Even the Devil higher-ups had once dismissed this Ajuka's system as a mere joke until he created and demonstrated its use. So it seemed even God could not foresee this development.
But enough of that, I had another important question to ask.
...
"I understand the intent behind Sona's visit with me, but why are the rest coming along?" I raised my eyebrow at the Student Council who had come along to see the Rias's group. Oh, and I might add that for whatever reason, they were still wearing the uniforms on a weekend.
"I'm coming along to back up Kaichou if Rias-sama decides to go on the offensive and force you into her Peerage." Tsubaki adjusted her glasses as she replied back. Yup, that suited her.
"I'm tagging along to see how they train for this fight." Tsubasa waved her hand easily. She was a very sporty girl for this type of events.
"I just want to see Kiba-kun for a while." Reya looked down to the ground while blushing lightly. Oh yeah, she did have a crush for the prince didn't she?
"I haven't had a talk with Akeno for a while, so might as well take the chance to do so." Momo let out a shrug. She was way too easy-going at times.
"I just want to see everyone get hyped up for the match!" Ten points to the one who can guess the person who said that.
"I have yet to meet the others from the group, so I should go and introduce myself." The latest Pawn replied eagerly as she tried to check herself for any wrinkles on her clothes. I think her name was Ruruko Nimura, or something of the sort.
"I'm just here to see Hyoudou get trashed." The boy replied back without remorse. If I recall correctly, he and Ise went off on a rough start, supposedly due to him being attracted to sweet innocent Asia. Oh joy.
That said though, the path leading to the vacation house was pretty long. I am confident of my endurance, and most certain of my fellow (devil) classmates, and I figured Rias would want to ensure some privacy to avoid visits from the hormonal males at the academy, but this was seriously far. This was comparable to my time in Geneva when I was tracking a rouge magus in the woods and that was a really long distance and big ground to cover.
"Emiya-kun, how is the resident Fallen Angel treating you?" Sona asked me, lightly nodding her thanks as I offered a hand over a particularly bad patch of loose earth. "I hope that she is not giving you too much problems."
I lightly shrugged my shoulders as a response. "She is a little bit of a handful, but still manageable." And I meant that, Rin was way more troublesome of a roommate to handle than Mitelt, and it helped that Mitelt was at least more controllable than Rin on her bad days, even if she was still a small spitfire who tend to lash out at times.
Since I brought her under my protection, I went to get her into a place close enough for me to keep an eye on her and for her to come to me if she needed any assistance. It was a simple room with the bare necessities, but judging from her reactions, it seemed she had lived in pretty bad conditions before coming here. After that it was a matter of working out the other bits of our agreement and getting her some clothes to change into.
But perhaps the biggest help came from Kawako-san who had appeared around my area just as Mitelt was about to blow her top when I suggested she help out with the chores at times. Seeing an immortal creature with enough power to crush humans forced into seiza position while Kawako-san was lecturing her with the ladle that appeared out of nowhere in her hand was a sight that could only be seen to be believed.
My thoughts got interrupted as I took note of the scent of polished steel and regret in the air and turned to the trees. "Are you going to keep the girls waiting in the sun while staying in the cover of the trees?"
"Hmm, Buchou was right, you do have a keen sense towards us." Kiba smiled as he walked out of the tree cover. "My apologies for hiding, but I had to make sure no one else was following you, and at the same time, I was curious about your supposed sixth sense that could detect us easily."
"A gift and a curse if you want my honest opinion." I followed him while grimacing. "Because having to sense every single supernatural creature in the general area makes my life extremely stressful."
"That sounds hard." Meguri tilted her head as she tried to imagine what it was like to feel every creature around me.
"You have no idea." I muttered very softly. We continued on for a while before Kiba looked up and stopped to turn to us.
"Well, we are here." Kiba motioned to the house before us. The others started to move on before Sona turned around to face me, Saji and the new Pawn who were still standing in the same spot.
"Why are the three of you still standing there, is there a problem?"
…
Okay, I got a general idea from Rias's attitude in the school, and the somewhat light-hearted manner she dealt with stuff, not to mention the type of furniture that was in the Occult Club Room, and hearing about her owning a vacation house was certainly something, but seeing the actual thing just put things into perspective.
Rias was seriously loaded with cash.
The vacation house before me was your typical log cabin that reminded me of the ones back in Europe, but the sheer size of it made me think it was meant for the super-rich and famous. Heck, the place got a patio and a barbecue pit nearby, with what looked like an open-aired bath if the steam I was looking at was of any indication.
"This is…" Saji muttered as he stared at the roof with the huge wood carving perched on top.
"Yeah." I muttered back.
"Are those…" The female pawn pointed at the steam vapors coming out of the supposed hot spring with a dazed look.
"Yeah."
"Oh right, this is the first time you guys came to Rias's vacation house." Sona looked at the house before turning back to us. "Just a heads-up, this is one of her smaller vacation homes, so this is nothing."
'Smaller?!' I was not ashamed of myself for staring at Sona with my mouth wide open at her words. If this was the case, I could not imagine the bigger ones she had, or for that matter, I could not wrap my head around the fact the devil had multiple vacation homes.
Note to self, Rias and Rin must never meet, the twin-tailed magus would have a fit if she were to see the scale of the devil's bank book.
Feeling dazed at the revelation, I followed them to the back of the house where I saw Rias sitting at a table with Asia and Akeno drinking tea by her side. "Ah, so you made it!" Rias beamed as she waved to us. "I was beginning to wonder if you would show up, though I did not expect the Student Council to be here."
"Everyone wanted to tag along, so I let them." Sona replied as she shrugged. "I'm just here to make sure that you don't attempt anything to Emiya-kun while I'm not around."
"Of course." Rias agreed frankly without missing a beat. Though I could detect a slight twitch of her right eye as they stared at each other. Guess Sona foiled her plan after all.
"So Kiba is here." I pointed my thumb at the blond guy. "So where is the other person I'm training?"
"Well he is…"
"AAAAHHHHHH!" I immediately turned my body and made my stance, stopping just short of projecting Kanshou and Bakuya as I took in the sight that was unfolding of me. Ise came running out of a clearing, looking a little worse for wear in clothes and his expression of comical terror on his face. Soon after Koneko jumped out herself and chased him while carrying what looked to be a ton of rocks in a basket and throwing them like they were softballs.
"EI~" She let out a somewhat subdued battle cry as she threw the rocks at Ise without any effort.
"AAAHH! Koneko-chan, have mercy on me!" Ise screamed as he ran past us and back into the trees, with Koneko following. For a while, we all stood there silently, before Sona let out a sigh and massaged her temple. I on the other hand could only offer a tired smirk.
This was going to be a very long training period.
...
Hey guys I really need you to throw some power Stones ;)
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