Story 2: Chapter 12: The Rating Game (Patreon)

Story 2: Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I own nothing. 

Chapter 12: The Rating Game

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- Mathias -

“Is this really necessary?” I asked Rias for the umpteenth time.

“It is.” The answer however came from my other fiance. “You are not going to go to your first public appearance in a sweatshirt. And no, ‘it might get destroyed’ is not a good reason. Clothes almost always get destroyed in a Rating Game but that doesn’t mean we are going to let you go out in that.” She pointed to my trusted farm clothes.

“Hey! These bad boys can withstand dragon flames and barely get singed.” I complained. Even Phoenix Flames can be resisted.

I mean I could totally use some of the other clothes I have but what’s the use of destroying clothes worth millions of Lilium just to show off.

At least that’s my way of thinking… which is apparently wrong.

“Good. Although I doubt that level of Dragon Flame would even singe your hair. Next time maybe, you can get clothes of a better design instead of these. What’s next? Are you going to carry a shovel to the fight?”

“No way… carrying a shovel would be overkill for the likes of Riser.” I joked.

….

It did bring a light smile to their faces and cooled the atmosphere a little bit.

Today was the day of the Rating Game and I was getting ready… or rather, the girls were playing dress up dolls on me.

Although, they do have a good taste in clothes.

One of the Gremory’s primary businesses is clothing and Latia has been a little princess from the very start so both of them have a very high standard for clothing.

They don’t mind wearing farm clothes while training but they wouldn’t go out in one of them… ever.

“There, all done.” Rias said, after stepping back and taking a final look at me.

I looked at myself in the mirror and I did look good.

The crests of both my houses were on my chest. Finally, there was no need to hide things. It’s been so long that I feel a bit strange wearing this outside.

We took a few pictures as the rest prepared for our first Rating Game.

“Hiiiiiii! I am so scared, Valerie. There will be so many peopleeeeeee.” Gasper squeaked at the thought of appearing in front of the crowd.

The little guy had gotten better but he was still only twelve years old and having a bit of stage fear was quite understandable.

“We will be in a different dimension so there will only be a few people there.” Valerie consoled. I mean, she was not wrong.

Ingvild and Lavinia were ready. Natsume didn’t like fighting much but she was training and eating the food from the farm with everyone for over a year and she was still quite strong. And combined with the Sacred Gear, she could fight people at the peak of High Class easily to a standstill.

Tia will not be fighting for obvious reasons. I didn’t ask Crom to fight either.

I mean, talk about killing a fly with a cannon.

To be honest, Shizuka alone could destroy their entire peerage if she was left alone but today was supposed to be a lesson, not a massacre.

As we were preparing, a magic circle lit up in the area and Armin appeared from there with his own peerage. We are supposed to go to Agreas Island together.

The biggest Rating Game stadium in the Underworld was booked for us.

It was a high profile Rating Game after all. On one side was Riser Phenex, the upcoming Rating Game player and the younger brother of the ninth ranked Rating Game player, Ruval Phenex and on the other side was the new Lord of two Houses one of which was the Zagan.

The island was in the territory of Archduke Agares and the guy himself wanted to promote the Rating Game along with the other few who I was in a process of making an alliance with.

Due to this, what was supposed to be a normal match was transformed into this mess.

“Ready?”

“Mostly.”

He raised an eyebrow at my response.

“I am more worried about the Press Conference and then the Council meeting afterwards.” I sighed.

“Well… no helping that.”

All of us were ready and I teleported everyone to the Agares territory where Septus had asked us to come. From there, he will guide us to the stadium.

The crowd was gathering. Septus was waiting for us with Leila and the Gremorys.

“Mathias, come. You need to get there an hour before time to register the peerage members who will be fighting today.” Leila instructed.

We followed them.

“So, who are you planning to let fight?” Septus asked.

“Not sure. I haven’t seen Riser’s peerage yet. I will think of something when I get there.”

“Just make sure it’s something which attracts the attention of the people.” Latia repeated.

“Hmm, as much as I don’t like flashy fights, I will have to agree that a show of power will certainly help in this situation.” Leila said too.

“Right. I hope that after today people will stop annoying me.” Armin smiled.

….

Yeah. That’s what he has been happy about.

I left with my peerage members to register them first.

- Armin -

He sat down in the VIP rooms booked for them by Lord Agares.

The place mainly housed the VIPs from several families but mainly the families of the current Satans.

After Mathias’ reveal, his father had asked him about Matty. His brother was there so he answered most of their questions. His father wanted to express his gratitude for helping him out. He knew Matty would probably just say he was doing what any friend would do but that was not even close to the reality.

His father was talking about alliances but decided to leave the matter to him since he was friends with Mathias.

‘Let the next generation decide the direction they want to take.’ His father said.

The best thing which happened since then was that he could eat his favourite food anywhere he wanted. Oh and Zephyrdor had been quiet since the reveal too.

One by one the room was filled with people.

Sairaorg sat in the front row with Rias, Latia and their peerages.

A few minutes later, Euclid Lucifuge entered the room with his wife and daughter. His wife and daughter sat with Lady Sitri while Euclid took a seat beside him.

“Did I miss anything?”

“Nothing yet. They haven’t even entered the preparation phase.Matty took his peerage to get registered for the match.”

“Any idea about who will be fighting?”

“He said he had something planned.”

Euclid scoffed at the statement. “Does he even need to plan anything?”

“Who knows what goes on in that brain of his?” He smiled.

“Hahahaha true.”

As they were talking, some new people entered the room. He looked back to see the Phenex House entering the room.

Lord Gremory stood up to greet them.

The atmosphere of the room changed a bit with their arrival.

“Is this seat taken?” Ruval Phenex asked after walking up to him.

“No. Please make yourself comfortable.”

The man took the seat and looked ahead.

At the same time the announcements took place.

“Welcome Ladies and Gentlemen. I am Naud Gaimin, the host for today’s match between Riser Phenex and… oh my, if this wasn’t a surprise… Lord Mathias Buné Zagan. Both Players will be given a preparation time of twenty minutes during which they can prepare for the upcoming fight but cannot leave their designated areas. Please give a big round of applause for both sides. To comment on this match, we have with us the seventh Ranked Rating Game Player, Rüdiger Rosenkreuz.” The screen shifted towards the stadium.

“The model for the games field is based on the Demonic Forests of the Asmodel. I must say this is an interesting choice of field. What do you think, Mr. Rosenkreuz?”

“It is. This field can bring out the powers of both sides quite well. The members of both peerages can hide in the cover of the forest and the density of the demonic energy in the forest makes it very hard for conventional methods of detection to work. It would show us their abilities of stealth and detection as well as the ability of both kings to control their peerages and coordinate their moves in such circumstances.”

“That would certainly be a challenge. What about the Kings themselves?”

“We’ve seen Riser Phenex participate in two matches so we can make some guesses about him. Lord Mathias on the other hand is a complete mystery. We don’t know anything about him or his peerage let alone his style of fighting or specialities. But if we were to make some guesses, then according to the rumours, Lord Mathias is a user of the famed Life Magic which means he could use the forests to his advantage whereas Riser Phenex could burn the whole forest making it a battlefield advantageous to him due to his Phenex Bloodline. But regardless it is a field which can bring out the abilities of both sides.”

“Rosenkreuz has always been good at analysing people.” Ruval Phenex said.

Well, his analysis was not wrong… if it was about anyone else rather than an anomaly like Mathias.

“So, who do you think has a better chance of winning this match, Mr. Rosenkreuz?” Naud asked.

“Hmm, that’s hard to say but if Riser Phenex chooses to burn the entire forest, he would have a very great advantage in terms of the field. The Phenex Regeneration will enable him to fight in a place where others cannot. I can think of several ways to abuse that.”

“Oh, so you are saying that Riser Phenex has better chances of winning?”

“Counting in his experience in two Rating Games and assuming he has had the guidance of his elder brother, Ruval Phenex, the ninth Rank holder of the Rating Games, I would assume so. On the other hand, Lord Mathias is….well, I don’t know much about him to put forth a case from his side. I apologise for that.”

“Quite true. And that’s one of the things which makes this Game such an exciting one. With this said, let’s begin the games.”

Both teams entered their twenty minute preparation phase.

“Everyone is so excited for Mathias’ first match.” Euclid began the conversation.

Ruval looked slightly embarrassed. “I am sorry for Riser’s behaviour. I tried to stop this from happening but… We might have offended Lord Buné Zagan.”

“You don’t need to worry. Mathias said that he was not exactly angry. It’s quite hard to piss off that guy. He would just laugh off something of this level.” he replied.

“Armin is right. Mathias is quite understanding in such matters.” Euclid said.

“Sigh… still, I will make sure he apologises to Lord Buné Zagan when this match is over.” The guy did look quite apologetic.

Euclid decided to lend a hand and change the topic.

“So, what are the odds this time around?” Euclid asked.

“1 to 2.4 against Mathias.” He answered. He had already invested all his personal savings on Mathias.

The girls had done the same.

In fact, even his father had done the same.

“Oh… that’s… a bit lower than I expected.” Euclid replied but he could see that the man was placing the bets simultaneously.

“It’s mostly just as Mr. Rosenkreuz stated, because this is Mathias’ first fight while Riser has won both his previous matches in an overwhelming manner. That and the fact that most of the people except the other Pillars don’t even know Mathias’ name yet.”

“True, I suppose.”

“So who do you people think will win?” Lord Sitri asked from behind.

“Obviously Mathias.” He answered.

“Big Bro will win.” Sairaorg chimed in.

The girls and their peerages were the same.

“Hahahaha the kids have a lot of faith in him.”

“Umm, if I might say something.” Ruval interrupted.

“Yes.”

“I might not like what he did but Riser is not exactly weak. In fact he wishes to pursue Rating Games seriously and has made you, the strongest of his generation as a goal. He has been training since your first match to catch up to you. I don’t know how strong Lord Mathias is but…”

“Tell me, Heir Phenex, who do you think would win in a fight between me and your younger brother?” He interrupted.

An odd expression appeared on the eldest Phenex son’s face. “While Riser is strong, I have seen your match and I don’t think Riser has any chance of winning against you.”

“That does make me curious, how strong is Mathias?” Lord Sitri asked. “You must know because you two are quite close.” Others looked at him for the answer too.

He looked at Ruval Phenex and answered. “If Riser doesn’t stand a chance of winning against me… then he wouldn’t even be able to touch Mathias’ sleeve.”

“In all the time we have been friends, I have fought him over a thousand times, and till now, I have never been able to beat him… ever.”

He left the topic at that, leaving the newer members of the place in stunned silence.

What he didn’t say was that, in those thousand or so matches, he hadn’t even been able to put a single scratch on him in a solo fight, or make him use his dragon form… or any kind of magic for that matter.

He didn’t want to reveal Matty’s strength without his permission, but this level of information would keep these people from underestimating him.

Now, if they knew how strong Lord Mathias Buné Zagan actually was… that might cause some of them to lose their heads. Better not to stir trouble.

Lord Sitri collected himself and looked at Euclid. “This…”

“Well, Mathias will win. I bet five hundred million Liliums on him so hope he does.”

….

As they were speaking, both sides started to move.

Riser’s side split into several groups and laid down traps around their own base to trap any of Mathias’ pawns who would want to promote to a Queen.

Too bad for him, they wouldn’t need any kind of promotion for this kind of fight

Mathias’ team on the other hand were waiting in their base and…

“Damn, I wanted to bring something to eat too.” Euclid laughed.

Yes.

They were having a snack break.

‘Umm, what is our plan for today’s game?’ Ingvild asked, feeling a bit shy at their behaviour.

‘Hmm, well Riser did challenge me, so… I will go and fight. You all stay here and defend the base.’ Mathias replied nonchalantly, continuing to eat.

His peerage members didn’t question him either.

When there were just a few minutes left for the fight to begin, he walked out of his base and brought something out with his space magic.

… a hoe.

He really won’t…

The whole room reacted to this.

Latia blanched lightly.

Leila Astaroth shook her head with a sigh while Venelana Gremory giggled.

The Lords had an off look on their faces.

The one who had the best time was probably the Gremory Ancestor. “Bwahahahaha he really did it.”

She was having a hard time staying still due to all the laughing.

Mathias, unbothered by all this, cleared a part of the land and sowed a few seeds a little distance from one another. 

The time passed and the announcement came. 

“Start the match.”

Riser's side headed straight from different directions towards Mathias' base. 

“This is strange. Why is Mathias Zagan not moving?” The announcer asked, confused. 

Sure enough, the entire peerage of Riser surrounded Mathias.

“Are you giving up already? What excuse do you have this time?” Riser said imperiously. 

“Why would I give up?” Mathias asked, confused.

“Oh, then you want to get beaten up?”

….

Even Ruval Phenex facepalmed at his comment.

“Nah, I will pass. I was planning to fight anyway. Let’s get started.”

“Hahahaha get started? You’re alone, surrounded by my entire peerage and you want to fight me. Who do you think you are? Armin Glasya-Labolas?”

….

He knew that the jab was aimed at Matty but somehow he felt his own face sting at the misdirected verbal slap.

“Well, thanks for waiting. It’s almost time.” Mathias smiled. Just at that moment, the ground where he had sowed the seeds burst open and green coloured imp-like creatures with heads like cabbages, jumped out from them.

“Those are…” Rias exclaimed, attracting everyone’s attention.

“Do you know what those are, Rias?” Zeoticus asked.

“Hmm… they are Saibamen from Drag-so-ball.”

….

“What?” Everyone looked confused.

“They are species evolved from plants and used as weapons by the Frieza Force in the Drag-so-ball manga. They can have a power level of 1200.”

….

Thankfully, Euclid took control of the conversation. “We are seeing an example of the Zagan Life Magic.”

“Oh. And there are a dozen of them. That’s already a decently strong force. Really, the Zagan Life Magic is cheating.”

It was. He was sure they would try to restrict his Life Magic in Rating Games in one way or the other. Though, that would probably not work as it is his Clan Trait. Doing so will only make them dig a hole for further changes which would be disadvantageous for them in the long run.

As expected, Riser was taken aback at the appearance of the creatures and ordered his peerage to attack.

That’s when things took a turn.

No one expected the little creatures to be that fast or strong.

Riser’s pawns were retired in almost an instant. His rook managed to hold one of them off while his Queen held another one off.

“Six of Riser Phenex’s Pawns have been retired.” The announcer said and the surprise in his voice was easy for everyone to hear.

Two of his Knights were struggling against one of them. One of them took an injury and while the creature was attacking her, the other Knight managed to stab it in the back.

What they didn’t expect was the creature catching a hold of her weapon… and self-destructing.

“Two of Riser Phenex’s Knights have been retired.”

“Oh yes. They can self-destruct against stronger enemies.” Rias added.

….

The other members of Riser’s peerage quickly tried to make a distance while he himself bombarded the area with his flame attacks, creating a huge forest fire in an attempt to take down the creatures.

To everyone’s surprise though, the little creatures all jumped on to his peerage members and started to self destruct.

A series of explosions sounded in the field.

“Riser Phenex’s Queen, two Rooks, one Bishop and one Pawn have retired.”

It had only been three minutes since the fight had started and Riser Phenex’s entire peerage was destroyed.

Even Riser himself was blasted into the ground. 

And all this time, Mathias was standing on the side… eating a fruit.

Riser got up, a bit out of balance… only for Mathias to snap a finger.

Another one of those creatures popped out of the ground, latched on to Riser… and exploded again.

Those creatures had hidden underground to avoid the fire attack of Riser and waited there quietly for an opportunity.

“Fight me like a man!”

“Eh? I am fighting you like one. I mean you surrounded me with your entire peerage too. Are you saying that you are not a man?”

“… well, he’s got a point.” Euclid whispered.

He saw from the corner of his eyes that Ruval Phenex was looking at the battlefield, dumbfounded.

Riser couldn’t even speak another word because he was bombarded by the explosions of the remaining green creatures.

“Riser Phenex has retired. The winner of the match is… Mathias Buné Zagan.” The disbelief in the announcer’s voice was easy for everyone to hear.

And thus ended the highly anticipated first match between Riser Phenex and Mathias Buné Zagan… in the time it took Mathias to eat a surprise apple.

- Sirzechs -

“...well, that was something.” Serafall said as she got up from her seat.

“He grew foot soldiers from that ground and you say it was just something?” Falbium scoffed.

“Considering the fact that he can make real Dragons, foot soldiers seem almost cute. I even want them to perform in my next movie as the villain’s minions.”

“He didn’t reveal his strength.” Falbium said after he calmed down a bit.

“Yes. He discussed it with Leila. He knows that someone might try to attack him and revealing his strength will only give them an opportunity to prepare countermeasures, so he hid his real capabilities.” Ajuka told them.

“I don’t think any would try to attack him if he went all out in a show of strength in the Rating Games.” Serafall rolled her eyes at this.

“Riser was too weak for such a thing. The only reason Mathias even went through all this was because of Lord Phenex’s request.” He defended.

“I think the strength he showed was enough for now. He took down a relatively strong High Class Devil without even lifting a hand. That’s not something many eighteen year olds could do.”

“Not to mention the chaos it would have caused at the reveal of his Peerage members. It’s better if we handle one thing at a time. Let’s solve the next thing first.”

"Yes. The main event is what comes up next."

"The Press Conference."

"I am sure that I will be getting calls from Azazel and Michael soon. I need to prepare for that too." Serafall said. "So you guys take care of the Press Conference and the Council Meeting."

"Ughh, it's going to be such a headache. I can already feel it. The council members making noise about his heritage."

"Meh, it depends on him as well. Let's see how he handles it." Falbium shrugged. "We have already done what we could do."

"True. For now, I want to see how much profit I made from the bets." He smiled. 

– Mathias –

"It was awesome. You should have seen the faces of the Phenex family. They were looking at the field in shock."

"Did you really have to bring out the hoe?" Latia pouted. 

"I was growing stuff… And as we discussed, a shovel would have been too much." I joked. 

"They are going to make fun of you. It will make getting people in your territory harder."

"Don't worry about it. They saw me using the Zagan Life Magic and taking down an upcoming High Class Devil without any effort. It's good enough to attract some people. Not to mention, our real bait is the food products and the opportunities we offer." I said, reassuring her lightly. 

She let out a huff. " Then, you better not mess up the Press Conference."

"I won't. I promise." I smiled at her. 

"Hmm."

I then turned towards Rias. "The game is over and Riser has learned his lesson. The Phenex family didn't want any of this and the only reason they even allowed it was because Lord Phenex wanted me to teach him a lesson."

"What!"

"He told me to beat him up and in return he will make an alliance with our house. Ruval even apologised to me more than once. So, let this matter go."

“I….okay.”

“That’s my girl.” I hugged both of them.

We left the room to meet others. There was still some time before the conference and people wanted to congratulate me on my victory.

“You really wanted to do it, didn’t you?” Armin complained as soon as we met.

“What?”

“Don’t play dumb. You held back. I finally thought I would get some load off my head when you have your first Rating Game and you completely avoided all of that.”

“Eh… I didn’t want to beat him up too bad. The guy was already heartbroken. To break his body above that would have been too mean.”

“Sigh… I don’t know what to say anymore. Have you watched the reaction of the people about your Rating Game?” He asked.

“Reaction?”

“Yes. The Underworld has mixed opinions about your performance. On one hand people are going crazy at the demonstration of Life Magic and on the other hand people are making assumptions to downplay your fight.”

“Oh? How so?”

“Some are saying that you could only do what you did because no one knew about the abilities of the Zagan Clan Trait, Life Magic and that Riser was just caught off guard. Against an experienced player, it wouldn’t have worked.”

“Well, there is some truth to that too. I don’t think something like that would have worked on Diehauser Belial. That guy would have countered it with one look. And I am still a newbie Rating Game player. After all, not everyone can be ‘The Beast behind the Glasses, Armin Glasya-Labolas.” I joked ,making him roll his eyes.

“You are having too much fun with this, aren’t you?”

“Yup.”

We joked around till we reached the TV Station where Naud Gaimin would take my interview.

Latia and Rias took the opportunity to fix my dress one last time and I entered the room for the interview.

- Latia Astaroth -

They watched the interview from outside.

Mathias looked like a proper Lord with his attire and mannerism.

This guy… he knew all the etiquette but didn’t follow any of it because he found it too troublesome.

He sat in front of the most famous anchor of the Underworld, Naud Gaimin.

She had already fixed things about this interview with the Gaimin house instead of the Marbas on the condition that they had to show Mathias in a positive light.

The payment was the rights to the Rating Game’s broadcast privilege.

After all, there were more than a few people who wanted to broadcast the first public appearance of Lord of the Buné and Zagan Houses after such a long time.

“Welcome Lord Buné Zagan. I am Naud Gaimin, your host for tonight. I hope you didn’t have any trouble coming here?”

“No trouble at all. And please call me Mathias. Lord Buné Zagan can be a mouthful in long conversations.” He smiled

“ Hahahaha alright, Mathias then. First of all, I would like to congratulate you on ascension to the position of the Lord of Buné and Zagan Houses. I must say that to have two such big names rejoin the Pillars is a happy surprise for everyone.”

Happy surprise?

She doubted that.

“Thank you. It was a surprise for me too.” He smiled.

“Hahahaha that brings me to the next question. How? How exactly did this happen? I apologise for bringing up the bad memories but from what I found out, your parents, Lord Morton and Lady Selena were… caught up in the Naberius Scandal. And from what we know, you have no close relatives. So, how does a kid from the infamous Buné wastelands reach this position? I am sure it must have a very great story behind it. If you don’t mind, would you share it with us?”

“To be honest, it just happened. Even I was not expecting anything like this. I was quite young after all. I had gone to get tested to receive my Evil Pieces and encountered Lord Lucifer by chance there. We talked and he personally took my test and found out about my Zagan Heritage, a well kept secret. He has helped me since then and well….here we are.”

“So you lived in those wastelands all by yourself?”

“Yes. Those are my lands. It is my home.”

“Ah, I apologise, I didn’t mean to…”

“It’s fine. What I mean is, if even the Lord of the Land gives up on it, then who would care for it. Those are my lands and the place I was born. I know there are many things wrong with it but it is my responsibility to fix those. As for how I was able to survive there, I was offered another safer place by Lord Lucifer but I rejected it so he provided for my security.”

“I see. Still, all of this was quite secretive. Not even the other Lords knew about the revival of the House until your coming of age party. Many of us were wondering why that is so?”

“Well… that had many reasons behind it. First of all, as we all know, my parents had disappeared under suspicious circumstances. The Satans were investigating it and didn’t want to alert the ones involved. I agreed. Secondly, my Zagan heritage has been the target of other factions for a long time. Revealing my identity while I was not capable of protecting myself would have been a great danger to my life. We decided that the best form of protection I could get till then was anonymity.”

“And they were certainly correct to do so. We have already seen a demonstration of your strength. And what a demonstration it was. Riser Phenex is an up and coming player in the Rating Game field. He was even predicted to be someone who can become a top ranker in the Rating Games, and yet you took him out so easily. Not just him but his entire peerage. That kind of feat has never happened in the entire history of Rating Games. Even someone like Armin Glasya-Labolas had to blitz the other King in his game to win.”

“I don’t think it would be right to compare Armin’s game with mine. He was fighting someone in the top fifties of the Rating Game rankings while I was fighting someone who had only participated in two Rating Games. Armin is a very strong guy who has worked very hard to reach his level of strength.”

“He is having too much fun with this.” Armin’s eyes twitched and she held back a smile.

“True but even he didn’t have such an easy time.”

“I took advantage of the surprise my Life Magic can offer.”

“Yes, about that. There have been quite a few comments about your Rating Game. Shall we take a look at them?”

“Sure.”

“The Emperor, Diehauser Belial says- It was an interesting show of Magic on Lord Buné Zagan’s part. I can imagine the many ways in which one can use such magic. I wish to go up against him when he gains a bit more experience in Rating Games.”

“The Belial were allied with the Buné for a long time. I found out about this when I was reading up on the history of the Buné House.” Rias said.

Oh. She looked at Rias. “You were reading up on history?”

The girl looked a bit embarrassed. “Both of you were working so hard and I wanted to help too. So I am taking lessons from my mother on politics.”

She smiled at her words. “That’s good.”

Mathias didn’t have any interest in politics and neither did she. Also, with her Bael and Gremory blood, she would be far better suited for politics than her.

“The former Dragon King, Tannin said - I wish he had shown his Buné side in the fight. It would be exciting to see another Dragon in the Rating Games.”

“Mathias is planning on making a trade relationship with the Dragons under Tannin. They are going to discuss the sale of Dragon Cherries and Dragon Apples.” She supplied, trying to offer some information which might come useful for her studies.

Rias nodded and looked back at the interview.

“And now to some comments from the other side of the spectrum. Arnus Paimon, the sixth place Rating Game player says- He just won because of his opponent’s naivety. That kind of thing wouldn’t work on experienced Rating Game players.”

“Third ranked Rating Game player, Bedzee Abadon says- I could beat him with a hand tied behind my back.”

That bastard…

If Mathias wasn’t holding back… would he even have the guts to say this?

“Don’t let it bother you. Matty is far stronger than the likes of him. Treat it as the blabbering of a fool.” Armin said lightly. She nodded.

“What do you think of them, Mathias?”

“First of all, I would like to thank them for taking time out of their busy schedules to watch my match. Thank you all.” Mathias started. “The Emperor, Diehauser Belial and Blaze Meteor Dragon, Tannin. I have had the opportunity to meet both of them. They are really kind and helpful.”

“I have heard that the House of Duke Buné used to be allied to the House of King Belial.”

“They were commanders under King Belial to be precise. Over the years, this changed into a deep friendship. I wish to reestablish the relationship between our houses again to honour the bond of our ancestors.”

“That's great news for the Underworld.”

“Now about Lord Paimon. The fact that he thinks it would need experienced Rating Game players to win against me, someone who has only participated in his first Rating Game today, is already a very big praise. He was not wrong either. I cannot see the move which I used against Riser, working against someone like Diehauser Belial. And finally, for Bedzee Abadon’s comment, if someone of his level couldn’t defeat an eighteen year old newbie that easily… it would be quite shameful for him, right?” Mathias smiled.

Good. He avoided those comments quite well.

“Now I really want to see Matty beat the snot out of that bastard.” Rias whispered.

“It’s fine. Matty is not interested in Rating Games as it is. You are the one who wants to become the champion. Train your peerage and fight him when you are ready.” She replied, although a part of her really wanted to see Mathias beat that arrogant bastard too.

The interview continued.

“That’s… quite humble of you. Now, then, shall we move off to another topic? We have heard about your farm. In fact, that’s been known to the Underworld for a long time. We have also heard that you wish to expand towards the food and agriculture industry. Can you tell us something about it?”

“Yes. I  do have plans to do so. I mean, as a Zagan, isn’t that an obvious choice?”

“And it’s a great choice too. I have tasted the food from your farm and I must say that it’s the best thing I have eaten in my life. I can see your products being a massive hit in the Underworld too. But, it does raise a question. Products of such a high level, would they be available for the common masses too or will you only be targeting the higher classes?”

“The products will be available for every devil. My products are divided into several ranks, starting from F- to B+. Each of these Ranks is for a different level of strength, F being Low Class, E, Middle Class, D High Class, C Ultimate Class and finally B for the Satan Class beings. My products are not just simple delicious food, they also provide an increase in the growth of Physical Power and Demonic Power as well as affinity to certain elements.”

“What?!”

Checkmate.

A small smile appeared on the corner of her lips.

There was a moment of silence around her which was soon replaced by a cacophony of sounds.

“Lord Buné Zagan, I mean Lord Mathias….are you being serious?”

“Obviously. I won’t joke on such matters. In fact, all my products have been verified by Satan Beelzebub as well as Euclid Lucifuge, the Vice President of the Devil’s Scientific Research and Development Department. They pose no threat to the health of Devils and are completely safe too.”

“Mathias, please tell us more.”

“Hmm, let’s see. Each product is ranked to match the ideal level of the consumer. It’s based on their strength and will provide their maximum effect in those ranges only. Just eating the products won’t bring out the full effects. To get the best of my products, one has to train and exert their bodies too. Remember, they boost the growth rates.”

“And the prices?"

"I will try to keep the prices as affordable as possible. The normal, unranked food products will be priced at the same price as in other parts of the underworld more or less. The Ranked products will vary in their prices according to their ranks. I mean, you can understand such crops are not easy to grow and thus their prices will be a bit higher than others."

"That's… understandable. Would you tell us a bit more about how and when we can buy your products?"

“I will be opening my outlets in several parts of the Underworld. In major cities like the Capital, New Lilith as well as the four Satan cities, my own territories and a few other territories at the start and slowly expand out to the whole Underworld.”

“May I ask which territories?”

“The houses we have made contracts regarding the sales and distribution of our products. For now they include the Gremory, the Astaroth, the Sitri, the Glasya-Labolas, the Lucifuge as of now. We hope to make it to a dozen or so territories by the end of a year. Unranked to D Ranked Products will be sold at the outlets. C Ranked Products will need to be preordered and B Ranked Products will be sold at auctions.”

“Excuse me? Can you please elaborate?”

“Sure. Unranked to D Ranked Products which are meant for High Class Devils can be grown at regular intervals whereas C Ranked products are hard to grow. They take more time and investment and thus their supply will be far less. For this reason, they have to be booked in advance and in limited quantities to avoid someone hoarding it. As for B Ranked products, then we are all aware that there are not many Devils of that rank in the Underworld. The growth of the Devil race stops at that rank and any increase in power however small takes years. So, we would all agree that anything which can provide even a slight increase in power at such a level is priceless and thus the auction for the B Ranked Products.”

"So you are saying that your products can work even on Satan Class devils?"

"Yes. They do. It has already been tested."

"And when can we get them from?"

"Tomorrow."

"In that case I would like to book some of them for myself too. Do I get a discount?"

"Hahahaha why not. But you have to join my territory. The residents of my territory will get a 20% discount on F Ranked products and a 10% discount on E Ranked products. If they join the service of any of my houses, they can get a 5% discount on even the D Ranked products. Moreover, my residents will be given precedence. They in turn will have to sign a contract to stay in my territory for fifty years initially."

"Oh, quite sly of you. Attracting people to your territory in such a way."

"I will take that as a compliment. Reviving a territory as big as mine is not an easy task. I have to do what I can to succeed."

"This reminds me, you had gifted your fiance, Miss Rias, a fruit liked by Satan Leviathan. It had caused quite a sensation. Could it be that it was grown by you too?”

“Yes. It was in fact grown by me. It’s called a Vanilove Fruit and is a C Ranked Product. It has to be pre-booked.”

“Wonderful. Lady Leviathan had bought all those fruits back then and none of them could be passed around. I am sure many houses with demonic beast heritages will be overjoyed at this news too. By the way, on the topic of reviving the Buné and Zagan territories, from what we know, the Buné territory is overrun by the Demonic Beasts from the nearby Pit. What do you plan on doing about that? I am sure it will be a major hurdle in reviving your territory.”

“Correction. The Buné territory was overrun by Demonic Beasts. They have all been hunted down. I collaborated with the Satans and their peerages to clean the area. During the Naberius incident, they had experimented on some demonic beasts which had caused them to mutate and become stronger, causing severe damage to the nearby areas. The Satans compensated me from the fines received from the Naberius House and everyone involved in those incidents and we cleaned the area to assure the safety of the two territories. The current Buné and Zagan territories don’t have any Demonic Beasts outside the Pits.”

“What!”

With this the populations from other areas will surely be attracted to the Buné and Zagan territories.

The only thing left would be to provide them with jobs but that is already on the way with the alliances they have planned.

“Shall we move on to some juicy gossip now?”

“Hmm?”

“Your engagement with the former Heiress of the Gremory House, Miss Rias Gremory and the princess of the Astaroth House, Latia Astaroth was announced along with your Lordships. It has broken the hearts of many which I am sure you are aware of. You fought a battle against one of them today after all.”  Naud Gaimin laughed. “But that has also caused many Houses to lose the opportunity to form a relationship with your houses. Do you think things could have been different if you have had access to different houses in the last few years instead of just those related to the Satans?”

She narrowed her eyes at the question. She had known that such questions would be raised regardless of the situation but still… it annoyed her more than she had expected.

Mathias however laughed. “No. I highly doubt things could have been different. First of all let me clear out a few things. I was not restricted by the Satans in any way at all. They provided me with assistance but have never forced anything on me. In fact, not even their families knew about my identity bar from a few of my choices. As for how I chose the people to reveal myself to? Simple, I revealed myself to anyone who had talked nicely to me for a month.”

….

….

….

….

The stunned look on the faces of the people as well as the host was a sight to see.

Maybe this would remind them of how they had treated Mathias all this time before they tried to play the blame game on anyone else.

“Hahahaha are you really that surprised? But this is the truth. I have attended every gathering and party I was invited to.  I even sent invitations to every Pillar House as well as Extra Demons to important occasions of the Buné and Zagan Houses like the final rites of my parents and in doing so, I talked with anyone who talked with me. If we got along well, I revealed my identity to them. It’s just that simple. So please, think twice before blaming anyone. Secondly, the decision of the engagement was totally my fiances’ and mine. Their families had just supported us as we took our time getting to know each other first before deciding to sign the contract. In fact, I was the one who proposed it. If in doing so I couldn’t meet someone else who might have been more compatible with me, a fact I seriously doubt, then we were just not fated.”

“That’s… will you be taking any other wives or concubines… to revive your houses?”

“I have just entered into an engagement contract with two very beautiful and lovely girls. I would like to take some time to get used to it before I think about more.”

“Oh, you three seem to have a very good relationship. My congratulations.”

“Thank you.”

“Lastly, as the Lord of the Duke Buné and King Zagan Houses, you must understand that you command quite a bit of power, so, what is it that you wish to do going forward?”

“Hmm, right now I have my hands full restoring my territories and the names of Duke Buné and King Zagan. When I am done with it, I will concentrate on my farm to make the Underworld completely independent of any kind of food imports and make it self sustainable. I do not wish for anyone to go hungry in the Underworld… ever.”

“That’s quite a great goal. I sincerely wish you can achieve it to bring about the rise of our race.”

“I hope so too.” Mathias replied as they got up, ending the interview.

She and the rest got up as well.

Mathias had done his turn, now it was their turn to get the business of the House.

- Azazel -

He watched the news broadcast end as the newly ascended, Lord Mathias Buné Zagan completed his interview.

Zagan.

They had really thought that name was extinct.

He still remembered the times of the Great War.

The overall threat assessment of the first Zagan was second only to one other devil… their brother and the creator of the Devil Race, Lucifer himself.

His ability to create hoards of demonic beasts, although mindless, was assessed as the most dangerous ability, so much so that even Father decided to send Saraqael of all his sons to take him down.

And even after the death of the first Zagan, they hadn’t forgotten the fact that he had taken down Saraqael with him as well as the danger such a power could possess if it surfaces again and thus, they had hunted down the Zagan descendants using every possible means necessary, going as far as to team up with Angels and church to do so.

Their efforts had shown results as well when the Zagan name had all but disappeared from the records of the Underworld as a whole… but it seems there were survivors.

Mathias Buné Zagan.

He had ordered the records of his first Rating Game to be brought as soon as he found out about his name and the guy confirmed his fears. He could indeed use Life Magic.

Being drowned by sheer numbers.

Neither Rüdiger Rosenkreutz nor Riser Phenex had truly understood the horrors of Life Magic or he would have started to bombard the area from a distance till he exhausted his Demonic Power and then run for his life rather than stand there and throw dialogues.

Those fools.

And it would seem that this Zagan was far more dangerous in a completely different way if he could make food like that along with the Demonic Beasts.

Too bad, neither the Grigori nor Heaven can afford another Archangel to go after him… not to mention the fact that he was related to those two monsters through their sisters. Even laying a finger on him would most likely start a war.

And even if that were not the case, then the Grigori currently had no free hands to spare after the mess caused by Satanael. If he were to make any moves now, he would earn the ire of the other factions as well.

He didn’t fail to notice that he had the former Suzaku Himejima in his peerage and matched with the fact that his little fiance had Baraqiel’s daughter in her peerage, it would be hurting his brother as well, causing their already sour relationship to break beyond repair.

Really, those four brats had checkmated everyone with this move.

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Author’s Note:

I am back with another chapter of ‘The Farmer’.

Now, I am sure that many people were excited about Mathias’ power reveal but Riser wasn’t exactly strong enough to force him.

Matty will get the opportunity later on.

For now, the strength he has shown is enough.

Next chapter will contain the reactions of all other parties to Mathias’ existence and his powers.

We will also see how things are going on the other side and how Mathias expands and establishes his own territory and maybe some development with other girls.

Enjoy the new chapter.

Good Day, Peace Out.