Chapter 166: The New Chief Demon God Pillar—Rias
As Akeno's original master, Rias was naturally the first to sense something amiss.
Suddenly noticing that her connection with her [Queen] felt off, her expression shifted slightly as she immediately headed to the storage room, where she found Akeno and him inside a barrier.
Seeing the changes in Akeno's appearance, Rias couldn't help but be stunned.
Her outfit had transformed into what looked like shrine maiden attire, and on it was an emblem—a warrior riding a griffon.
Wasn't this the symbol of Murmur, one of the Seventy-Two Demon Gods?
In other words, Akeno had also become one of his Seventy-Two.
So suddenly?
Wait—looking closely at Akeno's reaction, it didn't seem voluntary. She was slumped on the ground with an odd expression, and when she noticed Rias's gaze, her eyes looked hollow and vacant.
This suggested that he had forcibly turned Akeno into one of the Seventy-Two, which made Rias's expression turn icy.
"Calm down first, Rias."
"I am calm. I haven't done anything yet, have I?"
Sona, who had followed her, parted her lips slightly but ultimately said nothing more.
Though Akeno would likely have joined alongside Rias anyway, being forcibly converted in advance was a bit excessive.
Hm? Sona noticed something—the spot where Akeno was slumped... Huh?!
Why was this happening?
It looked like he had also subjected Akeno to some kind of punishment, causing her to lose control?
Therefore, Rias, who had also noticed this, wore an even deeper shadow of gloom on her expression.
In the blink of an eye—
"Such a coincidental accident?"
Sona adjusted her glasses, looking at the man before her with a faint, ambiguous smile.
According to his explanation, Akeno's condition was merely a minor mishap during the transformation process.
The paper inscribed with the transformation magic circle actually had another magic array on the reverse side, but he hadn't noticed it, assuming the paper was unused and the other side was blank.
Thus, no one believed this explanation one bit.
As for coercion, it wasn't coercion—Akeno herself seemed willing, and the guy even recorded their conversation.
In short, he simply refused to admit that he had played a small prank on Akeno.
What a lousy prank it was.
As for the transformed Akeno, her current strength appeared to be somewhere between that of a Maou and a High-class Devil.
"Then, please transform me into your servant as well, King Solomon-sama."
It was a request from Rias, seemingly sincere, seemingly made with her pride set aside.
However, one could also detect a hint of stubbornness in her tone, which was why she used honorifics toward him.
Correction, 'acting sulky' would be more appropriately described as resentful.
The outcome—
"Wait a moment, not now."
That was his reply.
"Don't tell me it's another case of insufficient spiritual energy?"
The one who responded wasn't Rias, but Sona, who felt it was inappropriate to keep stringing Rias along like this.
"No, it's not a lack of spiritual energy."
"Then why?"
It wasn't Sona or Rias who questioned him, but Akeno, who had already changed into a pair of sweatpants.
Teasing Rias once or twice was fine, but constantly keeping her in suspense was just plain awful.
"Simple. I already have someone else in mind for the Gremory seat."
This answer left everyone stunned, especially Rias, whose expression visibly darkened.
It seemed she might not be able to hold back from walking away, no longer wanting the so-called seat among the Seventy-Two Demon Gods.
"Don't look at me like that. Although I'm not giving the [Gremory] seat to Rias, I never said she couldn't become one of the Seventy-Two."
This didn't improve Sona and the others' expressions one bit. After all, Rias was a member of the Gremory family—how could she not be given her own family's seat and instead inherit another?
Was this meant to humiliate her?
"Bael."
He suddenly uttered that name.
"Huh?"
Sona was taken aback.
"You want Rias to inherit the Bael Demon God seat?"
This truly surprised Sona—it was quite a special seat.
"Is it because the president also has Bael family bloodline, so you prepared this surprise for her?"
Akeno, who had initially seemed ready to stand up for Rias, now spoke with a tone of resentment, deliberately feigning a hint of jealousy.
"Oh? Rias has Bael family bloodline too?"
Renji, the one granting the new Seventy-Two Demon Gods seats, was genuinely surprised. He hadn't known about this.
But perhaps this was why, among those cards, the Demon God Bael card had reacted more strongly to Rias than the Gremory card.
As for the others initially, like Akeno, when selecting cards, he had specifically asked about her personal abilities before making a choice—was it because none of the cards had reacted to her?
There were reactions, but multiple ones, so he had her elaborate on her circumstances to determine which card was more suitable.
As for why he hadn't let Rias merge with his Demon God Bael yet, it was because extracting Bael's power from Solomon's Ring in this world was quite troublesome.
In reality, the residual power left by the Seventy-Two Demon Gods in this world was negligible compared to the power he personally bestowed upon the Seventy-Two Demon Gods.
The reason for extracting and merging it was simply to allow his Seventy-Two Demon Gods' power to adapt and integrate into this world more quickly.
"Yes, Rias's mother is from the Bael family."
Sona had assumed he knew about Rias's Bael bloodline, so his ignorance came as a surprise to her as well...
Then, as for why he wasn't letting Rias undergo the transformation immediately, Sona had a rough guess.
Most likely, he was afraid that transforming Rias into the Bael seat might draw the attention of the existing Bael and cause trouble.
"If I inherit Bael, then who will inherit the Gremory seat?"
The gloom that had previously enveloped Rias had completely vanished, replaced by joy, and now she was puzzled about who he intended to give the Gremory seat to.
From his earlier words, it was clear he had already decided on a candidate.
But this guy was really mischievous, teasing her like that.
"Back when I used the ring to activate the Gremory summoning, someone actually responded."
"Huh? Who was it?"
"It was a woman who looked even younger than you, Rias, about the same age as Asia, with twin-tails."
This left Rias confused.
Someone who looked about the same age as Asia, with twin-tails—there was no such girl in the Gremory family.
In her generation of the Gremory family, there was only her and her brother. As for the next generation, there was her nephew, but he was a boy and still very young.
"There's no one like that in my family."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, I don't recall ever seeing such a family member. So who is she?"
Could it be a descendant left behind by a former member of the Gremory family outside the main line?
Who could it be? Her father?
Or perhaps her grandfather?
"I don't know either."
"Eh?"
Didn't he summon her? Didn't he ask?
"Didn't you ask who she was?"
Sona also spoke with a tone of exasperation.
"Actually, I had just been resurrected at the time and accidentally activated the summoning. But because I didn't trust the current 72 Pillars and felt the original contract was unsafe, I immediately canceled the summoning magic before she fully manifested."
That was his explanation, and Sona could understand it.
And so, the day quickly turned to afternoon.
At the Occult Research Club, Rias sighed and held her forehead in frustration.
What "felt the contract was unsafe" and canceled the summoning magic—well, that wasn't wrong, but he had conveniently omitted the fact that he had kicked her away.
This matter came to light when Akeno asked Asia about it.
Since Akeno was also one of his servants and considered trustworthy, Asia didn't hide the story of how she met him.
In the process, the topic of his so-called Gremory summoning came up—how he had kicked the other party back just as they were about to appear.
This man had no idea how to treat a lady with care.
So, who exactly was that person?
Rias planned to pry some information out of her father.