DxD : Emiya Shirou

The thought of someone hurting her, she that looked so much like my Ilya, made me see red. I wanted to scream, to yell, to demand that she tell me who did this to her, so can I go hunt them and hurt them.

I did no such thing.

...

I knew I would end up doing more harm than good if I did any of those things. Right now I was a complete stranger to this girl, one that she had no reason to trust. Falling into a self-righteous fury would only frighten her away. If I wanted to help, I needed her to trust me or at least feel comfortable enough around me to lower her guard.

Still, the only reason why I didn't immediately drag her away to somewhere safe, consequences be damned, was because it didn't look like she was still being abused. 

I didn't notice any signs of bruises from what little of her skin I could see, no flinch of pain whenever she moved either. That she felt safe enough that she was even willing to approach a stranger like me, no matter how cautiously, was a good sign as well.

Plus she was a part of that Gremory's Peerage. No matter my personal dislike for the Gremorys, I knew that they were the least likely family in the entire Underworld to ever abuse their servants, let alone one as young as her. So at least I knew she was safe with them.

Still, safe or not there is no way I'm letting this go. The first chance I get, I was going looked into Toujou Koneko's past. And if those that did this were still out there...

But that was later, for now, the best thing I can do for her was to pretend nothing happened. No one liked to be reminded of their scars, emotional or physical ones, and they like being pitied even less.

"So," I said when the atmosphere finally began to approach normal again, "did you want anything from me? Other than my lunch of course." I added with a smile.

It was unlikely that we ended up meeting by chance. This was a fairly secluded place and away from the more popular lunch spots, which was the reason why I chose it in the first place.

Her nod confirmed my suspicions, "Buchou wanted to speak to you."

'Buchou'? I tilted my head in confusion. Who was that? The way she said it was sort of familiar. Almost reminded me how Sona's peerage kept referring to her as Kaichou – Oh!

"You mean Rias Gremory?" I asked.

She nodded again. Seems like my guess was right but still, what's with the weird titles those two insist on being called by. 

Was it a Devil Heir thing I wasn't aware of? I mean, sure, it was common for a lot of club members to refer to their respective leaders by their titles, but they were members of the nobility and yet they were asking their Peerage to call them by their highschool's club title rather than their actual rank or even by name.

Then again maybe by choosing their own titles, they get to avoid someone giving them one instead. If so I wish someone told about it early, I would have avoided this whole of 'Queen of Sword' fiasco.

"Sure, I got nothing important planned for the day. When does Gremory want to meet me?"

"Right awa-" the ringing of the school bell cut her off before she could finish.

Huh, looks like we've been here longer than either of us thought.

"Looks like we need to get going if we want to get back to class in time." I stood and dusted off my pants. "How about I meet up with this Buchou of yours after school instead?"

She thought about it for a moment before nodding in agreement and stood up. We both began to make our way down the stairwell together until we reached the first landing.

"I'll be waiting in my homeroom," I told her with a wave goodbye as she continued down to floor first floor that was designated to freshmen while I reminded on the third floor that was reserved for the seniors. "I still don't know my way around so send someone to pick me after classes are done."

I received a brief nod from the young girl and she went down the stairs.

Once she was no longer in sight I turned and made my way back to the classroom. The smile that I was carrying melted off my face now that she could no longer see me.

Really, even when I'm not looking for trouble it seems to find me. Oh well, it could have been worse. I would much rather find out about these things rather than allow them to happen around me while I carried on with my life oblivious to it all.

Still, as I made my way back to class I couldn't help but think back to the small glimpse I caught of the girl's spirit and wonder.

What could have possibly happened to make a girl as young as her willingly build a wall around her soul?

...

I sensed the Bounded Field as soon as I crossed it. It was a simple one, made to keep normal people from wandering in. It wouldn't do anything to stop anyone with even a lick of supernatural power, but I guess it doesn't need to do its job. Still, it was a waste to go through all the effort of setting up a Bounded Field and not equip it with some at least some basic defensive measures. As far as I could sense the thing didn't even act as a warning system.

Devil and Magus Bounded Fields had a lot in common when it came to the end result, at least the basic versions of them did, but the process of how they functioned were completely different.

For one, the Bounded Fields created by Magecraft was far more intricate than their Devil counterpart. Even the simplest of those Bounded Fields is as complicated as an advanced calculus formula, and that's when it's only function was to act as a warning system. For the ones that actually did something truly impressive, such as the one used to keep the Einzbern Castle hidden from the rest of the world, was so far beyond my comprehension that I couldn't even begin to describe the basics of its construction. Rin probably could but, well, she's Rin. Enough said.

Devil Bounded Fields were a completely different matter. They were so simple that Pure-Blooded Devils are taught how to begin constructing simple ones at the age of twelve. There were actual classes at the Devil Middles School in the Underworld that taught them and they were generally considered to be only an intermediate level magic at most.

The stark difference between the two was understandable when you took into account that Devils could bend magic to their will. For Magus, they needed to a complex system of sigils and equations to construct a Bounded Field. Devils on the other hand only needed a single magic circle carved into the heart of the location they wanted the Field to cover. The Magic circle used is one designed to help the user form a Bounded Field. It works by reading the 'intent' of magic that flows through it and creates a field based on the spell casters desires. Through this method, a single trained Devil could set up a rudimentary Bounded Field in less than an hour. Most teenage Devils are more than capable of doing this.

Designing an original magical circle to help in the construction of a Bounded Field is an incredibly difficult thing to do. That is why Devils tend to simply copy these circles from a premade design rather than make one of their own. There were even designs that were publicly sold, although they tended to be copies of widely used ones rather than anything unique.

Most Pureblooded Devil Clans used personally designed magical circles when constructing their Bounded Fields, just like how they have their own personal summoning circles. It often acts as a calling card, allowing Devils to recognize the owner of the Bounded Fields. All territories owned by the large Clans have a simple Bounded Filed traced over their borders to allow other Devil to know whose land they were entering.

Which was why I could instantly tell this was a Gremory owned Bounded Field. When Serafall made me her Queen she gave me a crash course of all the essential things I needed to know. That included the ability to recognize and identify all the different magical signatures of the 72 Pillars, and this one had Gremory written all over it.

Of course, the more sophisticated bounded fields, like the ones used in the Rating Games, were of a completely different standard that they couldn't be compared. Those were so difficult to make that there were Devils who dedicated their lives to mastering that form of magic and they charged a premium for anyone who wanted to make use their skills.

The only downside for the Devil method of creating Bounded fields was the ludicrous amount of magic needed to set up and maintain them, which was far larger than its magus counterpart. Take the one I just had crossed as I made my way through the tiny forest of trees that grew in the back courtyard of Kuoh Academy.

It was at least a few dozen yards long when measured from its radius, making it only slightly larger than the one that was set up around my old home in Fuyuki City. If this one was made in a similar manner to the one Kiritsugu set up then it would have been self-sustaining, requiring only the ambient Mana in the air to sustain itself and the occasional upkeep to maintain its condition.

This Bounded Field was a Devil's, and it required far more power to function. It couldn't sustain itself on the Mana in the air alone and needed to be constantly fueled by Devils. I wasn't an expert by any means but even at a glance, I could tell that the amount of Mana needed to fuel this field even for a week was more than what an average Magus back home could have produced in an entire day. And this was one of the simpler Bounded Field.

The reason why no one tried to fix such a fundamental flaw was a simple one. To Devils, it wasn't one. Even the most mediocre of Devils could produce dozens of times more Mana than the average magus, let alone the more powerful of their kin. To them, the Mana required was negligible.

"Sorry about the long walk, Buchou took a real liking to the old school building and insisted on having our club room there. Something about the old-fashioned feel of the place. Personally I like the place because it's far away from everything else. It's private, something that's a little hard for me to find at school."

Looking at the boy next to me I could totally understand where he was coming from. I've only been here for a day and I had already seen how badly the girls hounded him.

Kiba Yuuto was a blond-haired teenaged boy with a pair of unusual steel-grey eyes. He was tall for his age, just a couple of inches shorter than me, with a slim but muscular build. Even if I hadn't read his file I would have realized he was a Knight right away. The way he walked, how he easily maintained his balance even on the uneven ground of the forest floor, the calluses that formed in the palm of his hand, all hinted in someone that was trained in the art of the sword.

He was also what was known as a 'pretty boy'.

There was no better way I could have described him, he had a face that could put models to shame. His skin looked paler and softer than most girls while his hair was such a rich shade of yellow it glittered like gold in the sunlight. The kid even had a beauty mark under his left eye. Known as the 'Prince' of Kuoh Academy, he was greatly adored by the female half of the student population and equally despised by the male half.

Personally, I just felt sorry for the guy. While he tried to hide it, I could easily tell how much he hated being relentlessly pursued by the girls all day yet being denied the company of his fellow males. Poor kid, as far as I could tell the guy didn't even have a single male friend. Hell, outside of his Peerage he didn't seem to have any friends, period.

Yet, just like Koneko, he didn't allow any of it to show in his face. He just dealt with everything life threw at him with a smile on his face.

Really, why did I keep running into these kinds of people today?

"Don't worry about it. I needed a chance to stretch my legs anyway. It's been a while since I've been inside a classroom I'd forgotten how much sitting is involved." I told him as we made our away around a fallen tree that partially blocked the road.

"So you've been away to school for a while?" He walked a couple of paces ahead and a little bit off to one side of me as he led the way, so he had to look over his shoulder if he wanted to face me while we spoke.

"For about a year. I had so much to learn since my resurrection that I simply didn't have the time to go and before that, well..." I shrugged, "I had some personal issue to deal with."

"I see." He commented and clearly understanding that I didn't want to talk about it, changed the subject, "Well, we're almost to there. We just have to get around that tree over there and the old school building will be in sight."

Just as he said, the moment we passed the tree, I caught sight of our destination.

It was a beautiful old wooden building with a western feel to its design. Two-floors high, with a small clock tower rising from the middle of the roof, right over the entrance, and it was huge. Easily big enough to hold a hundred people with room to spare. 

Three large windows lined the wall on either side of the great door that served as its entrance, with more windows on the upper floor. Despite its age, the place has clearly been well maintained. The walls had a fresh coat of paint and the roof was properly tiled despite the constant rain that plagued this area.

When I first heard that the Occult Research Club room was located in the old abandon school building, I admit I had expected to see an old broken down wooden building that was one step away from being condemned. 

I mean, it was an Occult club, filled with actual Devils, it's only naturally the place would have been creepy as hell.

========================

if you want to read ahead of the public release you can go to my p atreon :

 p atreon.com/Aerle