Of course, that had nothing to do with Rhode. He only cared about whether he could trigger some new missions here.
Walburga didn't talk with Rhode much longer. After all, they were just acquaintances, and with Jeanne radiating hostility, she tactfully left.
"To think Ophis is really here. She's a being even Gods dare not provoke. I wonder what those people promised her to make her stay."
"The name 'Khaos Brigade' sounds quite a bit like a terrorist organization."
The world's strongest Dragon God, acting as the leader of a terrorist group?
"Eh? Is our Hero Faction not one, too?" Rhode asked, quite surprised.
"Of course not! Most of us in the Hero Faction are descendants of heroes. How could we be associated with a terrorist organization?" Jeanne refuted him passionately, as if she had just heard a shocking story. "We are a righteous faction with an honorable cause! Terrorist organizations are exactly what we should be crusading against!"
"In that case, let's just 'rat-a-tat-tat' this place then," Rhode said, pulling two Desert Eagles from his pants.
"Hey, hey, don't be so impulsive!" Jeanne saw Rhode pull his guns and immediately pushed them back down. Though she hadn't known him long, she knew Rhode had a mind of his own. "And I said the Khaos Brigade only sounds like the name of one. It might not actually be one."
"Oh." Rhode calmly put his guns away. He had actually been testing if he could trigger a mission to destroy the Khaos Brigade. Unfortunately, it didn't work.
"By the way, you still haven't told me why the Hero Faction is joining the Khaos Brigade."
"Naturally, it's for... uh." Jeanne stopped mid-sentence. In truth, she didn't know why the Hero Faction—which was already its own organization—would choose to join another.
Watching the thoughtful Jeanne, Rhode said with a light smile, "I recall you said the goal of the Hero Faction is to achieve great things and let the Gods and Buddhas witness human strength. In that case, I don't think the Hero Faction needs to join or rely on any other faction."
"Also, you should know about those Devils negotiating with Ophis, right?"
"Mhm. I heard they're from the Underworld, but not Stray Devils—they're a faction loyal to the Old Satan Faction," Jeanne nodded. "I also heard the Three Factions are preparing for a high-level meeting. The Old Satan Faction is negotiating with Ophis now, likely wanting to use her power to deal with the current Devil Kings."
Everything afterward was Jeanne's own speculation. After all, the Old Satan Faction's plan was obvious to anyone. They were a long-standing faction living on the borders of the Underworld, harboring a grudge against the current government and wanting to return to the capital, Lilith, at any cost. If they could obtain the power of the Infinite Dragon God, they might be able to restore the old order.
"But what does that have to do with the Hero Faction?" Jeanne asked.
"You're right. What does it have to do with the Hero Faction?" Rhode said with a smile. "If I were Cao Cao, I wouldn't let the Hero Faction wade into these muddy waters."
"You think you're Cao Cao?" Siegfried, who had been silent, suddenly spoke up with a sneer. "What a fanciful guy. No one can replace Cao Cao. Without him, there is no Hero Faction."
After speaking, seemingly unwilling to listen to Rhode's long-winded talk, he stood up and left.
"Sorry, Siegfried is just like that. But he's right—Cao Cao is the backbone of our faction. He is irreplaceable." Jeanne shook her head with a smile. She actually thought highly of Rhode, but it was more out of an elder's care and a bit of attraction to a handsome member of the opposite sex.The grand speech Cao Cao had given when he recruited her had made Jeanne, who had been "idling away" her life in the Church, feel her blood boil. It was that fire that drove her to join the Hero Faction, hoping to carve out a name for herself in the world.
Rhode, however, didn't seem bothered by her words. "Heroes never appear for the sake of achieving great deeds."
"Then what are they for?"
Jeanne was stunned. This felt completely different from what Cao Cao and the others had told her. They were all descendants of heroes; their ancestors had achieved legendary feats and were remembered by history, yet her generation was relegated to living out a mundane, mediocre existence.
The hero blood in their veins rebelled against such a fate every waking second. They wanted to prove that neither Gods nor Devil Kings could look down on them! How could someone be called a hero if they just spent their life in obscurity?
But just as Jeanne was about to retort, Rhode stood up.
Warm sunlight happened to stream through the window, bathing him in a glow. The shimmering light framed him like a saint from a holy scripture. "Only those who fight to protect others can truly be called heroes."
"..."
Jeanne watched this scene, her mouth hanging open slightly. She felt a very specific, unique aura radiating from Rhode in that moment. As she replayed his words in her mind, she felt a tremor in her very soul.
A hero... isn't for fame or glory, but for... protecting others?
Jeanne looked at her hands and recalled the battle they had fought side-by-side in Italy. She remembered the way those humans had looked at her after they killed the vampires—their eyes were filled with the kind of reverence one reserved for a savior.
"I've said my piece. The rest is up to you to figure out." Rhode patted Jeanne on the shoulder.
To be honest, he had initially thought the fanatics in the Hero Faction would be hard to deal with. But then he realized—if Cao Cao could brainwash them so thoroughly, why couldn't he?
Most members of the Hero Faction were under twenty. As descendants of heroes, they craved recognition. To put it bluntly, most of them were just a bunch of teenagers suffering from chuunibyou; they were incredibly easy to incite and manipulate.
Thus, when Rhode saw Jeanne again, he had carefully organized his "script." It was impossible to simply convince her to "go straight," but since she was so obsessed with the "Hero" game, he decided to feed her some of the "chicken soup for the soul" he had learned in his past life.
After all, he hadn't watched all those episodes of Ultraman and Kamen Rider for nothing. And to make it more convincing, he had used a bit of Senjutsu to cast a light spell on himself. Blinding light pollution definitely added a touch of divinity—it was incredibly effective against people like Jeanne.
In fact, Jeanne had noticed Rhode's blatant use of a light spell to show off, but she had to admit that compared to Cao Cao, Rhode's words actually made sense. Especially her own ancestor—she had fought to liberate France and its people. In that moment, the soul of her ancestor within her seemed to vibrate.
Oh, my God. Who should I believe? Cao Cao or Rhode?
Just as Jeanne was about to continue discussing the topic of heroes, she realized Rhode was already walking deep into the building.
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High School DxD : Reincarnated into the Multiverse, but it's High School DxD (200 Chapters – Ongoing)
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