Dungeons and Devils (Chapter 10 (Patreon)

I take a single step backwards and bring a hand to my forehead.

"…"

Did she seriously just flick me?

The temperature of the room begins steadily rising.

That is... annoying.

The image I was building up this entire calm walk was completely and totally ruined.

All this effort to look like a complete and total badass. And she just walks in here and shatters it.

My energy runs out of control briefly, causing items around the room to raise and rattle.

I let out a long breath, causing everything to drop as the temperature stabilizes.

"Ah. That was uncalled for and a little annoying." I state with narrowed eyes.

"You are being extremely reckless, Gaius." The Satan frowns. "If you were to be killed here, the entire devil race would suffer."

"Ah, it seems you misunderstand my recklessness, Serafall. Why would I ever be in any danger from a calm walk through an estate on my way to an important meeting? But I assume we will be talking about this later."

My eyes slide over to lord Phenex. "Well, it appears that the three big players are here."

My eyes move once more to Zeoctus Gremory. "I once more apologize deeply for interrupting your meeting."

"Not a bother at all, Lord Decarabia... in fact I believe we were finished here. Isn't that right, Lord Phenex?"

They must have not been having a pleasant conversation before I got here.

The blond man slowly looks from Serafall to myself. "I believe we are."

"Then, if you will excuse me." The red haired man states as he stands, he bows his head to Serafall and nods to me. "Satan Leviathan, Lord Decarabia."

He is quite polite about this... I should get him something.

The Phenex lord seems... strangely reserved right now... it's probably the Satan beside me, but it seems like he knows he lost.

Despite the hiccup along the way, it seems like I'll be getting what I want.

**Linebreak**

-In the end, that was reckless, foolhearty, rash, and overall just STUPID!" The black haired magical girl states. "You could have been hurt! Or worse!"

I give her a half lidded stare as I fold my hands in front of myself. "Are you done?"

She flinches back at the blank stare I give her.

"Serafall, every single action I took there was calculated. Every safety net I had was in place. At that point in time, if I was forced to be serious, I bet even you would be forced to exert a little effort to harm me in a meaningful way. I was perfectly safe."

She seems a little hurt by my use of 'Serafall' in a situation where we are alone.

"Everything was orchestrated, planned, and executed by me... any and all hiccups weren't all that big, except the flick, that is. That was pretty large and fairly annoying."

"You broke the law! Trespassing is a crime!"

"That's actually a bit of a grey area for myself." I state. "Reasonably, my calm strut into the Phenex household would be seen as me visiting my fiancée."

Serafall falls silent.

"And this is around the time Lord Phenex would have had an ultimate class assassin break into my house if you hadn't taken such an issue with me wandering head first into a bunch of flailing disappointments."

I let out a low click and look around slowly. "You can come out now. I know you are there."

"…" we sit in silence for a moment, nothing happens, nor does anyone make their presence known.

"Hn. Well, you saying that the devil race would suffer if I died wasn't exactly to plan, either... so that changed a few things. maybe lord Phenex is smarter than I give him credit for."

"Or maybe the assassin is a pussy bitch and doesn't have the balls to attack me when I'm sat directly across from a Satan." I call out into the empty mansion. "Lord Phenex paid upwards of five hundred million Lillum to you? Jeez. He should get a refund. If you're going to be a killer worth that much, you better be good enough to kill someone across from a Satan."

"…"

"Hn. Probably not here, then. Good."

"G-Gaius." The satan sniffles. "A-Are you mad at me?"

"Mad? No. Annoyed? Very." I nod with another half-lidded glare.

"Please don't be mad at me, Gai-tan!" The several hundred year old woman sobs, like she is some sort of eight year old I said wasn't invited to my birthday party.

"Allow me to walk you through why I am so frustrated right now, firstly, you flicking me could be seen as you siding with the Phenex family, for the few milliseconds I came to that conclusion... they hurt. It really hurt my feelings Serafall. Then the main problem. Imagine you had an opportunity to FINALLY get one over on your eternal rival Gabriel, then, the very moment after you have built up this certain mood, you are untouchable in her eyes, unbeatable, you defeat her in every way... then I walk up and shatter that point of view for her and make you look like a laughing stock in front of not only Gabriel, but Michael as well."

"You made me a complete and total laughing stock before Lord Phenex and Lord Gremory, and swiftly de-escalated the situation when I was fully prepared to allow lord Phenex to take a few swings at me to reaaaaally rack up those assault charges. But with you appearing so early, we came to a quick agreement. And I probably bled them for less that I would have had you shown up say... ten minutes later."

I rub my temples. "I'll cool off, just give me some time."

The immensely powerful magical girl sniffles again.

**Linebreak**

I chew on a piece of celery with a bored expression. "Hn."

It's been a while since I calmly approached lord Phenex... there have been zero assassination attempts.

Perhaps I was wrong about him...

The entire thing seems so... suspicious though. Far too convenient for my liking.

I get assassins sent after my new body, then not even a month later Lord Phenex and Rosaline Phenex marry? It's as if they knew- or at the very least whole heartedly assumed I wasn't coming back... or at least one of them.

Then I got assassins sent after me once more. Assassins I didn't even know about until perhaps months after it happened because a quest spilled the beans that Serafall was spooking about outside my window and took them all out.

There was an unnaturally chilly day a while back... I didn't think much of it, but that was probably the aftermath of Serafall's assassin disappearing act.

That was back before I did anything to the phenex family. There was nothing impressive about me.

That doesn't explain Lord Phenex not immediately recognizing me.

Perhaps he heard about my potions, thought they might cut into his profits, and tried to end me before I perfected them only to realize after the first assassins were brutally killed or imprisoned that the amount of money he'd be losing wouldn't be worth the cost of the assassins sent after me?

I look over a fairly expansive plain of black grass, as dark as the midnight sky.

My newest hobby...

Gardening.

The grass has certainly grown well. I used some spoils from my new extreme wealth to purchase a few special items for fairly cheap.

A majority of that wealth was spent upgrading my 'base'.

I'm currently sat within a large underground bunker-slash greenhouse.

There's artificial sun, magically hardened adamantine walls, and a special anti-magic enchantment that protects the walls and prevents unwanted teleportation... there's a magic circle in here which I have to allow people to use. Nobody can come in unless I want them to... and even if they do find the large underground orb, they'll be hard-pressed to get over the layered defense.

Ridiculously expensive.

But absolutely worth it.

I reach down and pluck a strand of grass from the ground and look at it.

It's fairly thick, moreso than a regular blade of grass. The blade itself is black in color with green shining through the veins, and along the outer side of the grass.

"Hn."

I take a bite out of it, earning an extremely loud crunch, sounding like I just took a bite out of an onion or even an apple.

It tastes fairly pleasant.

It's earthy, vibrant, and tastes quite a bit better than lettuce. You could definitely make a mean salad out of it if you had some tomatoes, croutons, and some dressing.

Actually, I think I'll have Virgo make that as a side dish for dinner.

Getting my hands on some Toriko plants was definitely a wise decision... due to the fact that they can be farmed, their price in the auction house is actually fairly low. The only one I needed to shell out some real money for would be the 'Supear's, which are giant pears, clear as glass, which take upwards of thirty-eight years to grow, then a seed of the rainbow fruit. A fruit said to hit you with seven flavors one after another, the flavors in question shifting depending on the fruit's temperature, the way it was prepared, and the humidity.

You could realistically eat it repeatedly for hundreds of years and never get tired of it.

The downside is the time it'll take the tree to grow... then the time it'll take the fruit to grow after that.

I probably won't be able to eat Rainbow Fruit for another few decades. Even with the growth speed enhancement I've put on this place.

A holographic screen appears in front of me, shining down from the ceiling, Virgo appears on it.

"Master. A girl by the name of Rias Gremory is here to see you. Should I let her in?"

"Yeah, I'll be right out."

I get up from my wooden chair and toss the rest of the black grass blade into my mouth.

Waste not want not after all.

I grab the wrapped package in front of me and shunt it into my dimensional storage.

I steadily walk down the marble tile path towards a large greyish double door in the distance.

I wonder what Rias wants... did Lord Phenex decide to speed up her marriage to Riser due to my sudden appearance? Hm. I did tell her to come find me if that happens.

Another opportunity to fuck with the Phenex family? I'll fucking take it.

I'll be forced to make her 'pay' for the potions I'll give her; I'll tell her to buy me lunch one day or something. If she buys them, it doesn't matter how much the Phenex family dislikes it. I'm not meddling in their affairs.

It's sad that I might have to layoff soon... seeing as how I am now engaged to Ravel.

Man, lord Phenex REALLY threw her under the bus.

The contract I signed to hand over my engagement to Rosaline granted me wealth equal to about... fifteen percent of the phenex family's total worth... which frankly is an assload. The main problem is the small clause in the contract I didn't think would be an issue. The 'or items that the domestic affairs office sees as equal to said worth.' Thing.

The entire statement used to be 'what the Phenex Family sees as equal to said worth', yet with that wording, they probably could have picked up a rock and been all 'this is worth my entire estate'. Of course, I could rightfully kick the shit out of lord Phenex for that with probably no-one saying that I was in the wrong, but I didn't want to take that chance...

What I didn't expect, is for the domestic affairs to see Ravel's engagement to myself as being worth more than 8%… I still got a bunch of Lillum, mind you, billions in fact, yet I would have gotten a little more than double had Ravel not been tossed to me.

Ah well, seven percent is still enough to buy a lot of items and sell them in the auction, but I could have always had more.

In retrospect, I should have added in Ravel's engagement as a priority. Ah well. Hindsight is twenty-twenty. I'll settle for breaking up Riser's engagement.

I mean, I sort of get what the Domestic affairs people mean, it's a chance for all of my future children to have 'all powerful regeneration abilities', then the potential to make phoenix tears.

Not a lot of people actually know what my clan trait does, I've recently found out. Because to be completely honest, if they did know, they'd know that Ravel's genes are fucking useless to my bloodline.

But eh, she's one of Issei's better girls. I won't be complaining... much.

Eight percent for a single girl. Ugh. She's not worth that much... is she?

The Phenex family have been extremely protective over their secrets... the reason why the Phenex family is so large is due to the fact that they keep marrying people INTO it... it always sort of irked me how Rias was the heiress of the Gremory family, yet she had to marry into a family via a third son nobody... maybe Ravel becoming the future Lady Decarabia-Malthus is a larger deal than I thought.

I finally reach the large metal door and step through, then close it behind me.

On the door is the words 'Biotope 0'.

Ah, how I adore references.

I turn and walk towards a large magic circle on the ground, then with a flex of demonic power I teleport away.

In the next moment I reappear in the foyer, I gaze around slowly to see Rias herself speaking calmly with Virgo. Akeno is stood close by.

"Ah, Rias, it's been a while." I smile. "How have you been?"

She seems extremely happy. Suspiciously happy.

"Gaius!" She grins. "You won't believe what has happened!"

I blink slowly.

"My father canceled my marriage with Riser!" She exclaims with a brilliant smile.

"Wait what?" I mutter.

"Yep! He said that Lord Phenex was being a little too arrogant and tried to order him around! So he canceled the marriage!"

"Oh. Hn. That explains some things." I mutter.

"So, who is this?" Rias asks as she looks to Virgo.

"My rook, Virgo."

The girl blinks slowly and looks the rook over. "Virgo?"

"Named after the Zodiac, yes." I nod.

"That is... unusual."

"Yep." I nod. "She's also a very large masochistic degenerate."

Virgo looks away with a blush as Akeno's eyes slowly slide towards her, a mischievous glint in her eye.

"I'm glad you got out of your marriage, Rias. It looks like we both accomplished goals recently."

"Oh?" She asks. "What did you accomplish?"

"I got back at the Phenex family." I smile.

Rias slowly blinks as she seems to comprehend what I just said. "Wait, then my marriage contract cancellation was because of you?!"

"Er... vaguely? I didn't walk in there and demand for him to cancel it if that's what you think, I think it was more of a 'I was starting to put pressure on the Phenex family, so lord Phenex called your father and tried to tell him to stand on his side against me' sort of thing."

Rias bows her head. "I am eternally grateful."

"Don't bow your head to me, Rias, I didn't even mean for the contract to be canceled, it was just a happy little accident." I wave off.

I tilt my head. "Actually, now that I have taken care of my own problems, I suppose I could let you in on them."

"Why didn't you let me in on them before?" She weakly mutters with a small pout. "I told you mine..."

"Oh, well, that was to maximize the profit of it. If you told your father, he might have told lord Phenex, then I morally wouldn't be able to be as mad as I was because lord Phenex probably would have cut his losses and would have just contacted me."

"You know me as Gaius, Decarabia. A teen who was in a little over his head, made the lord of his previously extinct clan, and was desperately trying to drag it back into relevancy... what I didn't tell you, is that-"

Two large black and white fire wings sprout from my back. "That my clan trait mirrors the Phenex family's almost exactly as my mother's trait mutated."

Rias stares with wide eyes as she takes a single step back. "What?! That is-"

"It's not impossible. The founder of the Bael had fire magic turn into the power of destruction, Serafall had her Sitri Family's water magic change to ice... a much smaller change than mine, mind you, but still a mutation that will be passed on to any of her future children... should she actually have any... she's practically a single-person clan all of herself much like I am." I explain as I allow my wings to disappear.

"Now for my relation to the Phenex family. Five hundred years ago- and up until three days ago-, I was engaged to Riser's mother... but I was nearly assassinated and shunted five hundred years into the future only to find that Riser's father broke a couple of laws, and married my Fiancée."

Rias is giving me a long 'what the hell are you even talking about' stare.

"So, in addition to stealing my lands, Lord Phenex stole my wife, and I planned to make that his problem. After I calmly walked my way into the Phenex family estate, ignoring attempt after attempt on my life, I eventually interrupted the meeting between your father and Riser's father- which your father seemed strangely pleased about, then Lord Phenex and I settled on him giving me fifteen percent of the Phenex family's total wealth or items of equivalent value according to the Domestic Affairs office."

"Next thing I know, I'm engaged to Ravel Phenex, and I have several billion Lillum in my bank account."

"Are you- oh... you're not joking." The red haired girl sighs as she brings a hand to her forehead.

I let out a low click. "I should have gone for a larger percentage."

"Rias." Akeno announces. "It's almost time for tea time with your mother."

"Ah." The Gremory snaps out of her daze. "I see. Your history with the Phenex family is both ridiculous and almost cartoon-esque."

I let out a single huff of laughter. "Yeah."

"It was pleasant to see you again, Gaius." The girl bows. "We should meet up again later. I just wanted to stop by swiftly to tell you the good news."

"Wait, before you go." I begin as I pull the wrapped gift out of my storage. "A gift for your father. I was quite rude in interrupting his meeting with Lord Phenex. even if he doesn't like it, I'm sure you and your mother will."

She blinks at the box slowly.

"What... is it?"

"Perhaps one of the best tasting fruits I have ever eaten." I state slowly with a small smile.

Her eyes widen as she looks down at the wrapped gift roughly the size of a basketball. "it's definitely heavy... is it some form of watermelon?"

"Nope." I state. "What type of fruit it is will just have to be a surprise... but let me just say, it doesn't look like a traditional fruit of its type would."

"Oh, I should probably mention... It's prone to launching juice absolutely everywhere when you bite into it or cut it. So, take some precautions when you try to eat it or you might ruin some clothes with sticky fruit juice. I've even left a small card in the box for some trivia about the fruit on it."

"I will... certainly take this under consideration." She blinks.

She bows her head. "I hope to see you soon, Lord Decarabia."

"I hope to see you as well, Heiress Gremory." I reply.

I watch her leave, swiftly followed by Akeno who gives me a small wave before swiftly turning and following after Rias.

Well... that should definitely get her mother's attention. After this I might just be able to strike up a deal with the Gremory family.

Having good relations with the family of not only one, but two of the satans will be a great boon for myself.

There's even a possibility that they may try to get me engaged to them. With Rias, the potential to romance Akeno and Koneko appears, with Sona, her peerage becomes an option as does Serafall.

I scratch my chin. Should I forgive Serafall already? Hn. Nah. I'll wait a little longer. She might just offer me something to forgive her... and I'll take whatever cool stuff I can get.