Story 2: Chapter 15: Reactions (Patreon)

Story 2

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 15: Reactions

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- Mathias -

I looked at the old man in front of me as he stared right back at me.

He was the one who broke the silence. “Do you think this move of yours was correct?”

“Yes.” I replied without any hesitation.

“It will hamper your business. If you wanted to increase the price of your products, you could have done it after the people got used to your products. Why do it now? Just for a moment of pride against the petty moves of other houses?” he asked and surprisingly, I sensed no malice from him.

He was genuinely curious.

I let out a sigh. “I wasn’t lying when I said that I am not a businessman.”

“Not being a businessman and being a fool are two different things. That Astaroth girl won’t teach a fool.” He countered.

I smiled at the mention of my teacher. “Obviously, I had other reasons. More than one in fact. First of all, my products are unlike anything the people of the Underworld have seen before. I knew they were going to be suspicious and even doubtful about the effects. It is only normal to do so. Second, I know the quality and effects of my products. They will without any doubt, kill any kind of competition against us. But this kind of thing is bound to bring people together against me to spread rumours later on.”

They looked at me curiously so I chuckled. “So I want them to doubt everything from the very start and check to their heart’s content. On one hand any trust I gain from them will be through their own experiences and not based on rumours.”

“A strange approach….but what else?”

“I have absolutely no problems working with people, but I do not appreciate it when they try to push me around. Are you telling me that the people who were standing, the Shax, the Amy and their allies would just stand aside and watch as I overtake the entire food industry of the devil race?”

“No one would. We are devils not angels.” he snorted.

“Exactly. They made their attitudes very clear when they more or less threatened me on our very first meeting. I had just laughed it off the first day but they pulled today’s stupidity. I don’t like politics and if anything I prefer to remain outside of it doing my own work but that doesn’t mean I will let anyone walk over me. They need to understand that I have a monopoly on these things. They….need me. I don’t need them. This was just a small warning to not try to drag me anywhere.”

“This was a warning?” He raised an eyebrow.

“Just twice the price for fifteen years. I am already selling it for a quarter of the price I could. Yes, this is a very small warning.”

“Hmm. Any more reasons?”

I scratched my cheeks. “I didn’t have enough stocks to provide the entire underworld. It would still need some more time so I created a situation where the outflow would decrease while I can wait for the next harvest. High Ranked Products take a long time to mature. Actually if that reporter had not broached the issue, I would have had my own people who were hidden in the Press to turn the conversation in that direction.” I shrugged. “I guess I shouldn’t have doubted the foolishness of other people.”

I saw Sirzechs and Serafall’s mouth open slightly at the sudden reveal.

I really want to get that A Ranked Farm first. There was also the attracting the people from these territories to mine part which I didn’t tell them.

The old man just snorted a laugh while Runeas burst into a loud burst of laughter.

“You were already expecting them to do that and played them all by throwing that tantrum.”

“Basically.”

Zekram picked up his glass of wine and took another sip. “Did it change taste?”

“It does that. Seven times to be precise. It’s the Rainbow Fruit Wine.”

“Mmm. This is good. I would like to place an order for a few bottles.”

I looked at Lavinia and she nodded before going out of the room to bring more bottles.

“So let’s come to the final question. Mathias Buné Zagan….what do you want to do in the Underworld?” he asked, seriously this time around.

“I sincerely wish to work peacefully on my farm. I was not lying when I said that I was planning to make it so that no one ever suffered from hunger in the underworld. Is it really that hard to believe?”

….

….

We stared at each other without any words for a few more seconds after which he picked up his wine glass and gulped everything inside.

“In that case I welcome you and the Buné and Zagan houses to the Underworld’s stage once more. I hope you can do what you said because things are only going to become tougher from now on. Till now everyone was in the dark but now it’s an open game. As I said before, we are devils not saints. They are going to come after you to protect their interests. I can only hope you will survive. I have not and will not interfere in anything until it concerns the interests of the whole devil race as a whole.”

I nodded and Lavy returned at the same time with the bottles. I took it from her and gave it to him. “This is a small gift from me. I hope you like it.”

He got up and nodded towards me. “I will send you the invitation for the tea when you are free.”

“I look forward to it.”

With that he left with Runeas who was jumping, wanting to try the desserts.

I was left in the room with only Sirzechs and Serafall and my peerage members.

“So….any more questions?”

“Job well done.” Serafall gave me a thumbs up while Sirzechs finally let out what seemed like a sigh of relief.

I smiled while signalling Ingvild to bring out the Emerald Wine and pouring it for them.

Sirzechs took the glass and gulped it down in one go while Serafall sipped it slowly.

“This is different.”

“It’s the Emerald Wine. Far stronger than the Rainbow Fruit Wine.”

“The move you pulled today was dangerous.” Sirzechs said, slowly catching a breath.

“They were asking for it.” I answered. “They had guarantees from you all and yet they were pushing their luck to get concessions even before I started selling in their territories. If I had taken one step back, they would have jumped at the chance.”

“I am not saying you were wrong, just that it was dangerous. After a year or so, when the effects of your products are verified, your position will be far more stable. You can make moves then.”

True but that would have increased the dangers too.

After a year, I would have had several citizens living under me with my business expanded further. Any rumours and cutoffs they pull would have done greater damage when I had more people to provide for in my territory.

In the current situation, they will surely pull something like that but the people who come to my territories even with those will be those who actually have trust in me instead of those who are simply here for the profits and such people are less likely to get moved by simple rumours.

“No need to scold him, Sirzechs. He will not be hearing the end of it from that black hearted businesswoman fiance of his.” Serafall laughed. 

I smiled. She was still miffed about Latia juicing out the Sitri on that Medical Supplies deal.

But yeah, she would be mad.

I can’t tell her about the System and why I did such a thing and this will make her work harder.

“Realising it now, are you? Anyways, after such a blatant slap they will stop pestering you to join their faction for a while. Just be more careful. The real problems will come from outside the Underworld.” Serafall said seriously.

Yes.

The other two factions.

We nodded and after a few drinks, left the room.

I still had to meet with several people today.

Later that day, I was approached by Zeoticus who had some interesting company.

“Congratulations Mathias. Today’s show was….surprising.” Zeoticus said.

“I personally think his attitude was perfect when dealing with such blatant bullying.” Lord Phenex said. “It’s better not to entertain foolishness.”

“Did you enjoy the food?” I smiled.

“It would be impossible not to.” He offered me a hand and we shook hands. He then turned and looked at the last person.

The guy came forward, slightly down but spoke nonetheless. “I apologise for my behaviour during our last meeting. I was completely out of line.” Riser bowed and apologised.

“It’s fine. Don’t worry about it.” I waved it off and we shook hands. “You can come over to play at my farm sometimes.” I smiled.

I didn’t dislike the guy.

He was crushing on Rias and reacted stupidly at the news of our engagement.

People do stupid things due to heartbreaks.

It was nothing new.

At least he was not malicious.

We talked about a few things and he was far more calm today.

One by one, all my allies approached and congratulated me.

Septus and his brother Lord Agares weren’t bothered and were actually supportive of my actions too.

I saw the Gremory and Astaroth off before they left.

Rias was with Venelana and in her princess look due to the crowd around us.

Latia was mad. I could feel it. But she didn’t say anything in front of others.

Lord Astaorth looked a bit off.

The man had always been weird around me but then again I have had next to no contact with him so who knows. 

The surprising thing was the extinct houses also coming and doing the same.

They didn’t have their previous political power in the Underworld but that didn’t mean they were useless.

After a few hours, I paid a visit to my other stores in the Leviathan, Beelzebub and Asmodeus cities.

It was almost midnight when we got back home.

Everyone in my peerage was tired. It was not physical exhaustion but rather mental so I didn’t ask them anything either and all of us went directly to bed.

Ingvild and Lavinia joined me.

“Were you scared today?” I asked while brushing Ingvild’s hair as she cuddled to my side.

She shook her head. “I know you will not let anything happen to me.”

….

This girl was too sweet.

I hugged her tighter and Lavy held her hand too.

“Yup. I will not let anything happen to you, any of you.” I rubbed her back before turning to face her and placed a kiss on her forehead.

“Me too, me too.” Lavy protested before kissing my cheeks so I returned the favour.

We just lay there. It had finally started.

The thing I had been preparing for since the day I was reborn, is here.

_________________________________x____________________________________

I opened my eyes the next morning to see an angry blonde in front of the bed

“G-Good Morning?” I greeted as I stretched my body, slowly getting up trying not to disturb the two sleeping girls.

She didn’t make any noise either and waited for me to leave the room first.

“Do you enjoy making my work harder, Matty?” She spoke as soon as we walked together.

I pulled her into a hug. She resisted a bit but I held on and she relaxed a bit.

“I am not letting go of it even if you do this.” She spoke slowly.

“I know.” I replied, continuing the hug. “I just want to hug you right now.”

“Hmph.” She snorted but didn’t say anything.

Almost a minute later, I sensed that she had calmed down so I pulled back a bit.

“Now, why did you do that?” She asked me, a hand on her waist, tapping one foot on the ground.

I led her to the living room and made her sit on a couch beside me.

“Alright. Let me explain.” I gave her the reasons I had given Zekram and Sirzechs.

A larger part of her anger had subsided from that hug so she was actually listening.

“There were far better methods of doing that. Also, I am pretty sure we had enough products to sell for a year or two and you even had those corpses of the Demonic Beasts as food.” She countered.

I need those for points, but how to tell her that.

Suddenly I had an idea.

“Those wouldn’t last a half year when we implement the Ocean Plan. Not to mention, I need a large part of that stock for the increasing Ranch. You know how much I am budgeting the feed.”

She looked at me with slightly narrowed eyes, probably understanding that I was hiding something but didn’t call me out on it. I appreciated this understanding between us.

Dammit, now I feel guilty.

So I hugged her to my side. “Please….trust me on this.”

She let out a breath and spoke. “Alright. But….you will need to tell me if you want to do something like this in advance.”

“....I will. Just trust me when I say that I need this for something extremely important.” I explained and albeit reluctantly, she agreed.

“To be honest….the only reason I didn’t tell you was because you wouldn’t like this…. unconventional method of mine.”

“Unconventional method? Of what? Picking a fight, because let me tell you, it’s nothing new.” She snorted.

“I mean you are not wrong.”

“Do you know how much of the future plans I have to change? I couldn’t sleep last night thinking of the steps we would need to take to counter anything they pull.”

“Actually, I believe you will have an easier time negotiating with them when you do. They do need our products more than we need theirs. After all, we can get everything they provide from outside but they cannot get our products from anywhere. This is something which cannot be changed. But let’s leave this aside for a while. Our products are out. All we need now is for people to test them and that needs time. Have you had any breakfast before coming here?” I asked.

Her stomach growled as a slight blush grew on her face.

“Great, then I will get something ready in just a moment.” I walked into the kitchen to make her something good for all her hard work.

We had a quick breakfast and got down to discuss the topic of today’s work.

All members of my peerage were here.

Even Armin had arrived to check up on me.

Rias was spending more time with Venelana, for her lessons but she always sent her Peerage Members to help me. Although, they mostly played with Gasper and Valerie….but even that was a job well done.

“Expanding the farms is the most important thing right now. We need to provide enough for the sales. Now that your identity is not hidden anymore, you can increase the farm area without restrictions.”

“That’s….not that easy.” I sighed.

“Why?” Latia asked.

“Providing security for such a huge area is not going to be easy.” Armin provided.

“Exactly. Even now, the wards I have put around my farms are maintained by borrowing slight bits of powers from my Dryads and all the animals in the ranch but most of all, Leafa. Expanding without that would mean leaving the crops unprotected which is a sureshot way to get robbed.”

If Leafa were to grow to A+ Rank however, I doubt that would be a problem as she could then take down most of the enemies without any problems.

In fact, I could be secure if my Dryads evolve into B- rank as they will get their final evolution then and look almost like normal humans and even be able to move great distances from the farm.

And all of this ties to my A Rank Farm Upgrade.

“So what do we do?” She asked.

“We make our Dryads and dragons stronger and get even more of them. Why do you think I was begging to keep the Demonic Beast corpses in the farm?” I chuckled as she blushed at our previous argument.

Seeing her flustered, I reassured her. “Don’t worry. I can make slightly weaker wards around the place. My hunting squads have been mostly free after the hunts and will be able to protect them. It’s just that it will reduce the speed of expansion a bit.”

“Are you planning to do all that alone?” She asked me incredulously.

“I have been doing it till now but I doubt I can do it for the whole place. We would probably need to get in contact with some wardmasters. Not for the areas where I grow the high-end products, even placing smaller wards would need a lot of work.”

She thought for a while.

“Actually….if it’s the matter of wards then no other house in the Underworld is better than the Dantalion.” She began. “And….we do have connections to a Dantalion.”

“Oh?”

“Who else? Elsa Gremory, the wife of Sirzechs Lucifer and Rias’ sister in law. She was a Dantalion and not just any Dantalion either but the younger sister of the current Lord.”

“Ah yes. She is from the Dantalion House.” I almost forgot about it.

“She herself is quite an accomplished wardmaster.” Armin threw in his two bits.

“So, I will need to talk to her.”

“Actually, let me do the talking.” She interrupted, throwing me an annoyed look.

Dammit, I thought I had already calmed all of that down.

Suddenly I had a thought. “He….wasn’t among the people who stood up yesterday, was he?”

….

“You didn’t even see who was standing?” She asked, her headache picking up once more.

Well I didn’t but no way I could tell her that.

“Umm, I was just checking.”

“Hmph. No. He wasn’t standing. He is a supporter of the current Satans due to his relation to Sirzechs.”

“Oh alright. That makes sense.”

Latia let out a sigh while Armin just shook his head with a smile.

“Good then. It’s decided. I will get in touch with the Dantalion first. In the meanwhile, you can slowly increase the size of the farm in your own way.”

“Deal.”

We discussed a few more things before leaving for our own work.

- Azazel -

“So these are the things the Zagan brat is selling?” He picked up what looked like an apple and took a bite. “Oh, this is good. How many could we get?”

“Not many this quick. They are only selling a predetermined amount at a time. Buying some from the devils was hard. They are reselling it at a sky high price.” Shemhazai responded.

“Any results of the tests? Do they really do what the kid was saying or was it just a publicity stunt to get more customers?”

Shemhazai handed him the reports. “We have only been able to test one or two products but they….did have effects similar to what had been claimed.”

He frowned as he read more of the report.

“I don’t understand how he can make these.” Shemhazai muttered, walking around back and forth in the room. “Even his ancestor was not this crazy. I mean sure there have been food items which can increase the strength of the people and grant them powers in almost every mythology….but no one could make so many and so easily.”

He tossed the file aside and played the video of the conference which was held at the opening of the shop.

“Can these items be grown if we get their seeds? Replicated in any way?” He asked.

Shemhazai shook his head. “No. They cannot. That was the first thing I checked after verifying their veracity.”

He took a deep breath before watching the video further.

“Pfft. The kid slapped the faces of those assholes real good. I guess he has some measure of anger against those people due to the treatment he had received all this time? Gives us something to work with.”

He wished those fools would act the way they normally do and pressure him so that he could get a chance.

He as well as other cadres have been thinking about countermeasures against the kid since his identity and life magic were revealed.

They came to some conclusions.

First, he was very close to the Satans. They valued him enough to engage their family members to him, completely tying him to their side.

Second, killing him would be nigh impossible due to these same relations. Moreover, his own abilities were completely unknown.

Even if he were just a High Class Devil, the Life Magic made his strength completely unpredictable.

They would need at least an Ultimate Class to have any surety and that was if they could get past whatever guard was prepared for him.

Those four had been this secretive about him. There was no way they would let him go unprotected.

Not that people wouldn’t try.

He just needed to make sure that whoever tried was not traced back to his side first.

At this point, he was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

“What do we do now, Azazel?” Shemhazai asked. “If the devils are given time, they would completely surpass us like this. Something needs to be done or we would be helpless if another….another war ever happens.”

He tapped on his table while thinking.

“I will contact Michael. Heaven must be just as worried if not more because they had sacrificed Saraqiel to get rid of Zagan. And then we confront the Satans together. Till then, keep everyone in check.”

“Alright.”

- Michael -

“The products were tested and the results match.” Raphael reported.

….

There was a moment of silence which was broken by Uriel.

“We had made sure to not leave any of them behind, so how did this boy survive?”

“It doesn’t matter how he survived but that he did and he might be just as dangerous if not more.” Raphael replied before looking at him. “What steps should we take, brother?”

“What else, we need to take him down as soon as possible or he will become too big of a danger to Heaven. Did you forget the danger his ancestor was and the sacrifice Saraqiel had to make for our sake?” Uriel said.

Yes. No one had forgotten that. It was for that reason that the entire Heaven and Grigori had been shaken with the discovery of a single child with that power.

The power to create life.

Very few people were capable of such a feat and without an exception, all of them had their names etched in the annals of history.

His father and brother both had this ability and while not to the same extent, Zagan had the same power.

While his creations might not have high intelligence, that never made them any less useful in wars.

Saraqiel was someone almost rivalling him in strength and he had to go on with his life as a sacrifice to take down that one devil, that alone was enough to remind anyone of the degree of danger such a power possessed.

“We are not in any position to start a war and this boy is related to both Sirzechs Lucifer and Ajuka Beelzebub. If anything happens to him, they would stop at nothing to get back at the perpetrators.” Raphael answered.

He took a deep breath. “I was contacted by Azazel for a meeting regarding this matter. I will have a talk with him first and then we will decide how to progress from there.”

Suddenly remembering something, he asked. “By the way, can these products be consumed by others?”

“You are not planning to….?” Uriel started but Raphael stopped him with a reply.

“Yes. Despite being made by him, it doesn’t contain even the slightest trace of Demonic Power. It has no bad effects on any race and can be consumed by anyone without any side-effects.”

“I see.”

He didn’t speak any further and closed his eyes thinking of a plan.

Suddenly remembering something, he spoke. “Didn’t the Satans send Rudiger Rozenkreutz’s request for meeting Dulio?”

“Yes….it happened a month ago. Apparently it was a wish of Rudiger Rozenkreutz’s son who is suffering from being born with a Sacred Gear. The boy is a fan of Dulio and wished to meet him. We haven’t answered it yet, Dulio hasn’t been back from his mission and we were not sure of their intentions and Dulio is one of our trump cards so sending him there….”

“Fulfilling a child’s wish, which might as well be his very last, is something we should try to do regardless of his race. After all, the child must be half human for being born with a Sacred Gear, the same thing which is taking his life. We too hold some manner of responsibility for this so agree to their request.”

His siblings nodded and he added. “....and ask for a chance to meet Mathias Buné Zagan in return. They will agree to it.”

Normally Michael didn’t like using these tactics but….there were times where he had to make tough decisions. Filling his Father’s shoes was a nigh impossible job. So he could only do this….

“Before we take any actions, we need to meet this guy, know what kind of person he is. Times have changed and we need to take actions accordingly.” He said, still in thought.

Uriel looked a bit unwilling but Raphael and Gabriel agreed.

“Very well, then this is what we will do.”

- Mathias -

“So, how are the sales going?” I asked.

It had been a week since the opening of the hotel and things were calming down a bit.

He looked exhausted but there was a brightness in his eyes which couldn’t be hidden.

The guy was actually happy to work.

“A bit lower than expected. We are still in the green and slowly increasing our profits so no need to worry about it. Statements made by Armin and the reports from the Devil Research and Development Department, vouching for the veracity of your products helped a lot. In fact, several other houses also came out to support us. The Emperor Diehauser Belial and the former Dragon King Tannin were among them. All this caused the rumours to be sidelined and our businesses were affected much.”

“That is mostly because the shops are in the Satan cities and those Pillars have no control over it. Not that they have spared no effort to spread rumours about it.” Latia said, but not before throwing a look at me.

She was over it already but was still annoyed that I pulled such a thing without consulting with her….especially since the two of us are supposed to be working together.

I understood her feelings so I didn’t say anything

He nodded before summoning a huge pile of paper on the table in front of us.

“These are the information about the people who are planning to live in the Buné and the Zagan territories.”

Then he summoned another, albeit a smaller pile of files. “And this is the information about people who want to open businesses in our territory.”

….

I have seen and done many things which would be beyond any normal person’s imaginations.

I had singlehandedly recovered the Buné and Zagan territories.

I had stood in front of Great Red and told him to fuck off.

And in all this, I had never felt the fear I was feeling right now.

Motherfu….

“How many papers are there?”

“Twelve thousand more or less.” he answered unphased before summoning another magic circle.

….

And another huge pile of paper was bundled on the floor. This pile was almost as big as the rest combined.

“These were sent by Lord Pheles. These magicians wanted to make contracts with you. He said there were none for your peerage members as they didn’t exhibit their abilities in public but when they do, there will be more. For now, he sent his congratulations for breaking the second place record of Euclid Lucifuge.”

My mind blanked and when I gathered my bearings again, I turned towards Latia before taking her hands in mine.

“Have I told you how pretty you look today?”

She rolled her eyes while uncle just chuckled.

“I am not even touching the contracts and residents' piles. I will however take the business requests.” She said calmly.

….

“This much is nothing, Mathias. When you complete all your plans for the territory, I believe your territories will be the most populous one in the entire Underworld.” Logan said as if throwing cold water on my dreams of peacefully farming.

I need to find someone to do these for me, but who?

And as if the world had heard my wish, there was a knock on the door.

“Come in.”

It was Shizuka.

She faced Latia and spoke.”Miss. Rias has sent a message that her sister-in-law has fixed a meeting with Lord Dantalion two days later. Both of you are invited to the Dantalion House to discuss the matter over dinner.”

“I see. I will inform them that we are thankful for their invitation.” Latia replied, nodding at her.

While she was doing this, I looked at Shizuka and had a sudden idea.

I picked up one of the documents and handed it to Shizuka. “Can you check this, please?”

She raised an eyebrow but took a look at the document nonetheless and after a moment nodded at me. “Yes. This is simple.”

“Great!” I cheered while Latia just facepalmed. “Then from today onwards, you will be responsible for the work of overlooking the documents of the people who want to reside in my territories.”

Go on and take care of all the paperwork for me.

I name thee the Dragon of Paperwork, the one who will bring the end of all the Paperwork hahahaha. 

She nodded stoically.

Now that a major problem had been taken care of, I was feeling far more relaxed….until Latia poured cold water on my thoughts once more.

“You do realise that you will have to answer the requests for the Contract Magician yourself, right?”

I almost banged my head on the table….almost.

“You can hire people for these kinds of jobs too. They can review the information of the Magicians and send a general reply and pick out some people for you to make contracts with. Right now, the most important thing is to find a way to provide jobs for the ones coming to your territory. You cannot let all the other houses take the lead in this or they will have a greater control of your territory’s economy than you, and that never ends well. It is exactly why several houses went bankrupt and were declared extinct. We could try to restart the previous businesses of the Buné and Zagan houses for starters and then go from there. As for the places for them to live, we can just renovate the abandoned buildings from the last time till we have enough funds to make new ones.” Uncle suggested.

“That’s a good idea. You can start working on that. If you need anything for that, just tell me.”

“Right now, nothing except funds. I know we are short on funds so I will just try to contact my friends and get skilled people for work. We can slowly expand.”

“We are not exactly short on funds.” I stopped him and Latia explained further.

“We still have funds from selling the Demonic Beast corpses as well as several deals with Satan Asmodeus to provide rations for the army, the Sitri house for Medical Supplies, the Gremorys and my own father for raw materials. You can give me an estimate and I will issue the funds.”

There was also the investment I had made in the human world which was giving out outputs now.

He looked surprised. “The Demonic Beasts? I thought the Satans cleared the beasts….”

“Not really. That’s just something we told the public.” I explained making him open his mouth wide in surprise as he looked at me. “I told you to not worry about anything else, didn’t I?” I smiled.

“Well, that’s something I cannot deny.” Latia nodded, reassuring him too.

He shrugged off his surprise and quickly pointed out several more things we could use in that case. “There are several mines in the Buné Territories. They had to be abandoned because the whole area was taken over by Demonic Beasts as it was near the pits….but if we can provide protection to the people, then we can easily reopen those mines and provide jobs for the people.”

I nodded. “Alright, my hunting squads have been idle since we finished clearing the areas. They will get some work to do now.”

“Last but not the least, you will have to set the taxes which will be collected in your territory as well as set your own laws on top of the general laws of the Underworld in your territory. And please….don’t skip these. This part will be too important.” He then turned towards Latia. “Please drag him if you have to but get it done.”

I looked at the man stunned at the sudden betrayal of trust.

And what the fuck do you mean drag me?

The most worrying part was her nodding and reassuring him.

“I will see it done.”

Well two can play at this game….see if I don’t tattle to your wife about this.

Over the next few hours, we discussed several ways to provide jobs for the people.

Most of them consisted of opening several industries related to processing food items as starters.

We will add more industries as the number of people increases later on.

_________________________________x____________________________________

“....And now they are being sore losers, can you believe it?” I complained as I lay down watching the purple underworld sky.

“Hmph, well done. They should have thought better than to try to threaten a dragon.” Tia humphed as she took a bite of one of her dragon apples.

“Exactly. They have been in their position, overlooking others for so long that they have forgotten how to accept denials. Well, now they have to learn it because there is no way I am backing down.”

“I would be very disappointed if you did.”

“Hmm.” I nodded, then remembering something else, I broached another subject. 

“Yes?”

“Tannin invited me to his territory and in return I invited him and his boys to my farm for some spars. I think it would be good for the kids at the farm to meet dragons from outside the farm.”

She looked in thought for a second and nodded. “Yes. That will be good. While your farm provides a very unique place for them to grow, that’s not how dragons normally grow. I will go back and push them to train harder. Friendly visit or not, those kids were taught by me. I will not allow them to get defeated.”

“Yup. They have been huddled in the farm for too long. Greenhouses are not places to grow dragons. I think Crom has taken some of them with me outside to train.”

“Those were the rowdiest of the bunch but still hatchlings. That dragon might have a thousand problems but no one can blame him for not working hard. Those three hatchlings will turn out fine, if not a bit violent.” Tia nodded.

And that’s what I am worried about.

Those hatchlings were of Elder Dragons from the Monster Hunter world.

I don’t know if Crom has the ability to see the potential of dragons but that guy chose the most talented of the bunch in a single glance….but then again it might just be him choosing the most territorial and violent of the bunch.

“So. how are you feeling now?” She asked, crushing my hair.

“Hmm?”

“You looked like you were exhausted. Is the new work taking a toll on your mind?”

“More or less. It’s….exhausting. All I have been doing is running around attending meetings, dinners, parties, bla bla bla. The worst part is that I can’t even reject all of them. Truthfully, the work at the farm is far easier than this. Most of these people speak something but feel something completely different. In a way, I regret learning Senjutsu.”

“You shouldn’t regret learning such a useful trick. Something which can see through the heart of others is always useful. Betrayal can take down the best of us.” She spoke sorrowfully, maybe remembering the fate of her own mother who was betrayed and killed by her own kids.

I held her hand and brought it over my chest.

….

No words were spoken for a while before she broke the silence.

“You are not slacking off in your training due to all this work, are you?” She asked.

“Five years….no give me four years, I will give you that fight.” I said, recalculating something.

“I am far stronger than I used to be.” She warned.

And she was not wrong.

She was a veritable A Rank now. Although the rank itself was extremely broad, with the gulf between someone at the beginning of the Rank and the end of the Rank like Indra, being as large as heaven and earth, she was still someone who could trounce someone like Sirzechs and Ajuka like kids.

“I know that’s why I said five years at first but trust me, I can get there in four years if I push myself harder.”

She eyed me curiously and then rolled her eyes. “I don’t think you know exactly how strong I am right now.”

I smiled at her comment. “Trust me, I know exactly how strong you are. Senjutsu, remember.”

“And you are still claiming to get there in four years?”

“Have I ever lied to you?”

“Then I will wait for you.” She replied before leaning in and kissing my forehead.

“Alright.”

- Markus Shax -

Crash

“Dammit! All of his damned products work exactly as he claimed them to.” He threw the glass of wine in his hand as it shattered after hitting against the wall.

“We have already done whatever we could to spread the rumours but they are not as effective as he has the approval of Ajuka Beelzebub and Euclid Lucifuge. People are still buying the products even if they have doubts about the veracity about the effects because it has better taste than anything we can acquire. If this goes on, they will notice the effects of these products and all these rumours will be useless.” Albus replied.

The Amy and the Shax were together in this. Both of them controlled almost all the food industries and distribution channels of the Underworld.

Any business in the field had to bow down to them or be crushed.

They had done so with several houses before this.

The Halphas, Vepar and Valefor were among the top of this list.

These houses had major shares in the food industry after the Civil War and had refused to cooperate with them. With slight help from their allies, they had driven these houses to extinction due to bankruptcy.

Now, the devils of these houses couldn’t even get appointments with them.

And now this brat….he will pay. Markus will make him pay for the insult.

“The rumours wouldn’t have lasted either as Falbium Asmodeus has signed a contract with the accursed brat for getting products for the army. I guess he was waiting for this for a while as he had put off renewing the contract with us. They were waiting for the brat’s Lordships to be revealed.” Albus gritted his teeth.

“Can we grow those crops on our own?” he asked his Queen.

As long as the seeds spread, his products will be useless.

They might not be able to make new products like a Zagan but they could very easily grow them from the seeds.

“No Sir. None of them could be replicated. If we got the plants directly, we might have some hope but otherwise, there is no hope.”

Getting the plants directly?

“How about the spies we had sent to his territory? What did they find?”

“Nothing Sir. They have been assigned a temporary place to stay till all their identities are verified and registered but most of them haven’t been able to move around much. Some who did, reported that the entire land around the main Buné House is under heavy wards, the likes of which is rarely seen in the Underworld. Some were even saying those might be comparable to the ones on the castles of the Satans. We doubt that Ajuka Beelzebub himself made those wards to protect the brat.”

“Tch….I thought that the brat was just licking the boots of those four when he said they were doing everything to protect him in the last few years, in the council meeting….but it seems that they have actually put some effort behind the brat. Still….if there were wards around the main house area, then what about the farms? They are the most important part.”

“That Sir….the wards spanned over several tens of kilometres. We didn’t see any farm area outside. Some suspect there were different dimensions inside similar to the spaces created for Rating Games….” His queen reported awkwardly.

He stared blankly at the man.

“Are you insane! Do you know what you are talking about? Several tens of kilometres of area, covered in wards comparable to the finest ones in the Underworld….do you even know how much energy that would consume? How would they even support that kind of warding system? Not  even the four Satans sitting there and powering the wards could do that. Your spies have been duped. Have them recheck. It must be some kind of illusion to fool weaker devils. Send someone stronger this time.”

“Yes Sir.”

“And tell them to find the location of the farms. They will surely hire people for their farms. Try to push your people inside those numbers to get direct information from inside his farm. What about the business proposals we had sent them?”

Many houses wanted to establish businesses in those territories to get a grip over the economy of the territory.

In fact, despite all the potential of his products, it was a fact that he hadn’t had any time to get enough resources.

Both the Buné and the Zagan were almost considered extinct due to the economic conditions and low numbers.

They didn’t have enough money to provide the people they take in their territory, especially considering the fact that creating such products must take a lot of money.

It could be financial aid from the four Satans or even the Research and Development Department or the houses of the four Satans, probably the Gremorys and the Astaroths but there would still be a limit to that seeing how much he was spending in all his new hotels and everything.

He would need businesses of other houses to come to his territory and help him provide jobs for the people and he would need to take loans from other houses….and they were waiting for just that.

His queen winced slightly. “About that….all of them were rejected.”

“That brat….” he gritted his teeth.

“It wasn’t him. It was his fiance, Latia Astaroth.”

This caught them by surprise..

“Latia Astaroth, the niece of Ajuka Beelzebub.”

“Yes sir.”

“How is she involved in all of this? If I remember correctly, she isn’t even of age. How old was she? Sixteen or seventeen.”

“Sixteen and half years old. She is the one who takes care of the business aspect of the Buné and Zagan houses as what Mathias Buné Zagan said was indeed not false. He truly never involves himself with business. She takes almost all the decisions and he accepts them. What he did that day….was him acting independently.”

The Astaroth girl?

No.

Something was absolutely wrong in this scene.

How would a sixteen or seventeen year old know about the intricacies of business? It must be her family or rather the four Satans pulling the strings from behind.

They had invested too much effort in keeping the brat out of public view and pulled him to their side. They wouldn’t leave him unsupervised.

“Wasn’t Leila Astaroth, the mother of Astaroth, also his teacher?”

“Yes Sir.”

“Tell me everything you have found out about the relationship between them.”

“Yes sir. Leila Astaroth has been his teacher for the last six years where he met her daughter, Latia Astaroth. They have known each other for a long time and on her twelfth birthday, he had gifted her an Earth Dragon Hatchling, which many people had presumed as him courting her but the boy had denied any such claims. According to the information we could collect, he was the one who proposed and a marriage contract was established between them. She is going to be taking the position of Lady Zagan after the marriage while Rias Gremory will be taking the position of Lady Buné. It is expected that all three sides were planning this marriage for a long time and only announced this on the day of his reveal.”

“What roles does Latia Astaroth play in his businesses?” He asked, as he tried to figure out everything.

Marriage was indeed the easiest way to control a house like the current Zagan and Buné. There was no way those four Satans would miss this. They even engaged the relatives of both the anomalies to the brat to stake their claims.

And now, with two such names already in line for the main wives, anyone who went next would have a hard time getting the share of that pie.

His queen continued.

“Not just our deals but rather all of his business deals are made by her. She completely rejected all our deals and pointed out changes in them which, while giving us profit, would remove any way for us to control the economy of the Buné or Zagan territory. From what we have been able to find, she was also the one who made deals with Falbium Asmodeus and they also signed some kind of deals with the Gremory, Sitri and the Agares Houses although the details are not clear. All these deals combined with the marriage contracts between these houses makes their alliances rock solid and provides Mathias Buné Zagan with a very powerful economic and political backing.”

He sat down and poured another glass of whiskey and took a sip.

“Anything else. Any weaknesses?”

His queen looked in thought. “If I had to point out a weakness, it would be his overdependence on Latia Astaroth for making decisions about his businesses. In fact, I was able to find that not all members of the Astaroth house were in the know about his actual identity and might not have the best relations with him.”

“Oh?!” He asked, suddenly interested.

“The current Heir of the Astaroth house, Diodora Astaroth has a very shaky relationship with him. And not just him, all his friends like the younger cousin of Armin Glasya-Labolas, Zephyrdor Glasya-Labolas and from certain rumours, even Lord Astaroth didn’t have any high opinion about the boy before his name was revealed.”

And he picked a fight with the Phenex House due to the engagement with the Gremory girl.

One by one the pieces came to his mind as a plan started taking form.

“Don’t we have the five hundredth anniversary of our beverage business a month later?”

The other people in the room were suddenly taken aback at the sudden change of topic.

“Yes sir.”

“Send some invitations for me.”

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Author’s Note:

Back to back two chapters.

Mathias’ tutorial period is over and the game has started for real.

The main faction leaders are going to be collecting more information, even sending people to meet him.

The other Pillars, on the other hand, are going to try their best to bring him down.

We still didn’t get the reactions of the Church, the Old Satan faction and the other factions.

That will happen in time.

Enjoy the new chapter.

Good Day, Peace Out.