The remainder of the time, Zelretch used the spell to send me to a location so outrageous, I actually welcomed the hell spawn. And on occasions, some people I knew would get into small mishaps with the spells, making them lose an eyebrow at the least, and losing their entire innards at the worst.
Wasn't it sad?
...
"Well, I do not know what experience you have, but this one is safe. You will not lose any important body parts at least." Momo said in a manner that was lightly foreboding for me. I let out a sigh and stepped into the circle, noting the feeling coursing through my body. With a bright flash of blue light, I found myself back in the Student Council Room. Discreetly, I checked my body for any missing organs or body parts, particularly the part that mattered the most to me.
Phew~ that was close.
"Welcome back." I turned to find Sona stacking her files and placing them neatly into a drawer. "20 minutes exactly, a new record for you."
"Thanks to Emiya-kun, we were able to track down the Stray Devils that entered the town, with an additional two added into the mix." Momo replied as she went to her desk and sat down. "Honestly, our work efficiency has improved by forty percent. You should consider joining us, we could use the management."
"I have already helped you girls out with your hunts as a side job, so I am not joining your Peerage." I replied back as I worked out the kinks in between my joints. I will admit, having these hunts were a good way to get my body back in shape, even if it was not quite to my standards.
"Technically, you don't need to join our Peerage, you can just join the club. If you like, you can try a probation period" Tsubasa pointed that bit of information as an example. My only response was to raise an eyebrow at them.
"And you girls will not do the same thing as Rias would do if I were to attend your club during that probation period?" My question made Tsubasa and Momo look away while whistling lightly and Sona to shrug stiffly. After the Raynare incident and the few side-jobs I did for the two groups, it became clear to them that I had some skills that were decidedly, in my opinion at least, quite desirable for the groups. Rias for one was really persistent in trying to convince me to join her group, and spent the time I was attending the club under the so-called 'probation period' trying everything from her connections with certain important people to flat-out seduction. She was just a few miles short of being Rin's level, and that scared me. Honestly I fear the day she and Rin were to meet up, I would be dead meat.
For Sona's case, she was more 'practical' in her approach. She answered most of the questions I had about the Devils while listing out the benefits of joining her Peerage. She also pointed out how becoming a member of the Student Council, and by extension her Peerage, would grant me certain privileges not normally given to students.
Still, no matter how much they tried, they would not make me consider exchanging my humanity. I do have some pride as a human after all.
"Okay, point taken." Tsubasa shrugged in mock defeat. "But still, you haven't taken up a club yet right? Better get one soon or the others are not going to stop clamoring."
"Indeed." Sona let out a tired sigh. "The Archery Club and Kendo Club have been particularly insistent on having you as their member. What on earth did you do to make them this desperate to get you?"
"Err…" I paused as I thought back to the time I participated at the club recruitment drive. "I may have gotten a little too enthusiastic at the demonstration."
Momo let out a light snort much to Sona's displeasure. "If you call flooring the entire Archery Club and eradicating all the top Kendo members 'a little too enthusiastic', I can't help but wonder what would happen if you went all out." I merely shrugged in good humour.
Truth of the matter, a part of me was feeling a little nostalgic and I went to those two clubs to see if by some small chance, I would meet the alternate versions of Ayako, Sakura and Fuji-nee. The disappointment of not seeing them got used in the demonstration and in my focused state, I ended up using more strength and concentration than required against the club members, thus resulting in my fame and titles for being the unofficial ace of the Archery and Kendo clubs.
Oh boy.
"Still, you need to get enrolled into a club soon." Sona adjusted her glasses as she went into 'Kaichou' mode. "The rules state that you need to be in a club before the start of summer vacation, and if needed, I will force you to join a club of my choosing."
"That club of your choosing being yours by any chance?" I raised an eyebrow as I guessed her thoughts.
"If need be, yes." I swore to the Root, she nearly smirked in a manner that would make Rin proud as she agreed with my thoughts. "And it should not be too bad for you, considering you are still trying your hardest to get away from Rias."
That was true too; although I did get requests to help out with the extermination of those strays, roughly 3 quarters of it were those I accepted from the Student Council. The remaining quarter came from the Occult group whom I was still a little cautious about. The few reasons I bothered to take their request were either keeping an eye on Ise, watching their style of fighting to make countermeasures, occasionally get some money for the debt, and perhaps the most problematic one of the lot, the blonde former nun who looked at me with the most natural puppy dog eyes in the world as she pleaded on behalf of Rias.
Damn it, there should be a law to ban such a weapon.
A light knock on wood drew our attention to the door where Ise had knocked on to alert us. "Erm sorry to interrupt, is this a bad time?" Ise asked as he looked at everyone with a hesitant tone.
"No, we are finishing up." Sona replied as she straightened her glasses. "So what is the reason for your visit? It is quite late in the evening, and students should be not be here."
"Actually" Ise turned to face me with an apologetic look. "I need a favor from Shirou."
… Why do I have a bad feeling about this?
...
'Don't worry, it is just a meeting.' They said.
'There might be some disagreements and a couple of arguments, but nothing too serious.' They said.
Then how in the name of the Root did I get into this situation?
I was currently in the Occult Club Room, standing just outside of the very nice kitchen they had installed here. Aside from me and Rias Peerage, there were a lot of guests in the main room consisting of mostly young girls, one adult female and one male.
Both groups were currently being fenced in by a few holy blades with several more pointed at their vital organs for good measure, with the exception of the silver-haired adult who was looking at the scene with a calm and cursory glance, the blond-haired male who was looking downright frustrated and shocked at this development, and an unconscious Ise being attended to by Asia.
I was not sure what transpired, but I could make a guess as to whom instigated the issue, considering the bits of conversation I could hear from the kitchen. I was barely in time to walk out of the kitchen and projected those swords to restrain the girls from attacking the others.
How did it happened again?
As per Ise's request, I made my way to the Occult Room for the first time to discuss with Rias about the use of my culinary skills, Sona tagging along to ensure that I don't end up getting some offer to join Rias's Peerage. The girl had some wrecked up priorities that much I could think of.
My first impression of the Occult Room: big. Like it was roughly the same size as the Student Council Room, but with some differences in decoration taste. For one thing, there were a lot of weird red magic circles adorning the floor and the walls, and the décor was suited for the occult feeling: dark oak furniture, dark Victorian style curtains, and unless I was much mistaken, there were some crystals balls and tarot cards nearby.
I was still trying to wrap my head around the concept that the creatures of the night would form a club to research their own. In a weird way, that was the ideal disguise for Rias and her crew.
In any case, we soon found out why Rias called for my services. Evidently there was supposed to be a meeting between her group and some other person's group, and for her part, she was extremely reluctant to have to play hostess to that individual.
But as the meeting was apparently an unavoidable one with some big-shot, she had to provide some service to them, but Akeno shared her apparent dislike for the guest and was only willing to provide tea. It was only after Ise suggested me that Rias reluctantly agreed to it and sent him to ask for my services.
I was not really given much info, apart from me preparing enough for a large group of people, but their behaviors alone were enough to tell me that I should expect some trouble. After all, I had plenty of experience with this type of situation.
Somehow or another, I got the day off to help them prepare for the event. I had suspected it for a while now, but it seemed that both the Student Council and the Occult Club had a lot of power over the school matters, because when I handed in a request for the day off, the faculty were quick in processing and handing me the reply, while telling me that both Sona and Rias had already informed them beforehand and to prepare accordingly.
I spent most of the day preparing for the evening occasion, coming out a few times to lay out the items and greet the guests. The first guest to arrive was the silver-haired woman dressed in a maid clothing, and I was almost struck with the type of feeling that could only be invoked when meeting supernatural women with seemingly ungodly beauty.
...
Hey guys I really need you to throw some power Stones ;)
...
if you want to read ahead of the public release you can go to my p atreon :
p atreon.com/Aerle