Palmer_1998
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07 - My Great Bargain
🕑 Added 2025-08-24 15:45:16 +0000 UTC"W-What are you talking about?" Raynare asked, confused, as her vision began to blur. "Cough! Cough!"
This time, simply putting her hand over her mouth wasn't enough. Blood splattered on the floor and began to trickle down the corners of her mouth and nose.
"The smoke you breathed in contained concentrated doses of rat poison. I didn't even need much effort, just a pressure cooker and a syringe," I explained, watching her waste away with every word I said.
Raynare bent forward, barely able to stand. Given the way she was squeezing her eyes shut, I was sure she wasn't even listening to me anymore. Even from two meters away, I could hear her chest wheezing loudly. It didn't take long for her to fall forward with a thud, completely unconscious.
Cautiously, I approached with my guard up. However, she didn't attack or grab me as I had imagined in my worst predictions.
Then I used my foot to turn her face up and saw that blood was now streaming from her eyes as well.
"The doses I used were probably even stronger because she sucked it all in." I analyzed the situation and grabbed her hands to start dragging her into the middle of the woods.
The magical barrier she had erected was disappearing, and I needed to be cautious not only of civilians but also of the arrival of other Fallen Angels.
I dragged her until I could no longer see the water source and took a deep breath, exhausted.
["Now what, kid? What are you going to do with this woman?"] Ddraig asked.
I wiped the sweat from my forehead and looked at my left hand. "Didn't I explain the plan to you earlier? She's my bargaining chip."
["You're trying to read what the hell they want, kid. That almost never works."]
I couldn't explain to Ddraig exactly how I knew my plan would work, otherwise it would be too obvious that I knew more about devils and the supernatural world than I should. So I just ignored his comment and put my hand in my pants pocket, where I had kept that pamphlet since before I left home.
The pamphlet was crumpled and disheveled, almost in the shape of a ball of paper, but that didn't matter. As long as the magic circle was still intact, it would still work.
When I unfolded the pamphlet, I saw that magic circle with a disguised pentagon at its center and an unusual symbol in the middle—the symbol of the Gremory family.
Even if an ordinary person looked at it closely, they wouldn't think it was anything more than a common pamphlet from some fortune teller or, at worst, some bizarre new Taoist religion, but I knew it was my ticket to hell.
Carefully, I placed the pamphlet on the floor and then placed the palm of my left hand over it.
"Now just release a little mana..." I muttered and did so.
I had had time to learn several basic things from Ddraig, so transferring a little mana to the paper was as simple as it could have been.
The mana immediately caused the magic circle to glow bright red, illuminating my entire surroundings.
I took a few steps back when the crumpled paper began to burn and glow even more than I had anticipated, completely obscuring my vision with its crimson glow. I put one hand in front of my eyes to protect myself from the brightness and only lowered it when I felt the glow rapidly diminishing. It was then that I saw a beautiful girl standing where the flyer had been.
Her hair was long and red, with each strand flying separately as the inexplicable wind slowly subsided. Her eyes were blue like the clearest river, and the curves of her body were so beautiful that they would perfectly fit the definition of perfection in the imagination of men from any era or universe.
"Was it you who called me?" Rias Gremory asked in a serious tone, placing one hand on her waist.
Yes, I was a little dumbfounded and stunned by her beauty, because I hadn't yet had the opportunity to see her in person at the Kuoh Academy, but I quickly hid it.
"Yes, it was me. It's a great pleasure to finally meet you in person, Rias Gremory. Since you were the one who answered my call, that means you too. Am I right in assuming that?" I asked as I looked into her eyes.
Rias smiled slightly. "Leonard Tonello, transfer student four days ago and bearer of Boosted Gear, one of the Thirteen Longinus. I was wondering what the first thing you would do in this city would be, but I didn't imagine it would be to call me. What kind of pact are you looking for?"
"Pact?" I laughed and shook my head, waving it in front of my face. "No, I don't want to make a pact with you."
She widened her eyes. "No? But you called me..."
"Yes, but that was the fastest way for you to come to me. Actually, I only did it because I'm in a bit of a hurry." I said and pointed behind Rias.
Without turning around, she looked over her right shoulder and saw a black-haired girl leaning against a tree trunk. Rias was about to get angry, but her eyes couldn't miss the black wings the unconscious girl had. Immediately, Rias knew that she was a Fallen Angel.
"That's Raynare." I introduced her. "We had a little fight a few minutes ago, and luckily I managed to defeat her, for now. The poison I used to neutralize her won't last much longer in her body, and she should wake up soon."
"That's why you called me here."
"Yes... She wanted my Sacred Gear, and I had to deal with the situation alone. Before that, I thought about asking you and your club for help, but I didn't because I would have lost my bargaining power."
"Bargaining power? So, you want something in return for defeating her?" Rias looked at me out of the corner of her eyes.
I shook my head. "Actually, I want you to consider Raynare a gift to you and your clan. I know that this city is exclusive territory for demons, which is why you can distribute pamphlets here without fear of being found by exorcists. That also means that there shouldn't be any Fallen Angels around... And yes, I used the plural on purpose."
"You mean there are others besides her in the city." Rias quickly assumed and turned her body toward me with a suspicious look. "And you know where they are..."
"Yes, I do, and I can give you all the information. As long as you grant me a single wish." I raised a finger from my Boosted Gear.
Rias Gremory crossed her arms over her chest. "What is your wish?"
"I want to become a devil, I want my own piece, but I don't want to be a servant to you or your cousin, Sona Sitri. I want the King's piece."
