True Magician

Chapter 67

Underworld.

- "What the hell are you doing here?!"

Rias's shrill and indignant scream echoed throughout the bathing hall of the Gremory Mansion. At this, I slowly opened my eyes and pointed towards the entrance, where I saw Rias herself and her entourage.

What was I doing here?

As Azazel had explained to me, they were taking a little rest after their training and headed here to recover and fully relax. Without much thought, I decided to meet them here, taking over the main pool.

There were still some minor bruises and cuts on their skin, but otherwise they were fine. Kiba and Xenovia were limping a bit, Koneko was moving very slowly and lethargically, Akeno and Rias were thinking about something, judging by their faces, and Issei was carrying Gasper on his back while Asia walked beside him with her head down.

All in all, that's the state of mind one should be in after hard training. And I seem to be fine with it, but the question of why the change is so drastic still haunts me.

When they saw my figure calmly resting there, the reaction was painfully obvious: frozen bodies and dumbfounded faces. And disbelief and shock were physically felt in the air.

I grinned.

They were definitely happy to see me. Truthfully, I felt almost no hostility. Practically...

- "Are you listening to me?!" I was jerked out of my thoughts by another shout from a certain tomato. I chose to piss Rias off even more by ignoring her completely.

- "Why are you here, Sensei?" Akeno asked more calmly, deciding to be the voice of reason.

- "Oya? Can't I check on my students? You make it sound like I want to kill you," I said with my hand on my chest and a hurt face, and Rias' eyebrow twitched at me, "It breaks my heart, my dear students."

- "You don't have one!" Rias objected vehemently, then took a deep breath and closed her eyes, "Let's go. We need to get some rest."

Then she simply stepped into the water, to which she received surprised looks from the others.

- "What?" she asked them after noticing this, "We know very well what Sensei is like. He won't do anything, but rather just wants to talk."

At her words, her entourage thought for a second, and then quietly followed her. Even Issei, who was supposed to be tearing up and throwing up over the fact that they were wearing swimsuits. Apparently, he was too exhausted to act normally for himself.

My reaction to this, on the other hand, was...stunned. Only to me, of course. I froze and watched their calm actions in amazement, as I definitely wasn't expecting something like this after my trick.

- "Wow. Just wow. And you don't care about an evil and insane bastard like me being in the same room with you? Should I be concerned about your sanity? My medical practice is not about psychology, you know." Tilting my head to the side, I said.

Rias leaned calmly on the edge of the pool and began to dab her shoulders with her hand in a measured motion. Then she looked at me with her blue-green eyes, in which I could not see a drop of concern or hostility. Akeno settled down beside her and closed her eyes, just enjoying the hot water. The rest of us, however, chose to gather a little away from us all and do the same as Rias' Queen.

- "You are indeed as you have described yourself, Sensei," Rias began, "But I assure you, there is nothing wrong with our sanity. And there is something I would like to do first."

- "What's that?" I raised an eyebrow.

She straightened up and, without thinking, bowed to me. Her body formed a perfect right angle at the waist, and her red hair hung down over the water, forming a waterfall.