Ten minutes later, Takeyo touched the lipstick mark on his cheek with a faint smile.
"I'm really reluctant to erase this..."
Still, he chose to remove it before heading to school. Walking around campus with visible kiss marks would be a bit too ostentatious, even for him.
Today was Saturday, the weekend. Rias had told him she'd need his help with something later. Besides, tonight was the tripartite meeting between the Three Factions, Devils, Fallen Angels, and Angels. Ajuka had informed him not long ago that his attendance was expected.
"Today's sign-in location is the old school building. Bronze level, no difficulty at all."
Takeyo yawned lazily.
"Master? Didn't you sleep well last night?" Artoria asked at his side, her voice filled with concern.
As the perfect knight, caring for her Master's wellbeing was only natural.
"Ah, something like that. I stayed up a bit late yesterday."
Takeyo hadn't sent Artoria out on her usual buffet patrol today. After all, tonight was the day when the leaders of the Three Factions would meet, and Ajuka had specifically requested his attendance not long ago.
Isn't it normal for important people to bring bodyguards to such gatherings?
Takeyo had originally summoned Artoria to serve as his bodyguard, though she'd somehow evolved into more of a patrol foodie around Kuoh Town. That wasn't quite what he'd had in mind.
More importantly, Takeyo hadn't expected to draw Ophis's Dragon Soul from the sign-in system, which had completely eliminated the drawbacks of using the World Dragon Kurimo's power. If not for that stroke of fortune, he would've definitely kept Artoria by his side constantly.
After absorbing the Knight chess piece, Artoria had reached half-step Transcendent strength!
Moreover, her physique was gradually transforming toward that of a goddess. Originally, wielding the Holy Spear had already given her a physique that could be called divine, and it was estimated she'd soon complete her transformation into a full goddess!
Once that happened, steadily reaching Transcendent class wouldn't be a problem at all.
"Is the Master making love to the angels and Fallen Angels at home? That's it...14..." Artoria suddenly mused aloud. "With the charm of angels and Fallen Angels, it's normal for the Master to sleep late."
Artoria nodded as if she'd solved some great mystery.
BONK!
Takeyo's hand chopped down on her head with practiced precision.
"Mmm..." Artoria raised her gaze, her cheeks puffing up slightly in clear dissatisfaction.
"Who told you to think such things about your Master? I was studying last night! Studying! Do you understand?" Takeyo said firmly.
Over the weekend, he'd been reading through his newly acquired Encyclopedia of Surgery Integration. While studying that book, he'd also been using the advanced version of the crystal ball that Ajuka had given him. So yes, he really had been learning.
Ahem... aside from Rias spending the night at his house, there really wasn't anything else going on.
"Mmm..." Artoria could only endure it. After all, he was her Master.
She was an upright, loyal, and perfect Knight King. Her Master's orders must be carefully obeyed, and she couldn't think bad things about him.
"Takeyo-kun!" As soon as he walked through the school gate, Takeyo heard a familiar voice.
The voice was filled with excitement tinged with a hint of anger, completely different from the usual tone of the person he remembered.
Whoosh!
In the next moment, an older girl wearing the Kuoh Academy uniform rushed straight into his arms.
"Akeno, what's wrong?" Takeyo responded with a smile.
Akeno Himejima, who'd always maintained her elegant big-sister persona before, had suddenly transformed into such a clingy little woman. It was genuinely surprising.
He remembered that in the original plot, Akeno only showed this shy, girlish side when she was on dates.
"It's nothing. I just wanted to hug Takeyo-kun. Don't you like me holding you?" Akeno's eyes gazed directly at him.
"Not at all, but I don't think this is quite appropriate here," Takeyo said, acutely aware of something else.
Because,
"Akeno? Can you let go of your hand?"
A voice grinding with displeasure came from behind Akeno.
In fact, just as Takeyo had suspected, Akeno had deliberately rushed over to embrace him at this particular time.
"Ara ara~ Isn't this Rias?" Akeno slowly released her hold on Takeyo and turned to look at Rias.
"Ooh,~As expected of Master!" Artoria's ahoge wavered back and forth, expressing her admiration.
"What does 'as expected of Master' mean?" Takeyo's hand chop never discriminated against disobedient children.
BONK!
"Ow!"
The situation on Rias's side also seemed rather intense. Perhaps because it was the weekend, both girls were letting their demonic power flare openly, with crimson magical energy and golden lightning crackling around them.
"Takeyo-kun, please go to the old school building and train Gasper! I'll come after I'm done dealing with Akeno!" Rias said, clearly upset at Akeno's food-stealing behavior.
What happened to being best friends?!
If this had been Sona, Rias might have backed down, since she was technically the latecomer in that situation. But facing Akeno, she had to make her understand what the dignity of the main wife meant!
"Ara ara, Does Rias want to take action against me? How very authoritative of you, buchou," Akeno held up one finger, golden lightning dancing around her other hand!
Not mere electricity, but genuine thunder!
Unlike in the original story, Akeno had begun training with her thunder powers several months earlier.
"Akeno!" Rias's eyes widened.
She knew what this meant!
"Oh?"
Takeyo hadn't expected Akeno to actually use the power she'd originally sealed away.
But after a moment's thought, he understood.
"Yes, maybe she also has pressure in her heart," he murmured.
"Koneko has grown into a powerful High-Class Devil capable of using Senjutsu and Youjutsu. Kiba awakened the Holy Demonic Sword, and Rias recruited a Durandal wielder as her servant. Gasper is a mutant chess piece capable of reincarnating a vampire with tremendous potential."
"Even Rias herself has become a High-Class Devil because of me."
"If she doesn't unseal herself, she'll probably end up dragging her companions down."
"Of course... there must also be a reason related to that night."
Takeyo had no intention of interfering with their affairs for now.
"Artoria? Want to come to school here?" he asked his Knight.
He felt that if Artoria continued patrolling cafeterias during this period, some restaurant owners might not be able to withstand the pressure and jump into the sea.
Although he gave Artoria plenty of money, she still preferred to raid buffets in the spirit of thriftiness.
"Going to school... really? I haven't really experienced going to school in this world yet. It might be a good experience!" Artoria nodded thoughtfully.
She was quite interested in various things from another world.
"Then I'll tell Sona when school starts on Monday," Takeyo said.
"Oh... by the way, what do you think about being in the same class as Asia and me?"
"No problem. I'll definitely study hard!" Artoria nodded vigorously, her ahoge swaying with determination.
Takeyo wanted to pluck it out to see if Artoria would turn into a Black Lancer.
Since there was the fact that Artoria Saber would turn into Saber Alter if her ahoge was removed, then didn't it seem possible she could become Lancer Alter too?
Artoria didn't know what kind of difficult path awaited her.
"Oh, here we are."
Takeyo arrived at the old school building and completed the location sign-in.
[Ding!]
[Congratulations to the host for completing the location registration! Sign-in level: Bronze!]
[Sign-in location - Kuoh Academy's old school building!]
[Congratulations to the host for the reward: Tornado's Panties]
[Tornado's Panties: It is said that the trembling Tornado, the S-class hero said to be extremely powerful in another world, never wears any? She just uses her psychic powers to suppress them to the extent that they can be seen but not quite seen.
This is a lie!
This item is the best proof!
It is rumored to have a mysterious function, a Tsundere flat loli can gain powerful psychic abilities!]
Ahem...
Takeyo coughed up a mouthful of golden blood. What kind of item was this?
Since his strength had increased, the bronze-level sign-ins had been drawing increasingly inexplicable things.
Who was this even for? It's not like he could use it himself.
But to find a female companion with the attributes of a Tsundere loli in this world? That seemed impossible!
This was a high school world, after all...
Forget it. He'd just see how fate played out.
Takeyo put the matter aside.
"Hey! Come out of the box!" When he walked into the sealed room where Gasper was kept, Takeyo kicked it directly.
"Kyaa!" After making such a sound, an inexplicable aura instantly spread through the space!
The source was the small coffin in the room!
Sacred Gear: Forbidden Balor View!
However, it was ineffective against the two who'd entered.
The Forbidden Balor View from High School DxD could only work on ordinary creatures. When facing people who were too strong, or items with special powers, it would fail.
"This fluctuation is..." Artoria also noticed the changes in their surroundings.
The wind had stopped circulating.
"Forbidden Balor View can suspend time within a certain range," Takeyo explained.
He walked toward the small coffin and lifted out the trembling Gasper who'd been hiding inside.
"Eek!" Gasper cried out, his eyes filled with disbelief.
Hasn't this person been stopped by his Sacred Gear?!
"I accepted Rias's commission to train you. You have to be obedient," Takeyo said with a smile.
"Huh? Are you the Takeyo that Koneko and the Vice-President talked about?" Gasper's voice was soft and uncertain.
In fact, Gasper had already been unsealed, but because of his powerful abilities that would spiral out of control whenever he got even slightly excited, Rias had no choice but to ask Takeyo for help.
And Takeyo happened to know the best way to train Gasper.
That was... finding a tool person!
Half an hour later, in the gymnasium, Issei Hyoudou was cheering for Gasper.
At the same time, behind Gasper, Artoria wielding the Holy Spear was chasing after him.
It was quite literally a scene of vampire hunting.
"Gasper! Try to stop Miss Artoria's movements! That will restrict her actions!" Issei called out enthusiastically.
"Hai! Hai! Issei-senpai!" Gasper responded loudly, performing much better than before.
"Ah..." Takeyo watched from the sidelines and yawned.
As he'd expected, Issei was indeed Gasper's best teacher.
However, he hadn't forgotten the look in Issei's eyes when he first saw Gasper.
At first, Issei had thought Gasper was a girl, but when he discovered the truth, that Gasper was actually an adorable boy, his eyes had lit up even more! Wasn't that amazing?!
Creak.
With a soft sound, the gymnasium door opened.
A girl with blue hair highlighted with green accents, perhaps having heard the screams from the gym, came to investigate.
"Are you hunting vampires here?" she asked, surveying the scene.
"Well, more or less," Takeyo replied with a smile.
Though rather than hunting vampires, it was more accurate to say they were hunting Devils. After all, Gasper was a Devil reincarnated by a certain Demon Lord.
"By the way, Takeyo-kun, can I take up some of your time?" Xenovia suddenly remembered something very important.
She looked at Takeyo with an extremely serious expression.
"Hmm? Right now, no problem." Takeyo raised an eyebrow.
He genuinely had nothing else to do at the moment, but... why was she looking for him?
His impression of Xenovia was her bold, straightforward personality.
"Okay, without further ado, let's go!" Xenovia grabbed Takeyo's hand and left the gymnasium.
Issei didn't dare ask questions about the boss's affairs. Only Artoria frowned slightly.
☆☆☆
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