A week after forming the new dxd, Alex was currently in a meeting with someone he was surprised, yet not surprised to see again. Sitting across from him, was the doll like girl Elmenhilde Karnstein of the vampires Camilla faction. He had suddenly received a call stating she wanted to meet him, and he was curious what she wanted to say, though he had a rough idea when he recalled her from the series. And as he half expected, the moment she saw him, she became flustered and tripped over nothing.
He recalled that in the series, even though she originally seemed to hate issei due to his low status, the next time she was introduced after the conflict in the vampire territory, she seemingly fell for him. The weirdest part was how random it was, as there was pretty much no development between the two before that. Alex couldn't say much about it though, and even though there was a slight blush on her face after tripping, she was now sitting as if the picture of elegance. After giving we greetings, she then cut to the chase.
"I've heard that you intend to compete in the Azazel cup, is that right?" Alex nodded and said,
"There are several people competing in the cup I've always wanted to fight, so I see this as a chance. Plus there are other things that I basically need to take care of." As he said that Alex recalled that Tiamat would more than likely try to force him retrieve the treasures that Ddraig lost her. He then ignored the dragon crying in his mind as he focused on his conversation with Elmenhilde. When she heard his response, she nodded, and said,
"Then I would like you to allow me to join your team." When he heard her, Alex was already thinking, trying to best place her within his team. He wasn't against the idea, as she was a pure breed vampire so she should be quite powerful if she tried. After thinking for a few moments he replied,
"Let me finish putting together my roster, and I can see where to best put you. Until then you should focus on training. I could also use someone capable of doing research on those who we are going to be up against, would you like that role?" As Ravel was leading her own team, Alex didn't have someone to gather intelligence. It wasn't as if it was a big deal right now before the Cup, but would be very essential during the preliminaries and the main tournament. At his words Elmenhilde smiled and said,
"Thank you for accepting me for now, and I'll start training right away!" They then discussed what she would need to work on, before they moved onto housing, as she wanted to live closer to her team.
After that Rias joined them and they discussed the housing problem, and concluded that she would move into the dorms as well. After that was settled Alex had another meeting to attend to, one he was quite looking forward to.
He was now in a underground area below the town, looking at a western dragon that seemed to be trying to lower itself as much as possible. It was quite comical to see a dragon pressing its head against the ground the way he was. Alex looked at the dragon and decided to feign ignorance.
"To what do I owe the pleasure, mr..." When the dragon saw him falter at its name, it suddenly apologized,
"I'm so sorry, I'm the third son of the meteor blaze dragon Tannin, Bova. I came to make a request of you, red dragon emperor Alex." Alex nodded his head and waited for Bova to continue. After realizing he needed to say what he wanted, Bova quickly stated,
"If possible, I would like to become your vassal!" Alex had to fight the urge to laugh, as the first thing that came to his mind with Bova's request was someone confessing, except you had to replace vassal with boyfriend/girlfriend. He calmed himself, then said,
"You do know that I'm not really a high class devil, I don't own land, nor do I have any real authority." Bova enthusiastically nodded his head, well as much as he could with it pressed against the ground, and replied,
"I know, but you are also the main one who has been on the front lines when any conflicts start. With your popularity rising, and your relationships with various noble devil family daughters, it's only a matter of time before you are going to rise in power regardless. Though that's not why I wish to follow you, I wish to carve my own future not tied to my father and brothers, and grow even more powerful than him." Alex could understand where Bova was coming from, and guessed that was part of why he was labeled a delinquent by others. He knew Bova had an inferiority complex about his father and brothers. He then said,
"How about fighting for me during the upcoming Azazel cup, and I'll consider making you my subordinate?" At his words Bova almost cried tears from happiness, and said,
"Thank you very much, I'll do everything I can to ensure your victory, and to never shame your name!" Alex thought his gratitude at essentially being made a servant was little over the top, but it wasn't his place really to criticize. He was excited however, if Bova continued to serve him then he'll have an actual dragon following him into the other worlds. Ophis and Fafnir didn't count, as he was teaching Ophis not to fight, and Fafnir would only listen to Asia, and was a worthless pervert.
Alex then spent the rest of his time until the start of the Cup trying to recruit more teammates. He already had both of his rooks and Knights, and he spent that much time trying to convince a certain someone to become his bishop, and searching for another certain someone to be his pawn.
By the time there was only a week until the opening ceremony, he only had his queen and one pawn position open. The reason he hadn't filled his queen yet, was because he was waiting to see if someone would contact him, though they hadn't yet. He was starting to think he needed to find someone else, when they contacted him and asked to talk to him.