From inside, a voice that seemed to belong to Rias Gremory replied…
"Yes, please come in."
"Mmph..." Elfaria furrowed her brow.
A visiting high-class devil had arrived. The proper etiquette would be for a servant to open the door and welcome him. For another high-class devil to act as if she were the superior was nothing short of discourteous.
Properly speaking, they should have sent an escort, or at the very least, stationed a servant in front of the old school building to guide them. That would have been the reasonable thing to do.
Kurosaki Renya cast Elfaria a look that said 'don't let it bother you,' gently patted her shoulder, and then, though the faint sound of running water from inside bothered him, he placed his hand on the door and stepped in.
"Come on, Elfaria-chan. Let's go?"
"...Okay."
Orihime also spoke to her kindly, and Elfaria, swallowing her dissatisfaction for the moment, followed. After closing the door behind them, she frowned at the state of the room.
The floor, the walls, even the ceiling were covered in devil script. What stood out the most was the circular array drawn on the floor in the center—a magic circle, no doubt.
Rather than the room of an Occult Research Club, it felt more like the lair of devil worshippers.
Besides those elements occupying most of the classroom, there were a few sofas and several desks.
The quality of the furnishings was immediately recognizable as expensive, far exceeding a typical club budget. And remodeling a borrowed space to this extent without restraint was beyond excessive.
While Kurosaki took in the room, his gaze settled on a petite girl with short white hair adorned with a black cat hairpin, seated on a sofa. Her youthful face and small build made her look like an elementary school student at a glance, but since she wore the academy's uniform, she was likely a high schooler unless she had skipped grades.
He understood that she was a high school student serving as a Gremory servant, but judging by her figure, she hardly seemed the same age as them.
She couldn't possibly be a third-year, and even if she were a first-year, it was hard to believe. At best, she looked like an upper-grade elementary schooler.
Renya lost interest in her then and there.
He had no intention of flaunting his authority, but he couldn't muster any interest in someone who, despite the visit of a high-class devil, sat expressionlessly munching on yokan. An ordinary high-class devil would have struck her down for such insolence.
'The mistress influences the servants. Because they're the sister of a Maou and her servants, do they all fancy themselves elevated?'
Writing them off, Kurosaki removed the girl—Toujou Koneko—from his awareness and shifted his gaze to the blond boy with a distinctive beauty mark beneath his eye, standing by the wall with his head bowed—Kiba Yuuto.
Not coming to greet them was a demerit, but compared to Koneko, it was a somewhat more acceptable response. He was the only one who showed even a modicum of manners. Though strictly the bare minimum.
Still, there were far greater offenders present than those two.
The sound of a shower he had heard from in front of the door. Its source was from behind a shower curtain at the far side of the room. The feminine silhouette cast upon the curtain was most likely Rias.
On the outside of that shower curtain stood a woman with long black hair tied in a ponytail, a gentle smile on her face, holding a bath towel. Her graceful, Yamato Nadeshiko-like demeanor was striking, but the fact that she didn't spare them so much as a glance showed her utter disregard for etiquette.
'That must be Himejima Akeno, the 'Queen' who supports the 'King' and is also known as the 'Priestess of Thunder,'' Kurosaki Renya thought, inwardly stunned by the fathomless nature of the Gremory household, though his expression betrayed nothing.
And in the sense that they far underperformed even his lowest expectations...
He had no idea where they drew water from to install a shower in the clubroom, but as he continually downgraded his evaluation of the unrestrained Rias and her clique, the sound of water stopping reached his ears.
"Buchou, here."
Akeno said this and handed a bath towel through the shower curtain.
"Thank you, Akeno."
Understanding from behind the curtain that Rias was drying her body and getting dressed, Renya averted his gaze both out of disinterest and a modicum of propriety. Just because they were rude didn't mean he should sink to their level.
A short while later, the curtain opened, and Rias emerged, now changed into her uniform, her long crimson hair still slightly damp.
Rias Gremory looked at Kurosaki Renya, and a soft smile graced her lips.
"Oh my, you're already here. You could have sat down and waited, you know?"
She said it so nonchalantly, but arriving five minutes before the appointed time was nothing unusual, and if they were to sit, it was the servants' duty to offer them seats—yet they had done no such thing. Renya let none of this show in his words or expression.
Faced with Rias, who offered neither apology nor anything of the sort, Renya had already decided to accept them as they were and spoke up to get things moving.
"I came to pay a courtesy visit. And I understand you have something to discuss as well?"
"Yes, that's right. For now, please have a seat."
Only when Rias said this did Koneko finally rise and retreat to where Kiba stood by the wall.
Rias then seated herself on the sofa, with Akeno taking her place behind her.
Renya sat down facing Rias directly, while Elfaria stood behind him.
"Allow me to reintroduce myself. I am Leonhard Pheles of the House of Pheles, a Special-class Devil. Due to certain circumstances, I've come to Japan in the guise of a study abroad student."
"I am Rias Gremory, the next head of the House of Gremory. I welcome you."
Rias responded confidently to Kurosaki Renya's introduction as a devil.
"...Or so I'd like to say, but that depends on your intentions here."
However, Rias added this, directing a probing gaze at him.
"Is that what you wanted to talk about?"
"Yes, it is. I've heard that four years ago, you were involved in quite a significant disturbance in this country. And now you've suddenly come back again. It's only natural to assume there's something going on, don't you think?"
So she did possess at least that much wariness. At Rias's words, Akeno and the other servants also let their vigilance seep through.
It seemed they had done the bare minimum of investigation, understanding that Renya had been connected to the incident originating from the "Utsusemi Agency" four years ago.
Since Kurosaki hadn't exactly hidden it, it was only natural they'd know that much; and because information had been manipulated, they likely hadn't grasped the full picture...
----------
Comment, Review, Power Stones if you love the story.
Read Advanced 10 Chapters At Patreon Now: patreon.com/c/Mike_Kun