After the talk with the piece of chicken shit, that also answers by the name of Riser, I informed my peerage members about what was decided. I told them to prepare for a two weeks long training marathon (he agreed to give us two weeks to 'prepare ourselves to face his greatness', but I am pretty sure itis because a convention of porn stars will happen in Vegas in 10 days and he doesn't want to miss the 4 days event), which most were less than excited about.

And now I'm on a date with Ravel, we are going to watch a new romantic movie I heard was quite good as she does like these sort of stories so much. Especially when it is about knights and princesses, she used to tell me all about the stories she heard as I was the only boy she knew who even listened and took her seriously. She liked in special one of my books that I dedicated for her, it was one dream she once told me about and I modified it to work as a book. To say she loved the work was an understatement. Now that I think about it, this movie is a free interpretation of said book so I am sure she will like it even more.

As I look at her I can only admit that she is a beauty. Her face is delicate but have a certain something of fierceness to it that makes you don't want to look away, her eyes are such a wonderful tone of blue that they just might be even more beautiful than my own (and this body was literally made to be perfect in every way), she carries herself with a certain pose that is mesmerizing and, while not as bombastic as most of my harem members, her body is developing nicely.

I am one lucky guy to have someone like her by my side, if only she didn't come with that brother attached she would be perfect. Well, not that I can't deal somewhat with this over attachment that annoys me to no end.

As we are now waiting for the movie to start we started talking.

"Joseph-sama, I have missed these sort of things with you. I was thinking you have lost interest in me." Ravel said.

"Nonsense, purge this sort of idea right now." I said. "You should know it isn't like that at all, haven't you been receiving my letters?"

"Letters? What letters? I haven't received even a single one for the last 2 whole months!" She said raising her voice, before flushing and saying. "Sorry for raising my voice, it is just that I have been sending you letters every few days and you haven't answered any of them."

"No problem, but I did send you letters. I know you prefer to talk with me this way so I did send you letters, but there was no answer. I even tried to visit to see if everything is ok with you, but you were always so busy that I never managed to talk to you at all." I said, partly because it is true and part to see how she would answer. But, that she was sending me letters too and even then we're being intercepted I don't know what the fuck is going on in that suicidal chicken's head, but he must truly be looking forward to a beatdown that will make the one he received in CANOB look like a walk in the park by comparison.

"Weird, I am sure I asked Isabela to deliver the letters to you in person and she said you were uninterested in even looking at them. And, these last few months have been quite peaceful as onii-sama hasn't had any important matter that I had to adjust as his secretary."

I REALLY want to try and unmask Riser's pathetic attempt of a plot against me, oh I want to so much, but I better not. Ravel love her brother too much and she already is suspicious of me, if I act now it is quite possible that she won't believe it and might even react negatively towards me.

Normally it wouldn't be that much of a problem, but she will be my wife in the future so I should avoid making her sad or displeased with me as much as possible. Besides, if what I have planned work then things will roll much smoother than if I tried to antagonize her now.

"Say, Ravel-chan, have you ever thought about what would happen in our future?" I said, changing the subject.

"Hum, besides the fact that I will be Miss Barbatus and helping you, I don't really have many other plans in place." Ravel said with a finger on he chin.

"But, wouldn't it be hard with how things are now? Dividing your time between your obligations as Lady Barbatus and be a bishop to your brother would not work. Then, how about you enter my peerage instead? I would be much happier this way as I would be able to be sure that you are safe and sound while also allowing you to be able to make use of your talent to the fullest." I said, crossing my fingers inside my head to hear a positive answer.

"I don't know, my Onii-sama needs me so much. He said this to me so many times before, abandoning him would not be right." Yeah right, he probably only want to stop this and to have someone to manage his visits to whorehouses. "And Onii-sama is strong, he can definitely protect me."

"I am not so sure." I said, trying not to laugh at the stupidity she just said. Riser is strong? How? He only spends his time fucking around and never bothered training since he was a kid; the only reason he isn't even lower on my threat list is that his regeneration is a pain in the ass, but even then he still wouldn't be able to hurt me at all. Letting someone like that protect Ravel now that things will get so much more dangerous? No way in hell I will let that happen. Just look at CANON, as soon as someone important aimed at Ravel she was captured despite he being right there, I don't give a fuck who it was that was trying to kidnap her, he failed then and he will fail again in this life if I leave it be! No fucking way I will let her be 'protected' by him. "I think I and my peerage are much more capable of doing it, at least this way my heart would be that much more peaceful and I know that your talents in management would be much more useful on my peerage instead of his."

"Oh, but my brother is the strongest! Since small, he has always been invincible except for the time he fought you. But since then he has grown much stronger, I am sure he is the strongest." Ravel said.

What can I say, she loves her brother even if he is a shitstain of a devil.

"But, dear, I still am not reconciled with this. How about this, during this next rating game if my peerage and Rias' wins you will come and be my bishop. If we lose" try not to laugh, try very hard not to laugh Joseph. "then I won't say anything else about you continuing being your brother's bishop until we get officially married. This is the best I can do."

She looks torn about it, so I think it is best to give her a lifeboat.

"Don't worry so much. Even if you come to my peerage it is not like I will separate you from your family, I know how you love them and I like that from you. Just, promise me to think about this idea of mine. Please." I said looking straight into her eyes.

She flushed immensely and turned her head before speaking again.

"Humph, I-I will think about it, but only because you pointed out some good points. It is not because I want to spend more time with you going on dates or anything. I am only here b-because it is my duty as your fiancee to spend more time with you, it is not like I l-l-like you or anything!"

Such a tsundere, it makes me want to tease her so much.

"Hay, hay, I understand." I said. "You don't want to be with me at all, you would rather be away from me instead. You don't even want to go on dates with me, even though I was thinking about inviting you to go to a resort for a weekend getaway in a paradisiac spot. I guess you really only is here with me for obligation."

To say she turned her face in my direction quickly would be an understatement. I fear that if she wasn't a Phenex she could have snapped her neck just now.

"I- but- then- ... AAHH, you are doing this on purpose!" She said, glaring at me with small tears of frustration in her eyes.

I only laughed a bit before kissing her. She managed to get even more flustered as the movie was starting.

Overall, I managed to get her to agree to this little 'bet'. Well, 'bet' is a strong word as there would be a need for there to be a chance of losing this.

At night I said my goodbyes to Ravel. After the movie, we went for some ice cream and later we just walked on a park and watched the birds together. I enjoyed it quite a bit, but now was no longer the time to think about this.

I must prepare to this rating game.

This will be my very first game, and while I am certain I will ultimately win I want to make it an ideal victory. One where I show my power and make others fear me for it, but most importantly to bring more attention to myself.

I already know that the Chaos Brigade exists as of right now, some of the spies from my family managed to ascertain the connection between the Chaos Brigade and a few of the Old Satan faction members. The problem is that my spies are still incapable of infiltrating them, and I want as much inside information from them as possible.

Their plans of attack, members, the location of reunion, supplies, everything and anything. If I am to survive this year I must make sure of everything and for that, I need more inside information.

Thus, I will try to join them.

Not for real, of course. I will abandon them as soon as I have the intel and I will do nothing that could put my territory or the devil's race in jeopardize, but it still is something that could be the difference between no victims and hundreds of victims amongst the innocent.

It is worth it.

And so, I must make this game something that will make others think of me when they think about power. And the debt of the Gremory family can also work as a benefit for me as I can use this chance to showcase my power even further and to have a practical excuse for Rias to be bethroned to me after Riser's ultimate defeat. We can say that the Gremory family is indebted to us, but despite my family don't pressing it the Gremory clan proposes the marriage alliance and my family will 'reluctantly' accept.

It is a solid plan that was put in motion as soon as Riser accepted the game.

Anyway, for now, I must go see Rias. We have two weeks and we should use every second of it if we are to make the biggest impact.

KNOCK KNOCK

"Joseph," Rias said as she opened the door to her apartment. "w-what happened in there? Why did you change the plans out of nowhere like that?" She asks looking hurt at me.

Oh, I get it. She was thinking of tackling this alone, she probably wanted to prove her strength and seeing me one-sidedly take her original plans and changing it as I saw fit probably hurt her pride.

"Rias, please understand my side of this too." I said. "I know better than anyone how much you are working to show your worth, I know that you worked hard to get strong and that you wanted to do this by yourself as much as possible. But, you must understand that I don't want to see you hurt in any way. I have some plans that involve this fight, plans I cannot tell you right now, but I hope you understand that part of the reason as to why I did this was to make sure that Riser won't even have the chance of hurting you. He is a formidable opponent to you, one that you can probably defeat but is possible to lose as well. If there wasn't so much riding in this game, I would never interfere as I trust you, but if there is even a 1% chance of the unexpected happening I would never forgive myself if I allowed it."

She looks at my face for a while before sighing.

"I can't even tell if you are being honest or not." She said tiredly. Well, there isn't much I can do about it. I am someone who trained to be a great liar, it is already ingrained in my bones and unless something really ticks me off to the extreme it is hard for others to tell when I am honest and when I am not.

"I know, I make it hard for you sometimes. Just, please understand that I only want the best for you, Rias."

She looks down before inviting me in.

After we entered deeper into the house I saw that Akeno and Kiba were also here, they probably are trying to plan out the training they will be doing for this time.

Nodding to them I moved to sit, I decided to show off a bit by focussing some of my demonic power in the form of a fancy chair before sitting down on it. I noticed how Akeno and Rias looked impressed, not so much by the fact that I was capable of creating a chair from demonic power but more because of how detailed it was. I take pride in how my training has allowed me to have an excellent grasp on how to control my demonic powers, and even if I tend more to be a power-type due to Sora no Bokun and Juryoku Oni I still am capable with other aspects. I just have a tendency for large areas of destruction, that is all.

"Good night Akeno, it is good to see you here with Rias. Correct me if I am wrong but are you helping her with the schedule for tomorrow?" I said, making it a point to completely and utterly ignore the nonsensical Kiba.

I am that petty.

"Joseph-sama, it is an honor meeting you here." Akeno said.

"I agree with her as well, Joseph-sama." Kiba said with his pretty boy fake smile as he put his hand forward for a handshake.

I smiled at Akeno while completely ignoring Kiba's attempt to be polite. Unless he apologizes in dogeza for daring to tell negative things about my future Queen I will not even acknowledge his existence.

Seeing this Rias looked like she didn't know what to do as she saw Kiba look a bit distressed, but honestly, she shouldn't be like this. She should know that the only reason as to why he didn't 'disappear' for saying negative things about Maria was only because Rias would be sad if he was to be found in some gutter with a nameless holy blade inside his guts and with his face disfigured.

She should be happy that this didn't happen.

.

.

.

I may be overprotective of my peerage and those close to me.

"Rias, are you and the others ready for the training starting tomorrow?" I asked, so as to dispel this awkward mood in the air.

"Yes, we just need to make sure to inform Sona that we will not be attending class for the next two weeks and that ought to be fine." Rias said.

"Don't worry, I already informed Sona while on my way here about this. But while we will not be here WE will be present just the same." I said with a small smile.

The three looked confused about my statement, so I decided to explain things to them.

"I talked to father and he agreed to lend us some of the doppelgangers that my house have under control."

Rias looks like she understood what I meant, but before long she looks at me startled as she asks.

"Why have I never heard that your house has some doppelgangers working for it? I thought they were almost instinct already."

"Not quite, the doppelgangers are a rare species, sure, but they are far from instinct. They are quite adept at hiding at plain sight and it is extremely hard to differentiate them from other members of the species they are copying. Luckily my father's queen managed to spread the message that we from house Barbatus do not discriminate against them and that we would enter a contract with them to work for us while offering the best conditions possible for them and protecting their families from anyone who wants to hurt them. It also helps that my mother's Rook, Pandora's Actor, is a well-known Pawn and a doppelganger of the highest class." I explained.

It was not a quick process, but it is a fact that my family now has about 4 to 5 thousands doppelgangers working for us.

"And why exactly is this not public knowledge? What do they even work with?" Rias asked.

"Gardening." I said, using my most stoic face.

Well, I suppose that working as spies and telling my family of all those pets and weeds that had to be cut down can count as gardening as well.

"Anyway, there will be a few coming from tomorrow onwards to act as us. This way no one will be any the wiser about it amongst the humans without having to rely on mind control magic. And, just a tip but I think you all better prepare because the training will not be anything that easy to deal with." I said, changing the subject and making them pay attention to what was really important. "We will be going to the border of the devil territory and the demons' territory, it will be a very intense training as you all need to learn how to fight."

"But we do know how to fight." Kiba protested.

I could not resist, I ended up turning to him for the first time since I entered the room, and I could only give him a condescending smile.

"Sure you can, when there are rules to limit what can and cannot happen and against those you can win easily enough. But, that is no fighting. Fighting is when your life and physical integrity is at stake, when you have to pull up 110% of your potential and hope it doesn't fall short, it is when you fight for survival instead of defeating the other person.

"I want you all to learn, learn how to truly fight and more important to survive. It is the best and fastest way to truly grow strong, and I want to make every single one of you strong." Well, if mister blabbermouth without any music appreciation capacity becomes the demons' lunch I will not cry over it.

That little speech seems to finally have let them realize what this next two weeks will be like for them.

Hell.

Writer's Note:

I decided to post this early because I have reached a Hallmark on this story.

I did it, this story officially have 100k views. I never expected people to like it, thank all readers very much.

I will try postupo another one in the following 24 hours as commemoration. Thank you all for your support.