Chương 226: The Open House

Underworld, Satan Territory, Capital City, Lilith.

The rest of the week passed with out incident. James accepted Rossweisse as part of his harem. Though they had yet to go on their first date. Which makes sense, since Sona's school will be holding its open house today. Actually, not only James and Rossweisse, but all the members of the three peerages were in the Underworld to help Sona with the event.

"Wow, it's only been what? Two days? Since the school was finally greenlit." James exclaimed as he looked at the brand-new school in the distance. "They built an entire university level campus so fast."

"Why are you so surprised?" Flora asked as she wrapped her arms around one of James'. "Did you forget how fast they redid your house?"

"Oh, I'm quite aware of that." James replied with a smile while poking Flora in her nose. "What's surprising is that they completed the whole campus that fast."

"It makes sense, actually." Tsubaki said while adjusting her glasses. "Sona has been drawing blueprints for as long as I can remember. So, it would actually be more surprising if they couldn't use those to get the buildings up so quickly."

Hearing that, James glanced at Sona who was talking to the head of the construction team that worked on the campus. When he saw the serious expression on her face, he could not help but smile.

"I guess it doesn't matter how fast the school went up." James said with a smile. "What's important is that Sona's getting to see her dreams coming true."

To that, the others who were standing around James smiled along with him. A few moments later, Sona finished her conversation with the construction team. Then, she made her way over to the rest of the group.

"Everyone, thanks for coming and offering your assistance today." Sona said with a slight smile on her face. "I've already come up with some tasks that I need all of you to take care of. Hopefully, everything will be ready before the open house begins in the afternoon."

Receiving a nod from everyone, Sona began to delegate tasks to everyone present. Just like that, the group split up with their tasks in hand. While James was responsible for carving the name of the school and a design that Sona came up with, and he perfected, into the main gates of the school's outer wall, Scathach handled setting up the defenses around the entire campus with her runes.

While James and Scathach were taking care of their tasks, everyone else was making sure that each room and building was decorated. Moving tables, chairs, carpets, etc., they were all moving with purpose.

"Is James-Senpai carving the gates with his sword?" Issei asked while he was positioning a statue on the pedestal in the middle of a fountain in the campus' main courtyard.

"That's what it looks like." Genshirou responded. "How good do you have to be with a sword to be cutting that quickly and still making it look that good?"

"If you're gonna move your mouth so much, at least move your hands just as much." Koneko said while carrying a similarly sized statue to the one Issei and Genshirou were moving together.

"Yes, ma'am." Issei and Genshirou replied together.

Like that, with a lot of hard work and some light bickering here and there, the rest of the morning flew by. Unfortunately, the work load was more than Sona expected. In the three or so hours that she thought it would take to get the rest of the work done, only about a quarter of it was finished. James and Scathach were able to finish their work with no problem, leaving them free to help the others. Koneko, Issei, Genshirou, and Loup were also able to finish their assigned tasks without issue.

The others were not quite as lucky. There were just too many buildings and rooms for them to finish decorating them all. Not to mention, Sona had made a few mistakes in her delegations. For example, Rias, who is lazy, and Shion, who has no talent for anything but swinging her sword slowed the progress. Even so, there was just too much work for the thirty or so people that made up their group to finish in a few hours.

"*Sigh* I didn't consider exactly how much work there would be before I gave out the tasks to everyone." Sona said from the head mistress's office.

"It's your first time handling something like this, Sona." Tsubaki said with a smile. "I think you're handling yourself pretty well, all things considered."

"I know you're right, Tsubaki." Sona replied. "I just can't' help wanting everything to be perfect right away."

While everyone else had been working around the campus, Sona and Tsubaki had been in Sona's office dealing with paper work and looking over the applications to fill all the positions, from teaching staff to custodial staff, needed to keep the school running smoothly. And seeing just how hard her [King] was working to make her dream, a reality, Tsubaki could not help but feel that she made the right decision all those years ago when she accepted the position as Sona's [Queen].

"Anyway, I think it's time to stop, for now." Sona said. "The guests should start arriving shortly."

As Sona finished speaking, she put her pen down and then stretched. Nodding in agreement, Tsubaki also put down her pen and stood from her seat. Then, without wasting time, they both left the office and made their way to the main courtyard.

When they arrived, Sona and Tsubaki scanned the courtyard. When they did, they were in awe at how good everything looked. If they were to be honest, though, they knew that they were looking at everything through rose tinted glasses. Not to say that anything looked bad or out of place, though. Instead, everything looked exactly the way Sona had designed it to look. But knowing that this was part of the dream they had been working for, everything looked even better.

*Clap!*

After snapping out of her reverence, Sona shook her head and loaded demonic power into her hands. Then, she clapped her demonic power charged hands, creating a sound wave that spread to every corner of the campus.

"Alright everyone, come to the main courtyard." Sona said, spreading her voice in the same manner that she spread the sound of her clap. "It's getting close to the time for our first guest to arrive."

While most of the members of each peerage simply finished what they were working on and made their way toward where Sona was waiting, rossweisse froze and began to panic.

"The first guest is almost here?" Rossweisse asked herself while tugging at her hair. "Isn't that Granny? What if she doesn't believe that I'm d... d... dating James now?"

"*Sigh* I knew you'd be panicking like this."

Considering that she had been standing there alone, Rossweisse was surprised at the voice that spoke from directly behind her. And when a pair of arms wrapped around her waist and a chin was placed on her shoulder, she froze completely. However, when she saw the caramel skin tone, she relaxed. Not completely, but her panic had subsided quite a bit.

"James, it's you." Rossweisse said, exhaling a breath she began to hold when she first heard his voice. "I guess I'm much more nervous than I thought, huh?"

"It's okay to be nervous." James replied with a smile. "I mean, you are introducing your boyfriend to your family, right?"

Once again, Rossweisse froze completely. Until now, she had not considered that she was introducing her boyfriend to her family in the normal sense.

'Why was I so concerned with Granny thinking that he was a fake?' Rossweisse thought to herself. 'I mean it's not fake, so that doesn't matter. But what if she doesn't like James? What will I do then? Will I go against her wishes? Or will I do what she says and break up with James?'

Although James' skillset did not include mind reading, he felt like he knew exactly what Rossweisse was thinking. Because of that, he could not help but smile wryly.

"I'm not sure what you're thinking about." James said, turning Rossweisse around and looking into her eyes. "But will worrying about it make a difference? Instead of worrying about it, why not just try to make the best of it?"

"*Sigh* I know yo're right, James." Rossweisse said as she leaned her head forward and rested it on James' chest. "But I can't help it. Granny is the person I respect and love the most. Just the thought of her not approving of my choice or being disappointed scares me."

"Well, instead of stewing over it by yourself, wouldn't it be better to just ask her about it?" James asked, once again wrapping his arms around Rossweisse. "I mean, at this point you really are just scaring yourself. You think so too, don't you, Gondul?"

"*Sigh* The youth now-a-days, always spoiling an old person's fun." Gondul, a voice Rossweisse could not be more familiar with, said in an exasperated tone.

"That's better than having my girlfriend freaking out because of the fears she's building up herself." James replied with a smile. Then, James slipped his smartphone out of his pocket and checked the time. "We have about forty-five minutes until the open house starts officially. So, why don't the two of you take some time to talk?"

With that, James separated himself from Rossweisse, then he bowed politely towards Gondul. After that, he simply vanished. Vanished would be incorrect, though. Instead, he ran at a speed that Rossweisse could not keep up with, with her naked eye.

"Oh ho. His speed is quite impressive." Gondul said. "On top of that, he's quite strong."

"He's this generation's Red Dragon Emperor, too." Rossweisse said in a small voice. "Plus, he's rich. Like really rich."

"Now I see why none of the boys in Valhalla were able to catch your eye, Rose." Gondul said in a teasing tone. "You have quite the high standards, don't you?"

"I don't know... Maybe?" Rossweisse said with her head down.

"Either way, I'm glad you found a path that makes you happy, Rose." Gondul said with a grandmotherly smile. Then, she pulled Rossweisse into a hug. "Hopefully, you can get past the fact that you were unable to inherit the family crest. No one thinks less of you for it."

As it turned out, Gondul and Rossweisse's family, throughout the generations, passed down a magic crest from family head to family head. With this crest, each family head would inherit the lifetimes of insight and magic power each family head before them experienced. Unfortunately, Rossweisse, the first choice to become family head, was unable to receive the inheritance.

Because of her failure to become the next family head, Rossweisse threw herself into her magical studies to make up for her perceived shortcomings. Due to the fervor she held for overcoming these shortcomings, she was able to reach a height in magic ability that many would never dream of reaching. Not only in the three styles of magic that her family was famous for, but in many other forms of magic, she had made her way to the pinnacle of the field.

"Yeah, I dun think James'll even care." Rossweisse said with a smile. "I'mma hafta talk to 'im about it, later."

"If I were you, I'd be more concerned about how he'll react to that country dialect you sometimes slip into." Gondul replied with a smile.

Immediately, Rossweisse blushed furiously.

"Hahaha!" Gondul laughed at her cute, yet clumsy granddaughter. "Let's go back. It's getting close to the time for the open house to start."

Nodding meekly, Rossweisse separated from Gondul's embrace. Then, she and Gondul began to walk toward the main courtyard. Shortly after they arrived, they noticed that most of the guest lecturers had also arrived. The only one who was still absent was the [Rating Game] champion, Diehauser Belial. Instead of panicking at the fact that the champion was late, Sona had expected as much. As the champion of the [Rating Games], it stood to reason that Diehauser's schedule would be packed.

Less than an hour later, the children and teenagers who were interested in attending Sona's school began to arrive in droves.

"*Whistle!* Quite the turn out." James said with a smile. "It looks like your school is going to be something special for the younger generations to come, Sona."

"I hope so." Sona replied. "I just want to give them the chance they never would have received in the past."

"And you will." James said, patting Sona on the head as he finished speaking.

Blushing slightly, Sona hurriedly smacked James hand away from her head before straightening out her hair.

"Stop it." Sona muttered. "Not in public."

Smiling in response, James did as Sona asked. Then, as more and more prospective students showed up, groups, each led by a member of Sona's peerage led groups of young devils around the campus and explained the purpose of each building and facility.

Eventually, about halfway through the time that was scheduled for the open house, Diehauser Belial finally showed up. When he did, the crowd of young devils went into a frenzy. As the most popular devil in the underworld after the Satans, almost every devil present was one of his fans. So, at that moment, Sona made the decision to have all the tours of the campus, whether they were ongoing or about to begin, paused so that Diehauser could address the crowd.

After his speech, which spoke of how the young devils were the future of the Underwworld and about many of his experiences in the [Rating Games], was completed, He excused himself for a short restroom break.

"Damn, that was one of the best speeches I've ever sat through." James said with an excited tone. "I'm so use to boring speeches that are synonymous with sleep magic. That was truly a breath of fresh air."

"I know, right!" Rias said in an excited tone. "he's definitely worthy to be my goal. And one day, I will surpass him."

"That's right, Buchou." Yuuto said with a smile and determination swirling in his eyes. "And we'll work hard to make that happen."

"Yeah!" The rest of Rias peerage cheered.

Like the members of the three peerages, all the visitors who came to tour the campus were also talking animatedly about the champion's speech. Eventually, when she thought it had been long enough, Sona decided to get the tours back on track.

"Okay, everyone!" Sona shouted loud enough for everyone on campus to hear her. "Let's get back to the tours. If we don't, everyone won't get a chance to see what the school has to offer."

"Okay!" The children and young teens shouted excitedly.

After that, the children and peerage members were broken up into groups so that the tours could resume. However, before the tours could get started, James and Scathach looked up to the sky and narrowed their eyes. Then, a crack appeared in the sky over the school.

"Master!" James shouted when he saw the crack begin to open wider.

"There is no need to worry." Scathach replied as she slammed the butt of her spear into the ground.

In the next instant, all the runes that Scathach engraved around the walls and campus lit up. Then, a translucent barrier covered the entirety of the school. Just as the barrier was raised, the crack began to light up. A moment later, an intense, high-temperature stream of fire rained down on the school.

"Gwahahahaha!" A boisterous laughter could be heard from the other side of the crack in the sky. "There's nothing better than destroying the youths of a society!"

"Do you always have to be so loud?" Another voice asked in annoyance.

"Both of you, shut up!" A third voice said. "You can continue when we confirm that those brats are dead."

Once the last of those voices fell, three large figures made their way through the crack in the sky. When they did, they were revealed to be three dragons. However, before they could descend any further, a roar of anger came from the ground.

"You mother fuckers have some nerve ruining my fiancée's big day!" James said as he shot up into the sky through Scathach's barrier.

Along the way, James did not forget to devour the flames that coated the barrier. When he did, he finally got a good look at the attackers.

"So, it's Grendel, Apophis, and Azi Dahaka." James growled in rage. "Just another reason for me to put my foot up Rizevim's ass. And as for you, I hope you're ready to die for the second time."