Rias did not ask for too many details.
After learning that the barrier out in the suburbs had been put up by Rod, she hurriedly hung up.
With the high-level conference of the three major factions just around the corner, she was extremely busy as the local lord.
But in Rod's eyes, Rias was just busying herself for nothing.
After all, her job was just to set up the conference room at Kuoh Academy, move some things around with her peerage, and arrange a few decorations. Simply put, she was basically doing odd jobs.
"Looks like no one realizes the conference is going to be attacked."
Rod stroked his chin, not quite sure what the Underworld side was thinking.
Since Sirzechs and Serafall had already come to the human world to inspect things themselves, they should have known perfectly well that Rias had a shut-in vampire peerage member.
And that peerage member's main problem was not social anxiety, but the Sacred Gear ability she could not control.
Once it activated, it would cause large-scale time stop.
He had no idea how Sirzechs and the others had agreed not to clear the area out.
Judging from how they acted in the original plot, it did not seem as though they had anticipated the possibility of the Khaos Brigade attacking either.
After all, they had made no preparations at all.
Could it be that Rias had once again pulled some nonsense like 'I trust my peerage'?
"No, wait, why am I thinking about this so much? It has nothing to do with me anyway."
Rod came to a sudden realization.
Since he now had half a day of free time, he had no intention of just sitting around at home.
After saying a few words to Lavinia and the others, Rod opened the system map, selected the teleport anchor at the Khaos Brigade headquarters in Romania, and teleported back.
...…
The forest at dawn carried the slight chill of night dew, and the moss-covered stone paths gave off a damp, cold feel.
White mist drifted through the woods, but as morning light arrived and the sun gradually climbed higher, patches of light danced across the ground and warmed it, causing the chill in the air to slowly fade.
When Rod appeared at the Khaos Brigade headquarters, he noticed that the place felt much more deserted.
He could only sense a few scattered presences spread around different parts of the estate.
Thinking about it carefully, that made sense. Last time had probably been a brief gathering of the various factions within the Khaos Brigade. Under normal circumstances, the headquarters naturally did not need that many people around.
And although it was called the Khaos Brigade headquarters, everyone knew that, strictly speaking, this was really just a place set aside to house Ophis, the Infinite Dragon God.
When there was no need for 'the Snake,' hardly anyone wanted to stay here.
Although Ophis was nominally the leader of the Khaos Brigade, almost no one genuinely treated her as the boss.
Most of them were simply using the Infinite Dragon God's name and the chance to obtain the Snake's power to strengthen the organizations they belonged to.
Only the bare minimum of guards had been left behind in the manor, the idea being that if anything happened, they could at least notify the major factions in time.
After leaving the teleport anchor and entering the building, Rod was met head-on by a stray devil who strode over aggressively.
"Who are you?!"
"Get lost."
"Right away."
Seeing that Rod's presence was fiercer than his own, the stray devil immediately nodded and walked off.
That attitude was enough to confirm it, he was one of their own.
The forces within the Khaos Brigade were a mixed bag, and although he was a devil, there was no reason for him to offend someone from another faction who clearly looked much stronger than himself.
After that, Rod made his way unimpeded into the room where Ophis was staying.
Compared to the last time he had come, there was still almost no change in the interior décor. The only differences were that there was now electricity, along with a computer, quite a few game consoles, and a small pile of snacks.
Rod remembered that he had left Ophis quite a lot of snacks last time. A few days had passed, and it seemed she had eaten quite a bit of them.
But where were all the empty wrappers?
The next second, Rod watched with his own eyes as Ophis picked up a piece of bread wrapped in plastic from beside her and stuffed it straight into her mouth, chewing it together with the packaging.
"?"
Seeing that, Rod quickly strode over and snatched the half-eaten bread, wrapper and all, out of her mouth.
That was an extremely dangerous move.
After all, Rod had no idea whether the Infinite Dragon God had the habit of guarding her food.
But when he saw Ophis merely raise her head and look at him in confusion, Rod quietly let out a sigh of relief.
Thankfully, she was not like the black cat at home, who loved guarding her food. Otherwise, a giant 'Danger' sign would have appeared right in front of him by now.
"It doesn't taste good."
Ophis recognized Rod.
After all, Rod was still the first person who had not come to take anything from her, but had instead left her a great many things.
It was just that Ophis was not very satisfied with the so-called "food" Rod had left behind.
It scratched at her throat a little, though the stuff inside tasted somewhat sweet.
"You're impressive, all right. You can even eat plastic wrappers."
After saying that, Rod continued, "Did you eat all those snacks like this before too?"
"That's right."
Ophis nodded.
"Because you said they were food, so I just ate them."
Hearing that, Rod could not help raising a thumb in admiration.
As expected of the Infinite Dragon God. She could even eat the outer packaging and digest it too.
But then, thinking about it again, Ophis seemed a little pitiful.
She had walked the earth for thousands of years, yet did not even know how to eat the most ordinary kinds of food.
"You've never eaten this stuff before?"
He was a little curious.
"No. This is the first time I've seen food like this."
Well, that explained it.
Without the slightest blush or guilt, Rod picked up a fresh snack, completely ignoring the fact that it was his own fault Ophis had eaten so much plastic.
"You're supposed to remove the outer packaging on these snacks first. Only then can you eat what's inside."
"Oh."
Ophis's eyes widened slightly as she watched Rod's movements closely.
Then she accepted the dorayaki he held out to her and first stuck out her tongue to take a small lick.
Rod noticed her eyes brighten just a little, and before he could say anything, Ophis had already devoured the dorayaki in big bites.
"Sweet. Tasty."
Without that plastic wrapper getting in the way, the flavor of the pastry fully bloomed on her tongue, and Ophis quickly changed her opinion of snacks.
When Rod saw that she kept staring at him after finishing it, he understood that she was waiting to be fed more.
So he simply picked Ophis up and placed her on his lap, then continued tearing open other snack packages to feed her.
After all, he had come here this time to build up favor with Ophis. And after that little stunt of snatching food from a dragon's mouth just now, Rod also knew that Ophis was completely defenseless around him, so he began acting much more boldly.
The facts proved that even picking her up and setting her on his lap had not caused the slightest dislike from Ophis.
She had been a little puzzled at first, but was quickly distracted by the snacks, and before long a pile of plastic wrappers had grown beside the two of them.
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