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, the
Catalan capital city of Barcelona. This was a harbor city famous both in the
West 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 the
harbor, having his dinner alone.
Baaar. To Japanese ears, that was what the Italian pronunciation of the
word "bar" sounded like.
At any rate, it was a restaurant that combined the elements of a cafe, bar
and 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 time
approach him, he raised his eyebrows.
"This is quite the rare combination... I should say. Not counting that
princess over there, even you have gone out of your way to come here and
meet 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 should
be an elderly woman, her appearance had strangely maintained its
youthful look. To Alec, she was an 'advisory partner that he would find
difficult 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 you
all over the place, you know? You're the same as always, judging people
with 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 inseparable
relationship as bitter enemies for the past decade. With the pure beauty of
her wavy platinum hair, she gave off the atmosphere of a holy woman
disconnected from this world, which made her stand out even more than
Lucretia.
However, her nature was not quite as pure as her appearance.
Laughing scornfully, Alec disregarded her words. This princess was a
Duke's daughter who often paid extra notice in investigating Alec's
movements. Her aim was to be earlier than anyone else in knowing what
disturbances the Campione of England would be bringing to the world.
"You're not doing so because of goodwill to the public, but rather to satisfy
your 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 send
your 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 his
movements, and was never particularly wary of the subordinates he had
around him. After all, he could throw them off anytime he wanted.
"So, what do you want? Seeing that you ladies have expressly grouped up
and come together, it's obviously going to be nothing good."
Looking intently at Alice's and Lucretia's faces, Alec brought the glass of
white wine to his lips, taking a sip.
"What are you talking about? I heard that our Prince had a conflict with that
Japanese that we're all acquainted with and thought I'd come and have a
talk 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 glasses of Sangria.
Lucretia lightly raised her glass, and took a sip. Alice's glass did not have
anything in it. The princess' body was materialized by 'spirit body
separation', a spirit power. Hence, she could not consume any food or
drink.
"What we want to discuss is the [King of the End], whom that princess had
gambled her eternal life seeking. My Prince, what is the actual truth behind
that?"
"Behind what?"
"I've been concerned about it ever since Kusanagi-sama and Sir Lancelot
had their deathmatch... Alexandre, do you have any clue of what the [King
of the End]'s true name is?"
"And before anyone else finds it ―― we want to obtain the remains of the
Divine Blade of Salvation."
The old witch was looking as though she was enjoying herself with the
solutions 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 Ancestors
could not figure out after a thousand years. Could we even discover
anything 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 of
evidence, he did not mention them. Anyway, once he has enough
confidence, 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 discussion
with each other, in hushed voices.
Alec decided to maintain his silence. Alice was the same as before, loving
to speak as though she could see through a person completely ―― while
raising her eyebrows and expressing her regret.
No, it was the truth that this problematic hero had already thought of
several hypotheses, however...
It happened when Alec was drinking white wine from his glass, keeping his
silence.
Lucretia had suddenly whispered that name. Alec was stunned in an
instant.
"Fufu. Pretty close to the mark, was I? My Prince, how much do you think
the 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 been
the 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 fit
one of his hypotheses.
Alec answered, feeling impressed, as the Princess looked on intently and
seemingly suspicious.
"That doesn't sound plausible, does it.... if he had even found out that
that could be possible, regardless of whether the figure is beneath fifteen
percent or above eighty-five percent, he would continue investigating and
think it through thoroughly. That would be Alexandre's way of doing things,
would it not?"
Once again, she was talking about Alexander Gascoigne's temperament
as 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 researching
hobbies."
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 you
uncover 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 their
heads at each other.
"A woman, hm?"
"Undoubtedly, it must have been due to relationships with women or
something 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 with
them."
There was no doubt about it, seeing his curt manner of speaking and
attitude earlier.
However, the ostentatious person in question would strongly deny it, if
asked. Alexandre Gascoigne was in fact the opposite of that prince-like
image that he gave off, and was bad at dealing with women.
"In any case, the [King of the End]'s true identity still remains a mystery....."
Princess Alice sighed.
The mysterious war god that seemed to be slumbering in the Bay of Tokyo,
in Japan. The exterminator of devil kings, a bringer of danger upon the
world. In the near future, perhaps even sooner than they expect, the
calamity which would reduce the world to ashes might occur.
They needed to gather as much information as possible, in preparation for
the chance of that happening ――
"However, if that's the case..... perhaps the gentleman living in Japan
who'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 without
pause.
"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 girls
have been growing even stronger, we should probably place more of our
hopes on them...."
This was a scene of the witches, talking about the many problems
occurring in the distant East.