The Farmer: Chapter 17: Undercurrents (Patreon)

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Chapter 17: Undercurrents

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- Mathias -

I teleported to the Rosenkreutz Mansion. Shizuka was the only one I asked to come with me.

I hadn’t told both Rias and Latia about any of this meeting to not get them worried and knowing Lavinia or Ingvild, they could have blurted out the secret inadvertently so I didn’t involve them either. So, in the end, Shizuka was the only person left.

The mansion was situated in Rudiger’s own territory on the borders of the Mammon Territory, probably to stay near his own master.

Devil Races’ ranks were not exactly dependent on strength but rather social positions. It had taken me some time to know the reason for this.

Positions were based on the contribution they have made to the Devil race and came with various privileges. For example Ultimate Class Devils came with a personal territory of their own.

And in some manner, it made sense as someone might be an Ultimate Class in strength but they wouldn’t get any territory until they used that strength to help the Underworld out. The exceptions to this rule were the Pillar and Extra Demon Houses who have lived on these lands. The reason they got this land is because it has always belonged to them. Their families and ancestors have stayed and protected these lands with their sweat and blood.

In a way, these things were quite similar to the human world.

But Leila had explained more.

According to her, the whole process of reincarnated devils ranking up served for them to assimilate with the devil race. If they had been handed out the privileges without this, it would be the same as distributing free land to potential spies and allowing them to make a power base in our own home, an extremely foolish action.

Rudiger was one of the most prominent Rating Game players and has been an Ultimate Class for a long period of time and thus having his own territory was not out of ordinary.

The man himself was near the gates to receive me, a show of appreciation for my help.

“Lord Rosenkreutz.” I nodded while Shizuka gave him a slight bow.

“Call me Rudiger, please Matty.”

“Hahahaha sorry about that, Rudiger.”

“Come in, the guest will be arriving soon with Lady Leviathan’s peerage members.”

“Oh Serafall really isn’t taking any risks, is she?”

“It’s a bit necessary considering the guy coming here is the trump card of Heaven.”

Just as we were talking a magic circle appeared in the place and two people walked out of the circle.

One of them was Serafall’s Bishop, Medusa. Yeah, the same Medusa from the Greek Mythologies. I have no idea how it happened but Serafall was able to get her as her Bishop. Behemoth was her rook while Ziz was her mutated Knight.

That woman was really making a trio of the beasts all in her peerage and was only missing a leviathan which I guess she was herself….in a way.

Medusa was a woman with purple hair and golden coloured eyes, at least in her human form. In her true form, she was perhaps different but I didn’t know how she looked.

That said, she had the smell of a serpent and felt slightly draconic.

I hadn’t met much with her before as she liked to keep to herself.

While I was looking at her, she was also looking at Shizuka and me, perhaps weighing us. I have no doubt that she could feel our draconic nature too. If anything, she would be able to feel it far better than even Serafall or Behemoth.

She nodded at us after staring at us for a few moments more than necessary and we returned her nod and then turned towards the guy next to her.

Blonde hair and green eyes, the guy had a smile on his face even when in the territory of his so-called enemies, surrounded by some of his strongest. By reflex my Senjutsu worked to tell me that he wasn’t exactly faking that smile of his.

Rudiger took the lead and welcomed them both.

“Let me introduce them to you. He is Lord Mathias Buné Zagan, the Lord of Buné and Zagan Houses and one of my friends. I hope you don’t mind his presence.” He asked the guests who shook their heads and we were led in.

The mansion was quite lavish, nowhere near the Gremory or Astaroth mansion or even the Glasya-Labolas or Sitri but then again, they were Pillar Houses with several millennia worth of wealth while he was just a few centuries old magician.

In the living room of the mansion was a child with sea blue coloured hair looking at us with curiosity and excitement in his eyes.

The kid looked to be around ten years old and it was honestly painful to think that the kid was suffering so much due to an unlucky draw of fate.

Sigh….

He stood up with slight difficulty with help of one of the maids around him.

“Father.”

“Al, don’t force yourself.”

“It’s fine. I am alright.” He shook his head and looked at us and bowed. “Hello, my name is Alfred Rosenkreutz. Thank you for coming to meet me. I am sorry for causing you inconvenience.”

“No no. It’s fine really.” Dulio was the first one who went ahead and greeted the kid.

The two got along quite well and I could tell that the kid was a fan. What I wasn’t expecting was the kid looking at me.

“Lord Buné Zagan.” He looked in my direction.

“Just call me Matty. Lord Buné Zagan is a mouthful, right.” I smiled at the kid.

“Umm Matty, your Rating Game was amazing. There was something I wanted to ask you.” The boy said after hesitating for a bit.

“Oh what?”

“Those creatures you created….those were Saibamen from Drag-so-ball, right?”

“Hahahaha yes. Yes, they were. Did you like them?”

The boy’s eyes turned bright at the reveal and he cheered up. “Really! I knew it. They really looked like Saibamen and even grew from the ground and even self-destructed like them. It was awesome.” 

“Glad you liked it.”

We talked for a bit before Rudiger asked the maids to take him and Dulio to the garden while we stayed back and watched as the two played together.

Dulio seemed like a really nice guy because I couldn’t sense even the slightest bit of malice from him….for any one of us.

Rudiger on the other hand was looking at his son with sadness in his eyes.

“Mr. Rudiger.” I couldn’t help but call out to him after seeing such a look.

“Hmm?”

“If I am not being too intrusive, could you tell me what kind of Sacred Gear Alfred has?”

“It’s a mutated Sterling Green, a light type Sacred Gear which is the main reason for his health deterioration. For other types of Sacred Gears, we could have found solutions but this….it’s not only weakening him by sapping his vitality but also poisoning him at the same time.”

This….wasn’t this quite similar to Tobio’s case?

“Have you tried sealing it?” I asked.

He looked at me and nodded. “We are unfortunately not skilled enough to do that. Even Lord Ajuka hasn’t worked with Sacred Gears enough to know how to do  it without causing any problems for Al. Moreover, the light poisoning might still remain.”

I thought of something and spoke after a moment. “This….I….might have something which could help him but….”

“What! What do you need? Please tell me, I can give anything for that chance.” The man suddenly turned around and asked me.

I looked at the man seriously. “I just need an oath of confidentiality. You will not reveal anything to anyone. Also, I cannot guarantee anything so I make no promises.”

“It doesn’t matter. If there is even the slightest bit of chance, I would take it.”

“Alright. Then bring him to my home tomorrow. I will talk to Serafall and see if I can get the help of Euclid and maybe Ajuka for the whole project.”

“I will contact them right away.”

“Please stay here. Your son would appreciate your presence here right now.”

We looked at the two playing in the garden and then talking till Alfred was tired and it was time for dinner.

“So Dulio, what do you normally do when free? What are your hobbies?” I asked, starting a conversation with the guy.

“Me?” The guy was taken aback by my question.

“Yes. I don’t exactly know what people at church do with their free time. You might not realise it but for most children here, they are monsters just like devils are for normal humans.”

“Eh….well, I like going to places and finding new foods to eat. I bring them to the kids at my orphanage because they like those too.” He said after some thought.

“Oh! Which orphanage?”

“Ah, the one where I grew up although the church manages many of them and I visit those ones too. I like seeing their happy faces when they enjoy new kinds of foods.”

“Hmm, yes. Sharing food with people….is sharing happiness.” I replied, the moments of my own initial days in this world flashed before my eyes. “Only those who have suffered starvation can know the true value and taste of food. You are a good man, Dulio.”

“No no it’s nothing much.”

“Don’t deny it. While many might consider it a simple, even worthless task compared to killing and shedding blood to protect others, it is more important than anything Starvation….that’s one enemy I wouldn’t wish even upon my enemies. You know what? Shizuka.” I asked.

“Yes.”

“Please have someone prepare 100 tons of food items to be sent to Dulio for the orphanages.”

“Yes Master.”

“Wait no, you don’t have to do that.”

“Consider it a donation from someone happy with your work and wanting to give some children some food….or would the church not accept donations from a devil? If so then I can have some human organisations make the donations through anonymous means. I mean it’s not like I am giving them the food. It’s for the kids.”

“That’s not it. I….thank you. I will accept them.”

“Good. I will talk to Serafall to have the order delivered.”

One hundred tons of food was not much for me. In fact, I was just going to give them the food without any special effects so it was much cheaper than my other products. What mattered the most is that it would reach the kids in orphanages.

We talked about a few more things and Dulio was actually more open to me after my gesture. I liked the guy’s nature and was pretty sure we could become good friends.

It was time to leave so I invited Alfred to my farm before we left the mansion.

The guy left with Medusa and Rudiger also decided to go with them to talk to Serafall and Euclid while both Shizuka and I left the place by ourselves.

“Do you think it was wrong to donate food to them?” I asked Shizuka as we walked out.

“How is donating food a bad thing?”

“I mean the kids could become exorcists who could come after us tomorrow or other devil houses could target us for donating food to our enemies.”

“The kids haven’t done anything yet. Moreover, didn’t you say you were donating food to the orphanages? What’s the problem with that? We are not donating anything to the church….and even if we did….do you actually care about what your enemies say?” She asked, looking at me blandly.

“Hahahaha yes. You are right. It’s just that I am being more careful as my actions as the Lord of the Land will also affect the people of this land in the future.”

“Personally I think it was a good move. A show of friendliness from our side in reply to Dulio’s gesture could bring some ease to the ever strained relationships between the two factions. Although if you really want to do something for the orphans, you could always open up some kind of organisation of your own or even build orphanages in your territory. I don’t think there are any as of now.” She added at the end.

“There aren’t?” I asked, confused.

“From what I have read, the last one went out of business one hundred and eighty years ago when the Lord of the land couldn’t support it, not to mention there were not many people in the territory either.”

“I see….can you please put it in the priority list? We are opening an orphanage for children in our territory….regardless of races. I remember there are children like Shirone and Kuroka who couldn’t get the privileges of the orphanages due to not being devils themselves. I don’t want those kinds of children to be returned from our territory. Accept them too. The orphanage will be funded from my personal funds. Also, In future, if you think there are any more of such problems in the territory, please inform me in our private time.”

“Understood. I will prepare everything.”

“Thank you.”

___________________________________x__________________________________

Rudiger worked quite fast and several people were at my home the very next morning.

“Things are never boring with you around, are they Matty?” Serafall asked as she sat down and Ingvild served her some fruits. “Thank you Ingvild-chan.”

“Rudiger told me that you had something planned for solving Alfred’s problem. Could you tell me what your idea is?” Euclid asked.

“Well, it’s a three step plan and I would need permission from the Satans for it.”

“I am listening.” Serafall said.

“From what I have heard, Alfred’s problem stems from two main causes. First, his weakness due to the Sacred Gear continuously sucking away his magic and vitality and second, the light poisoning from the light based Sacred Gear. Am I wrong anywhere?”

“No. I have personally checked Alfred and those two were the main causes.”

“Well, about the first case, I have seen someone who has suffered from a similar situation but in his case, he was a normal human and the Sacred Gear he had was….a Longinus which had been in the state of Balance Breaker since birth.”

“Who?”

“Armin’s Queen, Tobio. His Sacred Gear was sealed away by his grandmother using Buddhist methods so I can assume that sealing away the Sacred Gear would prevent it from sucking away Alfred’s vitality.”

Euclid looked in thought. “It sounds good and let’s assume that it works but who would do the sealing? Neither Ajuka nor I have any experience with this kind of thing.”

“Leave the sealing to me. I can do something about it for the time being. In fact, it would be the first step for the whole plan.”

I hoped that my B+ Ranked Sealing wouldn’t let me down.

“Second step would be to solve the poisoning. For that, I have some temporary solutions. First, I could have Valerie….use her Sacred Gear to temporarily give him immunity against the light poisoning. Doing anything further would have adverse effects on Valerie and I cannot allow that. And the final step would be to feed him things that would allow him to develop resistance to Light Magic on his own. If we carry these three things then he should be able to recover completely in around a decade at best.”

“That’s actually a reasonable plan. Although we will have to bring Alfred regularly to carry out the second step and the food items for the third step cannot be revealed or both the Grigori and Heaven will start a war against us without any delay.”

“And that’s why I said I needed the permission of the Satans to use those to treat Alfred.” I shrugged then looked at Serafall.

“Well….Rudiger and anyone else involved will have to sign a magical contract to not reveal anything to anyone else. Apart from that, just pay attention. We don’t want any wars on our doorsteps.”

“I am ready to sign any magical contract.” Rudiger agreed.

“In that case, I will teach Valerie the process. You should bring Alfred to visit after Matty returns from his meeting with the representatives, Rudiger.”

“Yes. I will do so.”

We discussed the details and Rudiger went ahead to arrange the things we would need for Alfred’s treatment.

The only ones left were Serafall, Euclid and I.

“Did you get my request to donate food to the orphanages through Dulio?” I asked Serafall who nodded.

“One hundred tons. What made you think of doing that out of nowhere?” She asked.

“I saw how a guy trained to kill our kind came to the underworld to fulfil the wish of a kid, played with him without any kind of ulterior motive and was genuinely caring about his situation and wanted to do something in return.”

“What kind of food will you be offering?”

“The normal kind. I don’t want the Church to use them to feed their people and give the kids some random low quality stuff.”

“Would they do that?” Ingvild asked, making us look at her. Seeing our looks, she quickly explained. “I mean would the church people even accept something from a devil? Don’t they hate everything related to us?”

“Hahahaha I would be more reassured if that were the case but things don’t work so simply, Ingvild-chan.” Serafall said. “They hate anything related to the other pantheons, calling them ‘pagan’ and yet that doesn’t stop them from using Holy Swords of other Pantheons or using the blood of their heroes for their experiments. Hypocrisy is the greatest weapon in their arsenal. None of you should underestimate the extent they can do and then use the name of their God to wipe out all of that under the rug.”

Surprisingly, I sensed no malice in her words. It was as if she was just stating the facts.

“They can always claim that they burned away the food given by the devil to corrupt the minds of the children and use them for their own top soldiers behind everyone’s back….and even research how to grow their own stock from them. Not that they would succeed. But still….” She turned towards me then. “You understand that other houses, especially the ones you picked up a fight against will use this to smear your name, right?” She asked.

“Hmm, I do and I have already taken precautions for this. Five hundred tons of food grains will be distributed to all orphanages in the Underworld by House of Buné and Zagan and we are opening the biggest orphanage in the Underworld in the Zagan territory in the next few months. Shizuka is already preparing the plans and they will be handed to Sirzechs for approval by the end of the day since it involves many territories. Moreover, as I said, I am donating to orphanages not the church. If the Church steals the food, that will be on them.” I shrugged.

“Well….that should more or less take care of it. Have you decided whom to take with you?” She asked.

“Hmm, I will take Ingvild, Lavy and Shizuka with me.” I didn’t tell her about Crom and Leafa but they would be in the backup for the worst case scenario.

“The three of them would be good. I was planning to send Euclid with you but Dulio came here alone and we cannot exactly argue about you having any guards from our side due to this.”

I nodded.

“Matty.”

“Yes?”

“Take care and always be alert. If you feel anything amiss, just leave. We will handle everything.” She said and this time I could sense the seriousness in her voice.

“Okay, I will.”

She left after sometime while Euclid went ahead and talked to Valerie before leaving.

- Michael -

“And that’s all Dulio could tell us about the new Zagan Devil.” Raphael said, finishing the report which had just come from the Vatican. “He donated food for the kids of the orphanages through Dulio, perhaps to show a friendly gesture.”

“Unnecessary. It must be one of his schemes to make us drop our guard and bewitch the young minds of these children. You shouldn’t fall for his schemes, brother. I am still telling you that we should finish him off while we have the chance. His….creations are too dangerous for us and the current balance of the three factions.” Uriel added, making him sigh in frustration.

“And I have repeatedly told you that we are not in a state of war. We need to meet the boy before we decide anything further. Moreover, what would people say if we return the gesture of friendship with betrayal?”

Uriel kept quiet but Michael could see that his rage had not abated in the slightest. He has been holding the grudge of their brother’s death even now.

He let out another internal sigh and turned towards Raphael. “Have the preparations been made?”

“Yes brother. The location has already been checked by the people of both sides and there have been no dangers sighted anywhere. We have also stationed people there to keep an eye on any kind of movements from their side to ensure there is no problem.”

“Very well. Gabriel and I will go there and have a talk with him.”

“As you say brother.”

- Kokabiel -

He looked at the man in front of him with a smirk on his face. To think there would come a day where he would be approached by these stuck up people.

“You have five minutes to sell your side or you can give up your life and spare me the effort.” He started as he stared at the man in front of him.

“The Church has decided to propose a temporary alliance with you against a common enemy of our sides.”

“Oh?” He already had an idea who they were talking about and if he was honest, Kokabiel was probably the first one who wanted to go ahead and rip that filth’s head off. Too bad Azazel was too much of a coward to take the step….just like during the Great War. The fool doesn’t realise that if they didn’t take the last step, they wouldn’t have any chance to take any steps in the future. That demon’s creations would make the Devil Race too strong for them to do anything and by then it would be too late.

He had obviously started preparing his own methods of countering the dreaded future. It would be for the best if he could kill off that boy but if not, starting a Great War earlier when they had a better chance of winning would be far better than later when they had no chance of winning.

But he obviously would not get up and walk hand in hand with these church people for such a thing. They probably had some kind of trap prepared for him as well and even if he were to succeed, there was a high chance that he would be killed by them if he were to be weakened enough. And all this was not even considering the fact that Azazel would most likely declare him rogue for his act, even when he saved the entire fallen angel race against such an enemy.

First of all, since they had come to him so they must be prepared to offer something to him as a bargaining chip to enter the game.

He had to make the most of it. As for them preparing a trap for him, they were not the only ones who could prepare traps.

“And who might you be talking about?” he asked, mockingly.

The man in front of him frowned but answered. “Let’s not pretend that you don’t want this as much as we do. Mathias Zagan is as much of a danger for us as he is for you. This is the best chance for us to end such a danger for both our sides once and for all.”

“Well that’s for Azazel to decide. You should go and talk to him, the governor general of the Fallen Angels.” He smiled. “But since you are here, I assume you were turned down by Azazel already and came here when you had no other option. So tell me, why should I go and risk going against my leader and join your side, with the risk of being declared rogue? What is in it for me?”

The man gritted his teeth but controlled himself but he wasn’t going to let them go so easily.

“Moreover, if this was actually sanctioned by Michael, they wouldn’t have sent someone like you, David Cero, a no name exorcist to discuss the matter with me. Which means like always, it’s the Church planning things behind Heaven’s back.” Seriously and to think Azazel stopped the war and accepted defeat against such weak willed people.

No. He shouldn’t let such thoughts influence his mind right now.

As expected the man’s face turned livid and his hand reached for his sword, the Holy Sword Excalibur Galatine, the sister sword of Excalibur.

Did this fool think that just because he could wield a holy sword, he could match him, a cadre of the Fallen Angels?

Not everyone was that freak of nature, Vasco Strada.

If he actually hadn’t been interested in the deal, he probably would have killed the fool right here if only to retrieve the blade. At least that way the sword would get an able wielder unlike a moron like David Cero.

All his subordinates raised their weapons and looked at the man at the same time, making him realise the situation he was in and he took a deep breath and pulled his hands back.

“The Church is willing to offer a Holy Sword and free five hundred stray exorcists for you to take.”

“Hahahahahaha one sword and five hundred humans. You must be seriously overestimating yourself if you think that going to make me move. That boy is a Zagan and the betrothed of Sirzechs Lucifer’s sister and Ajuka Beelzebub’s niece. Laying a hand on him would mean restarting the Great War. And you want me to jump in that kind of thing for just five hundred humans of unknown loyalties and physical and mental conditions and one sword? You must be out of your mind.”

If he was honest, he would gladly do such a thing without the slightest bit of hesitation but when the Great War started, the first one everyone will be gunning for would be Kokabiel himself. For that reason, he needed assurances. He needed assurances

“Then what do you want?” The man asked.

“The Excalibur Fragments that are housed in the Church. I want all six of the Excalibur Fragments the church has and the research on the Siegfried Project used to create Super Exorcists for this arrangement to go anywhere. I am not moving a finger without that.”

“That’s impossible.”

“Then leave. Oh, and be warned. Azazel, Michael and even the four Satans will be aware of….certain parts of this conversation before the meeting between the boy and the representatives of Heaven.” He smirked, pushing them into the edge.

“You!”

“Well then I doubt that a fool like you would be high up enough to decide about such a thing so tuck your tail between your legs and scram back to your masters. My time is precious. If my information is correct then your meeting is in one week. I will give you three days. Now get out.”

The fool scrambled out after his subordinates stepped forward, each with their own weapons and ready for war.

As he left, Kokabiel was left in his own thoughts.

Such a big plan needed manpower, even if not to kill the Zagan then to save his own life after the fallout of the whole thing, because he was sure that the Church would not only offer him the items but also send their best after him.

Now….what should he do?

- Mathias -

“Do you want me to come with you?” Armin asked the moment he heard about the whole meeting business.

Armin found out about my trip and it was the first thing he asked me.

“No. For my peerage members, I have a reason but I won’t have the same for you. Dulio did come alone. If anything, it was only due to Serafall’s stubbornness that I could even bring my peerage members with me. You coming along would be….controversial.”

“Who cares about controversies? Your life could be in danger. How did you even make Rias and Latia agree to this?”

I smiled at his question.

“They don’t know about this, do they?” He asked with a deadpan.

“Nope.”

“You are going to get into a load of trouble when they find out.”

“I wouldn’t do this if I didn’t have to. They would never let me go.”

“And for a damn good reason. In this matter, I completely agree with them.”

“Armin….I will be completely safe. Trust me. You have no idea how many precautions I am taking for this journey.”

“Oh, then convince me or I tell those two right now.”

“Wait what?”

“Well you heard me. At this point those two are the only ones who could talk some sense into you.”

“No no. Things have already been decided. At this point, they will only get angry and worried for no reason. Trust me, I am taking Lavy, Ingvild and Shizuka with me and just in case, I have also called for my Rook to keep an eye from a distance and Leafa will be on the side to be summoned at my will. At that point, even if all four Archangels gang up on me together….I’d win.”

“You have another rook?”

“Oh yeah, I didn’t tell you about him, did I? He is Tia’s friend….and stronger than me.”

“Stronger than you?” He asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes. In a life and death battle, I’d die if I fought against him.”

“Who?”

“Keep it a secret alright.” I asked and he nodded. “Crom Cruach.”

“The Crescent Circle Dragon, the strongest of the Evil Dragons! How did you even meet that kind of guy, not to mention convince him to join your peerage?”

“Ah, well….we fought. Remember that day, when we found out about my parents and I returned, beaten up?”

“That was him?”

“Yup. He had come to fight with Tia and I….was not in the best of moods. I wanted to let loose for once and I offered to fight him instead. Hahahaha that guy is strong. He totally kicked my ass and all I could do was rip one of his arms off and that too not completely.”

“I don’t think there are many who can do such a thing. He is comparable to the Dragon Kings.” Armin said, shaking his head and taking a sip of his drink.

“Nah, that’s old news. That guy has become a Heavenly Dragon, he trained himself to that point or I wouldn’t have lost. He visited a few times after that and liked the atmosphere here, especially the Dragon farm. We sparred a few more times and he offered to join my peerage.”

“That’s….amazing.”

“Right? We didn’t tell anyone about it to keep him as a secret trump card. You know how many people want to see me gone, especially after this farm business. Not to mention, it would have drawn too much attention to me. I didn’t need any of that anymore.”

“So, what kind of person is he?”

“Oh he’s a training and battle maniac but when he is not in one of those moods, he is pretty chill. That said, he only gets in one of those moods when he encounters someone he considers worthy of challenge so he is mostly chill. You should see him tilling the soil sometimes. He’s gotten really good at it. It’s just that he roams around the world most of the time. I’ll introduce you when he returns the next time.”

“That should….be fine. Still, you shouldn’t put yourself in dangerous situations like this.”

“I mean….I couldn’t let Alfred’s possibly last wish be denied, could I?”

“Sigh….you dumbass….”

“Hahahaha don’t worry. I will be fine.” I laughed and reassured him.

Worst case, I can just call for Red and use my favour to make the three factions become 

two factions.

Let’s just hope that things don’t come to that.

- Satanael -

“My my, and here I thought you came here to arrest me, brother.” He smiled as he sipped on his glass of wine.

The person in front of him scoffed. “As if. I could care less about Azazel and his cowardly decisions. Let alone one that prevents the Fallen from reaching higher levels of power and claim their rightful place at the top of the Three Factions.”

“Too bad not everyone understands that.” He agreed, supporting Kokabiel’s words. Although he didn’t agree with his brother’s over aggressive thoughts, he agreed with the sentiment of putting the Fallen Angel race over the Angels and Devils.

But unlike Kokabiel who had the false conceptions about his own strength, Satanael knew that the Fallen Angels were the weakest race among the three factions.

The Angels had four of the Great Seraphs still alive and each of them have greater power than Azazel, the strongest of the Fallen Angel race.

They also possessed the weapons left by Father which would put them at an absolute advantage against those at the same level.

The less said about the Devil Race the better. Those bats had gone from being on the verge of extinction after their Civil War to being the strongest among the three factions, especially with the two anomalies in the new Satans. Although their race was divided into pieces and would fracture in times of war, it still didn’t change the fact that they could still rival the other two factions by themselves.

And all of this was done by the efforts of Ajuka Beelzebub and Euclid Lucifuge’s scientific prowess.

If anything, he admired Azazel’s forethought and ideas to create Artificial Sacred Gears as a means to rival them.

It was after all his reason for starting the research on breaking the limits on the Supernatural races. If Sirzechs Lucifer and Ajuka Beelzebub could break through the limits of their race, there was no reason why the Fallen Angels couldn’t do such a thing as well.

It’s just that his research required some things which didn’t match the current thoughts of the Fallen and thus here he was….

“It’s not as if I am displeased by your visit but you are not the type of person to pay welfare checks to others. So, why exactly have you graced me with your presence, Kokabiel?” He asked.

“I….require your assistance in a matter.”

“Oh?”

“To remove the single greatest threat to the survival of the Fallen Angel race. I want your help in taking down Mathias Buné Zagan.”

Satanael narrowed his eyes at the name.

The Zagan.

He still remembered the hunts against that pillar, after all he was one of the people in charge of it.

To think one had escaped and not just some commoner but one with this kind of power.

Mathias Buné Zagan was the name he both admired and hated at the same time.

This boy, barely an adult, had done something which Satanael had been trying to do for centuries.

He had found a method to break the limits of Supernatural races.

Food products which could break one’s limit….

It had made him drop all his work and start working on those products.

If it hadn’t been for him being closely guarded by those four Satans all the time, Satanael would have tried to bring him in for his own research as soon as he discovered the news about him. He had obtained those products and tried to research them and even find the method to recreate them but while he could verify the effects, even on the Fallen Angel race, he couldn’t develop a method to recreate them.

Moreover, the boy has put such strict regulations on his products that getting higher ranked products is nigh impossible for other races through illegal means.

He was stuck at a dead end just like that but now it looks like some path had opened.

“Oh! Since you are here, I take it that you have some plans of your own?”

“I was approached by the church. Those fools have been worried about the boy as well and it seems that just like Azazel, Michael isn’t really doing anything about him. Heaven is organising a meeting between him and Michael and the church wants to take this opportunity to finish off the threat before it could become bigger. They have extended me an offer to cooperate with them and I want your help.”

“Heh! Those church people have always been too enthusiastic in causing trouble, even going against Michael. Seriously, the quality of Heaven has only gone down since the Great War after Father’s death. It just proves that Azazel’s decision to pull out of the war was wrong.”

No. No it wasn’t.

If Azazel hadn’t pulled out of the war back then, the Fallen Angels would have been reduced to a third grade faction, no more than those magician organisations. Of course he wouldn’t say that to Kokabiel’s face right now and break the chance of cooperation.

“I see. Well, I won’t lie and say that I am not interested but even you know that I am in a rather precarious situation right now. While I would like to take action, the rest of my partners wouldn’t take it lightly if I didn’t have anything to show for it. They obviously work for themselves and not for the Fallen Angels.” He said with a resigned voice.

“I am not a fool, Satanael. I know that you want something out of it too and I can’t expect help from you without any price. I am willing to offer two fragments of Excalibur and the research data on the Siegfried project.”

“Really! The church is willing to bring that out? I guess they are really shaken by the idea of the Zagan.”

“And they are right to do so.” Kokabiel finished.

“Of course. Hmm, this is a nice bargain but you can keep the swords for yourself. They do not interest me. What I want is the data Azazel has on his Artificial Sacred Gears and….the Zagan boy’s body.”

“What?!”

“I want the boy’s dead body for my research. Say what you will about him but this boy developed a method which can be used to break the limits of Supernatural races. I want to see if I can recreate it by myself.”

“You want to use that devil’s power….”

“I will use any power to obtain the results I want, brother. I am afraid that’s non negotiable.”

Kokabiel just stared at him for a while and then nodded.

“You can have the boy’s body….as long as he is dead.”

“Then I believe we have a deal. Tell me the details of the meeting and I will make some preparations too.”

“I will send you all the details of the meeting.”

With that said, he left.

Kokabiel did keep on his promise and just two days later sent the data on the Siegfried Project.

Siegfried’s blood samples contained traces of Fafnir’s power. This was the reason behind the enhanced physical and magical powers of the test subjects as well as the physical changes in their bodies.

The test subjects were however driven insane most of the time or died due to their minds and bodies not being able to take on the stress of the Hero’s blood and the dragon’s power.

It was similar to his own research on using Ophis’ power to enhance the people under him, making it act as a trigger to break through their limits.

The effects were lost if the Snake was removed from their bodies and this was something he had to work on. To completely fuse the power with their bodies so the effects were permanent….the same thing which the Church had been trying to do with the Siegfried Project.

And talking of dragons, the Buné were also known for their draconic traits….it was as if everything was fitting together like pieces of a big puzzle.

Now, since he had taken the rewards, he had to do his part in the whole thing as well.

His job was to find a way to teleport them away from the location of the meeting to the place they would ambush him.

The boy would apparently be coming with his peerage members but he didn’t have any idea about who those peerage members could be.

There is rough information about them and he could only identify three people among them.

The former student of Glenda Goodwich and the user of Absolute Demise, Lavinia Reni. The former host of Divine Beast Suzaku and the Heiress of the Himejima Clan, Shizuka Himejima and Natsume Minagawa, the user of Gryphon, one of the Four Fiends Sacred Gears. Apart from this, another girl and the two children in his peerage were still unknown but he doubted they were any danger judging by their ages.

He was not only interested in the boy but also the Four Fiends girl for his experiments.

So….how to separate them from the others?

He thought about it and finally came up with a plan to get just what he wanted. It might drag in one or two stragglers but he wouldn’t mind them. Not to mention, the members of the Utsusemi Agency wanted an in to have a chance to take down the Himejima girl. They had thought that the girl was dead until she appeared in that rating Game as a peerage member of Mathias Buné Zagan.

There were also the Wizards of Oz who were also interested in the Zagan boy and his magic for research purposes and thus contributed to his plan.

- Mathias -

“I don’t get why I have to use this?” Crom said as I gave him something Tia had given me.

“It will help you hide your identity. We don’t want to expose you being in my peerage to people for as long as we can. Please….just do me a favour.”

The guy just shrugged and wore the bracelet and sure enough his draconic aura disappeared, even his smell changed and he appeared as a normal human.

I see, so this is what Tia has been using to keep her transformation into a devil a secret.

“There will be many people from Heaven and the Church. We don’t want them to freak out more about me than they already do.”

“You could always show them how futile their efforts of going after you would be. They couldn’t even stop Ddraig and Albion by themselves even with their Father alive. With the two of us together and their Father gone, they would just crumble.”

“First thing, we are not supposed to know about their Father being gone so please don’t blurt it out. Second, their Father was extremely exhausted during the Great War due to some….reasons. If he had been at his full power, Ddraig and Albion wouldn’t have stood any chance against Heaven. They would have obviously caused lots of damage but would have died nonetheless.”

“He was exhausted?” Crom asked, surprised and suddenly intrigued. “What could exhaust him to such an extent?”

“....something we all owe him a favour for.” I had no intention of ever recalling Trihexa.

“I sense fear from you.”

“Because it is something to be feared.”

“Even with the power you keep hiding inside you?”

“....the power inside me is not something I can control and even if I could control it some day, the fight between us would probably destroy the world.” And here I smiled. “And you know how Destruction is not exactly my thing so let’s not talk about this. Some things are better left untouched.”

The guy turned around and scoffed before walking away. “I will keep an eye on things although I would be happier if we had a fight suitable for me. You will be giving me the spar you owe me either way.”

….yeah, no I am fine as we are.

Seriously, I have a weird peerage.

With Crom taken care of, I walked back to my home.

Serafall will be coming at any moment.

Back at home, Lavy, Ingvild and Shizuka were ready for the trip already.

Soon enough, a magic circle appeared and Serafall and Euclid came out of it.

“Everything ready?” She asked as soon as she came out.

She was dressed in a business suit and was in a serious mode unlike her usual bubbly magical girl self.

I nodded.

She explained some things to us about what and what not to do in front of the leaders of Heaven.

To say that the Underworld and Heaven had a complicated relationship would be like saying the sun is warm.

On one hand they want us gone, to die in the most unpleasant of ways possible and on the other hand they want us to live and remain decently strong so that we can stand together against other forces.

The thing which comes in the middle is us getting culled enough to keep our powers in balance. This is the principle on which the Three Factions have existed since the end of the Great War….and now my arrival has threatened to kick this so-called balance in the balls all of a sudden.

It was obvious that they would be uneasy about me.

Euclid gave me a badge. “Take this.”

“What’s this?” I asked as I looked at the thing.

“A tracker.” He gave one to each of my peerage members. This will keep us updated on your position. Just activate it and we will know that you are in danger. Sirzechs’ peerage and members of Falbium’s guard will be standing by. They will arrive at your location as soon as they can. I repeat, use this as soon as you feel any kind of danger.” he then turned towards my peerage members. “Actually, you three do it because I can’t trust him with this.”

“Oi!”

“He is not joking about anything, Mathias. This is a very serious matter.” Serafall said, not coming out of her serious mode even once.

I nodded seriously. “I will be careful.”

“Good. Then let’s go.”

With that, we set off.

- Tiamat -

She looked over at the distance where the so-called meeting would take place, her trusty bracelet hiding her presence like always when she suddenly felt a presence behind her.

Turning behind slightly she saw the figure approaching her and turned back to look at the meeting venue again.

“How did you find me?” She asked.

“Instincts.” Crom Cruach said as he sat down on the edge of the cliff overlooking the site of the meeting. “Didn’t know you were coming.”

“I was just passing by. This looked just as good of a place as any to rest.”

The dragon didn’t reply and just looked in the distance.

“You really care for him, don’t you?” Crom spoke after some time.

She didn’t reply and just looked ahead, her silence enough of an answer.

“What about you?” She questioned.

“I wish to see where the future of dragon kind goes. And my instincts tell me that I will get my answer here.”

“You might be right too.” She replied after remembering everything she did about Mathias. “But is that good enough for you to protect him?”

“Yes.”

“Good.”

No more words were said between them as both of them focused on what they were here for.

__________________________________x_____________________________________________________________________x___________________________________

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Author’s Note:

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

Sorry to those who were expecting the fight in the chapter but I needed to set things up properly. [Beta Note: The Dao of the Cliff strikes again!]

Just getting directly to the fight would have ruined a few things.

Anyways, we have seen the other side making moves, each side having plans of their own.

Wait till the next chapter to see how all this ends up together.

Enjoy the new chapter.

Good Day, Peace Out.