Chapter 159: Falbium

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Sirzechs stared at Naruto grimly for several moments, his amiable persona gone. Turning around, he explained without looking at Naruto, "Rias might not like it, but she is the heiress of the Gremory Clan. More than that, she is my sister. The sister of a Maou. Rias may wish to believe it doesn't mean anything, but it does."

"I remember when it happened. Rias came up to me when she was twelve, and told me that she wanted to study in the human world. She wanted to become independent. To step out of the shadow of expectations as the 'Gremory heiress' and 'Lucifer's sister.' It was admirable, but I felt the fear appear in my heart that day. As much as Rias wants to become independent as a devil and as a king, she can't change who she is. Even if she renounced her position as heiress, she is still my sister…I have enemies. Enemies who would do anything to try and strike at me. Even strike at Rias. In our castle, she is safe. In the Underworld, I can protect her. The human world though…Rias could be killed before I even receive a message of help."

"That girl though. She insisted, and kept insisting till our parents allowed it. I wanted more reassurance though. I wanted to test her. If she wanted to live in the human world without my protection then she needed to prove herself powerful enough to defend herself. So I to suggest to my parents of having her marry Riser. Riser is powerful, yes, but he has clear weaknesses. He was a perfect hurdle for Rias. Rias would never accept the marriage, and the obvious conclusion was to use a Rating Match. It would push Rias to become stronger."

Naruto was gaping by this point. Finally, he whispered out in disbelief, "A test…This was all a test. You risked Rias getting married…for a test."

"I risked nothing," Sirzechs quickly claimed. "You were right before. I'm a Maou. At any point I could have cancelled the engagement. If Rias proved herself incapable of handling Riser, I would have stepped in."

"So this was all for nothing? No consequences or anything?" Naruto demanded, getting angry again.

"Of course there would be consequences," Sirzechs asserted. "If Rias proved herself incapable of breaking her engagement to Riser herself and I was forced to step in…I would have forbade Rias from returning to the human world. She would have been forced to stay in the Underworld and focus on her duties as heiress."

"I told you. I did this due to my concern for Rias' safety. I would give Rias and her peerage as much chances as they wanted to break the engagement. If they succeeded, I deemed they would be powerful enough for Rias to live in the human world. If they failed, the opposite. It would be proof that Rias wasn't powerful enough to be without my or our family's protection."

Naruto took a deep breath to try and calm himself. The Maou's words infuriated Naruto.

Naruto could actually understand where he was coming from, but that didn't make it any easier for Naruto to accept.

Rias had been afraid for years of being forced to marry Riser. All because this guy was overprotective. Finally calm, Naruto looked at the Maou.

And then head butt him again.

"Gah! Will you stop doing that?!" Sirzechs demanded as he once again was forced to cradle his nose.

"Then don't do stupid things!" Naruto yelled in anger. "Did you ever consider just telling Rias about your worries?! You had to go through some manipulative plot?"

"Rias needed the motivation that came from her belief of her possibly being forced to marry Riser. She wouldn't have worked so hard otherwise," Sirzechs argued stubbornly.

"Maybe so, but she wouldn't have gone through several years of emotional distress either.

If you want to become strong, you are upfront with them. You don't trick them.

You should of explained to Rias and her peerage your worries. Then test her progress biannually.

Rias isn't one to betray someone's trust, so why the hell didn't you just believe in her?!" Naruto shouted.

"…Rias has found some good servants," Sirzechs claimed randomly. "I think I can entrust her to you and the rest of her peerage."

"…Don't just change the topic when you don't have a comeback," Naruto exclaimed in irritation.

"I stick by my choice. I know I might have hurt Rias, but I would do anything to protect her. Even if she might hate me for it. That is the duty of an older brother," Sirzechs claimed solemnly.

Naruto just stared at him for several moments before groaning and admitting, "Great, now I can't even tell her what you did. It would just cause all sorts of problems about a closed issue."

"Hehe. I'd appreciate that. I'll tell Rias someday, when she might understand why I did it," Sirzechs stated sheepishly. Looking at Naruto seriously, he continued, "I meant what I said before though, Naruto-kun. I'm entrusting Rias' safety to you and the rest of her peerage."

"Why does that sound ominous?" Naruto asked cautiously, his danger sense tingling.

"I told you before. Rias is my sister, and I have enemies that would strike at her to hurt me.

Worse, Rias goes to school with Sona, the sister of Serafall. Two younger siblings of Maou in one school. It is a tempting target.

There is a large chance that someone will eventually attack either Rias or Sona," Sirzechs explained.

"Come on. It can't be that bad. I haven't heard of any attacks before, and both Rias and Sona have been attending Kuoh for year," Naruto pointed out. Seeing Sirzechs looking sheepish, Naruto deadpanned, "You did something."

Chuckling awkwardly, Sirzechs looked away as he admitted, "I might have ordered Falbium to station scouts around the city, without Rias knowing. The scouts wouldn't interfere in things Rias could handle herself, but they would act as an advance warning system. As well as reinforcements if something did happen."

"So why did you do all this about making Rias stronger if you were protecting Rias anyway?" Naruto demanded, not understanding the thought process of the person in front of him.

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