Chapter 9: Unexpected Encounters (Patreon)

Ace in the Hole

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 9: Unexpected Encounters

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- Ace -

I was feeling nervous as I came nearer to the area.

A long time had passed since I suddenly disappeared.

I wonder if Dave was worried.

Sigh.

I had shed my disguise and was back to my original look.

When I could see the town in the distance, I changed my clothes.

My current clothes were too good for someone in these parts of the Underworld and that would have instantly attracted attention to me and attention was the last thing I needed.

I landed a bit away from the town, put on an ordinary cloak on top of my old clothes and sneaked inside the town quietly.

This place hasn't changed yet.

First of all, I walked in the outskirts of the town to the place I was staying at to see the situation there.

A few minutes later, I was in front of the place I lived and surprisingly….it was still empty.

I opened the door and entered the place. The lock on the door was open already but the place was covered in dust although several things were broken inside. There was however one corner which was relatively cleaner suggesting someone might have been living there for a while.

I guess someone tried to break in to search for something but didn’t find anything and left after destroying the furniture and after that someone else without any place to live started living there.

I always carried any valuables on my body in my trunk hanging from my neck.

Not that I had much to call myself in this place either way.

Still….this place gave me home for several years so I pulled out my wand and quickly cast a few Cleaning Charms and Reparos to fix the furniture, quickly making the place habitable again.

I looked around and lay down on my bed, the bed posts creaking under my weight as I looked at the ceiling of the room.

….the room seemed smaller….

No.

It was me who had become bigger.

I lay there, remembering everything that had happened since I had gained my memories in this world, several years ago.

I was now in a better position….a position which many would only dream about but not reach no matter how much they try. I guess this can be called success.

And perhaps it was this very success which was making me lax.

Today’s incidents brought back all the memories that had been fading from my mind due to the comfortable sailing I had been having in the last year or so. This place….it reminded me what I have been through….and how I have reached where I am now.

It was a lesson that I should not be lax due to my current success and always remember my roots.

An hour or so later, I got up and decided to do what I had come here for.

Pulling my cloak over me, I walked through the familiar streets. The place hadn’t changed at all in over a year. Then again, it hadn’t when I was living here for those four years either.

I guess long lived races changed slowly too.

Very slowly.

Minutes later, I was in front of the familiar shop. The lights were still on and the sound of hammering could be heard from outside.

I took a deep breath and entered the shop, the bell over the door ringing as I entered.

“Shop’s closed. Come tomorrow.” Came the bored familiar voice of Dave.

The man himself didn't even turn back.

….

“I’m back.” I shouted back.

The hammering sound stopped and he turned back, his eyes wide as he looked at me.

He stared at me for a few moments and then turned back to hammering the piece of metal in front of him.

“Still alive I see. I thought you kicked the bucket or something….wasting all my training.”

A smile came to my face. “As if it would be that easy to take me down.” I walked behind the counter, slowly placing the bag I had bought with me.

“So, where did you get stuck all this time?” He asked.

“I….got a job.” I answered as I picked up the hammer from the side and sat on my usual place, breaking the caracide with practised ease.

“I see that you haven’t forgotten things. Good. Always remember your lowest point, even when you reach your highest. It will keep your mind in balance.” The old man said nonchalantly, going back to his work.

We worked like that for an hour and I noticed that I didn’t feel any strain in my muscles like I used to do when I started it. In fact, I had gotten several times more work done compared to the last time I had done this.

I was putting the physical training on the back burner to focus more on magic and alchemy for my Ultimate Class Ranking. Not to say that I was weak or anything. Even with just my physique alone, I would easily rival a High Class being, especially after the reinforcement from the Demon God’s Manifestation: Demon’s Extract.

Finally, the old man put out the flames in the furnace and got up, going to the back of the shop to get cleaned.

I continued the work of breaking the caracide ores to last him through the next week.

Finally, I heard him returning and got up, bringing out my wand and with a simple flick of the wand, cleaned the place.

I noticed there were some broken furniture and parts of the shop, they got fixed with the next flick of the wand.

I had learned other branches of magic from the wizarding world too and my favourite one after Transfiguration was Charms.

Few colouring charms and the faded colour of the place was back to the original.

“Hmm, tone down the colour a bit. It hurts my eyes.” The man said as he sat down on his chair. “Yes, this one feels better. That’s one nifty magic you learned there, brat. Just don’t go around teaching that to everyone or my shop will be closed.”

I rolled my eyes. There was already magic which could fix things in the Devil's own magic system. It was one of the basic skills taught to Middle Class Devils nowadays so that they can fix their own messes in the Human World.

Keeping the supernatural side secret is the one thing which everyone follows ardently.

Not even the craziest ones try to go against it or they would be hunted down by the entire Supernatural world….no exceptions.

Obviously, I knew that Rizevim would try to do that by actually releasing Trihexa on the human world….and that showed how the entire world would come together to prevent it.

I put my wand back and went back to the table to take my bag. Opening the bag, I brought out two bottles of wine and placed them on the table.

He picked up one of them and looked at it with a raised eyebrow.

“This stuff is not cheap, brat.”

“I know. I don’t think Mephisto Pheles would serve cheap wine to Diehauser Belial and Rudiger Rosenkreutz.” I commented as I brought out a glass and put it in front of him, ignoring his open mouthed reaction.

I picked these up from the party thrown for my promotion for the old man, remembering the old man’s liking for wine.

After almost a minute, he spoke again. “You didn’t steal it, did you?” He asked, worried for the first time since I have known him.

I shook my head. “Don’t worry. All of this is paid for.” I replied as I poured the guy a glass of wine.

He looked at me and then at the glass a few times before taking a smell of the wine and then a small sip, letting out a satisfied hum. “Now, that’s the stuff.”

I smiled and looked at him drinking the whole glass before pouring another one for him.

When I tried to pour the third one, he stopped me.

“Don’t use up all the good stuff all in a day, brat. I don’t want to get used to this wine. It would make my usual drink taste like ash.”

“You don’t need to worry about using anything up. There is more from where this came and no one would mind me taking another one.”

“Eh, I guess you got picked up by good people then. I have seen devils get killed on smaller things than taking wine from their master’s collection.”

“I think you are misunderstanding something.” I interrupted.

“Hmm?”

“While it’s true that I am working for others, I have no master.” I finished. “We only have a contractual relationship.”

He stared at me. “So….in the test period to see if you are worth recruiting? If so then you shouldn’t have brought this. It wouldn’t look good on your profile. I know that Belial used to check the loyalties of their people in more ways than one.” He said, looking into the wall as if remembering something.

I chuckled and shook my head. “Don’t worry about it. It wouldn’t cause me any problems.”

“Well if you say so. Anyways, looks like you had quite an adventure over the last year.”

I recalled the events which had happened this past year and agreed.

“Yes, you could say that. Many things happened over this year. Some good, some bad….I met some people, saw some old faces.” A slight frown came to my face as I remembered the events of the party. “Adventure is one word we could use.”

I didn’t tell him the details however.

Dave was never the one to ask either. He trusted me on the information I provided him.

If I didn’t tell him something, he never probed either.

While it was true that I have become stronger in the past year or so, I was nowhere near the level where my name alone can ascertain his safety.

That’s why the best protection I can offer to him is anonymity.

It protects him from my enemies who would try to harm him due to his connection to me and gives him plausible deniability in case things went south and I had to flee somewhere and things are tracked back.

I would have offered him money but I knew the old man would feel offended if I did such a thing.

We talked about several things over the night.

“Oh, a girl, you say?” He asked with a smile.

I could tell that he was already drunk.

That stuff was strong. It was something made by Tannin’s dragons using special fruits grown by him and aged for centuries.

“She has a very….unique personality.” Lavy really did have a unique personality. “Unique but very refreshing personality.”

“So you finally got a girl, eh. Good for you, brat. Good for you.” He raised me a glass.

“I am fourteen.” I deadpanned.

“Huh? What’s up with that? Back in my day….”

“Shush shush shush….please let’s not talk about that. Seriously, Matsu was like this too.”

“Who?”

“Hmm, she’s….well she is someone I met afterwards and she now stays and works for me.”

“Hoh hoh, two girls. Working quite fast, I see.”

Sigh….

I didn’t know the old man had this side to him too….or was this because he was seriously drunk today.

We talked for one more hour and by the end of it, he was slurring so I carried him back to his room, behind the shop and closed the shop.

He was already asleep so I left him a note on the table by his bed along with one of my summoning contracts so that he could summon me if anything happened and he needed my help for anything.

Finally, I set one of my teleportation points for Shambala there and left the place.

I didn’t want to go back today so I went to my room in the town to take a nap.

There however something surprising was awaiting me.

There were lights coming from under the door of my room.

Someone was inside.

I narrowed my eyes as I pulled out my wand, ready to check out what was going on.

A simple flick of my wand opened the lock on the door and I kicked the door down to reveal the scene inside.

There were two people, two girls. One older and one younger.

The older one almost immediately jumped in front of the younger one who looked scared and dropped her food from the sudden shock of the door being kicked open.

The most eye-catching things about those two however were the two extra pairs of ears on top of their head and one tail on their back.

Nekomata.

I looked closer at them and noticed several details.

The older one had black hair while the younger one had white hair and both of them had golden eyes, which were staring at me with fear.

Two names flashed in my mind looking at their forms but I dismissed them quickly.

There was no way that was going to happen.

I mean what are the chances of that happening?

Me coming back and meeting those two amongst several million people in the Underworld…?

Still, I asked out first. “Who are you people?”

“Who are you nya?” The older one asked carefully, with a bit of aggression in her voice.

“I am the owner of this place.”

Which was not wrong.

I actually owned this place.

The Underworld didn’t have a lack of cheap homes, especially in such outskirts and down trodden places.

I actually bought this place the first thing when I got enough funds. Dave was the one who did the talking though.

I saw their faces pale.

“This place was abandoned. We….”

“Well, I was out for a long time. The whole place was cleaned if you didn’t realise.”

“B-b-but, they said we could live here. They even took money.” She complained.

“They?”

“T-t-the Demonic Fang hunter group. They said the house belonged to them.” She complained, gaining more courage as she spoke more.

My Legilimency confirmed that they were not lying.

I narrowed my eyes.

“Demonic Fang….” Those were the people I briefly hunted in the pits with.

Did those bastards claim their right over my property?

“Who told you this and who took money from you?” I asked.

“I-it was the vice captain.”

That guy huh….

I had a brief memory of that guy….and it wasn’t good.

He was the one who cut my shares down even when I hunted more, stating some sort of protection charge or whatever.

Later, the other members of the group told me that he did that to everyone and drank off of that money and the only reason no one could tell anything to him was because of his connection to the backers of the Demonic Fang group, the Amy Clan.

He was also involved in some other shady businesses….

“What are your names?” I asked, looking at the two girls as I took a seat on my couch and let out a sigh.

“I’m Kuroka and she is my sister, Shirone.”

….

By now, I was already used to this.

I was even of the opinion that that damn potion might have become a permanent due to drinking too much of it.

Unlike human wizards, the demonic power in my body neutralised the poisonous effect of the frequent drinking of that potion.

There was also the fact that I had gulped that potion when I had taken the Demon’s Extract so it actually fusing with my blood is actually not out of the question.

“Well, I have some news for you two. First, you two were scammed by that fat pig. This house belongs to me and while it’s true that I was the member of the Demonic Fang, I wasn’t a permanent member and I haven’t hunted with them for over a year. By their policies, I must have been kicked out of that group one month after I left this place. Still, it doesn't change the fact that this house belongs to me and me alone.”

Kuroka, who was about to say something, shut her mouth at my last words.

“Second, did you meet someone else from the group or just that pig?” I asked.

“Just him. He said he would allow me to hunt in the pits as a part of the group and that he would directly talk to the captain to get me into the best team. Until then I had to avoid the rest of them so that others don’t complain if I am suddenly added to the best team. He then took money from me and sent us here saying that he would contact us. We only left today to hunt for something to eat.”

….

I massaged my head, my mind quickly understanding the implications of their words.

That fat pig….I knew the type of job he did on the side.

Smuggling and trafficking people of other races or some pillar devils who would pay a high price for them.

He however didn’t target any devils, not out of the kindness of his heart but rather because they won’t fetch a good price in the market. That was also the reason why I joined them despite the rumours….well, that and their lowest casualty rates during their hunts in pits.

These two….probably caught his eyes and were stuck here.

I just explained the situation to them. It’s better to come out clear in these kinds of things.

As expected, Kuroka’s face paled while Shirone….she didn’t understand what was going on.

It was honestly painful to watch the look of betrayal in Kuroka’s eyes.

It reminded me of my own face a few years back.

In a way, I was lucky to have the memories of my previous life and then to meet Dave who took me in soon after.

These two….they didn’t have any such privilege and were facing what I could have faced….actually, something much worse.

I looked as the look in her eyes changed to that of suspicion. “Why should I believe you?” She asked. “You could be trying to send us away so that you could get a place instead of me.”

….

“Me….trying to trick you….to get a place in a mid level hunting group?” I looked at them weirdly.

“Yes, I am very strong. You on the other hand don’t look that strong. What’s with that pink hair anyway.”

“It’s strawberry blonde!” I retorted.

She was taken aback at my retort but lashed back. “Like I care. You could be trying to remove competition by sending me awa….”

Her words weren’t finished as everything around her froze with a spike of ice a few inches from her eyes.

I snapped my fingers and the ice disappeared but the girl was terrified now.

“Trust me, I have no reason to trick anyone to join that team. Oh, and you are not my competition….at least not as you are now. You shouldn’t jump to conclusions like that. Didn’t Fujimai teach you anything…?” I suddenly realised what I said.

As expected the two girls froze and looked at me with wide eyes.

“You….knew Okaa-sama?”

I winced, quickly thinking of ways to solve this situation.

“I met her once or twice. I recalled the names Kuroka and Shirone and honestly, there is very little chance of that being a coincidence here. Two Nekoshou siblings, named exactly the same, with the same coloured hair and eyes….” I slowly weaved the lies and they looked more or less convinced and I let out a sigh. “Anyways, you people should leave this place.” I put a hand in my pocket and brought out a few golden Liliums and threw them on the bed. “Here’s some money if you need it. Trust me, I wouldn’t bother if I hadn’t been helped by her once.”

Kuroka looked at me and then at the coins, slowly taking them.

“You two can stay here for the night but leave in the morning when I leave. This place is not safe for you two.”

I wasn’t sure about bringing them with me as they knew about my real appearance and I didn’t trust them enough. I was not a saint.

Kuroka nodded and I flicked my wand transfigured one of the tables into another bed.

“You two can sleep there.” I told them before removing my cloak and laying on the bed.

Today had been mentally exhausting for me and I really didn’t have the power nor the mood to deal with any of this right now but not before using some security charms around my bed and some across the room.

Laying on the bed alone, I closed my eyes.

Somehow the bed which used to feel small before, was now feeling unusually empty now.

Maybe I was really used to having Lavy and Matsu sleeping with me.

__________________________________x___________________________________

Suddenly, my sleep was broken by the banging on the door.

“Kuroka. Kuroka, are you in there?” I heard the rough voice of a guy from the other side.

I turned towards the girl being addressed and saw her looking at the door in fear, while holding her sister close against her chest.

I put a finger on my lips, signalling them to be quiet.

One night of sleep….was it really so hard to ask for?

Quickly thinking of a plan, I flicked my wand, transfiguring a small compartment under the floor and signalled them to hide there.

Kuroka quickly nodded and dragged her sister down and I transfigured the compartment to hide them and opened the door myself.

Outside was the guy I remembered from a year ago. He was still as fat as before.

I didn’t even understand how he could be fat, especially with the limited transformation abilities which devils possessed.

Like it was literally as easy as continuously wanting to not be ugly and you be handsome as models.

It just showed that the guy didn’t even give a damn about his appearance or rather, he was too lazy to give a damn.

“Haa….who are you?” He shouted, looking at me.

Even from this distance, I could smell the scent of alcohol from his breath.

“I am the one who lives here.” I answered stoically. “The owner of the place.” I added, looking at the confusion on his face.

He stepped back for a moment, looked at the house and then looked inside.

“You liar. This house belongs to the Demonic Fang Hunter Group.”

“Bullshit. While I did work for the Demonic Fang group, I left around a year ago and I owed them nothing. This place is still mine. I have the papers too.” I replied back, raising my voice as I did.

He narrowed his eyes as he looked at me. “You are that brat who left without saying anything eh….”

“There were no rules for temporary members to inform anyone to leave the group.” I replied not backing down.

“Meh….not my problem. Where are the two girls, those nekomata?”

“What nekomata?” I pretended not to understand his words.

“Two girls, one black haired and one white haired with cat like ears. Where are they? They were supposed to stay here.” He questioned.

I feigned a look of confusion. “I haven’t seen anyone since I moved in and I have been here for over two days. Took me a while to replace all the furniture and clean the place. I didn’t see anyone come here.”

His face morphed into an even uglier and more demonic form.

“Those two….animals! They ran away. Damn it. I had such a good deal with the Naberius. Ahhhhhh!” He smashed the side of my wall, throwing a large chunk of the wall aside.

The Naberius.

So, he was really involved with those bastards. If so then this whole thing is far bigger than I can afford to piss off without attracting any attention.

“You….what are you doing?” I shouted, pretending to panic a bit, getting away a little from the door. I checked around to see if anyone else was outside.

There were none.

My privacy charms were not noticed but me moving back attracted the attention of the guy.

“You! It was your fault.” He grabbed my shirt, raising me in the air. “Do you know how expensive those two bitches were? They were Nekoshou….an extremely rare breed of Nekomata. If I could have sold those two, I could have lived decades with the money I earned from the deal. And now because of you, they are gone. Because of you!”

He tried pressing my neck and I could feel that he was strong….at least middle class level.

Too bad the man was too intoxicated to notice that it did nothing to me.

I flicked my wrist, the wand in my sleeve coming out. “Imperio.”

I noticed that I had to use more demonic power to force the spell than normal. Was it because he was stronger than my previous targets or was it because of his demonic power? Because there is no way I can see this guy as having the willpower to overpower the spell any day.

I know for once that High Class Devil children, both from pillar families and extra demons, get lessons to resist basic mind control as well as mind magic to wipe out memories and charm other people in the human world.

This gets harder as the other side has knowledge of magic but if someone doesn’t know the correct methods, even someone with Satan Class reserves could fall prey to basic hypnosis.

But did my Imperio work similarly or this fat pig have some formal training?

Then again, it made sense that he would have some degree of mental defences if he was dabbling in such businesses.

“Let me down.” I ordered and he let go of me.

I straightened my shirt, repaired it with another charm and then looked at the guy.

“Who are you and who else is with you here?”

“I am Magarath Belius, the vice leader of the Demonic Fang group. I am here alone.”

Good. I fixed the wall he had shattered and made him kneel a distance away from me, conjuring some chains and tying him up, casting an Unbreakable Charm on the chains.

“Who are you working for and will they find you here if they searched?”

“I am dealing with the Naberius House, providing them with people from different species. They are conducting some experiments on them. No. I kept this place a secret so that they didn’t steal those two girls by themselves.”

I took a deep breath and controlled myself and asked again.

“How many people have you sent here before this?”

“This was the first time. The two girls were very expensive. I knew this place belonged to a kid who had gone missing and hadn’t shown up in the town for over a year, probably died somewhere and so I hid them here.”

“Does anyone else know about your connection to this place?”

“No.”

“Will anyone try to find you in this place?” I asked again.

“No.”

I took a deep breath and opened the place where Kuroka and Shirone were hiding.

“You both heard it.”

The younger one was confused but scared while the older one was angrily looking at the pig.

“You have three options. Come with me. I will drop you at some other place from where you can go anywhere you like. Second, I could arrange for someone to take you to the Nura Clan, the Eastern Youkai faction of Japan. He knew your mother and might have a place for you two to grow. Third, you can leave on your own now but I doubt it would be safe. The Naberius are a well to do house and if they are searching for people of other species then you might be in danger if you stay anywhere near here. Choose.”

She just stared at me.

“I….we….the Nura Clan. Please take us to the Eastern Youkai faction.”

“I see. Okay. Wait here for me for a few minutes. I will be back.” I nodded at them and turned towards the fat pig.

Using the Dimensional Formation Shambala, I teleported us to one of the spots I had kept the mark in. This place was in the forests near the pits for just this kind of thing. Reaching there, I checked the area and found no one around and got to work.

I raised my hand to his face and my Demonic Power flared, freezing him completely.

Then with a wave of my wand, I transfigured him into a marble and crushed it and banished the marble all over the place before teleporting away from there.

When I reached back, the two sisters were huddled together.

I flicked my wand, erasing all traces of us being there and looked at the two girls. “Come. Make sure you don’t let go of my hands. And most importantly, completely forget whatever happened here today.” I ordered and they nodded seriously.

With them holding my hand tightly, I teleported away using Shambala.

I appeared near the building where C.C stayed and entered the place with the two girls.

Telling the two to wait downstairs, I walked up to where C.C’s office was.

As soon as I opened the door to her office, I had a gun pointed at my head.

“Who are you and what are you doing here?” The green haired witch looked at me with narrowed eyes.

And that’s when I remembered, I hadn’t shown her my real face.

“I am the one who made the deal with you Miss C.C. This is what I look like. I guess Matsu has told you about it.”

A look of realisation came to her face but she didn’t let down her gun. “Prove it.”

Sigh.

“The last person you bestowed the Geass to was Lelouch Vi Britannia.”

She lowered the gun with that statement.

“You have pink hair.” She said looking at my hair with a look of awe.

My eyes twitched. “It’s strawberry blonde.”

“No. It’s pink. Pink is cute.”

….

“I have two kids with me. Let them stay here for a while. I will pick them up in my disguise in a little while.”

She looked confused but nodded nonetheless.

We went down together and I introduced them to C.C as a friend.

“She will arrange for a way for you to get to the Nura Clan soon. If you need anything, you can ask her.” I patted Shirone’s head.

Kuroka bowed deeply. “Thank you. I will repay this favour to you one day.”

“Don’t mind. Just stay safe and grow stronger. You want to protect your sister, don’t you? Then train and become stronger. The world is very dangerous and when everything is gone, you only have your own power to rely on. You are lucky that you have a family member like her. Cherish her and look out for each other. Stay safe.”

I went outside and changed into my Ace disguise and teleported back to the mansion where I lived.

“Ace! You are back.” Lavy’s voice greeted me the first thing as I appeared in the room.

I noticed that she was in the process of changing into my shirt. Hasn’t she gone to sleep yet?”

Matsu’s room’s door opened almost instantly.

“Ace.” She came rushing in too. “Are you….umm alright now?”

“Yes. I am fine. You all haven’t gone to bed yet? It’s four am in the morning?”

“Well, we have a holiday today and Lavy was worried about you….I was worried too so we just stayed up watching some movies with each other. We were just about to go to bed when you came back. So, how was your trip? Did you get what you were looking for?” She asked as she helped me out of my cloak and I sat down on the bed.

“Yes. There were, however, some surprises.” I explained the situation to them in detail.

“So….you saved two girls who were about to be kidnapped and sold to others?” Matsu asked.

I nodded. “More or less, yes.”

“Those people were bad. You did the right thing.” Lavy added with a nod of her head.

“Anyways, the thing is, they know my real face.”

“The one with the pink hair.” Lavy asked.

“....it’s strawberry blonde.” I protested with a sigh

“Eh, it’s pink alright. I actually like it too. You look like an adorable cotton candy that I just want to gobble up.” Matsu giggled perversely.

….

“Anyways….” I took control of the situation before they double teamed me into their pace. “They don’t know who I am or what my name is so don’t accidentally tell them, alright. Here, I will just be the Magician Ace and no one else.”

“Got it.”

“Yes Sir.”

“Good, then I will bring the two sisters tomorrow. For now, I want to take a nap.” I said as I laid down on the bed.

They looked at each other and joined me on either side of me.

Hmm….this was much better.

- Saelena -

The meeting was finished as all of them finalised all the aspects of the competition, setting up rules for the competition and different rounds.

Ajuka expected the first competition to get participants in the tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands and only two hundred of them would be offered seats.

It was becoming evident to them, just how much of a loophole they had ignored all these years.

They obviously had to think of several rounds to the competition to reduce the number of competition.

Her plans were to sell tickets for the whole competition and use the collected money to open up places to educate the Low Class Devils and give them better opportunities.

There were no schools or even places where Low Class Devils could learn anything. The few privately owned businesses who provided such services were too costly for normal Low Class Devils.

While they couldn’t give out more seats to people at this point, they could always provide them with better opportunities at their current ranks.

And if everything went as they had planned then they could probably increase the number of references offered every competition too or decrease the gap between each Recommendation Games from Ten Years to something less….maybe four years like the Olympics at first.

All this work had kept them awake for the last few weeks but when she thought about the result of all this, she felt a smile on her lips.

“To think all this came out due to a kid playing around with bugs….” Falbium complained.

“Hehehehe, it was better than playing with Dragons. The youngest Ultimate Class Magician in history. That name has already spread like fire through all the pillar houses. Even my father was asking me about it. Too bad we didn’t have any ongoing contracts with High Class Magicians from Grauzaberer recently so we were not invited to the party.” Serafall laughed. “Any news from that side yet?” She asked, looking at Ajuka.

Saelena looked at him too.

While it might not look like it, Ajuka was probably the most excited one about the whole sentence/apprenticeship thing.

If she knew him even a bit then he would already have all the details about the kid in front of him.

“Today is the party to celebrate him becoming an Ultimate Class. I think McGreggor Mathers has gone there too along with several of the top Rating Games players.” He replied, looking at her.

She shrugged. “I haven’t talked to McGreggor for a while. I was busy with all this work.” She wasn’t even lying. She had been working overtime.

She in turn looked at Grayfia who nodded and connected to her bishop and got the gist of the party.

Invitations from Rating Game players and other magician organisations and an altercation with Bedeze.

“Well, the kid was always fiery. I can see him snapping at the douchebag.” Serafall said.

Just as they were talking, the communication magic circle in front of them lit up.

Ajuka projected the call on the screen in front of them and to their surprise, it was Mephisto.

“Talk of the devil.” Serafall joked as the man appeared.

“Good evening all of you. I didn’t expect to catch all of you together.”

“Good evening to you too, Lord Mephisto. I thought you would be busy with the party.”

“Oh, the party ended. Ace may be an Ultimate Class but he was still a kid. He has to keep his sleep schedules.” The man laughed at his own joke.

She smiled at his joke.

He looked at Ajuka. “I am here to ask about the schedule of his apprenticeship. Due to his new status, I have to make changes in all my classes and it would be a great help if you could tell me about what your schedules would be like.”

Ajuka looked in thought for a moment and shrugged casually. “Weekends would be fine although he would have to serve an entire sixty days so thirty weeks starting this weekend. If he does extra days, he can complete them early but if he misses weeks, he will have to work more weeks. I will however not permit anything more than a year to complete this. It is a punishment no matter how it sounds. ” He completed his words.

“That sounds just fine. You don’t have to worry about him. The kid is extremely professional at work.”

“It’s kinda difficult to believe, especially hearing that he had an altercation with Bedeze Abaddon just a few hours ago.” Falbium said, waking up briefly from his nap.

A wince appeared on Mephisto’s face followed by a look of slight anger.

“Whatever Bedeze got was what he deserved. If anything, I am quite proud of Ace for being able to hold back that much.”

“Oh? Wasn’t it just because of Bedeze something bad about his apprentice?” Serafall asked.

“That fool was insulting the daughter of Baraqiel and my pawn Shuri Himejima. Both the mother and daughter are quite close to Ace and consider him their saviour. The thing with Bedeze though….that was not that simple….sigh. You will get the boy at the weekend anyways, You will know then. Just spare me. I don’t want to give away the information and break our deal.” Mephisto shook his head and waved off the whole topic looking like he really wanted nothing to do with it anymore.

She raised an eyebrow at his cryptic words but didn’t say anything.

Ajuka and him negotiated some dates and he cut off the call leaving them to their work.

- Ace -

I woke up late in the morning, feeling refreshed.

The two girls were still sleeping, holding me in a stranglehold from both sides which would have suffocated normal people. Not that it mattered with my physique.

I didn’t disturb their sleep and slowly slipped out of the bed.

By the time I was ready, the two woke up too.

“Go-ood Morning.” Lavy greeted as she stretched.

Matsu cleaned her glasses and did the same in a sleepy tone.

“Morning. I will leave early today. Have some work to do.”

“Oh, are you going to bring the sisters?” Matsu asked me.

“Yes. I need to talk to Mephisto too. I guess there will be some changes for my class schedule with my new rank.”

On the way out, I went and met Shuri and Akeno.

They were already awake and had already prepared breakfast.

“Oh, you are back already. Lavy told me that you went out yesterday and would return later.”

“Yes, I came back at four in the morning. Those two were watching movies all night and slept very late. They will be out in a while.” I said as I got down to eat my food.

We talked about usual stuff today but I could see that both the mother and daughter were a bit more….loving than before.

It wasn’t to say they were faking it before but they felt much closer today.

Was it because of what happened yesterday?

“I will be bringing some guests today. They might have to stay here for a few days. I hope you won’t mind.”

“Eh, there won't be any problems. Don’t worry about it.”

I left the place and appeared at my office building where C.C lived.

Walking inside without knocking the door, I found a strange scene.

Pizza boxes all over the place while all three girls were lazing around on the couches and watching TV.

“Seriously, do you eat Pizza, three times a day?” I asked as I cleaned the whole thing with a snap of a finger.

“Five times.” The green haired girl replied without any shame.

“You know, you don’t have your code anymore. If you eat that much you will become….” I dodged the pizza box thrown at my face before I could complete my sentence.

“I exercise enough.” She said curtly and I didn’t pursue the topic any further.

“So, these two are the people whom you want to send to the Nura Clan?” I asked, looking at the two girls.

She just looked at me blandly. “Yes. It was a request from an idiot.”

….

“Alright. I will see what I can do. It might take a few days though. Come with me, you two.”

They looked at C.C and me alternatively.

“You should go with him. He might look scary but he won’t do anything to you.”

My lips twitched a bit at the girl’s words.

Kuroka stared at me, staring at me closely and narrowed her eyes a bit.

“Any problems, little miss?” I asked.

She shook her head and then turned to C.C and thanked her.

Shirone however hugged the green haired girl who caressed her head, especially her ears, making her purr. I even saw a smile on her face.

Oh, looks like the two of them get along quite well.

Then again, she has always had a penchant towards cute things and these two girls, especially Shirone, looked extremely adorable.

I took them and left for the mansion where we were staying.

On the way, Kuroka just kept staring at me suspiciously, so much so that I couldn’t help but ask. “Is there something on my face? What are you staring at?”

“Eh! N-no. It’s nothing.” She stuttered a bit and quieted down.

The mansion was nearby as Matsu still couldn’t teleport and neither could C.C and they needed somewhere close to work.

I directly took them to Shuri’s place as I could hear Lavy and Matsu’s voices coming from there.

They were probably having breakfast….although it was time for lunch by now.

“I am back.”

“Ace-kun. And these two are your guests, I presume.” Shuri, who was currently serving food to the two girls, looked at me and asked. “Oh my, what adorable guests. Ace-kun is really great with girls. What are your names, children?”

“The elder one is Kuroka and the younger is Shirone.” I introduced the two girls. “They will be staying with us for a while till I can find a way for them to get to the Eastern Youkai Faction in Japan.”

“The Nura Clan? I see. So these two are a part of the Nura Clan.”

“Hmm, not really. Their late mother had acquaintances in the Nura Clan. These two were apparently lost in the Underworld and were about to be trafficked by some foul people. They were saved by….a friend of a friend who brought them here. I was contracted to get them there.” I told them the excuse I had made last night.

I saw a sad look come to Shuri’s eyes as she looked at the two girls and then at Akeno.

To be honest, I could understand her thinking too. If it hadn’t been for our sudden visit, Akeno could have been in a similar situation.

“Would you two like to have breakfast?” She asked.

“I….we….we ate an hour ago.” Kuroka answered while Shirone just looked at the food, a slight drool on the side of her mouth.

“Yes. You all had pizza. That’s not good for your health. Seriously, all that girl has for food is pizza and then gets angry when I say she will get fat. Get something to eat here. I will go and talk to Mephisto and see if I can arrange something to get you to the Nura Clan soon.”

“Fat….you didn’t call C-chan, fat did you? That’s horrible, Ace.” Matsu said as she looked at me in horror.

Even the other girls did the same while Shuri just shook her head.

“I didn’t….call her fat. I said she would get fat if all she eats is pizza, three or as she accepted, five times a day. That’s not healthy.”

“You shouldn’t say such things to girls, Ace-kun. They will hate you for it.” Shuri chided.

Meanwhile, Shirone had already taken a seat beside Lavy who was caressing her ears while the girl purred in delight.

“I….will keep that in mind. Anyways, I need to go for now.”

“Take care.”

__________________________________x___________________________________

“The Eastern Youkai faction? I don’t have any dealings with them but if it’s just delivering someone there, then it might not be hard. Still, two Nekoshous you say. They would be great Peerage members. You could take those two in if you want.”

“Those two have had a hard life.”

“And I am sure you won’t treat them badly.”

“I think staying with some other youkai their age will be the best for their development. Nekoshou are extremely talented in Senjutsu and Youjutsu. While I could teach them magic, I doubt I could provide them with the ideal environment for their best growth.”

“That I can agree with. Very well, I will see what I can do. It might take some time though as I don’t have any direct connection with the youkai factions. Actually, Azazel might lend a hand here.”

I nodded at his suggestion. I did know that Azazel had dealings with the most number of factions among anyone from the Three Factions.

Devils didn’t have the best of the reputations and surprisingly, neither did Angels or the Church as they had encroached on the lands of other factions and done a lot of damage to them back when their father was alive….and long lived races don’t forget so easily.

In turn, the Fallen Angels who left their father’s side and even fought against him as well as the Devils, were welcomed by other factions more easily.

“On the other hand, your apprenticeship will be starting in one week. I hope you are ready for it.”

I sighed.

“Yes.”

“What will be the schedule?”

“It was decided that you would have to work there for two months but I negotiated as you couldn’t just disappear from the classes after becoming an Ultimate Class. Moreover, someone of your level has many other duties such as attending conferences and meetings. We agreed to let you serve the sixty days over a period of the next year. Every weekend, you can stay there and work and return. If there are official holidays here, you can work those out and end the sentence earlier too. This was the best I could get. Most of it was due to you becoming the youngest Ultimate Class though. Use it well.”

“Thank you.” I guess it really was the best I could get.

“You are welcome. By the way, find some time to give me a list of your free days. I need to arrange for your visit to the Golden Dawn for lectures.”

“Hmm.”

“Good. Then off you go. I need to prepare the documents for new students. Do you see all the work you have landed me with?” He said while pointing towards the pile of paperwork on his desk.

“It’s not that you dislike it?” I rolled my eyes, already used to his antics.

“Oh, on the contrary, I enjoy it more than I thought I would. Just imagining the time I would have when I brag to those bastards’ faces….So leave me alone to have some fun.”

….

“See you then.”

_________________________________x_____________________________________________________________________x____________________________________

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Author’s Note:

I am back with another chapter of ‘Ace in the Hole’

Few things happened in this chapter.

Ace met with Dave again and encountered two stray catgirls and rescued them

This chapter didn’t have any deals. Next one will probably have some of those.

Enjoy the new chapter.

Good Day, Peace Out.