บท 17: Training

Serafall and Grayfia sat across the table as they both sighed from the hectic day while the two were used to it so they weren't bothered much.

"So what was it?" Serafall asked Grayfia

"*Sigh*…it seems that 'he' and Lord Phenex are wanting to prepone the marriage…well it led to some arguments and eventually it was decided that Riser Phenex and Rias will have their engagement during this summer vacation. If she wants to break-off the marriage then she'll have to face Riser in a rating game" Grayfia said as she drank some tea to relax her nerves from all the annoying talks she had since morning.

Serafall nodded as she finally understood why Rias was so upset, shaking her head at the spoiled lady she leaned her back on the chair. Grayfia looked at her and asked "What about you?"

"Well…Leo bought his 'lover'…so to speak which led to…" as Serafall recounted the day's events making Grayfia surprised as she didn't know from where someone like Altria suddenly appeared.

"Do we have any information on Altria?" Grayfia asked as Serafall shook her head saying "No and we shouldn't bother either considering Leo's with her, though…" Serafall had an abrupt pause making Grayifa anxious as she asked "though what?"

"…I'm not sure…it's just she had something about her which felt slightly familiar yet not" Serafall said in a confused tone.

Grayfia frowned slightly but then sighed as she shook her head, clearing her mind.

Both Serafall and Grayfia then got to talking about other things.

***

Next day the classes went on as usual as Leo saw Rias and Akeno were back though the red haired princess looked upset, Leo didn't need any powers to guess the reason as he shook his head.

After the classes finished Sona and Tsubaki walked up to Leo as Sona said "I want to talk to you about something" , Leo nodded as they left for the Student's Council room.

Settling in Leo looked at Sona and said "So what is it that you want to talk about?"

"Can you please train me and my peerage" Sona requested with a slight bow while Leo held her "No need to bow…my dear fiancée" he said making Sona blush slightly.

"I don't have a problem with that" Leo said.

"Thank you…then when do we start" Sona said excited at the fact of getting stronger while getting closer to Leo.

"Now-now when did I say I would be the only one to train you" Leo said with a grin which made the girls shiver in fright for some reason.

"Huh!?" Sona and her peerage were confused at his words.

"Altria" he said looking at Sona and Tsubaki who both had a frown as they clearly didn't want to train with her, but then sighed as they saw Leo wasn't going to change his decision.

"Fine" Sona said to which Leo nodded and said "Very well…I'll let her know you can start training from toady itself then…" as Altria appeared in the room but this time the group had no reaction as they had gotten more or less used to it.

"I didn't want to train you'll but since Leo said then I'll train you'll but don't expect me to show you any mercy" Altria said crossing her arms below her ample breasts making them go boing.

Tick marks appeared on Sona's forehead as she saw that while internally cursing big breasts while Tsubaki was contemplating over her modest size.

Seeing that Leo said "The size of mountain doesn't matter, but the sensation when climbing them" as he stroked his imaginary beard like some sage.

The girls blushed at his words while Altria tried to lean a little closer, Tsubaki blushed but still had a small smile on her face. On the other hand Sona's face was completely red as she covered her breasts muttering "Pervert!".

After the small episode, things calmed down as Altria gave a quick kiss to Leo and went to the forest behind the school to train Sona and her peerage while the girls blushed once again at the blatant display of affection. They as well tacitly left after Leo as they knew their king's and queen's affection for the man.

Tsubaki walked closer to Sona and said "We need to do something fast" to which Sona nodded as Tsubaki made her way towards Leo, holding her Sona asked "What are you planning?"

Tsubaki shook her head and said "Nothing…I'll just kiss Leo" innocently as if wasn't a big deal. Sona blushed as she said "Wh-what do you mean just ki-kiss him…you can't do that…at least not before I do"

"Hmm…who are you?" Tsubaki said with a straight face looking at Sona.

"Huh!?" before Sona could process Tsubaki's words, Tsubaki was already on her way to Leo.

"Hey wait!!" Sona shouted running after Tsubaki.

Getting all assembled, Leo looked at Sona and her peerage,

"Alright let's start with your training which for now will include working on mana control and basic physical exercises this will be for everyone to follow, aside from that I'll also give you your respective training regimes…

Sona you'll be focusing on magic oriented skills,

Tsubaki you'll be working on your naginata skills and on reducing the cooldown period on your sacred gear and achieving balance breaker,

Reya since most of your abilities focus on scouting you lack skills for direct confrontation so you'll be working on skills of an assassin,

Tomoe you'll be working on your swordsmanship techniques and try to deepen your connection with the spirits,

And finally Tsubasa you'll be working on martial arts techniques and while learning to involve demonic power in your moves this applies to all of you as well…though it will be Altria who'll be training you for the most part, I'll help out in between"

Altria nodded while Sona and her peerage gulped as their hellish training began.

Leo used a metal sphere which had a small rune engraved on it, if the user used more than necessary magic it would glow red and the glow would change from red to orange to yellow and finally to green which indicated that the mana used was equal to the required amount. He also trained them in Leaf sticking exercise which involved the usage of demonic power instead of chakra. The girls were also training in physical aspect as they were made to work-out under varying gravity. To strengthen their spiritual will, Leo made them meditate under Altria's pressure which was spread over in 7 rings. The inner one went the more pressure and oppression one would face.

All in all Sona and her peerage couldn't help but curse at Leo and Altria, facing their training they couldn't help but question who was the real devil among them.

As such two weeks passed by…aside from the hellish training Sona and her peerage went through, Sona and Tsubaki had come a lot closer to Leo and were slowly opening up to Altria as well who also reciprocated their gesture. Over the weeks Serafall had come to accept that her So-tan had fallen for Leo while she wasn't faring any better against Leo's flirting.

While Rias also approached Leo after a week since Sona's training started. During the week she had a chat with Sona about joining in on their training, Sona wasn't sure how to respond to that so she just left telling her she should ask Leo about it, which led Rias to finally approach Leo.

-[Flashback begins]-

Currently Leo, Rias and her peerage were seated in the Occult Research Club as the room was filled with silence. Leo was calmly drinking the tea Akeno prepared for him not bothering with the surroundings at all.

Grayfia looked at Leo with a stoic face as she said "*cough* Sorry to bother you all of a sudden but I have a request for you to train Rias and her peerage and don't worry you'll-…"

She stopped mid-sentence as Leo motioned her to stop placing the tea cup on the table he said "I have no interest in training her or her peerage"

Hearing him Rias frowned as she was about to retort Grayfia interjected saying "And if you may…can you tell us why?"

"I have no interest in wasting my time on a spoiled brat…nothing else" Leo said calmly while Rias was red with anger from being called a spoiled brat.

Angered Rias glared at Leo as she said "I am not a spoiled brat!"

"Oh!..." raising an eyebrow Leo looked at Rias and said "…someone who wishes to break off her 'forced marriage' which was decided on nearly a decade back didn't do shit to work on ways to break off the marriage instead ran off to the human world, aside from that hardly bothers about the territory she was supposed to manage…do you even know how many normal humans died because of rogue fallen angels, priests, mages which roam around this town…if not for Sona and me eliminating them the town would have become a graveyard…not to mention you claim to treat your peerage as your family right…" he stopped as he looked at Rias who nodded abruptly as he continued "…then tell me how much do you know about them…about the things they went through and the fact that whether they have truly overcome their past or not"

Hearing him Rias and her peerage were silent as they contemplated on his words while Grayfia silently nodded as she knew Leo was right and in fact Grayfia was internally happy that someone said those things to Rias head-on.

Not having any words to retort Rias couldn't handle the stare of Leo as she held her head down.

Sighing Leo got up as he looked at Rias "…I'll give you an advice you have some of the best people around you who wouldn't say no if you ask them for help but the condition is you ask…you have Grayfia here you could ask her to train Akeno…while ask your sis-con brother to hire someone to train Kiba and Koneko…as for yourself whether you accept or not you are weak even weaker then Sona so you better ask for help from your mother no one would be better than her to train you…this is just an advice though, whether you take it or not doesn't matter"

Saying that Leo left the place.

-[Flashback ends]-

After his meeting with Rias, she didn't bother him again while he too ignored her since he had already given her some help from that advice whether she was smart enough to take it or not depends on her.

And thus the two weeks passed by as Rias requested a sparring session from Sona and so a mock battle was about to take place on Monday next week after school. But Leo wasn't bothered by that instead he had a promise to fulfil before that and that was to take Altria on a date which he decided to take her on one this Sunday .i.e. tomorrow.

Slowly the training ended as the Sona and her peerage went to relax and plan out for their mock battle day after tomorrow while Altria and Leo went off to their home with the former anticipating her date.

(-End-)