Still Inside the ORC room.
Rias and her peerage, including Valerie, turned to look at Akeno with puzzled expressions, causing her to blush with embarrassment. Sensing the awkwardness, Rias, her King, asked with confusion, "Akeno, what was that all about?"
Embarrassed, Akeno took a moment to calm herself down. She then gazed at the Dhampir in the room, adjusting her imaginary glasses before asking, "Valerie, you are a Dhampir, yes?" Valerie nodded slowly, looking confused as what hell is Akeno up to.
"Are you from Romania, perhaps?" Akeno asked with a playful smile, pointing her finger at Valerie. Valerie, the one being questioned, nodded in response.
"Of course you are. That place is the holy land of vampires" Akeno said with a smile, having anticipated Valerie's answer. She looked at Valerie with a playful grin and asked another question. "Even though you are a girl, you're not part of the Carmilla faction dominated by women vampires. Instead, you're part of the Tepes faction, the male vampire-dominated counterpart." She smirked while pointing that out and then added, "Am I right?" She smiled knowingly, waiting for Valerie's confirmation.
"Oh, I remember now" Rias commented, her face lighting up as she recalled something important after hearing Akeno's explanation. "I almost forgot about him again. TeeHee." She made a playful tehepero face, sticking out her tongue and winking.
The group looked at her strangely as she did this, a mixture of amusement and confusion on their faces. Akeno chuckled softly, while Koneko raised an eyebrow and Kiba smiled politely. Valerie, still confused about the point of Akeno's questions and Rias's vague comment about 'him,' felt even more bewildered. However, when she remembered that Akeno associated her with the Tepes faction, her face became gloomy. "I'm not a member of the Tepes faction because I already killed their leaders, while Oreki killed most of the members of that faction" she said seriously, looking at her new friends with concern as she wondered what they would think of her.
"We don't really care about them" Akeno said with a chuckle, staring at the uncertain Valerie. "In fact, we are happy because of what you and Oreki did. Rias's Bishop, who is also a Dhampir like you, hated the Tepes faction for taking his childhood friend." Akeno smiled lightly, then looked at Koneko, who had resumed eating her snacks after confirming that Valerie was not hostile. She signaled Koneko to fetch the Bishop from his room
Koneko nodded and reluctantly put down the snacks she was eating before leaving the room to fetch the Bishop piece of Rias's peerage.
Hearing about the Dhampir in Rias's peerage, Valerie started thinking about who this might be. "Is he related to someone I knew back then?" she pondered inwardly. Then, she remembered something Oreki had mentioned about a surprise he wanted to show her. As she began to put two and two together, an idea formed in her mind.
Abruptly, she stood up and shouted, "Could it be?" as she look at the others in the room.
Akeno and Rias smile knowingly at Valerie the same with the silent Kiba as he too started putting the pieces together.
The door to the room opened, and Valerie instantly looked up to see Koneko dragging someone by the collar of his clothes. Koneko threw him gently in front of Valerie, who was already on the verge of tears. Valerie looked at the boy, his head covered by a paper bag, and noticed he was wearing the same clothes as she was, which made her smile through her tears.
Valerie knelt in front of the boy sitting on the floor, her hands trembling as she slowly removed the paper bag from his head. The moment it was off, she threw her arms around his neck as she recognized him, pulling him into a tight embrace. "Gasper, it really is you" she cried out, her voice breaking as tears streamed down her face. She clung to him, crying loudly as she repeated his name, overwhelmed by the unexpected reunion.
Gasper, confused, opened his red eyes, his blond hair falling over his forehead. As he recognized the voice of his childhood friend, tears began to well up in his eyes. "Valerie-nee, is that you?" he asked, his voice trembling with uncertainty but filled with the hope that it was truly her.
Valerie tightened her embrace, her tears soaking into his shirt. "Yes, Gasper, it's me" she confirmed, her voice filled with both relief and joy. The two of them clung to each other, reunited at last, while the rest of Rias's peerage looked on, their hearts warmed by the touching reunion.
Rias turned to look at her peerage, noting that they were also on the verge of tears, especially Koneko, who was reminded of her own sister's abandonment after witnessing Gasper and Valerie's emotional reunion. Koneko shook her head, trying to prevent her tears from falling. Seeing this, Rias decided to comfort her and act as a big sister figure. She gently put her arm around Koneko's shoulders and said to the group, "Let's give them some space."
One by one the devils left the room with Rias looking at Valerie and Gasper last moment before closing the door
---
In a training ground somewhere in the Mount Olympus.
A vast open-air arena dedicated to the mastery of traditional melee weapons. At the heart of the training grounds lay the central arena, a large, circular area with a dirt floor. Here, warriors sparred and practiced combat drills. Wooden posts and training dummies were scattered around, providing ample opportunities for solo practice. The sounds of clashing weapons and grunts of effort filled the air.
Along the edges of the central arena stood numerous weapon racks, meticulously organized with an impressive array of cold weapons: swords, spears, axes, maces, and shields. Each rack was well-maintained, allowing warriors to easily select their weapon of choice.
Nearby, various targets and dummies stood ready for practice. Straw dummies, wooden mannequins, and padded figures were positioned at different distances, helping warrior improve their precision. Some dummies were even mounted on rotating stands to simulate moving targets, challenging the warriors accuracy and timing.
Around the main arena were smaller enclosed sparring pits, sunken slightly into the ground. These pits were perfect for one-on-one matches, giving fighters a contained space to test their skills. The intensity of these duels often drew the attention of onlookers, who watched from the elevated stands.
Not far from the sparring pits was a challenging obstacle course. This winding path featured hurdles, balance beams, climbing walls, and narrow passages. It was designed to enhance agility, speed, and combat readiness, pushing the trainees to their limits.
Adjacent to the melee training area was the archery range. Here, targets were set at varying distances, including some that moved to test the archers' skills. The twang of bowstrings and the thud of arrows hitting their marks were common sounds in this part of the grounds.
Surrounding the entire training area were tall trees, creating a natural boundary and a sense of seclusion. The rustling leaves and chirping birds added to the atmosphere, making the place feel like a hidden world dedicated to the art of combat.
In the main arena, a warrior battles a fellow warrior amidst the sounds of arrows whizzing and shields clashing, occasionally punctuated by grunts of pain. These warriors fight each other fiercely, or more precisely, the huntresses train under the guidance of someone who makes the new recruits burn with envy, as they can only practice with training dummies without even an instructor. The one teaching the fighting huntresses is none other than the Goddess of the Hunt herself, Artemis.