Serafall was dragged off by Sona.
Shinra Tsubaki said goodbye to Hikaru in her place. Grayfia didn't say a word; she merely gave Hikaru a deep look before leaving.
In the aftermath, Rias was still in shock.
That cold, impartial Enforcer had appeared in the human world.
"Rias, what exactly is going on with Grayfia?"
Since he had direct connections to the Underworld, he had to ask.
"Well, Enforcer-sama… it's like this…"
It took Rias about ten minutes to explain the public story of Grayfia's life.
Hikaru fell into thought.
The general process was the same as in the original plot: at first, she was part of the Old Maou faction, but eventually defected to join the reformists.
However, the ending was different.
Grayfia had become an Enforcer, rather than Sirzechs's maid and wife.
"She's single now?"
Hikaru asked.
"Of course. Enforcer-sama is so dignified and has never shown any interest in romance, dedicating herself wholeheartedly to her work," Rias replied, as though it were obvious.
Then, as if she suddenly remembered something, she went on:
"My brother once pursued Grayfia-sama, but she turned him down in front of everyone without showing any mercy. He was depressed for quite some time afterward."
It was something she'd heard from her mother.
"I see," Hikaru nodded.
Any further questions would definitely just get a standard, canned response from them.
"But why are you asking, Hikaru? Don't tell me you're interested in Grayfia-sama…"
Rias didn't finish her sentence, but it was basically written all over her face that she suspected he was interested in Grayfia.
But then again, what about her situation? Wasn't she Hikaru's fiancée? Or was she? What was she exactly?
"It's getting late. I should head back now," Hikaru said.
He decided to look into this more thoroughly later. There was no rush now.
"Oh, right. Hikaru, I'll transfer your reward for this job to you as soon as possible," Rias suddenly said.
Hikaru was about to say something, but then he saw the resolute expression on her face. "Business is business. Even though I'm now your fiancée, we still have a partnership. You helped me in such a big way—I can't just act like nothing happened."
"I thought maybe you'd think it over a bit more," Hikaru replied, slightly surprised.
"No, I've already reflected on it. My family has been running around on my behalf this whole time, and this time I even dragged in two Maous and the Enforcer-sama. I don't want to keep disappointing them," Rias said, shaking her head.
"Hikaru, thank you so much for tonight."
Hearing that, Hikaru just shook his head slightly. Then, under everyone's gaze, he drove away.
Rias only came back to her senses after watching his car disappear around the corner.
"Well then, President, everyone, I should be on my way too," said Kiba Yuuto.
After the only male servant on site left, Akeno Himejima spoke up with a slight exasperation:
"Rias, let me just say it: your response earlier was really lacking in emotional intelligence—talking about being willful, talking about your family…"
"What do you mean? Did I say something wrong?" Rias asked in confusion.
She had accepted the relationship, and was even planning to give Hikaru extra compensation. She thought she was covering all the bases.
But it wasn't just Akeno who disagreed. Even Koneko shook her head repeatedly.
"To Hikaru, it probably sounded like you're only accepting yourself as his fiancée because of your family, and not because you like him."
"Uh… that might be how it came across, huh?" Rias replied, dazed. She was clueless about romance, but now that Akeno had pointed it out, she realized she might have messed up.
"Is there any way to fix this?" she asked.
She didn't dislike Hikaru. She was okay with forming a new engagement with him. Arranged marriages in the Underworld weren't that uncommon. Rias herself didn't find them problematic; the only reason she had refused last time was because she simply couldn't stand Raiser.
"There is, but you'd have to pay a bit of a price, like… your first night, for instance," Akeno said, squinting mischievously.
"That direct?! But… isn't that a bit too much of a leap? And I'm not ready for that," Rias said. Despite devils typically being more forthright with their affections, that was still a big challenge for her.
"It's fine if you're not ready. As long as he's a normal guy, he'll go for it. If not, I can fill in on your behalf; I wouldn't mind compensating Hikaru myself," Akeno teased.
"No way! Don't push it, Akeno. I'm the one who's his fiancée, so leave it to me," Rias said, taking a deep breath. "I'll find a time to ask him out."
"Alright, go for it, then. I'll be heading home, too," Akeno sighed gently, surprised at Rias's resolve—but she was confident she'd still have a chance someday.
Meanwhile, Hikaru had returned home.
Asia and Est had both dozed off, though it looked like they'd stayed up waiting for him. He carried them to his room before sitting down to think about everything that had happened tonight.
His goal of annulling Rias's engagement had been accomplished, and he'd also obtained Rias as his new fiancée. Moreover, through this battle, he'd noticed several things he needed to tweak about his Balance Breaker, and he'd made sure all those "big shots" in the Underworld—like the Maou, Grayfia, the Gremory, and Phoenix families—were now fully aware of him.
That was good for his future plans.
He'd also gained something else: the interdimensional gate's energy level had increased from twenty percent to fifty percent. It appeared that defeating stronger foes granted much more energy.
Recalling the Campione world's rogue gods, Campiones, and all those other major powers, Hikaru felt he had even more reason to hurry up and complete his Tyrant Dragon Mode.
~~~
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