninstant."Fufu. Pretty close to the mark, was I? My Prince, how much do you thinkthe probability of that hero being the [King of the End] is?""... Thirty-five percent would be my estimate."Just as one would expect of Lucretia Zola. Perhaps that might have beenthe results of her fieldwork in Asia and the news of the [King of the End]that had surfaced in recent years. Alec had also heard of something that fitone of his hypotheses.Alec answered, feeling impressed, as the Princess looked on intently andseemingly suspicious."That doesn"t sound plausible, does it if he had even found out thatthat could be possible, regardless of whether the figure is beneath fifteenpercent or above eighty-five percent, he would continue investigating andthink it through thoroughly. That would be Alexandre"s way of doing things,would it not?"Once again, she was talking about Alexander Gascoigne"s temperamentas though it was her"s.Suppressing the urge to click his tongue, Alec said quietly."I"m a very busy person. I do not have the time to waste on researchinghobbies."Placing a few Euro notes on the table, he got up from his seat."It is futile to waste any more time discussing this problem. After youuncover new truths on this matter, we will continue this conversation."Leaving those words behind, Alec immediately departed the bar.The witches who remained in the bar, left behind by Alec, nodded theirheads at each other."A woman, hm?""Undoubtedly, it must have been due to relationships with women orsomething like that, that he had run into a wall in his research.""His relationship with women is simply ill-fated... he"s really got no luck withthem."There was no doubt about it, seeing his curt manner of speaking andatt.i.tude earlier.However, the ostentatious person in question would strongly deny it, ifasked. Alexandre Gascoigne was in fact the opposite of that prince-likeimage that he gave off, and was bad at dealing with women."In any case, the [King of the End]"s true ident.i.ty still remains a mystery "Princess Alice sighed.The mysterious war G.o.d that seemed to be slumbering in the Bay of Tokyo,in j.a.pan. The exterminator of devil kings, a bringer of danger upon theworld. In the near future, perhaps even sooner than they expect, thecalamity which would reduce the world to ashes might occur.They needed to gather as much information as possible, in preparation forthe chance of that happening —"However, if that"s the case perhaps the gentleman living in j.a.panwho"s good at dealing with women might be able to explain something.""No, he"s way more than just being good at dealing with women "Lucretia knew who Alice was referring to very well and answered withoutpause."To be precise, he is someone who seems like he"s ill-fated with women,yet his luck with them is extraordinary. Well, that youth and those girlshave been growing even stronger, we should probably place more of ourhopes on them...."This was a scene of the witches, talking about the many problemsoccurring in the distant East.