Chapter 255: Issue Resolved and a Piece of Gossip
"Of course, there's also some biotechnology and magic studies..."
The silver broom-haired demon paused before adding, "But alchemy is the most crucial part."
Haruto watched with interest—it seemed this was a demon obsessed with alchemy.
After wandering around the underground lab without finding anything particularly noteworthy, he turned his attention back to the broom-haired demon.
"Hey, that milk-sucking... synthetic monster, what's the deal with the dream you mentioned earlier?"
Haruto couldn't quite connect the dots between a monster specialized in sucking milk and having a dream. Besides, the victims weren't seriously harmed, so it didn't seem like some utterly evil scheme.
The broom-haired demon halted its tinkering with the instruments and said slowly, "You wouldn't understand even if I told you. This was an invention meant to benefit the world, and you destroyed it."
"How would you know I don't understand if you don't tell me?"
Haruto thought it over carefully but had no recollection of the broom-haired demon at all—likely just a minor character.
The more he thought about it, the more curious he became.
Under Haruto's persistent questioning, the broom-haired demon finally revealed the reason.
He was a stray devil who had betrayed his master solely to research that previous chimera.
The chimera combined dragon and plant characteristics, capable of absorbing essence from buxom women's bodies. Once it reached a certain level, it could bear a type of fruit.
After consuming this fruit, even the most flat-chested woman could become large-breasted.
The spiky-haired devil's dream was to transform all women in the world into big-breasted beauties. Even if he could only admire them through their clothes, he would be satisfied.
Haruto developed a few cold sweat drops on his forehead. This obsessive fixation on large breasts felt strangely familiar.
He truly couldn't understand the spiky-haired devil's mentality because, in terms of preferences, he belonged to the leg and foot appreciation camp.
However, a certain someone would definitely resonate with the spiky-haired devil. Thinking of that passionate breast-obsessed pervert, Haruto no longer found the spiky-haired devil particularly strange.
"I see."
Haruto nodded, restraining the spiky-haired devil. "Stray devil-san, in the name of the Gremory ducal family, you're under arrest."
He had originally thought this was a mad scientist, but it turned out to just be a pervert whose brain was filled with breasts, and a stray devil at that. Now he could only fulfill his duty as a member of the Gremory household.
"..."
The spiky-haired devil was stunned. They had been having such a pleasant conversation, so why this sudden betrayal?
Being captured was within his expectations. His hard-created dream had been destroyed right after starting, leaving him utterly disheartened.
He had appeared before Haruto without any intention of escaping. If even his powerful chimera could be easily dealt with, there was no hope for himself.
The spiky-haired devil had expected to be eliminated or captured, but this absurdly powerful young devil hadn't made a move.
Just as he had reignited his hope, regained his spirit, and collected the remnants to start over...
He had answered every question faithfully, only to have this happen after all information was obtained...
He might not be a good devil, but this guy was definitely a bastard devil!
...
...
Haruto handed over the spiky-haired devil to Rias while explaining the full context of the vampire incident.
"To think there was a stray devil hiding near the academy. You've done well again, Haruto."
Rias smiled faintly as she instructed Akeno to transport the bound spiky-haired devil to the Underworld prison via magic circle, not particularly concerned about the matter.
Haruto asked somewhat puzzled, "President, if even someone like this could create such monsters, is this technology very common?"
"Not exactly common, but nothing worth particular concern either."
Rias suddenly remembered that Haruto hadn't been in the supernatural world for long, often forgetting this due to his formidable power.
"Creating lifeforms through alchemy combined with magic and other technologies has existed for a long time. These created creatures may seem powerful but actually have significant flaws."
"First, such creatures lack growth potential and reproductive capability. Second, they have very low intelligence. Breaking these two limitations requires enormous costs, making mass production impossible."
Haruto nodded. So that's how it was. No wonder it wasn't worth much attention.
"To use chimeras for breast enhancement, even betraying one's master for it..."
Rias looked at the broom-haired demon kneeling in the magic circle, whose eyes were fixated on her and Akeno's chests, and said with disgust, "This guy is truly the first of his kind."
"Ahem... Thank you for the compliment, Princess of the Gremory family."
The broom-haired demon chuckled darkly, "You really have a fine pair of breasts."
Though Haruto knew the demon was only commenting on their chests and not his women, he still felt irritated.
He glared at the broom-haired demon with a hostile expression and asked, "President, can I just kill him?"
Seeing her jealous young man, Rias' lips curled slightly, a delicate and alluring smile appearing on her beautiful face.
"Haruto, sending him to prison would be more torturous than killing him outright."
"Then let me teach him a lesson."
Haruto conjured a spear of light and directly blinded both of the broom-haired demon's eyes.
Stimulated by the light attribute power, the pain of blindness intensified severalfold, like the sensation of ten thousand insects gnawing constantly transmitting through the optic nerves straight to his brain.
The broom-haired demon completely lost his previous composure, rolling wildly on the ground and howling in agony. But by then, it was too late to regret his wandering eyes and loose tongue.
After transporting the broom-haired demon to the Underworld, Haruto made another trip to the student council to brief Sona about the vampire incident.
Having finally appeased the student council president's resentment, he naturally had to work hard to maintain balance between both sides.
The next day, while chatting with Toujou Basara, Haruto heard that two more female students had taken sick leave due to anemia - likely the girls whose blood... vitality he had seen being drained the previous night.
"Don't worry, there won't be any more victims after this," Haruto told the concerned-looking Basara.
Naturally, Basara was aware of matters related to Kuoh Academy and the Gremory family.
Seeing Haruto's confident expression, he quickly understood what had happened.
"By the way, Haruto, there's a really cute blonde girl in the first year today. I heard she's been recuperating at home until now."
A cute blonde girl... who had been staying at home until now...
Haruto's lips twitched, hoping it wasn't what he thought.
Without anyone forcing him, Gasper that shut-in probably wouldn't leave the house, let alone voluntarily come to school.
Well, probably not...
"Basara, where do you keep hearing all this news from?"
Haruto looked curiously at Basara. He had only transferred here a few days ago, yet he seemed better informed than Haruto himself.
"Ah... I've made a few friends these past few days. They're the ones who told me."
Basara scratched his cheek somewhat awkwardly, looking guilty.
Seeing this, Haruto found it even stranger.
"Mind telling me your friends' names?"
"Um..." Basara hesitated before stammering, "It's Class E's Hyoudou, Matsuda, and Motohama."
Haruto: "..."
The pervert trio. That explained everything.
When it came to news about female students, especially cute ones, no one was better informed than them.
"How did you meet them?"
"They approached me first..."
Male students were still in the minority at Kuoh Academy. Not long after Basara transferred, the pervert trio had started getting close under the pretext of "all guys sticking together."
Actually, they wanted to expand their network in Class 2-A.
Throughout the entire second year, nearly all the high-quality beauties were concentrated in Class A, where the only two boys were Haruto and Yuuto Kiba—the kind of people who absolutely couldn't get along with the likes of the "Pervert Trio."
Especially Haruto. Rumors claimed that every girl in Class A had some kind of relationship with him. No matter how much the Pervert Trio lusted after them, they could only gaze longingly from afar.
Issei Hyoudou, however, thought Haruto was a good guy. He had even taught him how to pick up girls before. If it weren't for his two troublemaking friends sabotaging his efforts, he might have been in a relationship by now.
But after that incident, the two hardly spoke again. Combined with all the scandalous rumors, Issei felt too embarrassed to ask Haruto to introduce him to any of the girls in Class A.
Toujou Basara was also quite handsome, but compared to Haruto and Yuuto Kiba, he was much more down-to-earth. Plus, he had two beautiful cousins.
So, they were determined to befriend Toujou Basara!!!
Although the Pervert Trio was a bit lecherous, they were genuinely good people at heart.
Moreover, Toujou Basara knew that those scandalous rumors were actually true. Aside from a few exceptions, almost every girl in the class had some kind of involvement with Haruto.
Every day at school, watching the interactions between those girls and Haruto made his face burn with embarrassment.
Several times, he had even seen Haruto leave with a few girls during lunch break, only to return with an unmistakable scent clinging to him.