After breakfast, Lavinia asked Rod whether they would be going out for training again today.
"No need. You should rest for the next few days. Besides, I'm already close to reaching the threshold of Balance Breaker."
Rod felt that he still had enough time to awaken the Balance Breaker of Incinerate Anthem before the upcoming Three Factions conference.
As he approached this important transformation of his Sacred Gear, he found himself growing a little nervous.
Although he had followed Lavinia's advice earlier and avoided interfering too much with the natural progression of his Sacred Gear's evolution, now that he was standing right before the final step, it was hard not to feel tense.
Especially after seeing Vali's Balance Breaker form last night.
Rod had been itching ever since.
Whether it was powerful or not could be discussed later, but looking cool was something that lasted a lifetime.
At that thought, Rod wondered whether he should watch a couple more episodes of Kamen Rider to strengthen his resolve.
"Oh? Rod, you're already sensing the power of Balance Breaker?"
Lavinia looked extremely surprised.
As a Sacred Gear user herself, she understood just how difficult it was to awaken Balance Breaker through one's own efforts.
It had taken her nearly ten years to achieve it.
But how long had it been since Rod obtained his Sacred Gear?
His growth rate was terrifying.
Of course, Lavinia wasn't afraid of Rod's power. As his friend, she was naturally happy to see him grow stronger.
But the speed at which Rod was improving wasn't just rapid growth, it was something that genuinely shocked her.
For ordinary people, strength came through gradual accumulation over time.
Even geniuses, like Akeno Himejima and Koneko after accepting their bloodline power, had experienced dramatic improvements after less than a week of training.
But Rod's case was something else entirely.
At least, Lavinia had never seen anything like it before.
"Rod, becoming stronger is certainly a good thing, but no matter what happens, you must always stay true to yourself and never stray down the wrong path. If you ever have questions while developing your Sacred Gear's power, come to me immediately. You can talk to me about anything else as well. Don't try to shoulder everything alone!"
Lavinia spoke with complete seriousness.
At only twenty-something years old, she had already witnessed too many people fall into madness while pursuing power.
In the magical nation where she grew up, countless witches had risked everything to learn forbidden magic in their pursuit of strength, only to meet tragic ends.
Rod was the person she cared about the most.
When she had been at her most helpless, he was the one who took her in.
That was why the last thing Lavinia wanted was for anything bad to happen to him.
She had heard… that in certain manga, if a girl did that kind of thing, it could make boys feel happier, relieve stress, and help them relax.
"If Rod… needs me…"
"You don't need to worry about my physical condition. You can just do those things to me as much as you want."
At first Rod didn't quite understand what Lavinia meant by those things.
But the moment he heard her add, "I'm not afraid of bleeding," his expression immediately became strange.
She might not be afraid, but he was.
Fighting a battle soaked in blood, especially menstrual blood, was something he found… a little difficult to accept as a man with perfectly normal preferences.
Still, Rod understood that this was Lavinia's sincere concern.
After meeting so many people since coming to this world, this was the first time he had encountered a woman who cared about him this much.
Looking at Lavinia, Rod suddenly felt his heart beating faster.
"Huh?"
Asia noticed the somewhat intimate atmosphere between the two of them, but she had no idea what was happening.
Meanwhile, Kuroka felt her body reacting strangely under the influence of the thick tension between the man and woman.
She immediately transformed back into her human form.
Placing one hand on her hip while the other rested against the exposed curve of one "Mt. Fuji" beneath her kimono, she said:
"If Lavinia isn't available, this cat can help instead, nya~~~"
"And you should hold me with the determination to get me pregnant, nya~~~"
"Eh, eh?!"
Asia stared at Kuroka in shock.
At the same time, the three Fallen Angels seemed to sense an opportunity.
Since they had already decided to firmly cling to Rod as their powerful supporter, using their bodies to climb the ladder didn't seem shameful at all.
"Eh, eh, eh?!"
Seeing the Fallen Angel trio's intense gazes, Asia became even more flustered.
Why did it suddenly feel like everyone had excluded her from the conversation?
"Don't worry. Being corrupted by a Sacred Gear is impossible for me."
After all, most of Rod's power came from completing system missions.
Moreover, after he obtained his Sacred Gear, the system had conveniently neutralized the dangerous "Saint's Will" that might have interfered with him.
Even Balance Breaker, which usually required an intense desire or emotion strong enough to overturn the world's flow, was being unlocked through a harmless progress-bar system.
And even if none of that existed, Rod wasn't the kind of person who would abandon everything in pursuit of power.
After all, if gaining strength meant losing everything important along the way, then that power would be meaningless.
Still, he felt genuinely touched.
After all, how many girls would care about him so wholeheartedly even during their period?
At least, Rod had met one.
Of course, that didn't conflict with his firm ambition of building a harem.
"Since we're not training today, let's go out and have some fun."
After everything that happened yesterday, the next few days would likely be peaceful.
And since he didn't have any new missions at the moment, taking a few days to relax wouldn't hurt.
So for the rest of the day, Rod took everyone around Kuoh Town.
Ordinarily, Rod wasn't particularly interested in shopping.
But spending time with beautiful girls certainly made the time pass more pleasantly.
One thing that disappointed him slightly, however, was that despite walking around with so many beauties, they didn't encounter the classic scenario of delinquent guys trying to flirt with them.
Then again, thinking about it carefully,
Even in the original story, nothing like that ever happened when Rias and the others went shopping.
Flirting, which was quite common in Japan, never seemed to happen in Kuoh Town.
Yet supernatural forces could infiltrate the area with ease.
Rod could only conclude that Rias's efforts might have been focused in the wrong direction.
After all, what was the point of maintaining perfect public safety in human society?
After wandering around for a while, they didn't actually buy much.
By noon, the group arrived at a park.
Rod pulled out kitchen equipment from his storage space and told the Fallen Angel trio to start cooking.
Raynare and the others were speechless.
Wasn't this supposed to be a full day of going out and having fun?
Yet when lunchtime arrived, he casually pulled out an entire cooking setup.
Did this guy have Doraemon's four-dimensional pocket or something?
Maybe they should start calling him Rod-Doraemon instead.
Of course, Raynare only dared to complain in her mind.
Her hands, however, moved quickly as she chopped the meat.
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