But just as such thoughts streamed through my mind, Ravel nodded and enthusiastically said
“The first step is to find that Ungaikyo then. I will also use the Phoenix House’s information network!”
Everyone directed their eyes towards Ravel, who seemed rather enthusiastic. Ravel suddenly became shy. “…I want to help Koneko-san. And we’re also friends…”
The Ravel before my eyes was no longer the same brave Ravel as of late, she was simply a girl of a suitable age who got fired up for the sake of her friendship. Ravel’s proposal was correct though, and we all agreed. “I will also ask the head of the Himejima clan.”
Akeno-san said. The information network of the Five Principal Clans who were most knowledgeable on Japan’s abilities and supernatural beings would probably be a powerful resource. We planned to use our own intelligence network to collect relevant information, and at the same time, ask Ikuse-san and the Grigori to help us. “Bennia, are you here?”
After Sona-senpai said that, a magic circle appeared beside her. Bennia then hopped out from the magic circle, and it made me think that the way she appeared was still so unique. <<I am here, Master Sona.>>
“Please stay here to help Rias and Ise-kun, Bennia. You understand the Grim Reapers, and you can also sense their wavelength, so your abilities will be vital to them.”
<<Understood.>>
“Let us know if anything happens.”
After Sona-senpai and Shinra-senpai reached an agreement with us, they left Bennia with us and then left. I…fell into deep thought. At present, neither Koneko-chan nor Kuroka were present, so Rias and I both decided that we shouldn’t make Koneko-chan feel even more burdened than she already was. Koneko-chan…she had a very difficult time in the past. Although she had already worked hard to overcome it, if she had to recall the memories of that time, it was possible that it could affect her mental state again. She wanted to gain valuable experience through the World Tournament, and she would also be fighting against her own sister in the next game. If we worried her too much, it was possible that she would overstrain herself again. Rias said
“Koneko has certainly become stronger, but she still has a weak side. She is determined to overcome her difficult past, but if she recalls the memories of those days, it’s possible that her mind may actually collapse.”
Rias was also quite worried for Koneko-chan. She was carefully considering how to deal with the situation. Rias had taken Koneko-chan in, and helped her overcome her psychological trauma, and that was why she was so worried about this incident. It was also precisely because of this that she didn’t intend to allow Koneko-chan to come in here. I had a conversation with Rias about Koneko-chan’s past before. [Ise, did I ever tell you that Kuroka’s former master was a high-class Devil?] [If I recall correctly, it was Naberius of the Seventy Two Pillars, right? A Devil of a branch family took Kuroka and Koneko-chan in.] I had more or less heard about Kuroka and Koneko-chan’s past from Rias. It was mainly the story of when Kuroka was a servant Devil. Kuroka’s original master was a Devil who possessed the ability to forcibly strengthen the power of their servants, and they would also use this on their own family and relatives as well. It was scary how they didn’t hold back even against their own relatives. And then, their master’s interest was directed to Kuroka’s little sister who was also a Nekomata — Koneko-chan. And that was why Kuroka killed her master. Rias continued
[Yes, that’s right. It seems they were an aristocrat obsessed with research. Albeit in a bad direction. They ignored the main family’s wishes and continued to carry out dubious experiments. But there was also another problem. The thing is, when Kuroka started living here, this is something that onii-sama told me through Grayfia—]
What Rias said was that the research that their former master conducted was carried on and taken over by someone else, but when the Maou’s soldiers arrived at the house, they found that almost all traces of the research had disappeared. They heard that there had been a suspicious explosion. The research conducted by Kuroka’s original master had also attracted much suspicion from the upper echelons of the Underworld, and both Kuroka and Koneko-chan were identified as dangerous and unstable factors as well. Rias continued
[Kuroka was interrogated several times, but she had no clue about the true intention of the research. The only thing that was certain was that the research was extremely dangerous.] [In other words…before she even knew about the purpose of the research, Kuroka killed her master in order to protect Koneko-chan huh…]
Rias sighed as she nodded. [Knowing that her little sister would fall into poisonous hands, Kuroka definitely wouldn’t have allowed that to go on in silence. Of course, she also had a grudge.] That is to say, because of Kuroka’s deep personal feelings — her anger erupted and she completely obliterated her original master and the surroundings. Upon seeing the power of the Nekomata, a deep psychological scar was also inflicted upon Koneko-chan. Koneko-chan and Kuroka’s time with the branch family of the Naberius House…seemed to conceal a lot of anxiety. Part 3
Although I was quite worried about Koneko-chan’s situation and the frequent riots caused by the mysterious Devils throughout various factions, time would not wait for anyone. Our [Sekiryuutei of Blazing Truth] team and Rias’ team were practising together today. The location was not the training space that was meant to be used by the Sekiryuutei, but the nostalgic space that was used by the Gremory peerage for training. Although I had said that it was ‘nostalgic’, it had actually been used until just recently. Because Rias would have her match against Vali and the others very soon, she invited us to act as opponents in a mock battle. Not knowing what would happen and also to follow Sona-senpai’s orders, Bennia also tagged along. And thus our training session began. “Alright, let’s go, Lint!”
“Awah, Quarta-paisen, you’re a bit extreme.”
What we saw first was the scene of Xenovia and Lint-san training with each other. Xenovia wielded Durandal and Excalibur as Lint-san nimbly evaded her attacks and used her sword forged of purple flames to counterattack. Waves of holy aura and violent purple flames clashed in mid-air, causing explosions to be set off all over the place one after the other. Xenovia’s training was rather intense, but from this we could also see that Lint-san’s strength wasn’t bad either. As evident from the video recordings of Rias’ games, Lint-san’s fighting style was very practical, and she was also an excellent and powerful female warrior who never backed down. On another side, Koneko-chan and Ravel began to train with each other seriously.