— — — —
Inside the clubroom, the air fell into silence for the third time.
Yukinoshita Haruno gave Leo, who had a smile on his face, a deep look, then suddenly stood up.
"Well, let's stop here for today," Yukinoshita Haruno turned her gaze to Yukinoshita Yukino and said, "I'm going back first, Yukino."
Hearing this, both Leo and Yukinoshita Yukino were somewhat surprised.
"Th-this is it? You're going back already?"
Yukinoshita Yukino seemed completely caught off guard.
Leo also hadn't expected Yukinoshita Haruno to suddenly say such a thing.
But what else could Yukinoshita Haruno do?
She had met countless people, so from the conversation just now, she could already make an initial judgment: with her current rhetoric, she might not be able to get the better of Leo.
It wasn't that her rhetoric and negotiation skills were poor; rather, this person was too fearless and acted as if the rules of the mundane world meant nothing, making Yukinoshita Haruno realize that even if they continued to talk, she wouldn't gain any significant advantage.
The boy in front of her seemed sunny and cheerful, easy to talk to, but in reality, he was extremely self-centered and would not be influenced by any external person, event, or thing.
To put it nicely, this was being assertive and confident; to put it bluntly, this was simply disregarding rules and completely failing to conform to social etiquette.
Since that was the case, she couldn't fall into the other party's rhythm and be led by the nose.
She knew too little about the other party; she hadn't thoroughly investigated him before coming, and in her unprepared state, wishing to maintain the initiative in the conversation was completely wishful thinking.
What confidence did the other party have to confront the next heir of the Yukinoshita Family so assertively, and did he have some extraordinary background that allowed him to remain so composed in front of her? Yukinoshita Haruno felt she needed to take some time to find out.
Otherwise, she might very well step into some terrible trap.
So, Yukinoshita Haruno prepared to retreat while she could.
"I haven't told Dad and Mom about this yet," Yukinoshita Haruno glanced at Yukinoshita Yukino and said, "Little Yukino, you're not a child anymore. I believe you understand what you should and shouldn't do."
"Let's stop here for today. I'll visit again another time."
Saying that, Yukinoshita Haruno turned to Leo and suddenly smiled.
"At that time, I hope Erigor-kun can continue to guide me as he has today."
Hearing this, Leo's eyes flickered slightly, and he couldn't help but inwardly praise her.
Is this Yukinoshita Haruno?
Realizing she was unprepared and the situation was unfavorable, she immediately retreated, making concessions at just the right moment, hoping to launch a more intense attack next time. She was truly decisive.
If such a clever woman could be recruited as a Retainer, giving her the "Queen" position might even be an option, right?
Unfortunately, this woman didn't seem to have any special qualifications.
Leo turned his consciousness to the devil chess piece he had hidden in the alternate dimension.
Of the total fourteen devil chess piece, only eight "Pawn" pieces were emitting a faint glow at this time; the remaining pieces showed no reaction at all.
Let alone the "Queen" piece, even the "Bishop," "Rook," and "Knight" pieces showed no reaction, proving that this perfect superhuman's quality in the inner world was far lower than Yukinoshita Yukino's.
If Yukinoshita Yukino, who had always admired her older sister but also lived in her shadow, constantly fantasizing about surpassing her sister, were to know this, what would she think?
Leo thought this with a touch of mischief.
Of course, the reaction of the devil chess piece was merely a hint, only to tell Leo whether the person in front of him was suitable to become his Retainer and how much potential they had. It didn't mean that those who didn't react couldn't be reincarnated using these devil chess piece.
Ultimately, the decision rested with Leo, and he was the user of the chess pieces. If he didn't care about the target's potential, or whether the target was suitable for reincarnation, and stubbornly wanted to take the person as a Retainer, it was still possible.
It's just that doing so would be a waste of his "Familiarization" characteristic, a waste of an opportunity to get feedback.
Leo, of course, wouldn't do such a thing.
So, although with some regret, Leo gave up on taking Yukinoshita Haruno as a Retainer.
Just like that, Yukinoshita Haruno left without a trace of lingering attachment.
But Yukinoshita Yukino didn't feel relieved at all; instead, she began to feel anxious.
"You're too cowardly, aren't you? The Yukinoshita Yukino I know isn't like this!"
Leo was amused by Yukinoshita Yukino's overly worried expression.
"You don't understand," Yukinoshita Yukino, however, was not in the mood to bicker with Leo; instead, she said with concern, "My sister is not someone who gives up easily."
"If she likes something, she'll play with it to death; if she dislikes something, she'll completely crush it. Only for things she has no interest in will she not interfere and do nothing."
"And her expression just now clearly told us that things aren't over."
"I'm afraid she might really find something out."
Yukinoshita Yukino didn't want her family to know that she had not only been killed once but had also become a Demon and Leo's Retainer servant.
From what she knew of her family, if they found out about this, they would definitely not let it go.
The esteemed daughter of the Yukinoshita Family becoming a Demon, and someone else's Retainer servant at that—how could they tolerate this?
Not to mention for her own sake, even for the sake of the Yukinoshita Family, they wouldn't tolerate it.
However, even if they couldn't tolerate it, there was nothing they could do. Their opponent was a genuine Demon, and a noble among Demons at that. Even if the Yukinoshita Family had immense power in the human world, they couldn't possibly get the better of Leo.
But what Yukinoshita Yukino feared was that they wouldn't see the situation clearly and would insist on clashing with Leo, which would only result in them getting badly hurt.
Most importantly, Yukinoshita Yukino didn't want her family to be dragged into this mysterious world.
She had genuinely died once because of the existence of this world, and she now knew that this world was not peaceful at all.
Although the three factions of Demons, Angels, and Fallen Angels no longer had large-scale conflicts and struggles, small-scale confrontations always existed, and these confrontations could potentially lead to casualties each time.
How could ordinary people, rashly entering such a world, not encounter danger?
If they were targeted by people from the inner world for investigating something they shouldn't have, it would be a losing battle.
Thinking of this, Yukinoshita Yukino became very worried.
"I can probably understand what you're worried about," Leo saw Yukinoshita Yukino's restless demeanor and immediately shook his head, saying, "Actually, your worries are unnecessary. Even if the Yukinoshita Family really gets involved in something, the Church people won't just stand by."
"The Church?" Yukinoshita Yukino paused slightly, surprised, "They'll help my family?"
"Barring any accidents, your family should be a key target of their attention," Leo analyzed for Yukinoshita Yukino, saying, "Chiba Prefecture is originally the Church's territory, and your family is a local prominent family in Chiba Prefecture, so it's impossible for them not to be on the Church's watch list."
"After all, Demons need high-quality transaction targets, and prominent families like the Yukinoshita Family are usually targeted."
"As long as the Church continuously monitors such existences, once they find something amiss, they can immediately come to exorcise Demons, and also use this to establish connections with local prominent families, gaining donations and such. If they can spread their faith and convert noble families into believers, the benefits are even greater."
"So, your family might have already secretly established ties with the local Church in Chiba Prefecture; that's not impossible."
Hearing this, Yukinoshita Yukino breathed a slight sigh of relief.
"Then they won't contact the Church people and have the Church's Exorcist come after us, will they?"
Yukinoshita Yukino started worrying about such things again.
"If they come, they come; we'll just send them away," Leo said dismissively, "It's still the same thing: right now, the Church people should be avoiding me, not the other way around. If your family really uses their connections with the Church to find out our identities, that just saves us trouble."
"From now on, you won't have to hide from your family and can openly engage in Demon activities."
Ultimately, Leo wasn't afraid, as fearless as Yukinoshita Haruno had thought, and therefore didn't take it seriously at all.
If he truly didn't want to be exposed, he would have used his magic to directly suggest or hypnotize Yukinoshita Haruno just now, making her ignore the matter between him and Yukinoshita Yukino.
"Compared to that, what we need to do tonight is more important."
Leo quickly put the Yukinoshita Family matter out of his mind and said these words to Yukinoshita Yukino.
"What we need to do tonight?" Yukinoshita Yukino's attention was diverted, and she paused slightly, confused, "Is there something that needs to be done tonight?"
"That's right," Leo nodded and said, "You've been a Demon for a month now. Besides making progress with your Demon work, you should have pretty much mastered your own abilities, right?"
"I guess so," Yukinoshita Yukino pursed her lips and said, "At least, I can already use magic power initially."
Yukinoshita Yukino raised her hand, and a surge of magic power suddenly emerged in her palm.
The magic power gradually changed, sometimes turning into raging fire, sometimes flowing water, sometimes a whirlwind, and sometimes cold ice, operating freely.
However, the greatest change was in the ice; the other powers were very weak and couldn't form an effective threat at all.
Clearly, Yukinoshita Yukino had great talent in the use of ice-based magic.
Perhaps this was also because her god-slaying tool was an ice-based god-slaying tool, and a god-slaying tool at that?
"The use of the god-slaying tool is also no problem now."
Behind Yukinoshita Yukino, the ice princess, formed from condensed ice, appeared faintly, emitting an astonishing chill.
"That's good."
Leo immediately nodded with satisfaction.
"Tonight, I'll take you to subjugate a Rogue Demon."
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