Story 2: Chapter 6: Reactions to the Dragon’s Farm (Patreon)

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 6: Reactions to the Dragon’s Farm

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

- Mathias -

Our conversation completed as Ingvild entered the room. I saw her looking stunned. Ah, she must have heard the conversation.

The rest of the party went on simply.

It was when it was the time for them to leave, something happened.

Ingvild went forward to talk to Sirzechs.

“Umm, Sir.”

The guy looked at her with a smile. “Yes, Ingvild. What can I do for you?”

She took a look at me and I gave her a light nod.

“My… My name is Ingvild… Ingvild Leviathan.”

….

….

To his credit, the guy didn’t become too stunned. “Please explain.”

“I am the granddaughter of the first Leviathan. My father was a human and my mother was the youngest daughter of the first Leviathan.”

“You don’t have to be afraid. The youngest daughter of Leviathan was Ingrid Leviathan. She didn’t participate in the Civil War and had gone missing when the war started. We were planning to recruit her because she was resistant to the idea of another war, but no one ever found any traces of her in the Underworld.”

“Y-yes. Mother went to the human world. I-I don’t know what happened to my parents.”

“Something happened to her? Is she not with you?” At this point everyone was paying attention to her.

“She passed away. I had fallen to the Sleeping Sickness and only awoke six months ago. Both my parents had passed away. I was taken care of and hidden by some of the Leviathan House’s, my mother’s attendants.”

“You woke up from the Sleeping Sickness!” Euclid asked, stunned.

“I… awakened my Sacred Gear when I was asleep. It caused me to wake up.”

“Sacred Gear… Half-Devil… oh.”

“Tiamat brought you here?”

She nodded.

“Did you tell anyone about yourself?”

“I didn’t…”

“She did.” I interrupted her before she could complete her sentence.

This girl… She was lying to not get me in trouble.

Her eyes widened as she looked at me and I couldn’t help but shake my head. “Why are you surprised? I let you stay here, took you into my peerage… do you think I would be embarrassed or afraid about these facts?” I looked at Sirzechs and explained, “She was uncomfortable about sharing her lineage because it would have caused a lot of problems and I wanted to give her time to open up on her own terms.”

He nodded. “The Civil War was a… difficult period for all of us. Many people who didn’t want to fight were dragged onto sides, forced to choose sides. Even now, even among the remaining thirty four pillars, there are people who don’t trust us. There is nothing we can do about it rather than let them open up in due time. Maybe if not them, then their children, the younger generations. Your distrust of us is, while disheartening, understandable. Do you mind if we had a talk with you?”

She looked at me and then back at him and nodded.

They took her to have a private talk for an hour or so and then left.

“Why now?” I asked, considering she was afraid to even meet them in the morning and now she took such a big step.

“You are getting engaged to their little sister and niece. If I had revealed it later on, it would have caused trouble for you.”

I let out a sigh.

“It would have caused nothing. You shouldn’t worry too much, you know.”

This girl is too soft-hearted.

“Is Lavinia alright?”

“Hmm,” I nodded. “She is just resting.”

I went ahead and hugged the girl. She froze for a moment and then returned the hug.

“Thank you.”

It was hard to remember that she was just sixteen before she fell asleep.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Lavinia came to me the next morning.

“I… I want to join your peerage.”

I looked up at her from my book. “Is this about what happened yesterday? If so, then you don’t have to force yourself. Just take your time.”

“It is not just for what happened yesterday. I like this place. Everyone here treats me nicely and I feel like I can trust them. Gasper and Sai are like little brothers to me, Ingvild and Valerie like sisters. Tiamat is like a strict guardian. I want to be together with them and I want to be together with you and help you too.” She spoke and it was probably the first time she was this serious

I looked at her. “Sit.” She did and I continued. “No one is telling you to leave anywhere. You are just as much a part of this place as any of us. I am fine with you joining my peerage. I did invite you. But… I want you to think this over for at least a week. Sometimes when people go through a life and death situation like you did, it can have some effect on their thought process. I want you to think this thing through and not do it in a moment of impulse, only to regret later on. If by the end of the week, you still want to join my peerage, I will welcome you with open arms. Do you understand this?”

She looked like she wanted to protest but then stopped herself when I added. “Please. Just do this for me.”

She nodded.

“Also, choose a dragon for yourself. I have told the dryads to increase the dosage of the fertilisers for your hunting companions. You need to get them to a good enough level. I want you to increase their training first and also make some additions. I know you are attached to them and so am I. So, we just need to take a middle ground. Instead of changing your team, we will just make them stronger. I have also asked for some books on Ice Magic and teleportation magic for  all of you to escape in case you encounter situations like yesterdays. Don’t be stubborn and stay back to fight. Just like you treat the people here as your family, they do the same. And losing a family member sucks… sucks really bad.”

She looked at me for a while and then nodded. “Thank you.”

- Sirzechs -

“What were the results of the tests?” He asked Euclid.

None of them had slept for the last two days.

The things that had been revealed would have caused the entire underworld to be overturned and might have even started another war depending on how it was revealed.

They just had no room to make any mistakes.

“None of his produce can be grown. The cells just refuse to be replicated or grow. To be honest, I don’t even know how they are different from normal beans. Any detailed magic test we did on them turned out to give normal results. Even the non magical tests did the same.”

“Ajuka?”

“They cannot be grown by anything I could think of. Not even replicated.”

“So they are safe for sale, right?” Serafall asked. She was probably the most excited about this.

If the Sitri could get a contract with Mathias, their Medical Business will boom like never before. In fact, anyone who could get a contract with Mathias could take over the Medical Business.

“Yes. Although their export will need to be regulated heavily. These things are far more dangerous than Phenex tears.”

“Agreed. What did you find from the Leviathan girl?” Sirzechs asked. Serafall had been the one doing the questioning.

A Leviathan descendent.

Now, wasn’t that a surprise?

“She… was clean. Everything checked out as well. Some of the Leviathan supporters were hiding her. They were actually hiding her from both the Old Satan Faction and us. The girl had been comatose for over a hundred years. She is still mentally only sixteen years old. I… used some hypnosis on her caretakers. We just couldn’t risk the Old Satan Faction implanting someone near Mathias, especially with what we had seen. I found out that she didn’t have any connection with the Old Satan faction. They didn’t even know she existed. Did you guys get something from Tiamat?”

“Tiamat confirmed that she picked her up after knowing her identity. She thought that Ingvild would be a great addition to Mathias’ peerage because of her Sacred Gear, Nereid Kyrie. It controls seas and can empower dragons too. The girl is untrained but strong. Apparently, she is already a Satan Class despite being asleep for a hundred years… without her Sacred Gear. What do you think of the girl?” Ajuka replied. He had talked to Tiamat over a communication link and confirmed this.

“I think… she might have a crush on the little hunk. She apparently decided to open up because she heard that he was talking about engagement with your families and wanted to avoid any problems for him. I even offered her to become a High Class Devil, get her own peerage. Getting a Leviathan descendant to support us would be a massive win. They still have people who support them even now. Many of the older ones too. She could help us attract many of them.”

“What did she say?” He asked, understanding her point of view.

“She rejected. She wanted to stay in the farm and wanted to have no part in the politics of the Underworld. She actually wanted to become a singer before she fell asleep. She had been going through serious mental trauma because of the loss of her family and the children at the farm have filled up that hole for her. She thinks of that place as a new home. One thing was good that she agreed to learn water magic from me. I can learn more about her from our lessons. The boy lucked out with her. Getting a peerage member like her will surely get him much needed backup.” Serafall said, relaxing back on her couch again.

“Yes. About that. Apparently, she is not the only one.” He replied scratching his cheeks.

“What!”

“Bewoulf, would you please explain to everyone what you saw?”

And he did. The reactions were just as he had expected.

“Mathers checked the bodies of the Ultimate Class Demonic beasts that Mathias had slain. In the whole battle, I don’t think I should call it that as it lasted less than twenty seconds, he had killed three Ultimate Class demonic beasts, bare-handed, without using any kind of magic or other energies, using just pure physical strength. He wasn’t even in his dragonified form. I asked Surtr, who possesses the most physical strength in my peerage, if he could do it and he couldn’t. Not without magic. The horn that Mathias had just broken off casually, could stand two full-powered attacks from Souji and that’s saying something. His physique must at least be comparable to that of Dragon Kings to do something like that.”

….

….

“It should have been obvious to begin with. Armin trains with him for a year, eats the special farm crops and he becomes Ultimate Class in terms of physique in a year. Mathias has been eating those things for as long as they have been produced, it was obvious he would have far stronger growth.” Falbium commented.

“What we all might be missing is that the boy is also an apparent genius in Magic. It is not very evident with his obsession for his farm but those wards around his farm… those things were comparable to the wards I have put around Lucifer’s Castles and our offices. If he did all those by himself, self-learned, he might be a master wardcrafter as well.”

“Mathers?” He asked the only person who had any idea about this.

“I… don’t know much about this. From what Mathias told me, he only wanted to learn the magic to guard the area near his farm. I did agree because it seemed reasonable. Moreover, all I taught him were just the basics. I did give him access to my library as I was instructed.”

“Umm, Boss. We are getting off topic.” Beowulf interrupted and he remembered the original topic.

“Yes, continue Beowulf.”

“The girl he went to protect back then, she… she had a Longinus. The Absolute Demise.”

“So… the Balance Breaker was of… the Absolute Demise?”

“Yes.”

“How does Tiamat even know about these things?” Serafall asked, amazed. He had been too when he had found the things Tiamat was sharing.

“We often forget that she is someone who is older than our entire Race. She knows many things that we don’t. For example, did you know that Leviathan was not of a Demonic Beast heritage? She was the daughter of the King of Atlantis. He had tried to control Great Red and Great Red destroyed Atlantis, leaving only Leviathan alive. She hid in the Underworld, in the pits for centuries in fear and that’s how her Magic Power turned into Demonic Power. The Father of the Angel’s snooped in and took the soul of her father and made a Sacred Gear out of it… Nereid Kyrie. What Ingvild is carrying right now, is the soul of her great-grandfather, who was someone comparable to Indra in terms of strength. Would explain how she could break out of the Sleeping Sickness.”

He smiled internally looking at the dazed looks of others. He had been shocked the same way and thus it was good to see others in his shoes.

“Those old coots would flip out if this was ever revealed.” Serafall suddenly broke the silence with a laugh.

“No. They would just reject the story.” Euclid said and he had to agree too.

“But still, Tiamat is a treasure trove of information. Seeing as she could get so many Sacred Gear user’s information.”

“Ah, Mathias also told Armin about some names. Five people, all might have top class or Longinus Class Sacred Gears. Armin already contacted them and is trying to recruit them in his peerage. Apparently, he wanted to help Armin out when he found out that he didn’t have enough Peerage Members for his Debut Rating Game.”

“Five?!”

“Five.”

“Falbium, you do understand that if we get some many Sacred Gears suddenly, people will think we are preparing for war?” Serafall asked, looking a bit serious.

“Doesn’t make any sense rejecting them.” Falbium countered and he knew that it didn’t.

No other faction would just let them go if they were discovered. Either they would be recruited or… Removed. It just didn’t make sense to let them go.

“And he just told Armin all of this?”

“Those two are very close. You saw that Adamantine Dragon. I don’t even have an armour made of Adamantine and I am a Satan. Also, that brat, Armin wants to convince a few of them to join Mathias’ peerage at least. Sometimes I wonder if Armin is my brother or his.”

“Well, Rias and Latia would have a good partner at least. What do you think, Sirzechs?” He heard Serafall asking him and sighed.

“On one hand I am annoyed that my cute Ria-tan is crushing on a brat and on the other hand, hoping with all my heart that this relationship is successful. Mathias is the best match I could find for Rias. Smart, humble, strong, no make that very strong, and someone who takes great care of those close to him. Devils with all these qualities can be counted on one hand.”

“Hey, have you looked at the guy? Those muscles? If I had been a hundred years younger, I would be crushing on him too.” Serafall laughed and he rolled his eyes.

“By the way, why is no one talking about the sudden appearance of four Ultimate Class Demonic beasts in the area? Ultimate Class beasts are not that easily born. Even if they are born, they will never travel together easily. These four from what you have told me, were fighting together against an opponent. That can’t be a coincidence. First, Lady and Lord Bune disappear in the Pits and now this. Something is going on.” Ajuka pointed out and he paused.

Yes.

Demonic Beasts of that power never travelled in groups.

“I will send my peerage members to investigate.”

“I will accompany them too. I needed to go and collect more plants for research either way. I could check and see if there are any changes in the pits too.” Euclid said and he agreed.

– Leila Astaroth –

"So, how did the talks go?" She heard her husband ask.

"As much as I had expected. Mathias asked for the girls to be informed and their consent to be considered. A period of two years to get to know each other so that they don't face any problem later on. Quite smart if you ask me."

"Well… he's got a good teacher. Still, I didn't think your plan would succeed."

"What plan?" She asked casually,  already knowing the answer.

"Oh please. Don't think I didn't notice you throwing subtle signs of pairing Latia with Mathias towards Lady Gremory to get her interested and interrogate Sirzechs. Poor guy was still thinking that it was his fault that his mother got interested in this matter." He scoffed and she couldn't help but smile.

"I didn't plan in such detail… or rather, I had just started implementing the plan before the entire fiasco with the misplaced fruit happened. It helped push things a lot earlier."

"I thought so. Still, I don't understand why?"

"Sirzechs and Ajuka were planning to leave one of Mathias' houses open for proposals when his identity was revealed so that the Great King faction might not clamour later on. A good political move, especially considering the thing they were hiding but not something I can accept. I can't let my daughter and student get into a marriage that is a constant political drama meant for other people's entertainment."

Seeing her husband's look of realisation, she continued.

"It meant that both of Mathias's houses could only have girls who were not political puppets of any faction. I considered all girls near their age but Rias was the one who came out on top based on both her personality and her background. You don't understand it do you?"

He shook his head and she sighed. She loved her husband. He was a phenomenal businessman but politics was something he wasn't interested in.

Sometimes it seemed that she was the only outlier in the family. But then again, her daughter was turning out pretty good. She looked at her husband and continued.

"I considered Seekvaira and Sona Sitri before Rias but they both have a much more serious personality and a rather controlling nature and…"

"Trying to control Mathias is plain stupidity." He completed and she nodded.

"They also don’t have any replacement heirs. Moreover, it’s a bit of a secret but I have heard that Sona Sitri is planning to build a Rating Game School for Low and Mid Class Devils. Such a move will definitely earn her the ire of the old traditionalist side and while Mathias could help her, it will also bring him in the line of fire, much more than he already will be. They were out."

"Reasonable enough. Also, Serafall."

"Yes." She smiled. "Also Serafall. I, then, considered Armin's younger cousin but she is just nine at the moment and wouldn't even be twelve before Mathias is of age. I couldn't know her personality. The daughter of the Phenex was out because they did have some political agendas too."

"I did hear something about that matter too."

"Ultimately, Rias is the best candidate I could think of. Her connection to the Bael through her mother and Sirzechs, would provide a layer of protection for Mathias. She was not politically inclined either. Our families are very close and thus any chances of conflict is reduced greatly. Moreover Rias' outgoing and slightly impulsive personality is perfectly balanced by Mathias' easy going, laid back personality and Latia's serious and cautious one. No one will be able to question her as Lady Buné or Lady Zagan either and they get a peaceful married life."

… 

… 

“You know what Dear, you are a terrifying matchmaker.”

”Don’t you mean terrific?”

“I know my grammar, Dear. It’s scary how much though you have put into this. And…. I find it attractive too.” He added quickly and she rolled her eyes. “Still, I didn’t expect to see all that on his farm.”

“I don’t think anyone did. Adamantium! He had freaking Adamantium spawning Dragons.”

“I know right. I didn’t even know of his ranch before today.”

“None of us did except maybe Armin and Sairaorg.”

“Lord Gremory was probably planning to make contracts for his Textile and Clothing ranges. I will have to make a contract for the Winery I am planning to open.”

“Before that, we need to go and negotiate which house Latia will be taking the name of if they get married.”

“That… yes. But don’t you think we are hurrying too much on this?”

“It’s better to get these things out of the way.”

“By the way, what do you think of the Leviathan girl? It seemed to me as if she had somewhat of a crush on Mathias.”

“She does. The girl’s clean. I was with Serafall during her questioning and even talked to her on my own. If she gets together with him, all good. At best, she will be given the title of the Head of Leviathan but even that is extremely difficult seeing her half-human heritage. Might even try to get her into their own houses to integrate the Leviathan Bloodline with their own. Not that it will happen, knowing Mathias. He wouldn’t let something like that happen. You saw his reaction when she denied telling him about herself.”

“I think he would have done that for anyone.”

“He would. We know that. She doesn’t. Put yourself in her shoes and it’s a classic situation for a crush to develop.”

“What does Latia and Rias themselves have to say about this?”

“Latia agreed. She was actually happy about the two years period and her consent being asked. As for Rias, they will talk to her and we will find out soon.”

“I hope all this ends well.”

“Yes. Me too.”

- Mathias -

A week later, I was called to New Lilith by Sirzechs.

Armin was in the Human World, getting to know his targeted peerage members better.

Sai was going on as if nothing happened.

Lavinia is now my second Bishop. She was standing by her decision and I didn’t have any reason to deny her.

Euclid was coming by every few days to take some of my plants to conduct research and see if they were safe. He also helped me a lot.

The guy was a mad genius. He accepted that if not for his wife and daughter, there was a good chance that he might have ended up insane during the Civil War.

He saw that Lavinia was learning Ice Magic and didn’t have any teacher and offered his help. The Lucifuge house specialises in Ice Magic and Ingvild was already being taught by Serafall about Water Magic. In fact, in his free time, he taught me several types of Magic too.

The four Satans and their peerage members were now buying food from my farm full time.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I entered the room guided by Okita Souji and surprisingly saw all four Satans sitting in one room, a very serious look on their faces. They noticed my arrival and Sirzechs nodded at Souji who nodded and left the room, closing the door behind me.

“Take a seat, Mathias.” Sirzechs was the one who opened the silence and I could feel the looks on the faces of the other guys. Serafall’s look had a look of pity. Ajuka was unusually quiet and so was Falbium.

“Is everything alright?” I asked, a little worried.

“It’s… it’s about your parents.”

I stilled.

My parents?

The word was so familiar but still so unfamiliar.

The thing is, I don’t know if I was transmigrated or reincarnated and later gained my memory of my previous life. I do have all the memories of the previous Mathias and I know how much his parents had taken care of him. Even if I consider that I was transmigrated and just took over the previous Mathias’ body, I would still owe a debt to his parents.

The two people whom I can only remember from my memories and yet I carry their names, am their successor, their heir. The things I have now are mostly from them. The feelings I have for them… are complicated.

“We were a little suspicious about four Ultimate Class Demonic beasts appearing at the same time and decided to check the areas near the pits to assure if the things were alright. They weren’t.” He said but I could feel his uneasiness.

Is he worried about checking the things in my territory?

I don’t even go near the pits because there was no need to do so.

“You were just doing your job. Please don’t worry about it.”

He nodded and continued. “We found out that the number of Demonic Beasts had increased much more than we had thought, although as you had said, the areas near your farm, sixty miles around it, were all clear.”

“I haven’t explored further from my farm but I will soon clear those areas too. I am just waiting for my Dragons to grow up a little more before cleaning the territories and establishing a solid perimeter around the pits.”

“You don’t need to be in a hurry. There is no rush for it. I will send my peerage members to clean the area. It is just that, we checked the pits and found some… disturbing things inside. Some… Devils were making the area into a research facility and experimenting on the Demonic Beasts to control them as well as strengthen them along with several other experiments.”

A Research facility in the pits? Which insane idiot would do such a thing? Just as I was about to ask, something struck me and I paused completely and my eyes widened.

“You said, it had something to do with my parents.”

“Your parents and their peerage members were killed by the people incharge of the place.”

….

“So, they were not killed by the Demonic Beasts?” I asked.

Sirzechs hesitated a little and it was Ajuka who spoke this time. “No. We discovered some documents which suggested that they might have been experimented on before their deaths.”

I don’t know the feeling I was experiencing right now. There was a feeling of loss but not something overwhelming. I guess, they had always been dead for me and I was just used to it. Still… I felt sad and angry but at the same time, very calm.

“Do you know the identity of the Devils who did it?”

“Curson Naberius. There were some other devils, including his son, Cadmus Naberius, but he was the head of the place. We have taken him into custody but he hasn’t said anything yet. We have also managed to get the custody of their peerage members and are questioning them. We were waiting for you to respond before proceeding to question the Naberius House and get answers.”

Naberius.

“Their bodies?”

“Hmm.”

“The bodies of my parents and their peerage members, do you know where they are?” I asked. The least I could do was give them a proper funeral.

“We are still questioning the prisoners. We will inform you as soon as we find out.”

“I see. Can I meet them? The prisoners.” I asked.

They looked at each other before nodding.

Before leaving the room, Sirzechs apologised to me. “I’m sorry, Mathias.”

“It was not your fault. You couldn’t have known. The Underworld is a big place and blaming you for someone else’s mistake just to feel better would be incredibly petty. In a way, I am to blame for it too. If I had reported it earlier, there was a chance that they could have been saved. But, there is no use crying over spilt milk. This is just one of those things we have to learn to live with. Please, just see that whoever was responsible for this… gets what they deserve.”

“I will make sure none of them escape justice.”

“Thank you.”

I was led to the dungeons. I could see several cells filled with different criminals.

We finally reached our destination with a man inside a cell, sealed with many different restrictions.

“He is Curson Naberius. The one in the cell beside him is his son, Cadmus Naberius.” Souji told me and then hesitated a little before adding. “Master Mathias, I know you must be angry at this moment but please don’t let that anger overwhelm you. He is an Ultimate Class Devil and can take a lot of torture so he might not answer your questions that quickly”

“Thank you, Mr. Souji. I know that I cannot kill them. If I did so, we cannot identify their accomplices and many others behind these experiments will get away only to start the experiments in a different place, causing even more lives just like my parents and their peerage members. I am not so selfish to allow that to happen. I just want to know about the bodies of my parents and their peerage members. I will leave after that.” I explained and he nodded to me.

I entered the room and the guy looked up at me.

“Heh. Sending children now? Those four are as gutless as ever. What do you want to do, brat? Beg me to tell you everything?”

“My name is Mathias Bune.”

“Hahahaha aren’t you that peasant noble? What does the beggar Bune want from me? Looking for donations?” He laughed and I could see his anger and spite.

“I am just here to ask you about my parents.” I continued.

- Okita Souji -

Souji watched tensely as the young boy looked at the convict with that eerily calm expression. He knew about the situation the boy was in and that just made this calm and polite attitude all the more terrifying.

Souji had seen such an expression before. And he knew from experience that people who can keep this kind of expression are dangerous.

Now that he thought about it, both the previous times were also redheads.

One being his king, Sirzechs Lucifer, the strongest Devil himself.

Sirzechs Lucifer, despite what was thought of him, was a natural pacifist. He never resorted to violence unless it was the last choice and even then, in his entire lifetime serving Sirzechs, Souji had never seen him display any outward shows of aggression. Not even in the most dangerous of fights.

The other had been the swordsman whose blade he had almost fallen to when he was still a human. Red hair, a cross-shaped scar on his cheek, and the same polite attitude. From what he knew of him, in his later years, the infamous Manslayer had also become a pacifist. He had even rejected the offer of Satan Leviathan to become her Knight.

Such restraint and control required an insane mental strength and confidence in one self. Such people were bound to make their names in history… just like Sirzechs Lucifer and his old rival, Kenshin Himura.

And now Souji was watching the same level of restraint from a child who became sixteen a week ago. This matched with what he had heard of the boy’s strength, a week ago from Bewoulf, was both awe-inspiring and terrifying at the same time.

“Your parents? Yes yes, I remember them… they squealed so hard when they were experimented on. Good test subjects, though. Your mother, that bitch, if her face hadn’t been mauled by the demonic beasts, she would have made for good entertainment for the boys. Satans know her peerage members were quite a treat hahahaha.”

Souji clenched his hands at the language. The boy….

“Where are my parent’s bodies?”

Souji was probably as taken aback at the evenness of the boy’s tone as the criminal himself. They both took a few moments to recover their calm.

“You want to know where their bodies are?”

The boy nodded.

“Come here, I’ll tell you.”

Souji tensed but the boy went ahead anyway.

The criminal however just spit on his face instead of answering and began to laugh again. “Hahahaha I fed them to the dogs. You bastards took away all my research. I was so close to achieving my dreams and now you all walk all over it. As if I would ever give any of you traitors the satisfaction while I die trapped in here. You will  never get anything out of me. If I die, you will suffer too.”

The boy made some water on his palms with magic and washed his face without the slightest change in expression.

“I see. So, you are doing this not out of any reason but out of spite. Hmm, understandable. Getting everything taken away from you and left with nothing, you must be feeling desperate and hateful. It’s understandable. But you are misunderstanding something.”

The Naberius devil looked at him with a confused look and he continued.

“You seem to think as if death is a punishment. Believe me… it’s not. When we are dead, it’s all over… Well if you are not reincarnated by some Random Omnipotent Being as their entertainment maybe, but hey, isekai is a rare genre nowadays, so no, death is not something you should be afraid of. Trust me, I know. There is nothing after death.. Life… on the other hand… is much more unforgiving. In fact, just for this very reason, I am going to request the Satans… to let you live.”

The criminal’s face turned into a scowl at the words. “You think false promises of life would make me open up, foolish child…” His growl was stopped by the boy’s words.

“Oh, no. I don’t. I don’t expect it to. I know it won’t do any good, so let’s stop making assumptions, shall we.” The boy paused and then looked at Souji and spoke again, “Mr. Souji, him screaming won’t be a problem, right? Or should I put some wards around us?”

Souji just shook his head, too confused to say anything.

In a matter of seconds, the entire place was riddled with wards. Souji noticed that the wards had made the walls between the cells transparent so the man could see his son captured in the adjacent cell.

With everything done, the boy sat in front of the man. “Do you know how life punishes people, Mr. Naberius?”

The devil who was suddenly quiet after the display of magic from the so-called kid and looked at the boy in apprehension.

“I don’t like killing people, Mr. Naberius. I respect life. I am not afraid of death but… I fear life. Life gives us everything that we know of, friends, family, love, achievements, pleasure and sorrow… everything. It makes us what we are. And to punish someone, it just… takes these things away.” The boy touched the man’s forehead and the man’s pupil’s dilated.

“Your sight is taken away so that you cannot see this beautiful world. Your smell is taken away so that you cannot ever enjoy the smell of flowers ever again, your taste is taken away so that you cannot ever taste good food ever again, your sense of touch is taken away so that you can feel neither pain nor pleasure… well, at least physically. And, finally before taking away your sense of hearing, I would like to tell you how to end this. Well, very simple, the only way to end this is to answer my question. For this, I will leave your ability to speak intact. And unless you do so, feel what it feels like to be rejected by all life… To be truly alone. Feel what an eleven years old child had to feel when you took away his parents and friends for your own selfishness.”

With the last words said, the man fell to the ground senseless and the boy just sat there quietly in front of him.

Two seconds later, screams began to echo in the dungeons.

…

…

Souji watched in awe and horror as an Ultimate Class Devil was broken in under three minutes.

He answered all of the boy’s questions after his senses were returned  but the boy only got up and entered the adjacent cell and questioned the son.

It was at that moment that Souji realised that the wards had been projecting only the image of his son in the cell. All this time. The son hadn’t heard only the shouts but none of the answers.

His answers verified, the boy left the cell and returned to the father’s cell.

“I promised you that I will request the Satans to let you live, didn’t I? I will do so. After all… the dead don’t suffer. Every time you close your eyes, you will feel the same thing I made you feel today. The moment you get used to that feeling, your memories regarding it will be erased and you return to square one. The only way you can get a proper sleep is if you answer all the questions asked by the people here peacefully and truthfully. Curson Naberius, I sentence you… to life.”

The man’s face turned to that of horror as the boy simply ignored everything and came out of the cell.

“Thank you for your help, Mr. Souji. I think that invading the Naberius territory would be a big problem so I will leave the task of retrieving the bodies to you all.”

“Y-yes. We will get your parent’s bodies back.”

“Thank you again.”

- Mathias -

I was feeling very… I don’t know, angry, frustrated at whatever had happened.

I knew that they might not even be related to me but I still felt bad. I didn’t want to go back to my home because my peerage members would be worried without any reason and thus, I am here.

I was heading towards Tia’s place. Maybe talk to her or take a nap there and refresh my mind.

On reaching the place, I was greeted by a very strange scene.

Tia was standing across from a cloaked guy, looking serious. No aura was being released by either of them but I could tell that the guy was strong.

My arrival was noticed by the both of them as they turned towards me.

“Mathias.”

“Hmm.” I looked at the huy and used Observe and got the answer to my question.

[Crom Cruach, Rank: A-]

“Your friend?” I asked Tia and she shook her head.

“An acquaintance.” She then turned towards the guy. “Why do you want to fight me?”

“Do we dragons need a reason to fight and test our strength?”

“No, we don’t but someone like you who hasn’t been seen in ages suddenly coming out cannot be without a reason.”

“I came across some information that you have crossed the threshold of the Dragon Kings as well. I just want to test where I stand against you because the other two in the same position are not interested.”

So, he was here for a fight.

I was a bit miffed.

I came here to rest in peace and maybe talk to Tia for a while and this guy…. Right then an idea struck me.

“Are you here for a fight?” I asked the guy who had till this moment ignored me.

“Yes. Is that a problem for you?” The guy replied, uncaringly.

“Problem… well, I am kinda the owner of this area and if you guys fight here then my farm will be destroyed so yes, it will be a problem. On the other hand, I have a special area warded off for fights just like this. It could probably hold the fight in. But, that’s not the main problem anyways. What I wanted to ask was… can I fight you?”

“Mathias.” Tia looked at me in confusion.

“Tia….I am a little angry, a little confused and extremely frustrated. I just want to vent and break things for once. Just let me do this.”

Her mouth opened lightly as she looked like she was about to say something but stopped and nodded and I looked back at the guy in front of us.

“Come on. I promise it won’t be boring. I am not as strong as you but I assure you that I will not let it be a disappointment for you. When you win, I will even heal you up so that you can fight Tia all patched up.”

The guy, even for an Evil Dragon, looked genuinely taken aback and then looked at Tia as if asking if I was right in the head.

“He is not lying and he is the owner of this area.”

The guy looked at us for a moment before nodding and I led him towards the place I had made for the dragons to duke it out when they had any arguments among themselves.

- Venelana Gremory -

“Sit Rias.” She asked her daughter who looked confused by the sudden call.

She took her seat and looked quietly at her.

“You are now sixteen years old, now officially a part of the Devil Society.”

Her daughter nodded and she continued.

“It’s time we talked about the future. You are the Heiress of the Gremory family. Your actions will represent the house. You understand this, right?”

“Yes Mother.”

“We have been delaying this for a while but now that you have made your public appearance, there have been several marriage proposals for your hand. We have to reply to them sooner or later.” She saw the look on her daughter’s face.

Rias was always free-willed and stubborn. She got it from both her father and her.

“There are some who proposed us while some others which we ourselves are considering from our sides. The main ones are the third son of the Phenex House, Riser Phenex. Lord Phenex has been pushing for this for a long time and the Phenex are a well established house. The union between the two houses is something that would benefit everyone.”

“That jerk! I don’t like him. He is so arrogant, always blabbering about how great the Phenex House is and how no one else can match him. He is very annoying. I don’t want to marry that jerk.”

“He is still a child and will grow in time.” Zeoticus tried to speak up but it was of no use.

“And what if he doesn’t grow up? You said there were others too. Why can’t it be someone else?”

“There are very few Pure Blooded devils as of right now. There are not many suitable Pure Blooded devils around your age. The others would be Zephyrdos Glasya-Labolas.” She saw her daughter make a face and laughed internally and also agreed with her opinion of the younger Glasya-Labolas child. He was too different from his cousin. Not to mention, his….unique style.

“There is also Sai but he is your cousin and there would be too much politics involved to even think about it. Apart from these, there are really no other young devils I can think of on the top of my head.” Zeoticus added and she agreed as well.

She looked at her daughter’s frustrated looking face. She already knew what her daughter wanted but teasing her was the fun part. It seemed that she was getting sad for real now so she decided to drop a hint.

“I mean, it’s not that there are no other ways but I don’t think you would agree to those.”

“What other ways?”

“There are other candidates but they are either Heirs or Lords of their own houses or too old. If you marry a Heir of another house, you might have to marry into that house. You won’t be the Lady Gremory in that case but the Lady of that particular House and in that case, your Heirship will be transferred over to Millicas. Would you give up on your Heirship, Rias?”

She saw her daughter snap her neck up in her direction.

“Who else?”

“Oh! Are you considering giving up your Heirship?”

She looked at her daughter with a glint in her eyes and chuckled internally. “Depends.”

“Well, the choices are Diodora Astaroth.”

And the glint turned into a frown. The Astaroth Heir hadn’t been in her good books since her birthday while someone else was.

“Others are Gerret Amy, Soran Amon, Divalo Oriax, Armin Glasya-Labolas. Did I miss someone dear?” Zeoticus said and he looked at her, barely holding his smile at Rias’ frustrated looks.

“Hmm, I don’t remember anyone but in my opinion Armin should be a wonderful gentleman. Their family is great as well and no one will be able to say anything..”

Finally, not being able to take it, her daughter spoke for herself. “What about Mathias?”

“Mathias? Hmm….well yes, he could be a good choice but there is a catch Rias. I think you already know about the situation of Mathias’ identity.” She saw her daughter nodding. Both she and Sirzechs had explained to Rias in no simple terms that she needed to keep whatever she saw at the farm a secret to herself only.

“What catch?”

“You see, Leila is already planning to engage Latia with Mathias. They have known each other for a long time and are quite compatible. Latia is not the Heiress of the Astaroth family either and can easily marry off to the Bune House. It’s basically a done deal.”

“B-but….I met him….first….” Her barely audible voice was something that was captured in the voice recorder under the armrest of the chair. A good material to tease her later on.

“Yes. And although there is an option of marrying into his other House, you would have to share your legal wife position with Latia. Would you do that though?”

“I can?”

“Hmm, it can be done.” Zeoticus said, with his hand under his chin.

“I will then.”

“Eh! You will?”

“Yes.”

“Are you sure about this, Rias?” She asked.

Rias nodded, looking very serious.

She looked at her husband and then slumped back into the couch, lightly closing her eyes. “Very good then. It’s a good thing I already talked to Mathias about this.”

….

….

“What!”

Zeoticus burst into laughter and she joined in as well.

Rias seemed to have realised that she was being pranked and blushed crimson.

“Now, here’s the thing, Rias. Mathias and I talked about this topic and he asked me if you agreed with it. He said he values your friendship and won’t agree if you don’t agree. He wants you two to get to know each other better so that you don’t have any regrets later on which might have a bad effect on your friendship. ”

She looked at her open mouthed look and smiled. In this regard, she was already happy with Mathias. If someone cares so much about her daughter just as a friend, he would definitely keep her happy when they get married.

“Due to Mathias’ situation, we cannot sign an official marriage contract right now. It will be signed in two years when he takes over the Lordships of his Houses. So, in the next two years, get to know each other better. Is that alright with you?”

Rias nodded, still slightly stunned.

“Another thing. Do not reveal this to anyone. We are to keep this matter a secret unless his identity is revealed or it would cause problems for everyone.”

She nodded again.

“Good then. Have a good night then. Oh, and you should go and meet Latia too. She is in the same position as you and it will be better if you two got along better.”

Rias left the room quickly, too shy to stay any longer but not before giving each of them a hug.

“Well, that went quite well.” Zeoticus relaxed. “Still, was that necessary?”

“Telling her that you were engaging her to someone and thus she cannot be an heir anymore directly could have made her think badly of this. A simple change in the way of putting things can make a lot of difference.” She explained.

“Bah, with the crush she has on the boy, she would rather think badly of me if I engaged her to someone else because of the heirship. Still, Mathias….”

“Is most likely like Sirzechs. Did you see the Demonic Beast corpses that Bewoulf had brought back? Two of those could have put me in a desperate situation and he supposedly ended the entire fight in less than twenty seconds….bare-handedly. How is someone like that an Ultimate Class level being?”

“I did. The leather from the beasts are priced at millions of Liliums according to our appraisers. To think such beasts were….are fed to dogs and used as fertilisers….”

“Why would he need those when he has Adamantium producing dragons. Also, you probably didn’t feel it but those Dryads who were escorting us….were all strong. I felt the energy of one when it stopped a plant from attacking us. Even lightly speaking, she would still be at the very least as strong as me. If the others were as strong as her, then the entire place had over a dozen Ultimate Class beings. It is comparable to the power we have backing our house, with the support of Sirzechs. Not to mention that Leviathan girl.”

“A Leviathan….who would have thought. I for one never thought that we could ever get one to cooperate with us again, especially since the last war.”

“A good thing. I just hope that everything goes well till things are finalised.”

“Me too. I talked to my mother about this. She….she said that in case people found out about it and anyone tried to interfere….she will awaken the ancestor.”

Even Venelana was taken aback at this. “Her?”

“Yes. She said it would be worth it.”

“….and she might be right.”

- Euclid -

“Did you find out what Mathias did to him?” Serafall asked him as soon as he entered the room.

“Yes, I did. I also understood why the Heaven’s decided to attack the Zagan first. If he had remained alive, there was a high chance that we would have won the war.” He said remembering the thing he had just seen.

“What are you talking about, Euclid? What was it?”

“A virus. It was a virus that infected his brain, rather more specifically, the part of the brain that controls the senses. Curson Naberius loses all his five senses as soon as he closes his eyes.”

He saw the look of realisation in Ajuka’s eyes while the other three were a bit confused so he explained the details.

“Imagine not being able to use any of your senses every time you close your eyes. We need a certain period of time for our brain to relax and close our senses one by one when we sleep and even then our sense of hearing is still awake. What the virus does is skip the part where the brain relaxes and the consciousness fades, directly making the person feel like they have been thrown in a dark place where they cannot use any of their senses just like being suspended in space with nothing around but darkness. The viruses stop working every time he answers a question for a certain period and starts again. So the only way he can stop going back to that hell of nothingness is if he answers our questions. Thankfully, the virus doesn’t spread. I understand what he meant by ‘sentencing him to life.’ Compared to a life like this, death would be much better.”

He watched the rest take in what had happened before Serafall spoke again. “The guy had it coming. To be honest, the boy handled it far better than any of us….well except maybe Ajuka, could have. I would have killed them as soon as I got the names of his accomplices. Leaving them be, takes a lot of courage. So, did you find the information we were looking for?”

“Hmm. They have several other labs but the main one is in the Naberius territory. It was watched over by his son. Coincidentally, the son was visiting the father when we raided the lab and was caught. The bodies of Lord and Lady Bune are also in the same lab, preserved for their genes. They were experimenting on different types of beasts and races to create Super Devils. I am pretty sure that they were connected to some of the older devils or the Old Satan faction. We need to raid the other lab soon or they might clean things away.”

“Do it. I will lead the raid personally. Euclid, accompany my peerage and retrieve every test subject. If they are innocent, let them go, if not, question them and we will execute them. These people have kidnapped a Head of House, said Head’s wife and peerage members of both, experimented on them and killed them. This is treason. Was the Head of the Naberius house aware of this?” Sirzechs asked.

“He was but he turned a blind eye to their deeds as long as they didn’t get in trouble.”

“I see. Then I will pay a visit to him personally. These people need to be reminded why we sit in these seats.”

“Sir, what do we do with Curson Naberius?”

“What of him? Wasn’t he sentenced to life? Let him live.”

__________________________________x__________________________________________________________________x________________________________

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

Authors Note:

First things first, Mathias will not be becoming a raging avenger of any sorts. He doesn’t have any problems with the previous Mathias’ memories affecting him.

The sweet guy is just feeling bad for his parents whom he thinks he owes his current life to and is correct to some extent too.

Till now, Mathias has more or less faced all good things in the world so I thought about introducing some of the darkness too.

Matty will give their bodies a proper funeral and see that the criminals are punished legally and move on from his past, slightly more mature than he was before.

Now, with that said, we come to Leila and her detailed plan. In a way, it’s a good thing because Mathias wouldn’t have thought things in detail and would have faced problems later on. It’s a good thing he has someone to spray pesticides around him to keep the future insects away.

I have seen in the comments that some people were shouting about political marriages and such.

But if we look at things from an objective point of view, why should it even matter. The girls and the guy are not doing this for politics. If they do fall in love, why would it matter if the marriage was for politics or something else. Let the parents think whatever they want, the marriage is between the couple. The only thought that should matter is theirs.

Also, Matty is going to have his first serious fight with someone and we might get some new characters in the next chapter. Any guess who they will be?

Next up will be ‘Deal with the Devil’.

Enjoy the new chapter.

Good Day, Peace Out.