As the banquet reached its end, Kuroka tugged on Rhodes' sleeve and whispered, asking when they could go home. Sitting at a table with two Satans was a lot of pressure.
"Have some spine," Rhodes whispered back. "You aren't afraid of those two girls at home, so why fear them? Where's the courage you had when you were hissing at me?"
"You fed it out of me, meow," Kuroka replied, fully embracing her status as a pampered pet. She just wanted to go back to her little nest.
Kuroka's mention reminded Rhodes of something. "Oh, right. Sirzechs, Sera-chan, I have a favor to ask."
Rhodes grabbed the shrinking Kuroka by the scruff of her neck and lifted her up. "This is Kuroka. She's currently an SS-class criminal in the Underworld. Could you do me a favor and clear her bounty?"
"An SS-class criminal?" Sirzechs frowned slightly. While many were on the bounty list, S-class and above were rare. SS-class could be counted on one hand.
Seeing Rhodes offer her up, Kuroka lost all courage to even look up. Koneko also became tense. Kuroka was her sister, after all; she might act cold, but she'd be devastated if anything actually happened to her.
"Her name is Kuroka. You should recognize it."
"Kuroka? So she's the sister of Little Rias's servant, Koneko?" Sirzechs knew his sister's peerage well. Kiba was a survivor of the Holy Sword Project, Akeno was from the five clans and a half-fallen angel, and Koneko was a Nekomata.
The incident with Koneko's sister had been quite famous in the Underworld. She had killed her master and several colleagues before vanishing. Because of the brutality, she was initially labeled S-class. When the Underworld sent teams to hunt her down and she killed an Ultimate-class Devil, her status was bumped to SS-class. The enforcement teams didn't report directly to the Satans, so they weren't intimately familiar with the day-to-day details.
"Brother, I've looked into this," Rias cut in, wanting to repay Rhodes for his help. "There were hidden circumstances behind why Kuroka killed her master. Apparently, her master was conducting illegal, inhumane experiments. Kuroka acted on impulse to protect Koneko."
"Sera-chan, was it that incident?" Serafall asked, looking like she'd remembered something.
"Yeah, most likely," Sirzechs nodded, a wry smile on his face. "In that case, I'll look into the details when I return to the Underworld. If it's true, I'll have the bounty removed."
"That works," Rhodes nodded. It wasn't an immediate cancellation, but it was basically a done deal.
He understood why they were being cryptic. The Naberius branch had been conducting research into "Artificial Transcendentals." Because of the existence of Risevim, Sirzechs, and Ajuka, some pure-blood devils were obsessed with trying to reach that level through human experimentation. The project had been shut down by the current government after the Kuroka incident. Rhodes recalled that the research was eventually taken over by another organization, and a few artificial transcendentals did show up late in the story, but that didn't matter right now.
Rhodes let go of Kuroka's neck. She was scared half to death, but Koneko let out a sigh of relief, her eyes full of gratitude toward Rhodes.
With the two Satans joining in, the banquet ended on a mix of tension and joy. Akeno saw Rhodes and the others off. Sirzechs didn't return to the Underworld immediately; he watched the car pull away and said to Rias with a smile, "Mr. Rhodes is quite the talented young man. To have such power at his age..."
"And the blonde witch beside him is no joke either. She seems to be a Longinus host! ~~~" Serafall added.
"A human capable of gathering so many powerful companions might be seen as a threat by some. Fortunately, his attitude toward the Underworld is positive; otherwise, he wouldn't have killed Kokabiel."
"Though I heard he has three Fallen Angel maids at home. This man is hard to read."
"It doesn't matter, as long as he maintains this relationship with us. By the way, Little Rias, what do you think of him?" Sirzechs asked, shifting his focus to his sister.
"Uh... he's a bit punchable when he speaks, does that count?" Even if he spoke the truth, couldn't he be a bit more tactful?
"I actually admire his honesty. He lives freely without caring about others' opinions. But I meant in other ways. Specifically... what are his good points?"
"Good points?" Rias thought for a moment. "He's strong, direct, and friendly enough toward devils. If you can understand how he thinks, he's actually easy to talk to. He's... handsome... does that count?"
Rias had almost said "kind," but being in Japan, she was influenced by anime where the heroine always calls the hero kind. On second thought, Rhodes wasn't "kind" at all. A man who meets a girl for the first time, insults her, and tells her to be his cook could never be described as "gentle."
"Mm... and?"
"Huh? That's all I can think of for now." Rias didn't know what had gotten into her brother. She'd known Rhodes for less than two weeks and had met him fewer than five times—less than Akeno and Koneko. How was she supposed to know all his good points?
"What I mean is... how does he compare to Riser Phenex?"
"He wins by a landslide, obviously," Rias said without thinking. But she quickly realized what was happening. "Wait. Brother, what do you mean?!"
"Just asking, don't mind it," Sirzechs said with a chuckle. But his smile made Rias certain there was a trap in that question. Is he trying to set me up with Rhodes?! Hold on! I don't even know what kind of person Rhodes really is yet; how could we be that hasty?!
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High School DxD : Reincarnated into the Multiverse, but it's High School DxD (227 Chapters – Ongoing)
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