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FICTION

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Chapter 22-B: Backstage Plot of the Rias Kind

Rias Gremory was stuck in a very peculiar situation: She felt bored.

That would normally not constitute an immediate threat, yet the reasons driving her to consider this boredom somewhat more frustrating were unusually different than the usual ones. Without having a Damocles' Sword pending over her head in the form of having to marry someone she barely knew and barely had any chemistry with, her future was quite free... and aimless. If there was one thing Rias had been taught to not like was being too lazy. With both her parents instilling in the redhead a strong sense of hard work, the notion that she was without a major plan set up for herself really messed with her capacity to enjoy the current peace.

There had been an interesting chance to make things interesting when the Church sent two agents to deal with a rogue bishop trying to cooperate with rebellious members of Grigori, the hostile forces trying to do something with Excalibur and thus gaining Kiba-kun's attention on the matter.

He would always get worked up about this sort of thing, but the focus left as fast as it came. The Church's agent couldn't do much in a few days, but Grigori quickly solved the issue by actively killing off the rogue elements and sparing Valper so he could be subjected to a 'thorough interrogation'. Normally Rias wouldn't approve of torture, but the bastard did plenty of things to deserve that sort of punishment.

The mess was solved before she could get involved with her peerage, and she was... without anything to worry about. Had she involved herself, even going against Sona's wishes to keep passive about this matter, then Rias knew that would have raised some issues. She may not have much of a diplomatic understanding of the intricate relationship between the three factions, but Sona's sister was pretty much the main diplomat the underworld could muster in delicate situations. And from what Sona had told her, Serafall would have had a rough time providing them with a chance to make up for the hard work. In layman's terms, any intervention would have yielded no material gains for them.

Maybe some gratification for her Knight, but even now Kiba was fine with knowing Grigori was going to kill Valper in a slow-paced death. It was vicious and it wasn't direct, but it was a good thing that soothed the lost chance to have his revenge. It was going to take some time to fix that but... Rias pondered about it. Could she employ someone to help Kiba? This suggestion wasn't without a fairly reliable solution as she had been quite curious about how a certain Grigori agent had been faring.

John Bukharin, he was... doing a lot. Definitely a lot more than Sona and her could have done with the many restrictions applied to their roles, but still surprising as he helped them too. Previous experiences dictated that not all members of Grigori were reasonable individuals. Not all of them were bad, but there was a considerable quantity of potential roguish elements that were opposed to the current peace. Kokabiel's recent attempt at rebellion was proof of that.

John wasn't that, and it made her somewhat irked. Rias preferred to hate potential enemies rather than sympathize with them. Especially those that held a great sway over so many people. She didn't want to hate John, but she could see how a prolonged close alliance could compromise her in the wake of a new war. Was it near? No, but being cautious was only a must in these tedious affairs.

Had John been an independent agent, that could have been less troublesome to face. As a member of Grigori, he could easily become an enemy- or so her teachings taught her to believe as Sona had many times told her that the man lacked the intention to cause them issues and Azazel had been working to make the peace last longer together with the other factions.

Still It didn't help that, out of those that she expected to have the support to be this distrustful, Akeno was the least prepared to handle it. Same for Koneko. It wasn't because she asked, but because she could tell from their recent changes. None of which seemed directly tied to the man, but that were still related to him through faint connections.

Starting with her Queen, Akeno had recently learned that her cousin had her reinstated in the Himejima Clan and 'pardoned' for the crimes the previous leadership framed her with. Himejima Suzaku was close to Grigori and Akeno had the chance to actually find out about these recent changes through John. The two relatives had a few talks, and there were plans for Akeno to visit the family's old shrine to spend a few days together quite soon.

Rias had been invited too because Akeno spoke of her as her sister, and Suzaku had no issue with that. Rias saw it as a good reason to finally check the most prized thing in that area: the beautiful onsen that would do miracles for her stressed self. Still, it wasn't unusual to hear Akeno ask if that very individual she was currently thinking about had done something which would warrant another interaction of sorts.

At this point, she couldn't blame Akeno for being attracted, but at the same time found it awkward to have to constantly tell her no and endure the sadness that came through that reality. Rias just hated saddening Akeno, especially when she looked so interested in someone that wasn't exactly trying to get her for her looks alone.

Next up was Koneko and... Rias' rook perplexed the redhead. The usually-stoic Nekoshou had started to appear more at ease and happier than usual. Plus, her cat-side was showing more than usual, leading Rias to believe something happened that positively drew that out of her. And after a quiet investigation about the matter, she found the culprit.

And it was John. Or something happened which made John a catalyst for change. Was she surprised? No. But Rias had a good reason to worry... about John for this event. Especially when she had the chance to browse Koneko's internet browser history once she was done with one of the PCs in the school's library and found out that she was looking at a few cultured comics she had the chance to read herself a few years ago. Most of which included a young sister with a brocon complex. And most of which had cat-ears.

So yes, that was a good reason to make a call and have a talk with John.

To her logical self, that was the reasoning urging her to have that private conversation with the man, but Rias was also cluelessly lying to herself about it. A young woman she was, and John wasn't too old compared to her. She was already an adult, and she was not shy to look at men for potential companionship.

Differently from her parents, her view of marriage was also much broader, and while she knew that John was with someone else, that didn't mean she couldn't offer them... something to make that potential interaction possible. Was she interested in actually going for it? Not now, not yet. Was she interested? Quite so, which is why she was interested to engage in more conversation and see who he was deep down.

Was this risky? Yes. But perhaps, just perhaps, she could get a bigger situation going if she also involved another element into this matter. There was, after all, a matter which she was struggling to solve with a member of her peerage, and she had a feeling John could work better than anything she could think of to help Gasper.

And while Rias kept her giddiness restrained to herself, knowing that she couldn't appear too excited for this 'expected discussion', she had issues holding back a sympathetic smile when she gave Akeno the news they were going to visit the Grigori agent. But for now Rias lied on her bed, plotting quietly over how things were going to turn into.

Things sure were going to get quite intense quite soon.

AN

You would think the situation is calm in the 'Eastern Front', but the truth is that things are happening in the background, and while some may be tempted to see this sort of madness unfold all at once, the truth is, our beloved MC, has some dignity to preserve and some ground rules to establish. He is no Ise, and that should be enough to cease any potential ideas of 'he is going to get them all at once and eventually get overwhelmed in the future'. That ain't happening.

Still, Koneko having a crush on John? Kuroka isn't helping. In fact, one would say she is helping in the opposite direction.

Lastly, there's been some desire from readers in QQ to see a certain story I have been writing in the Snippets' Archive which will be a first for me since it's... quite crackish, in the Max0r's way, and extremely Impactful on my capacity to handle my sanity. This means that yes, a certain Genshin Impact idea may soon be a standalone, but I am contemplating if I want it to be in FFN too. To make it simple: this is not because I have favoritism over groups of readers over others, but I rarely use descriptions in stories in QQ because I can rely on pictures. Spicy pictures at that. So... yeah, that's the thing.

P.S. I now have a discord server! Discord .gg/ceBMM2Zz6c

REVIEW Q&A!

Wacko12: Yes. Vali took care of that.

Lordfinn: She is one that will get quite the character development together with Irina compared to Canon.

Able and Table: I think they are kept in a special domain in the Underworld or any realm which are close enough to house them. After all, Hades is a thing in DxD.

DragonB0b: It's a matter of context. The Arch Angels were given roles that weren't directly attached to God's own worship and were given the chance to develop as semi-independent beings that could act in case of the worst case scenario, Aka God's death. Xenovia was nurtured into worshiping God as an eternal being that couldn't die and the fact that she became an Agent of the church further had this concept drilled in her mind. In layman's terms, the more reliable you are to a faith, the stronger the backlash will be once a big truth of it comes out to be a lie.

Guest (Chapter 24): It would also be reasonable to say Ophis is not a Dragon because of how she came to be and how she wasn't initially a dragon, however Trihexa's base as a being is one of Dragon. Now, if its appearance isn't the same as a standard dragon is a different thing, but the core context of what a Dragon is in DxD is applied for Trihexa just like it is for Ophis.