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After the incident, both the Guild and Hestia Familia poured huge amounts of money into helping adventurers rebuild their Familias.
Of course, that was Anos's decision.
Without his approval, the Guild never could have produced that much money to support the others.
His reasoning was simple.
The economy needed to recover as quickly as possible, so he could start making money quickly again.
If you wanted to shear sheep, then of course you had to make sure they were fed and sheltered first.
In any case, it was only temporary aid. He was not foolish enough to support a bunch of people forever while they sat around eating, drinking, and living for free.
There was one more thing that came out of that disaster, something that broke the hearts of nearly every girl and goddess in Orario.
The Holy Child had apparently been caught in the blast of the One-Eyed Black Dragon's flames that day, and rumor had it that he would be bedridden for a very long time.
If Hestia Familia had not gained so much influence through its relief efforts and the earlier War Game, then the people trying to force their way in to visit him would probably have worn the front gates down to splinters.
The thought that they might not get to see the Holy Child again for a long time left countless girls feeling as though someone had snatched away the idol in their hearts.
And what made it worse was that, obviously, the girls in Hestia Familia would now get to be around him every day.
At least, that was what everyone thought.
In reality, that was not the case at all.
Anos had already left that world for the time being.
If he did not leave now, Ophis's strength would continue dropping until it hit rock bottom.
After arranging nearly everything that needed arranging, Anos returned once more to the world of High School DxD.
It was not that he was done with the Dungeon world forever. He still planned to keep making money there and trading it for useful and interesting things.
He just would not be staying there for long stretches anymore.
Back in the High School DxD world, Anos returned to the home he had not seen for quite some time.
"Judging by the timeline here, I must have been gone around twenty days."
Anos glanced at the calendar.
The time ratio between the two worlds was one to a hundred, but he had returned to the DxD world in between to prepare weapons and materials, so the total difference was not quite that simple.
Click!
He pushed open the door and saw the magic formations he had set up before leaving.
"Looking at them now, they feel a little crude."
At his current level, it was only natural that the formations he built in the past would look like that to him. Those arrays had been designed for the person he used to be. Now that both his strength and his nature had advanced so much, he naturally needed a whole new set.
Still.
Has someone been cleaning the place?
It looks almost exactly the same as before.
Anos noticed the subtle shifts in many of the objects around the room, but overall everything was spotless. Someone had definitely been coming here to clean.
Rustle.
The sound was extremely faint, but Anos heard it clearly.
"From my room?"
Click!
Since Anos had made no effort to hide the fact that he was back, the person inside had heard the front door open too.
A black-haired girl with a single ponytail, dressed in Kuoh Academy's uniform, stepped out and looked his way in mild curiosity.
"Oh my."
The moment she saw him, the corner of her lips curved upward.
Anos shrugged lightly.
He had not expected Himejima Akeno to be the one cleaning his house.
Then again, whether she had come on her own or at Rias's request was not something he particularly cared to investigate.
And he was certainly not going to waste a judgment on something that unromantic.
"Akeno, I'm back."
That was all he said, with a smile.
The people in the DxD world did not feel for him with the same intensity as Hestia did, but overall, their feelings for him were deeper than those of most people in the Dungeon world.
After all, he had lived in this world for a long time.
"You really did come back at just the right time, Anos."
Akeno replied with a smile, though there was a light in her eyes that was distinctly different from her usual one.
...
"So I came back at the right time? Something happened?"
Sipping the tea Akeno brewed for him, Anos asked the question.
Watching her move through his room so naturally and skillfully, he almost felt like he was the guest here and she was the actual owner.
"Yes, Something has happened."
Akeno began explaining everything that had been going on lately.
...
"I see... So Rias does not have enough pieces."
Just as Anos expected, Rias had ultimately decided to stand against that overgrown turkey after all.
But no matter what kind of strategy she used, and no matter how talented her peerage was, the one issue she could not escape was numbers.
In the original line of events, Rias at least had Issei, who could briefly function like a High-Class Devil, and Asia, an outrageously strong healer.
Now, she really only had the small handful she already started with.
She had even briefly considered lowering her standards and taking in some less impressive pieces just to have more people helping.
Of course, that idea had only lasted a moment before she rejected it.
"I understand, That really is troublesome. Still, you can tell Rias this. If she can get the broken engagement canceled on the condition that I defeat Riser Phenex, then I will absolutely help her."
Anos answered slightly differently from the one he might have given before.
To him now, Riser Phenex really was no more than a minor enemy he could casually clear away on the side.
If Rias could secure terms like that, then considering the solid bond between them, helping her out would be no trouble at all.
What Anos needed to think about now were things much farther down the road.
"Anos... what did you just say?"
Compared to Anos's calm, Akeno sounded openly shaken.
This was the problem that had been troubling both her and Rias all along.
After thinking it through, they had concluded that Anos was a wielder of an incredibly powerful Sacred Gear with strong holy attributes, someone capable of explosive battle power in short bursts.
Against ordinary enemies, that would be more than enough.
But against Riser Phenex.
To win, he would either need enough overwhelming force to completely erase Riser's body and mind in one blow, or enough sustained power to keep defeating him until even his regeneration failed.
Against a High-Class Devil like Riser, the first would require something on the level of a Satan.
The second would require at least peak High-Class Devil strength.
"If Rias agrees, then she can come to me, That is all."
Anos answered with a smile.
What was he supposed to say? That right now, if he simply slammed the Holy Cross into Riser's forehead, not only Riser but even the head of the entire Phenex house would be reduced to ash on the spot? The suppressive effect of pure holy power against devils was just that terrifying.
Of course, truly powerful devils also had ways to resist holy power.
The problem was that, in this world, there was no evil more powerful or more refined than the holy power Anos now wielded.
"You really are reliable, Anos."
Akeno smiled and refilled his teacup.
She could not shake the feeling that Anos had changed.
He looked exactly the same as before, and yet she could clearly feel the difference.
He had become more attractive, more compelling, the sort of person who made others want to draw closer and understand him more deeply.
"Reliable? Maybe."
Anos smiled faintly.
When there was no one else to rely on, becoming reliable was simply the only option.
He was not like Sona or Rias, who had been born with family prestige and Satan-class backing.
Yes, they were constrained by the fate of nobility, but those same constraints were the kind of thing most people would kill to have.
...
Under the evening sun, Akeno smiled as she said goodbye.
For some reason, the fact that she had been the first person to see him after he returned gave her a strangely thrilling feeling.
It was almost like sneaking around behind Rias's back.
No, not just Rias's.
More like sneaking around behind both Rias and Sona's backs at the same time.
"Well then, I suppose I should go make some preparations too."
Watching Akeno's departing figure, Anos turned his gaze toward the distance.
"Preparations for what?"
A soft voice suddenly came from behind him.
A black-haired little girl had somehow already appeared at his side, apparently watching him the whole time.
"Preparing to gather strength for the crisis that lies ahead."
Anos crouched down and gently stroked Ophis's head.
"A crisis... in the future?"
Ophis tilted her head.
What did that even mean?
The future held a crisis?
How did he know?
"Yes. And what if I told you it is a crisis where even you and Great Red would both die?"
Anos said it with a small smile and a shake of his head.
His thinking was simple.
When the sky fell, the tallest people were the ones expected to hold it up.
And now that he had become one of the tallest, he had to start preparing for what was coming.
He was thinking about the EXE world.
In the original events, the EXE world was extremely advanced, and its strongest beings possessed power far beyond Great Red's.
Even Great Red, in the end, fell in that future war against another world and had his head taken.
Compared to that, everything happening in the present almost felt trivial.
"So even Crimson... and me... together would not be enough?"
For the first time, Ophis sounded truly interested.
She never asked whether what Anos said was true.
Whether because of her trust in him or because of the sheer purity of her nature, she never once doubted the truth of his words.
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~Support with 200 PowerStones = 1 Bonus Chapter
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