"----"
The air in the clubroom fell into silence for the third time.
Yukino Yukinoshita's older sister, Haruno Yukinoshita, stared intently at Leon, who had a smile on his face, and then suddenly stood up.
"Well then, let's stop here for today," Haruno Yukinoshita said, turning her gaze to Yukino Yukinoshita. "I'll be heading back now, Yukino."
Hearing this, both Leon and Yukino Yukinoshita were somewhat surprised.
"Are you... going back already?"
Yukino Yukinoshita looked completely taken aback.
Leon also hadn't expected Haruno Yukinoshita to say that so suddenly.
But what choice did Haruno Yukinoshita have?
She had seen countless people, so from the recent conversation, she could already preliminarily judge that her rhetoric might not be able to get the better of Leon.
It wasn't that her rhetoric and negotiation skills were poor, but that this person was too fearless and seemed to regard the rules of the mundane world as nothing. This made Haruno Yukinoshita realize that even if they continued talking, she wouldn't gain any significant advantage.
This boy in front of her seemed sunny and cheerful, easy to talk to, but in reality, he was extremely self-centered and wouldn't be influenced by anyone, anything, or any matter from the outside world.
To put it nicely, this was strong confidence and self-assurance; to put it harshly, this was actually a disregard for etiquette and a complete violation of social courtesy.
Given this, she couldn't allow herself to fall into the other party's rhythm and be led by the nose.
She knew too little about the other party. She hadn't conducted a detailed investigation before coming and was unprepared. To continue holding the initiative in the conversation was simply wishful thinking.
What confidence did the other party have to be so assertive in the face of the next heir of the Yukinoshita family, and what extraordinary background allowed him to remain so composed in front of her? Haruno Yukinoshita felt she needed to spend some time finding out.
Otherwise, she might very well step into some terrible trap.
Thus, Haruno Yukinoshita decided to retreat while she was ahead.
"I haven't told Dad and Mom about this yet." Haruno Yukinoshita glanced at Yukino Yukinoshita. "Little Yukino, you're not a child anymore. I believe you understand what should be done and what shouldn't."
"Let's leave it at this for today. I'll visit again another day."
Saying that, Haruno Yukinoshita turned to Leon and suddenly smiled.
"At that time, I hope Ellig-kun can enlighten me as much as you have today."
Hearing this, Leon's eyes flickered slightly, while he inwardly praised her.
Is this Haruno Yukinoshita?
Realizing her lack of preparation and the unfavorable situation, she immediately retreated while she was ahead, making a perfectly timed concession in hopes of a fiercer offensive next time. She was truly decisive.
If such a clever woman could be taken as a Peerage, giving her the position of "Queen" might even be considerable, right?
Unfortunately, this woman didn't seem to have any special aptitude.
Leon shifted his attention to the Evil Pieces he had hidden in the subspace.
Of the fourteen Evil Pieces in total, only eight "Pawn" pieces were emitting a faint light. The remaining pieces showed no reaction at all.
Let alone the "Queen" piece, even the "Bishop," "Rook," and "Knight" pieces showed no reaction, proving that the inner-world quality of this perfect superhuman was far inferior to that of Yukino Yukinoshita.
If Yukino Yukinoshita, who had always admired her sister, yet lived in her shadow, and always dreamed of surpassing her, were to know this, what would she think?
Leon thought this with a hint of mischief.
Of course, the Evil Pieces' reaction was merely a prompt, intended only to tell Leon whether the person in front of him was suitable to become his Peerage and how much potential they had. It didn't mean that those who showed no reaction couldn't be reincarnated using these Evil Pieces.
Ultimately, the decision rested with Leon, and he was the user of the pieces. If he didn't care about the target's potential or suitability for reincarnation and stubbornly wanted to take them as a Peerage, it could still be done.
It was just that doing so would be a waste of his "Vassalization" characteristic and a waste of an opportunity to receive feedback.
Leon certainly wouldn't do such a thing.
Therefore, although somewhat regretful, Leon gave up on taking Haruno Yukinoshita as a Peerage.
Just like that, Haruno Yukinoshita left without looking back.
However, Yukino Yukinoshita didn't feel relieved at all; instead, she began to worry.
"You're being too cowardly, aren't you? The Yukino Yukinoshita I know isn't like this!"
Leon was amused by Yukino Yukinoshita's look of excessive worry.
"You don't understand." Yukino Yukinoshita, however, had no mood to argue with Leon. Instead, she said worriedly, "My sister isn't someone who gives up easily."
"If she likes something, she'll play with it to death. If she dislikes something, she'll completely crush it. Only for things she has no interest in will she refrain from interfering and do nothing."
"And the way she looked just now clearly tells us that this isn't over."
"I'm afraid she might actually find something out."
Yukino Yukinoshita still didn't want her family to know that she had not only been killed once by someone else but had also become a Devil and Leon's Peerage servant.
With her understanding of her family, if they found out about this, they definitely wouldn't let it go.
The esteemed daughter of the Yukinoshita family has become a Devil and someone else's Peerage servant—how could they tolerate that?
Not just for her own sake, but for the sake of the Yukinoshita family, they couldn't tolerate it.
However, even if they couldn't tolerate it, there was nothing they could do. Their opponent was a genuine Devil, and a Devil noble at that. Even if the Yukinoshita family had great power in the human world, they couldn't possibly do anything to Leon.
But Yukino Yukinoshita was afraid that they wouldn't see the situation clearly and insist on clashing with Leon, which would only lead to them getting severely hurt.
Most importantly, Yukino Yukinoshita didn't want her family to get involved in this mysterious world.
She had truly died once because of the existence of this world, and she now knew that this world was not peaceful at all.
Although the Devils, Angels, and Fallen Angels no longer engage in large-scale conflicts and struggles, small-scale confrontations always exist, and these confrontations always have the potential to cause casualties.
How could ordinary people, rashly entering such a world, not encounter danger?
If they were targeted by people from the inner world because they discovered something they shouldn't have, the loss would be far greater than the gain.
Thinking of this, Yukino Yukinoshita was very worried.
"I can roughly understand what you're worried about." Seeing Yukino Yukinoshita's restless demeanor, Leon shook his head and said, "Actually, your worries are superfluous. Even if the Yukinoshita family truly gets involved in something, the Church won't just stand by and watch."
"The Church?" Yukino Yukinoshita was slightly startled and asked in surprise, "They would help my family?"
"If nothing goes wrong, your family should be a key target of their attention," Leon analyzed for Yukino Yukinoshita. "Chiba Prefecture is originally the Church's territory, and your family is a local wealthy family in Chiba Prefecture. It's impossible for them not to be on the Church's radar."
"After all, Devils need high-quality transaction targets, and wealthy families like the Yukinoshita family are typically targeted."
"As long as the Church keeps an eye on such existences, they can immediately come to exorcise Devils once they spot something amiss. They can also use this to establish a relationship with the local wealthy family, receiving donations and such. If they can spread the faith and get famous families to become believers, the benefits are even greater."
"So, your family might have already secretly established a relationship with the local Church in Chiba Prefecture. That's not out of the question."
Hearing this, Yukino Yukinoshita slightly relaxed.
"Then, won't they contact the people from the Church and have an Exorcist come after us?"
Yukino Yukinoshita started worrying about this again.
"If they come after us, they come after us. We'll just send them away," Leon said dismissively. "It's the same as before: the people from the Church should be avoiding me, not the other way around. If your family genuinely uses their connections with the Church to find out our identities, then it just saves trouble."
"In the future, you won't have to hide from your family and can openly carry out Devil activities."
Ultimately, Leon was unafraid, self-assured as Haruno Yukinoshita had thought, and thus didn't take this seriously at all.
If he truly didn't want to be exposed, he would have used his demonic power to directly suggest or hypnotize Haruno Yukinoshita into ignoring the matter between him and Yukino Yukinoshita earlier.
"Compared to this, what we need to do tonight is more important."
Leon quickly put the matter of the Yukinoshita family out of his mind and said this to Yukino Yukinoshita.
"What needs to be done tonight?" Yukino Yukinoshita's attention was diverted. She was slightly startled and asked in confusion, "Is there something we need to do tonight?"
"That's right," Leon nodded. "It's been a month since you became a Devil. Besides the progress in your Devil work, you should have figured out your own abilities by now, haven't you?"
"More or less," Yukino Yukinoshita pursed her lips. "At least, I can initially use my demonic power."
Yukino Yukinoshita raised her hand, and a surge of demonic power suddenly appeared in her palm.
The demonic power gradually transformed, sometimes becoming intense fire, sometimes flowing water, sometimes a whirlwind, and sometimes cold ice, operating smoothly.
However, the biggest change was the cold ice; the other powers were weak and posed no effective threat.
Clearly, Yukino Yukinoshita had a great talent for using ice-elemental demonic power.
Perhaps this was also because her Sacred Gear was an ice-elemental one, and a Longinus at that.
"The use of the Sacred Gear is also fine now."
Behind Yukino Yukinoshita, an Ice Princess formed of condensed ice flickered into existence, emitting an astonishing chill.
"That's good."
Leon immediately nodded in satisfaction.
"Tonight, I'll take you to subdue a Stray Devil."
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