Maybe it will be okay if I am cautious of the group of Maverick Magicians, [Hexennacht], and the magicians’ faction of Khaos Brigade, [Nilrem]. “There sure are many things I need to remember…… The road to becoming a High-class Devil sure is hard.”
I take a breath. There are many things I need to remember, but I won’t be able to walk ahead unless I remember all of them. I am a Mid-class Devil after all, so I have to be aware and hold responsibility. It’s an unforgivable thing……if I don’t know anything during crucial times. “It sure is tough aiming to become a High-class Devil –nya. Though I think Sekiryuutei-chin is alright to be an Ultimate-class Devil in terms of strength. It’s a cruel reality that your brain has to catch up to that level.”
Kuroka sits on my lap. This Onee-san sure does act like how she wants to! Sona-kaichou then says it while smiling. “However, you may be right. If you get promoted, then you will be able to attain evil-pieces which will allow you to have servants that will support you, and depending on the way you use them, things may become easier for you in the future. Except, it means you will have greater responsibility by becoming a [King].”
That certainly is true. Just like how Rias does her job with us, I may be able to split the amount of work if I get my servants in the future. Ah, now I have a question. Actually, it has been bugging me for a while. “By the way, who did you make your servant first, Kaichou?”
Yeah, it’s regarding the circumstances of the Sitri group. Who did she make her servant first? I want to use that as a reference for the future. “Me? It was Tsubaki. I met her as soon as I came to Japan and made her my servant.”
So she made the vice-president her servant first. Well, it does seem like they have known each other the longest. Akeno-san continues while putting on sad eyes. “Tsubaki……also went through many things. I’m sure it was fortunate for her to have met Sona.”
“Yes, I’m also glad I met her as well.”
……I have heard a bit about Tsubaki-senpai before. She was born in the Shinra-clan that has an ancient and honourable origin that purifies evils, but due to her trait that calls out to abnormal beings through her mirrors, she received a state which was basically isolation. She overcame that by becoming a Devil, and changed it to her own powers. That was Tsubaki-senpai’s Sacred Gear, [Mirror Alice]. I then ask Akeno-san. “You were Rias’s first servant, right Akeno-san?”
I was told that before. “Yes, that’s correct. I am Rias’s first servant.”
Akeno-san puts her cup away and then speaks. “This is a good occasion, so let me talk a bit about it. My first meeting with Rias—”
That is a story about the beginning of the two little girls—. —Who am I? When I, Himejima Akeno, was young, I kept on asking myself that question. I, who had lost my mother by the hands of those who detest the Fallen Angels, disagreed with my father Barakiel, and continued to have a lifestyle where I travelled to different places. By myself when I was ten years old. It’s an age which was practically impossible for one to live on one's own. I even remember how my younger self believed strongly that I still have to keep on living on my own. I definitely can’t rely on my father. If I do……I feel like my heart will break from the sorrow of losing my mother and being scared at the hatred others had towards my father. What I had in my hand was my pocket money with only a bit of savings in it. ……I was thinking of buying a present for my mother for her birthday using that money. I did my best to not use that money, but I couldn’t overcome my empty stomach that had reached its limit, and I ended up using it while I kept on apologising to my mother inside myself. The memory of that time is still buried strongly in me. There is a limit to money. It’s not infinite. I didn’t have my father and my mother. I needed to somehow make some money despite being a child. However, there was no way that there were places that would hire a child that was merely ten years old. ……My merit is the ability to control lightning that was passed down from my father and the power to purify spirits that I learned from my mother. It happened on a certain day. I helped a child that was possessed by an evil spirit by chance. Then the child’s parents gave me a small quantity of snacks. I thought that this was it. That this was the only thing I was able to do—. From then on, I started to talk to the people that were possessed by evil spirits, purified them, and had a lifestyle where I received a bit of money and food from them. I couldn’t have a luxurious life. I didn’t have any place to live. However, I was able to survive. —Akeno, I will teach you how to drive away scary ghosts. ……What my mother taught me helped me to survive. It was lonely to sleep by myself……however I didn’t want to die yet. After that, I travelled around Japan, I started to learn how to communicate with abnormal beings, and was able to take my distance from humans. If I had to be grouped, then I would be grouped in the abnormal beings. Even though I have an appearance of a human, I carry the blood of a Fallen Angel. So it isn’t wrong for me to be classified as a non-human being. I had realised that myself despite being only ten years old. It was easier not to be hurt when I interact with others while telling myself that. There were those that wanted to take me in from the people who I had saved from the evil spirits. If there were people who actually mean it, there were also people who had other intentions. I was even able to realise that. I even found myself being chased. I was also targeted many times, like the time I stepped foot on the territory under the jurisdiction of the Church that detests Fallen Angels, and also by trainee monks who saw me as a hindrance to their job. A year and a half had passed since I had a lifestyle like that—. Around the time I had started to become familiar with travelling around the country purifying evil spirits, I had become friends with small Oni, and was able to control them. It happened when I sneaked into this certain town located in the T-prefecture. I had contact with a human that was capable of talking to spirits for a temporary time due to making a pact with a Devil. That person accidentally spoke to an evil spirit, got possessed by it, and almost got killed by it. I ended up saving that person. I should have ignored that person, but I didn’t have any choice since that person muttered out, “Save me”. By the time I realised it, I had saved that person from the evil spirit. It was only afterwards that I would come to know that human was someone that had been making a pact with the servant Devil of the current Head of the House of Gremory. But at that time, I realised it was my mistake for stepping foot into the Devil’s territory. The fact about the Devils fighting against the Fallen Angels was knowledge that I attained during my journey.