-1070- Beast Vassal's rampage?

The next day, Rozen, Kojou, Nagisa, and Avrora, along with others, rode to school in a luxurious car driven by the Special Zone Security Force as usual.

Upon getting off the car, Rozen was greeted by many female students as usual, pushing Kojou, Nagisa, and Avrora aside. Although this was always the case, Kojou always complained a bit, while Nagisa and Avrora had a displeased look throughout, making it a routine every morning.

After some persuasion, Rozen finally managed to break free from the surrounding female students. However, by this time, Kojou, Nagisa, and Avrora had already left, heading to their respective classrooms.

If not for this, the three of them would have had to wait by Rozen's side for a long time and endure the disdainful glances from the girls.

Rozen had become accustomed to this, continuing to greet passing female students while entering the classroom.

"Finally here?"

"It's hard for you every time."

Seeing Rozen enter from outside the door, Kojou and Motoki, who were chatting at their respective seats, both looked over with concern, one squinting while the other teasing.

Ignoring the two's poor greetings, Rozen, as if used to it, took his seat amidst the greetings from the girls in the class, next to Kojou.

Rozen, Kojou, Asagi, and Motoki sat together as a group of four.

Rozen and Kojou sat together in the last row by the window, while Asagi and Motoki sat in front. Now, Motoki turned around to chat with Kojou, who was sitting behind him.

Rozen sat in the seat next to Kojou, looking at the empty space in front of him with some curiosity.

"What? Asagi hasn't arrived yet?"

Rozen asked Motoki.

"Not yet." Motoki shrugged, saying, "Yesterday, when you went to take the Attack Mage License exam, we all went to the arcade together. We came back almost at night, but before Kojou, Nagisa, and Avrora left, Asagi received a call saying there was work, so she left early. She probably has some troublesome work again, sacrificing her sleep time."

"So, Asagi is likely still sleeping?" Kojou scratched his head, saying, "Could she be late or absent? Today's first period is Natsuki's class, and skipping her class would be really bad."

"Who made Natsuki the homeroom teacher this year?" Motoki said nonchalantly, "Asagi is probably panicking now, knowing it's Natsuki's class for the first period, fearing she'll have to rush into the classroom out of breath."

At these words, before Kojou could react, Rozen smiled.

"It's true that childhood friends who grew up together really understand each other."

As Rozen's voice fell, a panting sound came from the entrance of the classroom.

"Phew... I made it..."

Looking closely, Asagi was indeed rushing into the classroom as Motoki described, panting and looking exhausted.

"You made it just in time, Asagi."

"See, I told you."

Kojou looked surprised, while Motoki looked somewhat smug, making Rozen laugh.

"Are you okay?"

Rozen handed Asagi the water he brought, his actions appearing very natural.

"Thanks, you're a lifesaver."

Asagi had no reservations either, immediately unscrewing the bottle and taking a gulp.

"Really, I'll never take on this kind of job again. It's both troublesome and tiring."

Asagi sat in her seat, panting and complaining.

"What kind of job did you do?" Rozen asked.

"The crappy job thrown over by the Artificial Island Management Cooperative," Asagi said, sounding annoyed. "They said the warehouse street in the East District suddenly caught fire yesterday, and all the security systems were disabled. They asked me to rush overnight, even adjusting and calibrating everything by hand. They didn't even bother to get the load balancing and filter adjustments right themselves, making me put in so much effort. Although the pay was good, I really want to scold them. Can't they put some effort into maintenance work?"

Asagi kept complaining, using a bunch of professional terms that left the guys in the room confused.

Only Rozen, though not as professional or powerful as Asagi, at least had the knowledge not to be completely lost with the technical jargon.

So, Rozen just said one thing.

"You managed to handle both the calibration and load balancing adjustments yourself and still got the job done?"

Rozen didn't know if he was marveling or sighing.

"Well, it wasn't a big deal job anyway, so I updated it while I was at it," Asagi said casually.

However, Asagi's ability to completely overhaul the security system built by the Artificial Island Management Cooperative overnight, including calibration and all other aspects, was a talent that would make countless computer geniuses tremble if they heard about it.

Frankly, if Asagi were willing to sell the program she updated so easily, she could definitely fetch a sky-high price for it. Yet, she seemed completely unaware, handling it as effortlessly as watering flowers, which was truly sinful in a certain sense.

"By the way, why did the warehouse street in the East District suddenly catch fire?" Motoki noticed a problem.

"Could it be due to inadequate storage and protection measures for flammable materials, and with the dry weather, it caught fire?" Kojou speculated lazily.

"The warehouse street in the East District is where Itogami Island stocks a large amount of resources from the outside world, including food. It's like a lifeline for this artificial island that can't completely self-sustain. How could there be problems due to such negligence?" Rozen shook his head, denying Kojou's suggestion.

In the end, Asagi provided the answer.

"It's said that it was caused by the rampage of a vampire's beast vassal."

Asagi stated the reason straightforwardly.

"A rampage caused by a vampire's beast vassal?" Kojou and Motoki were suddenly stunned.

"Oh?" Rozen became interested all of a sudden and asked, "What kind of rampage was caused by a vampire's beast vassal?"

"I don't know either; I didn't specifically look into it," Asagi said, tilting her head. "But it's said that an old-generation vampire's beast vassal went berserk, causing significant damage. Nearly forty percent of the island's supplies were burned."

"Old-generation?" Rozen was also stunned, frowning. "Old-generation vampires can't control their own beast vassals, leading them to rampage?"

This was truly unheard of.

If it were the young generation of vampires, it would be understandable, but for old-generation vampires, even if they were not pure-blooded, their accumulated strength over the years and the immense experience built from the inherent accumulation of blood memory could never allow their beast vassals to go out of control.

Rozen vaguely felt that something was wrong.

Just then, an event occurred that interrupted Rozen's thoughts.