Dungeons and Devils (Chapter 19) (Patreon)

I am stood beside a busty red head, a blonde, and three back haired women, the first of which has an incredibly large bust and her hair tied back in a ponytail, the second having far shorter hair, a smaller chest, and purple glasses. The final one a mix of both, she has long hair, wears glasses, has a sizable bust, and strangely enough, she has heterochromia, having one purple eye and one brown eye.

A brown haired woman sits in a desk to the right of us, she smiles briefly as she gestures to us. "These six are going to be learning with you from now on, may we have your names and a little fact about yourselves?"

"My name is Rias Gremory, I'm from Europe, I've always admired Japanese culture and it's a dream come true to finally be able to learn more about it!"

The boys of the class are awestruck by her appearance.

"Do we have any questions for miss Gremory?"

A couple of hands raise immediately.

"Yes?" The teacher asks as they point to a boy near the front.

"Are you dating anyone?" They ask immediately.

"No." Rias states.

"Would you-"

"No." She smiles, earning a few winces from the class and a couple low 'Ooohs' at this guy's brutal rejection.

*Ahem* the teacher coughs. "A-Anyone else?"

A girl raises her hand.

"Yes?"

"What was Europe like?"

"It was nice, but I've never really left so, I don't really know what I could tell you about it, that makes it different from here quite yet." She replies easily.

The teacher looks to Sona. "What about you?"

"My name is Souna Shitori, I am from Germany, I hope you all treat me well." The short haired girl bows her head slightly.

"Any questions for her?"

Nobody raises her hands, and I think that caused a small crack in Sona's confidence.

Sona's Queen takes over. "My name is Tsubaki Shinra, I lived in Sona's town, so we are good friends."

A hand is raised. "What's it like in Germany?"

'and nobody questions the very japan-like name'. I mentally scoff.

"Oh, it's quite nice." The heterochromatic girl smiles. "It's a beautiful place with quite a few historic sites. Castles dot the rolling hills, and it's a bit cold sometimes, but not really enough to be a bother."

"Hi." The final black haired girl waves. "My name is Akeno Himejima, I'm originally from Japan, but I left a few years ago to study abroad. I hope you all will take care of me."

There's a few gasps in the class about how pretty or hot she is, a couple hands are raised.

"Yes?" The teacher asks as she gestures to a girl.

"Why did you leave?"

Akeno's smile falls. "No comment."

Another hand is raised. "Are you dating anyone?"

"No." She mutters slowly.

"W-"

"No." She smiles, taking pleasure in the brutal rejection she just doled out on some poor hopeful idiot.

The teacher looks to the blonde in the room.

She waves a hand. "Hello, my name is Artoria Lily, I'm from Britain."

Several hands raise immediately at the pony-tailed blonde. "I like sword fighting and I'm not looking for a boyfriend at the moment."

Every single boy with a raised hand lowers them.

"Sword fighting?" One of the girls ask. "So, like kendo?"

"I guess." The female king of the Britons shrugs.

The eyes of the class are drawn to me as I give a small wave. "Yo, I'm Gaius Malt, an American, I've decided to study in Japan for some personal reasons I don't want to get into at the moment."

A few hands are raised.

"Are the stereotypes true?" One guy asks.

"What do you mean." I blink.

"Uh, guns, trucks, and greasy food."

"Pretty much, yeah." I nod. "Guns are quite common in America, I'd say that at least one in every two or three families have at least one gun? As for the trucks thing, I'm fairly certain those are only more common in the south, then for the greasy food? *Sigh* yeah."

A girl's hand raises. "Are you seeing anyone?"

"I have a girlfriend, yes." I nod.

"Awww." Several of the girls around class sigh.

"…"

"Alright, please find a seat around class." The teacher slowly begins. "Then we can start our first lesson of today."

**Linebreak**

"This is the GREATEST!" Rias grins from the seat across from me.

'a bunch of devils pretending to be human... ironic.'

'true.'

We are both currently sat within the old school building of Kuoh academy, the home of the newly created Occult Research Club.

So far it has quite a few members, Rias, the president, myself as the vice president, then our peerages as the members.

We have Akeno, as the third in command who is sitting nearby shuffling paperwork, Kiba and Koneko- both of whom haven't arrived yet- Artoria, who is sat on a nearby sofa enjoying some pudding, Gasper, who is in a box somewhere else in the school building, probably talking to Valerie over the internet, and finally we've got my new bishop... my Second Bishop... Ravel who also isn't here yet. She's in the same class as Koneko.

Virgo, Tyra, and Valerie all have stayed in the underworld. The first, to protect my house, the second, because honestly I get chills every single time I think about letting her out of the mansion, and the third trapped in her box for her own safety.

She is getting better, of course, syphoning the magic that remains the circle seems to have reversed some of the effects of her gear. Then there's the fact that she keeps cuddling my arm. That's certainly nice.

"Mhn." I snort with a half lidded stare. "Rias you are such a Japanophile."

Akeno snorts in the background.

"I am NOT a Japanophile!" The red haired woman gasps.

"You are." I deadpan.

"I do not gain perverse enjoyment out of Japan!" She denies.

"I... never said that you did?" I give her a blank stare. "Japanophile. Noun. 'One who especially admires and likes Japan or Japanese ways'."

"I-" the girl slowly mutters. "What?"

"The suffix, '-phile' has really been ruined by one singular word." I state. "It truly means 'Lover of', it's just that thing really got out of hand sometime in the nineteenth century, when it was used to describe someone sexually attracted to children, when the word realistically means 'lover of children'. Mothers before the meaning of this word was changed could reasonably be called Pedophiles purely because they love their children."

"…"

"Why do you know this?!" Rias eventually asks.

"I planned to call you a Japanophile for a while, looked it up in my search browser, and got intrigued about how it wasn't actually a sexual thing." I shrug. "Honestly, I was fully prepared to say that you get off to Japan and Japanese culture, but this is just how things work out sometimes."

The door slides open, Revealing Ravel and Koneko, the first with an annoyed expression, and the other her standard impassive one.

Ravel's eyes light up when she sees me and quickly trots over, taking a seat beside me with a bright smile.

Koneko's impassive stare turns into a slight frown as she watches the girl.

"So, how was your day today, Gaius?" Ravel asks as she looks up to me. "I had a surprising amount of fun! I never expected to be able to relax in class!"

"I had a reasonable amount of fun today. I didn't think I'd actually enjoy school, but it honestly surprised me." I state with a small shrug.

It's more than likely due to how easy it is. It gives me a lot of time to think and plan my next moves. My ranks in my knowledge skills allows me to breeze through most of this rubbish.

This weekend I'm thinking about taking a trip to Poland to find the broken remains of Caledfwlch, then I'll try to re-forge it over the week. Who knows how difficult that may be.'

I glance over to Koneko who has been standing in front of me for a few seconds now, blankly staring at me.

"Do you need something, Koneko?"

"Can I have another pear?" She asks.

"Koneko." Rias sighs. "I've already had my mother ask him. He said they take a really long time to grow."

"They do." I nod. "The tree isn't fully grown, and even if it was, it'd take like thirty human years to produce a ripe fruit."

"Fruit?" Ravel mutters with a slow blink as she looks at the side of my head.

"T-Thirty?!" Rias asks.

I glance over to the blonde beside me. "Oh yeah, we have a secret garden. Forgot to mention that. I'll show you later today."

I look back to Koneko. "But bold to assume that one simple fruit tree is all that I have. The pear tree, may not be ready. However, I never said that the pear tree was the only thing I was growing."

I summon an apple, and not just any apple, instead of the size of a fist, it's the size of an entire cantaloupe.

The white haired girl's eyes snap wide open and lock onto the large fruit. "Can... I?"

"Can you have it?" I ask. "Sure."

I toss the fruit towards her and watch as she snags it out of the air.

I notice Ravels pout, so I pull another. "Don't worry, I've got one for you as well."

Koneko's eyes are practically shining as she feasts upon the apple a short distance away, she growls menacingly at Kiba who walks slightly too close, he raises his hands and steps around the girl, keeping his distance.

Rias' eyes look to the fruit in Ravel's hands.

"Er... Ravel, do you think that I could have s-"

"No. It's mine." The girl responds with a deadpan glare.

"Why are you so mean!" The red haired woman pouts.

"Because I don't like you all that much." The blonde-drill haired girl replies easily.

"What?! Why?!" Rias gasps.

Ravel simply gives her a half lidded stare.

"If it's about your brother, I won't apologize, he is a disgusting pig and I am happy to be rid of him." The red-haired girl states with a low *Hmph* "I am going to marry my true love, and nothing will stop me from finding them."

"True love on sight is a hoax." The blonde girl deadpans. "Daughters in our society are basically fancy trading pieces that older devils use to unite houses or repay debts."

"Is... that your vision on your engagement to Gaius?!" Rias asks with a surprised stare

"I mean... yeah?" The blonde girl nods. "The main difference is, I actually gave Gaius a chance instead of immediately splashing a drink in his face and calling him the scum of the earth. And, after giving said chance, I found out that he was someone that I could love, and someone that may become my true love."

She allows her head to fall on my shoulder as she gives a slight glare to Rias, hugging the apple close to her chest. "He hasn't disappointed me so far."

"Riser had a harem, he constantly made out with women in front of me-"

"Yes, but did he do that on your first meeting?" Ravel asks with a small head tilt. "I wonder... hn. I don't remember it as such, in fact, I remember him being excited to meet you, he was happy and really peppy about it... he came home covered in soda looking the worst I have ever seen him, in fact, I think I remember him crying, what you did to him was ice cold. Of course, he'd take every chance he had after that first meeting to annoy you after you shattered his heart into a million pieces."

"Holy shit." I mutter as I look down at the girl to my left.

She just absolutely thrashed Rias... I'm a little proud.

'ohoho. I like her. A fitting woman for one of my wielders... even if it is merely a temporary partner.'

She takes a bite of her apple and flinches at the flavor; her eyes widen as she looks down at it and lets out a quiet whisper. "Wow."

Ravel looks up slowly. "Oh, and the Harem thing is sort of a moot point, most strong beings have them. Strength attracts apparently."

"Your brother isn't exactly... strong... though." I point out.

Ravel shrugs seeing my point. "Eh. With our clan trait, he has the potential to be. He just has too much arrogance as it is. The rating games certainly didn't help. He needs someone to absolutely destroy him in physical combat before he gets over that. Preferably someone in low class."

"I-It wouldn't be wise to offend someone of my standing, Ravel." Rias pouts.

"Just going to gloss over the fact of how badly you hurt my brother?" Ravel asks with a raised eyebrow. "Alright."

"That doesn't matter, he should have-"

"Let you walk all over him?" Ravel cuts off with a raised eyebrow. "Okay."

She returns to eating her apple.

Rias looks honestly offended now as she looks to me. "Shouldn't you rein in your bishop's tongue?"

"I'm staying neutral on this matter. you complained to me a lot so I've got your bias, but at the same time, Ravel does make a good point and is making it sound like you never gave Riser a chance. Also, she's my Fiancée. I'm not in control of her."

"He asked if I wanted to leave the restaurant we were meeting at and find some place 'more comfortable'!" Rias shrieks.

"Was it a fancy restaurant?" I ask.

"I guess-"

"Then it could have been seen as him trying to get in your pants, or as him wanting desperately to leave a place where you are expected to be prim and proper, when we already have enough of that in our day to day lives and you absolutely overreacted." I shrug.

"No, No." Ravel states, briefly pausing her eating. "She's right. He was an absolute playboy, he probably meant the first thing, but I still feel she overreacted, she practically assassinated his image for the next year or two. He was remembered as that 'stupid rejected playboy' instead of 'Riser Phenex'."

"Hm." I hum slowly as I clap my hands together. "Yes. This has been a... meeting."

I notice most of Rias' peerage glaring quietly at Ravel. "I suppose we should end this here before tempers flair. You've both got jabs in. Ravel, you don't like how Rias treated your brother- but he was sort of an arrogant douche when I met him so I can't really comment on this- and Rias, you don't like said arrogant douche- once more, I can't say much because it may or may not be as a result of your own actions. Soooo why don't we just call this conversation quits for today, and pick this up say... never?"

I pause abruptly.

"Oh? It appears I'm being summoned via a flier." I mutter as I suddenly stand. "I'll be right back."

With a flash I disappear and reappear elsewhere.

**Linebreak**

I look around slowly, I am in some form of forest clearing.

"Gaius!" A voice behind me snaps.

I turn around swiftly to see the brown haired girl who I gave a summoning contract to kneeling on the ground, supporting the blonde haired, blue eyed magician that I made a sword for a month or two ago.

However their appearance is what draws the most attention, Meredith looks disheveled, while Le Fay... has a hole in her stomach that is surprisingly large, blood seeps from her mouth, her eyes are out of focus and a little dark.

She's barely alive.

'She's barely alive.' The dragon living inside of me summarizes my thoughts expertly

"Well fuck." I mutter as I summon one of my personal phoenix tears from my dimensional storage.

I pop the cork off and drip the liquid onto Le Fay.

Her wounds disappear immediately, the large hole in her stomach swiftly heals, her eyes regain clarity as she flinches, she looks around, eventually locking eyes with me. "G-Gaius?"

"Yo." I wave. "You two have quite a lot of debt from this little stunt."

""LOOK OUT!"" the two girls shriek.

"Hn?"

A spear pierces my chest... a spear of light.

"Tch. Filthy devil." A man with six black feathered wings growls. "Die."

"…"

"First off. Ow." I state slowly. "Secondly."

He is shoved back roughly, feet carving two trenches in the earth as a barrier spring to life around myself and the two magicians behind me.

I finally get a good look at him, he has black leather armor, short black hair, purple eyes, and pale skin, in his hand he summons another green light spear and glares at me cautiously.

I slowly turn to face the two as the spear winks out of existence, fire rushing into the gap in my torso and swiftly regenerating my body and even my clothing. "So, what the hell is happening."

"W-We are being attacked by fallen angels." The brown-haired girl states.

"I mean, I can clearly see that, I sort of just want to know why."

"They're after my sacred gear." Meridith whispers.

"Ah, that? Yeah, it feels pretty strong, I could see it." I nod as I tilt my head to the left and to the right, earning a satisfying crack from both directions.

"Who are you, devil?" The fallen before me asks. "A Phenex? No..."

"That's none of your concern." I smile nonchalantly.

"Gaius! There's more around here! Save my brother! he's fighting more off!" Le-Fay gasps.

"I see." I slowly mutter. "You'll owe me a lot after this is over, I hope you know."

"I'll have saved your life, killed the fallen, potentially saved your brother's life, saved your friend's life, but this does give me an opportunity to test something." I note with a small head tilt. "And, well, if I don't do it now, I don't think I'll get another opportunity for another few years.'

I don't want this to fail when I need it most, so I should probably see just how damaging this is on something reasonably powerful.

A six winged fallen is middle-high class in power, not quite ultimate like eight wings and up, but not the far weaker two winged and four winged.

'oh? Is it time?'

A crimson blade of crystal appears in my hand, the green gem in its handle lighting up at my touch.

"What was that thing we came up with?" I ask slowly.

"The dragon preens; thus, his foes are dead." A deep voice echoes out from the glowing gem core in the blade, causing the three humanoids nearby to pause briefly.

"Hn. We should really work on that." I note. "Doesn't really roll off the tongue."

I twirl the blade in my hand as it swiftly extends into a crystalline spear. "I personally prefer... The dragon breathes, thus his foes are ash."

"Hn." The dragon states as I cock my hand back and enter a spear-throwing stance.

"We'll workshop it." I shrug with a smirk as my eyes narrow. "Now, fallen... I found that spear to the chest a little offensive, so I've decided to return the favor... please, if you would be so kind, die."

I fling my arm forwards, and the world turns red.