"Mr. Muramasa, I'm about to leave now." Otto walked to the forge, finding him hammering for another sword.
"Is that so? Then go away." He said casually.
"Er— bye? And thank you for your words yesterday." He replied while bowing.
Muramasa looked at him expressionless before he took out a Bokken.
"?"
"Take it, and use it in your fights to measure whether or not you feel like you've improved in your art." He threw the Bokken toward Otto, making him confused.
"Uh, okay?"
"Strength is not measured by one's muscles, but from the depth of one's character. Only then can you become unrivaled by many." With that, Otto finally left the cabin and headed towards Tokyo.
"Otto, that wooden sword feels ominous." Brynhildr felt strange when Otto wielded the Bokken.
"You think so too?" Otto could see that the wooden sword was cursed since he could use Cursed Energy as he cleansed the object.
"Hmmm..." He swung the wooden sword around like when he wielded a real sword.
"It's good for having a friendly spar." He stated that he would no longer unsheathe his blades in a spar since he was trying to change his way of fighting.
Hearing his response, Brynhildr felt that Otto was slowly getting wiser.
...
Otto now arrived at Kuoh Town, in Nagano City.
One reason he has with Kuoh Town is to steal the power within Issei Hyoudou's dormant Boosted Gear. With the help of Brynhildr's soul-devouring ability.
'Ddraig, The Red Dragon Emperor... Forgive me as I am going to end your life as a gauntlet. Your current host is just too weird.' Otto prayed that nothing would go wrong in his, small task.
Arrived at the local church, which was still active unlike in the anime which was known as the abandoned church, where it became the fallen angel's hideout.
'So the assassination of the devil girl from the house of Belial hasn't happened yet.' He thinks if he should prevent the assassination since it would cause a major reaction in the future.
"Hello." A brown-haired priest came up to Otto who was standing outside the church, as he stared at Otto's Bokken on his hip.
"Oh? Hello, priest." He turned around and replied showing no bloodthirst to the priest since he's slowly changing.
"Are you going inside the church?" The priest said while inspecting Otto for anything suspicious, and thought that he was just a blazer.
"Nuh-uh." Otto shook his head since there wasn't anything he could do there as he tried to leave quietly.
"Wait up young man." The priest called out, making Otto stop in his steps. As Otto now realized the priest's identity.
'He should be Touji Shindol or something, the father of Irina who is one of the heroines in High School DxD. Otto could feel Touji's holy tools underneath his priest coat.
"Is there something wrong priest?" He asked as Touji's fellow exorcists came out from the church.
"Oh nothing really, I just wanted to ask your name." He replied without malice.
But Otto, felt tense as he thought that they might gang up on him.
"Otto, calm down." Brynhildr woke up Otto who looked tense in the situation. "No one's going after you. Act natural to the priest."
"I'm Otto Apocalypse." He briefly said while being on guard.
Seeing the way Otto acts, the priests look at each other.
"No need to be so tense, young man. We mean no harm." They thought that they somehow made Otto feel threatened.
"No, I'm sorry if I looked tensed just now." Otto apologized as he was just being paranoid about being surrounded by a group of exorcists.
"Ha hahaha, is that so? Then let me introduce myself. I am Touji Shidou, the pastor of this Church." He stated, as he then introduced the other priests' bedside him.
"And finally, he's Masaomi Yaegaki." Touji introduced the long black-haired man last.
'So he's the one that fell in love with the devil woman.' Otto thought as he recalled him.
"Are you perhaps just traveling around Kuoh Town, young man?" Touji acted assertive towards Otto, as he could sense a huge amount of magical power. Enough to even immediately tempt the pesky fallen angels to look for him.
"Yes, I am, priest Shidou. I'm currently looking for a good place to settle in, and find a decent job around Japan." He answered honestly similar to his previous life. Finding a decent house in Japan is a nightmare since most of the landlords don't sell their land, but instead make them as an apartment.
And as for the job part... He just wanted to fit in with this world's society. However, it is hard to find one since he's currently underage, as mostly if not, all the time they would do a background check. He could only hope that he would be able to find and fool an employer with his "adult" look, without looking at his ID.
He was also conflicted about whether he'd go to an ordinary school or one of the seven mage-knight schools in Japan.
"Oh? Is that so? Then I have some few recommendations of houses that are currently being sold, here in Kuoh." Touji said and found massive potential in Otto, and wanted to recruit him as a young exorcist before the devils would make him their servant. He was also worried that Otto might just reject his offer.
"Then that would make things more easier for me." He took on his assistance, as it would save him a lot of time.
Otto knew that Touji was planning something about him once night came.
...
After Otto, Touji, and his fellow priests said their farewells.
"Hey, are you sure what we're doing is right?" Masaomi was conflicted about Touji's plan for Otto, whom they barely met. And found their doings morally wrong, since they're supposed to be protecting the innocent from the Devils.
But at the same time, he's also thinking for a reason to get away from the Church's grasp. Since the sin that he is harboring goes against the beliefs of the Church.
Masaomi fell in love with a teacher whom he met a week ago at the Kuoh Academy, as the woman also shared a mutual feeling with him.
But what's stopping him, is that he is a member of the Church and an exorcist who exorcizes devils. And as for the woman, she is a high-ranking devil that monitored the entire Kuoh Town, since this is the case. He already knew the outcome of their love since both of their associates would immediately reject their deep love for one another.
As Masaomi thought about Touji's plan, he figured that this would be a perfect time for him to run away together with Cleria Belial. While Touji and the other exorcists would be preoccupied with trying to reel Otto to their side. He would take this chance to make work of his plan to convince Cleria to run away with him to another country.
But first, he would need to let Otto know, about Touji's plan, regarding him and hope that Otto would cause a little trouble with Touji, since he knew that Otto held a vast amount of magic and gambles that he knew how to use it, not to mention. He was sure that Otto was a good swordsman.
Masaomi could only hope that Touji and Otto wouldn't die as he had followed Touji, ever since he became an exorcist.
...
-Back to Otto-
"Otto, we have entered into an isolating barrier." Brynhildr was reminded and was mad at the thought that it was the work of the exorcists.
"I know." He was aware of the changes, as he noticed that the surrounding cursed energy disappeared immediately.
Otto ventured deeper into the barrier, thinking that he accidentally entered.
"Rah." A hoarse growl sounded at the dark alley, near Otto as he looked at the disfigured Devil.
"It's a middle-class Devil..." Brynhildr was angry as to why a stray Devil was wandering in a place filled with exorcists.
"Hu-huuuemaaann!" The devil looks at Otto who is still standing from the distance.
"You don't want to do this man," Otto said as he raised his Bokken towards the stray.
"I will kill you if you will attack me." He gave a warning
"Grrrrrrrr— WRRRRRRRYYYY!!!" The stray took it as a challenge and rushed towards Otto, who wasn't impressed at the stray's response.
...
-Kuoh Church-
"What!?" Touji was currently angry at the priests.
"We... Accidentally let out the middle-class Devil." One of the priests bowed his head in shame.
"Then what are you doing here!? Go and find the devil." Touji yelled at them, as they were supposed to release a low-ranking stray to test Otto. He wasn't sure that the boy could survive against a middle-rank stray, which only had a mind for tearing human flesh.
"Damn it..." He cursed in a low voice, before realizing where Masaomi suddenly went. He already knew what Masaomi had done with the female devil, and had already reported it to the higher-ups in the Vatican City.
...
-Near Kuoh Academy-
"What do you mean, we're leaving?" Cleria asked anxiously as she thought that Maosaomi's fellow exorcists had already learned about their relationship.
"We need to go Cleria. I think that Touji had already caught on to us. We'll use this chance while they're preoccupied with dealing with someone." He replied.
"That..." She was conflicted as to whether or not she'd suddenly leave the territory she had been entrusted to. But also was aware that her kind also wanted to stop her as well.
"We don't have much time, Cleria." Maosaomi pleaded to her by holding her hands.
"Alright... And who is distracting them?" She asked curiously.
"A foreigner with a huge amount of mana appeared in Kuoh just this afternoon, and it made Touji and the others think that it would be beneficial for the church to recruit someone like him. By testing him in combat against a low-class stray devil we caught a week ago."
"mmmm..." Cleria felt slightly bad for the foreigner and at the same time was filled with curiously.
...
-Back to Otto-
"I've told you." Otto scoffed at the stray Devil that was now mutilated into several pieces.
"That wooden sword is surprisingly useful," Brynhildr commented that even though it was made out of wood, it was durable and somewhat sharp enough to cut like a knife.
"Yeah..." Otto stared into the distance as he could feel a group of familiar cursed energy together and a new one.
"Is it those priests?" She asked.
"Yes, and an additional new guest." He could sense the new one was strong and was just observing him.
...
-Chapter End-