~Takumi Katsuragi~
Ahh, Kuoh Academy, it's good to be back!
I was currently led around by Akeno and Rias who were chatting away while walking toward the clubroom, we decided to walk back together since it was lunch time and students were free to enter and leave as they pleased during that.
While we walked I could hear students whispering among themselves, probably because I was casually hanging with the top 2 beauties of the school. Seeing this, Akeno got a mischievous light in her eyes and hugged my arm looking all lovey-dovey making the other students burst into chatter.
"No way, Katsuragi-kun and Himejima-senpai are really together!?" "How can that be, she is one of the queens of Kuoh!" "Don't you see how she is hanging off of him? They are definitely fucking, look at how she is looking at him." "Hey don't say that! Miss Akeno would never!"
This school never failed to be entertaining I suppose, I had briefly entertained making this sight normal for the others using my mastery over mind magic but refrained, Akeno clearly enjoyed this and I did fancy myself just a bit of chaos.
Rias seeing the commotion turned to Akeno with an eyebrow raised.
"Akeno, could you stop hanging off Takumi for just a second?" Rias rubbed her face in exasperation while Akeno looked at her smugly with a challenging expression.
"Why president? Afraid the school will see me as Takumi-kun's girlfriend?" Rias shook her head and puffed her chest, rising to Akeno's challenge.
"No, I am not in the slightest, in fact, I just wanted you to get away from him so I could do this-" Rias came in close and pulled me down by my collar before kissing me in front of the student body, eliciting a chorus of Kyaah's and Oooh's from the peanut gallery.
"No! He is dating both Gremory and Himejima-san that can't be!" "We must be seeing wrong right? Surely he can't date both of them." "Die you handsome playboy casanova!" "M-maybe he is blackmailing them!? He must be a beast that is grasping their weaknesses, surely Lady Rias and Akeno wouldn't fall to a man" "The only thing anyone is grasping here is you grasping at straws. Wake up to reality."
After a few seconds of sharing a passionate kiss, Rias separated and shot a signature look of superiority that looked awfully familiar... she was copying my smug look. Man, love this girl.
"I am not afraid Akeno, I am the first after all, and I am not conceding that position. I don't care if anyone knows about our relationship. In fact, I welcome it. Now, let's head to the clubroom, I wouldn't want to make my new peerage members wait too long after all, I am sure Takumi would like to meet them too." I smiled at her back and Akeno shrugged with a helpless smile.
"Well, seems like I have to concede this time President. But be careful, I might just snatch him out from under you you know~?"
"You are welcome to try Akeno." Rias was confident in her position.
✧—•✦•—✧—•✦•—✧—•✦•—✧
~Takumi Katsuragi~
We arrived in the Occult Research Club office and the moment we entered I saw a few new faces along with a few familiar ones. Seeing me enter several girls got up from the couches and came up to us.
"Yo! Prez you're back! I see you finally brought along our other elusive bishop senior. I have to say, I didn't think you would actually be a part of the Occult Research Club Katsuragi-san. I am Aika Kiryuu, we are in the same class but we never talked all that much and I am a new pawn of Rias Gremory!" I looked the new girl over with an appraising gaze.
She was around the same height as Asia with slightly smaller breasts but still a handful. She had a slimmer figure and wore her light brown hair in two braids reaching her shoulders, she had yellow eyes behind her pink-rimmed glasses. I particularly liked her black stockings.
My greed stirred at the sight of her. I should really work on suppressing my urges better.
I nodded to her.
"It's nice to meet you Aika-chan, you can just call me Takumi or any variation of it. It's always great to see another cute girl become a fellow peerage member." I gave her a thumbs up which she made a smug smile at and gave me a thumbs up back.
"You have great taste then, Takumi-kun! As I had imagined, a man who has stolen both President and Akeno-senpai's hearts can't be a man of poor taste. And if you like cute girls do I have good news for you! Murayama, Katase come and greet basically our benefactor and the future husband of our King." At Aika's words, the other two unfamiliar girls in the room approached me.
A girl with light pink hair reaching her neck with amber coloured eyes, she had some definition on her arms and a sizeable bust, she also wore a yellow headband Katase my heavenly comprehension told me and the other had long brown hair in pigtails with brown eyes, she also had a decently large chest, though a bit behind Katase. Murayama was her name.
They both looked at me with reluctant and reproachful eyes, ah, they were the girls who were beating up the perverted trio when they kept peeking at them changing. They probably don't like perverts and I obviously was one considering I was dating both Akeno and Rias whom they respect greatly. Whatever, they weren't quite harem material anyway, though I do wonder what it would be like to mess around with them.
"Uh, it's nice to meet you Katsuragi-san. I am Murayama. I hope we can get along. Like Aika I am also a pawn of Rias-buchou, sorry if I mess up I am quite new at this." Said the pigtailed girl rather timidly, followed up by the pink-haired girl who seemed more confident "I am Katase also a new pawn of Rias-buchou, nice to meet you Katsuragi-senpai."
I nodded sagely, they had their appeal I suppose. Anyway, let's introduce my new juniors to their great senpai special.
"Alright, Aika, Murayama, Katase, welcome to the peerage. What do you guys use as weapons?" Aika raised her hand excitedly.
"I use magic! According to Buchou and Akeno-senpai, I am quite talented in Fire and Dark magic!" Aika declared confidently, sounding quite confident in herself. Then Muraya stepped forward.
"Well, I use a sword and so does Katase, according to Kiba-sama(sama?) we are pretty good with the sword and have some talent." She said while blushing and Katase nodded along with her. "Yes, but we haven't used a real sword for long." Oh, I think they have a crush on Kiba, too bad for them I am pretty sure that man does not care about anything beyond swords and a specific set of them.
"Humu humu, I get it. Alright, here." I nodded wisely before opening my inventory and dropping a bunch of weapons on the floor to the shock of everyone. Rias turned to me with furrowed brows.
"Takumi, what are these?"
"Weapons. Duh." Rias gave me a look.
"Takumi, please."
"Alright alright, they are some weapons that I either decided to not sell in the auction or planned to sell in the next one. You guys can pick any weapon from the pile, think of it as a favour from your favourite senpai." Rias gaped at me along with a shocked Akeno at what I declared, and even Koneko looked at me with wide eyes.
"Takumi, you can't be serious." "I have to agree with Buchou on this, Takumi aren't these-" They were interrupted by Katase timidly raising a hand.
"U-umm, could you please explain to us what these weapons mean? What auction?" Aika joined in. "Yeah, us former humans feel quite left out right now. Please enlighten us, because the pile of weapons casually scattered on the floor seem like a really big deal. They all look like level 100 enchanted weapons." Akeno quickly came to their aid with an explanation.
"Well, these weapons are the ones that Takumi would usually sell at the Goch Grand Auction House that just held one of the biggest auctions in Devil history, they are weapons that even the Pillar Families desire. Typically, you could buy an entire city with a single one alone. Which is why we are asking Takumi why he is using very valuable weapons for this." Akeno directed a pointed stare at me which I shrugged my shoulders at.
"Eh, they are not that important, they aren't true stock anyway, just things one tier below, besides, I am not losing anything by giving you guys this, seriously. I can make better things with some time. And Rias, I fought for you with my life on the line, stop acting like what I am doing is something that you would have never thought of and just take the weapons. Though, if you guys really do want to pay, you are welcome to pay me back at any time in any form. I am not desperate for compensation." These were weapons I made on a whim after all.
"Woah, I was right about you being the sugar daddy of the peerage. Any chance I could pay you back with sexual favours? I am afraid I have no other way to pay otherwise~" Aika said with a seductive face making Murayama jump up in protest.
"Don't just say that so casually! Do you really want to get indebted like that!? Do you even know what you are saying!?" Aika shrugged with a smile before actually grasping her own chin and thinking to herself.
"Well, why not, he is both hot, rich and funny. Don't tell me being sexually indebted to the hot genius doesn't arouse you too? And I can see that his cock is huge, you can't exactly find a better boyfriend. It's just like 40 shades of whi- thwack!" Aika was shut down by Koneko grabbing her magazine and whacking Aika over the head hard enough to send her to the ground, making her rub her head in pain. "I'm sorry Koneko-senpai~"
"Pervert." Koneko stared Aika down before resuming her normal passive status, not before throwing me a mildly disgruntled look for some reason. I scratched my head in annoyance.
"Well, let's put the matter of payment aside for now. I will just pick a weapon fitting for you guys. Alright, Aika, you can have this wand, I call it the Ash Furnace Wand. It should boost your Fire Spells significantly until you reach Ultimate Rank if you ever do. It should improve your overall magic power and make casting spells cost less. If you prove yourself to be skilled I may just make you a custom wand."
I casually threw the black wood wand with red engravings to Aika who just barely managed to catch it mid-air. She looked over the wand with stars in her eyes.
"Whoah! It's really a legitimate wand! It's just like Micheal Vaser(Harry = Micheal, Potter = Vaser), I can already feel the boost to my power! Thank you so much Takumi-san! I can't wait to try this baby out. And if you want you can try me out sometime~" She said swinging the wand around and getting chastised by Koneko for just swinging the dangerous thing around.
Snapping my mind back from the fantasy spurred by Aika's words I turned to Murayama and Katase who looked really tense. Makes sense, unlike Aika they seem to have common sense telling them that such weapons would have strings attached.
I picked out two swords from the pile. One looked like a red rapier with a gold handle and the other like a traditional Katana with a green blade then held them out for Murayama and Katase.
"Alright, pick what you want, one is called Piercing Flame and the other is Slicing Wind. You can probably guess which one is which and what they do. They are mana-fed weapons so not only will using them practice your mana but their power also scales with how much you have."
They both inspected the weapons in wonder before taking their picks the Wind Slicer for Murayama and Piercing Flame for Katase. Then I finally turned to Koneko and Kiba.
"Also, don't think I forgot about you guys. I actually got gifts for you guys as well and I am not accepting any refusals. First of all, Kiba, catch." I threw an ornate bracelet over to Kiba who easily caught it and smiled.
"I am grateful Takumi-kun, you didn't need to but I shall accept it regardless. What does this do?" He said turning the bracelet over and inspecting the blue engravings.
"It's a Shield Bracelet, since you are a knight who focuses on swordsmanship and doesn't have exactly great defence I thought having a rechargeable instant shield spell would be useful for you. You can recharge it with your own mana and to activate it you simply have to say shield while injecting mana into it." Kina nodded with a grateful smile as snapped the bracelet onto his left wrist.
"You are right, this will certainly help me a great lot Takumi-kun, I don't like to admit but my defensive abilities are indeed lacking compared to my peers." He said that but he still could create an element eraser sword at any moment to counter so his words meant nothing. Honestly, his sacred gear was so good, I wonder what I could have done with it if I had started with it instead of Iter Melius.
Discarding my idle thoughts, I pulled out my last item, and everyone properly attuned to mana immediately felt a presence from the gauntlets I just pulled out. It was a pure white fingerless gauntlet made of Polarium with pink Orichalchium engravings. It also had a pink pawprint on its back. Koneko looked at it with wonder in her eyes and a drooling mouth, I feel like if her tail were out right now it would be swishing hard enough to make a tornado.
"This, is my work-in-progress prototype that I am quite proud of. I call it Leon Monarch Gauntlets. It should double the power behind the user's strikes while also increasing their basic strength by a large margin. I wanted to give it to Koneko-chan-" Koneko appeared before me almost like flash stepping before grabbing the gauntlets.
"...Yes! Thank you." I think that's one of the most emotional I have ever seen Koneko. Getting a nod from me she quickly put on my gloves and the moment she did her eyes went wide like a cat. She pumped a fist up in excitement.
"...I am a god of destruction...!" Her fist pump alone made a shockwave that pierced the ceiling of ORC to the shock of everyone in the room. Seeing this Koneko immediately went in to hug me and...
Crack!
"Thank you."
Ow.
"Cough! Cough! Y-you are welcome Koneko-c-chan, could you please release me? You are breaking my ribs." Koneko hurriedly released me as I pushed my ribs back in place and resumed talking. "I probably should have told this to you first but the reason why it is a prototype is because the strength it grants is rather hard to control, so I was thinking I could get some feedback from you about how you use it. It's completely yours, of course, your cuteness is already price enough for me." I gave her a thumbs up as Koneko blushed and looked away before coughing into her hand.
"...Forgiven."
I raised an eyebrow.
"Forgiven? Forgiven for what?" Koneko gave me a blank stare before looking away again.
"...Nothing." Koneko returned to fiddling with her gauntlets again showing her unwillingness to elaborate, seeing this Akeno giggled.
"Be careful Koneko-chan, we wouldn't want to have to rebuild the Clubroom while you are playing around, you should focus on controlling your newfound strength." Koneko nodded curtly while inspecting her gauntlets even more. Getting another giggle from Akeno. "Ufufu~ it seems like she is completely absorbed in her gauntlets. You certainly know how to treat a girl Takumi-kun."
Nodding to Akeno I turned my attention to Rias who was watching this all with a beautiful smile on her face. She really saw her peerage as her family.
"Also, don't think I forgot about you and Akeno, I have things for you two as well I just have to spend some time creating both of them, the Leon Monarchs were just an experiment at first." Rias gave me a helpless smile while shrugging her shoulder, I gave her a light smile and stepped closer.
"You really do love going overboard don't you Takumi-kun?"
"Of course, you know me, and if you are still insisting about a price..." I wrapped my around Rias and gave her a brief kiss, stunning her for a second. "That settles it, these weapons are things I make in my free time, a kiss with you is worth more than those to me." Contrary to my expectation Rias trembled with her head down before pulling on my cheek with her hand.
"Ow ow ow, the hell?" Rias looked at my face with a fierce pout and a very deep blush.
"You really are playing too unfairly Takumi. Now I get what Koneko was talking about."
"Woohoo! You go Senpai!" Aika cheered from the back while I still stood confused.
What did I do to deserve this?
A/N: Wow, I made this chapter way longer than I had intended.
I tried to capture the DxD vibe better with this chapter which I felt was lacking in the latest chapters. It is a crime to focus too hard on politics in a world like DxD when there are harem shenanigans to be had.
Also, Aika and the Kendo duo join the Rias peerage! Because honestly it felt like her peerage had nothing at all, and I didn't want to make Oc's to fill in the gaps. Aika fits in the peerage naturally and the duo give a more grounded perspective on the peerage and world. And Takumi really hit them Epic Gear as a sign-in bonus as their senior, what did you guys think about them and Takumi's gifts by the way? Also, do you guys prefer the more slice of life?
_______________________________
If you like my works and want to support me and my works you can do so at my P*treon or SubscribeSt*r at: p*treon.com/BronzDeck or subscribest*r.adult/bronz-deck. You can also read up to 10 chapters ahead on all of my works there and participate in story polls.
Just replace the * with an a.