Story 9: Chapter 3: Lucky Encounters? (Patreon)

Story 9: Ace in the Hole

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 3: Lucky Encounters?

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-  Ace –

I walked through the streets of the capital city of New Lilith.

It had been two weeks since I had made a contract with the Young Emperor of the Empire. 

Since then, I have been summoned by him every night to talk or tell him stories of other worlds or even just trade for things.

I on the other hand took this opportunity to find out more about the condition of the Empire.

What I found out was that while the Empire was corrupted, it hadn't developed to the extent as in the story I knew of. The Revolutionary Army was just in its starting phases and were merely a small group of rebels.

I had also started practising Legilimency on the young Emperor to see more information about others but it turns out that the kid actually tells me everything honestly. This made me pity him even more. He was a genuinely good kid who wanted to help the Empire.

So, there was still a bit of time to prevent all that.

It’s just that, it was extremely difficult to do so through just a portal.

But while I was working towards it slowly, I did get some things from the kid Emperor in exchange for the things I traded to him.

And one such thing was something I was using right now.

The Gaea Foundation.

Yes, I traded a Teigu with the kid Emperor… for a video game.

I found out some things about the Teigu. It was attracted to magic so maybe that world also had magic of some kind. The Danger Beasts could be magical beasts maybe.

It opened up a lot of routes for that world.

From what I found out, there were some extremely strong Danger Beasts and sometimes even eating parts of those beasts’ bodies was enough to gain some of its powers.

Even some of the Teigu were just the Blood Essence of extremely strong Danger Beasts like the Demon God Manifestation: Demon’s Extract.

So, there were chances that they could be hunted and more such Teigu can be produced.

The danger Beasts were divided into several levels.

Class 4, Class 3, Class 2, Class 1, Special Class and Super Class, with Class 4 being the weakest and the Super Class being the strongest.

The best Teigu like the Incursio Armour, Demon’s Extract and others were made from the body parts of the Super Class Danger Beasts and to get more of them, they needed to be hunted.

This however is easier said than done as from what I guessed, most of the Super Class Danger beasts were at least Ultimate Class level and killing them would take a lot of effort and planning.

I mean, just drinking the blood of one, and that too not all of it, could make Esdeath strong enough to freeze time itself so how strong must the Danger Beast itself must be.

Not just this, they even had many magical metals in their world too as some of their Teigu were said to have been made up of them with the Danger Beast’s parts. I recognised the name of Adamantium among the metals named.

From what I observed, this Artifact also used Magic but normal Humans in that world didn’t have much power so they couldn’t always be selected by a Teigu and even if they were, they couldn’t use more than one without harming themselves irreversibly as they starts absorbing their life force when overexerted. Esdeath’s and Tatsumi’s powers were exceptions as drinking the Demon’s Extract gave her some properties of the Danger Beast itself and increased her Magical Power while it was merging with Tyrant for Tatsumi.

But for someone like me, using these things was much easier.

The reason I chose this one instead of something extremely strong was because I had already finished off my reserves of the Polyjuice Potions and needed something to hide my identity.

And it was not as if this was weak either. This artifact allowed the user to transform into any living being they had seen and even use their natural abilities.

What’s interesting with this is that while humans from that world could use it, they couldn’t even come close to using the full extent of it’s abilities due to their low amounts of Magical Power.

It needed more energy to take on larger forms which they lacked but I didn’t.

Today, I had come to the capital city to sell some of the gold and jewellery which I had gotten from my trade and get some money for myself.

The city of New Lilith was remade after the Civil War and was the place from where The Satan Lucifer ruled the Underworld.

The other three Satans had other cities but since Lucifer was responsible for domestic matters, this city was the biggest centre of trade and commerce for the whole Underworld.

Similarly, the city which was ruled by the Beelzebub was the place where the Devil Research and Development Department was located and was famous for its advanced magic and scientific development. Not only devils but also Magicians as well as other races who came to the Underworld came here to research magic. 

The Leviathan’s capital city was the centre for foreign affairs and the place where most tourists came from outside the Underworld. The licences for going to the Human World as well as the offices where ambassadors of different races stayed and diplomats visited was this city.

And finally the Asmodeus’ city was the place where the headquarters of the Underworld’s military was situated. It was surrounded by military establishments all around, Academies, Weapons Manufacturing facilities, etc.

The best thing about Lilith was that even other races had stores opened in a certain section of the city. They had to pay more taxes than Devils but they often attracted large crowds of people who didn’t have access to the Human World.

I had already visited this place a few times under different disguise to enquire about places where I could sell stuff. In fact, I could even pretend to be a trader from outside the Underworld and sell stuff. I only needed to be careful about not getting caught for not having a licence.

As I was thinking about this, I reached the place I was going to.

The place was owned by the Belial House and was a business opened by the Rating Game Champion, Diehauser Belial himself.

In fact, the story behind this place was kinda inspiring too.

Around a hundred or so years ago, when Diehauser was still young and wanted to study about Rating Games, the Belial Family couldn’t afford it.

At that time, Lady Belial had sold her jewellery and Lord Belial had sold his own clothes to afford the money for him to be able to go to the Rating Game Academy for the High Class Devil children and pursue his dream there.

And as we all know now, that deed bore fruit.

Diehauser Belial surpassed every other Rating Game player and became the Champion, the Emperor of the Rating Games with his Skill and hard work.

And when he did, he bought this whole place as a gift for his parents.

Lady and Lord Belial had continued this business since then to help similar people in need.

It was the place which gave the best rates for gold and jewellery sold in the Underworld and were extremely well liked by the lower sections of the society.

This place was their headquarters and there were other branches all across the Underworld too.

I entered the place and was greeted by the staff. “I would like to see some gold and jewellery.” I reported.

“Please come with me.” He led me to a room beside the counter. “Show me the products.”

I brought out the products and he checked the products with a magic circle to check if they were genuine.

He calculated the price and paid the sum almost immediately.

“Umm.” I hesitated before asking.

“Yes?”

“I am a hunter and hunt in the pits. I was wondering if you also buy some magical metals here?”

“We do but only for some precious ones.” He provided me with a whole list along with the prices for each metal.

“Thank you.”

I quickly left the place to go to my next destination.

The city where Satan Beelzebub lived.

Lucifaad.

But I didn’t go there directly. First I went to a different town where I changed my disguise again, this time taking the form of a young devil.

Lucifaad didn’t allow people to teleport there willy-nilly. They had to have special permission.

Apart from that, there were checks before entering the city and each and every part of the city was under surveillance by the people under Ajuka Beelzebub.

Not even a fly could escape their notice so changing disguise inside the city was highly dangerous.

But there was a reason I was visiting this place.

It was the only place where the latest games as well as electrical appliances from the Human World were available.

I needed to make trades with the Emperor and for that I needed more things.

So I went on a shopping spree.

While getting the things I needed, I got a phone for myself to be able to check the Devil Net and some books on the Human Magic System to see if I could trade them with others in different worlds for something useful.

While walking through the place, my eyes were attracted to a stall which sold wands and magic staffs.

Getting an extra wand or staff would be helpful as I didn’t use the Elder Wand much during the hunts to prevent it from getting damaged. 

“Welcome, what do you want to buy?” The magician who owned the stall looked bored.

“A Magic Staff or Wand suitable for me. Any suggestions?”

“All these staffs were made to suit the Demonic Power of Devils but you need to know Human Magic to use them.”

“I see. Do you mind if I check one?”

“Sure, go on.”

I picked one of them and tried using the Harry Potter Magic with it, a simple levitation spell. It worked so I tried something more complicated.

A basic transfiguration spell.

Turning a button into a beetle.

It worked again.

“Wow. That was amazing.” I heard the exclaim from behind me. Looking back I saw a blonde girl with blue eyes.

She looked to be around twelve years or so.

She looked at me with an amazed expression on her face. “How did you do that?”

“Umm, magic.” I replied, stepping back a bit from her, who was almost at my face.

“So amazing. I have never seen a magic like that.”

“I am sure others can do it too.” I replied, waving the thing off and turned towards the shop owner and handed him a staff and a wand. “I would like to purchase these.”

The owner however didn’t move and was staring at me as if looking at a ghost. He quickly used a spell which I didn’t recognise on the beetle and snapped back at me.

“Yes?”

“What kind of magic was that?” He asked, stunned.

“Just a basic transfiguration.” I replied, unsure while paying the amount. “Will this be enough?”

“Yes yes it’s enough. You can even take it for free if you make a contract with me and let me study your magic.” He jumped up excitedly.

This attracted the attention of some people.

It was at this moment that I sensed something wrong. “I am sorry but I have prior commitments. I am sure you can find some other Devil to do so. My spell was not that special anyways” I replied, stepping back a bit.

“No no. I have never seen anything like this before. I don’t think I know of any Devil who can make life with magic.” he blurted out.

My lips parted slightly in shock as I realised my mistake. “It wasn’t life, just basic magic.” I replied, stepping back and trying to find a way out of the crowd which was gathering from the commotion.

“No, no wait.” He tried to say something else but I found an opening and quickly walked away from there.

The man tried to come after me and a few people even asked him what had happened.

I quickly ran away realising that he was explaining the events to them.

How did I mess up with such a simple task?

- Lavinia Reni -

She watched as the magicians looked around for the boy all over the place in confusion.

“I am telling you it is not an illusion. Here, look at it yourself if you don’t believe me.” The shop owner was showing the beetle which he had trapped under the glass.

She personally thought that the beetle looked quite cute.

“What is going on here?” An authoritative voice sounded and everyone looked behind to see a group of people coming towards them.

“Lavinia, what are you doing here?” One man from that group asked her. He was a middle aged man with gelled hair, which was a mixture of red and blue. He had heterochromia; his left eye was blue, while the right was red.

The head of her new magician organisation, Mephistopheles.

The ones with him went ahead to control the crowd.

“I…” She explained the situation.

“Turned a button into a beetle? Are you sure he didn’t just swap places between the two with his magic?” He asked, while going over to the shop where the beetle was kept and many magicians were standing around it.

The magicians moved aside as they looked at the group.

“No. I saw it change into a beetle, not disappear and appear as a beetle.” She explained.

One of the people from his group, a man with green hair and blue eyes, was checking the beetle. “How surprising. This insect doesn’t have a soul but the rest of its body is truly alive.”

"Really?" Mephistopheles quickly walked forward and did a few checks of his own. “How curious indeed.” He then turned to her and questioned. “Did you see who did this?”

She nodded.

“Where is he?”

“He… ran away.”

“Ran away?”

“The people here wanted to make contracts with him and he didn’t want to so he… ran away.”

“Not a people’s person eh? How sad. Do you think you can find him, Ajuka?”

“Hmm, let me see.” He conjured a magic circle and images appeared in them. “These are the camera feeds from this place from thirty minutes ago. Can you identify who the caster was?”

She looked at the circle and saw the scene of the boy coming to the stall. “This one.”

They saw the scene from just a while ago and then saw the boy running away.

“That was….strange. But it did look like he did the magic.” Mephistopehes said.

The circle in the green haired devil’s hand turned and followed the boy through the cameras and found his location.

“Alright, let’s leave it at that. The people here just freaked the poor kid out and he ran away. But yes, the magic was interesting. I will send someone to talk and invite him in if you want to see his magic but we have an important meeting right now. Let’s not delay it any longer.” One of the people in the group said and looked at another person. “Invite the boy. Just take his information if he doesn’t want to come. Don’t force him.”

“Yes.” A man, probably a servant, replied.

“Umm, can I go there too?” She asked.

She liked the magic and wanted to see it again.

The group looked at her. “Sure. Just stay with them.” Mephisto said and left with them.

She nodded and followed the man.

A few minutes later, they were outside the place where the boy was seen.

“Be careful, miss. It is not dangerous but just don’t get lost.”

She nodded and both of them entered the place.

The man looked around and stopped when he spotted the boy.

They walked behind him.

“Excuse me.” He called the boy who turned around surprised.

“Yes?”

“I am a subordinate of Lord Ajuka Beelzebub.”

The boy looked at the man open mouthed and even she turned towards the man in shock.

Those people were the Satans?

“We just so happened to hear about the incident at the stall earlier. You were invited by Lord Beelzebub to discuss.”

The boy was still shocked and backed away a few steps. “I just came here to buy a few things and did not do anything illegal. May I know why I’m being invited?”

“You don’t need to be worried. Lord Beelzebub was just interested in your magic and wanted to know more about it.”

The look on the boy’s face hardened.

“Can I decline?”

“Excuse me?”

“I do not like showing my magic to anyone and would like to keep it a personal secret. I apologise for not being able to follow you.”

….

“Are you sure? You don’t know the kind of opportunity you’re missing.”

“I am very sure.” The boy answered, trying to leave the place when the man walked in front of him. “What is the meaning of this?”

- Acelin -

Just how in the seven heavens did I get stuck in this mess?

The plan was all perfect.

How did that simple trick of magic fuck things up to this extent?

Ajuka Beelzebub.

That’s cheating.

I just came out of the beginner’s village.

Why am I meeting a raid boss all of a sudden?

If I get taken to Ajuka, I would be caught by him for sure for being in a disguise and they would question me about the magic which would bring about a whole new can of worms out in the open.

Nope, I needed to leave.

But that wouldn’t be so easy.

The guy in front of me was strong.

I wouldn’t last a minute against him. Not that fighting was an option in the first place.

I needed to create a diversion, a big one and then escape under a different disguise.

I quickly thought of a plan and began my act.

“Can I check your information?” He asked and the people around also began to look at the scene.

“I see. So it’s that again. Since you have no reason to bring me against my will, why not create one right. It’s not the first time I have seen High Class Devils or above pull this trick to steal from Low Class Devils like me. And now it’s the Satans themselves.” I started speaking while I began weaving my magic.

Occlumency was shoving any unnecessary thoughts and fear to the back of the brain.

A diversion big enough for me to disappear.

The man in front of me narrowed his eyes.

“Do you know what you are saying, boy?”

“Am I lying though? Since the Evil Piece system has come, hundreds of reincarnated devils have reached the High Class Rank. True. The Satans have done a lot of work for them. I accept that… but… how many natural born Low Class Devils have been able to advance to the same stage? I know several Low Class Devils who are as strong as Ultimate Class ones and are still forced to work in stone quarries because of their rank with no hope of ever rising. The new Satans might have worked well for the Reincarnated Devils but they have failed the original people of the Devil race and I… want nothing to do with any of them. If one day they get up from the comfort of their thrones and decide to actually do something substantial for the people rather than dressing up in fake superhero costumes for propaganda… I will talk to them. Please step aside.”

“Your words tread on treason. You will be coming with me for questioning.” he drew his sword, wary of the situation.

Bingo.

“Very well. Remember, you forced me to do this.”

“Wha…”

I cast an overpowered Lumos in the room, making him cover his eyes as I let my original spell roar.

The surroundings, the tables, the chairs, the whole restaurant… turned into a wave of beetles swarming all over the place. I didn't know more advanced transfiguration spells so I went full power with the one I did.

As the swarm of beetles covered me and swarmed towards the surroundings, I used the Gaea Foundation and transformed into a… beetle and hid in the best position I could find.

Good luck trying to find me.

- Mephistopheles -

“And that’s all of the contracts from my organisation.” he reported as he got up.

“Thank you for your hard work, Lord Pheles. We will inspect the list of people who wish to study here from your organisation and give you the list of the ones selected. I apologise but we don’t have enough seats as the other Magician organisations have already submitted their name lists.”

“Oh don’t mind that. I like my job at the organisation. This is just a part of it. As for the ones who didn't qualify, they were just not good enough. They can always try the next time.” he replied as they walked out of the meeting room.

The scene outside was a bit off though.

“What is going on here?” Ajuka stepped forward and asked.

“Sir… that boy…” The man stuttered.

“What happened to the boy?”

“He ran away.”

“What?”

The man explained the scene and a frown appeared on the faces of the young Satans.

“So he was not one of your fans.” he said.

“Reincarnated Devils are mostly people who are selected for their talents and powers so their average talents are more than natural born Low Class Devils. Some people are indeed disappointed by the rapid rise of the reincarnated devils but it is not because of our bias but rather because of their own hard work.” Serafall said.

“Oh really? How many?” He asked.

“Hmm?”

“How many reincarnated devils have been promoted till now?” he asked.

The other three Satans looked towards Ajuka who conjured up a magic circle and replied.

“Over a thousand.”

“I see. And how many of the Native Devils?”

He paused a second and looked at the data for a moment before replying. “Fifty.”

“That’s a twenty-fold difference. Now try searching for the ones who did so independently while not serving any houses.” he asked.

They looked at him and he shrugged.

Ajuka made some adjustments and his face took a serious look.

“How many is it?” Serafall asked, becoming impatient.

“...two.”

“In the last four hundred years or so only two native devils have independently been promoted to High Class Devils. If I recall correctly, the number was in the thousands during the Great War. The standards of the previous Satans were much stricter in terms of power at least but all of those who were given the position did qualify for it. I can understand Serafall’s reasoning for the rapid rise of the Reincarnated Devils but… putting everything on the difference of talent alone to justify these numbers… doesn’t seem right. There have been several rebellions in many territories and now even such a young boy is saying such words. Maybe you all should actually look into the core of the problems rather than unilaterally crushing them first.”

“Are you saying that the boy was right, Lord Pheles?” Falbium asked.

“Are you saying he was wrong, Lord Asmodeus?” he countered.

There were no answers.

“I don’t like to involve myself in politics and the Rating Games so I will not argue with you all about this, that said… I have been in this place before, even the previous Satans. I have seen these people being born and die in these lands. I know very well what they are capable of but it seems that you all haven’t realised it yet. Just friendly advice from an oldtimer like me. The thing which the boy said about Ultimate Class Devils being forced to do manual labour… was not a lie. Such treatment is bound to cause them to harbour resentment. How you take it is on all of you.” he shrugged. “Come Lavinia.”

The girl followed him and he invoked his Magic Circle to teleport them out of there but before he did, he turned around, "Also, send me the bills for the trouble the boy caused here. I will pay for the damages. With this said, light enveloped them and they disappeared from the place.

They appeared at the headquarters of the Grauzauberer Magician organisation, in his private office. 

He activated the barrier of the room and then turned towards Lavinia.

“You can come out now. It’s safe here.”

….

….

….

….

Lavinia just tilted her head.

- Serafall Leviathan -

They watched the video together to see the incident with their own eyes.

“He was using a wand to cast the spell. There, his hand was touching the wand under his sleeves.” Falbium pointed out.

Yes, it wasn’t visible from the other side’s angle but looking closer, there was a mark on his sleeves meaning he was hiding something there.

They watched as the whole place turned into a swarm of beetles, covering him and flying outwards and when they moved away, he was no longer there.

“He teleported using the misdirection.” Grayfia said.

“Mmh… or maybe not. Teleportation is banned in certain areas of the town, especially in such buildings to prevent accidents and as such, there are small barriers to prevent teleportation. They can however be overpowered if the user is strong enough but that was not the case in the scene. There were no lights or magic circle seen but more importantly, why would he have the swarm of insects cover him if he just wanted to teleport?” Falbium pointed it out.

“So…”

“He could probably transform into a beetle as well. Well, good luck finding the kid now. Even the cameras around the city would be useless.”

“What do you think, Ajuka?” She asked.

“He needs existing matter to cast the spell. Is the mass preserved? There were no incantations for the spell but the boy had to prepare the spell for a while. I wonder what’s the limit for this? Can he create intelligent life or is it just like the Annihilation Maker?” He murmured.

….

“Not that… what do you think about the method the boy used to escape?”

“Oh… I apologise, I was a bit distracted.” He said and the corner of her lips twitched. “But yes, he transformed into a beetle himself and is probably out of the town already. I have had my people capture as many of those insects as I could to experiment on them but the chance that any of them is the boy is negligible.”

“Sigh… so, do you think he was a criminal and was just buying time with his words to cast the spell?”

“Maybe… maybe not. I don’t know. But if I had to take a guess, I would say that he was probably clear and actually afraid of being caught in some trouble. That’s why he ran away. The words he said… were not completely untrue. There are High Class Devils who abuse the power which comes with their position while the native Devils don’t get easy access to the Human World to make contracts. We decided to reduce their trips to the human world back then because we were protecting ourselves from people who were ambushing them through contracts while we were severely weakened due to the Civil War. It’s just that… we never changed the rules because everything was working well.”

“So that means…”

“Yes, even now, the native Devils need to reach the Middle Class level before they can go to the human world. This makes their chances of advancing to the next level extremely slow. Not to mention, rarely any High Class Devil chooses peerage members from these people so, two of the three methods of advancing to the next stage is not available to them. As for the merits in battles, there have been no wars for the last few hundred years and thus no promotions.”

….

“But there was an examination for the advancement of the general population ,right?” 

“There is one every decade and can be used to promote two hundred Devils, but even that one requires the recommendation of High Class Devils. They mostly only recommend their own people, maids, butlers and such so the normal people never get a recommendation.” Ajuka brought out the rules and read.

….

“So… if someone cannot get a job under a High Class Devil and get a recommendation from them…”

“Then they cannot become a Middle Class Devil regardless of their strength. The Pillar Houses have kept this system in place to keep a firm hold over the populace for thousands of years but with the growing number of Reincarnated Middle and High Class Devils, it’s making things worse.”

“Sigh, what a mess. When is the next Promotion Examination?”

“Two years later.”

“Hmm?”

“What are you planning?”

“We pass a law for the removal of the recommendation from the High Class Devils to be a requirement to sit in the Middle Class Promotion Examination for native Devils.”

“The council will be a pain as it will remove a part of their powers.” She countered.

“I know. It is highly unlikely that it will be passed so we have a Plan B. Every decade, the four Great Satans will give recommendations to two hundred people as well. But we do not hand out these recommendations to just anyone but rather hold a competition for anyone to participate. It would bring out various talents like the boy from today and showcase their talents to the Underworld as well as catch the eye of other High Class people. In this way, no one can blame us for trying to increase our own power.”

“That’s….a surprisingly good plan. If we make a public announcement about this, especially after the council rejects the amendment, we can pull a fast one over them and attract the favourable opinion of the public as well.”

“The council will have nothing to do with it. We can have two hundred of our High Class subordinates at High Class level or above recommend those people. This way, we would not be doing anything against the law.”

“Hmm that’s actually doable.” Falbium thought and spoke.

“What did you think? I’m the Lucifer. I have learned a lot dealing with those annoying council members.” Saelena flicked a strand of her crimson hair behind her ears as she smirked.

Seriously, she was quite sharp about such things. She wasn’t the Lucifer just because of her incredible strength but also due to her political skills. 

“By the way… what do we do about the boy?”

“What about him? Mephistopheles is already paying for the damages. If the boy is found, he does public services for two months and is let off. That’s it.”

“Two months of public service in the Research and Development Department under me.” Ajuka added.

“It’s final then.”

- Acelin -

I stood in front of the two people, thinking of a plan to run away.

Back then the gut had started attacking the transfigured beetles so I had hidden in the best place I could, under the collar of the girl.

What I wasn’t expecting was to get dragged from the frying pan into the fire.

My luck today has been exceptionally shitty.

And I had even taken a sip of the Luck Potion before the whole fiasco so that I encountered some good things to buy.

That fucker Dumbledore didn’t give me fake Luck Potions, did he?

And to think that the girl I chose was her….Lavinia Reni, the wielder of the Absolute Demise.

The guy in front of me however wasn’t interested in my inner musings and interrupted my thoughts.

“So you can change yourself into a beetle too. That’s quite convenient. Would you be introducing yourself? I heard what you said back then and trust me when I say, I have no need for anything you have.”

“... why?” I asked.

The man shrugged. “It’s refreshing to see someone speak up their mind like that. Not to mention someone as talented as you.”

I narrowed my eyes. “The first thing my teacher taught me is that nothing in this world is free. So… what do you want?”

“Oh, a wise man. Then… how about you working here?”

“Do I have to join your peerage?” I asked.

“Hmm? Who said you have to join my peerage? Although, I won’t deny it if you wanted to. You will be free to do as you want. I am not exactly interested in Rating Games and the only other Peerage Member I have is my Queen, Tannin and he does whatever he wants.” he explained.

I would say that it was a very attractive opportunity but… I was already a Devil. Becoming a Devil under him didn’t give me something I couldn’t obtain with my own hard work.

So, I didn’t answer for a while.

“Hmm, it seems you don’t trust other people much. Since that’s the case, we can make a deal. A deal between two devils. I won’t brag but I am quite well known for keeping my side of the deals.”

“What deal?” I asked, suspicious.

“You teach here for three years and in turn I will protect you and provide you with all facilities of a teacher according to your skill. At the end of three years, you can leave if you want to and I will help you solve whatever happened today. During this time, I won’t interfere with your personal work provided it’s not illegal. I mean you must understand that even I can only protect you so much. You can even consider this as repaying me for saving your skin today.”

I thought over his offer for a while and nodded but not before ironing the details to remove any loopholes.

Mephisto handed me a card to signify my position as a teacher at Grauzauberer.

“Great then. You will be starting your work one month from now. I will take care of the matter of the beetle infestation during that time. By the way, what is your name and how old are you? I need to register you as a member of the Grauzauberer Magician Organisation.”

“My name is… Ace. I’m fourteen years old.” I replied after thinking for a moment.

“Ace, was it? And fourteen years old… that’s quite young. Alright, welcome to Grauzauberer.”

_________________________________x____________________________________

Two weeks had passed since I had joined Grauzauberer Magician Organisation.

It was founded by Jonnan Georg Faust, the original Faust and the man who made a deal with Mephisto Pheles. In reality, he was the contracted magician of Mephisto.

After his death, Mephisto took the position of the chairman of the organisation and has led it since then.

The name Grauzauberer means ‘the Grey Wizards’ and is based in Germany.

A good thing about Grauzauberer compared to the other big Magician Organisations is that they are more free in terms of rules whereas Golden Dawn or others were extremely strict.

After registering me as a teacher, Mephisto made an identity for me to use in the Human World. Right now, I was under his protection and thus could make contracts with Humans with his given permission.

I was even provided with the Summoning Contracts although not with any Magic Circles because I rejected them.

I wasn’t sure if they would be rigged.

I would rather buy them later on by myself.

But I had more important things to think about.

In these two weeks, I had locked myself in a room and practised Transfiguration Magic with all my might and I had completed the first three years of the Transfiguration Spells taught in the school.

The Diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw helped a lot in doing so.

I still had two more weeks before I would start teaching so I was preparing to complete studying the books and theory.

There were some differences in the spells when I used them compared to what was written in the books.

My guess was that it was due to my Demonic Power affecting the spells.

I will have to test this with other people before I start teaching.

Just as I was thinking of these things, I sensed a summoning.

I hadn’t been able to give much time to contracts in these last two weeks except the regular talks with the Emperor.

I fixed things around myself to respond to the summoning.

A familiar scene greeted me on the other side of the portal.

Albus Dumbledore.

“Oh my, what a surprise. What do you need me for today, Albus Dumbledore?”

He threw a shrunk trunk towards me which I accepted and enlarged before opening to check its contents.

It was the remaining payment. Bottles of Luck Potion, gold as well as books on many topics of magic, five vials of Phoenix Tears, one Phoenix Feather and the best part of it all, the trunk itself. The space inside it was huge.

I had asked him for a case similar to Newt Scamander’s.

“Well, what do you know? You did get all the payment. We are even now.” I smiled at the guy.

He hesitated a bit.

“Oh ho, I am sensing another deal here.”

He stiffened a bit and looked at me and nodded.

“Go on, state what you desire.”

“I… wish to know what you know about Sirius Black’s involvement in the deaths of James and Lily Potter and a way to prove his innocence if he is uninvolved.”

“Sirius? Yes, I do know. Then, what do I get in return?”

“Tell your price.”

“Hmm… let me think.”

I thought of the plan and an idea struck me.

“How about… you teach me everything you know about Transfiguration and Alchemy and I will even throw in another offer and remove the soul fragment from little Harry..”

….

“Excuse me?” The man looked confused, not expecting such a request so I clarified.

“I’ll be honest, surprising for a devil but what can I do? I was roped into teaching some humans about Human Transfiguration Magic but I have no idea about teaching someone so… you teach me. The things I do for a deal.”

….

“You… wish to learn… to teach others?”

“It’s a deal and I don’t skive on my side of a bargain. You should know that better than anyone else. While it’s not my place if they transfigure themselves into pigs, it would still leave a bad taste in my mouth and a stain on my reputation. I won’t have any of that.”

The man looked stunned, still trying to figure out what he was hearing.

My eyes twitched at his reaction.

“So, do you agree or not?” I impatiently asked for a reply.

He broke out of his stupor and nodded his head, still confused.

“Great then. Every day, you will teach me for an hour minimum regarding Transfiguration. Everything you know about it.”

I smiled and continued. “As for Sirius Black. The guy is innocent. They had changed the secret keeper after you left. The actual secret keeper was Peter Pettigrew. Sirius went mad with grief since he was the one who had suggested the change and thought he had killed his friends. As for how to save him… Peter Pettigrew is still alive. He has been hiding as a rat of the Wesley Family since then and must be in Hogwarts Castle right now, sleeping beside the boy whose parents he betrayed. Go on. Finish that first and then come back and teach me.”

I ignored his shocked reaction and closed the portal.

Well, that solved the problem of learning Transfiguration at a good enough speed without fumbling around with books.

I was wondering what I would do next when I heard a knock on my door. With a wave of my wand, things were packed away and the trunk shrunk as I hung it from my neck.

On opening the door, a familiar face appeared in front of me.

Lavinia Reni.

“Ace, I have come to play again.”

….

During this time, Lavinia had often visited me.

I found out that she had recently joined the organisation after her teacher was killed by Augusta of the Wizards of Oz. She wanted to find and kill that witch to avenge her teacher.

The girl was feeling quite lonely as there wasn’t anyone she knew in this place and I was the only one around her age who she talked to.

Most of the students around our age found her weird and maintained their distance. Sometimes children can be such bastards.

I don’t know what the situation was in this world as not everything was the same as the world from the novels. Hell, even the Lucifer was a woman in this world instead of the one I knew.

But Lavinia’s teacher in my memories… had actually abandoned her willingly and was actually one of the members of the Wizards of Oz. If that was really the case here, she would be a broken mess.

The girl was too pure and optimistic. I almost felt bad thinking about such a situation.

“Were you busy?” She asked while making herself comfortable on my bed already, looking at me with pleading eyes.

Sigh.

I waved my wand and a pillow was transfigured into a bunny.

Her eyes lit up and she hugged the bunny instantly and began playing with it.

She loved to play with the animals which I transfigured for practice.

“Did you make a new spell today?” She asked.

“Hmm. Just tried something different.” I replied and put aside my wand and got up to take a break. “How were your classes?”

“Yes. It was good. I was taught ice magic.” She took out her wand and created a snowflake on its tip to show me. “Amazing, right?”

I smiled at her expectant gaze. “Yes. Very amazing.”

It was quite refreshing to have someone like her around.

Till now, only Dave was someone I had trusted and even then it took me a few years to fully trust him but Lavinia had somehow burrowed her way into my life very quickly.

Man… Dave must be worried too.

I want to send him a message somehow but I am not sure if it will be tracked and they will find a trace about my real identity.

Till now, I was using the Gaea Foundation to keep up my disguise when outside.

It did consume my power but the consumption wasn’t high enough to be a problem. Not to mention, it was a good way to train my reserves too.

Overall, I was getting fairly used to my new life in this place.

____________________________________x_________________________________

Two more weeks had passed.

The time was more or less uneventful except the fact that I had started my lessons with Dumbledore from the next day.

And I have to say that the man was a genuine master of the subject.

I learned more in a single hour with him that I had learned in all this time by myself. The Ravenclaw’s Diadem helped as well but the man’s talent was without a doubt.

I am pretty sure that if he became a Devil, he could easily rise to an Ultimate Class level in time.

With two weeks of continuous lessons, I could do all transfiguration spells till the fourth year syllabus and was halfway through the fifth year things.

My progress was quite frightening if I do say so myself.

Still, it was enough for me to conduct a lecture for people who had no idea about the subject.

I won’t be making a fool of myself in class tomorrow.

Apart from that, my talks with the Emperor were going smoothly. I used my conversations to push some thoughts into his head, making him doubt Honest and think more cautiously.

With enough time, I am sure I can get him to clean up that bastard.

The phone in my room rang and I picked up the call.

“Ace. Come to my office. We need to discuss a few things before your first lecture tomorrow.” It was Mephisto’s voice on the other end of the call.

“Okay.”

I got ready and went to his office and knocked.

“Come in.”

Mephisto was alone in his office, doing some paperwork. He looked up at me and spoke. “Take a seat. I was just working on the paperwork for your class.”

I listened.

“As you know, your magic is quite… rare. Not completely unheard of but extremely rare and as such it has never been taught before. Tomorrow, you will be giving a presentation in front of your crowd. From that, people can choose to sign up for your lectures. How many people you can get is all on you so give it your all.”

I nodded.

- Mephisto Pheles -

He sat in front of the lecture hall, waiting for the lecture to start as he recalled the things he had been able to find about the boy in all this time.

It took him several spells to find out that he was always under a disguise and the name he gave was probably a lie too.

The only thing which was true was his age.

He wondered just what kind of life a kid like him had lived to develop such an attitude.

That said, from his one month observation, he could assess that the boy didn’t have any ill intentions towards other people and just wanted to grow stronger on his own.

He wanted to become someone who didn’t have to suffer like the Low Class Devils did.

Honestly, this goal was something he could appreciate rather than some kind of foolish rebellion which would have only gotten him killed.

Thankfully, it seemed he was getting close to Lavinia.

He had been a bit worried when she hadn’t been accepted by the other students at the organisation due to her….unique character.

Anyways, getting a wielder of a Longinus to side with the organisation would be a great boon and if he could get a talented magician as well, that’s just a cherry on the cake.

It was actually funny that the boy hadn’t even realised how rare his own magic was all this time.

He was doing something which only a handful of people could do and probably something nearing the level of the Annihilation Maker in a sense.

What was the scope of this magic?

What was the scope of the boy himself?

There is always a very fierce competition between the different Magician Organisations and he didn’t want to accept it but in terms of top level talents, his Organisation was lacking a bit compared to the Golden Dawn and Rosenkreuzer.

Faust was a rare talent but while they had strong people in Grauzauberer, they were not geniuses like Mcgregor Mathews or Rudiger Rosenkreuz.

But he hoped that Ace would change this.

Ace entered the room, dressed in a formal magician robe, a black wand on his side.

“Welcome everyone. My name is Ace and I will be presenting to everyone a magic of my own creation. I call it Transfiguration Magic. It is a branch of magic that focuses on the alteration of the form or appearance of an object, animal or person, via the alteration of their molecular structure. I call it magic but it is just as much science as it is magic.” He poured himself a glass of water, took a sip of it and kept the rest on the table in front of him and waved his wand.

The glass morphed into a bird in front of the amazed eyes of everyone.

“I had once heard someone say that billions of years ago, the whole universe was formed from gas clouds. So, everything that exists today was once the same thing. In other words, it should be possible to change things between each other. This was my basic thought when making this magic and this is the result. And it’s not as if this hadn’t existed before. Alchemy uses this concept as well. It’s just that there has never been a magic which can directly transfigure things without the complicated alchemical processes." He tapped the bird with the wand and it turned into a towel which he used to wipe his wand and then dropped it on the ground, waving the wand at it, making a chair before taking a seat.

“Transfiguration is a very systematic, exact magical discipline, working best for the scientifically-inclined mind and, as such, is exceptionally hard work, especially in comparison to other forms of magic. When transfiguring, it is important to make firm and decisive wand movements. Do not wiggle or twirl your wand unnecessarily, or the Transfiguration will certainly be unsuccessful.”

The entire room had gone silent and everyone was just gawking at the boy in front of them.

“Before we proceed, let me warn you all. This is an extremely dangerous branch of magic. You could die a million ways from a single glass of water if you mess up the transfiguration so don’t be hasty and join my classes at your own risk. If anyone doesn’t have the resolve to pursue this, do both yourself and me a favour….leave the class and don’t waste our time.”

He stared at them for a while.

No one among the three hundred and fifty people left, their eyes stuck to the stage.

Mephisto smiled.

__________________________________x_____________________________________________________________________x___________________________________

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Author’s Note:

Another chapter of ‘Ace in the Hole’ is up.

A lot of things happened in this chapter.

Basically, Ace took a walk.

And things happened.

Luck is a strange thing.

Also yes, we have a Fem. Sirzechs in this story because….why not?

I hadn’t written one yet so I decided to try.

Enjoy the new chapter.

Good Day, Peace Out.