(Image: Venelana)
[Ding!]
[Congratulations to the Host for triggering the Main Story Quest — Three-Faction Summit.]
[Quest Grade: Gold.]
[Quest Description: Thousands of years ago, devils, angels, and fallen angels waged a war that lasted ages. Only when all three sides suffered irreparable losses did the war finally halt.
Across millennia, each faction's strength shrank compared to its former glory.
For the continuation of their races and a better future, the three powers chose cooperation.
However, many hardliners within each faction oppose this and plan to stir up trouble in Kuoh Town, the site of the summit.]
[Quest Objective: Ensure the Three-Faction Summit takes place and finish the summit with the highest status possible.]
"Finally here, huh? The summit."
"Today is the school's Open Day, and tomorrow is the summit."
To stack quests for after his system evolution, Sai Akuto hadn't been rushing through objectives lately.
The reason was simple: per the system, after clearing the third instance world, the reward-fusion function would unlock.
Obviously, three low-tier rewards can't beat one high-tier reward. So before fusion unlocks, Akuto's motivation to clear quests… isn't exactly high.
Of course, low or not, a quest is still a quest if it lands on his lap.
"Open Day, huh~"
At Kuoh Academy's gate, Akuto watched students file in with their parents and felt a little wistful.
Since childhood, he'd been an orphan.
So every Open Day from grade school to now, he went alone.
Vaguely, he did remember someone caring for him once. Sadly, Akuto had been too young then—only a hazy memory remained: he was wrapped in unprecedented warmth and maternal grace.
That maternal aura and sanctity even surpassed the God of the Bible he had sensed.
Because it was only a blur, by the time he formed a firm sense of self, all he knew was: his parents had died early and left him an inheritance.
But today, everything is different.
A few days before Open Day, Venelana from the Gremory House had already told Akuto she planned to attend as his family.
From afar—before Akuto even stepped through the gate—a flax-haired, elegant young matron in formal dress waved both hands and called out to him.
"Akuto-kun~~"
Venelana fluttered the white sleeves at her wrists, a gentle smile blooming—both courteous and brimming with warmth.
"Venelana-san, you don't have to call out from that far."
Akuto smiled helplessly, hastening inside and heading her way.
The moment she saw him, Venelana clasped both of Akuto's hands.
"Ara~ why so distant, Akuto-kun? When you and Rias were making such a ruckus I couldn't sleep back at the Gremory residence, you weren't distant at all~"
Perhaps because she's given birth, Venelana is open about certain things.
"..."
Akuto hadn't expected her to be this forthright and could only offer a wry smile.
He had put up a soundproof barrier, and yet Venelana still knew what he'd done.
That could only mean Venelana had also been eavesdropping that night.
He just hadn't expected her to so boldly expose it—and even tease him with it.
Maybe… this is the composure of an adult woman?
Because Venelana wore white sleeve-gloves, Akuto technically wasn't touching her skin.
Even so, the body heat coming through that top-class silk, and the premium texture of the white sleeves themselves, still sent a ripple through his heart.
A few seconds later, Akuto smiled and reached out to gently move Venelana's hands off his arm.
At first glance, it looked like he was refusing her.
In reality, that motion was an offensive maneuver.
As he slid her hand aside, Akuto dodged the white sleeves she usually wore and made direct skin contact with Venelana.
At the same time, he deliberately flared his incubus bloodline to the maximum.
By now, his charm-type bloodline had risen to purple-grade—the minimum threshold to influence the Gremory line.
Venelana was powerful, yes, but her bloodline grade hadn't reached gold, placing her within the influence of a purple-grade incubus aura.
[Hm? This sensation is….]
It was clearly the lightest touch, yet Venelana felt an unprecedented throb.
The primal pull that a female in estrus feels toward a male—woman to man, pure and biological. Her temperature rose by fractions of a degree; hormones cascaded within, her body instantly preparing for reproduction.
[Wait… if I'm not mistaken, Akuto-kun has reached the point where he can affect both Rias and me!?]
Venelana's gaze at Akuto mixed surprise with delight—tinged by a barely perceptible desire and possessiveness.
After all, Akuto was the first man to awaken that raw, feminine instinct within her. It was only natural her body would hunger for the male who triggered it.
Unfortunately, the state didn't last.
After only two or three seconds, contact ended.
For a simple reason—Akuto had already removed Venelana's hand from his, and lingering would be taking advantage.
Once separated, the thrum in Venelana's body and heart rapidly faded; the miraculous feeling vanished.
Thinking it over, Venelana decided she should verify it again.
Catching a moment when Akuto wasn't paying attention, she slipped off her white sleeves… and laced her fingers with his once more.
"Hss~~~"
That familiar surge rippled through her again. Instinctively, Venelana tightened both hands, locking Akuto's fingers with her own in a lovers' interlace.
Seen like this, anyone would think they were siblings arm-in-arm—rather than a son-in-law and his would-be mother-in-law.
But as a daughter of the Gremory House, Venelana's notions are… unusual—not just compared to humans, but even to most devils.
Simply put—because the Gremory line historically never practiced marrying out, generation after generation of heads rarely developed typical romantic attachments across genders.
So Venelana ended up overly conservative in some regards… and overly open in others.
(Note: In this book, Venelana is purely of the Gremory line—she is not some Bael relative who married in.)
(As for flax hair: each generation's Gremory head may manifest different hair colors or abilities due to internal bloodline divergence.)
(Rias and Alice's "Power of Destruction" is a divergence toward the Bael King lineage's trait.)
Fingers fully entwined, Venelana smiled and asked:
"Akuto-kun, by now you should already have the ability to let Rias bear a child, right?"
Venelana knew her current reaction matched what that Gremory maid had felt before.
In other words, she—like that maid—had been affected by Akuto's constitution and entered estrus!
For Venelana, today was a truly joyous day. She could attend Akuto's Open Day as a senior, and she'd also confirmed his progression—two birds with one stone.
However, the very next second, Akuto poured a bucket of cold water over her.
"Sorry. I don't have that ability right now." Akuto sighed.
"Eh? Why?"
Under Venelana's gaze, Akuto said slowly:
"Because Rias's bloodline has evolved again."
"If it were before, I should've been fine. But now—because of me—Rias's bloodline evolved again, reaching a level comparable to the original Four Maou."
"Wait, wait—what do you mean, because of you, Akuto-kun, Rias's bloodline evolved again?" Venelana pressed.
"Ah~ it's like this…."
Very soon, with Akuto's explanation, Venelana understood.
It turns out, Akuto can not only cause his own mutation and evolution; those who form a real, intimate bond with him can also mutate and evolve.
Rias had "watered" too many times, so to speak—too many times being intimate with Akuto—and advanced to her current state.
Akuto's account was half-truth.
Intimacy with him does enhance bloodlines—the Bloodline Infusion Method subtly reshapes the girls who couple with him.
But Rias's true leap didn't come from that method.
Her bloodline reaching gold-grade, and her strength rising to quasi-Maou class, mainly came from Akuto's "cheat-grade Evil Pieces."
With Akuto's current gold-grade bloodline, the infusion method alone could at most push others to purple-grade.
"So that's how it is? …"
Venelana didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
While her daughter's stronger blood and power were reasons to be happy, the thought that this also meant a long stretch of infertility made it hard to smile.
"Then how long will you need before your ability evolves again, Akuto-kun?" Venelana asked, a little weary.
"It might take a while." Akuto gave another disappointing answer.
"My ability is actually tied to the number of women who share a close relationship with me."
"The more intimate partners I have, the stronger my bloodline force grows, and the faster this ability evolves."
"The last rapid jump happened because of Rias, Ravel, and Ravel's many subordinates."
"But now—on one hand—I've already advanced once; pushing it again will be much harder."
"On the other, I don't want to devote all my time to entanglements with female devils."
"So, Venelana-san, please forgive me—the wait might not be short."
"Eh?"
At first listen, Venelana thought Akuto's logic was nonsense. But thinking it through… it did make sense.
An ability that draws in the opposite sex and triggers reproductive readiness would evolve through more… couplings. That… seems perfectly normal?
[Wait...]
A "genius" idea suddenly sparked in Venelana's mind.
[Didn't Akuto-kun say that, to push his bloodline further, he needs partners with potent bloodlines?]
[Me… and Alice… we fit that, don't we?]
[Even if Alice isn't enough, there's the Gremory's single-line succession—so many generations of female heads. With quantity compensating quality, it should work too.]
[If we all… help Akuto-kun evolve, then he could...]
[He could...]
[…]
[…]
[Huh?! What am I even thinking?!]
Realizing how insane her train of thought had gotten, Venelana hurriedly tossed it from her mind.
(End of Chapter)
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