Story 9: Chapter 2: The First Deal (Patreon)

Story 9: Ace in the Hole

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 2: The First Deal

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

- Acelin -

I looked blankly at the one in front of me.

Black messy hair, green eyes with glasses, oversized clothes and even the scar on his forehead, which felt quite wrong.

Looking behind him, it seemed to be a classroom of some sorts.

It certainly wasn’t a normal classroom as evident from the items I could see.

Beside him, there was a wooden stick from which I could feel some magic- A wand.

Was it really?

I mean I was already in an anime world, so what was so surprising about another guy from a fantasy book world.

Looking at the boy he looked eleven or twelve years old but then again, it was hard to guess with his frail body.

I suppressed my surprise and collected my thoughts.

“How old are you? What year is it?”

“I-I am twelve years old, sir. It’s 1992.” He replied quite hesitantly.

Twelve.

So a second year.

Recollecting the events I could remember, this was when the Chamber of Secrets took place.

People turned on him for being a Parseltongue. The fraud teacher. The Horcrux which was even in contact with him. The petrified children and the roaming Basilisk.

I could see why someone like him would summon me.

He was familiar with talking diaries so Summoning Contracts which attracted the ones with desires was sure to catch his senses. Moreover, his lack of knowledge of the Magical World played to my advantage and led to him summoning me.

That said…  What could I trade from him?

I thought about it.

The only thing I could think of is his Invisibility Cloak. It should help me with my hunts, especially when coupled with my own Clan Trait.

But it would be hard.

First let’s see what he wants.

I can decide what I will ask later on.

“What is it that you desire, child?” I asked, pretending to be bored.

“I… my friend, Hermione is petrified and they are removing Dumbledore out. Please… can you help me?”

….

Oh.

So the story is already here.

I thought back to the story.

Dumbledore is being forced out.

Which means he still hasn’t been forced out yet but the process is going on.

Let’s see what I can get out of this.

“I can obviously but… every deal needs a payment. What can you pay, boy?”

“I...” he thought for a second and then brought gold coins from his pocket in a hurry. “Here. I have more. I can give you more if you want.”

I looked at the coins and was really tempted. It could make my life easier for a while but… that would be such a waste.

As I thought, the only thing worth trading from him was the Cloak… but there were others who could be used.

My head ran quickly thinking of a plan.

"I can help you but gold is not good enough for a deal this big… after all, lives are at a stake here. You did hear the whispers, didn't you?" I asked, throwing the bait.

He will not trade the cloak at first but he will do it for sure….given a good enough deal.

"H-h-how did you know?"

"I know a lot of things, kid."

"Do you know who it is? Who did this to Hermione?"

"Slow down a bit. One thing at a time. First tell me, where did you find my contract?"

"… it was in Hermione's hand when she got petrified."

"Oh, so she found it. Good. Now, I can tell you the information you want to know but it will require a price. One thousand Galleons. If you agree, we can get right into it."

– Harry Potter –

He ran at full speed towards the headmaster's office. Dumbledore could be removed at any moment and things would get worse.

The gargoyle statue arrived soon and he said the password from the last time.

It worked.

With the stairs in front of him, he ran as fast as he could, directly into the headmaster's office. 

Inside, Dumbledore was present along with Professor Mcgonagall and Snape.

"What is the meaning of this…" Snape began to shout but he didn't wait for him and directly spoke to Dumbledore. 

"It's a basilisk. It is travelling through the pipes. I can hear it. The entrance is at the second floor girls bathroom." He spoke.

Everyone was taken aback at this but Snape soon gained his bearing and walked towards him, grabbing his hand. “Always have to create a scene. Can never get enough attention, can you, Potter?”

He didn’t look at him and continued to speak to Dumbledore. “Please Sir. One word. I just need to tell you one word and you will believe me. Please.” he begged.

“Enough of the nonsense!” Snape shouted.

“That will be enough, Serverus. Let him speak.” Dumbledore said.

“You can’t possibly believe in the nonsense this brat is speaking. Basilisk in the pipes?”

“There is no harm in listening to what he has to say. It would take only a moment.”

“A Basilisk’s gaze kills. It doesn’t petrify.”

“Not if they don’t look at it directly. None of them looked at it directly. Hermione and Penelope looked at it through her mirror, Collin looked at it through a camera lens, that’s why the camera reels melted. Justin saw it through Nearly Headless Nick and Nick was already dead and Mr. Filch’s cat saw it through the puddle of water.”

….

“That’s quite an interesting theory, you there, Mr Potter. Now, why don’t you explain everything to me slowly.” Dumbledore asked and he looked towards others.

“Alone, Sir. I cannot speak about it in front of others.”

They were taken aback at his request.

“Mr. Potter, are you saying that you cannot trust us?” Professor Mcgonagall asked, surprised.

“Please, Sir. I cannot say it in front of others.” he insisted.

“You will speak whatever you have to speak in front of everyone.” Snape shouted, making him face him.

He remembered the instructions and looked down, not meeting his eyes.

“Look at me.” he shouted.

He didn’t and closed his eyes.

….

“Serverus, unhand him, right now.” he heard Professor Mcgonagall’s voice.

“Let him go, Severus.” he heard Dumbledore’s voice and felt Snape letting go of him. “You can open your eyes, Harry. I don’t know where you learned it from but neither Serverus or anyone else will be doing what you are guarding from.”

He opened his eyes and looked in the direction of the voice.

Dumbledore leaned in and he whispered the word he was told into his ear.

The reaction was obvious.

He jolted back in surprise.

“Where did you learn of that word, Harry? Who told you that word?”

Even he was taken aback by the intensity of the question.

“Alone Sir.” he repeated again.

“Minerva, Severus. Please excuse us for a while. This matter… it’s for the best if it remains between the two of us.” he ordered.

They looked at him in surprise for a while but left nonetheless.

But on Dumbledore’s insistence, they left nonetheless.

Dumbledore waved his hand and all the portraits in the place were frozen.

“Now Harry, where did you hear that word?” He asked again.

“I… found a piece of paper in Hermione’s hand when she was petrified. There was a drawing of some kind, a circle and many runes. It called out to me asking what I wished for.”

Dumbledore’s face paled at the words.

“Where is that paper?” he asked immediately.

He brought the paper out of his pocket and showed it to him.

Dumbledore looked at the paper with a frown on his face. “How strange… I don’t recognise most of these runes.”

“What then?”

“We have to wish for something while holding the paper.”

He held the paper and closed his eyes.

And sure enough, a crack appeared in the air in front of them and formed a hole in the space.

“Hello again, Harry. What can I do for you this time? I hope you understand that I still haven’t received my payment from our previous deal.” The voice from the other end said.

Dumbledore stumbled back at the appearance of the Hole, bringing out his wand from his robes and pointing it towards the hole.

“What are you?” he asked, composing himself but not removing the point of his wand from the hole.

“Ah, where are my manners? I’m what you all know as a Devil.”

- Acelin -

I watched as their faces paled at my words but opening and closing the holes was my territory.

I was ready to dodge at any time in case he threw a spell but didn’t show it.

I acted quickly, not giving them a chance to do anything. “My name is Ace Belphegor. I guess you might have heard of my name or at least my last name.” I said, looking at the old man and observed his hand shake lightly at my last name.

I didn’t give him my real name because who knows what kind of shit they have in their world. I mean I knew there were tales of Demons being controlled by their real names. I didn’t know if such a thing would apply to me but I had no intention of testing that.

“I think you should speak faster if you wish to make a deal. I have a lot of other work to do, ya know? Not to mention that you don’t have enough time as it is. I wasn’t joking when I said lives were at stake.”

Dumbledore quickly came back to senses and pointed his wand at the paper.

“Are you sure you want to do that? I really thought you would have liked to know the location of your favourite student’s Horcrux causing all this mess. But if that is your wish…” I smiled.

He held his hand and looked at me incredulously.

“He didn’t… you must be lying.”

I looked at the man with a deadpan. “Lying is something you humans specialise in, not us. We cannot lie during our deals. But sure, do as you wish. It’s not like lives being at stake ever bothered you in front of your own beliefs of always being right. Be it Lily and James Potter or… Ariana. But whatever may be the case, I want my payment for the information about the Basilisk first, or don’t blame me…” I left my words hanging.

Even if I don’t get any deals out of him, I will still get my thousand gold coins first.

That kind of money would get me a simple Magic Circle at the very least.

“What did you promise it, Harry?” He looked at the boy and asked.

“A… a thousand galleons, Sir.” He stuttered, still looking at me in shock.

“I am a He, thank you very much.” I added but none of them paid attention.

They were far too busy to put out their own fires.

He looked at me and spoke. “You will get your thousand galleons.”

“Before the other deal and no later than two days, as per the promise.”

His face steeled but he nodded nonetheless.

“Oh, by the way… the one who is about to die has less than one day… so… good luck. PS. If you ever need to solve a problem with a Horcrux….which you will. Call me. Remember, ‘the power he knows not’… can be anything.”

I closed the hole without waiting for their reply.

Now it was the waiting game.

I would be getting a thousand galleons out of this for sure because no matter what Dumbledore might think, he will still pay the end of Harry’s deal.

Whether I can get more than it or not… depends on Voldermort.

It’s not like that’s the only place I can get a deal from.

Yes.

After he went to Dumbledore, I made sure to slip through several of my summoning contracts through the holes at different parts of Hogwarts.

One or another idiot will be summoning me for sure.

__________________________________x___________________________________

For the next few hours, I thought about different possibilities.

Did this Hole Open in only my world?

Did that mean that my world was attached to the Harry Potter world?

Or could my holes reach into other worlds?

I didn’t know the year in the Human World but it won’t be that hard to find. So, the first thing I did was run around to find this information.

What I found out was that, this was 1994.

So, that verified that this world was different from the one where my portal opened.

This opened so many possibilities.

But there were restrictions too.

First, I couldn’t pinpoint the worlds. The holes I opened were all at random.

The only reason I could pinpoint them was due to the summoning contract activated by Harry, which contained some of my power, thus acting as an anchor for me to latch onto.

The second was the size of the hole.

It was certainly bigger than the previous ones but it still took a lot of power. But now, I understand the reason behind it.

Those bastards would be crying tears of blood if they knew what they had thrown away… on second thought, that bastard was the sort of guy who would rather kill me out of envy if he found out about my power.

Whatever it may be, it was their loss.

The last restriction was the consumption of power to keep the door opened.

One of the main reasons why I ended my conversation with them so early was due to the power consumption from my side.

Even with my almost High Class power reserves, I was still having a hard time keeping the hole open for so long.

But the last two problems can be solved through training and time.

It was eight hours later that I sensed another summoning.

I took a deep breath before opening another portal while being wary of another attack.

As expected, it was Dumbledore.

His face was passive as he looked at me.

Behind him, stood Harry, scared.

First things first, he handed a pouch to Harry and nodded.

The boy threw the pouch through the portal.

I picked it up, opened and overturned it and hundreds of golden coins poured out.

It was enough to fill up the ground of my small room.

That should be enough for now.

I looked up at the two. “Well, thank you Harry Potter. Our end of the deal is complete.” With just that, I sensed a wisp of power, a very tiny wisp which was almost negligible, entering my body and merging with myself. It was so small that it almost seemed as if it were a dream or illusion.

But I knew that the increase was real.

I smiled. “Now then, since you haven’t already shouted at me to get lost, I presume that you have another deal to make with me? Go on, I’m waiting.”

Dumbledore looked at Harry. “You may leave now Harry. Whatever happens now, I will be responsible for it solely.”

“But Headmaster…”

“I appreciate your concern but I will be fine, Harry.”

“Oh my, it seems as if you are planning to walk to your death. Don’t worry. We don’t trade in souls anymore. It’s a bad currency. I prefer materialistic things to souls.”

They looked at me but didn’t say anything.

Harry left the room nonetheless.

“I wish to make a deal with you to know about the Horcrux Tom made. State your price.”

“Oh pretty direct. I like it. My price. Let me think. Books. I want books on Occlumency and Legilimency. All the knowledge you have on these two topics. Payment in two days or before the next deal.” I replied.

Occlumency involved controlling one’s emotions and helped increase focus. Such a thing helps increase focus and keep calm at times of combat as the user can just suppress emotions like anger or fear.

I had paused during my first fight and it could have been a matter of life and death.I don’t want such a thing to happen again. Not to mention, the increased focus will help me use devil magic better.

He looked taken aback but quickly collected himself and replied..

“Okay. Now my answer.”

“Tom Riddle’s Horcrux is in the Lestrange Vault at the Diagon Alley’s Gringotts Bank.” I answered. “It is Helga Hupplepuff’s cup. There, deal complete. ”

“What?!” But you said that someone’s life was in danger at Hogwarts because of the Horcrux.”

“Excuse me? I don’t recall ever saying such a thing. But yes, someone’s life is indeed in danger at Hogwarts because of Tom Riddle’s horcrux. It is just a different horcrux. What made you think he made only one?” I smiled.

“You twisted my words.”

“Your words were already twisted. Probably due to misassumptions on your part. However, that's not my problem but yours. You could always make another deal and term your question more properly.”

He gritted his teeth but took a deep breath to calm down.

“Another deal then. I wish to know of Tom Riddle’s horcrux inside Hogwarts which is a danger to the life of a student. State your price.”

“Phew. You are putting me through a lot of hard work here, Mr. Dumbledore. I hope you know that I’m a Devil of sloth. I mean my last name should tell you about it already. So, don’t mind if I charge more.”

“State your price.”

“Hmm… Luck Potion or Felix Felicis. I want twenty vials of good quality Felix Felicis, each containing at least twelve hours worth of use at the very least.”

“That’s… too much. I cannot provide it within two days.”

“Oh you don’t have to give me everything within two days. You can always pay it in instalments. And as my interest, you can give me books again. All books from first year to seventh year of Hogwarts Curriculum on all subjects taught here. Fair, right? I mean I know it’s a bit high but can it be more than the life of a child?”

I know I was overcharging him but what can he do?

“A year. Alright. I accept.”

I smiled. “Alright then. The answer to your question is… Harry Potter. Harry Potter’s scar is the Horcrux.”

The man stumbled back in shock and looked at me with a stunned expression.

“No…”

“Although….that is also not the one which is of immediate danger to the student I was talking about. That’s a different Horcrux. But I had to answer your question. Teehee.”

….

I was prepared to dive aside at any moment to dodge an Avada Kedavra to my face but none came.

Dumbledore just looked down, face full of sadness.

“How many?” he whispered.

“Are you asking for a deal?”

“Sigh… I wish to make another deal.”

“Ohohohoho. I am on a roll today. If this were a video game, you would be getting an achievement for making the most amount of deals with a devil in the shortest period of time.”

He ignored my words. “I wish to know of all of Tom Marvolo Riddle’s Horcruxes. What will be the price?”

“That’s… oh my. Not holding anything back, are we? Very well….the price will be….”

___________________________________x__________________________________

I lay down on my bed, happy as I could be as I looked at the things in front of me.

Loads of books, two vials of Luck Potion, five vials of Polyjuice Potion, an Invisibility Cloak, still good while not the Peverell Cloak, tons of gold coins, a couple magical trunks and the best thing of it all, the Elder Wand.

Oh poor Dumbledore is really a kind guy.

A kind guy who is often misguided by his own beliefs but a kind guy nonetheless.

I told him about every horcrux Voldemort made as well as their location for the Elder Wand and a ton of gold as well as Helena Rowenclaw’s Diadem which he is going to retrieve and I will remove Voldemort’s soul from it. Even I couldn’t believe that he gave up the Elder Wand.

I didn’t forget to leave another bait for him though.

Sirius Black’s innocence and removing Harry’s Horcrux.

The guy has too much knowledge and resources for me to waste.

Hell, I would gladly take most of the Black Fortune if I can get a deal with the convicted Black himself.

But for now, I’m satisfied.

The Elder Wand was disarmed from his hand by me when he brought it out so it did belong to me.

A focus.

With this alone, casting spells was much simpler than before.

I have a lot of work to do too.

With the sudden windfall and more to come in the coming days, I can buy at least a simple Magic Circle.

But till then, I needed to learn Occlumency and if possible, Legilimency too.

I also noticed that all three times, I received an increase in power from the deals.

It was like a drop in the ocean but it was still there.

This gave me hope.

One day… one day, I could get there too.

___________________________________x__________________________________

Two days later, I was summoned by Dumbledore again.

He offered me the Diadem under the condition that I do so in front of him.

I agreed.

I touched the Diadem and willed my magic to do the rest. It was almost an instinct.

I felt something inside the Diadem as my magic invaded the artifact, just like something ingrained in the DNA itself, I just knew what it was and how I could bring it out.

Using my Demonic Power, I grabbed the thing and pulled it out.

A shriek ran through the room as a face made of dark gas manifested in my hand.

Almost on instinct, I put the thing to my mouth and gulped it down.

Instantly, I felt a surge in power, far greater than the ones from the previous deals. It was not even comparable.

If one was a drop then the other was a cup full of water.

And this was just a small part of his full soul. His full soul would be even more.

I quickly shook my head, breaking out of the dangerous line of thought and looked at Dumbledore in front of me who had a look of horror on his face.

“Trust me, this was much better for him than what was waiting for him had I released him. His soul was incomplete and would have neither gone to heaven nor hell, nor would it stay in the world but remain stuck between the empty void of the worlds in darkness for all of eternity. That is the price for trying to cheat Death.”

He just kept silent and looked at me in fear.

“Well then, my work here is done. I expect my payment to be delivered on time. Have a good day, Albus Dumbledore.”

I closed the portal leaving the man alone.

I clenched my fist.

I now understood why many devils often decided to go rogue to trade in souls.

The feeling was almost addicting.

It was almost scary how one can lose oneself in it.

That was a dangerous road.

Over the next two weeks, I drowned myself in the books Dumbledore had given me, starting from the Occlumency Books.

The reason why I insisted on the Diadem was because it was said to have some kind of effect on the brain of the user and increased the wisdom of the wearer.

I could see why.

My thoughts were far easier to control when I was wearing it. This helped me a lot in learning the basics of Occlumency.

Not only that, with the newly gained Elder Wand, I was practising the basics of Transfiguration and Charms as well.

The Wizarding World might not be high on the power totem pole but they certainly had convenient magic and while the Devil’s Imagination Magic could do almost all those things and much more, they had refined the art much more that even human wizards with very small amounts of magic could do magic with ease.

Apart from this, I got a map of the Underworld and made a detailed plan for selling my gold, a bit at different parts of the Underworld so that it cannot be tracked back to me.

My plan was to sell them over a period of time using the Polyjuice potion to avoid getting caught.

But first I needed to check if the Polyjuice Potion worked properly on Devils.

That was quite easy to do.

I stunned a Low Class Devil and forcibly fed him a bit of potion with a different person’s hair.

He did change and then revert back without any problems so the safety of the potion was verified.

There was another thing which I did routinely.

Opened portals and threw my Summoning Contracts in them whenever I could.

If I could get even one or two deals like the ones from Harry’s and Dumbledore’s it would be a jackpot.

___________________________________x__________________________________

“Where did you find this, brat?” Dave asked while looking at the Elder Wand.

“I bought it from a magician who was selling off some old items for Liliums to buy some books. This does help focus my magic quite a bit.”

“It does. But wands are not suitable for Demonic Power. Human Magic is a lot calmer than Demonic Power, which is inherently volatile. I don’t know what was used to make this but it does conduct Demonic Power quite well, a surprise since most human wands and staff burn when using raw Demonic Power. What do you want to do with it?”

“I want a way to protect it. As you can see, it’s quite fragile and I am a sword user. There is a chance that it can break from a stray attack. I was wondering if you can do anything about it.”

“Hmm, a wand would require the help of a runesmith. I could supplement it with some magical metal but the ratio could be messed up. I have worked with a few Runesmiths over the centuries so I will see what I can do. No promises though.”

“Thank you.”

“Meh… who’s doing it for your thanks? Bring me my booze.”

I laughed at his reply, already expecting something like that and brought out a few bottles from my bag.

“Hmm… these are more expensive than the last time.”

“I got some money since the last time we met.”

He looked at the bottles and then back at his forge.

“Don’t start running before you can walk or you will fall sooner or later.”

“…I will keep that in mind.”

We didn’t speak much after that. That was the thing with Dave. We didn’t need to talk with each other much but it still worked out between us. We had a good understanding.

I left his place late at night and walked towards my home.

It was during this time that I felt someone following me.

Crimes… were a commonplace thing in these outer towns.

Anyone who disappeared can just be thrown on the head of the pits.

But why are they following me?

So I decided to bait them.

All my valuables were in the expandable trunk which was shrunk into a locket to wear around my neck.

So no one will find anything around my home.

Even if I have to run away, I will be able to leave anytime I want.

But I needed to know who they were.

With this thought in mind, I walked towards the outer areas of the town.

There was a thick forest cover for miles before one reached the pits so there was enough place to hide.

I walked into the cover of the trees and quickly brought out the invisibility cloak and hid in the corner.

Sure enough a minute later, a group of four devils walked into the place.

“Where did he go?”

“We should have brought a sensor with us.’

“Are you even sure he has found something and it’s not just empty information?”

“The boy has been visiting the Magic shop a lot for the last two months. He even bought some books on Magic. He has been working as a carrier for a mid-sized hunting group and never even goes on big hunts… so, then, how did he get the money for it?”

So that’s why….

I was regularly visiting them to buy summoning contracts.

This attracted the attention of some people.

I didn’t hide myself just for buying summoning contracts because Polyjuice was quite limited for now so I was saving it for selling the gold later on.

To think it would lead to this….

“Are you sure that his hunting group wouldn’t come after us? We are just a small sized group. We cannot afford a fight with those bigger groups.” One of them asked and I paid more attention to their conversation.

“I only caught a hint of this because the clerk working in the shop is my brother. We are the only ones who know of this and it will need to stay that way once we get whatever the boy has out of him.”

The clerk…

But that did tell me a lot more than I wanted.

It meant… as long as these people died… things will stay here.

With this thought in mind, I slowly brought out my sword as well as the Ravenclaw Diadem which I wore as a ring and wore it on my head.

I felt my mind clear and my thoughts flow much better than before.

I had a clear view of them.

I took a slow and deep breath and focused on opening a hole directly behind the guy who was leading them.

And it all happened in a second.

With my Reinforcement at full power, I thrust my sword through the hole, directly piercing the chest of the guy.

The other three were shocked as the hole was hidden behind the guy and I pulled back the sword before closing the hole instantly.

“What!”

“Someone’s attacking.”

“Take positions.”

These guys were hunters for sure as they took positions with their backs to each other, with the first guy choking on his blood but in the middle of the group.

As they were looking around the place, I made my second move.

I hadn’t learned any attack magics yet so I needed to make do with the weaker ones first.

“Wingardium Leviosa.”

I levitated a stick in the opposite direction from my own and let it fall.

The group turned in the direction and one of the guys started preparing for his spell while the other two faced the direction, taking position to face the attack from that direction.

I took the advantage of their misdirected attention and summoned another sword and attacked again, this time taking the head of the caster.

On my other hand was my wand.

“Lumos Maxima.” I cast my eyes closed.

The group turned back at sound only to be blinded by the high intensity light.

This was enough for me to make the last move.

I thrust my sword twice, taking down both the people with one attack on their heads each.

With the three done for and the last one struggling to stop his bleeding, I walked out from the bushes.

The leader of the group looked at me in shock and horror.

“N-no cough please… let me go.”

I just looked at him.

“I can give you money, magic. We have a lot of m-m- cough money. I p-promise I will n-not come after you please...”

“What is the name of the clerk?”

“Ple-ase spare me.”

“The name of the clerk and I let you go.”

“Grant cough cough.” He coughed.

“Who else knows?”

“cough* cough” He started coughing and breathing hard.

I would hope so, I made sure to attack his heart on the first strike.

“Who else did you tell about me?”

He was trying to answer but lost consciousness due to bloodloss.

What a waste.

No way was I carrying him out.

And this also left me with a lot of problems.

I still didn’t know who knew about me having money and what to do about this situation.

However, the first thing I did was search through their belongings.

They had weapons and even some one time usables like medicines useful for Devils, antidotes, etc. It also told me about the Hunting group they belonged to.

Demonic Hand.

I took all of the bits that couldn't be traced back to me and threw their bodies in the pits.

After that I went back to my home under the cover of the invisibility cloak and started to pack things up.

I needed to get ready to move out in case things went south.

But that doesn't mean I will just leave this place so easily.

At least not until there were people after my life here.

Grant.

I needed to remove the brother of that guy and his hunting group.

So, over the night, I thought of a plan.

___________________________________x__________________________________

The next day, I went about my usual chores.

I even followed my group into the pits to hunt and returned by the end of the day.

This continued for the next few days.

I did feel the stares of some people during this time but none of them approached me.

In fact, I even felt someone had entered my home during my hunts so I made sure to not act suspicious at home, acting like a fourteen year old and hiding the money I had gotten from the hunts in a fake bag under the floorboards.

Just to keep up the pretence, I even went to the Magic Shop and bought Summoning Contracts again.

During this time, I found out who this Grant guy was.

And that’s when my plan started in earnest.

The next day, I went and hunted using my Invisibility Cloak and put all the dead bodies in the expandable trunk.

They were Low Class Demonic beasts at best so I could stack up many of them when using the Cloak.

I had already observed that they never followed me in the Pits.

When I returned from the hunt however, I sold only one of the beasts.

From the next day onwards, when I went to hunt, I entered the pits, used my Invisibility Cloak and returned back and kept an eye on Grant from a distance.

I observed his entire routine.

With this done, my preparation was completed.

So, when he went back home that day, I followed him and hid in his home.

When he went to sleep, I knocked him out and tied him up, throwing him in my trunk.

The guy was at the Mid Class level but we had stuff which can bind even Mid Class Demonic Beasts and restrict their Demonic Energy. I snatched some of his hair first.

When he was completely incapacitated, I woke him up.

The man was groggy from the sudden injury but he did recognise me when he woke up.

“You! So it was you.”

I smacked him on his face a few times with a mallet, not hard enough to kill him but certainly enough to break his face.

“Only I ask questions here… and you answer… truthfully. If this rule is broken anytime, I will kill you. Follow this rule and I will let you meet your brother.” I brought out the emblem of the Demonic Hand that his brother used to carry. The symbol of a group leader.

“You don’t know who you are messing with. The people behind me… aghhhhh.”

I had already stabbed his thigh to shut him up.

Next I brought a vial of poison which could be used on weapons to kill Demonic Beasts.

“I have neither the time nor patience for your foolishness, so answer me. Why did you send your brother after me?”

“I didn’t…”

I poured the poison in the stab wound on his thigh.

The man paled immediately.

“I repeat, I’m in a hurry. And now you are the same. So, shall we get this game up to the pace? Answers.”

“I -I will answer. The antidote.”

“Will only be given when I am done with my questioning. No negotiations. Why did you send your brother after me?”

“W-we do this sometimes. The o-wner of the shop sends people to hunt for devils without any kind of backing and get back his magic books and artifacts so that he can sell them again. We divide the money.”

….

Everyone of them… every single one of them is the same.

“Does the Marbas house know of this?”

“N-no. They don’t and wouldn’t care even if they did. We only target weaker Devils.”

….

Son of a bitch.

“Who else knows of this?”

“Some people of the Demonic Hand and the owner. We don’t let the news spread or the Marbas house’s reputation will sink and they will kill us.”

I asked him a few more questions and then made him drink the antidote. I still needed him for something, but just to make sure, I even used some sedatives used against Demonic Beasts to keep him out. 

With my targets clear, I made some quick changes to the plan.

Time was of the essence so I acted quickly.

I used his hair in the polyjuice potion and drank it. With the amount I had, I could keep up the disguise for a few hours.

Just enough for my plan.

I headed straight to the Magic Shop.

The owner was a Mid Class Devil working for the Marbas House.

“Grant? Why are you here so late?”

“I forgot something here.” I replied and went behind the counter.

He didn’t pay any attention to me so I took this opportunity to fling one of the sedative bombs at his face.

He was not expecting this and was taken aback. I used this opportunity to stab him through the eye using a reinforced poisoned dagger I had picked up from my first attackers.

The man was able to put his hand in front of his eyes but I had used this same move to cleave through the Mid Class Demonic Beast’s heads, skulls and all.

His hand was pierced and then the dagger went through his eye, killing the man directly.

With the man down, I quickly got to work.

I hurried out and brought an enchanted trunk I had kept there. I could have kept it with me but then I would have needed to enlarge it and there were cameras in the shop.

I had already covered the trunks with a different kind of cover which didn’t bore any resemblance with my own trunks.

Over the next ten minutes, I threw everything I could get my hands on from the shop and threw them into the trunk and ran out of the shop with the trunk.

In fact there were so many Magic Circles in front of me but I didn’t touch any of them in fear of getting tracked down.

There is going to be a catastrophe coming to this place soon enough and I didn’t want them to get any whiff of me.

I went directly to his home which had already been arranged to look as if he had packed things in a hurry and ran away.

Just to make things more credible, I threw one small bell type artifact in the corner of the room, under the table.

If they searched properly, they would find the artifact.

After that I went straight to the pits and buried the trunk deep into a hole near a place I had marked previously.

With everything done, I threw away all the clothes I had been wearing and burned them.

I had left Grant in the Pits as well and waited till he was attacked and killed by a Mid Class Demonic Beast.

Using this bait, I even hunted the beast.

The effect of the Polyjuice had worn off by then so I bought a Demonic Beast corpse and used its claws to make injuries on myself and left the pit.

Sure enough, by the time I was back, there was chaos in the whole town.

_________________________________x____________________________________

Two months had passed since that incident.

The Marbas House had sent a High Class Devil with a dozen Mid Class Devils immediately to respond to the entire situation.

They had investigated and their search had led them to Grant and by an extension, his brother’s Demonic Hand.

Them going missing a while ago had actually worked against them in fact as they were all interrogated and they disappeared as well.

I was left completely alone in all this.

Still, it was horrifying to see a few small Hunting Groups get destroyed so easily.

No one even questioned anything in this territory.

Not only them, many others had died and mysteriously disappeared.

Were the lives of Low Class Devils so cheap?

I once again solidified my will to rise above these people.

I will not be helpless.

A few things have changed in the town since then.

Shops in the town had increased security while the prices had increased.

There were posters of Grant and the ones I had killed all over the town as well as in other territories with a reward on their heads.

Other Hunting groups were acting quiet too.

I had taken some time to heal up and recover in the meanwhile and practised Occlumency and my Clan Trait in my spare time and read the books on Magic and Rituals which I had gotten from the Magic Shop, the reason why those bastards came after me in the first place. They contained some methods of making one stronger.

Mostly sacrifices which were all banned now. There were a few methods but they were risky and vague.

Basically, this book was a massive waste.

Another book contained the list of identified Demonic Beasts and their uses as well as information about the Pits.

This one was far more useful.

The last book was on Charm and Hypnosis Magic for Devils which I found to be the most useful.

Apart from this, I was able to buy something to pass time and remember my last life.

A video game.

Yes.

Since the rise in the number of Reincarnated Devils, the underworld was slowly accommodating their technologies.

Televisions and to some extent games are becoming common nowadays.

Dave had taken the wand to the Runesmith and had made a frame for it using a magical metal which conducted Demonic Power. This added to the overall durability of the wand.

Although I will have to pay off a debt for the metal for a while.

I had completed the plan where I could sell my gold off in a covert way. The only reason I was avoiding doing so was due to the Marbas incident.

But I couldn’t keep on avoiding this for long.

It was during such a time that I finally got another summoning.

Closing all the doors and windows of my house, I first wore the Ravenclaw’s Diadem and covered it under a hat and then responded to the summoning.

The one on the other end was a kid.

He had green, shoulder-length hair which was braided on the sides and green eyes. He wore clothes which wouldn’t be off on a noble kid.

Why do I always have kids summoning me?

“W-who are you?” he asked hesitantly. “We command you to answer us.”

….

Command.

This brat?

But then again, I had no idea what kind of world this was so let’s find out.

“My name is Ace Belphegor. Who am I speaking to?” I asked politely, passively using my Charm Magic to ease the kid up to questioning.

“W-we are the Emperor of the Empire.”

….what?

That didn’t tell me anything.

I still helped back and enquired more.

“Oh, that sounds amazing. An Emperor at such a young age. You must be very talented.” I praised and the kid puffed up his chest in pride. “Pardon my ignorance. I’m not from your world so… would you tell me something more about your empire?”

“You are not from our world!” he asked, surprised.

“Yes. I am from a different world.” I brought out my wings for the kid to see.

“How amazing? Is that a Teigu?”

A Teigu?

That word brought some memories to the front of my mind and I looked at the kid in front of me.

Teigu.

Emperor.

It couldn’t be.

Just to make sure I talked to him for a while and found out that he had just ascended to the throne.

The kid looked like he was seven or eight.

It was easy to get some things about the current world out of him.

The Empire hadn’t gone completely into hell yet.

I thought of what to do while I was talking to him.

For a good future contractor, it would be for the best if the Empire became stronger.

The kid himself wanted to do good for the country and it was only his naivety which fucked him over.

I had always felt bad for the kid whom no one actually tried to help.

Reminded me of my own situation.

But more than that, having the Emperor of a strong and united Empire as my contractor will be far more useful than anyone else I could think of.

So I conjured up a plan.

He was quite trusting of Honest.

I didn’t try to break his trust right now or it could push him away from me. What I needed first was to make him trust me.

“Well to be honest Your Majesty, the paper you got was a contract which can be used to summon me. In my world, we need to make contracts to get promoted. For this, you can tell us your desire and we would try to fulfil it if it is possible for us for an appropriate cost though.”

“Our desires?”

“Yes. For example if you want something to eat which you haven’t ever tasted before or something new which you haven’t seen, I can provide you with it for a suitable price.”

“Ohhh Really? Can you show me something?”

“Why not? Here, have a try for free.”

I bought some chocolates from my bag and passed it to him.

The kid ate those without any kind of hesitation at all and his eyes lit up.

“Amazing! This is the best sweet we have ever eaten. Give us some more.” he shouted.

“As you wish, Your Majesty, but first, we need to discuss the terms of the deal.”

“Discuss?”

“Yes. I am very new to this so I have to follow some rules or I will be punished.”

“Oh. Very well. You have gifted us with the most delicious sweets we have ever eaten, we cannot let you be punished or it will tarnish the name of the Empire. State your rules.”

Oh he was such a nice kid.

The more I talked to him, the more bad I felt about his ending.

“First of all, you cannot tell anyone about our deals. Not even your closest friends or subordinates.”

“Very well.”

“Second, you can only summon me when you are alone.”

“Hmm hmm.”

“Third, we will discuss the price of every deal before the exchange. As time goes on, I can trade better things with you but the prices will vary accordingly.”

“Okay, we understand.”

“In that case, I look forward to our prosperous future together, Your Majesty.”

“Hahahaha we will look forward to it too.”

__________________________________x___________________________________

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Author’s Note:

Here’s another chapter of the ‘Ace in the Hole’.

As I said earlier, this story will be a slow start and I will be making this similar to ‘Deal with the Devil’.

But unlike Damien, Ace will have to struggle more to get to a higher level or even get his Evil Pieces.

I will try to write about his rise from the lower rungs of the society to higher levels all by his own effort and through a realistic progression.

Sincerely hope you will like this story.

Enjoy the new chapter.

Good Day, Peace Out.