Leviathan:Volume 8 Chapter 5

Chapter 5 - The World Thereafter

Part 1

Almost a year and a half had gone by since the great battle that took place outside of Earth.

It was early March. Tokyo New Town had just entered the spring season. The weather still seesawed between warm and cold while true spring gradually approached, day by day.

On this afternoon...

The witch Shirasaka Hazumi got off from school early.

The middle school division of Kogetsu Academy was nearing graduation, hence there were only morning lessons.

Hazumi did not return home immediately. Instead, she remained in uniform as she traveled alone to Higashikomagata station of the New Town Loop Line.

In front of the station, she entered an unassuming mixed tenant building. She passed by establishments such as a curry shop, a cafe, a massage parlor and a DVD shop before entering the glass door of Mirokudou, a used bookstore on the fourth floor...

"Hello, it's been a while. May I ask if it is alright for me to intrude right now?"

"Oh of course. As you can see, we're open for business right now with practically no customers. Stay for as long as you wish."

Hazumi greeted the shopkeeper behind the counter as soon as she stepped into the store.

The young man had stubble despite his handsome face and was dressed in a creased white shirt. The black apron, part of store attire, was also dirty. His name was Kenjou.

He used to be employed at the Tokyo Branch of the research organization SAURU.

Currently, he was the premier instructor at the Tokyo main office of GUILD, a civilian security company.

"By the way, this lady here apparently has no intention of contributing to the store's sales. Be my guest, have a chat with her."

"It's not my fault. Who asked this store to carry such extreme genres?"

The only female customer replied to Kenjou.

She was wearing glasses and dressed tidily in a suit. Her makeup and attire belonged to style of women in their twenties, thus presenting a very youthful impression. However, she was probably not the right customer for this hardcore and a little filthy used bookstore, which carried not a single comic book.

Hiiragi Yukari. Back when she worked at the research organization SAURU, she had looked after Hazumi with care.

Now, she was the head of the human resources department at the Tokyo main office of the civilian security company GUILD—

"From what I have heard, Hazumi-san, lately your health has improved from before, hasn't it?"

"Yes. After that incident with Princess Yukikaze... and Senpai, my health has been getting better and better." Hazumi recalled the commotion on that night, something she had not thought about for a long time now, and replied.

"Asya-senpai says it might be because my health used to be poor because my heart and mind were unaccustomed to a witch's power the whole time. But after Minadzuki awakened goddess power, the strain on me seems to have lessened a lot."

"I see..."

Hiiragi-san nodded.

"So in the end, that night was a turning point for you too, Hazumi-san, not just the world."

On a certain summer night, a mysterious magic symbol had appeared in an obvious manner on the full moon.

In addition, a large dragon and several leviathans had fought, using low Earth orbit as the stage for an intense and haphazard battle.

Finally, there was a mysterious meteor that almost crashed into Tokyo, but exploded in the stratosphere—

That night was named the "Full Moon Nightmare" incident. The media in every country competed to report on it. Nowadays, there was almost no one who did not know about it.

The was dramatic change in the world's relationship with magic, with the night of the nightmare as the turning point.

"After that, SAURU's business and staff in Tokyo New Town and the Kantou region... were all taken over by our civilian enterprise, GUILD," commented the young Mr. Kenjou poignantly, probably because it stirred up deep feelings in his heart.

"Synthesizing leviathans, supporting various witches, devising strategy against dragon activity, on-site combat command, as well as serving as communication channels between various involved parties. Oh man, we expected the new faction GUILD to succeed easily as long as SAURU lacked the dragonbane advantage, but—"

"We never expected to win over contracts with all autonomous organizations across Japan not long after establishing GUILD for a year. How surprising..."

Even Hiiragi-san was in awe. Hazumi laughed.

"Smith-san was grinning when he said this was the matter-of-fact result."

"Clearly he is a weirdo for liking such a comedic name."

"Yes, the most surprising is our CEO after all... Oh right. I remember today is when the show airs! Kenjou-kun, could you turn on the television!?"

"I'm on it, boss lady."

Young Mr. Kenjou was actually older, but he was Hiiragi-san's subordinate in rank.

He replied respectfully as always and placed a portable LCD television on the counter, then turned it on and changed channel to show an afternoon variety show.

'Today, we have as our guest, the representative of the much talked about company GUILD. Welcome, John Smith Haruga-san to our studio~!'

The female announcer introduced in a cheerful voice.

”Oh? Looks like it happens to be his turn now."

"L-Luna-san is there too!?"

"I requested for Miss Gregory to provide support on the side as part of marketing. Think about this. Although our representative's abilities and social skills are so high that we have no choice but to admit defeat, his knowledge of common sense in the human world is still not enough..."

The three of them stared at the small television together.

Just then, the host and the female announcer was preparing to invite "today's guest" to enter the show's talk corner segment.

The television showed a closeup shot of the guest sitting on the sofa.

It was a red-haired man whose muscular physique was obvious even through the screen.

He was dressed as a businessman of sorts, in a suit, but crimson in color. His white shirt had the top two buttons unfastened and he did not wear a tie. Based on attire alone, one might think he looked more like he worked at a host club.

Furthermore, he was openly crossing his legs in front of the camera.

This arrogant attitude and gaudy clothing would most likely earn criticism in normal situations.

However, who knew if it was because of his natural charm or royal charisma...

Mr. John Smith Haruga, the representative of the civilian security company GUILD, was rising in popularity all over Japan and the internet world.

For some reason, his exaggerated yet natural speech and behavior was quite well liked. 'I am John Smith Haruga, the CEO of this company GUILD. Today, I'd like to explain to you all what role my company plays in Japan's new anti-dragon defense plans, as well as its significance.'

After saying this with a tense expression, he grinned mischievously and added, 'Oh. I welcome personal questions through email or fax. You can even send them directly to the GUILD, and I will answer them later. But let me be clear, it will depend on availability of time and staff.'

This grinning brawny man looked around thirty or forty years old.

However, his actual age was maybe thousands or tens of thousands of years. Age indeterminate, in any case. Only very few people knew his other name.

The Flame Emperor. Red Hannibal. The dragon king himself who had conquered New York.

"Phew."

After the show, he returned to the room that television crew had prepared for him to rest.

When Luna Francois was the only one present with him, Hannibal said contentedly, "Today's show was quite interesting. This broadcast media called 'television' is quite a good match for one such as I after all."

"I think so too. But I think it's a bit dangerous to go on shows."

Extremely naturally, Hannibal slipped back into referring to himself as "one such as I."

Luna calmly responded to the dragon king who possessed social skills one would not expect from a dragon. Though she normally preferred dressing up in Gothic lolita, today she was wearing a black suit.

"Fufufufu. You should turn a blind eye to that. So-called combat instinct is accumulated through actual experience. And isn't it because I devote so much effort to promotional activities that GUILD has taken control of Japan's defense network in only a year's time?"

"Plan out, not take control." Luna corrected Hannibal's brutally honest choice of words.

However, she did not correct the content of what he was saying. Unlike SAURU, which was originally a secret association, GUILD's policy was to boldly disclose information to Japan and the entire world. In other words, they widely publicized the fact that only witches and leviathans were capable of fighting dragons, and that GUILD was the organization devoted to using, researching and popularizing them.

By spreading knowledge far and wide, the number of people wanting to become witches would increase.

A greater pool of candidates would make it easier to find the talented ones. Increasing the number of excellent witches would promote competition and interaction between witches, thereby raising overall quality naturally.

Hence, they made the decision to publicize information.

That being said, the policy remained of withholding from the public the existence of elite dragons and dragon kings with the high intelligence and potent magic.

In addition, regarding knowledge of dragonslaying runes, the policy was "it was okay to tell new witches if they actively asked" and give the standardized answer "secret techniques akin to finishing moves that only certain leviathans are capable of using" without hiding much in particular, because—

Juujouji Orihime, Shirasaka Hazumi, Luna Francois, Asya, as well as Haruga Haruomi—

One of GUILD's objectives was to slowly increase their members from this small permanent lineup.

"Still... I never thought we'd ask the great dragon king of New York to take on this kind of job."

"Indeed. I am deeply surprised too."

Hannibal chuckled "hohoho."

The decisive battle against Princess Yukikaze happened a year and a half ago. There was no winner, and after the battle ended with the princess' complete surrender—

The plan to establish the civilian security company GUILD entered the execution stage.

At that point, they hired New York's Red Hannibal to serve as their consultant.

Reportedly, Hannibal had already entered into a private contract with Haruga Haruomi to establish a "Trans-Pacific Alliance" between Tokyo and North America to support each other. This was in consideration of a diplomatic strategy against the pure-blooded dragon kings whom they had yet to meet but may encounter eventually—The Black Lightning Emperor and the Blue Sea King.

Because compared to a pure warrior race, a human dragon king was more suitable as an ally.

Hannibal was quite interested in Haruga Haruomi's suggestion, but he added a condition. He might consider it if he could take Old Tokyo from Princess Yukikaze's possession—

Hence, the dragon king of New York became GUILD's ally.

He actively enjoyed this situation, taking on human form to visit Tokyo New Town, and even showed up frequently for meetings.

Thanks to him, not only the witches but even ordinary company staff knew him as the "mysterious Japanese-American man of mixed ethnicity, John Smith Haruga." People outside of GUILD, such as Tokyo New Town's metropolitan governor and city councilors, key persons in business sponsors, all knew of him.

That being said, apart from Haruga Haruomi's inner circle, no one knew his true identity.

It was at that time that a question popped up.

Very well, who was going to be the company's boss?

Founder Haruga Haruomi claimed "I'm not suited as leader, and I have after-effects to deal with, so count me out. Pick a witch and let her be the high school girl CEO." Asya and Luna said "it's definitely better to choose someone Japanese." The Japanese-born witches also said "find someone a bit older..."

A certain member of staff randomly suggested "Why not have Mr. Smith take the job?"

There was virtually no opposition.

Important people outside of GUILD who learned of this news (mainly Orihime's grandfather, etc) all gave active support.

Even though his resume was a little suspicious, compared to "the high schooler who somehow became a treasure hunter with deep knowledge of dragonkind's magic" and "the world's top-class witches, but they are high school girls," ultimately the preferred leader was an adult man in his prime—That was what conservative commoners tended to think.

The main point was that the man who returned from America, calling himself John Smith Haruga, definitely exhibited human charisma that satisfied such thinking.

Project leader Haruga Haruomi finally reached a conclusion.

'Our goal is not limited to Tokyo but to expand our business across all of Japan as well as the entire Trans-Pacific area. I've been thinking since a while ago, for this purpose, we need a representative who can serve as a mascot and go on television all the time. Mr. Hannibal might be a great choice as long as he's willing to do it.'

When they asked Hannibal, he immediately answered "Leave it to me."

Thus, the CEO who devoted himself full time to promotional activities without taking part in running the company (more precisely, he was not authorized to participate) was born.

Time went by—

Effective use of the CEO's qualities in promotional activities.

Possession of multiple master-class leviathans capable of effortlessly defeating large dragons that were more dangerous than Raptors, who had also played key roles in the "Full Moon Nightmare" incident.

An attitude of explaining magic and the metaphysical body of knowledge in simple terms.

Perhaps thanks to all of these advantages, the civilian security company GUILD expanded with rapid growth beyond expectation, to the current day...

The nominal leader said solemnly, "The path to happiness is fraught with hardship. The enemy I should be most wary of right now is the legendary weekly magazine Sentence Spring, I suppose? The conqueror from dragonkind and dragon king in New York, the leader of a startup of rising prominence in Japan—They must not find out about this spectacular double life."

"Normal people wouldn't think of this possibility, it's not like we're talking Arsene Lupin here."

A triple life as a gentleman thief / Russian noble / policeman.

Luna named the superhuman who was capable of handling these multiple surreal missions simultaneously.

"Actually, I think your resume fraud is the easiest to get caught."

"My latest academic qualification is at Harvard Business School, right?"

"However, I used my connections to have someone help make arrangements in America, so I don't expect it to be exposed so easily. That human form, which you've shown to the Governor of New York, apparently has been classified as top secret by the US government, on the same level as Area 51."

"Excellent... Oh, by the way, where is that guy?"

"Harry?"

"Yes. I expected my nominal nephew would surely visit the studio today."

Hannibal's newest alias, John Smith Haruga.

The backstory was that he was Haruga Haruomi's uncle.

Luna shrugged and said, "That is the plan, yes, but today, Harry's chronic ailment seems to have flared up again, so he didn't even go to school and is resting at home."

"Oh?"

Part 4

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