Shin High School DxD Volume 1 Chapter 0

The same colour as that person's armor—.
That's what I thought as I looked at the vivid blood that covered my hands.
Red — crimson armor more vibrant than the colour of raspberries.
Yes, that person's beautiful red dragon armor has the same colour as the blood that covers these hands—.
Life.0
Hyoudou Issei; that's my name, though my parents, friends, girlfriends, and everyone at school just call me 'Ise'. Being at the peak of my youth, I am a third-year high school student currently deliberating over my future career path. I attend a private high school called Kuoh Academy. There were times when my juniors would say "That guy, isn't that Issei?" about me, but I wasn't sure how popular I was among my juniors. Well, thinking back upon it, I guess you could say that I got pretty famous since I enrolled because of the lecherous things that I did in my first year. There was even a time when I would go peek into the girls' kendo club room. It surely was the peak of my youth. As a result of the perverted things that I did along with Matsuda and Motohama, rumours were still being spread throughout the school. If things continued like this, it looked like those rumours would continue to spread until my graduation… No, even after I graduate, it will still continue…
—And now that I have talked about my perversion, it's time to reveal my true identity. To be honest, I am a Devil. I'm serious, no, it's true. Please believe me. The Devils I'm talking about are those 'Devils' that you see in legends or manga. The ones that are summoned through a magic circle, hear their summoner's wish and take their soul in exchange for their wish to be granted… Well, Devils that seek souls are pretty rare nowadays though. Around autumn last year — I died as a human. It was at that time when I met a Pure-Blooded High-class Devil— Rias Gremory, I was reborn as I received an [Evil Piece] from her to become a Devil and was given a second life (?) as a [Reincarnated Devil]. Thinking about it, it might have been a tall hurdle for a seventeen-year-old to start a second life, but I unexpectedly managed to accept it promptly as I started to get used to Devils' jobs and aimed to be promoted to a High-class Devil! Why did I want to become a High-class Devil, you say?
It's obvious, isn't it!? High-class Devils can build their own harems, you know!? I'd make every beautiful girl my servant in order to form my own harem! —And, one year had passed since I lustfully chased after my dream, fully embracing the perverse thoughts that filled my mind. And now, currently, I am—.
"Ah~, there's no end to this…"
I sighed as I struggled with the tall stack of papers that rested upon the desk I sat at.
"Ise-sama, about the request from Sasaki-san—"
—And, I received a job report from my [Bishop] servant, Ravel Phoenix. A beautiful blonde-haired Devil, whose hair was styled such that two ringlets hung down vertically! She was my manager in all aspects, as well as my servant.
"Ise, there's a call from Morisawa-san—"
The next person who gave me a report was the tomboyish Xenovia Quarta. She was also my servant, a [Knight].
"The newly designed brochure has been delivered by the company that we asked."
The third person who gave me a report was a lovely woman with long silver hair — Rossweisse-san. A former Valkyrie who had become my [Rook] servant. As I received those reports from the girls, I gave my instructions in the same order.
"Do this with Sasaki-san, I'll personally contact Morisawa-san later and the latest brochure will be confirmed in the meeting that's one hour away."
As I instructed them—
"Ise-san! I would like to receive the payment, but…there is too much! Geez!"
The blonde beauty who returned via the magic circle located inside the room, Asia Argento (a [Bishop] servant with cute green eyes!), returned along with many pieces of luggage, but…as the haul of luggage looked like it was about to topple over—
""""Whoa woah woah!""""
Everyone panicked and helped her. This is my current situation. Actually, I just started my personal [Devils' Job] in my office. Indeed! I was promoted to High-class Devil! I started my own personal job as I achieved independence from my master Rias. I have become the High-class Devil that I dreamt of! My servants Asia, Xenovia, Rossweisse-san andRavel are all beauties as well! The harem development that I saw even in my dreams…as we couldn't live with just that, we did our daily jobs in the [Hyoudou Issei Household Office] that was established for us—. Since I started life as a Devil in my second year, about a year and a half had passed since then, and I was now approaching the second semester of my senior year.
"Here, it's tea."
"Thank you."
As the job was finished, I received tea from Ravel as I breathed in its scent. I reflected back as I drank the tea. The past year and a half—. I was killed by my ex-girlfriend, who was actually a Fallen Angel, and got reincarnated as a Devil to become a servant for the Gremory household. As I deepened my bond with my friends, I also fought against my rivals in the Devils' competition, the [Rating Games], and I continued to fight against wicked terrorists at times as well. Even though I had almost died several times fighting wicked enemies (actually, I did lose my physical body once), I accumulated quite the reputation for myself, so I got promoted to a Middle-class Devil, and finally became a High-class Devil. Of course, there were also many things that I lost during that time. I separated from the people who had supported me until I reached this point. However, I received my [Evil Pieces] from Maou Beelzebub-sama this autumn and traded with Rias and Ravel's mum. As a result of that, I now had my own servants (Asia, Xenovia and Rossweisse-san were originally Rias's servants). Because the [Evil Pieces] were an imitation of the chess pieces of the human world, the existing pieces were [Queen] x1, [Rook] x2, [Knight] x2, [Bishop] x2, and [Pawn] x8. The [King] was the master themself, and one could turn the person whom they desired as a Devil servant into a reincarnated Devil by using a piece on them. The pieces themselves had their own characteristics, but…I'm going to save that talk for later. —And, I was Rias Gremory's [Pawn]. Not to mention that I had more than one piece since I consumed eight [Pawn] pieces. The number of pieces consumed changes depending on the talent and hidden power of the targeted person. And with that, I continue to remain a [Pawn] of Rias despite becoming independent, and I am still Rias's servant even though I became a High-class Devil.
—Well, I will stop the [Evil Piece] talk here. I will once again explain that this office is the [Hyoudou Issei Household Office]. The [Hyoudou Issei Household Office] is my, no, it's our workplace. After becoming a High-class Devil and receiving independence from Rias, I established my own office and started doing [Devils' Jobs] together with my servants. If I were to explain once more what a [Devils' Job] is, it is like the legend where we grant the wishes of the people who summoned us in exchange for something of equal value. We get called by using the brochure that has a summoning magic circle drawn on it that we give to people who look greedy on the streets and in town. It seemed that, in the past, we used to demand a soul while the other party made requests of us, but as expected, people like that were rare nowadays as we mainly receive money or other things in exchange for their wish to be granted. I'll say this once, but we don't accept perverted requests! My proud servants, they are all cuties! And that's exactly why I would absolutely deny those kinds of requests, regardless of who the requester was. Well, because there were other Devils who specialised in perverted requests, our Gremory group doesn't have any links to it whatsoever.
…No, if I were the requester, I would wish for perverted things though… Well, this and that are separate matters! My cute servants are my precious servants! I won't let other bastards lay even a finger on them!
because this was our first time managing the [Devils' Job] after becoming independent, I felt like everyone had been hastily struggling to somehow keep this business running ever since we started. We also took over customers who were my clients while I was doing my job under Rias. And naturally, we were also slowly but surely making progress in the procurement of new customers. I massaged my own shoulder. …It was really troubling how there were so many more things that I had to do as a High-class Devil compared to the time when I was an underling. Now, not only did I have to pedal my bicycle to go to my customer's place, I also had to check the arranged documents and schedule, as well as think about future operations. We sorted the documents and prepared for our next job as our job for today had ended. As we did that, Ravel said to me.
"Ise-sama, if we don't end our work here for today, it will have an effect on tomorrow."
Rossweisse-san continued.
"That's right. Tomorrow is an important day after all."
On top of that, Xenovia and Asia also added.
"Yeah, it's the press conference for Ise and Master Rias's engagement after all. We're looking forward to it. Right, Asia?"
"Yes, I'm looking forward to it."
Yes, tomorrow was — my engagement press conference! I proposed to my master, as well as my current girlfriend, Rias this autumn. She was really popular there as she was a princess of the Underworld — in the Gremory territory. If she had gotten a fiance, it wasn't possible for the Underworld to remain silent about it. As the next head of a noble family, Rias had been asked to make a public announcement from each media organisation in the Underworld as they wanted to broadcast how things started until we got engaged to the ordinary Devils of the Underworld. And with that, I would hold the press conference along with her as her fiance. I smiled wryly as I scratched my cheek
"Yeah, even though I am honoured, the atmosphere surely will be heavy. However, I guess I have no other choice."
As I took a sip of the tea, I took a deep breath and fired myself up. It's been a year and a half since I became a Devil… My dream as a Harem King… It feels like it's so close, yet…so far. Well, whatever happens, I will always look forward. Because that's just how I, Hyoudou Issei, am.