Life 3-2

Noé maintained the placid expression as they approached a pair of oaken double doors, on which a plague reading [Occult Research Club] was planted. Rias threw the doors wide, and Noé rolled his eyes at the obvious attempt for dramatics as he followed her and Akeno in. The walls, ceiling, and floor of the large office were covered inch to inch by runes and sigils. The center of the room had a prominent circular sigil marked on it, and in the center of that circle was a rose sigil that stood predominantly in it.

A couple of sofas and desks stood as furnishings within the space, with a more ornate desk at the end of the room with a large chair behind it. No need to guess who sits there. Noé thought with that wry smirk back on. He also spotted a curtain off to the side, raising his brow at it. Did they install a shower into this room? Noé decided he would not be asking questions about that.

And at one of the sofas, someone was already there to greet them. A small girl who one could perhaps mistake for a middle schooler were it not for her wearing the same uniform as Rias and Akeno, simply without the shoulder cape. Short white hair with bangs that framed her face, and bright golden eyes. The girl barely glanced away from her plate of youkan as she registered Rias' arrival. Isn't she… right a first year. Toujo Koneko if I remember right.

Noé knew the basics about the small girl from the expected chattering. She was considered something of a mascot for the first-year students thanks to her cute features contrasting with her generally emotionless face and soft voice. Among the boys it was either admiration for how adorable they found her… or reasons Noé felt the need to report to the police over if ever they came up.

"Welcome back, President," Koneko quietly spoke, Rias nodding as she sauntered past. The small girl's eyes then turned to Noé. The question from her was obvious without any spoken words behind it to boot.

"Koneko-chan, this is Soren Edelweiss. He's a classmate of mine and Rias'," Akeno took the liberty of introducing him, to which Noé gave a small wave in response.

"Yo."

"Ah. Nice to meet you."

The mutual lack of words seemed enough of a greeting, as Koneko went right back to her snack without anything else. Noé raised a brow, only to hear the door open yet again.

"Oh? Everyone is here already huh?" a boy's voice chimed up.

Noé turned and immediately came face to face with a blonde young man. He also recognized the newcomer rather quickly. Kiba Yuuto, the most popular boy on campus (up to debate), and big favorite among his fellow second years. That were of the female gender anyway. Though also the kind of pretty boy girls for some bizarre reason think of guy-on-guy set ups whenever he's around one… when they're not projecting their own fantasies.

Noé quiet honestly worried about the junior teenager whenever Tsuno went cackling on about what he knew the manga club got up to.

"Hmm? Edelweiss-senpai?" Yuuto said, prompting an annoyed sigh from Noé.

"Drop the damn honorific," He growled, Yuuto just shrugging as he sat down on the same sofa as Koneko, "Aight, seems like that's everyone then. So… lemme guess, everyone in this room is a Devil."

"Correct," Rias said, "Everyone else in this room are, as you've guessed, also Devils, and the members of my Peerage."

"Figures," Noé sat down on the empty couch with a bit of a flop, leaning on a hand as he looked to Rias. "Alright, let's cut to the chase, what's this about anyway? This… whole thing about me being some ward of the Gremory family?"

"It's something that came down to me from my father the other night," Rias said. "As you surmised, I had one of mine following you for the sake of observation. Koneko, to be precise," the white-haired girl nodded in affirmation. "When I got back to him with the information about your confrontation with the Fallen, he immediately advised me that you were to be brought under our protection. To be honest, he made the decision with such swiftness it's still left be confused as to why. Thus, I personally can only assume you're someone of great import… isn't that so, Red Dragon Emperor?"

"Um… President?" Yuuto raised his hand as he spoke. "I thought Edelweiss was half-Devil."

"I am," Noé stated, "I also happened to get lucky and get a Sacred Gear as well. A Longinus Class, as it so happens."

"But the odds of that would be…" Yuuto murmured, his eyes wide.

"Practically a miracle," Koneko stated.

"If you need a demonstration…" With a flick of Noé's arms, the crimson gauntlets flashed into form, and if the room hadn't already been surprised, seeing the items themselves achieved that with no issue. "As Gremory oh so handily stated, this would happen to be the Boosted Gear. Though obviously I made some… modifications to it. I guess the proper term would be this is my Sub-Species version of it: Boosted Gear Myrmidon."

"My my," Akeno hummed, "No wonder those Fallens targeted you like they did. A lonesome half-devil could be trouble enough, but one toting around a Sacred Gear like that? I can only hope you sent them running for the hills from sheer fright, fufufu!"

And for why such a thing was so important, Noé had long been educated on that topic by his father.

Sacred Gears were items given to humanity by God, tools that could allow even a normal human to rise to the same level as a non-human and stand with them as an equal. They ranged all over in terms of their form and powers, some weak, some strong.

And the strongest of them all were the Longinus Class. These Gears were said to be able to allow one to "overcome God and surpass the Devil", each one granting their holder access to incredibly power. Only thirteen of these Logninus Class Gears existed, and unlike other types were wholly unique, only ever appearing in the possession of one individual at a time. And it was just Noé's luck he was born not only as a half-Devil but was in possession of one such Gear himself.

Calling Noé a "miracle" or perhaps "freak of nature" was quite fitting, he would admit.

"Ddraig, you going to say something, or gonna keep quiet?" Noé sighed when there was no reply, the gauntlets vanishing in red light. "Was hoping he'd do it himself, but fine. Guess I'm the one covering bases. If you know about that, you also know how that Gear was made, right?"

"With a shard of the soul of Y Ddraig Goch, the Red Dragon of Wales," Rias answered. "Considering the Boosted Gear is one of the most famous Gears known among the Longinus Class, it's near impossible not to be aware of it and its origins," Rias folded her arms, closing her eyes in thought for a few moments. "Alright then, it's my turn to learn something. Since you so clearly know about Sacred Gears, what of the situation of the world as a whole?"

"I'm not that out of the loop," Noé folded his arms behind his head, staring up at some of the markings on the ceiling. "Right now, the supernatural world exists in a strained idea of peace. Centuries ago, there was a massive war between the three Biblical Factions. It started off as Devils and Fallen Angels fighting over territory in the Underworld, but when that got dragged out into the Human Realm, Heaven felt the need to intervene, and it turned into a three-way melee that saw all sides torn to shreds. The Fallen Angels dipped first with the heaviest losses, and the Devils and Angels agreed to stop the war as both their sides were starting to lose numbers as well."

"Good, and what else?" Noé shot Rias a look when he could tell she was clearly hoping for a chance to jump in. "Perhaps about the Devils in particular?"

"Go on," Noé decided letting the girl have this one was less trouble than it was worth.

"As you surmised, yes, during the war we Devils faced heavy losses ourselves," Rias said. "The biggest loss being that of our rulers, Lucifer and the other three Satan-class Devils: Leviathan, Beelzebub, and Asmodeus. We are currently led by a new Four Great Satans who have taken on their names… but as you can easily guess, recovering from the war hasn't been a simple task."

"Well considering most of the Houses belonging to the 72 Pillars were either wiped out or lost their status for one reason or another," Noé said, Rias again looking mildly surprised he knew such a thing. "So, if the question and answer portion of the introduction is done, what's the actual plan? There's always a catch to things like this, so I'm assuming me, for whatever reasons there happen to be, being brought under Gremory protection isn't as simple as me going back to my usual routine."

"Again, you catch on quickly," Rias mused. "In short, I suppose while not a member of my Peerage, the directive I was given was to start mentoring you in the world a proper Devil engages in."

"Wait… you're not gonna have me doing newbie resurrected Devil crap like running around passing out summoning flyers are ya?" Noé's remark was added by him pulling out a small, folded slip of paper. A quick swipe unfolded the article, revealing a smaller version of the circle on the floor present on the sheet. "If I'm not mistaken, this is one of yours, right?"

"Well, you may be disappointed to hear that it will in fact be part of what you'll have to do. Since you're not an actual Servant I can't really do as I would if you were… but, you must start somewhere on the path to becoming a proper Devil, don't you? Working for a member of the House of Gremory isn't a bad start, if I had to say anything." Rias' tone was cheerful as she spoke, but there was a particular phrase that Noé felt ever so slightly irked by when he heard it.

"Ahhh, okay, first off Princess, let me make a bit of a distinction here," Noé stood up as he spoke, approaching Rias with a couple of steps. Her Servants also took more defensive looks, but Rias waved them down. "Let me make it clear: I do not work for people; I work with them. I don't care if this entire thing is because of stuff out of our hands, but don't for a second think this gives you license to boss me around, got it? And if I am going to deal with this, I want to lay some ground rules. Requests, we could say."

"Well I don't see anything wrong with that… as long as your requests don't cause me, or my servants, any trouble," Rias's tone let off that ever pleasant tone and air, but Noé was sharp enough to catch she was keeping something underneath it. It didn't surprise him. Devils were prideful by nature, and no doubt on top of this new situation, Noé deciding to all but undermine the authority Rias was trying to impose didn't sit well with her. She had the kind of expression where the mere slight quirk of her lip betrayed the annoyance underneath her smile.

And Noé felt quite smug about that.

"First, don't go ordering me around. I follow directions, not orders. There's a difference. Basically, just an add on to what I said earlier," Noé raised one finger, then a second as he carried on, "Two, I ain't just gonna roll over and take shit. If I'm working with you, I need it to be agreed upon this is mutual. Think of it as a contracted agreement, Devils like those right? Though considering we both basically got thrown into this by your old man, seems we're in the same boat."

"That we are." Rias agreed, and Noé held up a third finger.

"Third: My decisions are my own, and I take responsibility for them. So, if I do something, anything, and you rag on me for it no matter who it effects, I'm taking it out on you," that statement again got the three Servants to suddenly go defensive, Noé glancing back at them with an unimpressed gaze, "Oh relax will ya'? I don't intend to hurt any of you for real. Just at least understand that I do things my way, got it? You have a problem with that, then take it up with me. I'll probably stick to my guns, but I'm open to negotiations."

"As I said, if what you do doesn't cause trouble for me or my Servants in too direct a fashion, then you're basically free to do whatever… so long as you help out. You did say this should be mutual right? Then in exchange for the added protection of being a, let's say provisional member, of my group, all I ask is that if I need the extra help, you assist me and my Servants in our Devil business."

"So long as it doesn't run into problems with my own business, fine by me," Noé put a hand on his chin as a thought occurred. "That actually makes some hunts easier… working with a Peerage to hunt down strays wouldn't be too bad an idea. Ah, right… just to ask, aside from protection is there any other benefits I get out of this deal or are ya' just keeping people off my back?"

"Well, if you want, I could help cover any fundings you may face here and in the future. As you can imagine, we Devil families have the kind of funding humans could only ever dream of," Rias stated, folding her arms, "Good enough then? I feel like we've reached something of an understanding."

"Well, I can deal with money no problem… you know frankly I'm surprised a pure-blood like you isn't being more… I dunno, I guess high and mighty. I mean I am just a half-blood. Don't Devils have a big thing about heritage?"

It wasn't an incorrect statement. Noé's knowledge on proper Devil society may have been lacking (putting it lightly), but even he knew a half-breed like himself would be seen as… unwelcome in certain cricles. A reincarnated Devil like the other three in the room? Tolerable, perhaps. But he knew enough about noble tendencies to have an idea of things.

"That's true in most cases, but I like to think of myself as above that," Rias's statement had its own smug edge to it. "I'm surprised that you're willing to negotiate though. Considering all the trouble your reputation follows, I was thinking you'd be less cooperative."

"I'm not an idiot. Besides, if I can see myself getting something out of this, then what reason do I have to argue, right?" Noé held a hand to Rias, who took a moment before putting her palm to his, "Ah, good, I didn't have to tell ya what to do."

"I can understand a physical form of agreement," Rias stated, "Just be aware I'll be calling in soon."

"Yeah yeah. You've got my phone number in your palm there."

Rias blinked as Noé turned away, finding there was indeed a slip of paper now resting in her hand. It seemed her new associated had a few extra tricks up his sleeve than she had assumed he did. Rias let out a chuckle, then clearing her throat. Noé stopped as he opened the door, looking over his shoulder.

"There is one more thing I would say needs to be done," Rias said. "You live with your father, correct? Well, considering the likely changes to your routine, it would be best if I accompanied you to help… clear the air, yes?"

Noé raised a brow, feeling just a bit confused by that. He looked forward, and as the realization began to set in, a truly devilish smirk split his face. Rias didn't know just who his father really was. As the idea began to roll in his head, Noé dropped the wild smirk for a more normal looking smile, but none could mistake the glint of pure joy in his eyes as he turned around.

"Sure, why not! I'm sure he'll listen to what you have to say, no problem at all."

Rias suddenly felt that, perhaps, she may have just made a bad decision for some reason.