DxD: Path of the Gremory Prince

In the morning, the entrance to the Kuoh Academy was much busier than when I visited at night. The uniformed students were walking in groups, laughing and chatting about everyday gossip.

With a black bag slung over my right shoulder, I looked at this scene and felt a little strange. Waking up early and going to school was the first thing that had caused me mixed feelings since I arrived in this world.

High school in my life was... pretty normal, I guess.

In fact, I always despised school in a way.

I thought it would just be an unimportant stage for the rest of my life, a period in which I didn't have many responsibilities and only attended to avoid being held back due to excessive absences. Of course, I needed minimum marks, but that was never something I had to work hard to achieve.

I spent classes and classes sleeping or playing on my cell phone. I never attempted to make friends beyond the ones I'd had for years, and I never aimed to excel at anything either.

In the end, I was nothing more than an extra in my school life. Involuntarily, I let out a sigh after thinking about it. Then I raised my head and looked at the main school building.

'Let's do this.'

I took the first step through the iron gates, and as I walked across the dirt courtyard, I felt a few eyes on me. They were subtle glances at first, but soon they multiplied.

With my special devil's hearing, I could hear what some students were whispering among themselves.

"Look at that red-haired boy... He's too handsome!"

"Eh?! He looks like a model!"

"Is he a new student? I've never seen him around here."

"Wait, that red hair... It reminds me..."

I smiled and waved at this group of girls who were talking about me. They stopped talking, blushed, and smiled as they waved back.

I wasn't blind to my appearance. Even among devils, I knew I was someone attractive, even among devils. After all, most devils were ugly, and that also applied to several noble families.

'I have my father and mother's great mix of genes to thank for that.'

So I understood both the looks of admiration from the girls and the looks of envy and anger from the boys. And, to be honest, I liked that.

But for the time being, my priority wasn't my appearance. So, I paid little attention to those looks after the first five minutes.

I made my way to the teachers' room, where I was given some documents to sign and a teacher guided me to my class.

"Class, we have a new transfer student," the teacher said.

I took a step into the room, scanning the faces in front of me.

"Please introduce yourself to the class," the teacher said and gestured to me.

"Sure... Good morning, my name is Milicas Gremory. I hope we can get along."

A buzz started right away.

"Did he say Gremory?"

"N-no way... Is he related to Rias Gremory?"

"Is he her brother?"

"Okay, Milicas," the teacher said. "Sit over there next to Himejima-san. She's the class representative and will help you with any problems you have."

My gaze followed where he pointed, and indeed Akeno was sitting near the windows at the back of the room, in the classic main character and love interest seats.

Akeno looked at me with an indecipherable smile, and I heard a boy mutter:

"You bastard, you're going to sit right next to the Academy's second beauty..."

With a nod to the teacher, I walked over to the seat pointed out and sat down next to Akeno.

"Welcome, Milicas-kun," Akeno said.

"Thank you, Akeno-senpai," I replied with a slight smile, and used the honorific senpai because I respected her so much.

-:-

As soon as the school break bell rang, exactly what I had suspected would happen happened. I stood up to go to the bathroom, but a large group of girls from the class surrounded me.

"Milicas-san! What's your relationship with Rias-chan?!"

"Where did you live before? Scandinavia? Italy?"

"What kind of girl do you like, Milicas-san?"

"Are your eyes naturally that color?"

The flurry of questions came so fast that I had to raise a hand to stop them.

"One question at a time, please," I said with a lopsided smile. "Rias is my aunt, so you might hear me call her onee-san when we meet here at the academy. Um... I used to live in America, and yes, my eyes are natural."

Most of the girls seemed excited just to hear my voice. It was strange.

[Most girls think you're very handsome and charming.]

[You received +3 Relationship Point with the girls at Kuoh Academy.]

I raised my eyebrows. 'What? I did nothing, yet I got points with everyone... That's too easy. Looking good really has a lot of advantages.'

[Most boys think you're stuck-up.]

[You received -5 Relationship Points with the boys at Kuoh Academy.]

'Well, I guess it doesn't have as many advantages as I thought.'

Just when I thought I'd finished answering the girls' questions, I casually announced:

"Well, I'm going to the restroom."

Unfortunately, I had underestimated the impetus of teenage girls. They quickly formed a barrier around me, preventing my passage.

"Milicas-san, have you ever had a girlfriend before?"

"Do you like younger or older girls?"

"Milicas-san, can we exchange contacts on Line?"

'This is getting problematic,' I thought.

At that moment, a hand gripped my wrist tightly, and I looked over to see Akeno Himejima pulling me along.

"Excuse me, girls. I need to borrow Milicas-kun for a little while to introduce him to the school while there's still time."

Without waiting for a response from the girls or a thank-you from me, Akeno pulled me out of the crowd and led me out of the room.

Now away from the commotion, Akeno walked beside me with her hands behind her. After a few seconds of silence, she was the one to break it.

"How are you feeling on your first day at Kuoh Academy?"

"Well, I thought humans were less... clingy."

She laughed. "Ah, they're much more persistent than the devils of the underworld imagine."

I scratched the back of my head, trying to think of something to say. "I studied a lot about humans before I came to the upper world, but no book on honorifics and bathrooms has taught me as much about humans as these last few days."

"Studying about them and their behavior is different from experiencing it. That's why Rias pulled some strings to get you to stay with me."

"I mean, you've lived most of your life in the underworld. She figured it might be difficult for you to adapt to the human environment without a bit of help, considering that the worldview and upbringing between these two worlds are different."

"Anyway, don't worry too much about it, Milicas-kun. I know she asked me to do this for your own good, and I'm your classmate, aren't I?"

"The best," I said with a smile.

[Akeno Himejima appreciates your sincere compliment.]

[You have received +3 Relationship Points with Akeno Himejima.]

"There he is!"

Suddenly, a shout interrupted the friendly moment between Akeno and me. We turned our heads toward the sound and saw a trio of boys. In front of them was Issei, with a dramatic expression on his face.

"There's the handsome bastard! And he's hanging out with Akeno-senpai?!"

"Issei-kun?" Akeno and I said at the same time.

"When the President informed me about you, I knew you'd try something! Are you still trying to steal Akeno-senpai from the President?"

"I'm not..."

"It doesn't matter! Just know that you're under my watch!"

The two boys behind Issei, who I recognized as his pervy friends — Motohama and Matsuda — looked at Issei with confused expressions.

"Issei, do you know this guy?" Motohama asked.

"Is that why you suddenly left the room?"

"That's Milicas Gremory. He's Rias-senpai's nephew!" Issei declared, still pointing at me.

"Nephew of the unattainable S-rank beauty, Rias Gremory?!" Matsuda exclaimed.

"That guy has the same hair color as Rias-senpai, and that pale skin... It's definitely true!" Motohama adjusted his glasses and said.

And then, as if they had completely forgotten that Issei was against me, the two of them rushed up to me and started bombarding me with questions too.

"What's Rias-senpai like as an aunt? Is she one of those clingy aunts or more of a bossy type?"

"Does she bake cookies for you? And when she's at home, does she wear casual clothes, cute pajamas, or rather... nothing at all?" Motohama even had a notebook in hand to write down my answers.

"Enough! Don't stand too close to him!" Issei scolded and grabbed his two friends by the collars of their uniforms, and started dragging him backwards. "If you don't, this guy might steal you away and make you his friends instead of mine!"

"Issei, let me go! I still have questions!"

"We want to know a lot more about Rias-senpai!"

Even as they were being dragged away, they continued shouting questions while disappearing down the corridor.

Akeno covered her mouth with one hand and let out an amused laugh.

"Looks like you've made quite an enemy, Milicas-kun."

"I didn't even do anything..."

"I think he's still angry about what happened last night."

"Ah, that explains things."

I already knew that Issei would be angry with me after I stole from a member of his future harem. So, as much as I could ignore him for the time being, this relationship would quickly become untenable. In other words, at some point, I would have to either great ally for my plans to become a Satan or make him an official rival.

However, that didn't matter for the moment.

First, I needed to solve my problem of being with the empty wallet because a sizeable chunk of my money had been given to Makima and Asia to buy clothes.

I was a noble devil, and yes, I could ask my family for money, but I was close to the age of majority, and continuing to ask for money like this wouldn't be ideal. I needed to take my first steps into the lucrative world of devil contracts.

So, after school, Akeno guided me to the old school building — where the Occult Research Club was located.

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