At home.
Rhode sat with his fingers interlaced, supporting his chin, a look of solemnity on his face. Opposite him, Xenovia and Irina were devouring bowls of ramen like starved wolves.
"So, you're saying that in a trip of just a few kilometers, you spent all your money to buy this completely useless painting?"
Beside Irina, a half-man-sized oil painting of a saint stood out prominently. According to her, it was an authentic work of a saint, but she couldn't even identify which saint it was supposed to be.
"Don't include me! It's purely because Irina is too stupid and got scammed! Who would believe that's a saint?"
"What are you saying?! This is a saint!" Irina slammed her chopsticks down in protest after swallowing a mouthful of noodles.
"Then do you know who it is? I have absolutely no memory of this saint!" Xenovia countered.
"Maybe it's Saint Peter?"
"Are you kidding?! Saint Peter doesn't look like that! There are statues of him all over the Church!"
"No, he looks exactly like that! He is Saint Peter!"
Looking at the red-faced Irina, Rhode felt she probably realized she'd been scammed but was too stubborn to admit she was wrong.
"Why is my partner someone like you... Lord... is this also a trial for me?!" Xenovia clutched her head, scratching at her scalp in frustration.
"Hey! Don't be like that, okay? Once you get dejected, you stay that way for a long time."
"Be quiet! I wouldn't be like this if it weren't for you! New Church members really are heretics; you have no respect for the saints at all!"
"What?! You stuffy, stubborn Catholics are the ones with the problem!"
"What did you say, you damn heretic?!""Do you want to throw down, you heretic?!"
The two of them, headbutting each other like randy bulls, left Rhode and the girls around him looking utterly bewildered.
Kuroka, on the other hand, was giggling uncontrollably. She hadn't expected to get a free comedy routine.
"Are they really going to be okay?" Asia asked, her voice laced with worry. It was the first time she had seen two companions argue so fiercely.
"Just a daily occurrence. They'll be fine in a second," Rhode said with a shrug.
True to his word, as soon as he spoke, the two girls immediately turned back to devouring their remaining ramen because their stomachs weren't full yet.
Five minutes later.
"Phew... I'm stuffed. But to think I'd be saved by a Fallen Angel... it feels like the end of the world is nigh." Xenovia looked at Raynare, who was dressed as a cook, and shook her head as she spoke.
"Hey! Not only did you not say thank you after filling your gut, but you're actually gossiping about me right to my face?! If you don't like it, spit it out right now!"
Refinement was a concept completely foreign to Raynare. Her polite and sensible act was reserved strictly for Rhode; toward outsiders, especially those from the Church, the Fallen Angel trio held no positive feelings. Of course, Asia was the exception.
"Hehe, thank you for the hospitality. Xenovia just doesn't know how to speak properly, so I hope you three kind-hearted Fallen Angels can forgive her." Irina Shidou crossed herself.
"But speaking of which, I didn't expect you to have a house in Kuoh Town, Rhode. You bought this with the commission the Church gave you, didn't you? And you've got so many women living with you... it's exactly as I imagined."
"Rhode, you aren't part of the Church, so I have no right to interfere in your private life," Xenovia said with a solemn face. "But as your friend, I still have to warn you: other races cannot be trusted. If you really want to find a woman, there are plenty of excellent human females out there."
"I really shouldn't have let you two eat your fill," Rhode muttered. If he didn't know their intentions weren't malicious, he would have tossed them out long ago.
Seeing Rhode's expression shift slightly, Xenovia—fearing he would actually snitch to Griselda—immediately changed the subject.
"Let's talk business," she said. "Our most basic task is to recover the three Holy Swords, or at the very least, destroy them with our own hands. But to be honest, if we're discovered by Kokabiel during the operation, the consequences will likely be severe. Since you arrived here before us, have you already grasped the basic situation?"
Xenovia waited for Rhode's response, only to see him looking at her with a peculiar expression.
"So, Griselda didn't tell you about the Holy Swords?"
"What?" The two girls looked confused.
Rhode then gave a concise explanation of the current situation.
Xenovia and Irina: "(ΩДΩ)"
After listening, they didn't know what to say for a long time. They were only a day late, yet a mission with a success rate of less than 30%—where they were likely to die in a foreign land—had been completely settled by Rhode alone!
It felt as though aliens had suddenly invaded Earth, the humans had united to drive them away, and they had only woken up after everything was over.
"Why didn't you wait for us?" Xenovia asked, rubbing her temples.
"If I had waited for you, the ship would have sailed. And don't think I don't know what you were thinking—you two were planning to bypass me to snatch the Holy Swords so you wouldn't have to pay the rest of my commission."
"That..." The two of them began to look away, their guilt obvious.
However, they were still internally shocked that Rhode could single-handedly recover all the Holy Swords and even deal with Kokabiel. Xenovia, in particular, had originally thought Rhode's strength was similar to theirs. She hadn't realized that he had pulled so far ahead in such a short time.
"Regardless, because Griselda couldn't reach you, she asked me to look after you. Now that the mission is over, what do you plan to do?"
The two looked at each other. The situation had developed so suddenly that they really hadn't thought about their next move. As Holy Sword wielders, their mission and responsibility were to execute the tasks assigned by the Church. Aside from their regular rest periods, they were either on a mission or on the way to one.
"Forget it, just ask her yourselves." Rhode didn't feel like worrying about it and tossed his phone to them to settle it themselves.
As he watched the two of them hesitating over whether to make the call, Rhode's mood felt a bit subtle. In this arc of the original story, Xenovia fell into despair after learning the truth that "God is Dead," feeling that her future was pitch black. Rias had taken advantage of that moment, using various favorable conditions to entice her into joining her peerage.
But now, not only was the Red Dragon Emperor missing from Rias's team, but Asia and Xenovia hadn't joined either. He felt a tiny bit sorry for her.
However, Rhode quickly tossed that thought aside. Rias's life in the original story had been far too comfortable. By doing this, he was actually stimulating her drive to improve. It was for her own good.
I'm basically a damn saint, Rhode thought.
────────────────────────────────────────
Support me here: https://[email protected]/AuAuMon
Spring Sale Special – 20% OFF!
High School DxD : Reincarnated into the Multiverse, but it's High School DxD (200 Chapters – Ongoing)
Join the journey and become part of the story!
────────────────────────────────────────