บท 171: Chapter 171: Church’s Envoys

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Two days after Rias Gremory and Sona Sitri received the notice from the Underworld about the arrival of two investigators from the church, two not-at-all suspicious figures wearing light brown cloaks appeared in front of Kuoh High School. Together with the cloaks, the most prominent detail about the two would be the two golden brooches that both of them were wearing to hold their cloaks together and the huge thing that was wrapped up in bandages and attached to the back of the taller of the duo. Sona Sitri recognized the duo for what they were immediately and sighed internally.

'Let's leave to the church moron to blend in the normal world.'

After saying her grievances internally, Sona Sitri, accompanied by her friend and Queen, Tsubaki Shinra, approached the not-at-all-suspect duo.

"You two really know how to blend in and not get the attention of the entire normal student body."

Sona said and she looked around to see some students taking pictures of the not-at-all-suspect duo. Or at least that's what she desired to say in that situation. But, alas, she had an image to keep in front of everyone.

"Welcome to Kuoh. We were expecting you both."

Sona Sitri said as she fiddled with the glasses that she was wearing.

"While we were not expecting both of you until the end of the school day, something can be arranged so you two can wait in somewhat comfort until we are all available. If you, please, follow me."

Sona Sitri said to the duo and turned to walk inside the school together with her Queen, not caring if the duo would follow her or not. Truth be told, the holy power being emitted from the duo was bothering her greatly. And suddenly, just as the bothersome feeling came, it disappeared. Sona Sitri was puzzled by that until she met the eyes of her big brother, who winked at her. That made the stern girl crack a small smile.

"Good morning, Miss Sitri, Miss Shinra."

Erik said, greeting the Students' Council duo. He then looked at the coated duo with appraising and curious eyes.

"Working hard at the start of the day, I see."

Erik added while looking back at the bespectacled Devil girls with a small smile. If one didn't know his true identity, they would call him the 'perfect' teacher.

"Good morning, teacher Ravenclaw. And yes. Both of them are guests to the Students' Council."

Sona replied smoothly to Erik, who smiled and nodded his head.

"See you later then, and good work~"

Erik said and continued to walk the way that he was going before.

"See you later in class, teacher."

Sona said while giving Erik a small bow together with her Queen and continued to walk as Erik walked away. The two members of the church were frozen in place for a few seconds. Their faces of shock were hidden by the hood of their brown cloaks. It was just after Sona stopped in place, waiting for them to continue to follow her that the shorter one of the duo 'woke up' and 'elbowed' the taller one. With both of them awakened, they continued to follow after Sona. After a minute or so of walking inside the school's building, the four people reached a small room, in which Sona retrieved a key from her bag to unlock the door to it. As they entered it, the duo of the church looked around and saw that they were in what looked like a small lounge room mixed with a kitchen. It had two sofas with a small table between them, a shelf with some books, a small fridge together with a tabletop stove, a small sink, and a cabinet. The room even had something that looked like the entrance to a small bathroom. While the church duo looked around, Sona turned to look at them.

"You will stay in this room until we can talk properly, which will probably happen by lunchtime. Feel free to use anything in the room. There are some cold drinks in the fridge, together with some instant food and utensils in the cabinet. There is a small bathroom too through those doors."

Sona said while pointing at things in the room. After some seconds in silence, in which the church's duo looked around the room, Sona walked back to the entrance of the room.

"I will be going now, classes will start soon. Again, be free to use anything in the room."

Sona said and walked out of the room. Seeing that, one of the church's duo called her back.

"Wait."

It said in a very feminine voice. Sona stopped in her tracks and turned to look at the now identified girl, looking at her with an inquisitive gaze. In response, the girl lowered the hood of her cloak, revealing her face to Sona. The girl had light honey-brown hair that was tied in two high pigtails. Her eyes were light purple while her face showed that she was a pretty girl.

"Was that teacher, from earlier, really called Ravenclaw?"

The girl asked Sona, who nodded her head in response.

"Yes."

Sona replied shortly.

"As in the Good Doctor, Erik Ravenclaw?"

The church's girl asked again.

"The same."

Sona replied, making the church's girl, together with her companion, take in a huge breath of air. They knew very well who Erik Ravenclaw was. The man was the strongest human recorded to ever live. His tales of defeating powerful beings from the supernatural world that were wreaking havoc on normal people's lives were taught in the church's school as an example of what a human could achieve with its power alone. The funny thing was that nothing about his many Devil wives was taught at all. As Sona answered the church's girl's question, she started to walk again. Her Queen, Tsubaki Shinra, closed the door of the room before following her King.

It was a full minute later that the two church girls managed to get out of their stupor. The unhooded one looked at her companion with stars in her eyes.

"Xenovia, did you hear it? Erik Ravenclaw is here!"

The first girl asked her companion, now identified as Xenovia, who lowered the hood of her cloak in a swift move, revealing her face to the world. Xenovia was a pretty girl too, with short dark-blue hair that had a lock of green hair in the front, and golden-colored eyes. The girl let out a sigh at her companion's behavior.

*sigh*

"Yes. I heard the Devil saying, Irina."

Xenovia said, answering her companion, now identified as Irina. She knew that her companion was a fangirl of this Erik Ravenclaw guy. She had to admit that the guy's achievements were good, but she knew that their teachers tended to exaggerate certain things, so she didn't take to heart the 'strongest human ever' talk. As Irina started to mumble to herself about all the achievements that she knew about Erik Ravenclaw, Xenovia started to look around the room that they would be waiting in. When her gaze fell on the fridge and the cabinet, her eyes shone with hope and she walked toward them. Xenovia was hungry. Very hungry. They had received a stipend to spend on this trip, but both girls, when seeing people in more need than them, decided, on the spur of the moment, to donate all their money, leaving both of them destitute of any money to even eat. Truth be told, they didn't even have a place to stay that night and would have to seek shelter with old friends of Irina's parents or sleep with the stars as their roof.

Xenovia opened the fridge and, just as the Devil had said early, it was full of cold beverages of different types and flavors. Letting go of the fridge's door and leaving it to close back slowly, she opened the cabinet's doors and found it filled with snacks of different types and flavors, and a good assortment of different instant-type foods.

"Thank you, Lord. Blessed be the soul that organized this."

Xenovia said in a low voice with figurative tears of sheer happiness flowing out of her eyes. It seemed that she would not stay hungry for longer. Soon, Xenovia was taking some of the instant foods out of the cabinet and reading its instructions for preparation.

Some seconds before, inside a classroom for the third-year students, Sona Sitri flinched due to a sudden twinge that she received in her head.

'Damn fanatics. Someone must have prayed for me.'

–

Hours later, the bell had just hung and Tsubasa Shinra briefly knocked on the door that was 'sheltering' the church envoys. Sona Sitri had already gone to the meeting location, also known as the Students' Council Office, to arrange the last things.

*knock knock*

Just after she knocked, Tsubasa Shinra opened the door and entered. The two church's envoys, who were reading some of the books available, looked at the person entering and put the books down when they recognized who it was.

"We are ready to talk. Please, follow me to the meeting room."

Tsubaki Shinra said while discreetly looking around the room and noticing the waste bin filled with packages of instant food, packages of snacks, and empty cans of beverages. While making a small mental note to refill the room's stock, she walked out of the room and waited for the two envoys.

Soon enough, the church's envoys exited the room and the three of them started to walk after Tsubaki Shinra had locked the room's door.

A short walk after, the unlikely trio arrived in front of closed double doors with a plaque that read 'STUDENTS' COUNCIL' attached to the wall next to it. Opening the doors without knocking, Tsubaki Shinra entered the room while being followed by the two envoys. Inside the room were the two Kings with the entirety of their Peerages already waiting for them.

"Please, take a seat."

Sona Sitri said while getting up from her seat and gesturing to the sofa in front of her that it was empty. As the two envoys took their seats and lowered their hoods, Tsubaki Shinra closed the doors of the room so that the conversation could be done in 'secrecy'.

Inside a room that was some doors down in the same corridor, Erik was having his lunch together with other teachers while keeping his senses locked into the Students' Council's room, ready to go into action at the minimal sign of escalation in the hostilities between the two groups that were talking. Internally, he was, again, swearing about fate and its schemes.

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a/n: lesson that I learned with this sickness episode of mine: ALWAYS KEEP YOUR GLASSES CLEAN.