Kuoh was especially lively these past few days.
After Sirzechs came to inform Rias, Rod noticed that the number of angels, fallen angels, and humans disguised as ordinary people within Kuoh had increased quite a bit.
These were all specialists sent in advance by the three major factions to eliminate anything that might interfere with the upcoming conference.
Although Rias had complained that it would affect her normal work as the local lord, in reality, ever since this group moved into Kuoh, stray devils, stray exorcists, and the like who had been hiding out were all cleaned up completely. Kuoh had entered an unprecedented period of peace.
As for Rias and the others, they only needed to focus on maintaining the venue, so their workload was actually quite light.
But aside from Rod, everyone else was nervous about the coming three-way conference.
Whether things would continue in a cold war, or move toward peace, depended on the result of this meeting.
After all, no matter what the outcome was, it would have a far-reaching impact on the future of the three major factions.
"When the time comes, don't mess it up. Success or failure will be decided in one stroke."
Rod stroked his chin and said this to Katerea beside him.
"Of course I know that. I haven't even told my subordinates the full plan. I'll only announce it after we've teleported to the human world. As for the rest, that's no longer something I can decide."
Katerea's lazy voice drifted over from beside him.
After hearing Rod's words, she sat up from the bed, still wearing the King's New Clothes, with the peaks of Mount Fuji fully on display.
Since she had suffered several crushing defeats at Rod's hands before, Katerea's pride and competitive spirit had been completely stirred up.
The closer the date of the plan drew, the more often she called Rod over, and she kept launching sneak attacks on him in all sorts of ways, then using the bearing of a future queen to "punish" him harshly.
Rod could only grit his teeth and endure the pleas- err.. humiliation brought upon him by Katerea.
Katerea, meanwhile, only grew bolder the more they clashed. In order to defeat Rod completely, she had even secretly picked up a few tricks from certain drama films made in Japan, such as wearing dark-attribute leg equipment, light-attribute leg equipment, and the like.
Unfortunately, Katerea had only learned the theory. She had the form, but not the soul. So even after learning a few new tricks, she still failed to grind Rod's HP below the execution threshold before she herself was defeated.
"No, of course you can decide it. Without exception, the leaders of the three major factions all want peace talks. If you also present yourself as holding that same position, then no matter who it is, they'll welcome you. But there's one thing you may need to adjust a little."
"What?"
Katerea froze for a moment, then listened seriously.
"You're supposed to appear before Creuserey. So when you first transfer in front of them, you can start by making it clear that you didn't come to start a war. After that, you say that if they want you to stand on their side, then you want to return to Lilith and become the Leviathan Maou of the Underworld."
"Huh? There's no way they'd agree to that, is there?"
"Of course not."
"But Sirzechs and Serafall have always liked compromise. If you say you want to become the Leviathan Maou of the Underworld, then naturally they won't agree. But if you then say you want to found your own nation, and give your subordinates and your ancestors an explanation, then they'll agree."
Katerea had never heard Rod put it this way before, so she was doubtful that this approach would really work.
"What if they refuse?"
"There's no reason for them to refuse. After all, your Old Maou faction is already in a state of exile. Going by the current government's stance, as long as you don't shake their rule and don't start a war, then beyond that, they'll let you do whatever you want."
"I understand. When the time comes, I'll adapt to the situation."
Katerea nodded.
"Oh, right. I'll be attending that conference too, as the one who killed Kokabiel. When the time comes, you have to pretend you don't know me."
Rod said this flatly.
"Oh?"
Katerea raised a brow.
"That's not really something I can control. After all, my acting isn't that good."
Hearing the threat in Katerea's tone, Rod was not surprised.
After so many days of thorough understanding, he knew perfectly well that Katerea was not someone who could be easily won over in bed.
If he had not first moved her with force and then reasoned with her, there was no way Katerea would have agreed to this proposal.
And besides, his current relationship with Katerea was purely that of clean business partners. Even after so many days, he had not seen her affection rise at all.
Sure enough, the whole idea of love growing over time was a lie.
"Heh, do whatever you want. But if something goes missing from your treasury later, don't come looking for me."
"..."
"I'm leaving."
Katerea's face darkened. Before she could say anything else, Rod had already pulled up his pants, put on his clothes, and disappeared from her sight with absolute confidence.
....
There were still two days left before the three-way conference.
Although the atmosphere felt as though a storm were about to arrive, things at Rod's house remained the same as always.
Or rather... not quite the same.
The notice of Kuroka's pardon was quickly delivered personally by Rias, and Asia's school enrollment had also already been arranged.
Of course, in order to avoid extra trouble, the day Asia would start attending school was set for the Monday after the conference ended.
At the same time, under Kuroka's strong urging, and also to make things easier for Asia once school began, Koneko moved out of her apartment and into Rod's house.
That left Kuroka overjoyed. Even though her younger sister had not fully settled in yet, she was already so excited that she shouted and squealed all day long, including at night, seriously affecting everyone's sleep quality. Only after Rod grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and pinned her down did she finally quiet down.
At the same time, Griselda also called and said that tomorrow, the day before the conference, an important figure from Heaven wanted to meet him.
The location was set at the abandoned church in Kuoh.
Rod could guess with his toes that this so-called important figure was either Gabriel or Michael.
And Rod was not surprised.
After all, he had already cooperated with the Church for many years, and on top of that he had directly facilitated this conference. It was perfectly normal for Michael or Gabriel to want to meet him and build a closer relationship.
It could only be said that the identity of belonging to no faction was really useful. As long as the other side recognized your value, no matter who they were, they would want to pull you closer to their organization, or at the very least build a good relationship.
That was also the main reason Rod had never chosen to attach himself to any one faction, and instead remained active as a free mercenary.
Although he had previously joined the Hero Faction, that force was so poor and so empty-handed that joining it was basically the same as not joining it at all.
Of course, there was one faction that was rather exceptional.
Just as Rod was sitting at home watching tokusatsu to deepen his subconscious impressions, an uninvited guest appeared from afar and stopped in front of the mansion.
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