Last night, he had learned about this world from a wandering devil. Then, after school, when he activated detection mode to figure out how many devils like Kiba were present at the school,
"What the.."
There were quite a few. Besides Rias Gremory's [Peerage], there were about ten more. He was a little startled by the unexpectedly large number, but
"For all that, there haven't been any major incidents at school, right?"
If they were the kind of devils from his imagination, it wouldn't have been strange for students to go missing or something like that. But during the time he had attended [Kuoh Academy], not a single such incident had occurred. Still, the power of devils itself remained a threat to humans, so they were still under surveillance.
"But there's no way I can keep watch over all of them..."
Even with his enormous chakra, the number of clones he could create and their duration were limited by his mastery of the Shadow Clone Technique. But that wasn't the only method.
"Wait, if I have that, I don't need to watch them one by one, do I?"
There was a way to monitor everything at once without the hassle of watching each person individually. The detection mode. If it were some other city he didn't know, it would be a pain, but this was the city where Issei had been born and raised. He knew where everything was, and roughly where people gathered at different times of day. So all he had to do was keep an overall watch, and if he detected someone moving to a sparsely populated place, he could head there immediately.
"Oh, am I a genius or what!?"
He was getting a little self-satisfied, thinking it was a brilliant idea, but with detection mode, anyone could have come up with it. Still, that was also part of what made Hyoudou Issei, with his memories from a previous life, who he was.
"Then the question is, how far can I detect..."
He immediately tried a wide-area scan, and when he squeezed out every last bit of concentration he had,
"Amazing..."
The range extended not only across this city, but to cities hundreds of kilometers away, and even the creatures living in the sea began to register. And this was still with his skill level low. If he became more adept at handling chakra, he might end up detecting all of Japan, or even the entire Earth. (In the Five Great Ninja Countries, the Ten-Tails once detected and sniped the Allied Forces headquarters, which was quite far from the main battlefield.)
"Well, it's for emergencies, and Fallen Angels might suddenly show up too."
The devils at [Kuoh Academy] were first on his list of surveillance targets, but Fallen Angels and wandering devils were clearly different. So, to be able to respond immediately the moment he detected them, he marked various places after school and set up a system where he would continuously summon two clones to keep watch.
Of course, he also intended to keep detection mode active at all times himself. Detection mode consumed a fair amount of chakra if used for long periods, but for Issei, whose chakra was practically limitless, that was no problem at all. On top of that, his proficiency would keep rising, so he thought it was a win-win.
With that, he had put together a system of sorts to avoid getting caught off guard again. All that remained was to eliminate the evil beings that disturbed Issei's peace.
And not long after he began detecting, something was caught.
"What is this? It's not a devil or a Fallen Angel... a person?"
Something had been detected, but it wasn't a devil or a Fallen Angel. It was a human, but not an ordinary one. That meant the likely answer was someone from the Church. Ordinary humans didn't possess magical power, but among humans affiliated with the Church, there were those who did.
"They're not an enemy, right?"
Since it was a human from the Church, they would naturally not be an enemy. If so, there was only one possibility: one of the Church's exorcists was out hunting wandering devils. Thinking that on his own, he decided...
"Hmm... maybe it'd be better to cooperate?"
Since they were both human, and if they were exterminating wandering devils that harmed the townspeople, they might even become allies. And if he was lucky, he might get some information too.
"All right!"
He immediately headed toward the place where the Church-affiliated human had been detected.
"It should be around here."
Arriving at the center of the park, Issei looked around. Just then, a beautiful girl in a nun's habit was standing there, holding a map and glancing around uncertainly.
"Could it be, that girl?"
She looked so slender and delicate that she didn't seem like someone who could possibly exterminate devils. But then—
"Ooh~ a blonde nun? Isn't that a rare character?"
"And she's a beauty too~ Yoohoo, hey, why don't you come play with us?"
Two thugs whistled as they approached the nun. Then—
"U-Um, who are you? And... what do you mean, play together?"
"What, you don't know? If a man and a woman are going to play, there's only one thing that means, right?"
"Yeah, we'll make sure you have so much fun you'll be begging for more~"
"N-No, for some reason I don't like this. I'm refusing!"
As their beastlike eyes roamed over her entire body, the nun seemed to feel repulsed and began backing away.
"Hey, hey, we went out of our way to invite you, and that's your attitude?"
"If you won't listen, we'll use force!"
"Hey, why don't you stop there?"
"Huh!?"
In the end, unable to watch any longer, Issei stepped in. The two thugs glared at him and moved right up to his face, trying to intimidate him, but
"Haa... I can't believe there are still guys like this around."
"What the hell are you talking about!? You wanna die?"
"Who the hell do you think you are, acting all high and mighty!"
They threw their fists at him without warning, but
"Get lost."
"! W-What the hell, you bastard!"
"S-Something about him feels dangerous, doesn't it?"
Just by glaring at them while releasing chakra, Issei frightened the two thugs into retreating. The two, being nothing more than ordinary humans, had instinctively realized there was nothing they could do against him.
""J-Just you wait!""
"How cliché."
With a third-rate villain's parting line, they fled without even looking back, and Issei clicked his tongue in disgust. Then—
"U-Um, thank you so much! For saving me!"
"Ahahaha, I just did what anyone should do, ahahaha."
He had put on a fine show and driven off the thugs, but for some reason, his heart was pounding now that he was standing in front of a beautiful girl.
"Judging by that outfit, are you a sister?"
"Ah, yes. My name is Asia Argento."
"I'm Hyoudou Issei. Just a local high school student living here, I guess. So, Sister, what brings you to this town?"
After exchanging names, Issei immediately got to the point. Then—
"I was assigned to the church in this town starting today... but I'm not very familiar with the area..."
"So you were wandering around like this? All right, I'll show you the way."
"Really!? Thank you so much!"
Asia bowed deeply, as if she had received some great favor, and Issei headed toward the town's only church with her.
'Still, she really is a beauty. And her chest is pretty good too...'
As they walked, Issei kept sneaking glances to check Asia's figure. Despite her slender, petite build, her distinct features and the fairly pronounced line of her chest were impossible to miss. For someone like Issei, the embodiment of lust, there was no way he could stop his imagination.
'As thanks for guiding her, maybe I'll get some kind of sexy reward! Heh heh heh heh.'
"Um, I'm really glad I met someone like you, Issei-san. I'm sure this is also a blessing bestowed upon me by the Lord."
"A blessing bestowed by the Lord...? That's a bit over the top."
'Dangerous! Is she seriously going to do something to me!?'
As expected, his mind was already packed full of filthy fantasies. It was questionable whether he could function normally at this point.
"Here we are."
"So this is it... Thank you very much, Issei-san!"
When they arrived at the church, Asia bowed politely again to express her gratitude, and Issei stared at the church for a while before saying,
"It looks like nobody's inside. Is that okay?"
"Huh?"
"I mean, isn't it dangerous for a girl to be alone? Especially when night falls."
If anyone had heard him, they would have said the dangerous thing was having you standing right next to her. Or rather—
"Th-Thank you for worrying about me. I think it'll be fine since... a priest is supposed to arrive later too."
Asia, who had been smiling brightly, gave an awkward smile for the first time. He felt a slight sense that something was off, but decided it was just his imagination.
"Well then, I should be going."
"Ah, um! If you don't mind, would you like some tea?"
"Hm? Would that be all right?"
"Yes! Please let me treat you!"
"Ahahaha, if you put it that way, I can't refuse~"
Unable to turn down Asia's invitation to repay him even a little, Issei obediently followed her inside without the slightest hesitation. And with a very sly smile, too...