That would be the same as standing on the boundary of death, Ise.”
Buchou looks at me directly with her blue eyes while waving her crimson hair. Her eye is serious, so she isn’t joking. “Y-Yes.”
“You could avoid death as a human by being resurrected as a Devil. But Devils who are exorcised become completely terminated. They return to nothing. —Nothing. There is nothing left and you feel nothing. Do you know how serious that is?”
……Nothing? To tell you the truth, I don’t. Buchou shakes her head after seeing my confused face. “I’m sorry. I got too heated. Anyway, be careful from now on.”
“Yes.”
My conversation with Buchou ends there. “Ara ara, did you finish lecturing him?”
“Owaa.”
Akeno-san is standing behind me and I didn’t even realise it. She is smiling like usual. “Akeno, did something happen?”
Akeno-san’s expression changes after Buchou asks her. “We received an order for a hunt from the Arch Duke.”
--Stray Devils. There are beings that are called as such. The Devil who was turned into a Servant Devil of a Devil with a peerage but who betrayed or killed its master. Cases like that rarely occur. The power of Devils are enormous. You can’t even compare it to the time when you were a human. So there will be those who choose to use that power for their own self-interests. Those Devils leave their master's place and cause destruction at different location. That is a “Stray Devil”. The Fallen Angel Donaseek who wore a suit mistook me for a Stray Devil. In other words, a stray dog. Stray dogs create troubles. When found, the master or the other Devils are ordered to eliminate them. That is the law of the Devils. Other beings such as Angels and Fallen Angels sees them as threats and they will eliminate the Stray Devils whenever found. There is nothing scarier than a Devil who does not abide by any rule. I went to the unused building located at the outer part of the town along with Buchou, Akeno-san, Kiba, and Koneko-chan. Every night, a Stray Devil is luring humans to the building to feed on them. As such, there was a request from the High-class Devil to hunt them. [Since it has escaped to the territory of Rias Gremory, I would like to ask you to eliminate it.] Apparently, this is also one of the jobs of a Devil. Eating a human…… There are evil Devils like that as well……
No, naturally, Devils are like that. So the only reason they are quiet is because they abide by the law……
Yeah, they are Devils after all……
It’s midnight. It’s a world of darkness. There's lot of tall grasses surrounding me, and I can see the unused building far away from here. It’s one of the Devils’ traits to have a clear view at night. Hmm, having a clear view of a creepy place like this isn’t so good....
“……Smell of blood.”
Koneko-chan covers her nose with her uniform after she says that. Smell of blood? I can’t smell anything. So it means Koneko-chan has a good sense of smell. It becomes quiet. I can feel the presence of an enemy nearby, and its intent to kill us isn’t normal. My legs are shaking. I’m really scared. If the others weren’t here, I will have escaped. Buchou who is up at the front putting her hands on her hips looks very reliable! “Ise, it’s a good opportunity to experience what it's like to fight.”
Buchou says something reckless. “Wait, are you serious!? I’m positive that I won’t be of much use!”
“Yes. It’s still impossible now.”
She says it straight at me. I kind of feel sad. “But you can watch what a Devils' battle is like. Today, just concentrate and look at how we fight. Oh, yes. I will also explain the traits the servants have.”
“Explain? The traits servants have?”
I put on a confused look, but Buchou continues. “Devils, who are the master, give traits to those who will become their servants. ……Yes, it’s probably about time I explain about it and also about the history of Devils.”
Buchou starts to explain about the current situation of the Devils. “Long time ago, there was a three sided war between the Devils, the Fallen Angels, and God with its Angels followers. All three sides had a large army and they fought for almost eternity. As a result, all three sides lost most of their troops and the war finished several hundred years ago with no side winning.”
Kiba continues after Buchou. “The Devils were no exception. Big Devils with peerage who commanded about 20 or 30 troops lost most of their underlings because of the war. They lost so many that they couldn’t even form new armies.”
Akeno-san continues on from there. “I heard that most of the pure Devils passed away in that war. Even after the war, there are still problems between the Devils, the Fallen Angels and God. Even though the Fallen Angels' and God's side also lost most of their troops, we are still in a position where we can’t let our guard down, or else we will be in trouble.”
Then, Buchou speaks again. “Then, the Devils decided to use a system to form a small group of soldiers. And that is the [Evil Piece].”
“Evil Piece?”
Seems like it’s going to get complicated, but it looks like I have to listen to it seriously. “Devils with Peerage decide to use the traits of the human’s game “Chess” to their Servant Devils. It was also sarcasm, because most of the servants are Devils that were reincarnated from humans. Since then, Chess became a popular game in the world of the Devils. We’ll leave that aside. Devils who are masters are a [King]. In our case, that is me. From there, they created 5 special traits that consist of [Queen], [Knight], [Rook], [Bishop] and [Pawn]. Since they couldn’t make an army, they decided to have a small number of Devils and give them enormous powers. This system was made in the past few hundred years, and this unexpectedly became popular amongst Devils with peerage.”
“Popular? You mean the Chess rule?”
“They started to compete against each other. For example like, “My Knight is stronger!”, or “No, my Rook is stronger!” As a result, High-class Devils started to play a game like that of Chess against each other using their Servant Devils. We call it the “Rating Game”. Anyway, this game became very popular amongst the Devils. Now, there are even tournaments for it. The strength of their [Pieces] and also how strong they are at the game affects the Devils' social position, and their peerage. There is a thing called [Piece Collect] where they gather humans with talents and make them into their [Pieces]. It’s very popular recently. Talented servants become their status.”
I see. So being strong in that game means that you are a splendid Devil. It also becomes your pride then. ……Umm, so Servant Devils are former humans and they function by becoming the [Pieces] in the game. I feel it's complicated. So will I be someday forced to fight in that game? “I’m not a matured Devil yet, so I can’t participate in the official tournament. Even if I could, there are things that I need to go through, or else I can’t play.