Iluka immediately imagined the scene of herself and Ravel being placed on the same bed.
Because she knew very well: if she agreed, then a plural marriage was nothing unusual for Sai Akuto at this point.
The position of Commander of the DxD Organization gave Sai Akuto status equal to that of Maou-class rulers.
And last night's achievement of capturing the leaders of the Old Maou faction proved both his combat strength and his right to possess such a status.
Add to that his unbelievably young age… after all, Sai Akuto wasn't even in his third year of high school yet!
With so many conditions stacked together, any normal unmarried female devil would be tempted. The majority would even choose to proactively throw themselves at him.
Not to mention, Iluka had Ravel, her long-time friend and ally, covering for her.
The only problem was…
"Ravel… why do you always want me to be involved in everything you do? And I'm not interested in work investigations."
At that, Ravel fell silent for a long time before finally opening her pink lips.
"Because… the competition is far too strong. Far, far too strong…"
...
At present, the world acknowledged only Rias and Ravel as Sai Akuto's fiancées.
But Ravel knew this was far from the full picture. The environment of love around Sai Akuto was vastly more complicated.
The "Church Four,"
The "Fallen Angel Trio,"
The "Apocalypse Group,"
And even the Night Raid Group from the Akame Ga Kill world (after the world fusion, they obtained legal identities in the neighboring Anvale City)…
Every one of them held influence over him.
At first, she could rely on her greater time spent by Sai Akuto to monopolize much of his attention.
But as she understood more… Ravel realized she could only accept the reality that Sai Akuto's number of partners was large, and would only keep growing.
However, acceptance did not mean passivity. After accepting everything, Ravel continued her research behind the scenes.
She had realized clearly that her own strength alone could not help Sai Akuto much.
So she began studying—seriously—how to become Sai Akuto's most competent secretary.
And she knew: not only she, but the other girls… and even Sai Akuto himself, were all working hard.
Bringing Iluka into the group was one of Ravel's efforts in maintaining "balance" behind the scenes.
...
"So the competition really is that strong…?"
Iluka swallowed hard.
Weren't Sai Akuto's fiancées only Rias and Ravel?
Was there something she didn't know?
"Mm. There are things you don't know, Iluka. But since you haven't made up your mind yet, I can't tell you the full truth."
"The only thing I can tell you is this: Sai Akuto has personally selected one female devil with acceptable strength and appearance from each of the three Old Maou families to manage those clans in his place."
Sai Akuto intended to publicly announce the subjugation of the Old Maou clans anyway. Thus, this was the partial truth Ravel disclosed to Iluka.
"Eh?! Sai Akuto-kun… he actually subdued the three Maou clans in that way?!"
Iluka's silver twin-tails flicked, and her ears turned a delicate pink.
This kind of method to subdue devil clans… was unheard of!
"Of course. That is Sai Akuto-kun's way. Iluka, don't you think this is actually quite a reasonable approach?"
"If not for Sai Akuto-kun, the members of the three Maou clans would have suffered severe punishment, or perhaps fled again. Except this time, instead of open rebellion, they would disappear into hiding forever."
"Compared to that outcome, the current arrangement is far more beneficial for both sides."
Ravel lifted her teacup and took a gentle sip.
"I… I suppose… perhaps you're right," Iluka muttered, using her own teacup to hide her shock and embarrassment.
...
Seeing that Iluka was still hesitating, Ravel prepared her trump card.
Because she already understood what Sai Akuto currently lacked.
Subjugating the three Old Maou clans was beneficial, but it also made Sai Akuto's subordinates far too skewed toward the "Old Maou color."
Over time, people would eventually understand that there were no more "Old Maou," only "Akuto's faction."
But until then, Sai Akuto needed to balance his internal powers.
Both she and Rias were part of the Reformation faction, but neither inherited their family heads' positions.
So Ravel planned to recruit more devils from the Reformation side.
Iluka—was her first and best target.
Iluka was the niece of the current Maou Asmodeus, Falbium.
Even if she could not represent the Maou himself, marrying Iluka contained strong political implications.
Ravel hoped Iluka could join her.
But if Iluka declined, she would simply find someone else.
Watching her friend drink like a nervous little squirrel, Ravel delivered the final strike.
"Sigh~"
"If Iluka, you really don't want to… then I'll have no choice but to approach someone else."
"In fact, Lady Latia of House Astaroth already contacted me, hoping I'd help her get in as well."
Iluka instantly snapped.
"Eh?! L-Latia-sama?! Ravel, you've already contacted others?!"
Ravel was very satisfied with Iluka's reaction.
"It's not that I contacted them. It's that many pure-blood devil women have contacted me. They probably believe that, as a later-arriving fiancée, I'm more approachable than Lady Rias."
"Lady Rias doesn't want to be troubled by these matters, so after enough of them piled up, she just handed the entire workload to me."
Rias was different from Ravel.
In terms of combat ability, she still had huge room to grow.
Recently, Sai Akuto had finally revealed most of the truth about himself to Rias.
Rias had long known that Sai Akuto was surrounded by many women—but she had not expected him to be traversing alternate worlds and collecting even more partners there.
She had only known that Sai Akuto had a method to enter other worlds with five-times training efficiency.
She did not know he now owned the entire other world and all the beauties within it.
Of course, she also understood that building a palace was not Sai Akuto's goal, merely a side effect of his pursuit of power.
In the end, Rias could only sigh, accept reality, and require that Sai Akuto spend time with her at least once every day.
What else could she do? Divorce him? Leave him?
As long as Sai Akuto treated her well and her position as chief wife was assured, Rias didn't care about those "extra" details.
She had shared a bed with Ravel and Ravel's peerage more times than she could count; pressure was the last thing she felt.
Now, the only difference was that a future scenario she had once imagined was suddenly happening much earlier.
Accepting reality, she made a solemn decision—to raise her strength as much as possible.
Realizing that all of Sai Akuto's women were contributing to him in various ways, Rias felt both admiration and pressure.
So she began engaging in bloodline infusion more actively.
Her bloodline had already been near gold rank. After receiving Sai Akuto's essence, it fully crossed that threshold.
Now, after Sai Akuto had fused the Red Dragon Emperor's soul and reached Main God-class, Rias trained alongside Gasper while receiving Sai Akuto's bloodline enhancements.
She had already reached high-tier Maou.
In truth, every one of Sai Akuto's companions had risen at least one or two tiers thanks to his explosive growth.
Being infused by a Maou-class Akuto and being infused by a Main God-class Akuto were two completely different concepts.
Until they hit their bottlenecks, they would all continue growing at high speed.
...
In addition to raising her main body's strength, Rias began practicing combined techniques and fusion skills with Gasper.
Sai Akuto recommended this because their powers shared similar qualities and complemented each other.
Gasper possessed the terrifying power of Magic God Balor (Main God-class), which was why he could annihilate the user of "Dimension Lost" when rampaging.
By relying on the power of Balor inside him, Gasper in the original storyline eventually became one of the six transcendents of the Underworld thirty years later.
Unfortunately, Gasper could not control that power properly yet.
Until he formed a real relationship with Akuto, he remained stuck at High-ranking Devil level.
But guided by Rias, he could borrow her resonance, and she could borrow his power—creating a win-win.
A high-tier Maou Rias and a high-ranking devil Gasper, through joint training, could already unleash Balor's Main God-class energy at peak Super-Maou level.
If the two of them raised their tiers even one more stage…
Then the full power of Magic God Balor would erupt—unleashing true Main God-class might.
...
Overall, while Rias was fully absorbed in training and uninterested in meddling with matters beyond her peerage…
Ravel was drowning in the sheer number of female devils seeking entry.
In only two days since Sai Akuto became Commander, over twenty devil families had already approached her.
Given that many devil women wanted to join, if Iluka refused, Ravel truly had no problem finding someone else to balance Sai Akuto's forces.
"So, Iluka—will you join us? If you don't want to… I really will have to pick someone else."
Ravel lifted her cup and looked at Iluka gently.
"…Fine. I'll agree."
Having finally reached a decision, Iluka spoke—her cheeks burning red.
In the end, Iluka accepted her friend Ravel's proposal.
(End of Chapter)
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