Story 2: Chapter 13: Reactions and Politics (Patreon)

Story 2: The Farmer

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 13: Reactions and Politics

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- Mathias -

I walked out of the Interview Room and met Rias, Latia and Armin who were waiting for me there.

“So? How did I do?” I asked them.

“It was good. At least with the reveal of your special products, people inside the council will think twice before being too hard on you in fear of pushing you away. It should reduce your load a bit.”

“Ughh… I still have that, don’t I? Maybe I should have let Riser punch me a bit and then pretend to be injured and not attend the council gathering.” I moaned.

“He would have broken his hand.” Armin rolled his eyes.

“Don’t worry. Father and the other people of the alliance will all support you. You just need to make your presence and leave. After that, there is no need to attend all the meetings. Only appearing once every year will be necessary. By then we can easily consolidate our position.” Rias said.

I looked at her surprised. She knew politics?

The girl blushed and explained. “I have been taking classes from Mother on politics to help the Buné and Zagan Houses in the future.”

A smile appeared on my face and I hugged her lightly. “Thank you.”

“You don’t need to thank me. It’s going to be my family too.” 

“Alright, I will handle the gathering.”

It was just a gathering of old coots. How bad could it be?

___________________________________x__________________________________

Kill me.

This is annoying as fuck.

“Bored already?” Zeoticus asked me.

“More than you can think. How can people babble so much about stupid inconsequential things for hours straight with such confidence and pride? This was supposed to be a general meeting to discuss the events of this year and the effect it would have on the Devil Race, right?”

“That’s what it is supposed to be?”

“Then how did this change into a discussion about the next Annual Pillar Gathering and even if it did, then why is it taking this much time? Just recommend a few people and make a committee and throw the responsibility for organisation on them and concentrate on the more important topics. I don’t believe that a New Year party is the most important topic of discussion in the whole Underworld.”

“Hahahaha this is the way things work here. As long as something doesn’t endanger the Underworld, people here rarely concentrate on serious topics. There is more than one reason for it.” Euclid explained.

He was also the Head of the Lucifuge House, one of the only three houses among the Extra Demons to have joined the Current Government along with Mephistopheles and the Mamon House. This allowed him the privilege to attend and even vote in the council meetings. Apart from the House Heads, the Ultimate Class Devils were also given a vote each when passing laws.

It was one of the reasons why the Rating Games and the Top Ten Players were so important. It was because all of them were Ultimate Class. This was also a reason why it wasn’t so easy to become an Ultimate Class just by having Ultimate Class Strength.

“What reasons?”

“Devils are a long lived race. Especially the older devils who are thousands of years old. Their way of perceiving time is different from the young ones.”

I looked at him incredulously.

“Things change when you live that long.” He shrugged.

“Sometimes I wonder if these people stopped boasting so much and put this time into actually discussing how to do good for the underworld… the devil race would have been far better by now. I mean it’s not that much time either. Just a few hours.”

“Oh just you wait till it’s time to discuss business. These same people will become hell hounds fighting for a piece of meat.” Zeoticus whispered while still smiling towards the crowd. “In fact, you will get to experience it today as well.”

I sighed.

So troublesome.

The moment came surely enough.

I heard my name being called out and looked forward.

A guy, Victus Uvall, a member of the Great King faction and one of the lackeys of Lord Bael who had come with him back then to invite me to their faction.

“My congratulations on ascending to your position as the Lord of Zagan and Buné houses. We are all excited to have two reputable names with us once more.”

….

I didn’t need my rank of Senjutsu to know that he felt nothing of what he was saying.

“Thank you. I look forward to working towards the betterment of the Devil Race with everyone.” I smiled my best fake smile.

Seriously, I should have gained a skill for fake smiling with the amount of times I had practised this.

“Indeed. This is a very joyful occasion for our race and I am sure that we would be seeing a very rapid growth in the Devil race soon but….your news of ascension or even the existence of a Zagan descendant came as a surprise. I have heard that the Satans had chosen to keep your existence a secret to protect you from people who would target you for your Zagan heritage. But… was this really necessary? The Devil Race is far stronger than the Fallen Angels and the Angels right now. Don’t you think that the Satans had overreacted a little?”

….

I looked at Euclid beside me and gave him a look as if asking if this guy was an idiot?

Is this the kind of stupidity I have to deal with all day?

Since they were being this dumb, I decided to treat them the same way.

“No.”

….

They waited for me to continue but I didn’t.

After a few more moments of silence, the guy looked at me awkwardly. “Excuse me?”

“You asked me a question and I gave you the answer.” I shrugged.

….

I could feel him trying to control his lips from twitching.

“Is that all? Do you have nothing more to add?” He asked.

I stared back at the guy and seeing that he didn’t give up, I decided to be a bit more straightforward. I picked up a glass and showed it to him.

“What is this Lord Uvall?”

The guy stared at me, confused so I showed him the glass again.

“A glass full of water.”

“Is that all? Nothing more to add?”

The guy’s face flushed.

“When the answer to someone’s question is obvious, even a single word can suffice as an answer. The Zagan House was specifically hunted by the other two factions even after the Great War had ended till there were almost no members left alive… publicly at least. The Satans had considered this offered me a choice and I chose to keep my identity hidden. Why is that so hard to believe? Or are you saying that I should have bet the continued existence of my houses on an ‘if’?”

A hint of rage appeared on his face at my answer but he quickly hid it away.

“I apologise for being insensitive, Lord Zagan. What I was saying was that we all, the entire Devil race would have lent a hand to protect such an important member of our race if only we knew. You could have also gained access to more people than you did. Was it really worth it, being confined all this time in a small place?”

“Yes.”

….

Don’t give them any chance to pressure me. If they gain a footing then they will drag the talks too much.

Looking at the annoyed face of the man before me I let out an internal smirk.

“You seem to have some more questions, Lord Uvall.” I asked this time, taking the initiative.

“I don’t know what kind of life you have experienced but it is kinda sad to see that you don’t trust the abilities of our race to protect you and your house. I wonder what happened to you to have so low trust in the Underworld.” He shrugged disappointedly.

I narrowed my eyes.

Trying to turn the public against me.

“Stop twisting the meaning of his words, Lord Uvall.” Zeoticus started to speak but I shook my head towards him, making him stop.

Since they are trying to pick a fight against me, it wouldn’t be good to hide behind my allies.

Leila had warned me of their tactics.

A few of them will apply pressure on me while their leaders will pretend to offer a hand. If I accept them, they can set the rules of the alliance since I would be on the backfoot.

This is exactly why I hated politics.

But… it didn’t mean I would let anyone bully me.

“You are correct Lord Uvall. I have very low trust in the capabilities of the one you mentioned to protect me.”

….

That gained the attention of everyone in the place.

“Matty…” Euclid tried to speak but I raised a hand and stopped him.

“I see that you still don’t understand  the situation. Seriously, you should go and read on the topic a bit before you speak and waste the time of the entire council. But since things have come to this point, let me clearly enlighten you, not with some baseless words but rather concrete facts.”

The man who certainly wasn’t expecting this kind of reply and was taken aback for a while.

“Eighty five members of the Zagan House have been assassinated inside the Underworld, in the so-called protection that you are flaunting about.”

“But that was during the Great War. Times are different now. Surely…”

“Again, I really wish you would do some research on something before wasting my time. Only thirty eight members among those had been killed during the Great War. A fun fact was that most of them were due to misinformation. And before you say anything, I have the records of each and every killing in detail. In fact, these records are even present in the Lucifer Archives at New Lilith in case anyone wants to read them. You should probably go there and read them and then try to question me about this stupid topic.”

He opened his mouth but before he could say anything, I continued, not giving him a chance to speak.

“You say that the entire Underworld would have protected me and my house, correct?” I asked.

He nodded. “I am sure….”

“Then where were they when over forty of my family members were killed? I am sure that after some time everyone would have realised that the other factions were targeting my house, so why didn’t anyone try to protect them?”

“Those were tough times. Everyone was recuperating after the war and there was also rising tensions due to the descendants of the previous Satans wanting to restart the Great War.”

“And that’s the first reason. If a situation arises where they had to choose, they would choose their own protection over mine. It’s a fact that my mother survived for so long by keeping her identity a secret. I decided to do the same for my own protection. The only reason she was even killed was due to a coincidence….by one of the people you say would protect me. I don’t see why people are making so much noise regarding this simple fact.”

“Not everyone is like that.”

“True, but… I couldn’t risk even one more person being like that. You keep on forgetting that this was the last chance for my house.”

That made them quiet.

“Alright, it seems that you are starting to understand things now. In that case let me ask you a question in return since you are so concerned about my mental and social well being.”

“Yes?”

“When my parents were killed, I sent an invitation to all of the Pillars. Some responded personally, while some sent servants. As far as I recall, your house didn’t even respond to the invitation. Why is that so?”

The man’s face flushed. “I’m sorry for not being able to offer my condolences but I was…”

“At New Lilith organising an Art Exhibition.” I interrupted, making him clamp his mouth shut.

“Matty…” Euclid tried to stop me.

“Just a moment, Euclid. If I don’t stop this nons… I mean if I don’t clear Lord Uvall’s doubts then everyone will think I am easy to bull… I mean will have doubts. It’s better to take care of things once and for all. I don’t mind questions as long as the other side has done sincere investigations and has actual doubts but I have zero tolerance for people who waste my time with such useless questions.” I turned back to the guy who was completely quiet now.

“My apologies for the interruptions. So, I see that organising an Art exhibition was more important for you than attending the funeral of one of the Pillar Heads. With examples like this… how do you expect me to trust the people with these kinds of priorities to protect me during times of danger? I am sure you understand how assassinations are done? The assassins don’t announce that they are going to attack someone in advance.”

Seeing no reply, I continued. “I am very grateful to the current Satans for giving me the necessary protection and agreeing to my request to keep my status a secret until the time that I felt I was ready to rise up to my responsibilities. As for the ones I came into contact with, it was done by me of my own violation. In fact, as stated in the interview, I revealed my identity to anyone who talked civilly with me for a month. How do you expect me to trust people who didn’t even talk to the heir of an endangered house like the Buné, to protect me in times of danger?” I looked around and there were many types of reactions.

Some people avoided my eyes while some other people glared at me for pointing this out and more or less slapping them right in the face.

“Does anyone have any questions?”

No questions came.

- Euclid -

Damn… this was what he was worrying about.

They pushed Matty and he snapped back at them.

None of them would have expected to encounter such a person.

As expected none of them questioned him next and turned their attention towards Sirzechs next.

He quickly used a small barrier to isolate them from others.

“Was it really alright to do that Matty?”

“It was. I know what they were doing, however I don't care. The thing I wanted is done already. Now, even if those idiots invited me, I can just pretend to be irritated by Uvall and deny. After all, I am just a hot blooded eighteen year old with more power than they think I’m worthy of. This kind of behaviour was to be expected.”

….

“You were hoping for this?” Euclid looked at me incredulously.

“Yup.”

“For the next few years, I will have no time to worry about them. As long as I get this time, I will be able to stabilise my territories and then get back to this.”

“But won’t they create more trouble for you?” He asked. “It will take out more time from your already busy schedule.”

“That might not necessarily be the case.” Lord Gremory sitting beside him spoke.

He looked at the man for explanation and he explained. “Mathias has something which their previous targets didn’t have.”

“What thing?”

“Monopoly. Mathias has a complete monopoly on products which is going to become nigh compulsory for the development of any house in a few years time. They could hate him all they want but they will have to trade with him on his own terms once his business is established.”

He looked at the boy who was looking forward with a stoic look on his face. “Is that what you were counting on, Matty?”

“Among other things,” he answered.

“Oh! What other things are you targeting?” Lord Gremory asked curiously.

He looked towards them. “What is the best they can do to hinder my business?” he asked.

“Hmm, they might stop the sales of the products in their territories, cutting into your profits. They might spread false rumours to reduce the credibility of your products.”

“Spreading false rumours will not work in the long term as long as the ones in the territories of my allies are not affected. Moreover, I have the certifications of the Research and Development Department. It will be very hard to directly say that my products are faulty. As for cutting the sales in their territories. That’s exactly what I want.”

Lord Gremory raised an eyebrow.

“Tell me Lord Gremo…”

“Call me Father.” the guy interrupted and Euclid rolled his eyes.

“... father, tell me, if you were a Low or Middle Class Devil living in their territory and you saw that the Devils of the same class in other territories were getting stronger after eating my food while you were not even getting access to it or if you could then at an extremely inflated price through some underground channels, then what would you do?”

“...I…” The man was about to speak but paused and looked at him in stunned silence. Euclid did the same too.

“You were targeting their people from the very start. You want them to cut off the sales so that the people in their territories migrate to yours.” Euclid asked, stunned.

He shrugged. “I need people to come to my territory and these people will have to come from somewhere.”

“That’s… very cunning of you Matty.” He looked at the usually straightforward guy as if seeing him for the first time. That was ruthless.

“It wasn’t my original plan. This plan was actually made due to an idea from Rias. She wanted to think of a way we could rob the people from the territories of the people who had commented badly about my Rating Game and it struck a chord with us. Later on, all three of us, Rias, Latia and I planned this. Things will obviously not be so easy but there will certainly be some effects. And that will not be the end either.”

“Obviously. To stop the outflow of population, they will have to agree to your terms of trade no matter how ridiculous. That’s indeed ruthless. Just what is Venelana teaching the girl?” Lord Gremory shook his head but it was easy to notice the smile on his face.

Seriously?

As if that blackhearted businesswoman wasn’t enough. Now even the other finance was becoming a blackhearted politician.

Did Mathias have an affinity for these types?

Sirzechs and Serafall managed to keep them in control.

Finally the main topic came.

“I would like to ask Lord Buné Zagan a question.” Lord Amy stood up and asked.

Mathias looked at him and nodded.

“I have heard about what you said about your farm products and their effects. I would like to confirm if they are true once more.” he asked.

And sure enough the attention of the entire council turned towards Mathias.

“Yes. Every word I said is true. The products were tested and their results were verified by the Devil Research and Development Department and they have been certified as well.” He answered.

Euclid took this chance to stand up and verify the statement.

“Over the last three years, both Satan Beelzebub and myself have worked on all these products and verified their effects.”

Falbium also took this chance to throw in his own words. “It’s true. I tested the effect of those things on a squad of my soldiers as well. They are completely safe and have the stated effects. The Defense Department is currently discussing a deal for a stable supply of these grains for our Military as well.”

He saw the expressions of the people change all over the hall.

The Amy Devil also had various emotions circle his face before controlling them quickly. “That is indeed great news for the Devil Race. I would like to thank Lord Buné Zagan for such a gift. May I ask how these grains will be distributed? I must admit that I am quite excited about tasting them for myself.”

“They will be sold from tomorrow at selected outlets. I will slowly expand the business at my own pace.” Mathias replied.

“Yes. Your speech about eradicating hunger from the Underworld and it was inspiring. If possible, we would like to lend a hand towards such a noble goal as well.”

Mathias nodded and Euclid internally rolled his eyes.

Just a few days ago, they were more or less threatening Mathias to join under them and now their tones change completely.

“It just so happens that the Amy House and the Shax Houses have the best distribution chain in the Underworld and we would like to assist in the sales and proper distribution of your products through the underworld.” Lord Amy said, acting like a benevolent guy.

Obviously his act fooled no one, even less someone like Mathias.

That high ranked Senjutsu skill was hard to deceive.

“I appreciate your thoughts Lord Amy but as it happens, I already have distributors for my current supply. As I have already stated, my products increase the growth rates of people, it is an extremely valuable resource. I wish to control its distribution quite closely. Thus, I wish to start small and then slowly expand. For this, I have already made contracts with around a dozen houses and will expand to their territories after the capital Satan Cities. My own stores will be opened in collaboration with the owners of the territories. In the future, when I expand to other territories, I wish to follow the same method and as such I am in no immediate need of a distribution channel.”

Smart.

This would make the Lords of the Houses side with him and not have a middleman like the Amy and Shax Houses to come in between.

Now even if these two wish to pressure Mathias, they will be stopped by other houses who will try to get a share of the pie.

A stick with the firm and blatant answer to Lord Uvall and then a carrot for the other houses to bite.

Well played.

As expected, those two knew this as well and didn’t push much for now.

Another person got up this time.

Cain Marbas.

“I have another question. This time for Lord Lucifer.”

Sirzechs nodded.

“This has been the first time that someone has become the Lord of two houses. And while I am delighted to have two houses recover from the verge of extinction, it still causes a distortion in the balance of power. I wonder what your thoughts are about this?”

“There are no current or past laws stating that one person cannot be the Head of two houses at the same time. The Underworld has lost more than half the Pillar Houses in the Great War and the Civil War and a few more have lost their status after that. It has caused the power to get concentrated in the hands of fewer people. Such a thing is also bad for a healthy government as well as the future of the Underworld and as such our priority should be to stop the number of Pillar Houses from decreasing first. As for the matter of the power of two houses being in the hands of one person, it’s only for one generation. Mathias is engaged to two different people and the Lordships will separate into different hands in the future and solve this automatically.”

There were some more questions but people more or less avoided directly targeting Mathias for now.

The rest of the meeting went quite smoothly.

- Lord Phenex -

He looked at his youngest son sulking, still refusing to accept his defeat.

“He was just lucky that I didn’t know about his Clan Trait. If we fought again, I can…”

Finally tired of it, he decided to stop the matters himself.

“You would be able to do nothing.” he stated, making him turn towards him surprised.

“Father?”

“If you think you would have a chance against him if you fought against him again, then you are sorely mistaken. Mathias is a very reasonable young man and thus he didn’t take your words to heart or… you wouldn’t be standing here complaining at this moment but rather laying on a hospital bed.” he turned towards his eldest and Riser followed his gaze.

Rival let out a sigh and explained. “Lord Buné Zagan… was holding back against you.”

Riser’s eyes widened in surprise. “Impossible. He…”

“Is someone whom even Armin Glasya-Labolas claims to have never defeated in a thousand fights.” Rival cut him off, making him shut his mouth in disbelief. “And if you think Armin was just saying those because of their friendship then you will be wrong because Euclid Lucifuge confirmed it too. The man had also bet five hundred million Liliums on Lord Mathias’ victory.”

He took over and continued. “The man you are talking about is someone who has lived in the barren lands of the Buné territory, a place beside the Pits. He stayed there almost alone and not only that, he grew and established a place there to live. Do you have any idea what kind of places the Pits are? There are creatures there even I wouldn’t wish to fight. And you were insulting and underestimating someone who treats those areas as his backyard.”

By this point both his sons were quiet. Riser looked down, not meeting his eyes so he let out a sigh and explained.

“You children don’t understand the true horrors of the Zagan Life Magic. Neither does Rudiger Rosenkreutz or Naud Gaimin or anyone who is boasting about being able to beat Mathias Buné Zagan.” He took a deep breath and recalled the stories from his own father.

“Being drowned by endless hordes of monsters with no end in sight. A scene like that is enough to break the wills of all but a few. From what I have heard from Zeoticus, Mathias, even among the users of Life Magic, is a prodigy with no equal so much so that the Gremory House’s Ancestor, the first Gremory, Runeas Gremory herself claimed that he has surpassed his own ancestor in the mastery of Life Magic. Let alone you, even Ruval or I would be hard pressed for our lives against someone like him. There is a reason why the Zagan house was targeted so fervently by our enemies.”

“Is it really that strong?” This time Ruval asked.

He nodded. “Keep whatever you hear here a secret. I want both of you to get along well with Lord Mathias. He is a humble person and won’t reject genuine friendship. The things I have heard… he is going to be someone who will change the whole structure of the Underworld.”

“Are you talking about the food products which he announced about?” Ruval asked.

“Those are only a part of the reason.” He replied and turned towards his youngest son. “The Phenex House is allied with the Buné-Zagan House so I want you to behave yourself in front of Mathias. Do you understand?”

“...yes father.”

With his words said, he too got up and left. He had to make some arrangements too.

Mathias was going to open outlets in the territory of his allies, including his own and he needed to get things ready for it.

- Mathias -

Latia and I walked back to my room to rest for the day.

I was held back to discuss the opening of outlets in different territories of my allies.

A few of them had already offered me a piece of land for opening the store branches. This included the families of the Satans, Lord Agares, Lord Belial and Lord Vapula.

The work will start immediately and the stores will open in about a month or two when the first four stores start running properly.

Today was extremely tiring.

I absolutely hated public appearances for this reason.

We opened the door to see a strange scene in front of us.

Rias was laying on my bed with only a blanket on her body.

I looked questioningly at Latia.

“She wanted to stay here tonight but I guess she fell asleep because we were late.”

“I see. In that case, let’s not disturb her.”

I went to get cleaned up before bed and she followed me.

Once inside the bathroom, we undressed for a bath.

I looked at the girl in front of me. It wasn’t my first time seeing her like this. In fact, we have been making out often since the first time back during the hunts but I was still amazed whenever I saw her.

Really, both my fiancees were beautiful.

She was eighteen and a half years old but looked far more mature than her age. Even Rias was eighteen or so.

Devils started maturing very fast.

I walked behind her and hugged her from the back, my staff comfortably finding a place between her asscheeks.

“Matty!”

I turned her back towards me and saw the light blush on her face and leaned down. She closed her eyes and I got the signal of acceptance as my lips took hers.

Her arms wrapped around me and I picked her up, taking her to the bathtub and taking a seat with her in my lap, my length rubbed on her core, all the while our tongues wrestled.

I pulled back from the kiss and saw her flushed face and watery eyes and couldn’t help but pull her in for another kiss which she wholeheartedly returned.

My hand roamed on her back, taking a hold of her perfect rear and moulding it like a soft dough, as one of my fingers brushed past her back hole, making her jerk.

A mischievous thought came to my head as I brushed past the same point again, making her jerk again and pull back to look at me in surprise only to see me smile.

“What are you doing?” She whispered, trying to keep her tone composed.

“Helping you clean.” I smirked as I used a spell to quickly clean her.

She yelped, almost jumping on my lap and looked at me with an aggrieved pout.

I used my fingers to make circles around her backdoor.

“Matty, please.”

“If you don’t like it, just say and I’ll stop.”

She didn’t reply and I smiled.

Latia, despite her usually serious demeanour, was quite adventurous in bed. She didn’t mind new things. From what I had discovered in these past few months, she liked it when I took charge.

She hid her face on my chest.

“I will have to clean you thoroughly here.” I whispered, making her look at me in shock but I was already on my way as I pushed one of my fingers inside till the first joint.

She clenched her ass, gripping my finger tightly, her hands gripped my hair as she hugged me tightly, her breasts getting crushed against my chest. I could feel her nipples getting hard.

“Just relax.” I whispered into her ear and took her earlobe into my mouth and sucked on it.

She loved it when I did this.

Slowly but surely, I pushed my finger in deeper till the second knot and she took a deep breath to relax.

I tried pulling out but it felt as if her ass didn’t want to let go of my finger so….I pushed back again.

“Mmhhh.” She muffled a moan.

I used a quick spell for lubrication and pulled back, this time my finger getting pulled back more easily.

Another moan sounded.

Slowly, I increased my pace and a minute later, I was comfortably fingering her backdoor. She bit my shoulder to muffle her moans, making me even more excited.

I increased my speed and she hugged me tighter, moving in my lap to reciprocate to the movement of my fingers, making her core rub on my length even more.

She looked up at me and we both stared at each other before we dived in for a kiss.

A minute or two later, she shivered, moaning in my mouth.

Did she come already?

That was too fast.

I looked at her and she hid her face into my chest, not daring to meet my eye.

“Oh my, could it be that someone likes it in her ass?” I smirked.

In return, she bit my shoulder and glared at me although it was ruined by her blush which reached to her ears.

“You will not speak about this… ever.”

I made a motion to zip my mouth. “As you command, princess. I guess, I will just have to repeat this through my actions.”

“No! That’s not what I meant… ahhhh.” She stopped her sentence as I pushed my finger back in.

“I understand, princess.” I smiled.

It was so much fun to tease her and see her facade break.

Another round later, I carried her out to the bedroom and laid her on the bed, covering ourselves with a blanket.

By now, I was rock hard and my length was making a tent in the blanket. She noticed this and took it in her hand, slowly moving her hands up and down.

I relaxed as she went down under the blanket and a moment later, I felt a warm sensation on my tip which slowly enveloped my length more.

One of my hands went behind her head reflexively, making her move.

Her movements increased and a few minutes later, I felt my climax approaching so I pressed her head lightly on my length. She understood and hugged my waist, sucking hard. The last bit of stimulation pushed me over the line as I let jets of my cum inside her mouth and fell back.

She came out from under the blanket and I saw her gulping down my cum. The scene made me hard again instantly. She however used a spell and cleaned her mouth before giving me a kiss. "That's enough for tonight. Tomorrow is a very busy day too."

She said as she snuggled into my side.

Around twenty minutes later, her breathing evened out and I sensed that she had fallen asleep now.

I took the chance to turn towards my other fiance and hug her from behind. There was a slight movement but no replies came back.

"Do you have anything to say, Rias?" I asked.

Her body stiffened.

She had been awake for a while now. I noticed it in between but didn't say anything to not embarrass Latia.

Slowly she turned towards me but kept her face hidden in my chest, not meeting my eyes.

I placed a light kiss on her forehead and sensed her grip on me get tighter.

She looked at me and the next moment I knew, her lips were on mine, fiercely trying to kiss me.

I relaxed and took her in my arms, slowly reciprocating. Her adrenaline rush seemed to pass away after a few seconds as her embarrassment took over.

Her speed slowed down and she tried to pull back but I held her. "It's fine. You don't have to be embarrassed. This is quite normal. Moreover we are engaged."

She still didn't meet my eyes but nodded.

"Come here." I pulled her back in for another kiss while I slowly caressed her breasts. She relaxed in my arms and slowly started to reciprocate my kiss.

We kissed for a while and then separated.

“Let’s take one step at a time, alright.”

“Mmh.” She nodded.

I guess looking at me and Latia like that made her feel a bit jealous.

I have been concentrating on work a lot recently and haven’t been able to spend much time with any of them lately. I will need to take them out on dates sometimes once things settle down.

She didn’t say anything more but there was a smile on her face as she snuggled to my side and slept.

I guess she needed some reassurance.

__________________________________x___________________________________

Next morning, all of us had to wake up early for another busy day.

Unlike yesterday, today was something I was looking forward to. The official start of my business.

Four of my stores will be opened in the capital cities of the four Satans today.

Last night, all of us had already arranged the last batch of stocks for all four stores and all that was needed was to teleport them.

The time of opening was 9 am and we still had four hours on our hands.

“I will be taking these to the Asmodeus and Sitri territories. When the shops are stocked, I will come to New Lilith for the opening ceremony.” Armin said as he and his peerage members carried all the items to be teleported.

“Alright. I will escort the goods to the Lucifer capital and Souji-san will bring the stock for the Beelzebub capital. See you at New Lilith.”

With that said, Armin teleported away with his peerage members.

I too got to work.

My peerage members had already arranged the things so we teleported.

Latia and Rias had returned back to their homes early on and will be arriving with their families for the opening ceremony.

I arrived at the storeroom which I had purchased a while ago. There were already several people working there since early Morning.

“My Lord.” I heard a voice and looked towards the direction to see a man walking towards me.

“Just call me Mathias, uncle.” I smiled.

He was Logan Buné. He was the father of Ladora Buné and a distant relative of mine. The guy had fallen in love with a human magician, one of his contractors and thus my cousin Ladora was born. The man never regretted his decision despite his hard life since then.

My parents had often helped him and he had offered to take me in. I didn’t accept their help because, first, I had the support and protection of Sirzechs and Tiamat and second, I didn’t want to burden them. So now that I am the Head of their House, I can openly help them out.

Ladora was older than me and extremely hardworking.

I had often sent him my special crops although I never told them anything openly.

Recently, I disclosed everything to them and invited them to stay in the Buné territories and help me in my business.

Safe to say that he was quite enthusiastic.

I had made him the manager of the store at New Lilith while Ladora looked after the store in the Beelzebub territory.

They even had contracted two of my dragons as familiars for the sake of protection. I will be working to increase their strengths to the Ultimate Class in a few years.

“How is the work going on, Uncle?”

“Everything is progressing smoothly. The shop has already been stocked. With the things you have brought, even the Restaurant’s stock will be full. We will be ready to open any time.” he reported

“That’s great. How about the staff?” I asked.

“I contacted everyone I knew, who had followed our house for a long time and didn’t leave the territory despite the harsh conditions. They have been loyal to the Buné House since the time of your Grandfather. All of them responded. All of the staff were selected from among these people.” he replied as he led me to the shop.

The shop at New Lilith was an eleven storied building.

I had bought this building through Septus and Latia took care of the renovation.

The first four floors of the building was the store, each floor divided by the Rank of products, with the lowest floor being for F Ranked ones, then E Ranked and then D Ranked ones.

Above it was the floor where people could order as well as receive C Ranked products.

The floors above those were for the Restaurant, one separate floor for the Low Class, Mid Class, High Class Devils and the VIP Floor.

Above that was a bar where different alcohols from my farm were sold.

The tenth floor was for the auction of the B Ranked Products and the top floor was the office for staff.

The warehouse was in the basement floors of the building.

I had fortified the entire place from top till the bottom with my best wards. This building was as protected as the Lucifer Castle in the same city and that was saying something.

There was a very low chance that someone would try to attack it in the Lucifer capital but why take any chances?

As for the name of the Restaurant… Hotel Gourmet.

I decided to create a Hotel Gourmet of my own in this world.

The staff was running around in a hurry, getting things ready at the last minute.

They were getting a thirty percent discount on a certain amount of products till the D Rank so they were happy.

Time passed.

I had sent invitations to every house as well as my allies for the opening of my first store at New Lilith.

This time, I wanted to see how many of them will appear.

- Venelana Gremory -

She waited for the arrival of Zekram as she drank her tea.

Zeoticus was sitting beside him and her mother-in-law and the Gremory ancestor was sitting in front of them.

Runeas Gremory was eating her favourite pudding with great enthusiasm.

“You seem to enjoy this sweet a lot, ancestor.” her mother-in-law asked with a smile.

“Umm. Crusty makes amazing puddings.” She smiled, taking another spoonful of the dessert.

Crusty was the name of the Pudding Camel which she had gotten as a gift from Mathias and she agreed, it really made amazing puddings.

“If you like those then I think you will enjoy today’s party even more. You couldn’t see it the last time but Mathias has a tree which grows different confectioneries seasons. You can get as many sweets as you like there.”

Runeas stopped eating and looked at them in surprise. “Seriously?! A confectionery tree? That boy, just what goes on in that head of his? Even Zagan wasn’t that crazy. But then again he was crazy in a different way. Instead of plants and animals which could be eaten by people, he enjoyed creating plants and animals who enjoyed eating people. In comparison, the boy is quite sane.”

This got them curious.

“Ancestor.” Zeoticus asked, interested in the sudden topic.

“Hmm?”

“Just what kind of man was the original Zagan?”

“Zagan? He was…”

“... A shut in mad scientist.” The answer came from a different direction.

They looked in the direction of the voice and saw the man they had been waiting for coming.

Zeoticus walked forward and received him as she and her mother-in-law stood up and bowed as well.

He nodded but his eyes didn’t leave Runeas the whole time.

“You look old.” Runeas said, looking up from her pudding before diving back into it.

They sweatdropped.

“And you look just as bratty as before.” He smiled before taking a seat.

“Hmph. See, you are even talking like an old man now.”

“Well, I am old.” He shrugged.

They kept quiet, watching their conversation from the side.

“I assume you woke up because of the Zagan boy this time?” He asked, directly getting to the topic. He looked at them. “That brat Sirzechs pulled a fast one on all of us. He’s learning things now.”

“Yup. It was quite smart.” Runeas replied nonchalantly.

“And it has caused quite a ruckus all over the Underworld.”

“Right! It was hilarious watching him fight with a hoe. That chicken brat didn’t stand a chance hahahaha.”

….

Zekram rolled his eyes at her antics. “So… did you meet him?”

“Hmm. I even got specially made camels from him.”

“Oh! Did he recognise you?” He asked. “Knowing you, there is no way you didn’t try to trick him.”

“Tch. That boy is too smart for his own good. That Buné aspect of his identified me. He even sensed that my Demonic Power was extremely old. Seriously, even Zagan couldn’t do it. I know, I have pulled many pranks on him and he never found out. At least he knows how to please others. The camels I got from him are the new gems of my collection.” She pushed a plate of pudding towards him and summoned a bottle of wine.

Zekram poured the wine for himself and took a sip.

“Hmm, this is quite good. I can see why the boy was so confident in his products.”

“Hmph, that wine comes from my special Wine Camels. Instead of milk, they produce high quality wine.” She replied.

“Produce wine?”

“How would I know? Zagans and their crazy brains. He apparently has a tree of confectioneries on his farm too.”

Zekram had a strange look on his face. “Yes. Zagans were always weird. Strange but talented nonetheless. After all, there was a reason Lord Lucifer wanted to name him as the second Great King of the Underworld. The Great King of Creation, mirroring my own self.”

What!

Their eyes widened at the sudden reveal of the information.

“Yeah. If only Beelzebub hadn’t been a prick back then. I mean what reason was there for him to be jealous of Zagan because he could make more kinds of flies than him? Even little kids aren’t that petty.”

….

“Only they knew what went on in their heads. From your words it seems that you like him.”

“Hmm.”

“I guess I will have to invite him over for tea sometime. I would have already if I had been informed earlier.” He looked at them and then back towards his wine.

“It was for the safety of Mathias. Even we were not told anything about him.” Her mother-in-law defended.

“Oh drop it. You know those fools on the council would have chewed the boy out before he could even grow. Not to mention that mess with Naberius. Seriously, what’s wrong with these fools? If you are experimenting on people, do it to other races. There are still angels and fallen angels alive in this world. Why go after our own?” Runeas complained.

“Just because they call themselves the Great King faction doesn’t mean they are all controlled by me. Most of the time, I don’t even know what they do. And I don’t interfere as long as they don’t go too far. That’s how children grow after all. What Naberius did had crossed the line and thus the entire house is currently suffering. I didn’t defend him.” Zekram shrugged, pouring himself another cup.

“Hmm. Isn’t that because you are lazy?” Runeas joked.

“Says the one who sleeps for thousands of years.”

“Touché.” She smiled.

“I have heard that you have engaged your daughter to him.” he turned towards her and asked.

She nodded. “They get along very well.”

“Good work. Bind him with your family. From what little I have heard, his talents could bring about a great change in the Underworld. Make sure you keep him attached to the devil race and the current government as much as possible.”

She couldn’t resist raising an eyebrow at this.

Zekram saw her reaction and rolled his eyes. “Just what kind of monster do you think I am? I am already retired. If there’s something I care about right now, it's the progress and development of the Devil Race and that boy’s talents have the potential to transform the entire society into something greater, just like Ajuka. I am not a fool to ruin or distance such a talent… well, unless he stands on the opposite side of the Underworld. After all, I have seen the true horror of Zagan with my own eyes. I would not let someone even more talented than him turn against the underworld.”

“Mathias has no such intentions. In fact, he is a very friendly boy who doesn’t even involve himself with politics. He enjoys working on his farm without disturbance. Moreover, he is extremely close to Rias and Latia as well as his friends.”

“A shut-in just like his ancestor.” Runeas added. “But yes. He’s safe. Sirzechs and the rest ran several psych tests on him since his childhood. Actually, we were going to the opening ceremony of his shop. Why don’t you join us too? There will be far better food and wine than this stuff. The boy keeps the best things stuffed in a separate collection and I plan to drink him dry today.”

“Oh. I did hear about the shop. Very well, since that’s the case, I will join. Let’s see if the food craze of the Zagan is really worth its name.”

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Author’s Note:

Mathias is finally out in the open and the Underworld is shaken.

Things are picking up pace.

I was about to write the reactions of other factions in this chapter but decided to wait till his food is launched and then write the full reaction of Heavens as well as the other factions.

As for now, Mathias is opening his business and will do his best to overcome challenges in it.

Oh and also a little bit of lemons.

P.S: Something interesting will happen in the next few chapters.

Enjoy the new chapter.

Good Day, Peace Out.