Story 2: Chapter 2: Apple Thief (Patreon)

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Story 2: Chapter 2: Apple Thief.

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- Mathias -

Two years have passed since I got my Evil Pieces. I still don’t have any peerage members though.The power of the Evil Pieces depends on the King they are bound to so I decided to become stronger first before getting any Peerage Members.

These two years have been peaceful, mainly due to Sirzechs’ secret support. He really kept others from intervening or even finding out about me because I didn’t want anyone disturbing my peaceful life. Sure he has a political agenda behind it but the guy is genuinely a nice person. Only that he is in a position that wouldn’t let him not use me in a political agenda.

Humans are selfish beings. The only ones who would be completely selfless towards you from the start are your parents and sometimes not even them. Other such relationships have to be developed to such a level with time and many hardships, be it friendship or true love(I still think that is a myth). And here we are devils, the embodiment of sins, it wouldn’t make sense for anyone to not have any motives to approach me. The thing which matters is how they are in the relationship, be it friendship or any other for that matter. I am not arrogant enough to think that people will wag their tails in front of me due to the greatness of my personality or goodness of their hearts the first time they see or meet me.

“What are you thinking about, brat?” said a female voice from behind me as a few seeds of dragon apples flew by the side of my face and into the pit I had dug for the animals to eat. “That’s not the look of a fourteen year old. It looks like you are an old man deep in thought. I don't even have such a look when I am thinking.” The blue haired woman behind me spoke.

“I was having philosophical thoughts about life. It’s something that I do after a day of hard work. Makes me feel wise.” I replied, giving her a smile as she just rolled her eyes.

“Learning that from that tutor of yours? She did look as brainy as that hardass brother of hers.” She scoffed.

My tutor, Leila Astaroth, was the younger sister of Ajuka Beelzebub. She was a branch family member of the Astaroth Clan and was married to Septus Agares, the younger cousin of Lord Agraes. They had a daughter together called Latia Astaorth who was eleven years old this year. Leila is a very calm woman. She exhibited this aura that made one feel peaceful, probably taking more after her father who was a Stolas who were famous for their knowledge and Earth Manipulation Skills and were renowned herbalists and was thus very interested in the plants that I grew. We talked in detail about those things when I visited her for my classes. I was however told to not talk about my powers to anyone else. My Zagan powers that is. It actually kinda made me appreciate Sirzechs’ actions. Simply knowing how many people want me dead was a chilling realization.

Leila not only taught me about manners and etiquette but also about the politics of the Underworld, the factions, their agendas and the motives behind any actions they took. It was those lectures that made me see the cold and logical side of the woman and realize that this was in fact the sister of Ajuka Beelzebub. But through all this, the best thing about her that I liked was that she never lied or held anything back from me. She gave me the facts as they were and any questions I had or arguments were turned inside out through cold hard logic. She dissected everything and laid it out in front of me just so that I could accept the truth. Did it make me slightly colder? Maybe. Did I regret it? Nope.

She is one of the people that I have come to respect in this life.

She told me many things I didn’t know. Ajuka Beelzebub didn’t like politics. True. It was because he found their dumb logic unbearable. The way they hid their personal agendas behind flowery words made him want to shoot himself in the head rather than sit through such a meeting. It definitely wasn’t because he was incapable of doing politics. He just disliked it in general.

Ajuka can be very convincing when he wants to and he doesn’t need the use of his powers most of the time. A fact that was proven by how he could convince Tiamat of all people to be my guard.

Yes, the blue haired woman behind me was the Dragon King Tiamat. I mean shouldn’t it be Dragon Queen? She said that she didn’t name herself that and she didn’t care either.

“My tutor is brilliant.” I countered, pouting slightly.

“I never said she wasn’t.” she yawned lightly.

She was here for her breakfast which was Dragon Apples. Apparently all dragons liked them. Many didn’t need them to live like others but they liked them nonetheless.

She came here every morning for her breakfast and then returned to her cave, around 20 kilometers away from here.

“Oh, I forgot to ask something.” I stopped her as she got up.

“Yes?” she asked, slightly confused.

“Won’t you become my Queen, Tiamat?” I smiled and she sighed.

“You really don’t give up, do you, brat? It’s been two years since you met me and each and every day, you ask me the same question only to get turned down everyday. At this point, I cannot even get angry at you anymore. Can’t you just give up already?” She facepalmed at my question.

“I mean why would I give up. Have you seen yourself? You are strong, smart, gorgeous and have that sass that I like in a conversation partner. I would love to have you as my Queen. As for giving up, many good things in life are difficult but does that mean we should give up?” I replied with utmost enthusiasm.

“I have worked with Ajuka for two hundred years now and even he didn’t ask me this question more than eight times. You are probably the most persistent one I have ever met. It may probably also be because I burn anyone that asks me this question. Be happy that you can grow these delicious apples and I can tolerate you more.” she scoffed.

“Really? Do I really have no chance?” I asked, making a questioning face.

“Why do you even want me in your peerage? You are not even interested in Rating Games and all.”

“I told you already, I like you and want you to stay by my side. It’s a purely selfish reason.”

“Yeah. purely selfish alright. At least you don’t use flowery crap or arrogant bullshit that the previous burn victims had spoken. It just makes you more bearable than the rest. Maybe someday if you can beat me in a one on one fight. We dragons respect strength and you have that blood in you too. Defeat me in a straight fight and I’ll consider.” she waved at me and teleported away.

Beat her in a one on one fight?

Yeah, right. She is a B+ Rank, easily. Just below the Heavenly Dragon level.

With the rate things are going on, I wouldn't be anywhere near her level in the next three years at the very least, unless I spend every waking moment just farming… But that kinda defeats the purpose of having a peaceful life altogether.

I checked my Status once more to see the progress made in these two years.

Host: Mathias Buné

Title: The Poor Noble, Pure Blooded Devil, The Farmer

Age: 14 years old. 

Body: C+

Mind: C+

Spirit: C+

Magic: C+

Luck: C+

Skills:

Buné Clan Trait:

Dragon Taming: C+

Dragonification: C+

Dragonfire: D+

Zagan Clan Trait:

Life Magic: C+

Magic:

Teleportation: C

Bounded Field Creation: C+

Memory Alteration: D+

Barrier Magic: C

Martial Arts: C+

Touki: C+

Farm Management

Farm Rank: C

Farming Points: 20,076.

Money: 12,088,000Ⱡ

Shop

Inventory

Things had slowed down a little but that was the way to be expected. The System either let me sell the produce to it to make extra points or sell them to others to make money.

I thankfully sold all the products through my teacher and she was a shrewd businesswoman who knew how to hide the evidence. To be honest, I have doubts that they are probably stocking up the products and paying me the money for it. I did give her a 20% cut in the profits though.

This is something I accepted because we jointly decided to hide everything about my Zagan abilities till I become an adult and strong enough to protect myself.

Fun thing is that I am already as strong as the first and the strongest of both Zagan and Buné had been before their deaths. Not that anyone knew about it. Tiamat was the only one who did and she actually kept it a secret. I asked her why she didn't report this and she claimed that she was asked a favour to protect me and even Ajuka couldn't pay her enough to spy on a child. Her pride wouldn't allow it.

That said, even she herself didn't know the full extent of my power or she wouldn't have made that bet with me in the first place. Maybe my Buné Dragon Tamer Trait was acting passively maybe.

Another problem was that I needed to save a lot of feed for some of the farm animals.

Maintaining a ranch was hard.

Currently my farm is spread over an area of 20,000 hectares. It doesn't even count the water bodies that I had to make around the place for some plants that only grew underwater and the underwater creatures that I was breeding. The water areas took about 2,000 hectares on their own. The entire farm was now divided into four parts.

Each part contains different grades of products, F, E, D and C.

Now, these areas were nearly impossible for me to manage on my own and there came my specially created minions. The Zagan Life Magic was as if just created for the purpose of farming.

I had over five thousand beasts under my command, starting from my digger worm squads making up a majority(which sounded much better than modified earthworms) to Mega Pelippers which kinda looked like their pokemon counterparts but were huge and could spray water from their wings. Each one of the birds had a wingspan of 11 meters. They were commanded to take water from the lakes and make it rain on certain areas at certain intervals. Then there were the Juggernaut Ox, who could use their different shaped tails as farming tools.

There were also my hunter squads both land and air ones, that chased and killed wild demonic beasts.

At my level, I could make creatures one full grade below my skill level.

For example at my current C+ Skill level, I could make life forms at D+ level which was basically the strongest High Class Devil Levels. This made my hunting squads a terrifying force.

They were mainly composed of my Trihounds who had different types of poison needles in their three types of tails, one for sleep, paralysis and killing each. The Nighthawks were similar as they could shoot their feathers with similar effects, yellow ones for paralysis, blue ones for sleep and black ones for killing.

Apart from that I had a special squad of ‘Pets’ that I had to grow - Dryads.

These spirits of nature took one thousand Farming Points a Pop to buy just in the seed form. These seeds, when sown, grow into a tree and give birth to a Loli Dryad at E+ Rank. Then they need to be fed, either fertilizers from the System or other living beings, their blood, flesh or even bones, basically organic matter to grow. They were said to have the potential to grow to B+ Levels at their full potential and that’s pretty insane in itself. That’s the level rivaling Tiamat. Dryads’ bodies also change shape and they ‘grow’ more humanoid as they grow in strength over time, starting from the Loli Tree Girl to a Hot Spirit Waifu. Growing a waifu on a farm. Yeah, I am living the life.

These Dryads are completely loyal to the one who feeds them their blood after they are born. Just a single drop is fine. I have forty of these working for me and they are all D Rank at the moment due to the demonic beasts my Hunter Squads feed them every day. A good thing about Dryads is that they will be almost immortal as long as their Trees (from which they are born) are alive.

At B Rank, they can become independent of their trees and move around.

My forty Dryads are the Squad I call the ‘Green Thumbs’ because they have very basic plant manipulation abilities and affinity with plants and animals. They are almost a plant girl, with tree-like features when they are young and slowly change to a more humanoid form as they evolve and become stronger.

Maintaining such a huge force is a difficult task. My Hunter Squads get attacked and injured most of the time. I had to make a different part of the field as a place to treat them. This happened only six months ago after I upgraded to C Rank. In this area are 40 Therapy Tulips managed by my Dryads.

Therapy Tulip, a plant from the Toriko world that eats the injuries of the ones that are placed inside it. The only drawback was that if they fainted inside it, they got gobbled up. This was however fixed to a certain extent by the Dryads maintaining the plants because they could more or less control the plant using their magic.

Upgrading the Farm Levels is becoming a massive pain in the ass. It took 10,000 Farming Points to upgrade from E to D, 100,000 Farming Points for Upgrading from D to C and now it needs 1 million Farming Points to go from C to B. This is not even counting the other requirements, especially when I am having trouble selling all of my produce now that people can ask about it. I mean it is still fine now but it will be a thing after I reveal myself as a Zagan and expand the business. This is why, I am going all in to become as strong as I can before I am 18 and of age. Things will start to get hectic from then on. I will need to expand my farm and get protection for my crops too.

Another important thing I discovered was that this was a genuine alternate universe and I was glad that I wasn’t trying to push my luck with my knowledge of the future.

What gave that away?

It was the lessons with Leila which helped me understand more about the world but even before that, it was the identity of one person whom I saw on TV.

The Queen of Serafall Leviathan, Euclid Lucifuge.

And boy oh boy had that been a shocker. Sirzechs was married to a Dantalion woman and had a four year old son who was coincidentally named Millicas.

Apparently it was Euclid who played the spy this time around and Grayfia was probably dead, or so I think people believe. I am not even sure what was what?

I guess there was a bit of regret of not getting to see the Maid Waifu. I was against NTR and I actually liked Sirzechs and Grayfia as a pair. They were adorable but hey, she was not married to Sirzechs in this world, so it’s fair game. Again, Serafall was actually not romantically involved with Euclid, it was her cousin who actually married the thankfully not obsessed sis-con in this world and had a daughter around the same age as Millicas too. Also no one fought Serafall for the position of the Leviathan and she became the Satan Leviathan uncontested. Euclid directly rejected taking that position and wanted to actually help Serafall while having more time for his family who back then was only his wife, Mariane Lucifuge.

Another thing that was a BIG stop sign for my knowledge were the stories from Tiamat. She was rather talkative when she got drunk and I had some good wine. It came from Septus, my tutor’s husband who helped to age the grape wine from my Farm’s grapes. Those things were D Ranked and packed quite a punch. We experimented with several of my Farm’s products after that. While my tutor asked me to keep things secret, her husband was in on it, so it was fine. It even gave me an idea about future industries that I may pursue with some kind of partnership with Septus or even the Agares House and the Archduke himself.

The wine of the Dragon Apples got Tiamat and me going. I had called her Tia-mama once while drunk and she had just stared at me for a long time and was quiet for weeks after that. It was only by my persistence that she told the true reason to me. And boy was that an eye opener.

Apparently, the original Tiamat, the Dragon Goddess, the Goddess of Fertility, the Mother Goddess was actually a thing. The key word here being, ‘was’.

That Tiamat was a primordial goddess of the sea, mating with Abzû, the god of the groundwater, to produce younger gods. In doing so however, she lost most of her powers as she gave them to her children. Those children however wanted to usurp the throne by killing their father, which they did. Tiamat in her rage created monsters and set them on the Gods.

She was later killed however and her body was cut into pieces and used to make several things. The ribs into the vaults of heaven and earth, her eyes the source of river Tigris and so on. What they missed however was that her energy had gathered in a different place and given birth to a different Dragon altogether, the current Dragon King, Tiamat.

She was in a way similar to Lilith, the dragon created from Ophis’ power in the Light Novels I remember.

Like wow.

I didn’t know that Tiamat had such a background.

This was apparently also the reason why she was actually interested in me, a Dragon or well kinda sorta Dragon with the power of Life Magic. She didn’t inherit those powers from her ‘mother’ and thus wanted to see for herself. I am supposedly the only dragon with such an attribute since her own ‘mother’. And maybe this is also why I get away with a lot.

To be honest I was kinda glad that the Paperwork Guy gave me this System. Farm Life is the best life. I work everyday and that doubles as training. The Magic part is fun and I can just let my imagination run wild here. My minions are adorable and badass at the same time. They can give puppy dog eyes and tear apart my enemies with equal skill. If that’s not brilliant, I don’t know what is.

- Scene Change -

I was dressed in a suit. Not by choice, I tell you but I’d rather not have my teacher glare at me for coming to her daughter’s birthday in a hoodie. This thing was chosen by her personally and sent to me along with my last month’s payment so that I don’t make an excuse of not knowing or having any suits.

Yeah, I am going to Latia’s Birthday Party because I need to show my face sometimes to not be forgotten. I mean I wouldn’t mind that. In fact I want them to not bother me for like a few decades until I am S+ Ranked in all my Stats and Skills but that ain’t gonna happen. I was also quite a bit annoyed at all this pussy footing around this.

The reason was that even without my Zagan name, I was still the Heir of the Buné Clan. I had to attend social gatherings to make connections. I understood it, but I didn’t like it. I mean anyone would hate it if they knew what utter pieces of shit the young devil children could be. According to my teacher however, the adults were even more annoying and I should develop resistance to it.

The suit might not be my style but it did make me look good. It’s been six months since my challenge with Tiamat. I stood at 165 cm at fourteen years, six months due to my ripped body. It was a swimmer’s build(thanks to the Devil’s limited shapeshifting). I looked like a sixteen years old in terms of my body size. On second thought, maybe even my Buné Heritage helped me. 

The venue was already decorated quite well. It was the birthday of Ajuka Beelzebub’s niece after all. That talk about Satans not being partial to their families looked good on paper and maybe was true to some extent too, especially for someone like Ajuka but if someone said they were completely neutral, that would be a big fat lie.

Thus the party had guests from all the Pillar Clans as well as famous devils from all across the Underworld. Man, I feel so out of place in such an event.

I walked towards the gate and the gatekeeper already recognized me from my visits to the place and simply bowed while granting me entry. Thankfully the event was in my teacher’s mansion and not the main Astaroth Clan palace. That would have been even gaudier.

The hall where the event was held was full already and I quietly occupied a place near the balconies to avoid the crowd. I mean I didn’t find anyone I knew there, not that I knew many people to begin with.

I soon found myself accompanied by another person who had quietly occupied the same place. A child with black hair and purple eyes was looking at the party while trying to make himself look invisible to the rest of the guests.

He probably didn’t expect me in the spot already and looked surprised and turned to go away, maybe to look for a different place but I stopped him. “Hey, there. I am not that terrifying that I would scare you away, now am I?” I smiled towards him. “Come on, join me here. I don't know anyone in the party and was getting bored out of my mind anyway.”

He looked at me surprised but then again that changed with a bit of anger and then sadness. “I don’t think you would want to associate with me, Mister. People don’t exactly like me.” I saw his hands clench.

I narrowed my eyes slightly at the reply. I think I remember something like this.

“Well, people can decide what they like or don’t for themselves, I make my own decisions. Come over here, sit by me. I am Mathias Buné, Heir to the Buné Clan. Nice to meet you. What’s your name?” I asked, to verify my guess.

He looked at me for a bit and then hesitated but answered nonetheless. “I am Sairaorg Bael, I…. am from the Bael Clan.” He had his head bowed down as if waiting for me to snub him away.

As I thought, it was him. I knew about him but didn’t have an exact picture of him so wanted to verify.

“Nice to meet you Sairaorg. Now come here and tell me something about yourself.” I greeted without any change in voice.

He looked up at me surprised.

“What?” I asked completely unbothered.

“You…. do you not know who I am?” he asked, completely dumbfounded.

“You are Sairaorg Bael. You just introduced yourself silly. Why wouldn’t I know who you are?” I completely ignored what he was implying. The child had his confidence stomped on by almost everyone he met. It was kind of sad to even think about it. I think his mother fell sick recently too. Poor guy must be devastated. The fact that he even dragged himself to this place was already admirable.

“I… I mean, I , people don’t like me. I didn’t inherit the Bael House Trait. They all call me a waste.” he cried out half surprised, half angry at my casual behaviour.

“My parents didn’t inherit their families’ Trait’s either but that doesn’t mean they weren’t badasses. Who says you have to inherit the Clan Trait to be strong?” I countered.

“B-but I cannot use magic. I don’t have enough Demonic Power, less than even a Low Class Devil.” He countered back, his voice containing a bit of hope this time as he looked at me.

“Well not having magic can suck.” I saw him look down in defeat but I continued before he could say anything else. “But what of it? Don’t you have your two hands? Also you didn’t inherit the Bael Clan Trait, which was from your father, correct?” He nodded and I continued, not giving him any chance to reply, “Have you tried seeing if you inherited your Mother’s Clan Trait? I mean you have two parents’ correct?

He looked surprised and then confused, "No….I don't know."

"Well then stop sulking and find out. As for not having magic, you have your body, right? Train it till you can surpass others." I lifted a finger and a white aura covered my fingertip. "This is called Touki. It is a form of manipulation of Life Energy and can enhance the strength of the user greatly. Beings like Sun Wukong can use just this to match even Satans. So what if you don't have magic. There are still other things in this world other than magic. Some are just as cool if not even cooler."

"I, can I learn this? I mean how can I learn this?" He asked, looking at my glowing fingertips.

"You need to train. You need to train your body until you pass out, over and over till you break through your limits and let the power of youth burn, YOUTH! and oh… you need to eat your veggies. Yeah, eating veggies is important."

And after that I explained to the twelve year old the wonders of youth and vegetables.

- Leila Astaroth -

"Your student has quite a way with words. I don't think I have seen Sairaorg look so enthusiastic about anything since Misla fell comatose due to her illness." Venalana Gremory said, looking at her former student.

"No, he's just a blunt guy. Getting him to learn tact is just as hard as getting Ajuka to attend political meetings." She scoffed although if someone noticed her closer, they would find a shadow of a smile on her face although they would need to observe very closely.

"I'd take blunt people over backstabbers anyday." Venalana rolled her eyes.

Of course she would. In private, Venalana was also just as blunt. In private though.

"Is that?" She squinted her eyes towards the raised fingertip of Mathias.

"Touki. That's quite impressive for a fourteen year old devil. I don't think many youkai would even have that skill down so finely. Yes, that would be a good alternative for someone like Sairaorg. Touki and Senjutsu don't need any magic and can still make the user very strong. But even more than that, it will give him some hope. Dare I say the people of my former clan have done a great job beating it out of him."

That brat's been holding out on her. She pushed her thoughts aside as she answered.

"He's very dedicated towards training his body."

"Yes, there are rumours about the Farmer Buné. The narrow minded individuals laugh but no one sees that a fourteen year old orphan is already making plans for the future and sticking to it. That's more than what I can say about many others." Venelana replied as they both watched a bunch of children led by her younger cousin Diodora walk towards Mathias. She had an urge to hold her head. Mathias and her cousin didn't get along.

No, that would be putting it lightly. Diodora disdained Mathias as a lucky upstart who was beneath him due to the situation of his parents. His own parents did nothing to stop him either.

Mathias, on the other hand, just thought it was too troublesome to deal with brats, completely forgetting that he was a brat too. Now even that would have been fine. She did agree with his opinion about Diodora but that blunt moron had to just say that to her cousin's face. After that one incident, Diodora made it his life's goal to 'show the upstart his place' while Mathias completely ignored any attempts made by her cousin to rile him up. The worst part was that her uncle could never see any flaw in his son and allowed him to do whatever he wanted.

It was like both father and son were trying their very best to destroy her attempts to befriend the future economic giant that the hidden Zagan Head has the potential to become.

She had the urge to facepalm as she heard the following conversation.

"Well look who's hiding here? It's the farmer who thinks he became a noble. How did you get that suit, Buné? Rented from someone? I don't think your wastrel parents had enough money for that." Her cousin taunted.

"Hahahaha is that the guy? And look who he's with. Isn't that the waste of the Bael? I guess even the Great King can't win it all. Those two make a perfect pair. Birds of a flock and all that." Was that the younger son of the Glasya-Labolas?

She saw Sairaorg clenching his teeth and getting ready to lash out but had his hair ruffled by Mathias who as usual ignored the taunts although the young Bael had a harder time.

She saw the irritated look on Diodora's face as he snarled, "Pay attention you peasant!"

Mathias looked around in mock surprise. "Huh, is that you, Diodora? When did you get here? Sorry na, you are so tiny that I didn't hear you. So, why don't you grow up a bit? " He gave the group a patronising smile. “And are these your friends? All so tiny. You should all grow up a little. If you remain like this, I can only keep on looking down at you while you will have to look up to me. You know what, eat enough veggies. It makes our minds sharper. And boy will you all need that?"

The faces of the kids looked half confused and half angry but they didn't get a chance to retaliate as the birthday girl came out. The actual star of the party, her adorable daughter.

The kids were all called aside for the event.

"I can see what you meant by blunt but still that was pretty tactful in my opinion. My Rias would have probably shot her power of destruction at his face the moment he started that rant." Venalana said and she had to roll her eyes. 

"Keep listening. You will know."

They did just that as the young Bael asked a question.

"Why? How Are you so calm? Those guys insulted you, insulted your parents, so how can you be so calm?" His tone became more agitated as he spoke.

"Hmm, well tell me something, Sai?... Can I call you Sai?" The boy nodded and he continued. "Okay, then tell me, uh you are walking on a road and a dog barks at you, will you bark back at it?"

The young Bael shook his head. "No, why would I do that? That would be stupid."

"Exactly. You should only pay attention to people who can have proper conversations with you. Ignore the cats and dogs. They waste your time."

She saw her former teacher looking at him with a slightly dumbfounded look on her face and gave her two bits, "The problem is, he would have given my Uncle the same reply if he was asked the same question. And that's what I am trying to teach him to avoid doing. Other than that, he's a very friendly guy as you already saw a while ago."

- Mathias -

The most troublesome things about such parties are gifts.

Devils love to show off.

It’s in their nature.

They reveal in vanity, well most of them.

Thus events like these become a place for such things as a matter of fact, especially when gaining the favour of Ajuka is involved, although knowing the guy, he won’t give a shit about their gifts. But that didn’t stop them from trying. The gifts were also a way to show off wealth and to mock others.

I did make a new friend, sort of though.

“Those are the Amon. They have very close relations with the Astaroth Clan. It was something about their head having his life saved during the Civil War by the Astaroth Clan and the two houses have stuck together since then. The one in the line is the second son of the Amon, Iolova Amon. I think there are talks of him being engaged to the Vassago Heiress.”

Armin Glasya-Labolas, the Heir of the Glasya-Labolas Clan. He is a year older than me. He came and apologised to me a few minutes later about his cousin Zephyrdos.

To be honest, I didn’t even know who the children were except that Diodora idiot.

Those troublesome things aside, we hit it off pretty well. He wanted to be an artist but was forced to keep aside his dreams for his position as the Heir and thus actually respected me who didn’t care about what people said and stuck to my farm. He is a very mild mannered guy, almost girlish but I did see the hint of steel in his eyes when he made Zephyrdos apologise to me.

I was being given the identities of the people who were giving their gift to Latia and the adorable little brat was accepting them with all the etiquette of the princess that she more or less was.

Soon it was Armin’s turn. His gift was already prepared by his family. It was a necklace enchanted with their Family’s Barrier Magic. The Glasya-Labolas are inherently good with all types of Barrier Magic due to their Clan Trait of Defence which is… guess what, a Barrier Magic.

He bowed and left soon after and it was my turn. I could feel the gazes of the people on my back as I stepped forward. My teacher gave me a slight nod.

I faced her and spoke, “My gift needs me to summon it. It would have been inconvenient to bring it with me. Do I have the permission to do so?”

General etiquette. You cannot summon anything in other people’s houses. That’s rude. Not to mention the barriers and wards around the house wouldn’t allow you to do so.

She nodded at me and a magic circle lit up on her palm, making me keyed into the barriers temporarily.

I sensed the one I wanted to summon, connected to my farm and my magic did the rest of the work. Soon enough after the Buné Magic Circle lit up, a creature appeared in my arms.

I saw the little brat’s eyes widen and even my teacher’s eyes widened a bit but her face returned back to its normal look as if that had been a mirage of sorts. Murmurs rose around me.

I however didn’t care. The little creature in my arms turned its head and looked at Latia and I spoke to it. “From today on, she is your new master. Serve her well, alright?” It looked back at me and nodded its head. “You can make a contract with it.” I told Latia as I handed her the creature in my arm, who mewled at her breaking her mask as she cuddled the little thing in her arms.

“That’s… quite a gift. This is an Earth Dragon, is it not? They are known for their ferocious natures and even the hatchlings like these are very stubborn. It’s almost unseen for one to be this tame. I take it as your work. The Buné Dragon Tamer powers really live up to its reputation.” Ajuka spoke from the side and I nodded back at him.

“Is this really that good? It doesn’t look like much. I mean it could be a cross breed or an inferior species.” And someone had to poke their noses and who else but the piece of shit, Diodora again.

I mean I don’t even know what that guy’s problem is. It’s not like I did something to provoke him in the first place.

Ajuka just acted as if he didn’t hear that. Yeah, just the way to deal with idiots like him.

“It is without a doubt an Earth Dragon, the scales on its back are proof for that. They are one of the hardiest Dragon species. An average Adult Earth Dragon could be an Ultimate Class being even without any kind of training while they have the potential to reach even higher levels if trained properly. I myself have an Earth Dragon ancestry. Moreover this breed of Dragon is extremely faithful to their partners and masters and  I believe little miss has received an excellent partner for the future.” The one who answered the question or rather whining was not Ajuka but rather, a Dragon himself. Tannin, Blaze Meteor Dragon and the former Dragon King who was in his chibi mode, flying above us like a stuffed toy.

The murmurs increased after the reveal while Diodora’s face was somehow the same shade as Tannin, purple.

“Thank you, Heir Buné.” Latia bowed.

“You are welcome, Miss Astaroth” I gave her a bow as I was taught by her mother and stepped back, arriving near Sairaorg and Armin.

“That was quite something. I didn’t think you would give her something like that. An Ultimate Class Being would be an asset to any house. You might not know but there are over a Dozen Clans without any Ultimate Class Beings and they would do almost anything to get their hands on one. Could it be, are you courting her maybe? I mean I wouldn’t be surprised. She is a good candidate.” Armin commented while I was trying my best to ignore the looks thrown my way.

“Leila Astaroth is my teacher. She has done a lot for me and I wanted to show my appreciation for her help towards me. Don’t think of this as more than what it is.” I stopped that line of thought. Who knows what kind of shit that road will lead me to. I need to get stronger first and think about ‘little me’ after that when I was sufficiently strong enough.

“B-but, don’t you want a dragon for yourself?” Sairaorg asked. “Dragon King Tannin said that it would become an Ultimate Class Being even without doing anything. Are you sure you don’t want something like that for yourself? They could be very useful in the Rating Games.” He asked.

The only thing about that is that I just had to spend 3100 Points to buy the Egg for that little guy. I could buy more of them whenever I want. They were actually animals from my farm. Farms are also used to raise animals for different purposes.

“Eh, I am strong. What will help you in the end is your own strength. You can have a hundred dragons if you want but what’s the use if a single attack can kill you?”

“You have a very… unique way of thinking, Mathias.” Armin took a moment to find the right words to say.

“I am a Buné. I can become a dragon myself. As for wanting a Dragon, I can always find myself one of those at a later date. Don’t sweat it.”

The rest of the party was exactly what I hated in the party… troublesome.

Many people came to greet me all of a sudden and asked if I could tame a dragon for them.

I told them that I got lucky with the young one. I was still learning about my Clan Trait but still it was enough for them.

I met both Rias and Sona again. They came along with a group of other girls including Latia and Seekvairaa to meet me again.

Rias took the opportunity to show me the rabbit I had gifted her. Apparently Sirzechs had been feeding it the veggies from my farm and the little guy was quite strong now, almost as strong as a Mid Class devil. It had a small horn on its head and could use wisps of fire magic. It might have developed an affinity to fire magic from eating Fire Tomatoes.

It was still nothing compared to even my Hunter Squads, let alone the pets from the Farm but still for something created on a whim, it became something really good. I wonder how strong my Digger worms can grow if I raise them well with the veggies.

I obviously dropped the thought as soon as it came to me. I would rather make newer batches of Digger Worm v2.0.

The food was amazing. It reminded me that I needed a cook for my house. The thought about maids always left me iffy because of the last maid I or rather the previous Mathias had. I might have developed a subconscious trauma towards Maids.

Maybe I should consider getting a peerage member, preferably someone who can cook well.

- Scene Change -

I was on my farm. Two months had passed since the birthday party. I have a new friend and a few regular visitors to my farm.

Armin and I kept in contact after that party. Despite the girly looks, and calm and composed temperament, the guy was quite picky with his friends.

As for the visitors, the girls from the party visited me sometimes with their siblings. They didn’t visit the restricted areas though. Sirzechs wanted to ask if I made the earth Dragon and I just agreed. It would be stupid not to as my farm would be filled with animals more awesome than those. He wanted to ask if I could get a good pet Millicas for his birthday. He would owe me a favour. Although he asked for it to be presented away from other people’s sight. I could do as much for him. The guy was running around a lot for my sake and even asked Mathers to help me learn how to set up Bounded Fields and when I was strong enough, the Spells to create an alternate dimension like the Rating Game dimensions to hide my farm.

Currently, my C Rank Farm Upgrade gave me the ability to manipulate the space of my farm. I could increase the space in a certain area kinda like the expansion charms in the suitcase of Newt Scamander. The next level of the Farm will allow me to change the complete biomes of the areas.

The reason I am out right now is because for the past few days, a thief has been raiding the farm and eating the dragon apples.

They slipped through the senses of all my minions as well as the Dryads and that alone was something alarming for me.

The good thing was that whoever it was, all it did was eat the apples, mostly of the D Rank or above and leave. Why I knew they didn’t take the apples with them was because they threw the leftovers all over the place. All my traps and detection spells failed to even know when it came or left.

So, today I was keeping a night watch.

This farm is my hoard and no one touches a dragon’s fucking hoard.

Upon reaching the clearing, I saw the culprit. Red hair and a sharp face, muscular build, the guy smelled like a dragon. Somehow, my instincts were telling me that if I fought or even had a bad thought about it, I would die and I trusted my new Dragon Instincts a lot. It has served me a lot in the recent few months.

I used Observe on it and saw the name and my blood chilled.

[Great Red, Rank S]

The fuck.

“Oh, you are finally here. It was always those grass humans or those damned dogs and eagles. Come on, have a few, it’s your farm after all.” It spoke casually without even looking back.

A table and two chairs formed from nowhere in between us and I took it as an invitation and took my seat. He continued.

“These things are really something. I always come to meet you but I get lost in their taste. It’s nothing like the ones grown by other Dragons.” He turned around and several apples floated from the trees directly to the table in front of us as he took a seat. “So, I take it that you have questions.”

Well obviously. I have a ton of questions.

“I have a ton of questions too.”

My eyes widened as I looked at him casually taking another bite from the apple. It can read my mind!

“I cannot read your mind. Well not normally, I can when you are sleeping and dreaming. I can hypnotise and make you speak anything though. Also your face is just too easy to read.”

“So you have read my mind?” I asked as I was understanding the gravity of such a situation.

“Well yeah. It was interesting.” he shrugged his shoulders.

“Why? Why would the mind of someone like me be interesting? Why did you even think about reading my mind?” I asked him, already knowing the reply or at least a part of the reply.

“Well, I roam around in the Dimensional Gap but that can get boring. I am the Dragon of Dreams after all so I can sometimes enter the dreams of others and watch things. It is a pass-time of mine. So imagine my surprise when I saw a dream about myself when I was doing my usual dream diving. A dream of me singing a ridiculously dumb song. It made me laugh, so much that Ophis would have gotten an aneurysm, so much… that I decided to see everything.” He stopped laughing and looked at me straight into my eyes.

At this moment, I only had one thought in my mind - how the fuck did my farm game switch to the apocalypse mode so suddenly.

- Great Red -

Great Red watched the boy's face turn into one of shock and then horror. It was not surprising.  Even someone like him was caught off guard when he had seen the boy's memories. His entire life being a dumb book.

At first he had laughed the things off but that was only until he saw the information about his death.

Oh he had scoffed at the boy. Even if he did have ideas about other worlds, something like this was still far fetched.

But the damned thought just refused to leave his mind and finally he decided… to investigate.

At first he found several inconsistencies with the boy's memories but then he started finding the similarities and even the coincidences had to end at some point.

The greatest alarm bell was when he checked the boob Dragon Emperor. He was the so-called protagonist of that damned world so it was evident that he would get something from checking it. And he struck gold there. Quite literally.

The boy was marked by a foreign Goddess, someone not from this world and someone strong enough that even he had to seriously look through the boy to find it.

The domain of the Goddess was something related to mind and corruption of some sort which were mixing with Ddraig's dragon aura. It could be used by the Goddess to monitor the boy as well as used to lend him some strength temporarily. The dots were connecting. The times in the memory when the boy could magically become stronger, why people around him became such idiots, why everyone was accepting such bizarre things as if normal.

The boy could read minds, awaken people whose minds had disconnected from their bodies, and many other things just didn't make sense given the boy didn't have any talent for magic or any semblance of magic power to be of worth. Normally being born with pitiful magic is common but having such amounts of magic even after having his body reconstructed by the power of two Dragon Gods?

One just didn't summon Gods from other universes just by desiring breasts or half the world would be doing the same.

Whatever the intention of this Goddess may be, he didn't want any part in it and neither did he want this world to be messed up because of it. This was his world, dammit!

So the first thing he did was put the Mark on the boy in a dream, so that the Goddess can only move about in a dream. Second, he covered the entire world in a barrier, hiding it between dream and reality that will make it nearly impossible to track or even find it. For the third, he came to the source of it all, the boy. He had several good things in his memories although everything about his so called Farm was blocked by a power that chilled even his blood.

Two beings stared directly into his soul, one with green eyes which flashed a rainbow couloured light while the other a soul chilling blue. He froze in place. He knew that those beings didn’t exist there. It was just a memory, an imprint and yet he couldn’t move. The Dimensional Gap around him started to shift as letters appeared in front of him.

“Maybe in a billion eons… just maybe though.”

This was a power beyond anything he could even think of. After being the strongest, being subjected to such an emotion was… humbling.

If such beings wanted to do something, they didn’t need to play around with a puppet like this. This… seemed to be some kind of entertainment for them. Just like he watched the dreams of others, they preferred to watch the life of the boy.

The boy himself was completely unaware of things and preferred to farm above anything else. There were no world destroying or world saving aspirations in his mind, just a peaceful life on his farm.

And that’s when he decided to use fire against fire. One was an opponent that could kill him with a mere thought while the other was someone manageable who was messing up the world. He couldn’t do anything for the first one but he sure as well could for the second and what better way to shove it to both the parties by using one outsider to fight the other.

The beings didn’t stop him from reading his memories but only appeared when the farm related topics were approached. That was a clear message that they wouldn’t babysit him.

He could still use the boy in some way. Maybe get an ally. Maybe subtly guide him to the other party. The second was out of question because of the boy’s knowledge and his own nature, disliking such underhanded tactics... The first was the only way left.

He could use the boy to make a strong enough force to resist the invasion of the ExE world or any others that may follow.

He would just needs to firmly bind the boy to the world.

And he was here to complete the first part of that grand plan… by… 

- Interlude -

- Sirzechs Lucifer -

“He said he made that Earth Dragon. Tannin however didn’t find any difference between them.”I informed the others sitting in the room.

“So, you are telling me that the boy, he’s becoming quite a hunk to be called a cutie now, made a real dragon?” Serafall called and he nodded even as he felt ridiculous while doing so.

“Did you find any difference or speciality in it, Ajuka?” Falbium asked and the man shook his head before replying.

“No. The dragon was completely normal. I made sure to run several diagnosis spells on it but it was a healthy child, male and recently born. DId he tell you how he did that? The Zagan Trait is a complete unknown for us and even the books we could dig out weren’t very useful about it.” Ajuka asked and he nodded.

“He said that he absorbs the life force from his plants and crops, and uses the energy from them to create beings beyond his own level. The more life force he pushes, the more perfect the creations. He has been experimenting with this skill for a while and the evidence is the different unique demonic beasts all around the farms that guard and maintain the place.”

“Oh, new Demonic Beasts?”

“There were several kinds of demonic beasts, hounds, eagles and such. Mathews reported there to be gigantic birds that carried water from the lakes and sprayed it all over the fields to water the plants. They were well above normal Mid Class Demonic beasts and the guards that he assigned all around the place were all around High Class Demonic beasts. There are several hundred of them who go on rounds to hunt the beasts from the pits. Their teamwork was quite refined as they could work in tandem with each other to bring down their foes. They use the bodies of the Demonic Beasts as food or fertilizers for the plants. The other demonic beasts clear out the new areas and make it suitable for farming more crops.”

“Did he tell you how the Trait works?” Falbium asked.

“I don’t think we have the right to ask such questions, Falbium. If it is discovered, not only would several other houses raise shit over it, the boy himself might feel distrust. Remember that in just two and a half years he has an army of several hundred demonic beasts under his command. We are actually lucky that the boy is so obsessed with his farm. Did the psych tests that Leila perform on the boy give solid results?” Serafall asked in a rare Satan tone.

“Mathias has no interest in politics. In fact he was actually asking advice from my sister on how to avoid political meetings altogether. He apparently genuinely enjoys his work. My brother-in-law is planning to start a wine business with him. From what I have learned from Leila, although she denied telling me the details because he was her student, Mathias is a simple-minded guy who likes to avoid trouble and do his own work. He has shown good tolerance to taunts and is not biassed towards reincarnated devils or even those of other races. If she had one flaw to report about him, that would be his bluntness. The boy doesn’t like scheming and is absolutely straightforward in things he does.” Ajuka explained.

“My brother Armin also has only good things to say about him although he did say about his blunt nature too. My other cousin on the other hand sigh I am glad that it’s Armin who’s the heir.” Falbium sighed and he knew why too. “But do you think he will remain the same and not try to absorb life from things he shouldn’t to create stronger things?”

“I don’t think that’s possible. He can apparently only absorb his crops. Even animals are immune to his absorption.”

“Hmm, then I might have an idea. It might be because the crops ultimately have his own energy which grows over time and he can absorb it easily as they don’t have the will to resist the absorption too. Animals on the other hand have their energy changed over time and have a will of their own to resist the absorption even subconsciously. If that’s the case then it’s understandable. What he is doing is temporarily increasing his power by using his crops as a battery of sorts and using this power to create new animals before he loses control of this. The new creatures thus born are stronger than what he can make normally. By the way, how about the rabbit that your sisters have? Are they still growing?”

“They are. Saggy is such a cutie. She even developed water magic and is as strong as a Mid Class Devil. So-tan is trying to teach her how to read although I don’t think it will be easy.”

“Rias’ pet rabbit or as Mathias’ calls them, Almiraj, Akame is also growing fine. She did grow a horn though and developed some Fire Magic too.”

“Are they being trained?”

“Only some basics of fire magic but they learn it naturally, that said, I have seen her staring at Beowulf practice martial arts and she never moves from the place. I think Rias has even recorded her trying to copy the moves and even move like Beowulf. It was adorable. I have consigned a pet for Millicas too. I personally think children can develop a good sense of responsibility and even learn how to manage their peerages well if they can train their pets like this. Normal familiars are not like this though.”

“That’s an interesting thought. Anyways, I want the details of their growth as well as the corresponding diets. Do they hit a ceiling in power or can they grow even without those crops? Is Mathias’ power needed to make them grow and even evolve maybe or is that growth happening with other food too? It will help me verify certain things.”

They all nodded and agreed.

“Still, I didn’t think the boy would give something like that to your niece.” Serafall laughed. “Many people were thinking that he was proposing to her.”

“I have heard such talks as well. Apparently Armin asked him that and he replied that it was because Leila was his teacher and he was showing his appreciation for her help.”

Ajuka pinched his forehead lightly, “Yes, about that. He didn’t have any such intentions but… now my sister actually has such intentions. She actually wishes to engage Latia to him and announce when he comes of age. She and my brother-in-law are still discussing the prospects of such a marriage. Latia has inherited my brother-in-law’s time magic and if paired with the Zagan’s life magic, the production of any crops will be increased by a lot. Latia is not the Heir and it will be good for her too. They still haven’t decided on it yet. It might just end up like that knowing my sister.”

“This… is actually really good news.” He said and his friend nodded as well.

“You do both know that when the news about his Heirships are revealed, especially his Zagan powers, the other houses will not allow him to have just one wife. The Great King faction will be on our heads for hiding the news even if we use the excuse of his protection and his own requests as a reason. They will not stop so easily.” Falbium commented.

“We will leave it for when that happens. For now, we need to make sure that he is trained well enough to survive the reveal of his identities. The reactions will not be from the devils of the other factions only but also from the Angels and the Fallen Angels. Tiamat can only protect him so much. I can understand why they were so frightened of the Zagan now but we cannot lose such a valuable ally.”

They agreed to this and then moved on to other important topics.

____________________________________x___________________________________________________________________________x_______________________________________

Beta Reader: LuluViBritania(FF.N, SB and QQ)/-LuluViB|99th Britannian Emperor(Discord)

Author’s Note:

So, I got some inspiration and wrote this chapter too.

The time skip was to show his progress and the things he did. I am not sure if people will like him planting and harvesting crops every time and the first few years need a time skip. The real story will start when his identity is revealed. We will obviously have many unexpected things in the background.

I mean Mathias could either be an obnoxious brat like most of the SI stories and try to poke his nose into things that might get him killed for the sake of his dick or take his time simply training, growing crops and becoming stronger while trying to win over a badass waifu like Tiamat in the safety of his own home.

If MC being a laid back dude is not to your liking then, this might not be a story for you. 

Butterflies are actually a thing here.

If you find some minor inconsistencies, age, gender, etc, ignore them as a part of the AU. I mean if fucking Euclid can become a civil married man and that too Serafall’s brother-in-law, then we have already established things are different in this universe. Just roll with it and see where it goes in future.

About the party and the conversations were to show what the people in the underworld actually thought about Mathias and his relations with different people.

The Great Red thing was a sudden inspiration I had and as I thought about it, the plot seemed more interesting. Detective Red or was it, Detective Great is on a case to save his ass and maybe even somehow protect his world. His assumptions are his alone. It might or might not be the real case and I will not make any comments on it. The ExE part will not be a problem here though. Just trust me on this.

Lulu: Great Detective Red?

As for the Satans, they are currently wondering and making assumptions about Mathias’ powers. If only they knew.

Enjoy the new chapter.

Good Day, Peace Out.