"Takumi? What do you mean by broken?" Rias asked cautiously as the room took a more tense tone, making Gasper cower even more.
I pretended to take a closer look at Gasper before nodding mournfully.
"His sacred gear is supposed to be Forbidden Balor View right? I can sense his sacred gear, and I have plenty of experience with them. There is something wrong with his sacred gear. Or should I say something wrong inside of it." They all got tenser as I added a tone of something more grave to my voice.
"His sacred is corrupted, there is a separate being inside of it that is corrupting it from the inside, making Gasper unable to properly control it. And if it is left as is, well, give it a few more years and it would have grave consequences." I was bullshitting so hard but Rias and co believed it as Gasper screamed again, stopping time and hiding back inside of his coffin.
"Oh no! Please stop it! I don't wanna die!!!" I felt irritation boil inside me again but I pushed it down as I pushed it down and turned to Rias.
"Thankfully, I am also a seal master alongside an alchemist. I should be able to take his sacred gear out of him without hurting him in less than a few weeks. In the meantime, he should refrain from using it as little as possible." As I said this I received multiple looks of gratitude, after all, I wasn't coveting his sacred gear, I was simply offering to save him.
"Really!? You can really get rid of it? Thank you so much!!! *sniff* *sob*" Gasper cried out in relief and anxiety, I held absolutely zero apprehension about taking Balor View from this thing.
I felt Rias hug me.
"Thank you very much Takumi-kun I don't know what I would have done without you here." Well, he would have given you a rather sizeable power up but that no longer matters.
"No need to thank me Rias" Because what I am doing is an overall negative for you "You can rely on me you know? It's not like I am just going to turn you away when you guys are in trouble. If I did, I wouldn't have become a devil." That made everyone smile, except Gasper I guess, he is in his own world and he can stay there, worthless worm.
"Oh, and guys, on the topic of helping and all. I have been making some deals about materials and I was thinking about brewing some elixirs I wanted to share with you guys. But for that, I will need you to visit my mansion so that I can take blood samples and et cetera so that I don't turn you into something I have to hunt down." Before they responded I raised a finger.
"In case you are gonna ask, it's free, or not, if you do want to pay I won't stop you. I just want my friends to be strong." It's not a loss if you are giving it to make the people on your side stronger after all.
Rias opened her mouth to say something but closed it after a second and shook her head with a fond expression.
"Really, you are too generous Takumi, but I can't refuse. As much as I don't like it, we did not do well enough against Riser, and I don't want to be left behind by you." I could see the same resolve on the faces of her other peerage members, Koneko looked determined with an adorable flame in her eyes, Kiba looked resolved like a knight while Akeno looked like she wanted nothing but to hop on me and ride me.
"Ara~ ara~ Takumi-kun, don't you know it's dangerous to shower a girl with so many gifts? You really spoil us too much. If you keep teasing so much don't be surprised if I start acting on it."
Donning a thoughtful expression, I started thinking.
I can replicate bloodlines, right? Isn't Akeno's holy lightning a bloodline? And now that I think about it, wasn't her mother both a bombshell and a skilled exorcist?
The puzzle pieces that made up my plans suddenly shifted and took on another shape.
"Speaking of acting, hey Akeno, wanna go on a date this Saturday?" That made Akeno freeze up instantly.
"Eh?"
Seeing her stunned I continued.
"Well, I was thinking, I am free this Saturday, so maybe we could hang out together. I don't really know you all that well, I felt like changing that."
From the side I could see Rias' smug expression as she stared at Akeno, Kiba flashing me thumbs up for some reason(have I ever even spoken to him directly before?) while Koneko looked somewhat offended for some reason.
Akeno blushed fiercely and looked away while scratching her cheek, unlike Rias she had zero defense.
"Geez, you really are dangerous aren't you Takumi-kun? Prez really wasn't lying. I'd love to, I assume that's fine with you Rias?" Rias nodded with a smile.
"Of course, I don't mind Akeno, you are my best friend after all. Besides, I don't think I can handle Takumi-kun alone, hell, I feel like I will need an army or two at this rate if I want to be able to walk out of the bedroom." Kiba gave an "I am so uncomfortable right now" smile while Koneko looked even more disgruntled muttering something something about perverts under her breath.
As I was about to continue speaking I received a notification from my phone. Checking it for a moment and reading the entire message in less than a second I decided that I had to leave early for now. Soon enough I would probably find some time to play game night with them or something but right now I was a busy, busy man.
"Whoops, sorry guys, duty calls. I will catch you all later." I said, quickly leaving while bidding everyone goodbye, I was a man of multiple talents and that caused me to be needed in a lot of places at once, I really needed the resources for the second drone.
And as for the message I received, it was Sera who had messaged me and the contents boiled down to "Hey Taku-tan! So-tan really wants to talk to you but she is too much of a socially awkward weirdo to actually approach you so could you please pay her a visit? She has been complaining nonstop about you ditching her to play with Rias-chan. Don't worry, I will make it up to you."
Yeah, I completely forgot about Sona and her existence. She is just very... inconsequential?
But I guess I should still pay her a visit or something. Or else I feel like Sera will nag me a lot.
I casually made my way to the student council room, I already knew she was there since I used Echolocation, Mana Sense, Seismic Sense, Heat Reading etc. to check if she was actually there. My sensory abilities were actually rather strong when I bothered to apply them.
I walked toward the door and knocked, and a few moments later her queen opened the door for me, Tsubaki Shinra if I remember correctly.
"Welcome Takumi-kun please take a seat, my king has been waiting for you." I followed her and saw Sona sitting behind a desk like a principal, gesturing me to sit on the seat in front of her.
Honestly, she was trying so hard to sell the "I am a serious adult, respect me please" vibe it was honestly somewhat adorable, she is like a kid trying to sit on the adult's table.
"Good afternoon Sitri-san. I remember you requesting for me to be here, and since I have found some free time I decided to pay you a visit. What's up?" Hearing my words Sona almost frowned as I sat down.
"Good afternoon to you too Takumi-kun. Indeed I asked for your presence here. I have seen Rias' peerage recent explosive progress and wanted to know if it had anything to with your potions perhaps?"
I nodded casually.
"Yep, my potions do have that kind of effect and so does my training. Namely, my cultivation potions and elixirs are probably what you are referencing, obviously, I dabble in far more than that. Really, basically, whatever you imagine potions would be possible I can brew." Hearing my words a calculative glint emerged in Sona's eyes.
Man, now that I view it like this, Serafall was right about this, once you stop taking her seriously Sona is kind of adorable.
"I see, then in that case I would like to employ your services Takumi-kun. My peerage could really benefit from a supply of your potions and maybe even training."
It took all of my attention to keep myself from laughing.
Who did she think she was trying to "employ the services of"?
In less than a month I would have the entire underworld eating out of my palm. What was she even going to pay me with?
Did she never get a reality check or something?
"And? What are you offering in exchange Miss. Sitri?" I put on a more serious tone as Sona smiled and tilted her glasses.
"I can compensate you both monetarily with money and resources found in the Sitri territory and-" I raised a finger to cut her off.
"Sitri-san, are you really sure you can afford my services? Do you know the scale of the deal you are offering to make?" Sona frowned, she thought I was doubting her abilities when I was absolutely sure she just wasn't aware of what she was doing.
"Yes? Could you elaborate on that? Because I can assure you that as the heiress of the Sitri family, it should be within my power."
"Sitri-san. I was recruited to the Devil race personally by Sirzechs at his insistence, I directly deal with Lady Serafall to open my own potion shops and auction houses in Lilith(a/n: capital of Devil underworld) endorsed by Ajuka himself. On top of that, I have personal connections with Azazel and have a trade and supply deal with the Grigori and Azazel himself. Besides, if I also needed ingredients a Devil heiress could get I could ask for them from Rias herself."
My words made Sona freeze up, she looked like a deer in headlights or a child who was caught with her hand on the jar as I leaned forward again, donning my businessman body language.
"So, Sitri-san. Are you sure that as an Heiress with no direct access to your family treasury or the authority to make decisions for the Sitri clan you can afford my direct services and personal time with your affordance?" Honestly, it kind of pissed me off, did she do literally zero research or something? Was she just arrogant or naive? She did watch me (metaphorically) fuck Riser's ass yet she was still acting like this?
Well, classic Devils and their arrogance, just because she is Sera's sister does not mean I will give her freebies worth hours of my time which are equal to dozens of days of my time.
Sona grit her teeth.
"I... don't think I can do so at the moment. Is there perhaps some other way I could afford your services?" Heh, that sounds like an NTR plotline.
I simply shrugged my shoulder.
"I don't know, maybe you can or maybe you can't but you are welcome to try, I am not trying to run away. I have no idea what I would want from you, but you are free to come up with your own ideas." She was Sera's sister, I guess I could go just a tad easy on her.
I could tell Sona's pride was hurt but I didn't care much.
After taking a moment to compose herself Sona spoke.
"...I see. I will need some time to think, thank you for coming to meet me Takumi-kun."
"No problem, you can find me anytime through Rias. Until then, see you later Sitri-san." Bidding the heiress goodbye I stretched.
Now then, it was time to get back to the grind.
A/N: Takumi is covetous, and he is not above lying to get what he wants, he cares about Rias, but for Time Stop he is more than willing to deceive her. And he will get those eyes even if he has to cross several moral boundaries to do so.
Also, Sona grossly miscalculated where Takumi stood, from her perspective, he was the abnormally strong bishop of Rias who was an accomplished Alchemist not the second coming of Draconic Ajuka Mk.2. I wonder how she will respond now that she feels challenged by Takumi?
As always, what did you guys think about the chapter? I would love to hear your thoughts so make sure to comment, comments help motivate me to write more and faster.