Chapter 385: To live without a regret

Rias knew that Riser was thinking something bad, but it didn't matter as she wished to help him, so even if it was a little strange if he wished to, she might even try to change the color of her crimson hair for him.

"So, what do you mean by those words?"

Nevertheless, Rias wanted to know why this guy said it was something bad for Ingvild to join her peerage.

"I am not saying anything bad, but it's just been a week since she woke up, and you suddenly made her into her peerage member."

"Early bird gets the worm."

Rias sat on his lap intimately and said, "Have you heard those words, Dear?"

"..."

Riser couldn't argue since he was sure that with Ingvild's identity, there would be many who wished to make her part of peerage members. She might be a descendant of the original Leviathan, but there was no rule that she couldn't be turned into a peerage member, right? Moreover, among all the people who could make her into a peerage member, Rias wasn't the only one, as there were others too, such as Ravel, Iryuka, and Latia, who could do the same.

So, Riser didn't blame Rias that much, but this girl moved really fast, which made him speechless.

"By the way, what piece did you use to make her into part of your peerage?"

"Pawn."

"Eight of them?"

"Eight of them."

Rias was decisive, and once she decided on something, she would do it. Moreover, instead of a group of small fries winning by using the numbers, she liked to have a group of elite.

"What pieces are left on your Evil Pieces, then?"

Nevertheless, with this, there was no chance for Issei to return to Rias' peerage anymore, especially when all the eight pieces of pawns used by Rias were used for Ingvild.

"Hmm... one knight and one rook. That's all."

"Have you found them?"

"Not yet, but it's okay. I am not in a hurry."

Rias didn't have much interest in the "Rating Game" anymore, as she thought that it wasn't as interesting as she thought, and so what if she became a "Champion"?

In the eyes of others, the "Champion" was a worthless position.

However, a peerage member was someone that she could trust, especially to handle family matters.

Even if Rias had become Riser's woman, she knew that she still needed to handle the matter of the Gremory House, and those peerage members were someone that she could trust to handle those problems.

As for Grayfia?

Rias knew that Grayfia was more than willing to go to Riser's place instead of staying in the Gremory House, which made her helpless.

"By the way, what about Gasper and Kiba?"

While Riser didn't care much about Gasper and Kiba, unlike Rias' other peerage members, those two guys had a chance to betray Rias due to their deep connection with Issei.

"Right now, they are working hard to become stronger for our next war," Rias said with a serious expression.

"They are too serious."

"You are the one who is too lax, Riser-sama."

"Ouch, that hurts, Grayfia." Riser looked at Grayfia, who casually jabbed him, which made him hold her hand and pull her into his embrace, too.

On these arms were Rias and Grayfia, and this was definitely amazing as one would definitely imagine that something like this could happen.

Still, Rias and Grayfia didn't really mind as they came up with a purpose to make him happy and ease the pressure. They knew that he might like to erase or escape when there weren't any important jobs, but they knew that in the place they had never seen, he was working hard, hiding all of the pain in the place they didn't know.

Nevertheless, Riser took care of the matter with Gasper and Kiba well.

Whether it was Gasper or Kiba, even though their power was only so-so, there was no doubt that they were exceptional among the others. To tie them into his group and make sure that they wouldn't betray him, naturally, he had made a countermeasure.

In the case of Gasper, Riser reincarnated the owner of the Sephiroth Graal, Valerie Tepes, erased the memory of Valerie, and modified it so she would be in Riser's favor.

If this was before, it might have been hard for him to do so, but he held the Sephiroth Graal, which made him able to control the soul, and he also had "Crazy Diamond" and time manipulation ability he gained from devouring Gasper from the future, which made something that was impossible, possible to do now.

As for Kiba?

Riser had found Tosca, one of the survivors of the Church's Holy Sword Project. Unlike Kiba, who stayed alive due to his luck being found by Rias, Tosca was alive due to awakening the Sacred Gear.

Still, whether it was Gasper or Kiba, the two of them had something they had to protect, and more important than Issei. For Valerie and Tosca, they would do anything, even if they had to fight Issei. Moreover, due to his words, they thought that Issei was already controlled by creatures from another world and a parallel world. While they wanted to save Issei, they knew that with their powers, it would be impossible to defeat Issei, who had combined with beings from another world and a parallel world.

Even Riser might even lose against this Issei.

Moreover, even though there might be a chance Issei might not be controlled, the fact that Issei had become the enemy of the alliance and this world, as he had sided with the creatures from another world and the parallel world, didn't change.

So, to protect those they loved, they had to fight Issei.

It was also due to this that Riser wanted to see how Issei would react when his dearest friends would try to kill him.

Yet, at the same time, Riser could imagine how callous and cold Issei would become when the war started.

"By the way, is it alright for Sona to open the school?"

"While I know this is her dream, isn't it better to postpone this matter until everything is clear up?"

The war with the parallel world and another world was about to begin, but unexpectedly, Riser agreed for Sona to open the "Rating Game" school for the low-class devil and reincarnated devil, which she had dreamed of.

"It's okay. I think that she should do it now instead of later."

"Why?" 2x

Grayfia and Rias were confused.

"It's because we don't know what will happen in the future, so while we might have a chance to do it, let's do it so we won't have any regrets."

"..."

Those who heard his words all fell into silence.

In this war, no one could tell what would happen. Anything could happen. Even he, who was mighty and immortal, could even die.

Riser still recalled his memory of when he fought the Great Red before, and he didn't want to have any regrets, so he picked up Grayfia and Rias, ready to erase his regrets. While Rias and Grayfia were stunned, they didn't really mind, but then—

"Ingvild, do you want to join us?" Rias suddenly asked.

"Ah, um, okay..." Ingvild nodded as she lowered her head shyly.

"..." Riser.