A few days after Nikolai's departure, Rowan resumed his normal schedule. He was currently on his way back to school, yawning away the last vestiges of sleep as he approached the school gate. He was greeted by Sona, who pushed her glasses into position on her face and said, "Well, well, I didn't think I'd be seeing you again after our last conversation."
Rowan huffed and said, "Yeah, well, I don't think I'll apologize for what I said, but I will apologize for how I said it. I'm sure the two of you did notice what was going on in this town, but you have your own problems to deal with. It wasn't fair for me to take out my anger on you."
Sona looked shocked and said, "Well, that's surprisingly mature of you."
Rowan looked at her and, with a smirk, said, "Yeah, well, don't get used to it."
Sona rolled her eyes and said, "Of course not. Hurry up and get to class, or you'll be late."
"Yeah, yeah," Rowan said with a wave as he made his way to his classroom. He took his seat. The first thing he did was take a subtle glance at Issei. Then he thought to himself, Good. He's still not a devil. Means canon hasn't started yet. I'd wager I have at least a couple of months. I need to kick it into high gear and start assembling my peerage.
Rowan zoned out through the rest of the class, thinking about his future plans. After class was over, he went straight to the Occult Research Club, entering the large Gothic room. He spotted Rias, Koneko, and Akeno sitting on the couches. When Rias saw him, she turned away with an angry pout. Rowan thought to himself, Was that supposed to be intimidating? She looks like a puppy trying to express irritation to a wolf right now.
Rowan walked over to the couches and sat down next to Koneko. Before the girl could ask, Rowan immediately tossed a bag of cookies to her. Her eyes immediately lit up, and she began devouring them. He got a system message saying:
Koneko Affection: +5
Current Affection: 11
Current Relationship: The Snack Bringer
Rowan just sighed to himself and thought, What the hell does that even mean? But hey, it changed. I guess that means the relationship will change after every 10 points. Oh well, one thing at a time.
He then spoke to Rias and said, "Look, I apologize for how I approached our previous conversation. But i stand by what I said. I just should have gone about it a different way. I'm sure if you could divert the extra time and resources to helping the people of this town, you would. I shouldn't have ignored your own circumstances, but please understand that I won't be letting stuff like that continue as long as I'm here."
Rias just sighed with a pout. Rowan thought, Again? Looks like she's trying too hard.
He said, "That's the best I'm going to get, isn't it?"
"Pretty much," he replied.
"Okay. Apology accepted," Akeno added, to which Rias glared at her, and Akeno giggled harder. Then she looked at Rowan and, with a smile on her face, said, "I wouldn't mind if you scolded me like you did Rias sometime, you know."
Rias said, "No, bad Akeno! No flirting with my cousin."
Akeno laughed and said, "Oh please, Rias, there's no harm in a bit of flirting." But before she could continue, she felt a sudden chill down her spine and sensed a hidden threat that she could not find.
At that, Rowan smiled and chuckled to himself because only he could see Bancho towering behind Akeno, glaring daggers at her. Then he thought to himself, I guess Bancho doesn't discriminate.
Rias and Koneko became puzzled by Akeno suddenly going quiet, but Rowan chose to move the conversation along. He said, "Anyway, moving forward, if you catch a whiff of anything happening, go ahead and tell me. I'll handle it."
Rias gave a gentle smile and said, "Okay. I'll keep that in mind. Now, other than all of that, is there anything else you'd like to talk about?"
Rowan said, "Well, I recently started training with Sairaorg."
At that, Rias looked at him in shock and said, "Really?"
Rowan said, "Yeah. I'm not strong enough to beat him yet, but I'm getting there."
Rias just gave a light chuckle and said, "Yeah, okay."
Rowan said, "Okay, sure, don't believe me. You'll find out eventually. Because discarded noble I may be, I'll still be part of the youth gathering. We'll fight then," he said with a smile.
Rias frowned and said, "But Rowan, do you even have a peerage yet?"
Rowan responded, "Yeah, I'm working on that. I'll be getting started soon. Just gotta look around for some promising candidates."
At that, Rias got a bit of a worried look on her face. Immediately guessing her thoughts, Rowan said, "Don't worry. I doubt you and I have the same people in mind, and I'm definitely not interested in your pervert."
At that, Rias let out a sigh of relief.
"Well, I'll catch you later," Rowan said as he stood up to leave.
"All right, Rowan. Have a good day. I'll see you tomorrow," Rias said.
Rowan smiled and said, "See you tomorrow." Then he looked at Akeno and said, "Bye, Akeno."
She smiled back nervously, still looking for the source of that ominous feeling from earlier. Then he looked at Koneko and said, "Later, Koneko."
She looked up at him and said, "Bring more snacks."
At that, everyone else rolled their eyes fondly, and Rowan just let out a light chuckle and said, "Sure. No problem," as he walked out the door.
As he left school grounds, Sora appeared next to him and said, "So, I noticed the only one that's in the affection list out of those three is Koneko. Why is that?" She said with a teasing smirk on her face.
Rowan said, "Not for the reasons you're thinking."
Then he said, "I'm not interested in Akeno, nor am I interested in Rias. One of them's my blood-related cousin, and yes, that shouldn't matter to a devil. But keep in mind, I'm a former human from the United States. I'm not into that. As for Akeno, well, she is attractive, but I'm a bit put off by the fact that her biggest kink is stealing another person's lover."
Sora said, "Fair enough, I guess," with a shrug of her shoulders. "But that begs the question. Why Koneko?"
Rowan responded, "I don't fully hate Issei, but I don't like the idea of a girl that young and that vulnerable ending up in the hands of a massive pervert like that. Good-natured he may be, but I'd rather the girl have options. Not saying me in particular, just did she ever really have a chance falling for someone else when she was constantly surrounded by horny women who for some reason wanted to jump his bones constantly? Not to mention, her instincts as a yokai made her more sensitive to the pheromones people put off when they're horny, which would explain why she constantly got annoyed by his perverted antics. She can literally smell that shit."
Sora said, "Huh. I never thought of it like that."
Then Rowan said, "Well, at the end of the day, whatever happens, happens. Let's go home. I need to plan my next move."
Sora gave him a mock salute and said, "Roger, sir."
Then they returned to the mansion, and Rowan flipped on the TV to clear his head while he was thinking about his next move. Suddenly, he got a system notification:
New Quest issued: Mass Hiring
Quest description: Gather three peerage members before the start of Canon.
Reward: World travel unlocked.
Penalty for Failure: Fight Batman on his own turf… and he has prep time.
At the sight of the penalty, Rowan said, "Yeah, fuck that. I don't care how strong I get, I am not fucking with The Batman. Better get to looking for those peerage members fast."
Then, as he was flipping through the TV channels, he saw a news report for the annual anniversary of the destruction of the old radio tower in Tokyo. Rowan smiled to himself and said, "Oh, so that series is part of this world. Excellent. Got two candidates already. Now I just need to figure out how to recruit them."