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Chapter 396: An Unexpected Date
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For the next three days, nothing unusual happened. The devil princesses in the school were seemingly avoiding him; after spying with the Jogan for a bit, he realized they were unsure of what to do, still in their planning phase, so they let him be.
So instead of focusing on those girls, he focused on his nighttime grind. He visited Christian churches and Jew synagogues, which were not too important but not too insignificant either. He was purposefully avoiding the Islam Mosques since all of them that weren't too insignificant were honestly too much work for its worth. He decided to rather deal with them after reaching 10% Sync, which should change his aura.
Speaking of his progress.
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Progress Bar: | 6.02%
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It seemed when he claimed that Romanian church, led by that priestess from Goblin Slayer – a mystery he didn't understand – along with the deeds he did with the others that night, gave 3% at once only because it was his first time doing those. Because in the last two days, he hadn't even managed a total of 2% growth doing this hassle.
Not that he hadn't expected it. When he purified Raynare, the notification did imply he only got a whopping 1% for purifying her because she was his first Fallen Angel to cure. If it gave 1% every time he would purify a fallen, he would have hunted down 100 fallen to cure by then. That would make this expedition too easy, so obviously the Game didn't work like that.
'So I need to find alternatives. Things that would give me that "first time done" benefits.' Neji muttered in his thoughts while swiping pages of the manga in his hand. 'I am pretty sure defeating a devil would count. However, I think defeating a high-class devil for my "first" would give me more progress than defeating a weak one. So I need to hold on to this.'
Of course, there were other ways to 'defeat' a devil that wasn't a battle. For example, Sona Sitri was a chess addict, and while Neji wasn't that good of a player, he could become good overnight thanks to his WIS and INT. So he decided to do just that tomorrow, challenge her to a match, or make her challenge him, and then completely crush her.
'Another way should be fucking them into the bed. But, uh, I am not in the mood.'
He was pretty sure grabbing a few hyper-powerful devil females and fucking their brains out, making them submit to him, God, who was their enemy, would give decent progress. Sadly, he truly was not in the mood.
If those who knew him heard him, they'd chain him up while yelling that Neji has been replaced. However, the thought of mindless sex truly felt like a bother right now.
In either case, he decided on the chess game for now. Today was Sunday, there was no school, and as it was nighttime, he had finished his nighttime grind as well. Neji was currently in a manga shop, though he wasn't exactly here to waste time.
Back in the Hero Academia world, all the mangas were of that era, boring ass bullshits. There was pre-quirk-world stuff too, but they were not available in those shops, one had to search the depths of the net, like what Kimi used to do, to find those manga. However, in this world, all the manga that Neji was familiar with back from his first world was available.
Now, he was here to pick up some manga volumes. Dressed in a casual fit, with hair short but wavy, instead of straight and falling down by the eyes that he wears when playing teacher, he was reaching a manga with the cover reading – "Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken".
This and Bleach were the worlds left after this. He needed to prepare for them, so reading through the manga one last time seemed like a good choice.
For the past hour, he was roaming around the store, the largest manga store in Japan, conveniently located in Kuoh City, larger than a regular library.
Thanks to his high stats, he was shooting through the pages, sometimes receiving gazes from the very few readers still in the shop, but in the end, they only minded their own business. Until when he was at the last volume of Tensura, this time taking a bit of time as he read the latest chapter slowly.
"Checking out Japanese culture, are we?" it was a feminine, gentle voice that inquired.
Turning to the side, Neji suddenly knew why a small town like Kuoh had such a big manga store. Because the red-haired devil princess, obsessed with Japanese culture, was living here. This shop was probably run by a human who made a pact with the devil and had notified her about him a while ago.
"Good morning," said Neji, even as it was 2 AM at night. "I am, yes. A friend recommended this, so I was checking it out. Surprising seeing the Gremory Princess here at this time, but I guess nothing fazes a hyper-powerful devil such as your Highness."
One thing Neji couldn't help but add was related to her clothes. "Quite the outfit, Miss Rias. Once again, the benefits of being a strong devil, to have the guts to be out this late at night while wearing that."
Rias looked like a bomb. Wearing a white off-shoulder outfit, leaving the top of her breast for everyone to see, it was covered by a black vest. Her navel was visible, and from right under it started her tight white leggings, somehow pronouncing her already massive thighs and ass.
[Image Here]
The devil gave him a smile at the way he addressed her, inwardly pleased with it, even as Neji himself found it quite cheesy. If anything, he was the Highness here, even if the world where he was a King had perished, but he could humor a pretty lady even if he had no intention for the things under her pants at the moment.
"Oh come on, you don't have to call me that. If anything, I should be addressing you as, sensei."
Rias said the last word almost suggestively while giving him a friendly smile that Neji didn't bother to return. There's no point faking it. Instead, he gave her a nod, and surprisingly, she didn't find it offensive.
Rias nudged closer to him, grabbing his hand gently and lifting the manga with his hand.
"Ah, you're at the latest chapter already?"
Neji stared down as she leaned down at his manga. She was quite shorter than him, so her breasts were more than visible from his position. There was no way she didn't know that, but she acted naturally.
'What a slut,' he internally shook his head.
"You read this?" still, he asked, trying to make a conversation instead of pushing her away.
"Yes, Isekai is one of my favorites. The person who recommended this to you has good taste, Tensura isn't half bad."
In the end, Neji decided to let her try out her antics. It was amusing seeing her trying to seduce him, while not appearing too desperate, even though she was failing.
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Rias nearly thanked God when she got a call from a local human minion that the dragon, Neji Hado, was in his manga store.
To be specific, the store owner had sent out a warning, saying there is this suspicious guy, maybe someone supernatural given his reading speed, who was spending too much time in the shop, reading for hours even if it was nighttime. At one point, which was half an hour ago, he was the only one left in the store, other than the seller, so he finally made a call for help.
Rias was delighted when she heard that. After her talk with her mum, she was unable to proceed with her plans. Her mother had advised her to strongly establish a friendly yet attractive impression on this Sensei of hers, but Rias had no clue how.
But now, when she noted that he shared an interest with her, that was reading manga, she suddenly saw a series of possibilities spiral out.
'I can work with this.'
Rias slipped into the devil's realm, visited her mother, quickly explained the situation to her, and her mother lent her an outfit from her younger days. Rias wore it and now she was here, pretending all of this was a coincidence even as her heart was loud.
'Why the hell is he so hot?'
The main reason why she was after him was his power. He was most likely stronger than her, and that meant he would be a huge asset in the upcoming Rating Game if she could make him join her.
But what was this? She noticed his muscles before, sure, but his entire vibe had changed now that he wasn't dressed like a nerd.
Worse of all, he still appeared indifferent and calm despite her clothes. She was not used to this, men flocked over her even when she dressed in the most casual way, yet he pretended this was another Tuesday even when she was dressed like a whore.
It was her mom's clothes, but she had to admit she looked like a slut right now. Her mother had said it would work to seduce him better, as he mustn't be used to seeing the female body like this, being a monk and all that, so why wasn't it working?
Worse of all, he was a good talker. Even if his face remained unchanged, his strong voice was soothing, and his words further so. Most of all, he could make a simple talk about manga become so interesting.
"But- isn't [Predator] a better skill?"
"I'll say [Starved] is logically better, even if it has the mind corruption drawback. As you'd also have a stronger army behind you as you advance. Well, maybe I'm just biased since I have a mind resistance power."
The two of them were currently in a cafe, only occupied by the two of them as it was open so late at night. They sat before one another, sipping coffee, and chattering on topics that were fundamentally useless, yet she enjoyed her time.
His gaze which was passively strong, locked on her eyes, made her feel numb sometimes. She honestly felt scared, not just nervous, but she couldn't point out why. It was odd. Weirdly enough… she enjoyed the feeling.
"Anyhow,"
The dragon sensei suddenly said, putting the cup down. The sound of the cup hitting the table caused her to blink, realizing she had been staring at him weirdly.
"It's getting late. The sun's rising. Both of us have school, so we should be leaving."
"I-"
Rias opened her mouth, almost begging him to stay for a bit longer before she controlled herself.
'Remember, not to seem too desperate…'
She cleared her throat and smiled, standing up as he stood up too. They walked out, and she tried to pay the bill, but he didn't let her. They exited the cafe, coming right under a ray of morning sunlight, as Rias felt a sense of regret having to say goodbyes now.
Immediately she tried to put the feeling down. She had to play smart here, to make him regret leaving, not the other way around.
She turned to him, smiling, and spoke. "By the way, can I request you something? Can you… not dress up like a nerd today? This suits you much better."
He just gave her a nod, which she had expected. He wasn't very social and was on the silent side usually.
"Well, then-"
When she was about to speak, he stepped closer. Rias blinked, her heart pausing as she felt his strong arms wrap around her waist. He felt one of his hands cup her ass, and the other squeeze her waist.
As a woman of class, being grabbed this way in public by a near stranger should cause her to feel insulted. Yet… all she could manage was a gentle moan, as she nervously looked up at him, seeing him smile for the first time, even if it was small.
"Isn't this what people call a date? Heard such things are forbidden between a teacher and a student. How sad, I only remembered it now. But we have come this far anyway, so I think we should go away like a typical date."
Rias could only curse herself in her head, blaming herself for messing up, even as she parted her lips, her eyes closed, as he leaned over and… placed a kiss on her forehead.
Rias's eyes snapped back open as he let her go and laughed.
"Girl, you're not even half my age. Well, technically. I am not a monk or hermit if that's what you thought. Better luck next time, it's not very seductive if I can hear your heartbeat speed up every time our eyes meet. I enjoyed the date though. Be sure to not be late at school."
Then, even as Rias stared with her eyes wide, her face red like a tomato, he casually teleported away.
Rias stood alone, her eyes shaky and her face burning, until she clutched her hand into a fist, crackling with destruction mana, as she grumbled.
"Goddammit!"
A bolt of lightning hit her as she said the word 'God', blaming herself for getting too used to human culture, as she crouched down and covered her face with her hands.
Rias Gremory had never felt this much shame before.
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