48 Fateful encounter with a potential peerage candidate

"Was it fine to tell him your plans for recruiting from the first-year senior high school?"

Tsubaki who just placed a cup of tea in front of Sona who was looking at the chessboard in a daze, hearing Tsubaki's words Sona snapped out of it and then looked at her.

"It's fine, the requirement Masaru has for his peerage members is several times higher compared to the one I have"

Tsubaki who heard this thought it must be a joke, she knew the bar Sona set for each of the possible candidates had to go through before she will make her move.

Sona felt Tsubaki was strange and when she looked at her friend she finally realized her requirement was not that low either compared to Rias,

"His selection is similar to mine but remember about those creatures we tried to find out more from him?"

Tsubaki nodded at Sona's question indicating for her to continue,

"That is what makes the requirement several times harder if Masaru did not have to face those things it might have been easier to fill up the spots. But according to Masaru, there are two main issues when dealing with these monsters, it's their soul attack that influences the mind which means Masaru's peerage members need an exceptional strong mind"

Sona took a sip before carrying on,

"The next thing will be fear resistance, from what I heard those creature's looks are simply horrifying compared to other monsters which actually looked more normal."

Tsubaki thought for a moment then felt it strange, "How do you know Masaru's requirement?"

Sona smiled "Because if I was in Masaru's shoes, that will be the two most important things to look out for. Their strength can be trained with time, but a strong mind and strong fear resistance is something not easy to train in, so finding someone who is strong in both is much easier and faster"

>\/<

"We're home!"

Masaru came in their house after Rias and Sara left the offices,

"Welcome back Masaru, Dinner has just been prepared."

Hearing his mother's voice he smiled warmly feeling he was finally having some peace, real peace for a change. After washing hands the dining room seats were all taken.

"How was your first day at school?"

Masaru who heard this could only smile helplessly

"Thanks to the girls it's thrilling, feeling the potential of Human Kind"

Diana swept her gaze to Akeno who was giggling,

"Well it appears they did not take it kindly of our introduction so Masaru became the number one famous Boy in the School in a single day"

Julia clapped her hands completely misunderstanding in what manner he was famous for

"That's Masaru for you! Taking the number one spot like it was nothing"

Only Masaru thought was he was watching the girls tell his mother and sister their reports,

'Yes, number one but at what cost?'

He shook his head eating peacefully, despite the troubles...

'This kind of life is.... not bad'

>\/<

The next day everyone heads off to school as usual however the amount of killing stares directed at Masaru has increased, there was even a rumour of two groups forming 'Destroy the Demon King Masaru' formed by the boys mostly from his classroom and the 'Crown Prince Masaru' since Yuuto was called the 'Prince of Kuoh' Masaru got an upgrade because of that.

The one who was the centre of it all could only let it somehow slide, it was already difficult to make friends in this situation till someone came to greet him.

He had messy dark brown hair, his body was bulky making him appear to be like a miniature giant.

"I see you have difficulties making friends, Masaru"

The boy took his seat in front of him, there was supposed to be a different boy in front of him but that boy was already sitting somewhere else.

"Masaru Belial, you are?"

The boy shook his hand

"Baldor Buné, I'm Rias-sama's newly appointed Rook a month ago. I was not here yesterday since I was sorting out the apartment building where the guys were staying at"

Masaru felt surprised to see that Rias managed to secure a talented Rook, as he expected that girl's instinct truly is remarkable.

"It's nice to meet you, so you're a Rook huh? I can tell she made a brilliant choice"

Baldor only scratch the back of his head feeling a bit embarrassed because the one who just complimented him was the Wonder Child of Belial, the number of stories behind that title was numerous and Baldor looked up to him.

"It's an honour to receive your compliment"

Masaru chuckled as he understood why Baldor was acting the way he does, Masaru understood his game throughout the devil world rivalled that of Sairaorg. But amongst the low class and young children, his fame was the highest there due to his personality making it easy for those of lower status to approach him.

"Well, I hope you can be my friend during our school days, as you can see the girls played around and this is the result"

Baldor did not comment on this because those girls accumulated fame no less than their master, Masaru.

"It must have been hard"

Masaru nodded feeling more relaxed that he made his first school friend.

The classes went on as usual with the teachers starting their lectures in earnest, time flew faster the more they concentrated on the lecturers till the bell went off for their lunchtime.

Masaru who had a pamphlet the school made with all the clubs in his hand stood up while reading it, Baldor who saw this looked at Masaru

"You going to inspect the clubs?" Masaru shook his head

"I am going to search around the school of there is a potential student who meets my criteria to join my peerage"

Baldor thought for a moment but did not comment on this since the clubs marked were all clubs managed by Senior students.

Masaru already got Akeno to get the list of people that are being monitored by Rias and Sona as potential peerage members to avoid clashing with them unnecessarily, that is unless he finds someone good enough to join his fight.

"You coming?"

Baldor thought for a moment and nodded

"Well yeah, although Kiba is there he rarely talks with me for some reason"

Masaru could more or less guess what it was, however.

"Has he been quiet more often lately?"

Baldor shrugged

"Hard to tell, I only know him for a month so I can't tell the difference between what is worse or what is even more worse than now"

Masaru who was reading the pamphlet sighed

'Is this friend of mine really just going to let everything slide and have her brother fix everything for her? Her habits had still not changed a bit, I honestly thought she changed when I met her yesterday. If it gets worse, I will talk with her personally this time'

Masaru stopped thinking about it and went from club to club, he was quite interested in the musical clubs where each member practised playing their selected musical instrument. The other clubs were also quite amusing, but some of the clubs with a hidden agenda were... special is what Masaru thought at that time.

When Masaru arrived at the last club he chose to visit, the Kendo club. Inside he saw today there were very few students practising while wearing black hakama with the protective armour Bogu over it, there was only a single student that was still swinging her shinai in the middle of the training room. Masaru walked over to one of the third year senior students

"Can I get dressed and give the equipment a try before I choose to join?"

The Senior student knew who Masaru was and thought of a brilliant plan before nodding

"Sure, the locker room is over there. Once you get dressed we can have a short spar so you can get the first-hand experience in our kendo practice"

Masaru realized he was targeted but still went off to the locker room, Baldor who saw this thought

'If those fools knew who and what Masaru was, they would not act like this... Such a shame! We have to hide from the humans... our existence'

"Go announce it to the rest of the school"

The senior student ordered his few lackeys to spread out in different directions to spread the news of Masaru's try out in the Kendo club, the girl who was swinging her sword all this time heard what they were talking about could not help but scoff at these useless boys.

'To use such silly things just because of jealousy... garbage' She thought as she kept swinging her sword without a pause in her movements.

Soon Masaru came out of the locker room wearing the standard black hakama with the bogu equipped except for the headpiece which he held with his left hand and the shinai with his right hand.

Just as he expected the sheer amount of students who came to 'spectate' was quite more than he expected, especially the boy section was the most of them all.

"I hope you won't mind, I guess someone spread the news that the idol of Kuoh Academy wants to try out Kendo"

The senior student shamelessly spoke while he too began moving towards the marked field for them to start their match.

"Since this is your first tryout we can skip the formalities"

The Senior student spoke as he was a bit impatient to start this match.

Masaru said nothing equipping the headpiece he held under his left armpit while standing still in his position, he looked at the Senior student having a disgusting smile on his face but he was not angry at all.

Masaru took his battle stance while maintaining his power restrictions as he could not have this senior student be taken down in just one hit for this after all. He needed to beat up him as legally as possible, with his mind calming down Masaru could feel his presence merging with the shinai in his grasp.

"To think he will cause another uproar on the second day"

Sona appeared at the scene through the other door that led into the Kendo club, Tsubaki was next to her

"Will it is fine?"

Sona nodded with a smile as she looks at the familiar sly look of her childhood friend, she already felt a bit sympathy for the senior student who was about to experience something he will never forget.

"He might beat up the student but he should be prudent at least"

Rias just appeared behind them following the scene as well, she never misses a chance to "analyze" Masaru's strength as reference for her future venture in the Rating Games.

"Hello Sona, I see you came to watch as well?"

Sona looked at her friend arriving releasing a sigh, her smile twitched

"He became a bit too popular in the short amount of time so we have no choice but to monitor him for formalities sake"

Rias smiled seeing that Yuuto was among the students watching.

"Well, it should be interesting to watch"

Rias said, her eyes were sparkling from seeing some action after a long time.

One of the club members came between Masaru and the senior student with a single flag, he made sure both sides were ready before waving the flag once to indicate the start of the match.

Masaru was not impatient at all when the senior student moved forward striking down towards Masaru with a powerful strike, Masaru raised his shinai a bit before tapping it with enough force to guide the strike aimed for his head to veer off to the left side.

With an opening Masaru strike at the senior's left Do point to make him stagger towards he left allowing Masaru to advance forward to strike his Men, but it was blocked in time by the senior.

"You are supposed to yell to show your fighting spirit when you strike at your opponent"

Masaru who heard this explanation

"But you did not yell either, won't it give away the moment you strike each time you do that?"

Masaru questioned as they began exchanging a strike and two before locking swords,

"It's a sport"

Masaru nodded thinking it reasonable, he moved towards the left at the moment he felt the senior student applied enough force to push against him causing the senior student to stumble forward.

Masaru did not let go of this opportunity to strike hard on both his Kote points before ending the match with a hit on his Men.

Even the club member that was monitoring the match was shocked, every spectator was shocked.

'Is this really Kendo? Why did it look like a swordsmanship battle instead?'

But soon the girls cheered while the guys groaned with some planning a different way to take down the great demon King, Sona noticed the strikes he served were indeed quite overhanded. Luckily it was not fatal it will only cause the senior not being able to participate in the next few tournaments which she can simply push Masaru to fill the spot for causing this trouble.

But never she would expect in the future when she will bring it up, Masaru will happily agree since he already had a plan of his own.

Masaru looked at the senior student with outright contempt, he began to recite the purpose he once read about Kendo which intrigued him which was why he chose to come here last.

"Kendo's purpose is: To mould the mind and body, to cultivate a vigorous spirit and through correct and structured training, to strive for improvement in the art of Kendo. To hold in esteem courtesy and honour, to associate with others with sincerity and to forever pursue the cultivation of oneself."

The students who heard this flinched at this was something that was not always actively said so to hear it once again shocked them and they too began to remember it.

"Thus will one be able: To love one's country and society; to contribute to the development of culture, and to promote peace and prosperity among all peoples."

Masaru lowered himself looking in the senior eyes.

"You just sullied the art of Kendo for the sake of your greed for fame, you never showed any sincerity and your spirit is tainted. You disappointed me"

Masaru stood up and was about to leave.

"Your strong"

Hearing their strongest member of the Kendo club walking forward the Senior and the other members wanted to cheer for her but one look from her was enough to shut them up, even the surrounding students were feeling the excitement as the Ace of the Kendo club since Junior high was coming to take down the demon king.

"You're strong yourself, practising kenjutsu instead of Kendo?"

The girl's eye widens for a moment before smiling

"You really are a swordsman, would you accept my challenge as a fellow swordsman?"

Masaru nodded

"But let remove these armour and use those wooden swords over there instead of the shinai"

Masaru pointed at the katana carved swords leaning at the side of the training hall when the girl saw this she felt her excitement boil as she wanted this kind of match but she prepared to have a Kendo match if he declined but never expected him to propose this.

"Very well"

"They are removing their armour? Kaichou is this really okay?"

Tsubaki saw the ace of the Kendo club and Masaru removing their protective gear while each of them took a wooden katana instead of the shinai.

"They will be fine, unlike the senior who tried to defame and create trouble for Masaru. This girl challenged him as a fellow swordsman, he will hold back appropriately"

Rias was a bit shocked because she remembered last year Yuuto challenged this girl in pure swordsmanship and came to a draw when he used his super speed of a devil at the last exchange meaning in technique alone she was even better than Yuuto. Yet unknown to everyone there were two girls recording the entire event,

"Make sure to aim it properly Jeanne, We have to show this to Mother-in-law"

Angelica spoke to Jeanne who held her phone to record.

"Don't worry I will make sure to snap everything"

When Masaru and the girl took their places, he looked at the girl she had black hair tied in a ponytail reaching till her shoulder blades, black eyes and quite a good face.

"Is it possible to know your name?"

The girl smiled faintly before introducing herself.

"Sakura Tsukuba"

Masaru returned his smile

"Masaru Belial, I look forward to our continued... Sparring from now on"

What Masaru thought at that moment was yet to be seen, the moment the signal was given the two of them began to strike at each other in earnest.

From the outside view, it appears like they were going at each other for blood, but in reality, the two of them were testing each other's technique and strength.

'He's strong... stronger than that young boy I fought'

She thought as she continues to block and counter Masaru's strikes but the movement Masaru was making appear to be strange for her, one moment he was on her left front and next he was on her right front.

What she did not realize was using the trackless step he learnt from Souji Okita which he never used before because he was simply not talented in this movement to avoid even the senses for a supernatural, but a human it was actually amusing to use this movement technique.

Each time he strikes she was already moving to counter him, he felt truly intrigued at this girl who could react almost instantaneously even though he slips into her subconscious mind and at the last moment he appears striking.

'This girl is really a master, never expected to meet such a skilful person here'

Masaru thought, the exchanges between the two became faster with each beat as the two of them were trying to figure out their opponent's top speed and reaction speed.

"Just what the heck am I seeing here?"

One of the students watching the fight was completely shocked,

"My titanium dog eyes have been blinded!"

The boys who saw how skilful Masaru was in the way of the sword were left kneeling,

'We can't beat the demon king with the sword, let's try the other sport that will be coming up in PE: Dodgeball' They thought as they planned.

If it was not the bell that signalled the end of the day then Masaru and Sakura would have continued their match, Masaru extend his hand towards Sakura who gripped his hand and shook it firmly.

"Good Match"

Masaru stretched out his hand, Sakura was panting slightly took hold of his hand and gave it a shake.

"I would like it if you could come regularly, it's hard to find a decent training partner"

Masaru who heard this wanted to laugh when he heard this.

'Girl you're a master swordsman, and you joined the kendo club in hopes to find an opponent among these kids? You're truly lucky to have met me'

He shook his head but agreed to visit every now and then.

"To think there is a girl that could keep up with technique against master, especially that speed... Although he did suppress his power but is that girl really a human?"

Angelica felt quite shocked, Masaru who trained under Souji Okita for a long time in the sword rarely found people whom he could fight with pure technique even Jeanne could only cope using her knight speed characteristics.

"You think young master Masaru will invite her?"

Angelica who heard Jeanne thought for a moment

"I believe it will be safe to let the girls know, I believe if master is really going to invite her he will only announce it once he is sure she is the right one..."

"Sona-Kaichou, should we approach this girl?"

Tsubaki who saw this girl's true ability felt like it would make a good knight for their peerage, Sona too was quite convinced to have her but the look Masaru had as if he found something to watch over she shook her head.

"No, She is being watched by Masaru. He will be probably monitoring her from close range before he chooses to take her or not"

Rias bite her nail as she too was tempted to have this girl but chose not to, she was not sure why but her instincts told her that the girl will not accept it.

>\/<

"Lady Diana! We brought you a gift!"

Angelica and Jeanne arrived ahead of everyone handing over the phone with the recorded video, Diana was happy to see her son's activity but the second bout against a girl made her quite surprised.

"Julia, call one of your peerage members to investigate this girl."

Julia who watched the video nodded, they all knew Masaru will take an interest to monitor the girl before deciding to invite her. So while he is still monitoring they will investigate her background and when he mentions it, they will present it to him.

"To think he would discover another daughter for me..."

Diana smiled while cooking several more variety of meals for them to eat for dinner, being in an incredibly good mood.