“So, Damascus Steel, was actually something that originated from Wootz Steel—”

I — Azazel am digressing on a particular subject whilst teaching today, while instilling useless knowledge into these students. —Not long after, the bell for the end of class rang.

“Azazel-sensei, next time could you explain your unique view on UFOs please?”

“Ah — could you also talk about the Pyramids that you mentioned before please?”

“It was really interesting!”

After talking to some students after class, I returned to the staffroom. I was hired as one of Kuoh Academy’s teachers, mainly teaching Chemistry. Well, I was always engaged in research and performing experiments while I was in Heaven. In terms of teaching, it’s not a problem. Moreover, I also frequently participate in the teaching activities of other subjects. But, when it comes to languages, geography and history, they give me a bit of a headache. There was a group of fallen angel Cadres that said

“Azazel-sensei? He would definitely make a mess out of teaching things.”

Although they were being sarcastic, I do have a responsibility to fulfil my duties. …Today’s digression occasionally drifted towards impure topics…

“Listen up, the exchange of diaries is not allowed in class; furthermore, male and female students should not be writing anything which is impure.”

The teacher in the next room was lecturing her students. It looks like Rossweisse (Civics Teacher) was currently teaching a pair of male and female students how they should behave. Her angry expression actually revealed a rather cute side. From what could be heard, Rossweisse needed to punish two students for their misconduct during class. This arrangement of indoor staff really prevented me from being excused for some things. Anyhow, it certainly must have been Rias who used her power to have Rossweisse situated right next to me so as to keep me in line. …Seriously, it’s like she can’t trust me…

“I’m really sorry.”

“Sorry.”

The students apologised. But quickly they reverted and said

“But Rossweisse-chan, do you really need to punish students for this level of behaviour?”

“Yeah, exchanges like this are really common in the other classes.”

Telling students not to exchange diaries during class is only natural, but the content of the diaries themselves is more important. I suppose they are kids in puberty who are probably curious about relationships with the opposite gender. However, the young female teacher very stubbornly refused to budge.

“What you’re saying is insignificant. High school students should put their learning first. Getting into a good university and finding a good job is more important than anything else.”

Ah—Ah— this girl says the same thing every time. I really don’t know whether it’s because she’s less than twenty years old and naïve or simply lacking in experience. Those two students are probably thinking along the same train of thought as I am right now.

“Rossweisse-chan, you’re not getting any younger, if you’re so stubborn, you won’t find a boyfriend.”

They actually said the words which should never be mentioned! This is the most forbidden sentence to her! It was obvious as the kids were frozen stiff, and went completely silent. Rossweisse’s entire body was trembling; she made woeful noises, and even started crying!

“B-Boyfriend…I have one!”

A big lie. I couldn’t help criticising that. Well, she wanted to pretend in front of the students. However, I did hear about the rumour among the students that Rossweisse’s age = length of time without a boyfriend. Had such rumours spread throughout the entire school? Rossweisse didn’t seem to be aware of this situation, and she was especially strict in some areas, so the truth was seen by the students quite quickly. The female students called her ‘tragic beauty’, while the male students called her ‘pure bishoujo sensei’, so she was surprisingly popular. Well, she was also the subject of the female students’ envy for having the quality that ‘even when angry, she’s still cute’, so she was constantly being praised. It can’t be helped Rossweisse, even if this is how you normally are, it’s enough for the students to look forward to…you seem to be an example of someone whose relationships stay at the level of friends. Anyway, speaking about these principles illustrates the importance of a teacher’s job. Compared to those long-winded lessons, this was a better way to convey knowledge.

“Well, let it be, Rossweisse-sensei, just forgive them.”

I said that from the side. Just let the students be. You don’t need to get so involved in this, Rossweisse-sensei. You don’t need to emphasise the history that you don’t have a boyfriend. Although saying this was a bit verbose when coming from another person’s mouth, it could let the other person know that enough was enough.

“As expected of Azazel-sensei!”

The students seemed to be happy about what I said, but Rossweisse turned towards me and said

“I! H-Have a b-boyfriend I said!”

She sobbed as she finished that line…you can talk about it again the next time you go out with Ise.

After school.

“…”

On the way towards the old school building, Rossweisse continued to pout while walking beside me…she was still dwelling on what happened earlier in the day. I stared ahead with a slightly blank expression as I said

“The next step is to complete that thing from last time.”

“I know that! I’m not angry!”

…It’s not like I don’t have a brain. Well, whatever. We need to call Akeno and Ophis next. But the person in question this time was Asia. What we needed to do was to allow Asia and a certain monster to form a contract. It would be best if the contract could be made smoothly and successfully. However, that girl Asia was too innocent, and wasn’t bold enough. That’s why it was necessary for people who often deal with monsters to help with the job. In fact, forming a contract with a monster was actually a bargaining process. The person needed to have some experience in negotiations. If the other party led someone by the nose, the price would result in a lot of trouble. Rossweisse, who already knew about this frowned as she asked

“But, is this really okay? The other party is Azazel-sensei’s important contract object. One of the Five Great Dragon Kings, Fafnir, which is quite incredible.”

Indeed, I had made a contract with one of the Five Great Dragon Kings, the [Gigantis Dragon] Fafnir. He would normally face people in the form of a dragon, but during battle, he would be utilised by me as an artificial Sacred Gear. However, I planned to release the contract. Preparing Asia to inherit this contract was today’s important job. Anyway, I haven’t been directly on the battlefield recently, rather, I’ve been doing more support roles. It would be best if the battle situations could be left to the young Devils and Reincarnated Angels. An old man like me should back down from the front lines and do rear support, I would probably be more useful like that. —Watching Ise and the others, I couldn’t help having such feelings.

“Well, there’s nothing wrong with being retired. The Three Factions have a peace treaty, and have now started to join forces with other mythologies. Although there are some hostile forces, it is truly much more peaceful when compared to the past. The new generation is already present, so we old people should make way for them.”

Gremory — no, this was a team composed of members from a variety of factions. Not long ago — last year, this was something that I couldn’t even imagine. To be honest, helping these guys grow and providing advice as a consultant makes me much happier than fighting on the front lines. I really enjoyed this kind of life from the bottom of my heart. Well, the Grigori was originally a group of defectors from Heaven who taught humans knowledge. Hoho, I wonder what extent the Gremory team and Sitri team will grow to become. These growing youths are like a seedbed with an infinite number of possibilities. They’re also my best research material. With Ise in the lead, everyone has been able to obtain unexpected results and growth.

“…Don’t think about strange things again. It’s the same as that time when you taught Ise bad things and were punished by the Grigori. If you have such thoughts, even the Maou-sama will get angry this time.”

Rossweisse stared at me while I was lost in these thoughts.

“That suits me fine. I wouldn’t be one of those in the old group of bastards who betrayed the omniscient and omnipotent God if I was teaching useless knowledge to humanity! I will turn these guys into the strongest team that no one can defeat, and no one can stop me.”

After hearing my speech, Rossweisse simply sighed in amazement. I will also help you to become strong, talented Nordic woman. But right now, the one who would be strengthened was Asia.

“Let m-me…form a contract with the D-Dragon King…!”

Asia was stumbling and stuttering as she spoke because she had been startled. After discussing it in the Occult Research Club; Asia, Rias, Akeno, Rossweisse and I came to the underground training area in the Gremory’s territory on the chosen day, which was today. It was a very spacious area. The Gremory Family, no, Sirzechs had prepared a truly remarkable training space for Ise and Rias as it was both high and wide. In this case, it wouldn’t matter even if things got a little messy. Before we transported here, both Rias and I told Asia what we would be doing. I would rescind my contract with Fafnir, while telling Asia about the matters relating to the monster at the same time. I would then allow Asia to form the [Dragon King Summoning Contract]. Well, since Asia had a rather modest personality, she panicked a bit at the beginning. There were two reasons why I wanted to let Asia use the Dragon King Summoning Contract.

The first was because Asia had successfully formed contracts with extremely difficult dragons as a Devil. Although there were only a few varieties of dragons, being able to form a contract with a [Sprite Dragon] was incredible. Dragons could be said to be the strongest existence amongst all living things. After all, the only ones in this world who dared to hate and kill gods were dragons. It could be said that Asia was the best candidate to make a contract with a dragon. But, suddenly making a contract with a Dragon King seemed like too much of a jump even to me. However, no one could know what would happen if they didn’t at least try. Currently, the members of the Gremory household all had different growth. Growing in great leaps and bounds was a very rare thing.

The second was because Asia’s role as a healer was crucial in battle, so the enemy would definitely target her. When Asia played a supporting role, it was necessary for someone to protect her. That was the current state of the Gremory peerage. As a team with overwhelming firepower, it would be wasteful if one person had to stay behind when they advanced. If Asia could protect herself, the team’s movement would become more convenient, and their overall strength would also increase. It would be quite appropriate for the Dragon King to have the role of protecting Asia. I also had a certain reason for advocating this. I turned my eyes towards the side. There was a girl wearing black clothing on her entire body — Ophis.

“What do I need to do?”

The Dragon God-sama scratched her head as she asked! She was exactly the reason why I was supporting this.

“I want to get your support. Well, you just have to support Asia.”

After I replied, the Dragon God-sama in the form of a girl seemed to have a ‘?’ floating above her head. This time, Ophis would be participating as well. Regardless of how it was seen, Asia had been under the care of Ophis. Asia normally had good luck, and often had lucky things occur. Irina was also the same. Circumstances like these were rarely seen in the world. This was the so-called ‘protection from God’. I took out a device that I created myself from one of my pockets, and then pointed it at Ophis. After it locked on to her, it measured Ophis’ aura level, and I then pointed the measurement device at Asia. This testing device was used to investigate mysterious presences and to what extent they affect an object. After seeing the numbers on the device, I felt relieved. A special faint and benign aura was radiated from Ophis’ body towards Asia. This was the truth behind Asia’s protection. This special aura caused Asia’s luck to become better. The ‘God of the Bible’ who was the backbone of our mythology had already died, so the believers of the Church actually had no way to receive protection or blessings (accurately speaking, they were able to receive something similar to protection by using the System in Heaven which was left behind). Asia, who was practically unable to receive blessings from Heaven, was now receiving the blessing of the world’s strongest Dragon God. After having just met, Asia showed kindness to Ophis…and since then, Ophis had been giving Asia a blessing probably without even knowing. Most likely, this protection, which originally covered Ophis, was a token of gratitude towards Asia.

“This contract will take place under Ophis’ watch and with our help.”

Choosing Fafnir to form a contract with Asia was an overwhelming consideration. With the supervision of a Dragon God and our assistance, it would really make her feel more at ease. Compared to having only Asia make the contract by herself, the success rate of forming the contract would now be much higher. After hearing my words, Rias and Akeno both nodded.

“Mn, I will also give Asia a helping hand.”

“Fufufu, Asia-chan really is quite brave to form a contract with a Dragon King.”

After the comments by the [King] and [Queen]—

“I will also use relevant magic or summoning techniques to assist from the side.”

Since even the magical genius Rossweisse said that, the preparations were already complete. However, even with these people here, it was still possible to fail.

“…Although I don’t know how much I can do, I will also work hard to become strong. Please accompany me to the end everyone, please everyone!”

Although Asia was a bit nervous, it was evident that she was determined. Even we could see that this girl consciously wanted to become stronger.

“Good. We’ll first prepare an ordinary dragon. Just talking casually to it will be fine. Before negotiating with Fafnir, it would be better to have some others for practice.”

Asia was not very good at negotiations. Although Asia needed to complete her Devils’ Job, most of the requests were from good-natured people, thus it didn’t require too much negotiation skill. But, against a Dragon King this time, it would be very important to have a certain amount of skill. Moreover, the other party wasn’t a human or a Devil, but a Dragon. In comparison to the humans that she met before, I was afraid that their values and thoughts were very different. It would be best to get used to it sooner.

“I, will help Asia.”

“Thank you, Ophis-chan.”

Ophis conversed with Asia happily. …Well, she was seemingly able to communicate with Ophis. I wasn’t sure if this person would be categorised as a dragon, or as something else. —Rias then said

“Does it matter if we reveal Ophis’ identity in front of the dragons?”

The information regarding Ophis’ presence wouldn’t be disclosed. That was because it wouldn’t be good if it were revealed when summoning the dragons.

“There isn’t a big problem. Ophis’ power has already been reduced as much as possible, so as long as it isn’t a particularly powerful dragon, it won’t be detected.”

In this regard, I had already prepared everything. After hearing this from me, Rias said

“That sounds like it took a lot of preparation.”

The situation could be left alone now. Thus, we continued with our original plan to summon a normal dragon. In the centre of a magic circle appeared a massive dragon. I gave Asia’s back a light push.

“Go, Asia, talk to the dragon.”

“Yes, okay.”

With a determined look, Asia began to converse with the dragon (practice)—

“…Fire dragons which can breathe fire are mostly good, they have strong and generous personalities. Water dragons which manipulate ice and water are a slightly calmer type…”

In the practice area, Asia conscientiously confirmed her notes. Including me, everyone who was here working together with her smiled. Asia said to Ophis beside her

“Wind dragons are a very free type. Lightning dragons are slightly sensitive when small, but become very sociable when they grow up. Ice dragons like to live peacefully in places where there are fewer people.”

Asia was repeatedly reciting her knowledge of dragons. It had already been a few days since that now and Asia had encountered a variety of different dragons. The type, personality, and values of these dragons were all different, and she had more than a few troubles when speaking to them. With her serious and innocent personality, Asia continued to work hard. In the midst of Asia’s conversations with the dragons, I did my best to lessen Ophis’ power, so that the dragons wouldn’t discover her true identity…if they really found out, there wouldn’t be any conversation, and they would definitely try to make a quick escape out of fear. However, as a Dragon King, Fafnir would definitely notice that it was Ophis who was beside Asia. We already knew about Ophis’ existence, but I don’t think Fafnir would be afraid of Ophis…. Up until now, Ophis had been beside Asia as she spoke to the dragons — the person who came up with such a bold plan was awesome. If the other Cadres knew about this, they would definitely condemn me. Hahaha, it feels like I’ve constantly been in highly dangerous situations recently, perhaps my intuition has gone numb? Well, having received Ophis’ blessing, Asia hasn’t encountered any situations in which a dragon has become irritated or angry. From the perspective of those watching from the side, her conversations were quite interesting. Well, the other parties were dragons after all. In order to match the other party’s speech, Asia was also working hard.

At the same time, I provided Rias and Akeno with guidance in demonic energy. Rossweisse also trained in magic, in particularly, summoning magic. There was a lot to remember in a short amount of time, but their basic ability to learn and magic ability was quite high, and they finally learnt everything within this period. I watched the students while I took notes in my notebook. I had a habit of writing down my ideas. In order to prevent myself from forgetting, I wrote down everything that I thought of, and if there were any that I liked, I would go and research them. That was why, when I was in Heaven before, I had recorded a lot of data on Sacred Gears. Really, after those materials were taken away by Michael during the war, there were a lot of things that I couldn’t understand.

“What are you writing down?”

Rossweisse asked.

“Ah — the next quiz for the next class at school. It’s best to formulate the questions when I’m concentrating like this.”

I replied. Although I had to supervise Ise and the others as well as the situation in the surroundings, I was also a teacher of Kuoh Academy. It was my job to guide the students properly. Rias made a soft laugh.

“What’s surprising is that the students taught by Azazel are particularly outstanding.”

‘Surprising’ is unnecessary. I do what is necessary. All of a sudden, Rossweisse raised her voice.

“While maintaining a slovenly appearance, you finish your job brilliantly and produce results — you actually have such profound experience in the workplace. Your relationship with the other male teachers isn’t too bad either…mn…”

Ah, this young girl doesn’t need to talk about me like that. I’ve actually lived longer than you guys have, so I naturally make more use of my opportunities. Rossweisse-san, you will also be able to do this after accumulating more experience. …Ah, hold on, since Rossweisse has a somewhat more serious personality, it might be a bit difficult. —Putting aside the chatter, we should progress to the next stage today. I said to Asia

“Asia, I’m going to summon Fafnir next, and rescind my contract.”

Although I didn’t spend much time interacting with him, I decided to rescind the contract today. I removed the gem of the artificial Sacred Gear that Fafnir was sealed in. I clicked my fingers, created the magic circle that I used to make the contract, and then placed the gem in the centre.

“The Dragon King like gold, the existence on the other side. Please respond to my call, and appear before me—”

I recited the chant, the magic circle glowed at the same time, and the gem also responded by emitting light. After a dazzling flash of light was released — an enormous golden dragon appeared in the centre of the magic circle. It was a dragon with four legs, he didn’t have any wings, and his scales were shining with a sacred golden glow. —One of the Five Great Dragon Kings, [Gigantis Dragon] Fafnir. He was a dragon who collected treasures. I said to the Dragon King

“Fafnir, I didn’t summon you today for anything else — I want to rescind the contract.”

After listening to my words, Fafnir opened his thick and heavy mouth, then said

“Azazel, you want to give up your contract with me?”

“Ah, I’m already old, and I want to retreat from the front lines. So I want to rescind the contract with you.”

“…”

The Dragon King did not respond…well, it didn’t matter for this guy anyway. In order to rescind the contract, I had called him out of his residence, yet that guy seemed to have an indifferent look. Perhaps rescinding the contract was simpler than I initially thought. I cleared my throat and then said

“Although I’m somewhat sorry about this, I’ll introduce the next contract person to you…how is that?”

“…”

Really, he was still silent. Speaking of which, I initially said ‘I’ll use the treasures that I have personally collected as the price, form a contract with me’. In the end, the contract was completed when he simply nodded silently. My lips were trembling and I was smiling slightly.

“Yes, it’s a very cute girl. Don’t worry.”

“I have my own interests.”

Ho. He actually said something like that. Dragons don’t care what race the other party is, but they’ll like them as long as they’re female. In this world, there aren’t any stories about beautiful girls being offered as sacrifices to dragons. I introduced Asia who was beside me to the Dragon King.

“This is the person to form the contract today, Asia Argento. What do you think, cute right?”

Asia’s whole body was trembling intensely as she was nervous, but she tried her best to introduce herself.

“H-How are you? I am Asia Argento.”

“…”

The Gigantis Dragon inched closer to Asia and stared straight at her. His eyes suddenly opened wide and showed the reflection of Asia within them. Asia seemed to be very nervous, and she was trembling slightly while she smiled. Asia could interact with a Dragon God and a Heavenly Dragon quite well, but she was inevitably confused in front of a Dragon King that was indifferent to people.

“Come on, talk about what you think now. You still don’t talk much.”

I said to Fafnir.

“…G-Golden…hair.”

He suddenly made such a comment. This guy only has gold in his eyes. The treasures that he’s collected are all gold items. Gold is his favourite thing.

“Yes, golden hair. A golden-haired girl who is also a nun. She’s very popular at school.”

After hearing the word ‘nun’, Fafnir eyes widened even further. Hey, are you interested in nuns? He really could have interests in such things. Rias and I both watched the Dragon King’s reaction. The word nun seemed to have caught his interest.

“Asia…tan.”

…Eh? What, did I hear wrong? Did Fafnir just say ‘tan’? Hold on, how could it be such a nonsense thing? This guy is one of the Five Great Dragons Kings [Gigantis Dragon] Fafnir. How could he possibly use such a childlike honorific? While I was thinking about this, the Dragon King then dispelled some of my doubts, and suddenly wagged his tail left and right as he said

“Golden-haired girl Asia-tan, I, think she’s very cute.”

—I didn’t hear that wrong at all.

He added a ‘tan’ on to it…seeing this unexpected response, my expression went stiff. On the side, Rias also had a ‘??’ confused look. No, this could actually continue. Having a good first impression is a good thing!

“T-Thank you for your praise.”

Asia lowered her head in acknowledgement as she smiled. Seeing this, Fafnir began panting, and his tail was also waving about.

“—Pai.”

Pai?

“—Want to lick.”

Eeeeeeeehh— This dragon kept on repeating that towards us while we were unable to understand the situation.

“Asia-tan, lick, cute, lick.”

I covered my face with my hands. What a waste, this is truly a waste. This is a waste of a dragon… Just because of her hair! This guy was going too far! This Gigantis Dragon actually likes to lick strange things!

“…Does he mean that he wants to eat Asia?”

Rias tilted her head. That’s a rather innocent way of thinking! If Ise saw such an innocent Rias, he would certainly be irritated. S-Slow down! Slow down! That guy seems to have taken a liking to Asia! I exhaled and then said

“Well, Fafnir, your next contract person, Asia, isn’t bad right?”

“…”

Although he didn’t say anything, that guy’s tail was still swaying from side to side, he really liked her. Speaking of which, the Dragon King is like a dog! Now it was time for the next step.

“Do you want to make a contract with this girl at a price?”

When making a contract, there were two types, paid and unpaid. These two methods were fundamentally different. In the case of a price, Asia would have to pay Fafnir what he wanted in order to have him serve her. The price to be paid could be very broad. If it was just a very expensive item, then that would be fine. If he requested a part of the contracted person’s body or the soul as the price, it would be very difficult to negotiate with Fafnir. Well, it would be good as long as that guy didn’t make such requests.

“I, want a price.”

He did indeed say it. Taking into account the immaturity of Asia and that her relationship with the Dragon King Fafnir was not equal, in order to make up for the difference, words of praise, gold or other similar things were necessary for the contract. However, by being cautious, the contract could be completed as long as a price was paid. Good. I didn’t actually expect it to get off to such a smooth start. Asia said with a slight sense of trepidation in her voice

“B-But, I don’t have any money or treasures which I can pay the Dragon King…”

Of course, I knew this. For Asia, who had not been a Devil for very long, the presence in front of her was immense, it was completely out of her reach. I said to Asia

“I will help out in this regard, Rias as well right?”

Rias nodded.

“Yes, you can leave the price to me. You’re one of my peerage members, and also my cute sister.”

Rias placed her hand on top of Asia’s shoulder, smiled, and then showed a sort of motherly expression. She is truly one of the Gremory Family who have deep love for their servants.

“Rias-oneesama…thank you.”

Asia thanked her several times repeatedly. In terms of the treasures, it would be fine for both Rias and I to prepare them, and then Asia to give them to the Dragon King. Asia was an irreplaceable team member of the Gremory household, which fought against terrorists. Those who understood Asia also understood this point. …In a Rating Game, there was nothing that could be done because there were rules and restrictions. After all, this being was a Dragon King.

“Well, Fafnir, what do you seek from Asia? Gold? Or would you want treasures like you asked of me?”

I asked. The Dragon King didn’t even stop to think and replied

“I, want the golden-haired girl’s treasure.”

It was the same as with me, he demanded treasures. In legends, this guy was a madman that collected treasures. He really wanted to collect all of the world’s gold and treasures. Among Dragons, there were many legends in which they collected and guarded treasures. In particular, Fafnir was famous because of his abnormal obsession with it. I then said

“What do you want exactly? Legendary weapons? Rare metals — mithril or perhaps orichalcum?”

Mithril…it was possible to buy it from the Nordic dwarves if the price was right. But, orichalcum was somewhat more scarce…. Because of work needs, there were several requests for the Grigori to obtain these metals, but…. Even if the Gremory Family possessed many riches and assets, these rare items were very difficult to obtain. I would have to get it from the Grigori’s top item storage vault to give it to him…but, even if I gave it to him, would he really be satisfied? While I was thinking deeply about this, Fafnir expressionlessly opened his mouth and said

“—Panty.”

…. Eeeh!? Eh, hold on, what was that? J-Just then, what did he say? Everyone furrowed their brow as they could not understand the word that Fafnir said.

“I misheard it, right?”

Rias also wondered whether she heard that incorrectly.

“I-It’s pantea, right? …A kind of tea that Dragons like?”

Asia’s interpretation was simply too strange, and she said out the name of a word that she didn’t even know the meaning of. A tea like that doesn’t exist! I looked over to the Dragon God-sama.

“Hmm, want a benarlya?”

She was eating so many bananas that even her cheeks were bulging out. Hey, that’s too relaxed. Fafnir once again spoke amidst our silence.

“I want Asia-tan’s panty. —Please give me panty!”

—He even added on that honorific! Everyone aside from Ophis was rendered speechless— I coughed a bit, and then smiled.

“Well, it doesn’t really matter right? That’s good, isn’t it?”

Midway through, came Rias’ accusing tone of voice.

“As if that’s good, Azazel! Did you use some kind of strange spell or techniques when he was sealed in the artificial Sacred Gear? Furthermore, p-p-pan…cough cough”

After coughing several times, Rias continued.

“…Have you ever heard of a Dragon King asking for someone's panties? Did you do something again?”

“This is my fault?”

Even I was so surprised that my eyeballs nearly popped out. I was being glared at by Rias, Akeno and all the Gremory household members here! How terrifying!

“Wait, hold on, give me a break, I didn’t do anything like that…”

While I was explaining…hmm! I felt as though I had a slight clue in my mind…

“This Dragon King seemed too stubborn as a dragon, so I performed many experiments.”

Could this be the result of one of the strange experiments I did that time…no, no…it really couldn’t be, right?

“Hee!”

I stuck my tongue out in a way that didn’t fit my age towards them.

“…”

Rias immediately shrouded her entire body in a crimson aura; the Crimson-haired Ruin Princess was angry now! Akeno also looked at me as if she was looking at a cockroach.

“It really was you. No wonder. After all, it is Governor Azazel. I’ll have to report this to my otou-san.”

How strict! Only Akeno was that strict with me! Ah! You don’t give any of the love that you show to Ise or your otou-san to me! But I treat you like a lovely niece!

“I knew this would happen! Azazel-sensei is truly the chief villain!”

Rossweisse confidently pointed to my nose as she criticised me.

“Azazel, you evil beast.”

Ophis, you’re also bullying me? No! What strange beast!? Hold on! Surfacing within my mind was a theory about Fafnir. That’s right, Fafnir, who had once been defeated by the demonic sword Gram, was revived by the Norse Gods. It was then that he became confused, so it must be that! It was the mythology of that perverted geezer Odin! Such a thing happening wasn’t surprising! That’s how it was! It wasn’t impossible since Ddraig and Albion also had some subtle perverted tendencies as well. Perhaps because the contracting person was female, Fafnir displayed his true desires like this!

“…W-Well, are those pantea things really such expensive things?”

Up until now, Asia still did not understand the situation. She really was an innocent girl. Akeno moved towards Asia’s ear, and then told her the truth. After understanding the truth, Asia immediately showed a flustered and embarrassed face.

“…H-How, my…under, you want my under…wear!”

She was shocked by the truth. Until now, Asia had received all sorts of training, but the truth just then was far from those topics. Rias felt that that request was somewhat inappropriate, and then said to Fafnir

“That is really a bit too much. Is there anything else? I will prepare something more valuable than underwear.”

If the Gremory Family was serious, they could really bring out all kinds of treasures. However, the Gigantis Dragon shook his head.

“—I want the golden-haired girl’s panty, it’s something that cannot be bought with gold, a high-class product!”

—Too deep! These inner thoughts are too ridiculous, Fafnir! You actually said such passionate words which only a man could understand…! Being infected by this mysterious emotion, I turned to the side to look at the Dragon God-sama, she took something out and gave it to Fafnir.

“My panty, give you.”

Where did that come from! That’s her underwear!? Did they come off? Did you just take them off?

“…”

Fafnir silently moved his nose towards the underwear in Ophis’ hand. —Sniff sniff, he was sniffing the scent of the underwear. Really, this is ridiculous! The Dragon King was smelling the Dragon God’s underwear? What is this!? Was it sacred? A legendary scene? This was too nonsensical!

While he was in the midst of expressionlessly smelling the scent of Ophis’ underwear, Fafnir suddenly shouted

“—Fruity!”

Hey, deal with your dripping nose first—. Oh, did the smell of fruit that Ophis was just eating get onto her hands? How did he even smell that!? I see, so the Dragon God-sama’s underwear actually smells fruity! No, hold on, Fafnir! Didn’t you have any questions when Ophis took out her underwear for you to smell? Why did you just naturally try to pick up the scent of the underwear!? But, when I thought about it, this was a bargain sale now. Simply by using one pair of underwear, Asia could form a contract with the Dragon King, this was incredibly exceptional especially for a beginner like Asia!

“Just using a pair of underwear to forge a contract with Fafnir is very cost-effective. Don’t you girls also feel that way?”

I said to all the girls present (Rias, Akeno, Rossweisse).

““”As if!”””

It was actually rejected.

“To actually give out the underwear of my cute Asia…”

Rias had rather mixed feelings.

“But to make the innocent Asia-chan do such dirty things…”

Akeno and Asia seemed to show some resistance against this situation. Usually, Rias and Akeno treated the younger members such as Asia like younger siblings.

“The statement just now is no longer something someone can be considered.”

Rossweisse-san, you would also buy cheap underwear to give to the Dragon King, right?

“If I can, then I’ll give my underwear to you.”

Ophis said. Indeed, the one in question was that Fafnir… Looking at our confusion, Asia shouted

“I can’t keep giving O-Ophis-chan, and my one-samas trouble! Akeno-oneesama! Please transport me back home! I’ll bring all of the u-un-underwear here!”

Asia had already made up her mind! That scene between Ophis and Fafnir must have really provoked Asia. That girl was under the influence of Ise and Rias, so her values had undergone a wonderful change.

“I understand. Since Asia-chan also said that…”

Akeno seemed a bit troubled about agreeing to Asia’s request. Just like that, Asia began forming the contract with the Dragon King with the price being her underwear—

“I order you in the name of Asia Argento! As an ally of mine, respond to the call of the contract!”

At the centre of a large magic circle for making a summoning contract, Fafnir and Asia began the ritual for the contract. This was different from the contract that would not require a price, as Asia was entering a give and take contract right now. …The price, which was also placed in the centre of the magic circle — Asia’s underwear, began to emit a glow. The magic circle projected a golden flash of light, and then returned to a calm state. The summoning contract was now complete. Fafnir and Asia had now formed a give and take relationship. While Asia was in the middle of healing her comrades, she would be able to summon Fafnir to protect herself. This meant that Asia could take on a healing role during a battle. Hahaha, their fighting strength has now increased by quite a lot. He was one of only five in the world — counting Tannin as well, it should be six — one of the Dragon Kings. This was not an ordinary protective barrier. Extremely few people would be able to break through the defence of this fierce Dragon King. —Suddenly, Fafnir’s eyes began to glow, and he turned his eyes towards the underwear that were in the magic circle. The underwear vanished in an instant. Where exactly did the underwear disappear to — I looked towards that area, and stopped at a certain spot. …The underwear was actually sitting in a corner on top of the Dragon King’s head! It’s actually s-stored there! I really could not say anything about this Dragon King’s interests.

“Ah! My underwear…is actually there! It’ll be seen during a battle!”

Upon hearing Asia’s exclamation, Fafnir obediently removed the underwear — no, that didn’t happen.

“Asia-tan’s underwear, I accept. My treasure, very happy!”

That bastard displayed a look of satisfaction.

“Anyway, the contract has been completed, so be grateful.”

I changed the subject. Next was the main event. I actually predicted that the contract would be successful so I prepared something in advance.

“Haha, as congratulations, I have a present for you, Asia!”

I waved my hand, and then created a transportation magic circle. From there, a mechanical dragon emerged. It was a mechanical dragon that I created by using Fafnir as the prototype.

“T-This is!”

Rias was surprised upon seeing this, and I revealed a mischievous smile.

“This is my secretly developed mechanical Dragon King — a mechanical Fafnir! Asia! I want you to perform a test since you just successfully completed your contract! Use Fafnir to defeat this mechanical Dragon King!”

Come, my student! Go through my trial!

“You’re misusing the funds of the Grigori again! Your experiments are getting even worse in this advisor position.”

Rossweisse pressed her hand against her forehead with a look of disbelief. Well, I suppose you are right!

“Now, let’s fire first!”

Simultaneously with my command, the mechanical Dragon King began to move. The mechanical Fafnir’s eyes fired a laser — Fafnir stood in front of Asia, and acted as a shield for her. That’s a good response, Dragon King! He was also unharmed!

“Asia-tan, protect! I also want underwear.”

Fafnir appeared to be very firm. Before fighting against the mechanical Fafnir, Asia had also resolved herself.

“Y-Yes! So, Fafnir, please defeat that robot!”

While the Dragon King followed Asia’s command to begin fighting—

“Hello, is this otou-san? Azazel made something weird again. Hmm, it’s a mechanical dragon.”

Akeno reported me to the organisation. —Ah, I’ll be scolded by Shemhazai again. Oh, whatever. No one can get in the way of my fun! As long as you’re still students of Kuoh Academy, I’ll do everything I can to let you grow! Seeing the real Dragon King send my mechanical Dragon King flying, I felt grateful that I could allow my students to grow!

The day after tomorrow, I had something I was slightly concerned about, so I went to ask Fafnir

“I want to ask something; what do you think about Asia’s underwear?”

“—Priceless, it can’t be measured in value with gold, that’s what I think.”

—Those were such deep words. This guy has his own philosophy. Uh! Before, he clearly looked as if he didn’t care about anything! The Dragon King’s name wasn’t used just for show! You’re a dragon that won’t even allow a single underwear to be unaccounted for! Seriously, these legendary dragons really take these things seriously! Ah, as a former host of Fafnir’s artificial Sacred Gear, I thought that.

Translator's Notes and References[]

Translator's Notes and References[][]

Also known as the [Golden Dragon King], Fafnir.

The Sprite Dragon is referring to her familiar, Rassei.

–tan is a variation of the –chan honorifc typically used to show a young child’s mispronunciation or to emphasise on cuteness.

She can’t say banana properly because her mouth is stuffed with them.

Also known as the [Golden Dragon King], Fafnir.The Sprite Dragon is referring to her familiar, Rassei.–tan is a variation of the –chan honorifc typically used to show a young child’s mispronunciation or to emphasise on cuteness.She can’t say banana properly because her mouth is stuffed with them.

It was a few days after Rias left for Romania. That day when I was passing by the Student Council room by chance…

"Come on. Show me your new skills today☆."

I heard a familiar voice.

Hearing that voice, I stopped and peeped into the room through a small opening in the door.

"Onee-sama. To come here unannounced and to ask my peerage to show their artificial sacred gear, why did you…"

"What do you mean why~ Sona's peerage just gained a new ability, right? Onee-sama wants to see it!"

… The perplexed Sona-kaichou and her Sitri peerage along with Maou Leviathan-sama, who was making an unsatisfied expression, were inside that room.

Wait, what is Maou-sama doing here?!

It hasn't been long since the wizard's attack, so the underworld should be busy with the aftermath right………?

Leviathan-sama noticed my confused expression and looked around…soon, her eyes met with mine as I was peeping into the council room!

As expected of Maou-sama! Her detection skill is too good!

Maou-sama flung open the door and gave me a bright smile.

"Good timing! You follow me too, Sekiryuukei-kun ☆."

Whatever the case, it looks like I've been dragged into some troublesome event…

Me, Leviathan-sama and Kaichou… And the Sitri peerage was all assembled at a different location. Everyone, including me, was now in our gym clothes.

This was an area underneath the land of the Sitri. It was just like the area that the ORC members and I used for our training. It was basically the Student Council version of that.

--- And the reason why I'm here with Leviathan-sama and Student Council members is…

"—As our special guest, Chichiyuutei-kun has joined us ☆ Now show me Sona's peerage's new powers!"

Leviathan-sama was still filled with excitement; she really is a person with a lot of energy…

It looks like the reason why Leviatan-sama suddenly visited us out of nowhere is to see the artificial sacred gears that the Sitri peerage obtained recently.

Looks like she's mindful about the new powers that her sister got her hands on. Not only that, she seems to have been interested in the artificial sacred gear since a long time ago.

Sona-kaichou, who was standing next to me, said this while giving me an apologetic gaze.

"Ise-kun, I'm so sorry that you got pulled into this mess……"

"No, it's fine. Well, I was surprised that Leviathan-sama suddenly visited us…"

I really was surprised, you know. It wasn't that long after the surprise attack. In this kind of situation, I really started to get worried as a devil that Maou-sama decided to visit our school.

Kaichou continued.

"It seems like she came here to re-affirm the current combat capabilities of this place, a special administration of the 3 factions. Since that kind of incident has happened before, Maou-sama would personally come check it… Although I think there is a considerable lack of tension."

Looks like even the Kaichou wasn't approving this visit.

But then again, that incident happened not too long ago and so, the fact that someone from the higher ups wanted to check on our battle capabilities isn't too far fetching.

I wonder if that's why Leviathan-sama wanted to see the Sitri peerage's new powers.

Looking at her younger sister sighing, Leviathan-sama pouted.

"We can't even get through a proper meeting because those grandads from the council keep giving us shit."

She ranted cutely.

Is she talking about the higher ups in the government when she said 'grandads from the council'? I did hear that the experienced politicians that are older than the Maous are still quite vocal.

--- And the reason why I came here is because I was chosen to be the opponent to test the new powers of the Sitri peerage. And I've decided to participate.

My fate was sealed as soon as I peeped into the room.

Kaichou said towards me while I sighed.

"But don't worry. We've already got the permission from Akeno and your manager Ravel-chan. Ravel-chan was excited at the fact that this was a good time to learn more about the Sitri peerage."

So she's already gotten permission from Akeno and Ravel. As expected, Kaichou is very quick at getting things done. And it seems like Ravel is okay with me training with the Sitri peerage.

Well, if it's that girl then…

"Since Ise-sama was utterly defeated by the Sitri peerages in the previous game, if we know more about our opponents, it'll come in handy in the future."

… Probably said something similar and gave them the go ahead.

Kaichou then continued.

"In truth, we thought about training together with the Gremory peerage. But before then it seems like we will get to spar with Ise-kun first."

I am also in favor of a joint training session with the Sitri peerage; it'll be beneficial to have a training session with the other peerages.

Kaichou then addressed the Sitri peerage.

"Everyone here knows how Ise-kun performs within games and his fighting style in real battles, right? Just think of today as part of your learning experiences."

"""Yes."""

They answered unanimously.

Well, I've somewhat been dragged along here but listening to their story wasn't much of a deal. I can just do what I've been doing with the Gremory peerage during my training with the Sitri peerage.

All in all, I just have to participate in the training session with the Sitri peerage!

--- Thinking like that\, I recapped the situation in front of me before the special training started.

The Sitri peerage was training daily like the Gremory peerage. After having witnessed the part played by the Gremory's during the surprise attack by the wizards, Kaichou said…

"We will also increase our training sessions."

… And had a thought like that.

She said that she was certain that even for devils, if they train continuously, they will be able to have an impact far beyond its basic capabilities.

As mentioned before, this huge space is the Sitri peerage's personal training ground. It was basically the same as the ones that the Gremory peerage was using. It was said that Kaichou created this area after looking at our training area and got inspired. To create such a space on her own expense, it was such a Kaichou thing to do.

Now that I am warmed up, shall I join in the training? Training with someone different is getting me excited.

… Seriously I'm such a sucker for training, just getting excited because my partner has changed. It just shows that I've gotten more into training.

Well, it is a good thing to get stronger, especially when you think about your future as a devil or just in case of a surprise attack.

After making up my mind, I asked Kaichou.

"So how should we go about the training?"

"Is sparring alright? We are doing our basic training regularly. So what we lack is a real life styled brawl training."

Sparring, I also like this format of training. it integrates into the basic training well and there's nothing better than a brawl to learn more about your opponents.

"What about Pailingual?"

I asked. The Sitri peerage got quite a few female members so I asked in advanced if I can use my technique which can talk to female breasts.

"""Please don't use it."""

This time, the female members of Sitri peerage answered in unison. I knew this would happen!

"Kyaa~ so this is that famous Shinigami ☆."

I heard Leviathan-sama's shrill. When I turned around, I saw her bear hugging the recent addition of the Sitri peerage, the Shinigami—[Grim Reaper] Bennia.

I just noticed this but, the Shinigami Bennia and the Giant Rugal-san were here. Both of them have impressionable attire but, maybe their presence is weak……

Bennia is in her usual Grim Reaper clothes and Rugal-san is in his gym clothes like the rest of the Sitri peerage.

"…………"

Rugal-san is keeping quiet. He's a giant and has a great build and on top of that, he's a [Rook]! It seems like his attack and defence is pretty solid so I feel like I can have a proper match with him.

Bennia said so. Ah, so they are just going to observe then. I wanted to see the Grim Reaper's characteristic scythe but… oh well.

Leviathan-sama hugs Bennia from behind and started to dote on him.

"Ufufu, so cute ~☆ Rugal-kun also looks dandy♪."

Looks like she's fond of the new members of the Sitri peerage.

Well, then shall we start the brawl.

I quickly activated my balance breaker and adorned my armor.

"First will be our [Rook]—Tsubasa."

When Kaichou finished, a tall girl came forward. She was wearing a pair of half-finger gloves.

"I'll be in your care, Hyoudou."

"Likewise."

This girl was--- Yura Tsubasa, one of Sitri's [Rook].

She wasn't born from any special families but it was said that since she was young, she was able to see or touch supernatural beings or phenomena. So even before becoming a devil, she fought against these beings on her own.

"Begin!"

As soon as Kaichou finished, Yura jumped towards me!

Unlike what her figure suggests, she kicked and jabbed toward my sight using agile footwork and light movements!

Hmm! Maybe because of her weight, unlike our [Rook] Koneko's punch, her attack has some weight to it!

Koneko's movement is faster, but Yura's reach was farther due to her height. Her upper roundhouse kick changed its course several times, so I've been hit by it several times even though I thought I dodged it.

But I've activated the Red Emperor armor, [Boosted Gear Scalemail]. Even with a punch filled with demonic aura, I won't take any damage! Well, the shockwave from the punch still transmits through the armor though!

While having a close-range brawl with Yura, I struck a conversation with her.

"Now that I think about it, I heard that back when you were a human, you used to beat up monsters or evil spirits with martial arts alone?"

She then made a confident smile.

"Yup, but I couldn't go up against stronger monsters as a human!"

Yura concentrated her aura onto her right fist! I dodged her sharp attack--- but I felt a pain on my hip.

I've been hit by a low left kick filled with demonic aura! So her right fist was just a decoy! So she anticipated that I will dodge the first attack!

Hell yes! This is what I call a fist fight! But I've got something up my sleeves!

I fired a Dragon shot from my right hand!

Dragon shot travelled at a fierce pace but as it was about to hit its target, something changed from Yura.

"Shields!"

Shield materialised from her left hand and blocked my Dragon shot!

Artificial Sacred gear, Shield of Spirit and glory—[Twinkle Aegis]!

There was a loud explosion, but she was fine! Her shield successfully blocked my attack.

This shield is going to be a nuisance! This is the artificial sacred gear that she got from Azazel-sensei! With the addition of [Rook]'s characteristic of solid defense, it showed its ultimate strength.

Did they also make a contract with the spirit and applied its power to the shield?

… Seeing as flames have enveloped the shield, maybe it was a fire spirit?

Yura then threw the flame shield at me like it was a Frisbee! If I block it, it must go back to her!

Hand to hand brawl in close quarters, defense using her shield and now she can attack at longer ranges by placing certain characteristics into the shield.

… Truthfully, it's a flawless ability. Not only does this increase the usefulness of the artificial sacred gear, it also covers its weaknesses. It's hard to find a [Rook] this difficult to fight against.

Observing Yura's ability, Leviathan-sama exclaimed excitedly!

"So that's Tsubasa's shield that she can throw like a yoyo☆ I wanna see her tossing it like it's a flaming yoyo!"

…… Maou-sama, your eyes are twinkling you know?! How much do you like your sister's peerage?!

As I was slowly getting warmed up, I charged towards Yura with all my powers.

15 minutes after---

Yura dropped while panting and raised both hands.

"… As expected, Seikiryuutei. You're strong. I've lost."

Yura surrendered but in the end, I couldn't penetrate her shield and give her a finishing blow. Well then again, I didn't use my Trident and [Queen]… but man that shield is tough.

"Hey, that shield is really strong."

I said while helping Yura up.

It can completely negate any power type. The shield itself is very strong along with all those technical moves she can do by making a contract with different spirits. For us Gremory peerage who are filled with power type, she's one of those nuisance ability users.

… In a real match, it feels like either skill types like Kiba or Rossweiess-san, who can use many different types of element magic, will be the ones to deal with Yura.

After our brawl has finished, kaichou picked out my next opponent.

"Next is Tomoe."

"Yes."

The girl wielding a katana styled sacred gear stepped forward.

Tomoe Meguri-chan. One of Sitri's [Knight].

From what I've heard, she's from the Meguri clan who mainly exorcise demons as their way of life. They've been defeating demons using holy swords combined with their unique sword style.

However buying resentment from a certain demon, the Meguri clan was then cursed and it was said that her soul had been cursed from the day she was born.

Not being able to live with their cute daughter dying of the said curse, they have decided to ask a devil to release the curse on her as a last ditch effort.

And the devil that was called upon was Sona-kaichou…

However, the only way that the curse can be lifted is to be reincarnated into a devil. In the end, honoring her parent's request, Kaichou made her part of her peerage.

It's a good thing that the devil who was summoned was Sona-kaichou. Even after saving Meguri-chan, she didn't demand any other retribution apart from making her a part of the Sitri peerage from the Meguri clan.

However, since one person from the clan became a devil, Meguri-chan's family was exiled from the exorcism business but even then, Meguri-chan is living in this town with her parents peacefully.

Just like with Yura, Meguri is a front line fighter.

Meguri-chan got into a battle stance. Hmm, her stance is different compared to Kiba. Kiba uses a Japanese kendo fighting style stance but he also uses a more freestyle stance. Xenovia doesn't even have a stance.

Unlike them, Meguri-chan had a moderate stance. Beautiful, yet showed no weakness.

"Begin!"

As soon as Kaichou said her command, Meguri-chan swung her Artificial Sacred Gear sword! The blade covered in bright and dark aura soared towards me!

The Spirit slaying blade of light and darkness, [Blazer Shining Aura Darkness Samurai Sword]!

Damn that name is long! What is wrong with Azazel-sensei's naming sense?!

It feels like it's to do with his chuunibyou and black history past… But the destructive power of this sword was quite high. When I dodged the attack, the blade had destroyed the floor that I was just standing on!

… It looks like it has different properties compared to Kiba's holy and demonic sword. This feels more like the concentration of properties of light and darkness is activated at the same time and their high output is clashing with each other. This Artificial Sacred Gear is different from the combination of the properties of light and darkness… According to sensei, that sword is the result of his research after using Kiba's Holy-Demonic sword as a reference…

This sword is lot more closely related to Xenovia's sword's destructive power than Kiba's Holy-Demonic sword.

Seeing Meguri-chan's katana, Leviathan-sama became even more excited.

"That's the same as the one that Azazel swung about at the Sports Festival! I don't mind it at all! We need that kind of personality in politics!"

Seriously?! Do we really need that chuunibyou in Underworld politics?! I-I can't believe it!

I nearly got distracted by Leviathan-sama. Anyway, from Meguri-chan's attack, her stance as well as her movement showed her talent clearly. But thanks to fighting against better swordsman than her, I could easily dodge all of her attacks.

Spotting a weakness, I punched her side and sent her away.

Meguri-chan tumbled a few times, got up and put both of her hands up.

She surrendered. I went up to her and offered a hand.

"Hmm, this sword is strong but it doesn't work against Hyoudou-kun."

Meguri-chan said while getting back up.

"Well, I always train against a Swordswoman who overwhelms the enemy with her overwhelming attack power and would one-hit-one-kill a swordsman. To tell the truth, I'm used to fighting against sword users."

"You mean Kiba-kun and Xenovia-chan. I feel stupid that I get slightly angry after hearing their name."

Meguri-chan made a bitter smile.

"I think Meguri-chan's skill is great too. Also that sword is made by Sensei right? There might be some kind of hidden features…"

Actually I'm fearful of even getting hit by that sword. There's a chance of something like [Hidden Ability Activate! Poison!] happening when I get hit by it……

Meguri-chan genuinely got horrified.

"D-Don't say stuff like that! I didn't think about it that much on purpose…!"

Ah~, so you had that kind of anxiety. So why did you choose this Scared Gear?

Thinking back when I asked her before, she replied saying [It's strong]. Meguri-chan is unexpectedly a funny person.

Yura, Meguri-chan, next is…

"Now let's have three people challenge him at the same time. Momo, Reya, Ruruko, You three fight against Ise-kun."

"""Yes"""

This time, [Bishop] Hanakai-chan, [Bishop] Kusaka-chan, and [Pawn] Nimura-chan came forward.

… One front, and two rears. Hanakai-chan and Kusaka-chan's abilities aren't suitable for combat. So she made them fight alongside Nimura-chan.

Hanakai-chan's father is someone high up in a certain company and apparently had relationships with the Sitri House since way back. I don't know the actual reason but Hanakai-chan is currently a devil. It doesn't seems like she became a devil due to a wish or as a kind of payment…

Kusaka-chan's grandmother was a witch and due to that link, she got to know about devils and met Kaichou that way. Kusaka-chan's communication/spying ability is based on the magic that she learnt from her grandmother.

Finally the [Pawn] Nimura-chan. By chance, she learnt that the Student Council members were devil, and in a light-hearted manner she asked to be reincarnated.

"H-Hyoudou-senpai. You are making a bitter smile looking at me in that armor right?"

First year student with good awareness--- it's Nimura-chan everyone.

Well, although this girl who decided to become a devil light heartedly is amazing, the president who agreed to that is also amazing.

… Or maybe not. If it's Council President then she might have seen through her talent, since she doesn't waste her time with useless agenda.

Now, let's get this 3v1 started!

[Pawn] Nimura-chan and I confronted each other. Her long twin tails hair is impressionable. She has a strong will, and also she's one of those people who'll say anything and everything.

Her two legs were shining with bright lights and her legs were then covered in armor. That is her artificial sacred gear.

Moon and the Rabbit, [Precellarum Phantom]---

The armor came up to her hip. That artificial sacred gear was said to give more importance in increasing her pace and the destructive power of her kicks.

Nimura-chan promoted to queen, then after jumping with a light step--- she disappeared!

She suddenly disappeared from my eyes! If that's the case---!

Noticing a presence on my back, I turned around and took a defensive position. Just then a sharp body kick came towards me! it was powerful enough to be felt through the armor!

The auras from her leg armor are coming out energetically and increased the power of her kick. No, it wasn't just any ordinary power up, it felt like it was at least 10 times more powerful than an ordinary kick!

After her kick gets blocked, Nimura-chan backed off and disappeared from my sight once more. Turning my head towards a place where I felt some presence, I saw Nimura-chan next to two [Bishops].

She's quick. She's not as quick as Kiba but she's definitely faster than Xenovia. It was quicker than what my eyes can follow. If I don't rely on her presence and feelings, I'll be cornered.

Looks like her synergy with the properties of [Queen] and [Knight] seems to be great, which is the complete opposite of me who has great synergy with [Rook].

Seeing that, Leviathan-sama spoke in a bright voice.

"Ruru's really quick~♪ [Pawn] with [Knight]'s properties can be used against the game's irregular tactics. Even in chess, depending on the situation, instead of promoting to [Queen], they promote them as [Knight]."

Nimura-chan disappeared again. She's going to attack again, I lowered my body and waited for her to strike. Her attack wasn't something that can't be blocked against. Her sneak attack using her speed is outstanding yet it does not reach [Fatal] level.

Just then, Nimura-chan appeared next to me while I was in a defence position and threw a kick. As expected, she is quick. Her attacks hit me consecutively while mine doesn't even get close to her.

Taking light steps, Nimura-chan sent multiple precise, but weighted kicks.

Well I'm used to this really. I struggled all the time because I can't land a single hit that often since everyone just dodges my attacks and aim for counters. But I've got a tactic for these kinds of situations!

Taking the opponent's attack, I grew a fire inside me, and taking a big breath--- Fire!

The surrounding area was enveloped in dragon fire. That flame nearly devoured Nimura-chan but--- sensing a danger she tried to escape the flame. As expected, she's trying to get away after I set the surrounding in fire!

Having expected this outcome I navigated through the fire and caught up with Nimura-chan.

"Watch out!"

Her face got tense! I caught her!

When I was about to punch her with my right fist…

The blue barrier surrounded Niura-chan! That thing was strong enough to withstand my attacks!

I looked towards the [Bishop] Hanakai-chan. There was a wristband that didn't exist until a moment ago.

"Leave the defense to me, Ruruko."

Hanakai-chan smiled. Garden of Moments, Applause Wall, if I'm correct.

Her artificial sacred gear has the ability to surround a person in a barrier. That barrier is sturdy and won't budge against any ordinary attack.

It's an annoying ability where she can cast a barrier at will within a certain distance.

--- Just then something touched my shoulders. It was a floating mask.

When I turned around towards Kusaki-chan, she stuck her tongue out.

"I'm a spying specialist so attack isn't my forte. But I should at least do something like this right?"

Mmm, that's commendable! [Bishop] Kusaki-chan's artificial sacred gear is the countless number of masks floating in the air currently.

Masquerade of monsters, Scouting Persona I believe.

You can control from distances that are far away and thus, would be suitable for spying activities. Using her masks, she can scout distances that are far away. She can move the masks around like this but… against heavily defended opponents, all she can do is distract.

"Momo and Reya have powers which reflect their personality ☆."

Levithan-sama said while nodding.

Just like she said, the sacred gear of the Sitri peerage is all based on distinct personality. They are quite good at role allocations.

I got back to my battle position. Now, what shall I do? Nimura-chan and Hanakai-chan's combo is perfect. If I could just defeat one of them, the rest will follow but they are covering each other's weak points. So I couldn't decide which one I should go for first.

To cover each other's weak points using their best points…. I thought to myself that the Sitri peerge is a lot more balanced team compared to the Gremory peerage. We just go head on towards the battle…

Making a bitter smile, I shook my head and focused.

… Then let's have a dual to see whether my stamina or Nimura-chan's stamina will run out faster.

As soon as you get tired, it'll be the end Nimura-chan!

I launched forward. Sensei's artificial sacred gear vs my sacred gear, let's see which one is better!

"You really are a monster. To have a stamina battle in a 3v1…"

Saji just sighed next to me.

I supressed Nimura-chan's group in a prolonged battle. It seems like Nimura-chan hasn't yet made the Scared gear truly her own as she mistook her pace and ended up tiring out first.

After that, I caught Nimura-chan and Hanakai-chan easily. Kusaka-chan gave up after the other two surrendered.

With that, the training session between me and the Sitri peerage who received the artificial sacred gears from Azazel-sensei has finished.

"So I don't have to fight Saji or Sira-fukkukaichou?"

I asked the two of them.

Fixing her glasses, Shinra-senpai said

"Yes. Today's training purpose was to make Hyoudou-kun and the Artificial Sacred Gear users spar… most likely Kaichou wanted to analyse many different things while making you, Longinus user and Sekiryuutei fight each other."

Ah ha, maybe this was to allow her peerage to get used to their sacred gear? Well they did just receive them only a few days ago.

Maybe because of that, everyone was feeling fatigued after using their sacred gears. Yura and Hanakai-chan are currently sitting down in the corner of the field waiting for their strength to come back.

They said that this is a unique occurrence with artificial sacred gear. Since it's dangerous to either take or apply sacred gear's, you can't normally do such things.

I mean, Asia died once because her sacred gear was removed from her and in order to gain Vritra's sacred gear, Saji had to go through a procedure at the Grigory institute.

The Artificial sacred gear that Azazel-sensei has researched and invented also have several limits and side effects and some of them which causes fatigue after their usage is the biggest concern.

"Is it harmful for your body if you use artificial sacred gear excessively?"

I asked Saji. He made a bitter smile and nodded his head.

"Yeah. I heard that it gets to a dangerous state if you use them for long periods of time. Sensei said that although there won't be any decrease in your life expectancy, it may affect your powers and abilities."

Thinking back I also heard that even the genuine sacred gear may have a negative effect on your original abilities if you obtain them in some other ways. I guess this is similar to this scenario.

Kaichou, who was observing the match until now, was now talking to the new recruits, Benia and Rugal-san. They are probably talking about what they felt watching the matches against me. I'm sure that Kaichou is already thinking about how she'll be using her new recruits in her team. She's such a scary person.

And Leviathan-sama…

"So Ben likes Oppai Dragon?! Aren't you watching Magical ☆ Levi-tan?"

"I am a Seikiryuutei fan through and through, although Levi-tan isn't bad either. Since I'm fan of the original Milky so I don't think I can just like Levi-tan much."

"Oh my! So you're a Milky fan! I'm so happy! Which one is your favourite?! I love them all!"

Ah~ Leviathan-sama and Benia are talking. Looks like the new recruit had become friendly with the Maou-sama. For her not to be nervous around Maou-sama, she definitely is courageous.

"……… I don't know what that is."

Rugal-san said in short.

--- From our side\, we also continued our conversation.

"Maybe I should have gone for the healing type of sacred gear like Argento-senpai."

[Pawn] Nibura-chan said while tilting her head.

"Why do you think so?"

Sinra-senpai asked.

"There's Tomoe-san and Tsubasa-san at the front line so it's sorted there, and I'm not as good at CQC like a [Rook]."

"Oi, you fought really well just now. You were fast and your kicks were accurate."

Then I said that---

"To hear that from Seikiryuutei Hyoudou-senpai I'm feeling more encouraged."

Nimura-chan said that. Like that, she's such a cute first year student and as simple as Xenovia.

"Not only that, although the Healing type of sacred gears are theoretically possible, I hear they come with great danger."

When Hanakai-chan said that, Saji repeated.

"Danger?"

"He said that it's so difficult to master, to the point where you have to sacrifice your other traits. Therefore, unless you give up your other powers, you cannot truly use it to its full potential. Hence that's why healing powers are so precious."

Just like Hanakai-chan said, the Healing abilities are rare and very precious, that's why everyone wants such an ability.

So in short, Asia had such power since she was born, but it means that if someone tried to attain such power afterwards, there will be many consequences.

Hearing that, Nimura-chan smiled brightly.

"Saying that Argento-senpai is so cute~. She always has such a bright smile on her, you can't help but idolize her. She's a person that totally fits into the Healer type of image."

Oh ho, I guess Nimura-chan is a fan of Asia. Yeah she's so cute and always has that smile on her. I'm proud of her.

Then I just blurted out whatever that came to my head.

"So how does the Sitri peerage think of the ORC members? Ah, not in terms of fighting abilities but in the social kind of way."

Thinking back, we never asked the Student Council about us before.

"Ah, and I know what you think about me, Kiba, Rias-Bouchou, Akeno-san, Asia, Koneko and Gasper roughly, so more about the others please."

I'm a pervert and Kiba's the handsome guy, Rias and Akeno-san are super popular idols onee-samas. These are all known facts. Koneko's probably this school's [Mascot] and Asia is also probably the [Cutie].

I also heard about Gasper before. Meguri-chan is his fan since she likes younger boys.

So I wonder how they think about the others?

[Rook] Yura said this as soon as she opened her mouth.

"Shidou isn't a bad person but… She is quite weird."

"""Agreed."""

Others just agreed with Yura.

Hanakai-chan then continued.

"Shidou-san was praying in front of the vending machine a few days ago. It was one of those that had the 'winning' ones but, it looked like she was praying to heaven hoping that she could win it."

IRINAAAAAA…. Someone saw your pitiful state! So you prayed to win something from that vending machine! You're the Ace of Michael-sama aren't you!

[Bishop] Kusaki-chan also continued from that.

"I saw her once when she was giving out bread to people who couldn't buy them from the shop. It looked like she made some with Xenovia-chan with home bakery stuff."

Nimura-chan then said.

"Ah that's actually a bit famous. They called it [Irina bread] and it was super popular amongst the poorer students. But because the shop manager was complaining, we had to ask Shido-senpai to stop."

Hm, Ahhhh there are talks about that home bakery stuff. That thing that the Church Trio bought from Akihabara! I did see them making bread from time to time. So they were giving it out to students! And got a complaint against you!

She probably started it out of good will but… it would have been a total humiliation from the shop manager's prospective. She must have been giving it out while saying things similar to someone leading a stray lamb or something!

Haaa, are you trying to open up a bakery or something?

"I'm sorry."

I blurted out an apology. I reflected by thinking that I should apologise since a girl that is home-staying in my house did such a thing!

Next they talked about Xenovia.

Saji started it off.

"Everyone in the sports club is trying to recruit her fiercely. We get requests like [Can you do something to make Xenovia-chan come to us] at the student council."

Hmm, sports clubs huh. Well, to be fair her sports sense is way too good so that was to be expected.

[Knight] Meguri-chan then spoke.

"Especially the Kendo-club is gunning for Xenovia-chan and Shidou-chan. Although I also get that request from time to time, those two are on a whole different level. Well, if they've got those two, getting to the Nationals wouldn't be a dream to them anymore."

That's true, if they get those two then getting to the Nationals won't be a problem, so for them to want those two is no surprise. But for reincarnated devils and angels to get involved in human world affairs, it might be a little problem since it would most likely be against the rules.

Well, including Meguri-chan, all the reincarnated swords-woman here were probably of National level even before their reincarnation.

Nimura-chan then said with a bitter smile.

"Xenovia-senpai is super popular amongst the first-year girls. The reaction from the first-year girls are quite something. She probably has more female fans than male fans?"

Well, if you just look at her image she looks cool and those kinds of girls often get idolized by the same gender kouhais. Although she can be goofier than me sometimes, that's probably another characteristics of her's.

"I don't think Xenovia-chan is a bad girl either."

Saji said so and Kusaka-chan agreed.

"I don't know about during battles but normally, she seems quiet."

That's also true, Xenovia tends to be quiet at school, both during classroom and break time. Since she was living in a church facility before coming here, there are times when she would show that she lacked common sense but she would apologize straight away when she was in the wrong.

The third person to be discussed was Rossweisse-san.

"She's full of missed opportunities."

"""Agreed."""

Everyone finished at that.

Finally, we finished off with Ravel. As soon as she became a topic, everyone at the Student Council said from one after another.

"Can't you spare her to the Student Council?"

"We want her in the council next year!"

"She's so great that we're trying to recruit her like this!"

Hey hey hey hey. Your opinions on her are great! Not only did they praise her highly, but they are actively trying to recruit her into the Student Council!

Then again, I did hear from Gasper that Ravel is, not only in the classroom, but also a model student in social aspects.

She does complain a bit but she was known to have an honest personality so her habit of complaining became one of her personalities…

That's why the student council is being like this. Of course, not as part of their peerage but as a student at Khou academy.

Even I realized that my manager is really great! Even if she does go into the Student Council, she'll be able to do any work without any problems.

Hanakai-chan then pulled her face closed to me and said.

"I wanted to ask Hyoudou-kun who has her as his manager! We need her in the student council next year!"

"Yes!"

Yura next to her also nodded.

That's right; Saji and the others are already thinking of next year.

"But isn't the student council Sitri-peerage only? Is it fine for outsiders to join?"

When I asked, the members of the council looked at each other and nodded.

"Others beside the Sitri peerage can join the council and this is Kaichou's opinion. It's not like we can increase the number anymore anyway."

Saji replied. That is also true since it won't be easy to run the student council with just the Sitri peerage. The number of peerage that the [King] can have is 15 maximum. So that means that after the Sitri-peerage graduates, the student council must be made from people outside the peerage.

So considering that, they are recruiting people outside the council from now on.

That must be why Ravel is one of the best contenders.

I thought about it for a long time. It's not like I need to give them an answer right now. It'll be better if I talk with Ravel and the rest of the ORC members.

When I was considering this, Kaichou walked towards us.

"Please don't say things that might put Ise-kun in a bad spot."

Kaichou threw me a life support! Thank you so much!

Fixing her glasses, Kaichou changed the subject.

"Now that the brawl against Ise-kun has finished, we can have a reflection meeting. Everyone is fine with that right?"

""""Yes.""""

Everyone in the Sitri peerage spoke in unison. So they are having a proper reflection meeting. They are doing self-analysis way more strictly than us.

--- At that time\, Kaichou spoke directly to me.

"Ise-kun. Can you spare some of your time after the reflection meeting?"

"Yeah?"

While I was wondering what was going on, Leviathan-sama with her sparkling eyes came into my sight.

"…… Ah, I know what you mean."

The place that me, Kaichou and Leviathan-sama arrived to after coming out of the training field was--- a Mega toy store, one of the ones that's open even during night time.

"Kyaa~! The best toy stores are definitely the ones in the Human world, especially the ones in Japan."

The highly motivated Leviathan-sama ran around the store acting like someone not her age! Ahh, she has started to look around the store running here and there!

That's right; the reason why Sona-kaichou asked me to spare my time was to visit this toy store on the way home. All In all, to help Leviathan-sama with her shopping.

Walking around the store, Kaichou asked me.

"Ise-kun. What did you think while fighting my peerage?"

"I think it's a great team. Let's just say the balance in the team is great, I think it's a team that can cover each other's weakness when it is needed."

"It doesn't have impact—some kind of special flair, doesn't it?"

I did think that…

It's probably because I know my team, the Bael peerage and the bunch from the hero faction that I might be thinking that. We're all one weird bunch after all.

"I still think its fine as it is right now. The people I have chosen have great synergy and are people who can learn new powers."

It's true their synergy is one of the best. They'll probably be able to learn more useful things than us.

Kaichou continued.

"Like Rias, I am thinking of entering the Rating Games in proper matches in the future. However, my peerage and I, unlike the Gremory peerage, will taste the defeat in the beginning."

… This is the complete opposite to Gremory peerage that I belong to. We are expected to win everything as soon as we debut and that just shows how many high-level people there are in there as well as how we are judged right now.

Kaichou then gave me a confident smile.

"But that's all fine. The life of a devil is long meaning the amount of time being active in the rating game will also be vast. I will take my time and polish this team. I am planning to make this team into something that can react towards any event or any opponents."

Then she suddenly asked me.

"By the way, Ise-kun. Don't you think that it'll be difficult to face off against opponents who are hard to defeat even after vast amount of research and investigation?"

--- Uuu!

…. That's scary. Kaichou had the same smile like any other days on her face but when I heard what she had just said, I just got a chill.

… this person is already planning for games in the next ten years…. No next hundreds of years if not thousands of years.

It just got chilly. This team--- to think that far in the future, this team led by Sona kaichou will be our rival. In all honesty, it scares me.

We are a bit special. People expect us to be one of the rising stars. As soon as we enter the official games and thanks to our flashy style, we will be able to rise in ranks early on.

But… what if the other teams study us?

Not everyone is adaptable in the first place. Unlike real battles, there are many rules in the game which can either be a great weapon or a great drawback against us.

… Like us who have many exceptional abilities, the rules tend to hinder us but wouldn't teams like the Sitri peerage be able to use these rules to their advantage?

A team composition that's able to hold its ground among the many different rules---

So maybe she got hold of people with high adaptability so she'll be able to use their abilities in the long term.

That was a great lesson learned since it seemed like this would have been a great thing to note when making my own peerage in the future.

I then began thinking about my future peerage while looking around the shop.

Just then, Leviathan-sama spoke while touching a displayed toy.

"They said that this place stocks their items a day before release but if you negotiate then you'll be able to buy them early ☆. I really wanted to come here since there's gonna be a new release related to Milky ♪."

She looked so happy right now, seeing her like that, Sona-kaichou said.

"… She made some time out of her busy schedule so I'm happy that she's able to enjoy herself at least for now. It's going to get busier than ever, so I think that even a Maou-sama can act like this for now."

--- Uuu. I can feel a warm and fuzzy feeling that she has towards her sister.

Yeah, since the terrorist started to make suspicious moves, she would have more and more jobs to do as Maou. That's why this Maou-sama's toy shop visit must be like a peaceful moment that is granted upon Leviathan-sama briefly.

Leviathan-sama then turned around towards me.

"That's right. Going forward, I'll also call Seikiryuutei-san by Ise-kun! Since Sona is calling you that, I'll also call you that ☆."

"Ah yes! It's my honor!"

I'm so glad that she's not calling me Oppai Dragon, especially since she has Oppai Dragon as her rival.

--- Just then Maou-sama stopped in front of a toy.

"This is it ☆."

The thing that Maou-sama pointed to was--- a wand from a certain magical girl anime.

Hmm. Its name is [Milky Miracle Hyper Stick Triangle Ver].

""Is this…the New item from the Milky series?"

When I asked, Leviathan-sama gave me a bright smile and nodded.

"That's right ☆."

Leviathan-sama made the brightest smile while grabbing it.

I thought that we had finished the shopping without any trouble but--- Leviathan-sama's gaze followed somewhere else.

"Ah! That's Pla-model of Mobile Gundam J! I love that too!"

Having turned her gaze, Leviathan-sama then proceeded to drag me and Kaichou around and checked out every item in the shop. She even got herself a shopping cart and put everything inside there!

Seeing that, Kaichou's patience ran out.

"Onee-sama! Please restrain yourself! What are you going to do after buying all these toys?!"

"Oh Sona, you can't say that this far in."

"No way! Please only buy one toy! Take everything back beside the Milky item!"

"Uwwwwah~! Sona's bullying onee-chan! Then let's negotiate and only buy five?"

"ONLY ONE!"

Ahh. That kaichou who was talking strategy with a sense of coolness around her can't do anything against her older sister. It looks like Leviathan-sama's shopping will continue for a long time.

As I was sighing, I started to look for a gift to give to Milicas.

This had happened when the members of ORC, including me, had gone to the underworld— to the Gremory household.

The payment earned by the Gremory peerage through fulfilling the request of our clients goes to the Gremory household and from time to time, we head to the castle to sort out and organise these items. After sorting them by their types, we put them inside the treasury that is under the castle.

Irina and Ravel, who are not part of Gremory peerage, also helps out but… I often ponder whether it would be a problem for Irina, who is an angel, to help us devils out. Well, the more the merrier.

It was when the sorting was nearly done.

Butler had told us that there was a guest waiting for us.

"I wonder who that is."

I asked Rias.

"It's been a while since he came here."

Rias seem to know who the person was. And through listening to her tone, it seems like it was some that she knew.

When I and the rest of the members went to the large guest room while puzzled— a strange looking mascot was waiting for us!

The body was that of a character suit and the head resembled an apple and a cute face was attached to it. The Devil's wing was attached to the back.

How can I say this? It was a devilish apple.

I know it sounds weird but that's all I could describe this as.

There was a blond ponytail bishoujo standing next to this mascot. She seemed familiar.

That woman greeted us.

"How do you do, it's been a while Rias-sama, people of her peerage."

"Yes, it has been awhile. You look fine as always, Kuisha-chan."

Rias said with a smile on her face.

That's right. She's [Queen] of Bael peerage. Kushia Abaddon-san!

It's the first time meeting her after the rating game! I never thought the person who came to visit us would be her…

At that exact moment, something came to me. Why did the [Queen] of Sairaorg-san come to visit us with this character?

Everyone except Rias tilted our heads.

[It's been a while, Rias. And also her peerage.]

A familiar voice came out of the character!

T-This voice. I won't be able to forget! I just about managed to move my mouth to ask the person in the suit as I was frozen in shock.

"… N-No way. In that character suit… Sairaorg-san is in there?"

When I asked, the character removed its head and showed the face inside it.

That was indeed Sairaorg-san! He spoke while wiping his sweat off his face.

"Yes, it is me. It has been a while, Hyoudou Issei."

Wild looking man! Sairaorg Bael-san! One of the person that I respect out of admiration!

For this person to come here while wearing a character suit!

As I reacted blankly out of surprise, Sairaorg-san smiled and said.

"The truth is we, House of Bael, are trying to create this [Mascot character]. So I became the actor of this suit."

…… a mascot character you say.

It is popular in the human world— in japan. Many different communities are creating a cute character to advertise and such.

Sairaorg-san then continued.

"Actually [Bapple-kun] was invited to the event held in the land under the House of Gremory."

Event! Bapple-kun!

Ah, I remember. There was such an event today. Oh and the name of the character Sairaorg-san is acting as is Bapple-kun.

"The name of the character was based on one of our land's specialities, apples."

— Kuisha-san said as such.

Mascot character based on a speciality in the Bael land… I guess they named it by combining Bael and Apple. That's easy to understand.

Sairaorg-san nodded energetically.

"There are a lot to learn from the human world's character business. As the heir of the House of Bael, I have these kinds of public works in mind."

…. And thus as the part of the public work, he the heir of House of Bael is wearing a character suit… is that what he's saying?

I was surprised at this different side of Sairaorg-san.

Rossweisse-san asked Rias.

"Umm, does the House of Gremory also have this [Mascot Character]?"

Rias lightly smiled.

"Yup, the House of Gremory also has a [Mascot Character]. — And the event using that [Mascot Character] is being held in certain towns under our rule. And since we are having a collaboration with Bapple-kun of the House of Bael, that's why Sairaorg is here."

Oh so that's how it became like this.

Hmm, so the House of Gremory also had a [Mascot Character].

But after finishing her sentence, Rias's expression went dark. I wonder if there's anything wrong with this House of Gremory's [Mascot Character]?

Folding his arm in his character suit, Sairaorg-san said.

"If we enter this event, not only will we have an advertisement effect, but the specialities of our land will also be focused. So I really wish to attend. Rias, I'll learn from you guys today."

Sairaorg-san's face is full of spirit as always but… in his character suit; the mood was such that not even we can speak of!

Rias continued.

"Now that it came to this, let's move to the location where the event is being held."

And just like that, we, along with [Bapple-kun], Sairaorg-san, moved to where the event was held.

Arriving at the location, we moved to the waiting room.

The thing that's waiting for us there was— another character suit!

It was a character suit in the shape of a camel.

Akeno-san introduced us to the character suit.

"This is the House of Gremory's [Mascot Character] — [Gomorin]"

[Gomo Gomo]

[Gomorin], introduced by Akeno-san, said [Gomo Gomo] in unique voice. They also showed off their footwork skill there.

Oh ho, so the [Mascot Character] of the House of Gremory is [Gomorin] and it's based on a camel. They said that the [Gremory] is also called Gomory; I guess they took the name from that.

Thinking back, I did hear a story where when you summon a devil from Gremory, they appear riding on a camel. They say that they do use a lot of camel in an event within an area governed by the House of Gremory.

They also raise a lot of camels within the castle of Gremory.

But we never got a chance to see a camel.

The reason is— because of this woman hiding behind my back.

"… Camel…"

Rias was shivering cutely behind my back. That's right. Even though she's the apparently next heir of House of Gremory, she hates camels with a passion.

She said that she got attacked by a camel while making fun of it when she was young. After that incident, she came to hate them.

I only became aware of it after becoming a second year.

Because Rias hated even a character based of a camel, there weren't many chances for us to see camels.

Probably the reason why her expression darkened back at the castle was because of the thought of meeting [Gomorin] here.

Our time at the waiting room came to an end when the staff came to call us.

"Then we'll leave the rest to you guys."

We followed the staff to the backstage area.

Looking at the event venue from the backstage, there were many people there including families who brought their children. Wow it's sold out.

"…………"

Looking towards the direction of Sairaorg-san… while folding his arms, an unspeakable aura was seeping out of his body.

… Maybe he's nervous? For such an aura to seep out of apple character suit even though it doesn't seem like he's related to these kind of job, it's hard to approach him…

The onee-chan in front of the stage then shouted towards the audience.

[Then let's all shout [Gomorin] and [Bapple-kun]! Let's all give our all and shout!]

Then the children covered in smiles shouted with all their might.

""""GOMORIN~!""""

""""BAPPLE-KUN~!""""

We heard the energetic voices calling for these two [Mascot Characters]! [Gomorin] and Sairaorg-san inside [Bapple-kun] then jumped energetically onto the stage. All we could do now was just to watch over them.

The onee-chan on the stage is now striking a conversation with these two [Mascot Characters] but looking flustered, the [Bapple-kun]'s movement looked awkward.

[Ara? What's wrong [Bapple-kun]? Aren't you feeling well today?]

The onee-chan then said that to him! Uuu, I can't watch this! As expected, such a stiff Sairaorg-san is too much to be a suit actor!

Meanwhile, [Gomorin] was showing an entertaining reaction towards the audience with its experienced movements. It looks like the person inside it is an experienced pro.

After the character introduction, the two [Mascot Character] was allowed to spend with the audience.

[Gomo Gomo]

"Waaaaa~ [Gomorin]'s so cute!"

[Gomorin] was playing with the children. However, [Bapple-kun] was…

[…………]

It was standing there with its arms folded, and was giving off a strange energy around it.

Ahh. His aura is seeping out again! Sairaorg-san! Your aura can be seen by the ***** eye! A [Mascot Character] shouldn't be giving off a white light around its body!

Because of [Bapple-kun]'s hard to approach aura, in the end one child was…

"U. WUAAAAAAAAAAA!"

A child ended up bursting into tears! They are sensitive to this kind of overpowering aura!

Because I also participated in this kind of event as [Oppai Dragon], I know all too well that you shouldn't make this kind of aura!

"This apple is too scaryyyyyyy!"

Like a domino effect, the children near [Bapple-kun] all started to cry.

This situation can't be salvaged… that's what I thought but…

[Gomo Gomo]

Thanks to [Gomorin] playing with the children again, the situation calmed down.

"… It was too much after all."

The Bael peerage's [Queen] Kuisha-san, who was watching this from the backstage, was looking at her master with stiff face but in the end, covered her face with her hands.

Ah, by the way [Bapple-kun] was… it looks like he was too shocked as he was frozen in his place.

After the event has ended, we all returned to the waiting room.

Sairaorg-san sat down but couldn't keep his head up.

"… My god, to be hated by these children… I am a failure of a [Mascot Character]!"

Seeing that he was too shocked, Sairaorg-san face palmed and was severely dejected. It's extremely rare to see Sairaorg-san like this but… seriously, this kind of work didn't suit him at all.

"I-It's just that your aura seeped out because you were a little nervous."

"That's right; don't worry too much about it. You'll get it after getting some experience. No actually, there's no need for an apparent heir to do jobs like this."

Rias and I tried to cheer him up but all that Sairaorg-san did was sigh.

"Even so I am… I am ashamed of myself who could not train enough."

This person is such an honest person so he must have tried his best to act as the perfect [Mascot Character].

[Gomo Gomo]

[Gomorin] also put its hand on Sairaorg-san and cheered him on.

"… Gomorin. You also are cheering me on… No, you are…?!"

Looking like he had felt something from [Gomorin], he suddenly stood up from his place.

Just then [Gomorin] took off his head…

"It's been a while everyone."

A dandy red-haired gentleman appeared from it

"F-F-F-F- F-F-F-F- F-F-F-F- F-F-F-F- F-F-F-F-FATHER?!"

Rias was bewildered! That's to be expected! The person who was wearing [Gomorin] costume was her father!

If the current head of the House of Gremory showed up wearing a mascot costume then everyone would surely be shocked! The truth is everyone here couldn't believe their eyes!

"W-W-W-Why are you…?!"

A bewildered Rias asked with a trembling voice. Then her father, the current head, said with a leisurely smile and said.

"Be calm, Rias. This is all part of my job. - There are times when you have to wear such costumes as a head."

— I certainly don't think that's true though!

I gave him a flack in my mind! I never heard of a time where a head of a household participating in an event would wear a mascot costume!

Sairaorg-san deeply bowed his head.

"To think it would have been you Ojii-sama… I, Sairaorg did not notice at all. You certainly are very impressive Ojii-sama."

Right, Rias and Sairaorg-san are cousins. Therefore the current head of House of Gremory— Rias's father is Sairaorg-san's uncle.

Rias's father put his hand on Sairaorg-san's shoulder.

"Hahaha, Sairaorg. The basic of [Mascot Character] is to kill your own self. By becoming the character itself and serving others, it's the correct action."

"I cannot win against you, Ojii-sama."

Sairaorg-san said that then… with a trembling fist, he shouts in a fierce voice.

"However I cannot participate in further [Mascot Character] events in this state! Even if others can accept it, I cannot accept it myself! Would this be considered fine?! Never! To train myself over and over again is my essence! Only when I grow through driving myself into a corner can I then say that I am Sairaorg Bael!"

Sairaorg-san looked at me with a frustrated expression.

"Hyoudou Issei, I've got a request."

"Eh? Ah, yes!"

Sairaorg-san then grabbed my shoulders.

"— Won't you come with me to the mountain and train? I wish that you would come and train as a [Mascot Character]…!!!"

— Mountain! Why even?!

While perplexed, I asked.

"T-Training to become a [Mascot Character] inside the mountain?! W-Wait a second. I have trained inside a mountain multiple times but I've never done a [Mascot Character] training before…"

There were times that I've been dragged into the mountains multiple times to go for training. Why does devils consist of a mentality where training = mountain? Well, I did dragged Raiser into a mountain for his own training!

As I was helpless in wondering what kind of reaction to give, Rias's father nodded his head.

"Hmm, then I shall go with you Sairaorg."

And said such nonsense!

"Ojii-sama?! H-However…"

Sairaorg-san hesitated after hearing his suggestion but Rias's father gave a dandy smile.

"Don't refuse, Sairaorg. Just believe this Ojii-sama. There is nothing that I don't know about the Gremory. I will lead you to the mountain most suitable for [Mascot Character] training. Let's also go together, Hyoudou Issei-kun."

Really?! I can't refuse if the head is coming at me like that! Sairaorg-san also was getting pumped, shouting [Okay, let's give it all!]!

Rias's father then created a teleportation magic circle beneath our foot!

I couldn't even run away from Sairaorg-san's grip!

Rias shouted at her father who was in the middle of his teleportation circle.

"F-Father!"

"Rias, please don't stop us. There are things that a man must do."

Rias says while shaking her head.

"If mother finds out she's will be furious!"

………… T-That's a huge problem! Venelana-san, Rias's mother is very strict person!

If she hear about this then it can only be bad! Not only that but Rias isn't worried about me at all! Well, she must be thinking that mountain training won't be much of a problem for me!

Rias's father was also trembling all over but as he was determined, he waved at his daughter!

"Then let's go, Sairaorg, Issei-kun!"

The light from the teleportation magic surrounded us—

For some unknown reason, I ended up going to the mountain for [Mascot Character] training.

Same day, same time.

The majestic great nature was in front of my eyes. The well shaded forest and the mountain range was within my sight.

The surrounding areas were filled with high mountains.

The apple character suit looked around then exclaimed.

"… Hmm, they are great mountains. The trees are all full of life and waters are shining."

… Sairaorg-san was all fired up inside the character suit.

He then grabbed my hand and pointing at a mountain before he powerfully exclaimed,

"Hyoudou Issei! Let's get started with training right away! First we are climbing all the way up the mountain!"

"Whaaaaaaaaaaaat?! You want to climb the mountain first?!"

I was shocked to the core! It's not surprising to be shocked after hearing such a thing right after reaching here!

I didn't bring any equipment! I'm still in my uniform! You want me to climb in this form?! Sairaorg-san is also wearing the character suit!

"There are things that you can only see at the top. Let's clime up first!"

… Well, if it comes to that, I can equip my armour and Sairaorg-san won't have problem climbing if he wants to.

But the mountain that he pointed at looks taller than Mount Fuji…

While being perplexed, [Gomorin], no Rias's father, started to build the tent that came out of nowhere.

"Hmm, then I'll be setting up camp here.

Hey, he's even got a canteen and a steel pen! Where did all these come from?!

Hey Rias's father. Aren't you bit too familiar with this?! Not only that but he looks like he's enjoying himself!"

"Then let's go!"

Sairaorg-san then ran towards the mountain while dragging me.

Like this, I began mountain climbing with the apple shaped [Mascot Character] —.

……… 7, 8 hours later, I descended the mountain on my own.

Along with Sairaorg-san, we climbed a mountain that was easily 4000m range. As I was climbing up that mountain which didn't even have anything resembling of a road, we occasionally climbed a stiff cliff too.

I got tired mid-way up the mountain but I continued after equipping my Balance Breaker… I'm not even a mountain guy and to climb such a mountain without any proper gears, I would have died without equipping Balance Breaker…

It took several hours to reach the top but since I flew using my balance breaker, it didn't take that long coming down.

However when Sairaorg-san reached the top…

"I'll stay here and admire the view."

… And he began meditating. — In his character suit.

Admiring the view from the unknown mountain top, the apple shaped mascot character quietly meditated. Beyond shocked, I felt there was something spiritual witnessing that scene.

Although I meditated together for a few moments…

The person who greeted me was the camel [Mascot Character] who was making food in camp with the saucepan.

"Ah, Ise-kun. How is the training going?"

Rias's father who was wearing that camel costume waved his hand towards me.

"Ah, I came down first. Sairaorg-san said he'll be going waterfall climbing training. — while wearing his costume that is."

That's right. The reason why I descended first is because after finish admiring the view, he suddenly found a waterfall he found interesting…

"Maybe I should climb up that waterfall I found."

… He said something outrageous and made his way to the waterfall!

Why are you climbing a waterfall when you aren't a carp! And even then it's just a story! There's no way even a carp will climb up a waterfall! You shouldn't be climbing up the waterfall in the first place! Even then if its Sairaorg-san then I've got no doubt he will do it! There must be a apple [Mascot Character] who's swimming up a waterfall right about now!

Rias's father nodded his head.

"Is that so? That's the right direction."

Is that really?! I don't think there is anything related between [Mascot Character] training and admiring a view from the top of a mountain or climbing up a waterfall?!

First of all I'm confused on whether we even need a training camp for being a [Mascot Character]! Isn't it that all you need to do is get some advice from either the general manager or a professional suit actor?!

But since I can't say those things to either Rias's father or Sairaorg-san… In the end I just decided to help him cook.

— Just then, a teleportation circle appeared. Haven't seen that one before.

The person who appeared from the circle was—a female with bishoujo top half and fish bottom half.

— Mermaid! A real mermaid!

It wasn't a tuna with a leg Estleena, but a real mermaid!

"Lord Gremory. I caught some fish from the lake."

The person who appeared with a basket full of fish was a familiar mermaid!

"Ohho. Lilitifa-chan, thank you very much."

Rias's father took the basket from her.

That's right, Lilitifa-san! Lilitifa Vepar-san! She's a dependent one of the now extinct House of Vepar, a real mermaid who's a devil!

There was a time when she was living peacefully in the human world sea. She was troubled because of guys resembling a pirate crew but the Gremory peerage, including me, protected her back then.

After that, I did hear she was living in a lake within the Land of Gremory….

Thinking back, I did see a huge lake from the top of the mountain. Maybe that's where Lilitifa-san lives?

Lillitifa-san noticed me.

"Y-You were… thank you very much from back then."

She politely greeted me. Oh, so she does remember me!

"Lilitifa-chan is living in the lake near here."]

Rias's father explained. Oh so it's as I thought.

"It's good that you look well."

I said so. If she is smiling like that, then it looks like she's living peacefully. I am glad.

B-But. Even if her bottom half is a fish, she's still has a bishoujo top half… her body is not too fat, nor too thin, just the right size and my eyes kept looking towards her gorgeous body! So mermaids also have amazing breasts! This is the best!

As I was staring at her ******, she suddenly asked me a question.

"Seikryutei-sama. Japan is a good place right?"

"Yes? Ah yes it is a good place. There isn't any fighting and the cuisine is also great as well but it's not like I've been to different countries much so my words aren't worth much though…"

I came to the underworld many times but thinking carefully, I haven't even travelled to the main Japanese island properly.

All I've been to are the local areas and Tokyo and Kyoto from back when we went on the school trip with a high schooler's budget. That's all we can do. But in the future, I do want to go to Hokaido and Okinawa with Rias, Asia and the rest.

Rias's father explained Lilitifa-san's situation while gutting the fish. But Lord-sama, you're quite skilled. Your cooking seemed natural too.

"Lilitifa-chan wants to study abroad in Japan. So she's studying hard."

Studying abroad in Japan!? Looks like every devil related to us want to come to Japan.

Lilitifa-san smiled brightly and nodded her head.

"Yes. I've began taking an interest in Japan after living on the land thanks to Rias Gremory-san's generosity…… actually I want to take the test for permission to study abroad this time."

Ohho, she's even thinking about taking the exam.

"Lilitifa-chan. I'm sorry to ask but could you get us some spices?"

When Rias's father asked, Lilitifa-san replied [Yes] and teleported again.

… So now there is only me and Rias's father. The two of us were left alone.

And only the sounds of cooking were heard.

"…………"

"…………"

Neither me nor Rias's father spoke. No actually in all honesty it's so hard to talk right now!

T-That's! I-I'm currently dating Rias! Lord sama also knows that right? Our relationship is quite famous in underworld!

Thinking back I haven't met with Rias's father ever since I began dating Rias! I couldn't even give a proper greeting

This is bad! This can't be one of those?! Things like [I'm dating your daughter] or [Please give your daughter to me!] are one of the most important times in the life of a man?!

Damn, I can't believe that time will come at this kind of situation… we came to the mountain for [Mascot Character] training, but we ended up in a situation between me and my girlfriend's father. This is too much!

What should I do?! What can I say?! Just silence isn't good! If we keep this silence, this will be the worst possible scenario! For a person who normally goes around saying [Oppai], to be this quiet in front of my girlfriend's father isn't good at all! No~no~no~! This is really bad! The worst ever!

My head was going into chaos at all the kind of thoughts I was having!

Just then, Rias's father ended the silence.

"My daughter— Rias is, quite stubborn. That's because since when she was young, I've been spoiling her. Even Sirzech is truly treasuring her since he's more than 100 years her senior… I'm still sorry and apologetic for leaving scolding Rias to Venelana."

"I-Is that so."

That's only thing I could say! I decided to just listen to his story without replying much.

This isn't like me, but this is… having only two of us here is too much!

Rias's father handed me the fish pieces and continued.

"Hahahahahaha. It won't be good to create this mood in a situation like this huh. Could you put these fish on top of the grill please?"

"Ah, yes."

"Ojii-sama. I have just returned."

The apple costume has appeared between us now. Sairaorg-san came back all soaked— eh!

I was shocked at what Sairaorg-san was holding!

He was carrying a huge deer-like creature!

"I caught this while coming back down."

Did you just knock this out while coming down?! In your costume no less?!

"Good job, Sairaorg. We can have that and the fish which Lilitifa caught as tonight's supper."

Looking at Rias's father who just greeted Sairaorg-san like no other day, I felt how brave you need be in order to become the ruler of House of Gremory—

For dinner, the four of us including Lilitifa-san who brought spices, were eating together.

Even though it was just a camping ground, the food looked like it just came from any high-end restaurant. Both the fish and the deer meat were salt and was turned into fantastic meal.

I took a bite.

…… I couldn't find any way to express this taste. I couldn't but it was good! The unique taste of meat and the fish are not destroyed. The sauce is bringing out the savouriness of the meat well but most importantly… this sauce has eliminated the fishy and meaty smell!

Were they always this tasty?! Not only that but to make such a meal in middle of nowhere!

"As always your cooking is fantastic Ojii-sama."

Even Sairaorg-san said so.

Rias's father said while tossing wood into the fire.

"The life of a Devil is very long. There was a time where I spend some time in the human world honing my skill in the culinary world."

Oh so you can also have that kind of life! I can learn few things, to walk the path of culinary world! I guess it's only possible because of our long life.

While tending the fire, he then asked Sairaorg-san.

"What do you think Sairaorg? Are there things you've realized about being a [Mascot Character]?"

Putting his plate down, Sairaorg-san's expression stiffened.

"… Ojii-sama. I, who lack the years of experiences, have not understood the [Mascot Character] yet…! I am truly disappointed in myself…!"

… There's no way you'll be able to learn that kind of thing by climbing a waterfall or hunting a deer!

Rias's father smiled.

"Hahaha, you don't need to think like that since even I leave most things about [Mascot Character] to my wife Venelana."

"Obaa-sama you mean. The rumor about obaa-sama is well known even in the House of Bael. We hear that the money from businesses is quite a lot."

Sairaorg-san said so. Hmm, so Rias's mother is famous in the business world.

Rias's father continued.

"Mmm, her connections are very good. She's got a talent in finding a hidden gem that has not yet been properly evaluated at its true price. She has been able to create a huge business out of rare crops that only people who live in countryside knows or crafts that natives makes and she was able to make them popular in the city. The petition from the ordinary people of the land who want help from Venelana is always growing."

That's an amazing thing to hear. No wonder she's being entrusted with works relating to [Mascot Character] and such from the Lord himself.

"Even she has calmed down compared to before."

Rias's father made a bitter smile. And Sairaorg-san continued.

"I have heard Obaa-sams's tales of heroism since I was young."

"…… T-Tale of heroism? Was she that great when she was younger?"

When I asked, Sairaorg-san nodded his head.

"It was said that she was the strongest female in the history of the House of Bael."

Rias's father then said while sipping from his cup.

"She was once called [Brown haired Ruin Princess]. Rias's nickname was taken from Venelana. — but compared to Venelana from back then, Rias's just being cute."

I-I-It was that much… [Brown haired Ruin Princess]… her looks might not have changed that much but, I can't even begin to imagine how much of a tomboy she would have been back then.

Rias's father then turned the topic back on track.

"Ah the topic got derailed a bit too much. We were talking about Venelana's talent huh? She's great at finding the less well known treasures. Ah Lilitifa-chan. Aren't there any unique products around here?"

Rias's father asked Lilitifa-san. Then she tilted her head thinking.

"Hmm… there's this village at the end of the river stream in front of us where they have rare and beautiful patterned fabric."

Lilitifa-san pointed at somewhere far away. Fabrics, looks like Rias's father took an interest. He nodded his head.

"Ohho, sounds interesting. Let's go and see them tomorrow."

Right then Lilitifa-san had a worried look on her face.

"… actually bandits have arrived around here… that village is often getting attacked."

Bandits are attacking the village. This isn't good.

"Bandits are in every other territories."

Sairaorg-san also sighed heavily.

Lilitifa-san then made an awkward expression.

"I think they are targeting me too… they kept saying that mermaids are rare and multiple times they have—."

"They attacked you?!"

I raised my voice unconsciously. This lady is always becoming a target for these kinds of people!

Hearing me, she shook her head.

"No I've been confessed to. But for a bandit I'm a bit…"

Ah so she's just been confessed to. But I still can't forgive them! Such a bandit to confess to this precious mermaid?! I will not forgive them! I'm going to protect this precious bishoujo!

Rias's father then spoke while putting his hand on his chin.

"I wonder if our mountain security is not enough. Hmm as the Lord, I can't just sit still with bandits around this area— then let's go beat some bandits."

Rias's father stood up, and following him, Sairaorg-san stood up too.

"Oh, it's expected you Ojii-sama. For a Lord to personally defeat such people… you are a shining example of any High-Class Devil. I can't stop admiring. I might be imprudent but, I, Sairaorg, will also help."

"I do appreciate. What about you Ise-kun?"

Rias's father asked me.

"Of course! If the Lord and Sairaorg-san are going, then I can't just sit around doing nothing!"

How can I refuse! If the current head of the house and Sairaorg-san are going, there's no way that I can just sit here and wait for them!

"Hmm as expected of Seikryuutei. Then let's all go defeat these bandits."

Leaving Lilitifa-san, we then headed towards the mountain where the bandits are said to appear.

Two figures—the apple shaped character suit and the camel shaped character suit were climbing up the rough mountain road. If someone else saw this scene, it would be unimaginable.

… Since even I am in a [Gomorin] suit.

I asked Rias's father while climbing up the mountain.

"W-Why did we wear this thing…?"

"Ise-kun's amour is known all over the underworld. If they see you then they might run away, so that's why I suggested you that character suit. The bandits will also be less wary if you show up in a character suit. I prepared an extra-large one so you'll be able to wear your armor underneath the suit."

That's being too careful! Did you already prepare the suit that I will wear?!

"Also don't forget to say [Gomo Gomo] while wearing that suit. You should never forget the mentality of [Mascot Character] since we are here to train and become better at [Mascot Character]. Isn't that right Sairaorg?"

"Yes that is correct. — since we are no more than a mere [Mascot Characters]!"

Why are you being so pumped up?! Sairaorg-san. Aren't you little bit too excited?! You are excited about defeating bandits, right?!

When we walked 30 minutes further into the mountain, a group of people rushed out.

"Oioi, stop there."

They were men wearing clothes made out of fur like a stereotypical bandits.

They were shouting at us with an annoying gaze.

"This ain't no theme park. Why are there two camels and an apple monster walking around here."

I can't even talk back! The bandits then shouted!

"This is the Land of bandits— the Land of House of Bilba! If you don't wanna drop dead then hand us all you've got!"

"Hmm, the only things I've got on me right now are these character suits. Will you take these then?"

Sairaorg-san said whilst in his costume.

Because of that, the bandits became louder and got angry at us.

"Stop jabbering nonsense and if you don't wanna die then take those damn clown suits…."

Just then Bapple-kun disappeared from the sight and in that exact same moment, the bandit who was talking got punched to the backline!

"KUWAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Screaming loudly, he was thrown into a rock nearby.

Sairaorg-san had an aura concentrated on the suit's cute hands.

From the looks of it, he punched the hell out of that bandit just now. Sairaorg-san— no [Bapple-kun] then shouted.

"If you want my character suit then come and take them by force! However this suit is not some cheap thing that I can just let you guys have!"

There's no way that there exist a bandit who can stop this apple character full of aura around his body.

We then walked along the road while completely destroying the bandits that came at us.

After a few minutes a huge camp located in the middle of the mountain appeared and quite a few bandits were grouped at that base.

One of those bandits then said to someone who looked bigger and was probably the most violent guy out of all of them.

"B-Boss! It's them! They are the camels and the apple that I've mentioned!"

The person who looks like the boss of these bandits came forward and narrowed his eyes.

"… I thought they were just humorless jokes by my underlings but it's actually a real apple and camel. What the hell is going on here… it's not like you idiots mistook this mountain as an event location!"

Seriously I wonder what happened?! For an apple and camels to visit the bandit's lair!

Sairaorg-san— [Bapple-kun] then took a step forward.

"Oi. Are you the boss?"

The boss then smiled after hearing that.

"What are you gonna do if I say yes?"

"I heard that you guys are attacking the nearby village? We cannot leave such villains go unpunished. I, as the Land of Bael's [Mascot Character], [Bapple-kun] will show you justice!"

When [Bapple-kun] said that, the bandits all burst into laughter.

The boss then grabbed a huge axe and sighed.

"Oi you idiots, did you hear? This [Mascot Character]-sama is going to show us justice. Haaa, is that what you shout around after coming into a mountain in that clown suit? I got no clue why you guys are here but looks like you guys are confident in your skills. — But you see, some mediocre skill shortens your life! Oi you idiots, get 'em!"

"""Oooooooooooooooooooo"""

As soon as their boss shouted at them, the bandits all screamed and ran towards us!

Ahhhh, in the end this is what it comes down to!

Sairaorg-san threw his body towards them!

"Look like we won't be able to talk our way through. Let's go Hyoudou Issei! No, [Gomorin] second!"

"Ah yes! Ah no, Gomo~!"

I activated the Balance Breaker inside the costume and followed Sairaorg-san. Looks like this costume is specially made so I can fit inside here with my Balance Breaker activated. Seriously, the people in the House of Gremory love to spend their money on this kind of stuff!

"Hyaa! [Bapple-kun Chop]" [Bapple-kun Kick!]"

There's no way there exist any bandits who can block a bare fist attack from [Bapple-kun].

"Kuuua!"

"Aaaarg!"

One by one, the bandits were thrown away after getting beaten up! Even in the character suit, he annihilated the bandits with amazing speed and destructive power!

To be fair I thought it would be fine to leave all this to Sairaorg-san but I didn't like to just stand around so…

"Gomo! Gomo!"

— Shouting that, I defeated a few bandits. Well I can't leave the people who are targeting Lilitifa-san!

Rias's father stood there in awe seeing us fight.

"Hmm, certainly, as expected of Issei-kun and Sairaorg-gomo. Even during the battle, they've got enough space to become [Mascot character]-gomo. If only we had a camera here, then we could capture this amazing battle scene-gomo."

You're more incredible by not forgetting to add [gomo] at the end of every sentence!

"W-What the hell is wrong with these two? They're super stroooong!"

Looks like they've noticed our powers too since they are hesitating.

Even during all this, Rias's father, who dodged bandit's sword and axe effortlessly said this.

"Hmm, it's been what, tens, no maybe hundreds of thousands of years since a real battle. Hahahaha, it's quite entertaining. Ah gomo gomo."

He's enjoying the battle with bandits so much that he's forgetting to say [Gomo]! Ara, not only is he enjoying this but his movement is also mesmerising! Every move was smooth and his effortless movement wasted no energy! As expected of a High-class devil and the current head of the House of Gremory!

In the middle of sorting out the bandits effortlessly, we heard a voice of a woman…

"Dear husband. What is going on here?"

— Venelana-san, Rias's mother has appeared!

As if she is possessed by anger itself, a pitch dark aura is seeping out of her entire body!

And behind her, Rias was also there! She was shaking her head in a disappointing fashion.

As soon as she has appeared, [Gomorin] first froze from his steps.

"………………………… My name is [Gomorin] gomo. Hello."

[Gomorin] first said in such a stiff robotic voice. Hearing that, Rias's mother narrowed her eyes and exerted an overwhelming force.

"Is that… something a lord of the land should be doing and throwing his body into? Not only that but to bring your nephew Sairaorg into this… dear husband, would you like to be scolded now or later?"

Rias's mother spoke in low and freezing cold voice.

Although I'm not the one who's getting scolded here but I'm getting chills! When I turned around, even Sairaorg-san stopped his fists and didn't know what to do!

[Gomorin] first — he then took his helmet off and immediately got on his knees.

"I'm so sorry, but Venelana there is an unavoidable reason for all this."

He apologized! The Lord of the land apologized to his wife! Not only that but it hasn't even been a minute since Rias's mother appeared here! Every male of the Gremory house are seriously weak against their wives!

Looking at this scenery, the boss of the bandit shouted at us.

"H-Hey you people! Why the hell are you guys stopping after crashing into our base?! W-We don't wanna fight you monsters anyway! You bitches over there! Just hurry the damn up and take these camels and apple away!"

As soon as he shouted at Rias's mother—

"—- Shut up."

Venelana-san directed her cold gaze toward them. Her hands exerted an enormous power and covered the bandits and the surrounding area in a black aura!

"""AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARG"""

All the bandits screamed and were flung away! The boss also was flung away into a great distance!

It was then told that the bandits here were not only surprised attacked by a group of unidentified characters in suits but also had been flown away by a single attack of a single female devil—.

In the end I, Sairaorg-san and Rias's father was escorted by Rias and her mother.

After coming back to the castle, we were scolded by her mother for at least half a day.

"I'll be the one who'll be directing the [Mascot Character] so there won't be any reason to go to the mountain or for the lord of the land to wear the character suits."

— And thus Rias's mother became the producer of [Gomorin] and [Bapple-kun].

It also looks like she's going to turn our victory against the bandits into [Mascot Characters] defeating the bandits in the news instead.

If that's the case, then [Bapple-kun] and [Gomorin] would be known all over the underworld.

Well, I can't help but feel like I've got the worst deal out of this unfairly…

"Ise."

Around the time when the lecture was finished, Rias called me… Man I'm so tired, I wanna heal by Rias's side.

Thinking that, I walked towards Rias.

"I-I hate camels!"

Rias pushed me away in tears! I forgot that I was still wearing this!

Looks like I first need to help Rias get over her fears of camels…

As a side note, the fabric that Lilitifa-san introduced us got into Venelana-san's attention and also became famous all over the House of Grrmory.

Lilitifa-san also became the model for those fabrics and thus, became a celebrity around the land of the House of Gremory.