Free Record of the Blood Battle by Hideyuki Kikuchi Page A

called out to them several seconds later.
    The boys’ violence was stemmed both by the quiet dignity of the female voice and the knowledge of whom it belonged to.
    “Lady Millian?”
    Dressed in an elegant silk suit, the woman possessed a youthful beauty that hardly seemed to suit the title of “lady.”
    The boys’ eyes turned to the man who stood behind her like a wall dressed in black. Judging from the buggy whip he held, he was likely both her coachman and her bodyguard.
    “Save me,” the baron said, and as he took refuge behind the driver’s back, blood dripped from his head.
    “You’re wicked children, aren’t you?” Lady Millian said, glaring at them. “Shall I tell the sheriff to make you spend the night alone out in the forest of the Nobility? The next time I see you doing this, you’ll not get off lightly!”
    “Sheesh, what a hysterical bitch!”
    “Dyke!” the boys said, pelting her with insults as they ran away.
    “What little brats. They don’t feel the slightest bit of respect toward their elders. I should’ve expected as much from humans, I suppose,” the baron muttered to himself as the woman looked down coolly at him. She was reasonably tall.
    “From the way you refer to them as humans , could it be that you’re—”
    “Oh, yes, I’m a Noble,” he replied, puffing his chest, but he immediately deflated again. “No one believes me, though.”
    “Understandable,” Lady Millian said, staring intently at the baron and biting back a laugh. “You cast a shadow on the ground, and above all there’s the matter of you standing in the sunlight. Have you some proof you’re a Noble? Could you transform yourself into a bat and flit around?”
    “Those tricks are strictly for engineered Nobles. I, on the other hand—”
    The baron’s voice halted there because of the blood flowing from his forehead. Running along the side of his nose, it’d reached his lips.
    “As you can see, I’m the genuine article.”
    The baron opened his mouth. A pair of fangs caught the woman’s eye. He now seemed like an entirely different person, and she froze in her tracks.
    The great wall of a man lurched forward, but she said, “Totem,” stopping him. “A genuine Noble,” she murmured in astonishment.
    “That’s right.”
    “In that case . . . I have a request for you.”
    The emotion choking her voice made the baron grin. Did his Noble senses tell him something?
    “However, discussing it here would be somewhat improper . . . Would you be so good as to come to my home?”
    “Are you sure that’s okay? I am a Noble, you know.”
    “That’s precisely why I offer you this invitation.”
    “Very well, then. But in return, you mustn’t hold whatever happens against me.” As he focused a look of unrestrained longing at the nape of the young beauty’s neck, the baron licked his lips. Though he had the three strikes of being short, fat, and bald against him, that craving alone was proof positive that he was indeed a member of the Nobility.
    —
    Deciding there was no point searching for the baron in the immediate vicinity, D walked straight down to the sheriff’s office. He told the stunned man behind the desk, “I’d like you to tell me who’s the most eccentric person in town.”
    After some consideration, the sheriff replied, “That would be Lady Millian. She’s a widow who lives out in the forest on the western edge of town. Been a bit odd ever since her husband passed away two years back. It seems she’s been collecting data on the Nobility from all over the country.”
    “Does she intend to turn her husband into a Noble or something?”
    The sudden change in D’s voice brought the sheriff back to his senses. Glaring at the Hunter, he said, “Say something like that to anybody in town and they’ll string you up on the spot. I won’t even get there to stop ’em until they’re done lynching you. We won’t stand to have you doing anything to hurt or embarrass that lady.”
    “Oh,