And that smile made Rias's heart sink straight to the bottom.
"Don't tell me… it really was a stray devil?"
A bitter, strained expression appeared on Rias's face as she confirmed it with Sona herself, hoping to give up completely.
"That's right. That's also why I said it's impossible to win him over. I don't believe that after gaining power, he wouldn't seek revenge on those ghouls. Every single ghoul in this area has already been wiped out. Do you really think he doesn't know who was behind them?"
"The first time he showed hostility toward us, it wasn't only because we were outsiders. It was also because of our identity as devils. The fact that he didn't kill us on the spot was nothing but luck."
Unlike Rias's initial sense of loss after learning about Raize, Sona had felt as if she had narrowly escaped death.
Back then, Raize truly possessed the strength to crush and slaughter them, and he held absolutely no goodwill toward devils because of what had happened to his family.
Not being killed outright was sheer fortune.
Putting herself in his position—if Sona had experienced what Raize went through, and then saw beings from a race she despised parading themselves in front of her—would she really have maintained a good attitude?
If she had suffered the blow of losing her family, even with her normally calm disposition, she knew she would likely undergo a drastic change in temperament and would not hesitate to kill.
"No wonder his killing intent was so intense. It's unexpected that his past overlaps somewhat with Yuuto's."
Rias muttered softly. Knowing this, she truly should be grateful that he hadn't killed them outright last time.
As she said, Raize's character was somewhat similar to Kiba's. Kiba's tragic past was tied to the Holy Sword Project.
Those companions he regarded as family had all died because of the Church's Holy Sword Project.
Despite Kiba's gentle and kind exterior, once his reverse scale was touched, he would immediately reveal an extremely frenzied and ferocious side.
"But your Knight isn't as strong as Raize. Who knows what he went through to become so powerful in just a few months?"
Sona sighed. There were many motivations for becoming strong. She herself grew stronger for her ideals.
But for people like Raize and Yuuto, hatred would drive them to pursue strength at all costs.
Both had tragic pasts, yet their current states were worlds apart.
After learning about Raize's background, Sona recalled the blunt words he had said to Rias back then.
Without experiencing enough, one would never be so obsessively attached to power.
---
"You're finally back!"
After school, Raize stopped by the company before heading home. As soon as he arrived, Haruna and a group of little Manjuus surrounded him. The girl's face was filled with obvious anxiety, while the Manjuus were even dressed as doctors and nurses.
On Manjuus, it wasn't eye-searing at all—on the contrary, it was rather cute.
"Haruna? Why are so many Manjuus dressed like this… Why are you the only one at home? Where did Sei and Asia go?"
Raize frowned slightly as he placed the feminine supplies he had picked up along the way on the sofa. He looked at Haruna and the Manjuus, then glanced around. Only Haruna and the Manjuus were in the living room.
At this time, normally Laffey would have come out with Eu to watch comedy variety shows. But with new companions in the Minecraft world, Laffey had matters to attend to.
As a senior, Laffey needed to do something for her fellow shipgirls. Although lazy, she was willing to put in effort for her companions—that was part of Laffey's charm.
Sei and Asia being absent today was normal; she might have taken Asia out for training.
With the help of the Biblical Loli God, the holy power within Asia was steadily growing stronger.
It was normal for them to be away, but Eu had little to do. Not seeing the familiar figure that usually occupied the living room made Raize feel oddly uncomfortable.
It was a sense of unfamiliarity second only to when his family passed away—like instinctively walking to his sister's now-empty room to wake her up.
"Sei and Asia said they went to train. Laffey went to your little world as usual. As for the necromancer, she suddenly fell ill."
The reason Haruna was so anxious was that she couldn't alleviate Eu's high fever and discomfort. After all, Eu was an underworld being—ordinary human cold medicine was useless.
Feeling helpless, she had been about to go find Raize, and he happened to return just then.
"Eu fell ill!?"
Raize was momentarily stunned. Generally speaking, someone with Eu's root-level magical power shouldn't fall sick so easily.
But recalling details about Eu from the original work, there indeed had been an instance where Eu became ill—because, as an underworld being, she had eaten the white pith of an orange.
Orange pith was a deadly poison to underworld beings—a setting that Raize didn't know whether to complain about.
Humans could eat it without issue, yet underworld beings, who were far stronger than humans, feared it.
So the reason Eu fell ill was…
Raize's gaze locked onto the living room table, where a pile of orange peels and stripped white pith lay scattered.
The answer was obvious.
"Haruna, Eu probably ate too many oranges and accidentally ingested the pith. This isn't an ordinary cold or fever."
Raize quickly walked toward Eu's room, followed by Haruna and the Manjuus carrying water.
Hearing this, Haruna felt confused. What was wrong with eating orange pith?
"Necromancers can't eat orange pith?"
"It's a deadly poison to underworld beings. Other underworld beings would never dare touch oranges. Any underworld being other than Eu would die instantly after eating it—they don't have Eu's constitution and magical power."
Among underworld beings, only Eu liked eating oranges. Others would die from the pith, while Eu merely fell ill and felt uncomfortable.
People's constitutions differed; other underworld beings couldn't be compared to Eu.
This was information Raize had obtained from the King o the the Night's memories.
Haruna and the Manjuus understood and fell silent. Eu was unwell and resting, so they shouldn't make noise.
Upon entering Eu's room, Raize saw her sleeping like a sleeping beauty on the bed. Two little Manjuus were gently and skillfully replacing the ice pack on her smooth, beautiful forehead, clearly taking care of her.
From her appearance, Eu's condition didn't look good. Her hands were tightly gripping the blanket, her fair and tender little face flushed with discomfort, her brows knitted tightly together, and even her breathing sounded different from usual.