15 Chapter 13

A/N: The first few updates will be short and spordiac, please bear with it. And as for the late update after my last update, sorry. The scripts weren't saved thanks to some nasty bug in the webnovel file.

Naruto expected this from Ravel, "You heard me right Ravel, this won't be enough when you officially become a mature devil and I'll tell you why. First, since you don't get into the rating games in depth thanks to your peerage's prowess, you can sit out and plan the strategies and that may work. But when you are forced to get into the battlefield, it will be a whole different story. People will be aiming for the weakest link first, which will be you if you don't have enough skill."

" But nii-sama isn't that why I'm asking you to-....."

"Yes, I know. I know you want to improve your magic arsenal. But Ravel I gotta tell ya, you have to train like no other if you don't wanna be a weak link in the chain. And you won't see the results anytime close to what you had in your mind."

Ravel's eyes widened at that comment from her brother. She went quite thanks to the reality check she got and her face went slightly blue. Well, it is one thing a random man saying she can't do it but her idol saying this without pulling back anything was too much for her. Just as she was about to give into the despair,

" That's if you decide to learn the game by sitting on the sidelines.", Naruto said.

"Eh?"

Naruto smiled at her, " As of now, your battle experience is 0 isn't it?" To which Ravel was about to refuse when, "And I am not talking about your usual sitting on the sides with Riser as his peerage did all the dirty work", to which she wasn't able to refute.

"So, to get you on the fast track to becoming formidable foe on the battlefield I have a suggestion.", Naruto said.

Ravel's droopy eyes 2 minutes ago lit up, "Really? What is the nii-sama?"

"You have to be an active participant in the battle, no more watching from the sitting out from the action in the name of startegist.", Naruto said in a no bullshit tone.

Ravel, was obviously surprised at that suggestion. It's not that she isn't willing to try, but the but the very thought of herself battling with the risk of her getting hurt is making her numb. Naruto knew what she was thinking,

"What? Your resolve weakened at the mere fact that you have to go through a thorny path in order to get the power you desire? There is no free lunch in this world Ravel, especially in the Devil society. If you want to accomplish your aim, then you have to face the cold reality."

Ravel still had that mixture of grim and shocked look on her face. Naruto thought,

' Did I come out too hard on her? '

Before he decided to lighten her mood, Ravel stood up with a determined look on her face,

"Nii-sama, I understand. Maybe I was naive in thinking becoming a master at work is easy when I have an accomplished person like you but seems like reality isn't that gentle. I will go through any training regiment you give in order to become the person I want to be."

If Naruto was shocked, which he is by the way, didn't show it on his face. Then he smiled, though it carried a bit sadism in it,

"Oh, that's cheeky. Guess I was too soft on you previous exercises, it's only fair to amp up the intensity."

Ravel's face turned slightly blue, as he cursed her previous words,

'What did I get myself into?'

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And so went a week or so since Naruto's return. Even though the news about his return has spread throughout the Underworld on the last weekend, he didn't even bother trying to meet any of his old friends or nobles. All he did was train Ravel, lent a helping hand to Ruval becoming the Head of the house and spent time with his parents. He had enough experience living alone(again) thanks to a certain red-haired asshole.

And also he sat down with his mother and drank loads of his mother's favorite tea in their garden. He didn't dare to complain because what he had last week as more than enough. At the same time, he deployed his shadow clones to keep an eye on Yasaka and Issei, though he did the latter purely because he didn't want Azazel on his tail again. The last update was that the Gremory peerage had some kind of competition against Serafall's sister peerage for choosing familiars as both of the groups got new members at the same time period.

Currently, Naruto was going towards his youngest brother's house. Well, it is the part of the Phenex's house but Riser apparently wanted the half of the East side of the mansion for himself and his peerage. He did try to meet Riser a couple of times in the past week but apparently he was preparing for one of his rating games in a faraway district and just returned yesterday. He was informed of his brother's return and accepted to meet him as soon as possible.

And as Naruto reached the entrance of the East side, he knocked the door.

''Please come in'', said a slightly gruff male voice.

Naruto entered into a room which was more or less identical to his study. And in the behind the table stood a tall and handsome young man in his early 20's with short blond hair and dark blue eyes.

His outfit consists of a burgundy blazer with gold embroidery on the right with matching pants and black dress shoes. Underneath his open blazer is a white dress shirt that is not fully buttoned (just one button short), giving a slight view to his chest.

Naruto had a long clear look at his younger brother, while the latter was looking at him with a strange look. Then he smiled,

''I thought there would be no bad boy type in this family except me. Glad to see that I am wrong.''

Riser didn't speak for a moment, as if he was deciding what response to choose in one of those eroge/galge. Naruto snapped his fingers,

''You alive there little brother?''

Riser seemed to snap out of it and answered in a surprisingly calm and respectful tone, ''I'm sorry, it's just that you don't meet a living legend everyday.''

Naruto was surprised, 'Didn't dad say he was more of a delinquent?'

''Why are you going all formal on your brother, talk normally'', said Naruto as he and Riser took a seat.

Riser contemplated for a minute or so before speaking, ''Thanks brother. I was just worried that I would leave a bad first impression."

''I don't care about those with my family. Especially with my younger brother whom I'm meeting for the first time.", Naruto said with a smile.

And as if those words took away a load of weight over Riser, he smiled, " I know you get this a lot or used to but I really admire you big brother."

Now this is another surprise for Naruto. Where did the all haughty, egoist young master of the Phenex clan go?

"I'm actually surprised hearing this from you. From what I heard from Dad, you didn't answer his calls when he called you regarding my return."

Riser laughed nervously, "I was afraid he was gonna give me another lecture about how I should be more like you and Ruval big brother"

Naruto laughed, " I won't say don't mind those words but don't let it get to your heart. I am me, Ruval is Ruval and Riser is Riser. It would be pretty bland if we had the same traits and behavior don't you think?"

Riser laughed as if he envisioned three Phenex clones of same looks and behavior, . Naruto looked at him for a couple of minutes and asked,

"It's fair to say I am surprised Riser."

To be continued

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