The letter in Hironori’s hand was short and concise, all it said was “You promised me that you would do me a favor, so instead of living a normal, ordinary life, I wish for you to attend the National Magic Institute of Japan. Since your demon is so strong you need to learn to control it, and I am sorry to say but you also need to now be monitored.” 

His first reaction to this was shock, and momentary anger at Nao for pulling him away from his peaceful and fulfilling life. However, after thinking about from his perspective her could understand Nao’s predicament, how could they leave something as strong as a triple SSS rank demon unmonitored, it is equivalent to having a ticking time bomb that could go off at any minute. He went back to the men and the first thing he asked was “How am I expected to pay for the tuition, from what I have heard even if it has been reduced because the person has great talent, it is still at least seven million yen a year?”

They were actually shocked that this was his first and foremost concern. But what they did not know was that Hironori was extremely adaptable, if he was not he would not have been able to be calm about being possessed by a demon, or would be able to put up with Rose’s behavior. One of them replied calmly, “This was all covered by Endo Naoki, not only will your tuition be waved, all your daily necessities will be covered by the academy.”

Hironori thought that this situation was strange and asked skeptically “ Now why is that?”

They simply answered that it would all be answered when they arrived at the academy and that they would be back tomorrow to pick him up.

After going back to the kitchen, Rose was sitting there waiting for him, as she had finished eating, and asked, “who was that?” 

He explained the situation to her and instead of getting angry like he had expected, she seemed ecstatic about the idea saying “Does that mean I will be able to attend a so called school and get to wear the uniforms?”

Still being extremely shocked at her reaction all he could do was say “Yes.” 

She grabbed his hand and pulled him into his bedroom and said with a huge smile on her face “Hurry up and pack your clothes and anything else you need.”

At seeing such a pure smile on her face all he could do is agree and start packing. Hironori really was not one to enjoy shopping and was not all that interested in material possessions, so it only took an hour to pack all the belongings he planned on taking with him. As for Rose she watched him for about twenty minutes, then ran off somewhere because she got bored. 

Other than the visitors in the morning the day was rather uneventful and boring, Hironori just spent the rest of the day teaching Rose the common sense of the world, and how to use technologies such as the cellphone, and a remote. As she was an extremely quick learner she only needed to hear his explanations once, and she remembered everything. 

The only other things worth mentioning are that the entire time she was with Hironori she was attempting to flirt with him, such as whenever they took a break she would sneak up behind him and hug him while whispering sweetly “Guess who it is Hiro.” And then laugh as Hironori blushed in embarrassment. Also Hironori found out what seems to be her one weakness. When it was six at night the two were hungry and Hironori was attempting to teach her how to cook, but it ended halfway as Rose actually set the food on fire and Hironori had to put it out.

The next morning one woke up early, while the other was forced into being a hug pillow yet again and got very little sleep. After the two got dressed and ate there was a knock on the door and the two men were there as expected. They were shocked at seeing just how beautiful Rose was, but quickly recovered from it when Rose beautifully ignored them. They carried the luggage for them, and when they got outside the building Hironori was the only one shocked to see that there was a limousine waiting there for them, as Rose did not understand the significance of it. 

The drive was a little under five hours and before even the first hour had passed Rose had fallen asleep against his arm. He thought that this would be a good time to tell his aunt and uncle that he would be studying at the academy, but hide the details about his demon, and explain it as they said that he had good talent and waved his fees. As he was careful to take out his phone as to not wake up Rose, he called them and they were extremely excited for him and wished him good luck.

When the limo finally stopped he gently tried to wake up Rose, but when she said “ugh… five more minutes”, he carefully pinched her nose and watched as she jumped awake, and looked at him with angry, teary eyes. Then the doors opened and he saw a dazzlingly large and grand complex of bright, white buildings. There looked to be at least five buildings, and each one was the size of any normal school. Matched with the perfectly clear blue sky, this scene looked as if it were taken directly from a painting. 

After thoroughly taking in the scenery he and Rose, who was just as amazed, followed the men into the building that was just beyond the entrance. They said “Wait here and a receptionist will show you into the headmasters office, and he will explain everything.” Then they left.

 After both of them waiting for only a few minutes a man in a suit showed up and guided them to onto an elevator that led directly to the top floor, and showed them to a door and bowed saying “This is the headmaster’s room, please enter.” Then left.

Hironori gulped and quickly walked forward to open the door, along with Rose who was not nervous at all. When they opened the door they saw a room filled with bookshelves, and a large wooden desk in the center. Sitting at the desk was a man that seemed to be in has early fifties, with a gray hair, making him seem older. He looked like a dandy old man. He had an air of confidence around him, as if he could take care of any problem that presented itself. 

The headmaster said in a voice that was neither to high nor low “Welcome to the National Magic Institute of Japan, everyone just calls me headmaster. Now I imagine that you must have a few questions so you may sit down and ask anything you want.”

Hironori said “Yes, the first being how did Nao manage to allow me to have free tuition, and join in the middle of the year?”

Headmaster chuckled slightly and answered “By Nao do you happen to mean Endo-sensei?”

“Ehh that man is a teacher?” This genuinely surprised Hironori, no matter how he looked at it he could not see him as a teacher.

“Don’t worry about it, even his students couldn’t believe that man was a teacher when they had him for the first time. As for your question, Endo-sensei is the head teacher of runes and summoning magic. And we allowed you in no with tuition required because we currently desperately need all the power we can get.”

Hironori got serious and asked, “What do you mean by that?”

“Currently what the majority of the public does not know is that there is an immensely powerful enemy encroaching this world.”

 Hearing this Rose who has been silently observing with relative interest until now suddenly interrupted “ You are talking about gods, are you not?”

The headmaster nodded his head in agreement and Rose took over the position of explaining to Hironori "The beings that I just mentioned are things from another world that claim that they are the gods that rule over everything. They are the beings recorded in the various religions across this planet. They believe that they are superior to all other forms of life and are the mortal enemies of demons, this is another reason why we contract with humans, to be able to kill these gods.”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

She finished, and the atmosphere was so heavy one could actually feel it pressing down, that is until, “But don’t worry my little Hiro, I am strong enough that if one of those pests come along I’ll burn so them so that not even ashes remain!” Rose said this while hugging Hiro. 

This display made the headmaster become shocked, then laugh until he was actually crying. “Looks like the rumors are true, only the seventy two pillars are capable of just writing off gods as pests!” 

While saying that Hironori looked slightly touched and said “thank you Rose.” And was thinking to himself “I think that she just said something extremely terrifying like it is nothing.” 

“Now that the heavy discussion is out of the way, lets discuss your schedule for school.” The headmaster said with a smile on his face. 

“What do you mean by that?” Hironori was confused by what that meant.

“He means what magic and other courses you want to take!” said Rose excitedly.

She took the packet of options away from Hironori and started circling options without caring about the stares from the other two. Soon after she handed it back to the headmaster and he raised his eyebrows in surprise. “The class on fire magic I can understand because you are a demon that’s specialty is fire, but why are almost all the others oriented on close combat?” 

Hironori quickly looked at the list and wanted to scream. The list had introduction to fire magic, single close combat practice, group battle practice, weapon practice, and the study of runes. Hironori was in decent shape, but all these classes would definitely make him die from overwork. However, she did not stop there, “I also want a private tutor to teach him etiquette. Also, I wish to also get a uniform and go to the classes with him. And lastly, we are going to share a room.”

While Hironori was practically crying from how difficult this was going to be, the headmaster asked “While I also understand the etiquette class so he doesn’t embarrass himself in front of the many nobles attending. Again, why must he be forced into so many combat classes, and why do you want to be with him.” The headmaster smartly just glided over the subject of them sharing a room.

She calmly replied “My personal magic specializes in armed close combat while also using magic so he naturally must excel in these areas. I want to enroll with him because being in a school sounds like fun!”

“Hahaha okay, I’ll allow it. Sorry Hironori but since this will only benefit you in the future tough it out.” He said while smiling and giving thumbs up to the now crying Hironori.

Then there was a knock on the door and a high pitched, respectful voice came from the other side “Headmaster, I have come to guide the new student around the campus.”

“You may enter.” said the headmaster regaining his calm, steadfast atmosphere.

Then a girl with bright red hair, bright red pupils to match, with a body that was perfect, and face that was so beautiful that one could not help but think that she belonged in a painting walked in and saw quite a strange sight.

Hironori was crying with his hands on his face, and Rose sneaked up to his side while patting his back and whispering to him that this was all necessary and that he will thank her later. All the while the headmaster was just looking at the scene with a slight smile on his face, doing nothing. 

When the woman saw rose she was momentarily stunned by her, and then said while bowing “I am sorry did I interrupt something.” Finally realizing that the woman was there he wiped his tears and quickly said, “No it’s nothing.” 

When he saw the woman, although he was not stunned, because he has been with Rose constantly for the past two days, he still thought that she was an absolutely perfect beauty.

While thinking this the headmaster said to him “This woman is named Kano Andrea, and she will be your tour guide around the school. If you ever have any questions just ask her.”

Hironori bowed and said “Nice to meet you, I am Isa Hironori, just call me Hironori” and Rose just plainly said with little interest “My name is Asmodeus” 

While Andrea was surprised at Rose’s name, she did not think anything of it, and replied “As you have already heard, my name is Kano Andrea, just call me Andrea. Well let’s begin the tour.”

They had already been shown the martial arts building, the runes building, and the building that was for normal courses such as history, and mathematics, the last is the magic building as they were being shown around it Andrea said ,“By they way Asmodeus, your name is surprisingly fitting for a contractor, as you are named after the most powerful fire demon to ever exist.” 

After saying this she saw both Rose and Hironori chuckle to themselves and Hironori said “She is not a human you know, she is the real Asmodeus.”

Hearing this Andrea was in shock and in order for her to believe them Rose had take off his coat, showing off the circle on the back oh his hand with lines coiling up his arm, and when she touched it, it became so bright that Andrea was blinded. The only reason that Hironori was okay was because Rose covered his eyes with her hand. 

She instantly kneeled and paid her respects to Asmodeus. When Hironori saw this he asked her “ I know Rose I very powerful, but is she really worthy of you kneeling to her?”

This made Rose frown, but then suddenly smiled when Andrea nearly yelled, “Of course, to a contractor that practices fire magic she is an idol, she is at the very pinnacle of fire magic. It is said that she can control every type of flame in existence.”

He looked skeptically at Rose, saying nothing. Seeing this Rose got angry and said with an obviously fake sulking face “Why are you doubting my power so much.”

After that he continued to tease her until they were shown to their room and when they were left alone she said seriously “Hiro you should go after that woman.”

Hironori was so shocked he actually jumped off of the couch they were sitting on and screamed “WHAT!”

She said “What that woman earlier said about me, while not being the entire truth, is a portion of it. What my magic does is I get absorbed into your body and my magic forms a set of armor and a scythe for you to use. However, the biggest feature is that it allows you to form flames out of any attribute, there is however, one catch. You must learn the magic on your own from other people that have a contracted demon corresponding to that element. Also, you must learn the very essence of the magic you want to copy, the very core of the element. The only way to do this is to form a contract of sorts with the person, they have to swear to follow you forever, and live for you sake. In return you will never abandon them and will protect them to the best of your ability. While Andrea may also practice fire, she uses the complete opposite of the type that you can use. Yours will specialize in fine tuned control, while hers is absolute explosive strength."

Hironori thought to himself “What an entirely selfish one sided magic.” While in a state of shock from what he had just heard.