Chapter 38: Freedom First Test Flight (1)

I wasn't just working on my scale mail. When I was resting I would occasionally check on how the girls were doing in Kuoh…

And as expected of Sona, she progressed with her powers and also progressed with her peerage, the girl regularly trains with her peerage.

While Rias? Aurora showed me that she improved… 0% since I had installed Diamond Core Heart.

The only peerage member who improved on their own was her Knight the blonde kid with the swords Sacred Gear.

The devil girl played the regular school student, did her devil contracts and spent time watching anime and indulging herself in modern human society…

When she has a marriage hanging on her head…

'Right… that's the wisest thing to do…' I deadpanned after going through the data. She constantly talked with her Queen about the marriage… but she never did anything… didn't try to look for new members even with the Diamond Core Heart.

In truth, she did use the barriers a lot. But, that's mainly to satisfy her devil nature and observe humans…

Unlike Sona who did use the power to check if the people had gears or not.

After taking a deep breath I decided to show this to Venelana. Either she straightens her daughter out or the redhead won't be receiving any help from me in the future.

Before long the brown-haired devil lady was in front of me. Serafall and even Grayfia were there as well.

All of them were curious about my abrupt calling.

"So around 9 weeks have passed since I installed the Diamond Core Heart in Kuoh. As you all know I have been monitoring everything that has been going on there.

Including the pair of Devil heiresses living there." That moment Serafall and Venelana stiffed for a bit.

Seeing how serious I was, they assumed the worst…

"Here is the report on their progress…" I pulled out two tablets and placed them on the table. On the screens there were a pair of pictures, one was of Sona and the other one was of Rias. And next to it there was a percentage… 

Where as Sona improved by 7% overall, Rias was at a… 'respectable'...0%

"..."

"..."

"As you can see Venelana your daughter has done nothing over the past two months. She has not trained her peerage which overall has a higher potential than Sitri heiress'. Neither has she trained herself. In truth, the only thing she did of worth was her homework. Which I no doubt will help her immensely with her marriage problem…" I said with a very sarcastic tone. Which made her blush from shame of her daughter.

"So, to fix this you will talk with her. And remind her that she is under a devil contract with me. And as a contractor, I am disappointed in her. This disappointment can lead to the point where she will lose any help from me in the future.

I do not need people who just use my invention to peep on people constantly and watch what they are doing." 

The brown-haired devil lady nodded seriously multiple times as she was fighting back her shame.

"I understand I will talk with her as soon as possible. Please give her another chance!"

"We will see. I suggest you go and talk with her now. It's morning in Japan at the moment." I said to her as I looked at the clock on the computer screen.

~~~~~~Venelana~~~~~~

The Lady Gremory was furious with her daughter. She has positioned her in the perfect place. To receive attention from a Genius inventor like her Master.

The only thing her daughter needed to do was show some motivation to get stronger! She saw what Sona did in the report. The girl did basic things and it was enough for Marcus.

All she needed to do was not be lazy! Especially when there was the arranged marriage coming up and her Master wanted to see how Rias will deal with this issue!

What all she did was... nothing! Even if she doesn't know what to do, you could at least spend some time practising your family magic! Like Sona does!

That's why she was infuriated by all this! Especially for getting scolded instead of her lazy daughter's place!

Without wasting any time Venelana teleported directly into Rias 'office'.

"M-Mother!? What happened, why are you here!?" Rias asked with disbelief and complete shock. She did not expect her mother would come to the human world like this!

"We need to talk, Rias. We need to talk about your laziness for which I was scolded by Leviathan herself…" Venelana said with a pissed off look.

Rias gulped down seeing her mother like this….

"…By Satan Leviathan?" Rias asked, her heart sinking with an unsettling premonition.

"Yes, by Lady Leviathan herself! Do you have any idea how embarrassing this is?" Lady Gremory walked over and dropped a file onto Rias's desk before taking a seat.

"Read this. It summarizes your actions over the past nine weeks as overseer of Kuoh," she said, her voice tinged with frustration.

Rias immediately sensed the gravity of the situation. She didn't need to read the file to know that she was in deep trouble; her mother's stern expression told her everything she needed to know.

Without further hesitation, Rias picked up the file and began reading.

…

…

A few minutes later, she set the file down, her worst fears confirmed. She was, indeed, in a very large mess.

"Do you want this to end up in the Devil Council? You're an overseer of Kuoh city, under a contract no less—the very same contract Lady Leviathan holds. She was scolded by Marcus Goldman for trusting you to test the Diamond Core Heart's abilities."

"B-but mother, I did…" Rias stammered, struggling to justify herself.

"You were spying on people, not testing anything! You never used the magic reader, nor did you explore its other capabilities. He was interested in how you planned to train for your inevitable Rating Game against Riser Phenex. You were contracted to do it! He even left clues for you to figure out. Sona already managed to uncover half the potential on her own!"

Rias lowered her gaze, unable to meet her mother's eyes.

"To make matters worse, it's clear you did nothing during this period. You haven't been studying to take on your role as Heiress of the Gremory House, nor have you trained your Peerage in any meaningful way."

Her mother's tone hardened. "In fact, your greatest accomplishment in these nine weeks was completing human homework." Venelana's glare could have pierced through steel.

Venelana was seething with frustration. It was humiliating for someone as experienced as her to have been scolded by Marcus—who was, after all, only 16. She never wanted to experience that kind of embarrassment again.

"Lady Leviathan put Sona and you in the perfect position to interact with a once-in-a-millennium genius inventor, to test his tools and inventions. He could have even helped you create pseudo-Sacred Gears to fight Riser Phenex. Lady Leviathan is aware that he already possesses such inventions!"

Rias's eyes widened in shock, as did the eyes of her entire Peerage, who were reluctantly listening to Lady Gremory's tirade.

"Well?" Venelana demanded.

"…I…" Rias struggled to find the right words.

"This is what will happen from now on," her mother continued, her voice unwavering. "If I receive another complaint from Serafall Leviathan about this, you will be sent back to the Underworld—permanently. And don't think your marriage to Riser Phenex will protect you. If this is truly your attitude, it seems you don't care about any of this."

"I CARE!" Rias snapped, her voice rising in anger at the mention of Riser Phenex.

"No, you don't," Venelana replied coldly. "In the past nine weeks, you haven't used your demonic energy even once. You haven't practiced the Power of Destruction. You haven't worked on teamwork with your Peerage. Sona, on the other hand, does weekly teamwork, magic, and tactics training."

Her mother's tone softened slightly, but only enough to make her point: "This is your last chance, daughter. Fail again, and it won't be me who reprimands you, but Lady Leviathan herself. She already said something about sticking her neck out for you. Do you really want to anger her?" Venelana concluded, standing up from the couch.

"I hope our next meeting is a happier one," she added before vanishing with a flash of red.

Once her mother was gone, Rias collapsed into her chair, drained and deflated, as though her soul had been sucked out.

But this moment of despair was brief. She quickly pulled out a contract from one of the drawers and began to read through it carefully—this time with proper focus.

A loud groan escaped her lips as she finished.

"Rias?" Her Queen, Akeno, asked, her tone laced with concern.

"The contract…" Rias muttered, "It's not a regular one! I thought it was just a standard summoning, something quick and simple. But this is a long-term commitment, a contract that could last for years. I didn't realize that!" The red-haired Devil heiress exclaimed, feeling the weight of her mistake.

This wasn't just about the two weeks Marcus had been in town. The contract was ongoing, extending until Marcus decided to reveal himself fully to the world.

Luckily, she hadn't disclosed the full extent of his technological developments. Had she done so, she would already be packing her bags for the Underworld.

Though she was walking on thin ice, there was still a chance to salvage the situation.

"I thought you read through the contract properly before signing it!" Akeno exclaimed, incredulity in her voice. "That's basic protocol in Devil society!"

"Like you could have focused when Leviathan was breathing down your neck!" Rias shot back, her face flushed with embarrassment. "You have no idea how intense Sona's older sister is."

Akeno sighed and rolled her eyes. "Of course she's serious. This is important to the entire Devil Race. And you just showed an important contractor how lazy we can be."

"M-Maybe so, but he didn't cancel the contract! We can still fix this!" Rias tried to bolster her spirits, though the sweat on her brow betrayed her unease.

"I hope so," Akeno said, her voice laced with concern. "But for your own sake, don't provoke Lady Leviathan any further. Not even Lucifer could save you from her wrath—especially when it comes to this contract she's so fiercely protecting."

Rias nodded, absorbing her Queen's words. From what she'd observed between Serafall and Marcus, there was something deeper going on between the two. It was clear that Leviathan was angry—especially with how the redhead had botched things.

And though Marcus might have caught her in an awkward situation, she had to admit he was quite the eye-catcher. Unfortunately for Rias, his opinion of her had likely dropped considerably.

Nonetheless, she still has one chance. Well, it's not a chance by this point as a lot is hanging on this. So, she can't be lazy anymore…

"I won't. I didn't realise that I was still contracted to him… this means we need to draft a training schedule for everyone and start training…" Rias said as she had a thoughtful look.

Her Queen nodded, she was, in a way, happy that they could start training and her King can finally stop with that silly idea of playing a human school girl especially when her marriage with that Phenex is so close.

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