Story 2: Chapter 9: The Hunt (Patreon)

Story 2: Bune Farmer 

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 9: The Hunt

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

- Mathias -

I woke up surrounded by the sight of purple and golden blonde hair in front of my face and the feeling of softness on both my sides. One side was covered in silk while the other was in cotton.

There were two faces resting on my chest, breathing lightly. 

It has been a few months since Shizuka joined my peerage and there are three months until my birthday where I turn eighteen.

My relationship with both Lavinia and Ingvild improved a lot. We decided to take it slow and get to know more about each other first.

Lavinia was quite outgoing and most of the times acted like an airhead but at times, she could be very serious.

Ingvild on the other hand was so kind and pure that I doubted she was even a devil, let alone the descendant of Satan Leviathan.

Both the girls were understanding enough to give Rias, Latia and me some alone time. While Rias was young and didn’t think much about these things, Latia however felt insecure about things at times. And yet, she pushed this relationship forward because it was supposedly good for the House.

I really don’t understand girls.

So I have been doing what I can from my side as well. We have been spending more time together. Often going to the Human World to set up my businesses as she enjoys those things.

As for the Human world, things in Japan were still heated up, especially considering the news about the rebellion of the Old Kyoto Youkai brewing in Kyoto which has actually picked up pace due to the Shinto’s suffocating suppression recently.

Several youkai were thinking of leaving that area or even Japan as a whole and move to other countries and even the Underworld. It is still slow but might increase later on.

I was thinking of attracting them to my territories because Youkai are more or less nature spirits and most of them are very good at taking care of plants.

I moved to get up and both the girls felt my movement. Lavinia snuggled more while Ingvild woke up.

“Good Morning.” I greeted them as both of them slowly woke up.

Lavinia hugged my neck and placed a kiss on my lips. “Good Morning.”

Ingvild on the other hand was much more tame and only hugged me with a light peck on the cheeks.

She was still quite shy but was coming out of her shell.

We got up and I started getting ready for the day.

During this time, things had calmed down a lot. We had gotten into a routine. Training and preparing for what is to come.

Since it was almost time to reveal my identity, I was planning to seriously clear the area under the Buné and the Zagan House of the Demonic Beasts from the Pits.

I have been preparing for this day for a long time. The Dragons in my farm are strong enough under regular training and good food from the farm and my Dryads have been evolving continuously to C+ Rank from the harvest of my Hunting Squads.

There are around thirty five Dragons and two hundred Dryads from C- to C+ Ranks on my farm to regularly maintain it.

I could very well attack the Pits right now although there would be heavy casualties at my current level. Not to mention, the Pits were a very good source of unlimited food for my farm animals.

With some of the future food items needing insane amounts of nutrients, I actually plan to use the pits as food sources to grow those.

There were a total of seventy two major and minor Pits in the Underworld. Twelve of them were in the Devil territories while seven of them were in the Fallen Angel territories. Other Pantheons mainly avoid the Pits because they are extremely hard to clear and they could make completely new dimensions instead of freeing those areas in the Underworld.

Even the most powerful Hindu Pantheon has their own dimension for their departed souls. Swarga and Narka ruled by Indra and Yama respectively.

Apart from them, there is Yomi, Cocytus, etc of the different pantheons also had different dimensions although their doors were in the Underworld.

Two of these pits were near my territory. Well to be precise, one was on my Buné territory while the other was a little distance away from the Zagan territory, in the unclaimed wilderness.

Now there was a thing about unclaimed lands. If someone can free them, it's theirs. Even the previous Satans who ruled the lands with an iron fist or the other factions who didn't want each other to rise didn't interfere with this rule. 

Why?

Very simple.

It was nigh impossible to clear a pit without extreme casualties, and no one wants to bear that.

But today was not about clearing those areas but rather the Demonic beast who had come out of those areas and into my territories.

We are projecting an estimate of five hundred Ultimate Class beasts all over the area. There were also High Class and Middle Class Beasts which we didn’t bother even counting.

Individually, they were not a problem for me but the problem was that they rarely ever attacked individually. Most of them formed hordes.

And numbers can be overwhelming.

Sirzechs will be sending his Peerage members and Serafall will be sending Euclid to watch over us.

I got ready for the day and went on to prepare breakfast for everyone.

Apparently, getting them used to B+ Ranked Cooking was not a good idea.

Shizuka knew cooking and Ingvild was getting quite good at it too but most of the people still insisted on me cooking most of the days.

My stats haven't grown over the last two years but I am still getting stronger. Mainly due to the Gourmet Cells and other Skills.

Host: Mathias Buné

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

Age: 17 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+

Gourmet Cells: C+

Gourmet Demon: Derous, S+[C+]

Magic:

Teleportation: B+

Bounded Field Creation: B+

Memory Alteration: B

Barrier Magic: B+

Spatial Magic: B+

Martial Arts: B+

Touki: B+

Cooking: B+

Senjutsu: B

Abnormality Resistance: B+

Farm Management

Farm Rank: B

Farming Points: 4,078,512.

Money: 1,272,569,000Ⱡ

Shop

Inventory

I will be starting to work on Food Honour and Food Immersion soon enough. With my Gourmet Cells reaching a high enough level, it would be suicidal not to.

“Good Morning, Shizuka.” I greeted the black haired girl as I entered the kitchen.

She always took her duty very seriously.

The Dragon Nature has been having some effect on her. Not to mention she gets hers from the strongest Dragon of this world. She was slightly more aggressive. Especially when she was training.

Dragons have a certain ability to go into an outrage when they are angered too much. She often goes into such a state when pushing herself.

Tia has taken over her training and was treating her brutally. She didn’t back down either and always trained till she dropped and lost consciousness.

In just these three months, she had gone from D+ to C Rank which could even go to C+ when she went into an outrage. It’s just that Outrage is a double edged sword. The user loses their sanity when in the outrage mode and only the top tier Dragons retain any of their senses to even distinguish between friends and foes.

This was even worse for her who was still recovering from a mental trauma like hers.

Normally, Tia can manage her easily but it can be a danger when she is around others. Twice, Leafa had to calm her down while other times I did.

Since then she has started to rely more on me or as Tia said - Dragons were strictly ranked on power. They respected the dragons stronger than them and in most cases also deferred to them too.

It was almost instinctual. The current Shizuka was more of a Dragon than anything and she was actually very new to this. When faced with the likes of Tia and me, she almost subconsciously defers to me.

This matched with her original gratitude and sense of duty made her extremely loyal.

I got her to talk a bit about herself and open up to Leila and we are now working on helping her.

We mainly relied on the perfume made from the Peaceful Flowers normally but it was only a temporary solution. We are trying to help her control this because certain high level dragons have the ability to control their sanity to some extent even when in an outrage.

Which brings me to my cute familiar, my Sky Dear, Leafa. She was eating well and growing quickly.

It has been almost two years since I got her and she was already insanely strong. In fact, she was the strongest one on my farm.

Leafa was a genuine A- Rank and was just a bit shy from A, almost at Tia’s level. It’s just that her ability makes her the strongest one.

Just her size, which was no smaller than any small mountain could make her a formidable foe. She mostly rested in the animal farms and several of my dragons rested on her back, making a habitat over there.

She is learning how to control her back channels so that I can grow crops which take hundreds of millions of years in a short period of time as long as I provide them with sufficient nutrients.

Maintaining the Back Channel over an area with proper control is the key and she needs a lot of practice for it.

I really need to unlock the next Farm Level for better products and B Ranked Dryads who can boost the growth of plants.

"Good Morning."

"Are you ready for today?"

"Hmm." She nodded.

"Any news from Tia? I think she said something about going out somewhere."

"She said she had to go somewhere. She will be returning by nighttime."

"I see. Well, today is going to get busy. You can leave this to me and prepare for today." I offered.

"All preparations have been done. I can help out…"

I put a hand on her head making her pause. "Take a break. You are pushing yourself too hard again. I sensed that you were training till late last night."

"But I…"

"That's an order." I spoke sternly, making the girl pause. The look on her face made me let out a sigh. "If not for yourself, at least do it for Akeno. It was her who cleaned you and brought you to bed last night. They are worried about you too, you know." I said softly, slowly caressing her hair.

She nodded lightly.

Before she left, I added something else. "Shizuka."

She looked back.

"You are now a part of my peerage, my family. I will never let anything happen to you or anyone else in our family. Trust me."

She paused for a second and then hummed a yes very softly.

"Thank you." She added before leaving the kitchen.

"Hmm."

__________________________________x________________________________

"There are fourteen Ultimate Class beasts in this group. The largest we have seen so far. The leader of the group is a flying beast and can attack with poison which paralyses and then melts someone from inside out." Armin explained the reports from the surveillance drones.

"Other monsters support it. There are three other flying beasts who protect the leader and are probably immune to its poison. The others mow down anyone coming from land after which they are torn apart by the three hundred High Class beasts."

"Why can't I bombard them with dragonfire and be done with it? With Ingvild boosting me, I could easily take care of the flying group without even getting close." I questioned.

"The poison glands of the leader are needed for research. There is reward money for it. The feathers of the Flying Beasts are greatly in demand for their use in the Textile Industries and the carapace of the land ones are extremely important in making armour and equipment for our armies. We can sell just this group for an estimated price of five billion Liliums. Don't ruin it with Dragonfire." Latia chided.

She had been busy for the whole last month to make detailed plans about this whole cleanup from the economic side of things.

I was of the mind that we would just roll over the group with sheer might but she pointed out how much resources we would be wasting. The estimated price made even me hesitate slightly. The estimated price for all the harvest according to her would be… around Two hundred billion Liliums.

I was about to call bullshit, not that I would. I knew better than to poke that hornet's nest. But apparently my little bro Sai wasn't that wise. She showed the entire report she had worked on for the last month, the deals which she had made with Lord Gremory and Falbium Asmodeus on my behalf, (the former was quite happy with it) and even the exact calculations for the amount. The entire file was eight hundred pages thick.

Turns out it wasn't two hundred billion but rather two hundred and fifteen billion. The last fifteen was a margin.

And to think I was about to feed everything to my dogs and use it as fertilisers…

This much money is the entire worth of some of the less prominent houses even with the thousands of years of accumulation while for some other houses, they would be able to come out of bankruptcy and regain their Pillar status with this sort of money.

Now I was coming to understand why Leila and Venelana were so worried about Pure Blooded Devil girls trying to get into my pants.

“Alright. I will think of something.” I thought of an idea. I really didn’t like this one but it was the safest bet available. “You all will exit the area. The next attack will be dangerous for everyone.”

I sensed the questions bubbling in many and stopped them. “Trust me. I will be fine.” I reassured them.

Everyone of us worked in teams.

My and Armin’s peerages were the attacking force with us taking the lead and them covering the back so that no one could bypass us and cause trouble in the rear.

Armin was in charge of the planning. The Glasya-Labolas were mostly generals of the Devil armies and he was trained from childhood in different strategies.

He was using the Demonic Beasts to practise.

Back in our camp were Rias’ peerage members who were acting as medics and storing the harvest.

They reluctantly left the area to our previous camp and I got to work.

Space Magic, Life Magic and Dream Magic. These three things were extremely dangerous when used together.

First I created the virus which cut off the signals of the brain to the rest of the body. Second, I used Dream Magic to cover myself in an illusion to avoid detection and finally teleported above the group and let the virus spread.

It’s just that this kind of thing cannot be done with anyone friendly near me. It took a few minutes to spread the virus. I made it so that these viruses cannot breed and die off and dissolve in the victim’s body in a few hours so there is no chance of spreading the disease or even retrieving the dead virus for any research.

The books Euclid had given me on Biological Magic were doing their work.

Within half an hour, the entire horde of Demonic Beasts were down.

They would have been able to react better if they knew what they were up against. For example, these viruses were bad against heat and fire. Also, since they were made up of Demonic Power, they were vulnerable to light and holy magic too. According to my estimates, if someone had more Demonic Power than me, there was a chance that these viruses might be repulsed provided they knew that they were infected by these. 

But even then, this thing was more than capable of taking down most of this rabble. If I had to take a guess why this was not used before me, it would be because of several factors.

First, the expertise in different fields of studies required to pull this off was not easy to achieve. I got this because I could cheat using my System. I don’t think even the first Zagan would have been able to reach B+ Rank in Life Magic or had advanced knowledge of Biomancy.

Second was the Mind capacity and Magic Power required to pull off this move and control it without being affected by it. By my guess, the first Zagan would be C Ranked or if we push it, C+ Ranked in both Magic and Mind Stats.

I knew this because he was not in the B Ranks from what little I could gather.

With the horde cut off from their senses, I ordered the viruses to dissolve inside their bodies. Mission accomplished.

_________________________________x_________________________________

“How did you do this?” Still stunned at the sight in front of her, Latia asked me.

“Life Magic can be very dangerous. Let’s just leave it at that. I will explain in detail later. We have work to do now.” I said and although a bit reluctant, she agreed.

Euclid was taking care of harvesting the material so I went to him to see if he needed any help.

“Need a hand?” I asked.

“Oh, Matty. No no. This is easier than I expected. Most of these Demonic Beasts are biologically still alive and will die only after a few days. Supernatural Beings are kept alive by the Demonic Power for longer periods of time. We can get excellent samples from these.” he paused for a moment and then asked. “You used those, didn’t you?”

I nodded. “It was the safest bet. The leader of the group was too dangerous and could have messed things up. Don’t worry. I made sure all the viruses are gone. They would have naturally died and dissolved in a few hours. I not only dissolved them with my power but also waited for a few hours till they would have naturally dissolved.”

“As long as they are safe. But still, with this, we might even be able to clear off a pit directly.”

“Won’t be so easy. There are several beasts who could adapt to these viruses if we take long. Moreover, the pits are a source of free meat and fertilisers for my farm. It would be such a waste to destroy one.” I smiled.

He let out a chuckle. “Only you would be crazy enough to use the pits for something like that.”

“I prefer to call myself an eccentric genius. Thank you very much.”

“Hahahaha not much difference between those two so I agree.”

“Alright, teach me something about Harvesting. I think it would be a good skill to have with my future line of work.” I asked.

“Sure.”

- Armin -

“I still don’t understand why you had to tag along.” He sighed, looking at Matty getting along well with his mother… over his childhood stories.

“Now Armin, that’s rude. Matty has been so helpful to find you a suitable girl. It’s only natural he gets to accompany us to see that this goes well.” His mother scolded while his best friend… made faces at him from behind her.

Somehow this didn’t seem like a good enough idea.

They had taken a break from the hunting Demonic Beasts for a whole month. He was learning more in these battles than he had done in all the classes till now.

Even his peerage members had progressed a lot due to these fights.

Tobio was a solid Ultimate Class and could retain sanity with his Balance Breaker. The other three had also attained their Balance Breakers and could rival the lower Ultimate Class Devils. Even Elanor, his familiar, had become stronger during the fights.

He was pretty sure Sai was pushing Ultimate Class by now because the kid worked harder than him.

But his brother or rather all the Satans had decided to give them a break. Apparently, even the Satans themselves needed time to process the materials because of just how fast they had been clearing the area.

They still had to be a bit covert due to keeping the source of all this a secret. Officially, there was a story that due to the Naberius’ experiments, there were some overflows from the pits and the Satans had sent their peerage members to cull those numbers. So they couldn’t rush too much or the story would fail.

There was only a month and a half till Matty turned eighteen and then all this would be revealed.

When he returned home, mother had been waiting to drag him to meet Lilitifa Vepar.

Matty volunteered to tag along as they were going to the Gremory territory and Rias and Lady Gremory were guiding them to the lake.

"There. Lili lives there, in that lake." Rias pointed towards a large lake in the distance.

The Vepar had mermaid-like features in their normal forms. They could always take on a normal humanoid form when on land but preferred to live in and near water bodies instead.

They all flew towards the lake and Rias called upon the Vepar devil.

A girl with light green hair and elf-like ears came out of the lake.

"Oh my, she is pretty." His mother praised. He sighed knowing what was to come.

He really should have come alone for the first meeting.

"Lili, they are Lady Glasya-Labolas, Armin Glasya-Labolas and Mathias Bunè. Lady Glasya-Labolas wanted to talk to you about something." Rias told the confused girl.

"Ah, I have heard about them. The mother of Satan Asmodeus and the strongest devil of our generation and… ah, umm, Mathias Bunè, the heir of the Bunè house. He can umm… tame dragons. That's pretty cool."

She stumbled upon Mathias' name. Probably because there were not many good things about him. Still only a peasant noble. She did try to be polite though which was more than most people did.

But then again, she was in a same if not an even worse situation since the Vepar had been declared extinct due to bankruptcy. Maybe that's why she could sympathise with Matty.

"Umm what did you want to talk to me about?" She asked, looking towards them.

"How about we have a talk in private." His mother took the girl aside to talk while signalling them to wait. Lady Gremory followed her.

"So… did you like her?" Matty asked, as soon as they were out of earshot.

"I haven't talked to her yet. How would I know?" He replied.

"But still… a first impression?"

"She… seemed a bit too shy and timid."

"Oh please, I bet if we go down the streets of New Lilith now, half the girls will act the same, Mr. Most Eligible Bachelor Under One Hundred."

He let out a sigh. "You do know that when you come out with your real identity, they are all going to change their focus, right? I will remember all this then." He threatened.

"Meh….as if you would let it go if I didn't say anything. I am just enjoying this while I can." He shrugged.

….

Well, he was not wrong.

"So what about her?"

"I want to get to know her first to say anything." He replied.

"Lili is a very good girl, you know. I often come here to play with my peerage. It's just that sometimes…" Rias started to say something but paused.

"Sometimes?" Matty inquired.

"There is that annoying idiot, Graag Forneus. He always comes to harass Lili."

"Oh, tell me more about this guy. I thought he stopped when she moved here."

"No he didn't. He…" She began explaining the situation.

From the short description, he gathered that Graag Forneus was a High Class Devil of the Forneus House who had an obsession with becoming a pirate. Most of his crew was gathered to fulfil this idea.

He had seen Lilitafa somewhere and had become obsessed with making her a part of his peerage and crew.

This was the reason why she moved from the Forneus territory in the Human World.

While they talked among themselves, his mother returned.

The girl was following her with a bowed head and a shy look on her face.

“Armin, go have a talk with Lili. Get to know each other.” Mother said when they came back. “I for one like her already but you two are the ones who will be spending their lives together so you should get to know each other.”

He looked at his mother and then at the girl who was sneaking peeks at him and nodded.

At this time, something happened.

In the nearby lake, a ship popped up.

“That’s…” Rias frowned while Lili cowered back.

“What is going on here?” his mother asked, looking confused at their reactions.

“He’s….” Rias went on to explain the situation to his mother while the ship came towards them and finally to a halt.

“Ahahahaha are you ready to join my crew, Lilitafa.” A guy with the face of an angler fish, stood at the helm of the ship as he shouted.

The girl cowered behind their group.

His mother, seeing all this, walked forward. “She will not be going anywhere. Lilitafa Vepar is getting married to my son and as such, is under the protection of my house.”

“And this is the Gremory territory. Everyone inside this territory is under the protection of the Gremory House.” Even Lady Gremory walked forward and stood in front of the group.

“Hah! Who do you bitches think you are? Do you think you can walk up and swing those knockers and I would agree to whatever bullshit you sprout? Get out of the way, unless you want to go for a ride on my ship that is ahhahaha.”

….

Rias was right.

This guy was insane.

He saw the light scowl on his mother’s face and was about to go forward and handle this situation when he heard a voice. Matty had arrived beside him.

“You know, this is a good opportunity. The hero saves the damsel in distress.” Matty whispered. Only that it was loud enough for everyone except the fish-face to hear.

Even his mother and Lady Gremory could hear this.

“Now Mathias. Killing another High Class Devil is still a punishable crime.” Lady Venelana chided before adding one more line. “But beating them to an inch of their life in self-defence is not.”

….

Matty, as if struck by an epiphany. He walked to the front of the group. “Say, your name is Graag Forneus, right?” He asked with a smile.

The other devil was confused at the sudden turn of events. “And what of it?”

“Can I ask you a question?”

“What question?”

“It’s a bit private. Can I go there and ask?”

“Hah!”

Matty didn’t give him any chance to speak and went there near him and whispered something in his ears.

….

….

Armin had no idea what it was that Matty said but it apparently was too much for the Forneus Devil to handle as he let out a howl. “Attack! Catch that bastard! I will make him walk on the plank and feed him to my sharks!”

Matty, in the meantime, had already retreated behind him. “His all yours.”

- Venelana -

They watched with curiosity as Armin stepped forward to clash against the uncouth Forneus devil.

Mathias, meanwhile, was standing in front of them.

“Won’t you be participating, Mathias?” She asked.

“And take away Armin’s chance to be a hero? No way. I mean, imagine a few decades from now, when he tells his children a story about how he met their mother, it wouldn’t look good if I were to interfere in the fight.”

She and Greta Glasya-Labolas both giggled at his words, especially knowing he was saying them loud enough to make sure Armin heard them.

Poor Lili was probably the only one looking worried. “Umm, will he be alright? They are strong, you know.”

“It’s fine dear. Armin can manage this much. Right, Mathias?”

“Hmm. The guy himself is barely High Class while all his peerage members are Mid Class at best. Armin would have destroyed them if he wasn’t making sure they don’t die accidentally.”

“I have heard that you all have been training very hard the last year and have been spending time fighting demonic beasts. I have seen those beast carcasses myself. They looked quite strong.” She commented while they watched the fight.

Although it was more of Armin beating them up than fighting.

“So that’s what you all have been doing? He wouldn’t tell me anything about what’s going on and Falbium had been unusually quiet about everything.”

“Armin is mostly taking care of any strategies. He uses them as practice.”

The show was almost over. But that fool hadn’t given up.

“You. YOU!… wait,  just you wait.” The fool started a summoning ritual while Armin just watched.

“Shouldn’t he stop them?” Greta questioned.

“Nah. Stopping him now would give him hope that he could have won if he  completed the summoning. Hope is a dangerous thing. In the hands of a fool, even more so. It’s better if Armin crushes them completely so that he doesn’t try anything again.” Mathias replied casually.

She mentally gave him approval for his thoughts. Mentally break them if you cannot kill them so that they shiver even at the thought of attacking you.

She had heard from Sirzechs that he didn’t like killing unless necessary due to it being an act completely opposite to his Life Magic. It was good to see that it was not hindering him when it was necessary to act tough.

The summoning was completed and the lake rose. Several Killer Whale-type Demonic Beasts swarmed around the ship.

Armin just let out a sigh and faced them once more while Greta cheered for her son.

Suddenly a large tentacle rose out of the lake. The fool started laughing like mad while Lilita cowered behind Greta. “That’s… a kraken. His familiar.”

Oh. a Kraken.

“Get them. Kill them all.” The fool shouted.

Armin on the other hand didn’t even bother looking this way.

Several more tentacles rose and the beast rose out of the water.

Greta stepped forward.

“Let me, Auntie.” Mathias stopped her.

“Oh. Thank you sweetie.”

He turned towards her. “Killing a familiar in self-defence is not a crime, right?”

“No. And I have heard that Krakens are supposed to be a rare delicacy too.”

“All the better.”

He took a step forward and in front of her eyes, his entire figure disappeared as a huge gust of wind rushed back from the place he was at. He appeared right at the top of the kraken and touched its head. The beast collapsed as if a puppet with its strings cut.

The next moment, he was back beside them. “All done.”

She blinked.

And then she blinked once more.

That massive Kraken… She was sure she could have killed it. Between her own power and the aerial advantage her wings provided, it wouldn’t have stood any chance at all, but still, this…

She had heard about what he was capable of, but it was another thing watching it firsthand.

Poor Greta was even more shocked since she didn’t even have any idea about Mathias’ real strength.

Armin was done with the fool as well and returned with a kneeling and begging devil.

The entire affair was taken care of soon enough and Greta took Lili with her. The girl had a very timid personality and needed to toughen up or she would be torn apart by devil society.

_________________________________x_________________________________

“And this meat comes from the Kraken Mathias killed?” Zeoticus enquired.

“Not only did he kill but he cooked it as well. I must say that it's beyond anything our chefs could hope to make. He’s got quite the skill as a chef.”

“And what happened with the girl?”

“Greta will be announcing the engagement soon. Now that she knows that after Mathias’ reveal, the pressure on Armin will be lessened so she is going to take her time training her new daughter-in-law. Lili was quite happy with the arrangement. Their second child can apply for the reestablishment of the Vepar Pillar as long as they have enough funds which is quite easy with the support of the Glasya-Labolas House.”

“Well she’s not wrong about it.”

“Did something happen?” She asked, sensing him distracted.

“Lord Phenex proposed an engagement contract again.” He sighed.

“Riser has just turned eighteen and he has been waiting for our reply. I can see him getting anxious.”

“I did tell him that we are looking to give Rias some time to get comfortable before we decide on the topic. But she will be of age in a month. It seems like the youngest Phenex son has developed a crush on Rias. Lord Phenex thinks getting engaged will make the boy get a bit serious.” He sighed.

“As a parent, I can understand his worries but in two weeks, Mathias turns eighteen. It wouldn’t be an issue then.”

“Sigh. I will just have to hold out till then.”

“How were the Demonic Beast carcasses?”

“Oh those. Yes. We won’t be having any shortage of high class materials for a while. Even with the hard bargain the little Astaroth Princess drove, we will be making profits from this entire deal for the next decade or so. Honestly, seeing the girl try so hard was adorable. She takes more after her mother but she has also inherited her father’s business acumen as well. She has already made billions from just the deals with us. And this is not even mentioning how much she profited from the military.”

“At least they are not being fed to dogs or used as fertilisers anymore. By the Satans, I don’t think my heart could take any more of that.”

“Yes. Mathias’ apparently seemed quite sad about that.”

“His precious plants and babies are not getting Ultimate Class meat. Obviously he would be sad.” She rolled her eyes. Although she found his antics adorable at times. A waste was still a waste.

“He still managed to convince Latia to use the Mid Class beasts and below as fertilisers after harvesting them for useful materials.”

“That’s just like him.” She shook her head. “Anyways, did you have a talk with Sectus regarding which house we will be signing the Engagement Contract with? Buné or Zagan?”

“I did. At this point, the engagement is a done deal from the children’s side so we decided to get this topic out of the way too. Mathias himself didn’t have any opinions. According to him they would both be family. It doesn’t matter which name they wanted to take.”

“Obviously.”

“Among us, we decided Rias will be getting the Buné name since it mainly deals with the ranch and Dragon reserve, the place from where our Textile Business is linked while Latia will get the Zagan name because they have a Wine Business linked with the farm side. The girls agreed because Rias thought Dragons were cooler and Latia wanted to expand the farm business more. It was almost unanimous from both sides.” He laughed.

“Dragons are cool? Sigh, what will I do with this girl? At least Latia seems to have the brains in the group.”

“We’d better start preparing for the reveal. Satans know what the other Houses will do when they find out about Mathias’ identity. Mother will be waking her up for this too. Just so other houses can be kept in control.” He said.

Yes. Her waking up will truly be of great help.

- Mathias -

Another month had passed since the incident with the Kraken.

The Forneus House was fined to high heavens for several charges of property destruction, attacking Ladies of other Pillar Houses, attacking heirs and heiresses of other Pillar Houses, attacking High Class Devils, and a ton of other ones. Sirzechs was mad and while the guy didn’t erase the fool, he made sure that the Forneus House wished he had. The reparations they paid were given mostly to Lilitifa while we got the Kraken harvests. The meat was as good as Venelana had said back then.

Today was Rias’ birthday. We were at the Gremory House to celebrate it.

I was dancing with Latia while Armin was escorting his newly announced fiance, Lilitifa Vepar.

For once, I was not getting the stink eye from the crowd for being near Armin. Today, that honour went to Lili.

Poor girl looked a cross between ecstatic at dancing with Armin and undergoing a nervous breakdown from the number of glares thrown her way.

"So, two weeks more. And then we can finally stop playing hide and seek." Armin started.

"Hmm yeah. I am just not too thrilled about all this." I yawned.

"What's up with him?" Armin asked Latia.

"He's been getting lessons from Mother and Lady Gremory on House Politics everyday. Technically, this is his debut. What he missed back then, he has to face now."

"Ah. I see. Can't say that I am surprised though."

"Just learning about these is annoying. I can't even imagine what facing them for real would be like. The most annoying part of it all is pretending to care about what others say no matter how stupid." I let out a sigh.

"Well, that's the way it is." Armin shrugged. "Why do you think I try to avoid the crowd so much?"

"Isn't that due to the girls hounding you? Even now, the number of girls glaring at Lili is enough to cause a riot." I laughed.

"Matty." Latia called and I looked in the direction she was pointing towards.

There Rias, Sona and their queens were standing. It just seems like Rias herself was arguing with someone.

"I think you should go and check." Latia said and I nodded before going in that direction. Latia also followed me.

As we got closer, we could hear the argument.

“I said I am fine. Can you please leave me alone now?” We could hear her voice.

“She sounds quite annoyed.” Latia whispered to me.

“Hmm.”

Soon we found out the cause of the annoyance too.

“Oh don’t be stubborn, Rias. My father is already talking about our engagement. Isn’t it better for us to get to know each other before that?” A blonde haired and blue eyed guy which took me a moment to realise was actually none other than Riser Phenex said.

“And I have already told you that I don’t like you, Riser. How hard is that to understand?” She replied, but as someone who was by this time quite familiar with her habits, I could tell that she was on the verge of losing her temper. Latia recognised the signs too.

“Go on.” Latia gave me a push to stop her before she snapped.

At times like these I really wished I didn't have to hide things.

I walked up to the group. “Hey Rias, Sona, how are you all doing? Happy Birthday Rias. You look beautiful, by the way.” I greeted the group and complimented the girl.

“Matty! I mean Heir Buné. Ah, thank you. You look good too.”

“Good evening, Heir Buné. Latia.” Sona bowed lightly.

“Good evening Heiress Sitri. Happy Birthday, Rias.” Latia bowed to Sona and then greeted Rias.

I looked towards Riser and offered my hand. “Mathias Buné. Nice to meet you. I have heard about you, Riser Phenex. Your debut Rating Game was quite good.” I smiled.

“Riser Phenex but you already know that. Yes. The Rating Game was easy. I wished there was someone stronger to push me. I have heard of you too. There are quite some rumours about you and your farm.” He didn’t continue but I understood the meaning.

“Hahahaha yes. I love my farm. I hope you didn’t hear anyone badmouth my farm now, did you?”

He was taken aback by the reply and didn’t know how to respond.

“Anyways, good knowing you, Riser. I will have to excuse myself now.” I turned towards Rias. “Can I have a dance with the birthday girl?” I asked in an effort to get her away from the scene.

“Oh!” She seemed to be taken aback by the question but soon collected herself. “Yes. You may.” She offered me her hand and I accepted.

“Wait.” Riser called out suddenly, catching up with what was happening.

“Yes?” I asked, pretending to be surprised.

“I was talking to her.”

“Oh. I didn’t realise you had already invited her for a dance.” I smiled.

“He didn’t. He just wanted to talk in private.” Rias added, eyes slightly narrowed.

“And do you want to?”

“No. Take me to dance.”

“Alright.” I turned to the flummoxed guy and c

ontinued. “Please excuse us.” And left the scene before things could go any further.

A little distance away, I asked. “So? What was that all about”

The look of slight annoyance came back to her face. “Lord Phenex recently proposed an engagement contract between him and I. He had done so a few years ago too but Father had diverted the topic. Now he asked again. The Phenex have been very good allies of our house and we couldn’t give them a proper answer due to having to hide your identity. So father could only hold on. Recently, he has been annoying me. I told him several times that I didn’t have any interest in him but… he’s too persistent. Not to mention, it’s always the same thing. My family this and my father that…”

“I think he’s trying to impress you. He’s just doing it all wrong.” I replied, understanding the situation. I kinda felt bad for the guy.

It seemed as if he had a crush on her.

“Well I have no interest in his courting. I am already getting engaged.”

“Don’t worry, you won’t have to hide anything in a few weeks.”

We just danced for a while.

Riser was wise enough to not cause any trouble here, especially since they weren’t exactly engaged so he didn’t have any reason to cause trouble.

When we were done dancing, the two of us went and joined our group and I used my trump card, The Armin Guard to block all kinds of interruptions.

Overall the day went fine.

Now, I just need to prepare for my own reveal.

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Author’s Note:

A new chapter of ‘The Farmer’ is up.

Few things happened.

We are on the last bit of preparations for Matty’s reveal.

I tried to focus a bit on other characters in this chapter because the next chapters would be mostly about him.

And the lewds.

Who doesn’t like the lewds?

Enjoy the new chapter.

Good Day, Peace Out.