Half an hour later, Suzaku finished writing the letter and left in a hurry, citing family business. Rhode then left the tavern with the sleeping Lavinia and Asia.
Lavinia was out because she drank too much, while Asia had been curious about the taste and passed out after half a glass.
Although the tasks here were temporarily settled and it wasn't suitable for him to stay given the current situation of the Five Great Clans, he had two quests from Suzaku. The first was a long-term goal since she rejected his "assassination" proposal, and the second required him to go to Kuoh Town.
However, in their current state, they obviously couldn't leave today. After hailing a taxi to take the two sleeping girls back to the hotel, Rhode, with nothing better to do, began his life as an "Internet Addict Youth" using the room's computer.
A few hours later, satisfied with his gaming session, Rhode turned it off. Lavinia had already woken up. She rubbed her throbbing forehead and slowly sat up on the sofa.
"Ugh... it hurts!"
"That's a hangover for you. I was the same the first time I drank, but it gets better," Rhode's voice chimed in.
Before he transmigrated, he didn't touch alcohol. But after his first kill, he felt a bit "emo." He originally wanted to smoke, but he couldn't stand it, so he turned to alcohol to get through that unforgettable day. He had woken up the next day with a headache so bad he felt like his brain would explode, spending half a day with an ice pack tied to his head before he felt human again. Since then, whether because his body adapted or his growing physical stats allowed him to ignore alcohol's effects, he had never been drunk again.
Lavinia looked up and saw Rhode swaying in his chair, watching her. "Mr. Rhode drinks too? You didn't seem to drink much at dinner."
"That's because the sake here is terrible. It has no flavor at all," Rhode said dismissively.
"I see." Lavinia felt like Rhode was subtly mocking her low alcohol tolerance. After all, she hadn't even finished half a bottle before she lost touch with the world.
Rhode moved on from the topic of alcohol. "I'll be leaving Kyoto soon. Is that okay with you, Miss Reni?"
"Just call me Lavinia." A faint frost appeared on Lavinia's right hand, and she pressed her palm to her forehead. Feeling better, she said softly, "It's fine. I was going to leave Kyoto regardless. But can you tell me where we're going?"
"Kuoh Town. There are some things I need to handle there."
"I've never heard of it, but wherever you go, I'll go."
Lavinia was essentially homeless now. The Five Great Clans couldn't keep an outsider like her, her enemy was dead, and her master had betrayed her. If Rhode hadn't offered to take her in, she would probably be wandering the world alone again.
"By the way, Mr. Rhode... where exactly is this 'home' you mentioned?"
Rhode said without blinking, "I take the whole world as my home. Just tell me, isn't that grand?"
Lavinia's lip twitched slightly. It turned out Rhode was the same kind of person as her. The only difference was that Rhode was richer and could afford to stay in presidential suites. She had no retort. Knowing their next destination, she had no more questions. She wasn't a talkative person by nature, so she sat on the sofa in silence.
She was fine, but Rhode, after fiddling with his phone, realized there was a problem. Namely, the purple crucifix he had looted from Augusta's corpse. According to the system, it was the Longinus Incinerate Anthem.
Sacred Gears were one of the most important powers in this world. The original protagonist, Issei Hyoudou, had been able to overcome countless obstacles because of the Welsh Dragon's power. Incinerate Anthem was an elite Longinus on par with the Boosted Gear. The only reason Augusta was easier to kill than Sataniel was that her sync rate was far lower than a protagonist's, and her most advanced ability was only a Sub-species Balance Breaker.
A "Balance Breaker" was the ultimate form of a Sacred Gear. To reach it, the wielder had to possess intense emotions or a desire strong enough to "reverse the flow of the world." Of course, that was just a figure of speech. Rhode hadn't seen many wielders in the anime whose emotions were actually strong enough to interfere with the world's operation.
Rhode felt he was getting ahead of himself. He hadn't even fused with the Gear yet, so thinking about Balance Breakers was premature.
He took out the purple crucifix. Its intense aura immediately caused Lavinia, a fellow Longinus wielder, to react. She looked at the cross in his hand with shock. The scorching heat nearly triggered her own Gear as a reflex. She was all too familiar with this aura—it was Augusta's!
"You actually... stole Augusta's Longinus?!"
Stole? Rhode didn't like the sound of that. Could a transmigrator's actions really be called stealing?
He didn't rob, didn't sneak, and didn't take; he followed a strict policy of "if it's there, it's mine." The only reason his inventory was full of treasures was that his "auto-loot" was always on. It had nothing to do with him.
"But it's better that Mr. Rhode has it. If those witches had taken it, they would only use it for evil," Lavinia said, looking at the cross. "Mr. Rhode, do you intend to fuse with it?"
"Exactly," Rhode nodded. He wouldn't pass up any chance to get stronger. Although Incinerate Anthem didn't appear often, it was still a Longinus. If used correctly, it would be powerful.
But items auto-looted from the real world were different from system rewards. With the latter, he just had to click to use them, and even the most complex skills would become as natural as breathing. Auto-looted items lacked that system backing; he had to figure them out himself. He had never used a Longinus, but he had used some "trash" Sacred Gears from previous rewards that only doubled his strength.
Now, with a Longinus in hand, he was stuck at the fusion stage. Time to ask an expert.
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High School DxD : Reincarnated into the Multiverse, but it's High School DxD (117 Chapters – Ongoing)
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