Story 2: Chapter 5: A trip to the Farm (Patreon)

Story 2: Bune Farmer Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 5: A trip to the Farm

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- Mathias Buné -

I stood in front of my peerage, except for Tiamat. They were told who was going to come there and visit the farm and thus to remain on their best behaviour.

“But we are always well behaved.” Valerie pouted.

“Replacing the Rainbow Fruit with the ‘Vanilove Fruit’ was not correct behaviour.” I replied back.

“B-but you told us that we could arrange the gift as we wanted and Leafa had eaten the Rainbow Fruit. Also the Vanilove Fruit looked so much cuter. Say something Gaspie.” She prodded the boy beside her who had finally gained enough courage to stand outside without fainting now.

The reason for this was Tiamat. She trained the boy herself to get over his crippling social anxiety. She was planning to make him like a proper dragon, just without dragon’s blood. The touching thing was that, despite what would be considered borderline abuse by many others, Gasper enjoyed Tiamat’s attention. For the boy who had never known a mother, Tia had become Tiamama.

I had once said this and it had made the boy blush like a bright red apple while the dragoness had just scoffed at the idea but was still smiling.

It had given the boy a lot of confidence and he was growing out of his anxiety issues. Although, he still wore girl’s clothes… which even Tia found adorable.

“U-umm,” Ingvild called out to me. She had revealed her heritage to me at a later date and I reassured her that I won’t let anything happen to her. She was probably scared at the guests arriving, especially knowing their identities. Anyone would be nervous, let alone someone like her.

“Don’t worry. The ones coming here won’t do anything. You are in my peerage. Also, you are free to hide your identity if you want. It is your choice. I will back you up, no matter what you choose.” I patted her head and she nodded shyly.

It has been two weeks since the party and I had finally gotten some points in another harvest to get my stats to the level. It took me six months to get my stats to the peak and now I just had to collect points for the next Upgrade.

Host: Mathias Buné

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

Age: 16 years old. 

Body: B+

Mind: B+

Spirit: B+

Magic: B+

Luck: B+

Skills:

Buné Clan Trait:

Dragon Taming: B+

Dragonification: B+

Dragonfire: B+

Dragon's Aura: B+

Dream Manipulation: B+

Zagan Clan Trait:

Life Magic: B+

Magic:

Teleportation: C+

Bounded Field Creation: B+

Memory Alteration: C+

Barrier Magic: B+

Spatial Magic: B+

Martial Arts: B+

Touki: B+

Cooking: B+

Abnormality Resistance: B+

Farm Management

Farm Rank: B

Farming Points: 72,128.

Money: 44,488,000Ⱡ

Shop

Inventory

It has been six months since I upgraded to the B Ranked Farm.

This time, I merely focused on my existing skills and a new Skill, Cooking.

Most of the things I get from the Toriko World on my farm, need to be cooked by ridiculously proficient cooks to get the best results from them. This made me take the Cooking Skill.

Also, none of the people on my farm know cooking. It was fine when I was alone but with several others, I decided to take on cooking myself to avoid disasters.

I mean, I even had the thought of letting Lavinia inside the kitchen. Valerie and Gasper are too young and Ingvild has just started learning cooking. Oh, and I laughed at the thought of Tia cooking.

I noticed the change on my Status Panel.

16 years old. It has been over four years since I was sent to this world. I looked around me, the vast stretches of land covered in different types of plants, as far as eyes could see.

The product of all four years of my work was in this place.

Leila knew of my birthday and decided that today was going to be the day they visited so that everyone could celebrate my birthday with me on the farm.

"Where is Lavinia, by the way?" I asked, not seeing the blonde airhead anywhere.

"She went out for a bit and will be returning by afternoon." Ingvild thought for a moment and replied.

"Alright." I nodded and went out to check on Sai. He had been waiting for the others outside.

I reached outside the gates and found Sai standing and several magic circles appeared at that very instant and out came all the guests.

The four Satans. Leila, her husband Septus, Latia. Armin was accompanying his brother. Euclid and Sirzechs' peerage members joined the party too. He himself was here with his entire family.

Today was the first tour of my farm lands.

The chorus of Happy Birthdays filled my ears as the guests entered inside my farm area.

"This place is beautiful. I remember flying over this area once during the wars and once later on and it looked drastically different from how it looks now. If I didn't know better, I would have believed that I had teleported to the wrong location entirely. Did you do this all by yourself?" Zeoticus Gremory asked me after taking a look at the place.

"I was helped by others." I replied humbly.

"The work of your creations is also considered your own." Sirzechs smiled.

"The barriers around the place are quite well made. I find it hard to notice some areas and even when I do, I cannot penetrate the insides of the barrier to see what is on the inside of the farm. If I am not wrong, whatever we are seeing is not all of it?" Ajuka asked and I observed a small magic circle in his hands.

"I put the barriers to hide the place. In case someone teleported here accidentally, all our efforts would be wasted. The more special areas are inside. Let's have some breakfast first, then we can take a tour of the farm." I called them in to sit in my garden.

"You did all this by yourself?" Euclid asked, making some magic circles and observing.

"Hmm, yes. I learned Bounded Field Creation and Spatial Magic especially for this. Mr. Mathers helped me out with it. The books in his library were quite inspirational too."

"I only helped you with the basics. That said, even I didn't realise that there were barriers around us. This is truly a magnificent warding system." Mathers jumped around inspecting the wards.

Sai led everyone to the breakfast table while I called for my peerage members and followed.

Preparing the entire thing took a long time and I started to wonder if I could get someone who can cook in my peerage.

My peerage members arrived soon enough. 

Leila looked at me and I introduced them all. "These are my peerage members. Gasper and Ingvild, my pawns and Valerie, my bishop. There is another person who I want to recruit as a bishop but she is currently out to hunt for demonic beasts around the area."

Ingvild was understandably nervous, while the other two fidgeted. On second thought, Gasper looked like he was ready to dash away from the place at a moment's notice.

Serafall was the one who spoke with a smile. "So, who was the one who packed the gift?"

"Ah, that was Valerie. She thought that the Vanilove Fruit looked cuter." I replied, looking at the blushing Valerie.

"I am sorry for the misunderstanding."

"Oh, no harm done child. I can assure you that it looked cute. Just like you or even cuter. In fact, it looked so cute that my Rias developed a massive crush on Mathias due to it." Venalana laughed while I and a few others suddenly looked at Rias who was currently sporting a nuclear blush. To be honest it was adorable to see the usually outspoken girl blushing like this.

"Mother!" She protested.

The surprise happened when Rias went to Gasper with a squeal to hug him to hide her own embarrassment.

Everything stopped.

"Wait! Gasper doesn't mean anything." I shouted before anyone could make a move. "It's fine Gasper. No one will hurt you." I hugged the boy and patted his back to calm him down. No one interfered. 

The time went back to normal.

"Are you fine now?"

"Sorryyyyy." He muttered softly.

"It's fine, you were surprised. Happens with the best of us."

After calming the boy down, I looked at the group who looked for an explanation while Rias looked around in confusion.

"Gasper is not used to the presence of other people and sometimes loses control when agitated." I explained.

"Did something happen just now? How did Gasper get there?"

"If I am not wrong, this is the Forbidden Balor's View?"

"It is. Gasper's immense magical power makes it so that the Sacred Gear is in Balance Breaker at all times. It can stop time within a certain area and he activates it unconsciously when excited or scared."

"He?!"

"Ah, yes. Gasper is a boy."

"Then… why the girl's dress?"

"B-because it's cute." He whispered out shyly.

"It is." Two people nodded at this. Unsurprisingly, Serafall and surprisingly, Venelana, who even added, "I think I have some photos of Sirzechs' childhood like this."

… 

… 

"You could seal it until Gasper grows older." Euclid suggested.

"It's fine. I can control it if it ever goes out of control. I think it is good for him to get used to his powers by himself instead of avoiding it. Although learning about sealing might be of help if I ever encounter something later on."

Yeah, sealing is an OP hax skill no matter the world. The God of the Bible was probably an Uzumaki in hiding. Blonde and with a sealing fetish, going around sealing everything.

The dishes were served as we sat down.

It was mainly the food from the Toriko world.

"These are Surprise Apples topped with Sherbet Apples. Surprise Apples get tastier the more they are surprised. The drinks are Blue Hawaiiyokan and Soda Watermelons. Oh, the strawberries are called Cuticle Berries and help in hair growth as well as keeps the hair shiny and healthy."

"The Surprise Apples are different from the last time." Rias said as she ate one.

"This time, I had Tiamat scare them. The taste can be extremely different depending on how much you scare them. Actually, we play this game a lot. Measuring how much one can surprise it. These little things can surpass the taste of even the best fruits currently grown on the farm, although it would require a tremendous danger to get that level of surprise. On the scale of one to one hundred, the ones you are eating now are eighty nine and it took Tiamat scaring it with all her power out."

"I wonder how that works?"

"Are these cotton candies?" This time it was Latia asking.

"Those are called Cotton Candalones. They grow like that on trees."

"So, you are saying that your farm has cotton candies growing from trees?" Serafall Leviathan asked with a weird glint in her eyes.

"There are even cakes, rice dishes and sodas. I am not allowed to drink but I think there is even alcohol growing on the trees." Sai, who took a break to breathe, spoke before going into eating again.

“It sounds like that children’s story I had read. I think it was called ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’.”

“Oh, have you read it? I liked the story a lot and modelled several of the areas based on it.” I really did so. It was one of my favourite stories from my childhood and the idea of creating a farm like that was quite interesting to me.

We talked around about several things while eating and finally it was time for the tour.

“My farm is divided into several areas. Some of them are experimental and still being constructed. The areas are divided into zones depending on what kind of crops are grown there and what function they serve.” I led them into the first bounded field with endless fields of grains. “This zone is mainly for grains. The Sun Wheat and Moon Rice being the most common. There are obviously higher types of crops. For simplicity’s sake, I have marked all my products with Ranks from F , E, D, C and higher and each Rank is further subdivided into three sub ranks like F-, F and F+, with F- being the lowest and the quality increases, the higher we go. The fields contain grains up to C+ Rank, although they are the lowest amounts as they are the hardest to grow.”

“Do each of them have different effects?” Euclid asked, taking a look at the crops.

“Some effects overlap and are stronger in the higher ranked products.”

We flew over the lands to the next bounded field but there was something in between them.

“What is that tree?” The shock in whoever asked the question was easy to notice.

This was the favourite place of Ingvild because of… well what it was.

The eight hundred metres giant waterfalls, falling from the nine hundred metres giant Water Tree which had a radius of one thousand metres itself. The sound of water around the area drowned every other sound in the immediate vicinity completely.

This was my B+ Ranked Water Tree, a tree that can provide water to an entire country.

There was fog in the vicinity and the scene looked amazing.

Ingvild has a cottage in the middle of the tree where a fruit grows every twelve years which increases the water affinity of anyone eating it by insane amounts almost instantly.

This appeared only after the Tree reached its highest level which was the B+ Rank along with several other convenient features too.

“This is the water source of my entire farm. The tree is called the Water Tree. All the water for my entire farm as well as territory comes from this tree.”

The crowd watched in speechless wonder at the thing that rivalled several miracles of the world and would have been declared a World Heritage Site if there had been any such thing in the Underworld. The sheer beauty of such a thing was beyond words. Standing in front of the tree made one realise how small they were in front of the world.

"The water is absolutely pure. Not a single germ will be found in the water from this tree. It also has a purifying effect on blood and improves health. This is much better than any bottled water in the human world you can find."

"And you use that water for your fields?"

"Obviously. My plants are incredibly sensitive. Some plants cannot even stand a five degree change in temperature when growing. The requirements increase as the value and strength of the effects increase. This water is both physically and magically neutral and thus suitable for all the crops. There are some technicalities of my power but taking care of these plants is not as easy as it looks. I have eight hundred and eighty dryads who take care of my crops and it requires immense amounts of demonic breasts to help the dryads grow to suitable levels. These dryads have nature magic and are able to take delicate care of each individual plant."

"That's rough. It will get easier if you hire some help later." Septus suggested.

"He would, if he got over his fear of maids." Leila teased, making me blush while Latia giggled.

"Why would you be afraid of maids? We have a lot of maids in our house and they are not scary." Rias asked and I looked at Sirzechs for help. Somehow, the topic would ruin everyone's mood if I said it out loud.

"Mathias has a bad experience with a monster in a maid costume." Sirzechs protected… Or tried to protect and I wished he hadn't.

The girl had a blank look on her face and he added. "It was a very scary monster."

Thankfully, we reached a different area and all of a sudden, the change in the scene caused her to forget what she was thinking.

The fruit area was in front of us but unlike the other areas, this one looked more like the descriptions of Alice in Wonderland.

“This is the Fruit Area. It contains almost all the fruits that I grow on the farm. Some of the trees can be dangerous if approached without caution while some are downright killer. Some fruits might look as if they are ripe but would need a lot of time to ripen. Some fruits need to be prepared in a special method to be edible but they more or less have the most beneficial effect. If you want to know if any fruit you want is ripe or not you can call any dryads in the Farm. Rose, Lily, Daisy, Violet, Lavender, Iris, Poppy, Marigold.” I called for the Dryads who are incharge of the fruit garden and in a whirlwind of leaves and flower petals, the eight appeared. The eight of them were the strongest among the dryads of this area, each at the peak of the Ultimate Class at C+ Rank, and can more or less control any plant that goes wild. They obviously have over a hundred others under them too.

“These eight are in-charge of this part of the farm. They will guide you through the area."

In the meantime, I guided Serafall and Euclid to choose food for Sona's birthday.

The destination was the Rainbow Fruits.

"So, you were planning on giving this to Rias? These things are huge." Euclid asked me. 

"They are so cute. All colourful and shiny." The magical girl Satan almost squealed.

"The size depends on how old the fruit is. There are ones of normal size too. You can try one if you want. The ones in this area are ripe enough." I pointed them towards the fruits.

"What effects do these have?" He asked while trying to pluck one of the fruits and failing.

"They can take around a metric ton of force before they can be plucked for the really big ones. This one can take around 500 kilograms of force. These fruits increase the overall cell activity. In short, anyone eating this fruit would gain around eight times more results from their training for a few months to a year depending on the size of the fruit. The training results will increase for both physical and magical power."

"And this is the rate for every level of strength?"

"Only for Ultimate Class. The Grading System I use corresponds to different ranks. C- to C+ is the Ultimate Class. The information I told you is for Ultimate Class beings. Low Class Devils will have their health greatly improved but they won't be able to digest the effects properly. They will lose most of the nutritional value of the fruit. But then again, the effects will be more pronounced in lower strength levels so… who knows? My Peerage Members have eaten these and are doing well so I am sure they don't have any I'll effects."

"So… what's the catch? I don't believe that things like these can just be grown so easily." Serafall asked.

"Obviously they cannot be grown easily. It took me around three years to get this one done. Moreover, the amount of fertilisers and care it needs is ridiculous. I had to keep a dozen of my dryads in this area to take care of these plants specifically. To give you an idea, with the amount of resources it takes to grow one of these, I could produce 80 metric tons of Moon Rice and that's just a rough estimate from me."

Over the next hour I suggested some things, which Serafall bought instantly.

The rest of the group had also gathered back and we proceeded to the next part.

On the way, our group was halted by Ajuka who noticed a group of my creations being carried somewhere.

"What are they doing?"

"Those are my hunting squads. The Buné lands are near Pit Number 8 and is responsible for keeping it in check. My hunter squads hunt down the demonic beasts that come out of the pits near the area after which the meat and blood is used for food and fertiliser. This squad just got injured in their fight so they are being carried to get treated in the medical area."

… 

"But didn't you create them?" Euclid asked, confused.

"I did. So what?"

"Ah… What I mean is can't you create more to replace them?"

"I do create more to keep the Pit in check. That said, these animals have lives. It doesn't mean anything if I created them. They are alive, they have emotions and can feel pain, so they deserve every chance to get treated and live. Also, can't you see how cute they are. My Tri-Hounds are adorable and extremely efficient in their work."

… 

He looked away a little awkwardly, scratching his cheeks while some others just shook their heads.

"I am sorry if my words seemed rude to you Mr. Euclid but, these animals have accompanied me for a long time in these lands and protected me. They hold an emotional significance to me too. I just can't see them die if I can help it. After all, as you said, I did give them life. In a way I am like their parent although the comparison doesn't exactly match, you can understand my meaning, right."

He had a look of understanding on his face and then shook his head. "No, I was out of line here. I didn't realise their importance to you before speaking."

"You probably didn't realise how strong they are. Each of those Tri-Hounds are at High Class Level. For a squad like that to get injured, they must have encountered an Ultimate Class Demonic Beast at the very least. Losing such an able squad would also be quite an unfortunate loss for anyone." Ajuka broke the awkward situation by his statement, making all of the people look back at the cute hounds again.

"There are Ultimate Class Demonic Beasts in the area?" Serafall asked, looking surprised.

"Nowhere near the farms. Around sixty kilometres radius surrounding the farm has been cleared. These squads were hunting closer to the pits."

– Serafall Leviathan –

"Why would you need to hunt beasts for food? Don't you have enough?" She asked, confused. With the amount he produced, he wouldn't have any shortage of food.

"Oh, that's for the farm animals, hunting squads and even as fertiliser. The squads hunt for everyone and it doubles up as clearing the area for later too. I mean, later on people would probably start living in this territory again, so I need to reclaim the lost area from the demonic beasts for them."

… Ultimate Class Demonic Beasts were things that even she rarely got to eat. The best food items available to the Underworld and now… It's being fed to dogs and used as fertiliser and farm yard manure.

If she didn't know better, she would have thought that the boy was trying to kill her through emotional damage.

"What is this medical area you are talking about? Can we take a look at that before we go further?" She diverted the topic. Medicine was an area her family excelled in. If there was something good, she could clue her parents too. Sirzechs as expected was browbeaten by Venelana. She actually had a bet with both Leila and Euclid that he would blurt out the secret sooner or later and… they won.

At the very least, she can win something for her family.

"It's the place where all my hunting squads are treated when they are injured."

He led the group to the barrier on the other side than the one they were initially heading through.

What greeted them when they entered the barrier was a long stretch of houses carved in trees… No, the trees themselves turned and twisted in ways to make the houses.

In each of the cabins, there was a large flower. The area itself was surrounded by flowers and was peaceful.

"The flowers. They have a hypnotic effect. If I’m not wrong, it calms the animals down." Euclid pointed out and only then she realised the situation.

"It is. These flowers are called Peaceful Flowers. They normally don't grow in such places but I changed that by using some specially made fertilisers. There are some animals on my farm called the Nikoniko Manatee. They are the most pacifist creatures in the world. In their mating season, they release a certain pheromone which calms down even the most dangerous and violent of beasts, a dragon in outrage for an example. The pheromones can be used in perfumes or even fertilisers to grow these flowers which have the same effects. I use it here so that the animals can calm down and get treated properly."

A Dragon in outrage… But then again, who would be more knowledgeable about dragons than a Buné? The perfume though. She could think of a dozen uses for it on the top of her head.

A thought for later time.

She watched as one of the Tri-Hounds, which had its leg severed, was treated by a Dryad. She took the cut off limb and placed it on the severed part, cleaning the wound, arranging the bones and then she was passed another long strip of leaf which she wrapped around the leg. The Tri-Hound shook lightly while she caressed its head and in around a minute or so, it got up.

… the limb was completely attached.

"Those are? What was that leaf?" She asked, barely keeping her voice from shaking to hide her excitement.

"Those are called Doctor Aloe. The leaves of this plant are a natural bandage. They can cure burns, scrapes, frostbites and other affiliations. They can also attach severed limbs as long as the two parts are not completely destroyed and they are connected back together within a few hours time."

"Does it work on every living organism? Any side effects?"

"It can be used on every organism I have tried it on. In fact, the greatest user of these plants is Sai, who often gets injured during training. No side effects found either. These are C+ Ranked Plants and are a bit hard to grow though."

She looked at others for their reactions and every adult was barely keeping their shock in control while Armin, Sairaorg and his peerage members were looking at it as if it was nothing special, just an everyday occurance.

She looked again as the Tri-Hound was then placed in what looked like a giant Tulip. Its petals closed around the Tri-Hound and a few minutes later, the Dryad brought the creature out. All its injuries were gone and it was healthy. Finally, the Dryad popped a red coloured berry into its mouth and the Tri-Hound regained its colour back instantly.

"The giant flower is called a Therapy Tulip. It, to explain it in simple words, eats the injuries of others. The downside to using it is that if anyone faints inside it or an uninjured being is thrown inside, it will gobble them up. One requires a lot of training to use them properly. This however is bypassed by the Dryads who can control plants to a certain extent. The last one was the Blood Berries. They replenish the blood of a living organism. The type of blood is automatically changed to suit the user. It's also a delicacy for Vampires or at least Dhampirs."

"What does it mean to 'eat' the injuries? How can something even eat such things?" Euclid asked, flabbergasted… or rather was the first one to voice out their collective thoughts.

"I don't know. I made it through several cross-breedings and mutations. At this point, I don't even know why it does what it does. I mean, just because Lilith and Lucifer created the Seventy Two Pillars, doesn't mean that they know all the specifics of their power. Life is a powerful thing. Its power lies in its ability to adjust and evolve to become more than it was before. At this point I have just learned to accept this simple fact, having witnessed it several times for myself already."

… 

Somehow she or anyone else didn't have any answer to his example. It was a bit weird to hear such words from a sixteen year old but then again knowing who his teacher is, made sense.

That said, it still didn't change the facts that these three plants were revolutionary. Each one of these can be used to start a business on its own. People can be trained to use Therapy Tulips and the Doctor Aloe would sell anywhere regardless of the price.

"Is there anything else apart from these things?" Euclid asked, and she could see him wanting to research everything the very instant but holding himself back.

"Hmm, there are some animals. There are some animals like Medicine Bees, which store medicines in their bodies. They can sting and inject medicine into the bodies of the patients. They also make a Royal Jelly which is an extremely potent medicine too. There is the Coloured Rice which can neutralise almost any type of poison. Finally, there are the newest ones, the Senzu Beans, but they are too hard to grow. They are B Ranked products and are basically the same as Phenex Tears, although only one can be eaten every ten days because they fill the stomach for ten days and eating more can make the person bloated."

"Phenex Tears!" More than one person shouted at this.

"Yes. They can heal and restore the person to full health and strength instantly."

“Phenex Tears cannot restore the lost energy of a person. Can these… Senzu Beans do it?” Sirzechs asked.

“Umm they can’t? I was quite sure they could. Eh, whatever. My Senzu Beans can do it. Although, mental fatigue might remain.”

"How many can you make? How fast? Can someone else make them too? Will someone else be able to grow them if they get their hands on the seeds?" She asked quickly. Phenex tears are one of the most important exports of the devil race and a very important tool of negotiation. It is so important that even the Satans bear the Phenex House's pride sometimes due to them being the only source of this healing item. Each of these tears cost millions and that brings a lot of revenue.

But that was not all. These things could restore all the energy and even help to recover from fatigue. The Phenex tears couldn't do such a thing. This meant that top fighters like the Satans could fight almost indefinitely unless faced against overwhelming enemies. It will certainly increase their power by a whole lot.

"I have just started planting a few months ago. Only one batch has come out. The production will increase in the future. No. I can say with full confidence that no one in this world will be able to copy them. You can try copying any of my products and see for yourself."

That she will have to. They just couldn't afford to have their enemies copy things like these.

– Mathias –

I was showered with questions about the Medical Area by all the people, one after another. I mean, sure I understand their concern about our enemies finding a way to grow these but… these products cannot be grown without the system or rather without me, even if I give them the seeds for it. It was my absolute Trump Card after all.

“Umm, aren't Senzu Beans from the Dragon-Ball Anime?" Rias asked, raising her hands.

My smile widened at this point. "Why yes. Yes they are. Where do you think I got the inspiration for it? My Senzu Beans are exactly like the ones in the anime.

“Really?!”

“Really.”

“Soooo Cool!”

We decided to leave things for later because we were not alone on this tour.

The next area was something that needed some measures to be taken before entering.

Armin and Sairaorg were already used to this area so they didn’t even blink an eye but Armin did make a barrier for everyone. It did raise some eyebrows.

“It’s so that the ones inside are not spooked or we don’t get hit if they are in the middle of a game.” He explained.

The next area was the place where I kept my animals, my Ranch.

Fortunately, the fear was unneeded.

My Ranch was under several layers of Barriers and wards unlike the other facilities which only had one layer. It was because the animals inside the place, while not generally aggressive, could get rowdy at times.

Taking precautions is better.

I put a lot of time in my Ranch. Especially with the Dryads keeping the farm mostly attended, I have got a lot of time on my hands.

The Ranch doesn’t need me to prepare soil for the animals. A few of the animals do need some specific environments but the biomes are divided in a way that they can accommodate such animals easily.

This part of the farm covered a huge area, much larger than my farm’s plantation areas. The area around us was covered with forests, with a single road leading inside.

The place was divided into different sections for different animals, so that many don’t hunt others into extinction. The forests contain a lot of smaller creatures like the Cheese Rabbits and Billion Birds which while not exactly small per say, were still a good source of food for the predators. These smaller animals were bred in a separate section of the ranch and released into the forests at different times if their numbers were found to be lower than normal.

“What is this place?” Sepus asked, looking around but not finding anything.

“This is my Ranch. I keep all sorts of animals in this place. We need to go through the road to reach the main area.”

The rest followed me and when the small forest area ended, everyone saw the true beauty of my ranch. A series of connected lakes which received water from the Water Tree spread over the area.

This was the Watering Area which I had set as an area of non aggression. This area was planted with Peaceful Flowers and the farm system was set such that there would be no fights in this area.

The result was that scores of animals drank water from the same waters. Dragons and rabbits, wolves and deers, everyone drank water together and lazed around without a trace of aggression.

“This area is an area of Non-Aggression. Animals are not allowed to fight in this area. You can even play with the animals here and they will not attack. I modelled this area after the Familiar Forest with some of my own twists to it. Obviously, the area over which this ranch spreads is currently less than the Familiar Forest but I will change it soon enough.”

The Familiar Forest is spread over an area almost quarter of the Buné Lands. My Ranch, while big, still has ways to go before it reaches even close to that.

That said, I am pretty sure, my Ranch can easily surpass the overall potential of the animals in the Familiar Forest.

There are over eighty dragons on the farm right now.

Most of them are young but have taken a lot of Farming Points for me to buy.

They were then fed specialised animal feeds and animals from the Toriko World.

This made them enter a massive growth spurt. I expect that by the time I am eighteen and of age, I will have a decent army of Dragons who will be at the peak of C+ Rank at the very least. It also helps that Tia personally trains the Dragons in this area… well by more or less beating the crap out of them on a weekly basis. They also spar among themselves.

It reminded me of the Charicific Valley, where Ash left his Charizard.

As I was thinking about these things, we heard a roar and a blue spot flew from a distance towards us.

Some people were alerted but Armin stepped forward,  "Don't attack." He said and soon the spot, which was actually a deep blue coloured dragon, crashed into him, licking his face as if an overgrown puppy. It was a normal scene. "Yes, Ella. I missed you too."

He caressed the Dragon's face and cleared off the dust from her magnificent blue scales.

"She is Eleanor, Armin's dragon. She is very close to Armin because he always personally takes care of her."

"She is beautiful." Latia replied, looking at the scales of the elephant sized dragon. "What kind of Dragon is it?" She asked.

"Adamantine Dragon."

"Like the legendary metal Adamantine?" Latia asked, looking curiously at me.

"What metal?" Rias on the other hand was confused. It was understandable because it was not even heard of in the current times.

"Adamantine is a rare metal that was used to make the strongest types of weapons and armours. They are resistant to metals and can hold huge amounts of enchantments. It was used to make artifacts by the Father of the Angels and the Original Satan Lucifer. Some of the strongest known swords like the Durandal and Gram are made of this metal. Although, all the known reserves of the metal have been used up. In the current times, only the armours worn by the Satans have some parts made up of Adamantine. Maybe the Bael house has some of it, but that's it. The rest of the Adamantine in the possession of the three factions has been lost in the Great War and the Civil War. I take it that the Dragon is a defensive type because of the name it carries?" Sirzechs explained calmly to her.

"Yes. It is a defensive type of dragon. Although, the title is not because of its defensive abilities but rather because of the Adamantine Scales of the dragon itself. It has a very thin layer of Adamantine on its scales, which thickens over time absorbing its magic. When it reaches adulthood, its scales will fully turn into Adamantine and it will be an insane tank."

"Real Adamantine!" I think it was Zeoticus's shout.

Ajuka made some magic circles to check Armin's dragon to verify my words.

It did take twenty thousand points to buy a hatchling of the dragon but it will be worth it.

I have a total of five such dragons while Armin's dragon is the youngest of them all.

"It is indeed Adamantine." Confirmed Ajuka, getting the results of the test.

"Are you planning to sell these dragons?" Zeoticus asked.

"Sell? No. This one was a gift for Armin. I am not selling any. I mean, what kind of a Buné would I be if I didn't have a few dragons for myself. I know the amount of chaos these will cause if sold, so I will keep these to myself. I might sell Adamantine in small quantities though. But even that won't be until the Dragons grow into adults and shed their scales. It's a long way away."

“You know the amount of chaos? What a surprise?" Leila rolled her eyes at me. "You really need to sit down with me for some classes again. It will help beat some common sense into you, maybe?"

"I disagree. Common Sense is for common people. For people who can bring change, they always think uncommonly. Magic, if restrained by common sense, becomes just that… common. Not the special source of miracles that can bring revolutionary changes to the world. Someone like Mathias will just hamper his potential if he restricts himself with common sense." Surprisingly, the one who spoke was Euclid. "Everything we have seen inside is a product of his uncommon thinking and it has resulted in several miracles which can change our world." He explained himself and I looked at the man in surprise because of the passion in his voice. I had observed him and he was looking and taking notes about several things.

"I am not talking about restricting his creativity. I have some experience with Ajuka. What I want is for him to not accidentally crash the Underworld's economy or bring other factions seeking out our resources when they are revealed. Also, I know the kind of person this little moron is. Telling him not to do farming is the same as telling Ajuka to not do Science. It's not going to work."

"Okay. No one is stopping anyone here." Sirzechs intervened. He then looked at me. "Mathias. You can do your experiments as long as it doesn't hurt you. I just ask you to inform us about any new products that you think might be revolutionary to us so that we might prepare some contingency in case any future problems arise from the product."

Understandable. These guys have to manage an unruly race like the devils. Moreover they have helped me a lot. This much is something that I owe them all.

"I will keep it in mind." I nodded.

The rest of the tour was more or less normal. I still didn't show them the hidden biomes of the farm and some of the B Ranked products. Those will be revealed later.

It was finally time for my birthday party.

But something else came before that.

One of my dryads appeared before me.

"Danger… beasts… more than one… strong… Lavy stay to protect… More help… need."

She was still relatively younger and spoke in broken words.

Although, her words were plenty clear. She was a part of Lavinia's team of hunters.

"Which place? Point me." I asked, ignoring the looks of the others who were looking at the interaction.

"That way. I show."

"Is something the matter, Mathias?" Sirzechs approached me.

"One of my people is in danger. There is a demonic beast attack. Pardon me for a while. I will be right back."

"Is it dangerous? I will send someone from my peerage to help you out."

"That… Please don't trouble yourself. It will be fine. Please enjoy yourself. I will be back in a bit." I took the dryad in my arms and had her point towards the location.

– Beowulf –

Bewoulf was sent after the birthday boy who ran off to rescue his peerage member or something in between his own birthday party. This alone was more than enough to separate him from the other stuffy nobles who had their heads up their… 

The guy was quite cool and the food he grew were downright the most delicious things he had ever eaten in his relatively long life.

"Mr. Bewoulf, please let me join too." He heard a voice from behind him and saw Falbium's little brother flying behind.

He did hear that the boys were quite strong so it should be fine. Even if nothing else, they could escape, so he nodded to the boy and both of them flew towards the direction where Mathias Buné had flown towards. A while later, he sensed strong demonic power being thrown around and a little further was a scene of battle.

There was broken ice covering a large part of the land along with a huge demonic beast. However what attracted his attention was not that but the three remaining Demonic Beasts, each of which looked to be well into the Ultimate Class.

A thick skinned Rhinoceros, a vulture that was flying above and a feline that looked like a liger.

A girl was lying exhausted on her knees and there was another person standing beside her while the Buné was walking towards the three beasts as if taking a walk in the park.

He flew down to the girl and realised that the person standing beside her was none other than Tiamat, the strongest of the Dragon Kings. "Let me help out." He called out to the Buné.

"It's fine. I can take care of this." He replied, still walking normally and not even looking back.

Yeah, fuck Euclid. This boy needed to learn common sense.

Even he would have problems fighting all three of these beasts at once.

"Well yeah. They are decent but Matty can manage them by himself." This time it was the Glasya-Labolas.

No, maybe all these children need a lesson in common sense.

He tried to follow nonetheless but his shoulder was grabbed by Tiamat. "He said it's fine. Don't worry about it. Mathias will be just fine."

"But… those are…" He tried to argue. Tiamat is the most dangerous of all the Dragon Kings and probably the easiest to provoke, thus he held back his words.

"Heh, to think he could have this kind of look on his face." He heard her snort looking at the scene.

"What look?" The Glasya-Labolas Heir asked.

"The look of a dragon."

"But, what does that mean?" The boy asked, confused.

"Tell me. Have you ever seen him actually getting angry at… well anything?"

The boy thought for a moment before answering her, "Mildly irritated, sometimes annoyed but no, I don't think I have seen him getting angry ever. Back then, when two of his pet dragons fought and burned down a large patch of the rice fields, he had just made them clean up the mess and got to work without a word. I was pretty sure that those two punks were going to get a beating of a lifetime."

"Dragons are temperamental beings, mainly guided by their pride and rage. Evil dragons have more sins than these two but even they have these as their core. Some can attack you just for looking wrong at them. Those two muscle heads, Ddraig and Albion weren't the only rowdy ones. I remember Great Red had sunk Atlantis to the bottom of the ocean because its ruler had offended him. He tried to control Great Red and his entire country paid the price for it."

"Atlantis existed!?" He asked.

"Obviously. It was long before the devil race was even created. Lucifer was still the loyal attack dog of his father. It was quite a flourishing civilization. Only one person escaped and that too because Great Red didn't want to hunt a species to extinction. Even the Biblical God collected a few things from there, namely, the soul of the king of Atlantis. It was later made into a trinket or as you call it, Sacred Gear which could control the sea and dragons…. Nereid Kyrie."

"Who was the ruler of Atlantis? Also, who escaped the destruction of Atlantis?" The boy asked and even he wanted to hear the answer to this question now.

"Leviathan."

"What!"

"She was the daughter of the ruler of Atlantis, strong but still nothing compared to her father."

"But… Didn't Satan Leviathan have a demonic beast heritage? I mean that's what the records say."

"Do you think the ruler of a race would reveal that she had run away when her home was destroyed and hid in the pits in fear of the enemy? She was no demonic beast. She hid in the pits because she was afraid that Great Red would come for her. The demonic energies of the pits changed her magical power to demonic power. Why do you think she was called the 'Sea Serpent of the End' when there are no seas in the Underworld? It was her father's title. That dragon was strong. Far stronger than any of the Satans including the current ones, rivalling the likes of Indra and would have become even stronger if he wasn't so overconfident."

"Mathias is nothing like that though. Could it be because his Zagan side is stronger than his Buné?"

"Obviously not. His Zagan side is strong. I agree. But, his Buné side is just as, if not stronger and yet… He never resorts to violence first. So… Seeing this look on his face, makes me anticipate the side of him that I have never seen before."

The girl on the other hand ate what seemed to be the Senzu Beans mentioned earlier in the medical section.

He looked with amazement as she got up as if her previous exhausted state was but a lie.

The girl tried to go towards the Buné but was stopped quickly by Tiamat. "You just reached your Balance Breaker. Without sufficient control over it, you would only get in his way. The fight is over as it is."

And he looked forward to see that the Rhinoceros Demonic Beast charging towards the young Buné at full speed. The boy however didn't even falter and kept walking.

He, despite the warnings of Tiamat, was about to take action only to see a scene that made his jaws drop to the ground.

The boy raised an arm and the beast crashed into him… only to be stopped in its tracks.

The scene was a bit comical but just as mind blowing. The huge beast was stopped with a single hand by the boy who looked like a bug in front of it.

The next thing, the boy kicked it below its jaws and a shockwave spread all around the area.

The beast fell to the ground, completely unmoving. He put a foot on its head and with his hand still gripping the horn, he yanked it, breaking it from the base.

He then flung it towards the vulture and the sonic boom from. The throw resounded throughout the area.

The vulture had no chance.

It was torn apart upwards from its torso.

The last beast had closed the distance in this time and pounced but its end was probably the most surprising.

The boy grabbed the leg of the Rhinoceros beast and used the corpse as a bludgeon to smash the liger into the ground, causing the whole place to shake and a massive crater to appear there.

All three of the beasts were dead, in less than 20 seconds.

Beowulf began doubting his life.

– Mathias – 

"Thank you for taking care of her, Tia. Are you alright now Lavinia?" I asked the girl who was looking at me in a daze. She nodded slightly but didn't stop staring at me.

 "Let's go back. We can't keep everyone at the party waiting." I said and stepped forward.

"Wait, you are going to leave those beast corpses lying just like that?" Beowulf asked.

"Hmm… No, the dryads and my hunting squads will take the bodies to be used as food and fertiliser."

"What about the skin and fur?"

"What about them? My squads are a bit picky but the rest can be used as fertiliser."

"How about I buy them from you?"

"You want to buy those? I mean yeah, the liger fur would be decent for decorative clothes, but still. I mean sure. No need for money. Just take them."

"This… No no, it would be too much." He denied.

"Don't worry Mr. Beowulf. Consider it my thanks for coming to assist me."

"Eh… Thank you then. Call me up for help if you need anything." He scratched his head before replying.

__________________________________________________________________________

We reached back via teleportation so it was faster.

On reaching back, Sirzechs approached me first. "Was everything fine?"

"It was just a minor problem. Apparently, Tia had been watching over her the entire time so she wasn't in any real danger. She didn't interfere previously to push her to attain the Balance Breaker for her Sacred Gear, which she did. So, I guess things were good enough. I gave her a Senzu Bean and she is fine now" Balance Breaker increases the power by a whole lot too. It was evident by the fact that even against four Ultimate Class Demonic beasts, she was able to hold them back and kill one of them before I arrived. She hadn’t taken her Senzu Beans with her but more importantly, she was holding the beasts back from killing her team. She has taken a real liking to her team, treating her as a family.

The abandonment of her teacher had led her to latch onto any source of affection.

"A Balance Breaker is always good news. Congratulations. Tiamat didn't join you?"

"She had something to do and will visit later."

"Ah, such a shame. Come, everyone is waiting for you to cut the cake."

The rest of the party was quite simple.

I cut the cake and got several gifts. Personally written books on Magic from Mathers and Ajuka, a book on Genetics based magic - Biomancy from Euclid. A complete set of clothes from the Gremory's latest limited fashion line. A set of two, five thousand year old wine bottles from my teacher and Septus, a Katana from Okita Souji, a bracelet with barrier magic from Armin and Falbium and several other things from others.

There were also handmade gifts from my Dryads and peerage members. These people were making something for me in secret. The three had worked in secret with Lavinia and Sai's help to make me a pair of sweaters and mufflers. Ingvild did the knitting while the others collected the materials without letting me know. My Dryad’s had prepared a garden with a swing in my backyard for me to rest.

The best birthday I have had in this world.

Finally, I was brought to a different room by Leila and Venelana for something.

"Sit Mathias." I did as was told and asked Ingvild to bring us something to drink.

The two ladies took a seat in front of me.

"We have something important to talk about with you but understand something first, no one is forcing anything on you. We just want you to consider this."

I nodded at Leila.

"You are sixteen years old now. In two years, you will be eighteen and of age and will have to take responsibility for your house as the Lord. Normally, these things are done by parents, but as your teacher, I thought I should tell you this personally."

"Ughh… Am I going to get the talk? I think we can skip it since I do know about the birds and bees and all."

Venelana giggled while my teacher rolled her eyes at me. "No dear. Devil children, especially boys, don't need the talk from their parents. This is about something else."

I looked at Leila who took a deep breath. "I don't want to run around circles with you. We are here to propose the engagement between you, Rias and Latia."

"Huh! This… what?"

"Normally Heirs of the house get engaged by the age of fourteen at most. This is done by the parents. You are sixteen and still not engaged, partly because of your situation. I will not lie and say that I am doing this completely selflessly. Latia being engaged to you would bring great benefits to our house but… most of all, you will treat my daughter well."

I looked at Venelana who continued on further. "We devils are selfish beings, Mathias. But that doesn't mean we don't care for our children. Once your identity is revealed, there will be scores of people trying to get their sisters and daughters engaged to you for various reasons. Some good, some not so. Currently the number of Pure Blooded Devils has dwindled a lot and thus some laws were passed at the end of the Civil Wars that required a house to only have a Pure Blooded Head. It was partly to conserve their own blood, and partly because of their own bigotry and fearing the reincarnated devils would take over the ruling class one day, seducing or assassinating their way up. The choice is all yours. We have this opportunity and we are taking it before others. This is just a logical and beneficial choice for all of us. Although, knowing Leila, she would have suggested you someone if not Latia because you are her student.” She explained in a calm tone.

“I obviously would have. As far as I know him, he would say something blunt to someone else who pushed him too hard and they would make a mountain out of a molehill.”

There was certainly such a law. The Devils were extremely particular about bloodline purity and the fact that the half Devils have a much lower chance of inheriting Clan Traits. In fact, I remember that if I hadn’t shown the signs of the Clan Traits, my Houses would have ended with me. In fact, even the stipend I got was four times more than what someone without a clan trait would have got. Moreover, I would rather call on Great Red and threaten to blast the bastards if they tried to force some girl on me than bend to a loveless marriage for hopefully a very long life with some girl who would be with me for money or politics. Considering these, Rias and Latia are much better because I know both of them and they are not exactly interested in my riches nor are they bigotted, which is a rarity in the Devil society. 

I mean it’s not like I don’t want to get married.

Hmm, what to do?

“Do they know of this and agree to it?” I asked, looking back up after a while of thinking. Seeing Venelana’s raised eyebrow I explained. “Before anything, they are my friends, something I have very few of. If they do not know or agree with this, I will not sour my friendship over it. Moreover, in my personal opinion, something like marriage, especially between long lived races like us needs the agreement of both sides because, ultimately the one who has to spend their lives together is us and thus both of us should get equal say. I am sorry if my words offended you. I know this is not the norm in Devil society but I don’t want to take such an important step if the other side doesn’t agree.”

“Oh, not something like, ‘I will only marry someone I love’? Isn’t this is, what’s it called, yeah….’in trend’ nowadays?” Venelana asked me with a smile.

“I… I believe that something like love develops over time and by knowing the other person. Love at first sight, I don’t know if that exists but it feels very strange to me. How can someone fall in love with someone they don’t even know? The only ones who love you like that are your parents… and sometimes not even that. Moreover, liking someone at first sight would be just based on their looks, and well, half the devil population is beautiful. Just because someone is beautiful doesn’t mean they are good and would make a good life partner. Sometimes even good friends don’t make for good couples. Understanding and compatibility between people is very important for a lasting relationship like marriage.”

“Unfortunately, most of the children nowadays don’t understand this. We just want you three to get to know each other with the thought of marriage. It’s not like anyone can sign a marriage contract in your name. I mean sure, Sirzechs or Ajuka can do it, but they are going to be on the pointed end of the arguments when your identity is revealed. Them, signing any contract between you and Rias or Latia or both would raise a shitstorm. Any contract you sign, will be done by you, yourself, when you are of age. We have two years till then. You all can get to know each other by then and decide what to do.”

“If they agree with this, I don’t see a problem in getting to know each other.” I mean, it’s just knowing each other. We still have a few years before they come of age to decide. If things work by then, I don’t see why not. And so, with a few more things and a long lecture from Leila on common sense(Euclid really thought that she would give up because he protested. I pity his naivety), I returned to the party.

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

Author’s Note:

This chapter might have come out as a bit of an exhibition but it was something I needed to get out of the way. I had to show the amount of work Mathias had done over the years. The situation with Lavinia was added later on because many were requesting a fight scene. I cannot give that anytime soon, so be satisfied with this.

The next chapter will be full of the reactions and the effects of the reveals.

How did you like the lore about the Leviathan?

I personally thought it was odd that Leviathan was called the Sea Serpent of the End while there were no seas in the Underworld and for one of the Three Great Beasts, it was quite lacklustre. Also, the history in the DxD world is much different than what we know, so it didn’t seem too out of place to me. It also brought some background to the story.

Enjoy the new chapter.

Good Day, Peace Out.