Princess Andrea only relaxed once she was sure Edward had taken out the two vampires. She ordered Reinhardt to dismiss the large contingent of City Guard behind them, then the four of them accompanied Edward to his living room.
Their tense nerves finally eased, and they sat down on the living-room sofa. Edward asked them to wait a moment, then went back to his bedroom to wash up and change into something more formal. The whole thing took less than five minutes, much to Alice's amazement—she was usually slow when washing up and getting dressed. Edward rolled his eyes. Girls are the same in every world. Even when they're heading out to fight monsters, they still have to look pretty. I wonder how long you took to get ready this morning.
By then, Edward could hear the stomachs of the four people on the sofa rumbling. Princess Andrea gave him an embarrassed smile, so he tied on an apron and started cooking in the Open Kitchen on one side of the living room.
He made a very simple breakfast, frying five eggs at once on the iron griddle over the stove. He fried the same number of sausages, warmed some milk and bread, and thoughtfully prepared a large bowl of vegetable salad.
He'd made it to suit the tastes of people in this life, who leaned toward the European and American food he'd known in his previous life. He couldn't very well serve Princess Andrea fried dough sticks and soy milk, or Chinese-style flatbread and spicy soup. Perhaps Cantonese dim sum would suit their tastes. He could try it next time, though it was a hassle to make.
As he expertly prepared breakfast, he told the princess and the others what had happened the night before. They listened in astonishment.
Alice couldn't help asking,
"Those were Vampire Counts! Monsters on the level of Great Knights, and maybe even harder to deal with than Great Knights. How did you take them out so easily?"
"Please, take a seat at the table. Breakfast is ready." Edward called them over and began setting out the dishes, answering as he did,
"The main thing was finding the right method. Vampires, as Dark Creatures, have an obvious weakness: they're afraid of sunlight."
"Sir, can you use our Holy Light Technique, too? As far as I know, our Holy Light Technique is the only one among the various faiths that has an effect on vampires similar to sunlight." The Baby-faced Pastor asked.
"It wasn't the Holy Light Technique. As far as I know, the Holy Light Technique is a positive-energy attack spell. It can heal normal creatures and generally harms Dark Creatures. But the light I made is already present in sunlight itself. It only affects vampires; it might not do much to other Dark Creatures," Edward explained.
"I think I understand. But lamplight is much like sunlight. Why can't we see the kind of light you're talking about?" Pastor Elvin had turned into a curious child, asking one question after another.
"Eat first. I'll show you after breakfast, and then you'll understand." Edward picked up a piece of bread from the table, took a bite, and began eating.
Everyone at the table had good manners and followed the rule against talking while eating. They finished breakfast in silence.
After clearing away the dishes, Edward led them to the corridor on the north side of the second floor, the only place in his house that got sunlight.
He took a piece of glass from his Spatial Ring. He didn't even need to put on his Alchemist Gloves; he simply activated the Shaping Technique and turned the glass into a triangular prism.
"I'll show you a little trick. Take a look." Edward turned the prism in his hand until he found the right angle. A rainbow fell across the wall, amazing the four onlookers.
"Look. Sunlight may be white, but when refracted through this prism, it separates into seven colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. There are actually two kinds of light beyond the ones we can see. The one beyond red I call infrared, and the one beyond violet I call ultraviolet. Vampires are particularly sensitive to ultraviolet light..." Edward began giving them a lesson in science.
"If you can't see them, how do you know these two kinds of light exist?" Alice, ever observant, had spotted the flaw.
"Uh..." Edward was at a loss for words. He really hadn't thought about how to answer Alice's question. Should he say he'd learned about it in his Previous Life? If word got out, what if some curious Magician came along, cut him open, and dissected him?
"Enough, Alice. Don't ask so many questions. Some people are born knowing things we don't, and that's why we call them Prophets." The Knight Princess had noticed Edward's awkwardness and stepped in to help him.
Edward gave Princess Andrea a grateful smile. Just then, Alice and Pastor Elvin snatched the prism from his hands and began playing with it, thoroughly enjoying themselves.
The handsome captain of the knights had no interest in it. He excused himself, saying he had official business to attend to, and left.
"Edward, last time we ate together, I left the armor that went with my dress in the guest room. Could you take me to get it?" The Knight Princess smoothed a strand of hair at her temple as she spoke to Edward, who had just returned from seeing Reinhardt off.
"Of course. Follow me." Edward led the Knight Princess to the guest room where she had changed last time. The armor was still on the nightstand beside the bed, clearly untouched.
The princess followed him in and glanced back at the Beautiful Girl Mage and the Baby-faced Pastor, who were still absorbed in their game. When she saw they weren't paying attention, she quietly shut the door.
When Edward realized that the beautiful young princess was going to be alone with him, his thoughts began to wander. He cleared his throat awkwardly. Why hadn't he been this distracted when she'd visited in the middle of the night last time?
When the princess turned back to him, her expression had grown serious. She asked,
"Edward, were those two vampires the 'Hunters' Monica mentioned? Will they come back?"
Edward saw that the princess had wanted to speak privately about something serious, and his face flushed with embarrassment. He said,
"I don't know everything Monica told you, but I can tell you for certain that they weren't. They were just vampires Monica attracted in Transylvania. I questioned them last night and learned that the blood of a Baptizer was very useful to them. They wanted to use it to revive the Vampire Count Dracula. Also, the charms I gave you can't hide your scent. They track their targets by smell. I doubt any more powerful vampires will show up for a while."
"Do we still need to wear the charms?" the princess asked.
"Definitely. The most powerful vampires still out and about are probably only Marquises. Besides, because of the war on the mainland, they're all guarding their own lairs and won't venture out easily. With your current strength, you can easily take out a Vampire Count. Just tell those two little ones to be careful. But we can't deal with the real 'Hunters' yet."
"What exactly are the 'Hunters'?" Princess Andrea asked curiously.
"I don't know... They might be human, or they might not. All we knew back then was that they were capturing Baptizers all over the place. But I know for certain that they were at least as strong as Sky Knights." Edward paused, then continued. "I only ran into them once or twice before. I was covering the retreat, and all I could do was use a few gadgets to draw their attention before escaping. Monica probably didn't attract those monsters' attention this time. Otherwise, she might never have made it to the New Continent without being intercepted and killed. The fighting is fierce in Middle Earth now, so those monsters may be focused on that region. As long as the war continues, they probably won't pay attention to the New Continent."
Hearing Edward's words, Andrea relaxed a little. "You managed to escape from Sky Knights? You really were something. You were only an Alchemist Apprentice back then, weren't you?"
"I just had a few clever tricks. It was nothing worth mentioning," Edward said modestly.
The princess suddenly seemed to remember something. With a touch of shyness, she pulled a blue card with gold-foil edging from between the gaps in her breastplate. It had become somewhat crumpled from being squeezed there. She handed it to Edward and said,
"Edward, the New Year is coming... This is an invitation to the New Year's Eve banquet at the Duke's Mansion. Please be sure to come. I meant to bring it to you this morning, but I got an urgent report and rushed over. I might as well give it to you now."
Edward accepted the invitation, still warm from the princess's body, and put it away carefully. Smiling, he said,
"Of course. I'll be there on time."
Then a thought struck him, and he added,
"I'll have a surprise for you and the other guests—a surprise for everyone in White Eagle City, actually."
"What kind of surprise?" The princess perked up.
"I can't tell you. A surprise only counts if you see it when the time comes. Telling you in advance would ruin it. But I'll need to borrow a squad of soldiers from you, and I'll need to use Fountain Square for a while."
"All right, it's a deal!" the princess replied cheerfully.
Edward suddenly remembered something else. He slid the old Spatial Ring off his finger and said,
"I made a tidy profit from taking out those two Vampire Counts last night, so I'm not short on money anymore. I also found a larger Spatial Ring. I've already moved everything into the bigger one. This smaller one has been modified, so even non-Casters can use it. I noticed you usually have Alice use her Spatial Ring to store things for you. You can take this one; it'll be more convenient."
The princess accepted the ring with a blush. She tested it with her Mental Power, then tried storing the suit of armor on the nightstand in it. Delighted, she asked,
"How did you do that? Spatial Rings that non-Casters can use are worth a fortune!"
"It's not that exaggerated. Those are usually Inheritance Rings belonging to great Families. I just found a little loophole and made a small modification," Edward said with a smile.
The princess suddenly seemed to remember something and asked suspiciously,
"Most Casters try to lock their Spatial Rings. Why did you modify yours so ordinary people could use it? You didn't make it specifically for me, did you?"
"It was because of Monica..."
Edward blurted out the truth, then realized what he'd said and abruptly stopped. He wanted to kick himself for it...
Before you continue