Rias glanced at her queen as the doors to the student council room closed. Akeno looked back at her with an arched eyebrow, and a small smile, "Well that was interesting."
The two started down the hallway back towards where they had been going before they spotted the fascinating stranger that had wandered onto the school grounds looking lost, "Wasn't it though?" Rias made no attempt to hide her excitement from her oldest friend, "What could you get from her?"
"Well..." The Queen piece started slowly, "She's human, that much is certain. Just... a very odd one."
"Odd how?" Odd was good. Odd usually meant something unique which was always good to have in one's peerage. Especially if it was something unique which could be improved by becoming a devil.
"I'm not sure." Her friend was frowning now, thinking hard, "It's not something I've seen before, or even like something I've heard of before. It... really I don't even know where to start describing what I felt."
"Well then," Rias said with confidence, "We'll have to take a look and see what we can figure out. I'll send out my familiars tonight when they'll be less likely to be noticed. I'm sure we can figure something out about her when she's being less guarded." Akeno nodded in agreement and the two girls got on with their school day.
###
Later that evening Rias sat behind her desk in the Occult Research Club room. Akeno stood behind the right shoulder of her King and both of them watched the magically projected view from the eyes of Rias' familiar.
It had taken a few phone calls to find out where the mysterious Ericka Rhostana was staying. The two devils had been surprised to find that she had already secured a house and moved in. Somebody had to be pulling strings for the woman, though who was unclear.
It also didn't matter at the moment as Rias' little bat familiar winged his way to the address provided. The house was a small thing, single story, no yard, tucked close to, but not against its neighbors. Most of the house was dark, though there were a couple of windows lit. All in all, it looked entirely unremarkable.
"Well, let's go in for a closer look. Head to one of the lit windows." Rias ordered her familiar which obeyed with a cute little squeak.
"Wait..." Akeno said leaning forward and pointed at something of a lighter color than the surrounding house right over the window, "What's that?"
"I don't know," Rias murmured leaning forward and squinting slightly, "It looks kind of like a..." Whatever the young devil was going to say was interrupted by a plethora of symbols, that neither of the devils recognized, on what turned out to be a paper tag coming to life with a blue glow. They had just enough time to register that image before the sound of a bug zapper going off filled the air. The view through the familiar spell went nuts as the little bat was flung away from the house and across the street.
The little animal struck a tree planted to liven up the street, and slid to the ground smoking with an adorable, "Uuuuuu."
The two devils stared at the projected image that now showed nothing but the underside of the tree's canopy, with the occasional twinkle of stars shining through the leaves.
"What was that." Rias demanded.
"I... don't know. It's not any kind of tag I'm familiar with." Akeno said slowly running over what she'd seen again and again in her mind, "Effective though."
Rias slumped into her comfortable chair with a huff, "Very." She glared at the image for a moment before sighing, "Well we're clearly not learning anything more tonight." She brightened up again after that, "On the other hand we know she's skilled in some form of magic! That's good! Maybe she would make a good Bishop? In any case Sona no doubt got a chess game out of her, I'll ask her what she learned tomorrow and we'll go from there." Rias stood up and collected her coat as she and her Queen got ready to head home, "Let's go collect my familiar, and then get some rest."
Smoking slightly on the street still looking up at the sky the bat let out another sad, "Uuuuu."
###
The ORC club room was furnished in a remarkably similar manner to the student council room, though it wasn't as large. It had the large desk positioned so that the person sitting at it would have their back to a set of large picture windows. Unlike the student council room those were the only windows in the room. The carpet was still lush though, the couches were arranged the same, and the room boasted the same low table between them, and tea service to one side.
The small white haired rook, Koneko, sat on one couch, a plate of various sweets held in her lap. A plate she was rapidly emptying with a single minded focus, seeming to ignore everything else around her with a well practiced blank expression.
The other couch was occupied by the knight Yuuto Kiba. The young man sat on the edge of the couch leaning forward so he could reach the low table where he had homework spread across most of its surface.
Akeno stood at the tea service preparing a cup of tea for her king, the only member of the peerage absent at the moment. She hummed softly to herself as she worked enjoying the art that most people never realized her hobby could become. Tea was more than just hot leaf juice, thank you very much!
The door to the room slammed open as a frustrated Rias Gremory stomped into the room, slamming the door behind her. She stomped her way over to her desk and collapsed gracelessly into her chair with a huff, glaring at nothing.
Kiba watched her storm by with a look of caution on his face, wondering what could have frustrated his king to this extent.
Koneko seemingly didn't even notice what had just happened. She continued to eat her sweets without so much as a twitch marring her perfectly blank expression. Her eyes did track Rias across the room though, and if one looked closely one could have spotted a spark of concern in them.
Akeno was the only one entirely unaffected by the redhead's small temper tantrum. She simply poured the tea she had been preparing and brought the cup over to set down by Rias' hand. Task complete she took her customary place behind her king's right shoulder.
After a long enough silence to show that nobody else was going to start the conversation, Akeno took the plunge. "So how did your meeting with Sona go? Or did she manage to evade you again?" The queen piece asked with a teasing lilt to her voice.
This snapped Rias out of her funk and she huffed again taking a sip of the tea. It had taken more than a week for Rias to corner Sona and to get some answers out of her oldest friend. Rias didn't think it was anything deliberate, at least not entirely. Sona certainly hadn't done anything to make it easier though.
"No, she finally had time for a conversation." Rias took another sip, "Not that she said much. For some reason she was remarkably reluctant to give away anything she learned from her game with Rhostana-san. Though I did manage to get two things out of her. First, Rhostana-san is more physically inclined than we had suspected. Apparently that case she was carrying has a sword in it. A powerful one from what Sona said." Kiba sat up straighter, his interest piqued.
"Do we know anything else about it? Or what style she uses?" The knight asked with carefully suppressed excitement.
Rias shook her head, "No, Sona never saw it, and couldn't make any sense out of what she felt. Apparently Shinra-san couldn't either." She threw a look over her shoulder at her queen, "It sounded remarkably like what you said about her, Akeno. We'll have to ask her when she joins up."
Rias spoke confidently, and she was. Mostly. On one hand who wouldn't want to become a devil? Long life, power, limitless growth! It was a great deal. On the other hand, so far Rias had acquired every member of her peerage by rescuing them from certain death or worse. It made for wonderful loyalty and the proper feeling of family in her growing peerage.
Rhostana-san didn't seem like the kind of person who would need rescue any time soon.
Or ever.
That the woman was several years older than she was also made Rias slightly nervous. Akeno was the oldest member of her peerage and they were only a few months apart in age. An older member of the peerage might chafe against her leadership, and Rias wasn't entirely sure how to handle that if it happened.
Still, she was a Gremory! The Gremory heir at that. She could handle anything that came her way. Kindness, support, and caring would bring Ericka into the fold.
Once she was recruited anyway.
"All right, here's what we're going to do. Kiba?" The knight perked up slightly at his king addressing him, "Apparently Rhostana-san has been using one of the parks at the edge of town that my brother set up for the practice of powerful abilities out of sight, to practice her swordsmanship with a friend. We'll give them a few weeks to settle into a routine, then I want you to go practice in that park around the same time they do. Get a look at what she's capable of, then offer to spar with her. You beating her will act as an advertisement for what she could have as a devil. Be nice about it," Not that Rias had any worry that her knight would be anything else, "if she seems receptive at that point invite her back here to speak with me about gaining the same power you have. If that doesn't work, we'll use what you learn and try something else."
Kiba nodded, settling back into the couch. A small smile on his face at the prospect of a new sparring partner, even if he doubted that the human woman would be much of a challenge.
Akeno frowned though, "Rias, you said that Sona revealed two things, the sword was one. What was the other?"
Rias frowned, "Ah. That. Well Sona recommended that I never back her into a corner. She said that Rhostana-san was the sort who, if confronted with a severe enough no-win situation, would take everything and everyone she could down with her and salt the earth. Just to spite the victor."
Everyone took that in and became just a little more nervous about meeting Ericka Rhostana.
###
The peerage save one was once again gathered in the club room. This time though, Kiba was the one missing, which was expected. Today was the day that he would be sparring with Ericka Rhostana. Rias' future bishop... or knight. She wasn't quite sure yet. It would depend on which were greater, Ericka's talents with her sword, or her skill with her strange magic.
Rias was leaning towards making her a bishop though. The wards that had gone up in the week after her first attempt to gather information on her future servant set a really high bar. Neither Rias nor Akeno had experienced any more luck trying to figure out what style of magic Ericka was using, and if Sona knew something she wasn't saying. The slight blush on Sona's face whenever the woman was brought up though was interesting, and something to be examined later.
Rias was jerked out of her musings when the door was slammed open revealing a disheveled, bruised, and slightly bloody Yuuto Kiba. She surged to her feet as Akeno rushed forwards to help the clearly well worked over knight to his usual seat.
"Kiba!" Rias' voice was filled with concern and worry, "What happened?"
"I got my ass kicked." Kiba didn't quite snap at her, "Thoroughly."
"But... how?" Rias asked, watching as Akeno opened up a first aid kit that they kept in the office and started to treat Kiba.
"Honestly, I'm not entirely sure." Kiba slouched and sighed, "When they arrived they had a reaction to seeing me practice, they talked to each other for a few moments then got on with their own work out." Here the knight paused, thinking, "It was an experience. I've never seen that sort of... I'm hesitant to call it swordsmanship, because the swords were only a part of it. They punched, kicked and grappled with each other almost as much as they tried to hit each other with their swords. Brutal is a good word for it though.
"After they finished, which took an hour of nonstop fighting by the way, I approached them, introduced myself and asked for a spar." Here he hesitated looking slightly embarrassed, "Rhostana-san tried to talk me out of it, pointing out the differences between our styles. When I insisted it was unnecessary, she tried to encourage me to set rules on the spar to limit what she could do..." Rias raised an eyebrow to encourage him to keep going. Kiba sighed and continued, "I might have been slightly offended by the implication that I'd need a handicap. So I insisted that I could handle anything she could dish out."
"And then she beat you." Akeno finished for him, having completed what minimal treatment the first aid kit could provide and a devil would need, "Quite thoroughly it seems." The queen piece pressed a hand to one of her cheeks, and tilted her head slightly, a faint blush dusting across them as she licked her lips, "Ara ara, I wonder if she would be willing to compare notes with me?"
Kiba leaned away from the girl, eyeing her with some reproach, "You are not helping." Akeno just smiled at him with a sultry expression, and licked her lips again, causing the boy to shudder. He scooted a little ways down the couch away from her, "But you are essentially correct."
"How close was the spar?" Rias sat forward worried, if the fight was close it might still serve her purposes.
"It wasn't." Kiba told her, "I never got more than a single move before she either had me in a kill position, or did something painful to make it easier to get me to where I had to concede."
Rias sat back into her chair hard, "How?" She asked a little plaintively.
Kiba shrugged, "Like I said I have no idea. I know she's already supernaturally strong, and fast. Not as fast as me, but close enough for her technique to easily make up the difference. She also hits... really hard. Harder than Koneko does, though not by much." He glanced at the small girl apologetically. Koneko didn't acknowledge them at all in favor of popping a piece of chocolate into her mouth.
"All right..." Rias tried to wrap her mind around the idea of a human beating a devil, even one as new as Kiba.
Actually...
She glanced at Akeno hopefully, who shook her head, "She's human, that I'm certain of. It's the only thing I'm certain of when it comes to her, but I am certain of it."
"There's more..." Kiba offered slowly. Rias just nodded for him to continue, "After she... after Rhostana-san beat me for ten minutes or so, she said that she needed to get back to her practice with her friend, Mia... something. Anyway, they then did another hour of nonstop fighting with live steel. I got to see that sword, it... it reminded me of the Excaliburs. If only slightly." He uttered the name of swords with a sneer and a snarl. He calmed himself quickly though.
Rias frowned in concern, "It was a holy sword?"
"No. It certainly wasn't that. I'm not entirely sure what it was that made it seem similar to those swords. It was faint whatever it was." He took a moment to think then described what the sword looked like.
Nobody in the room seemed to recognize it from his description, leading to Rias sighing again, "I'll see if my brother recognizes it, or if the Gremory library has anything." She'd have to ask him about the magic Ericka-san was using as well. She hadn't been able to identify it at all over the last several weeks. Much to her frustration, "Keep going."
Kiba shrugged, "They did another hour of unarmed fighting the same way as the previous two." He hesitated for another moment, "They were... really good. I don't know who trained Rhostana-san, but they did a very good job."
Rias sighed, and slumped. Now how was she going to get Ericka-san to join her peerage? She needed more information, Sona though wasn't being helpful. She glanced at Koneko and her knight, "Kiba... Am I right in saying that you'd rather not fight Ericka-san again?"
Kiba nodded with feeling, "Getting beaten like that once was enough." Akeno made a soft disappointed sound that made the boy scoot further away from her.
"What about learning from her?" Rias asked.
"I... actually had that thought. I think that both I," He looked at Koneko meaningfully, "and others could likely benefit from the experience."
Rias nodded, "Good. Then that's what we'll do. Aside from this Mia person Erica-chan seems very isolated, so I'll ask her to teach the two of you. If we give her companionship and friends she might be more willing to join those friends." Rias nodded to herself again with more determination, "We'll go now. Koneko, Kiba the two of you will come with me. Akeno you stay here, I don't want her to feel too overwhelmed."
Now if only she knew why she had a feeling of dread about visiting the Rhostana house right now?