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Chapter 462: Chapter 420

I caught her quickly, my Blue Genie giggling to herself. "Did you miss me?"

"Un." She nodded happily.

I quickly kissed her forehead, making her smile brightly.

"How was your day off?" Yasaka asked coming up and also stealing her own hug.

"It was...interesting." I strained a smile.

"Oh dear, it wasn\'t bad I hope?"

"I don\'t even know where to start. There\'s nothing that jumped out that made me vehemently reject the idea, but there were a few things I didn\'t quite like."

"We can\'t expect everywhere to be perfect." She responded.

"True, and it\'s not like she\'d be living there beyond school. Apparently they have a sort of racist inclination for their magical society. I was told it wasn\'t as bad in school, as one of the teachers is apparently a half-goblin. But it exists, rather openly at that."

Yasaka scrunched her nose.

"I can remedy that." Meridia offered.

"I\'m inclined to take you up on that offer."

"Please don\'t strip people of their opinions." I poked my Eldritch Goddess. Specifically, on the butt.

Squishy.

She swatted my hand away with a huff.

"They would never know the difference." She crossed her arms. She was...somewhat joking. But she knows how I feel about individual choice.

"And don\'t get me started on the actual system of Magic." I let out a sigh.

"Please, get started, I want to hear this." Medea poked her head out of the kitchen. "New Magic, what do?"

I blinked, she\'s apparently adapted to modern society quite well. "I couldn\'t figure it out in that small time frame."

Medea quirked an eyebrow. "And now I\'m genuinely interested."

"Would Kunou have trouble then? The whole purpose was for her to learn Magic." Yasaka stated.

"No, no." I waved it off. "I figured out how to actualize the spellcrafting, but the underlying mechanics escape me for now. It\'s transferable from the basic spell books I\'ve read thus far, but it\'s just extremely vague on how it operates."

"What, so you\'re able to cast the spells without knowing how they work?"

"Basically." I shrugged, taking out one of the first year spell books. "They literally teach first years just how to move their wands and articulate the spell words."

Medea frowned. "That doesn\'t make sense. How do they know what they\'re doing then?"

"Exactly my point." I agreed immediately. "But the later stuff seems to delve into actual understanding of what they\'re doing. I just didn\'t really have the time to read too deeply into it. You\'re welcome to read the books, I got two copies of everything, one for Jinn and one for Salem."

"You\'re the best~" Jinn squeed. "And it\'s sweet that you got some for Salem too. She\'s going to be thrilled."

"I\'ll take you up on that offer then." Medea nodded.

I turned to look at the others in the room who were waiting patiently. "Venelana." I smiled.

"Hello dear." She smiled, holding her arms open as if it were her turn, which it was.

I happily accepted the hug from the voluptuous woman. "You seem to be in a good mood."

"Of course, I\'m going to finally fill my Queen." She beamed.

I raised an eyebrow at Mozart who was also sitting at her side.

"I admit I am equally excited." He matched her expression.

"Oh." I clapped my hands. "Got a couple other things." I flipped my hand over, and produced a certain radiant feather. "Got this from a Phoenix." I held it up from them to see.

Before I could even say anything else, Medea was in my face. "I want it."

"No way, get your own."

"Please, do you have any idea how rare Phoenix feathers are?"

"Yes, there\'s literally a common saying that refers to things that are rare as being equivalent to Phoenix Feathers."

"....shut up I want it." She pouted cutely.

"No way, I was going to give it to Kunou."

She stiffened before sighing. "Ugh, fine. I can\'t really deny that then. How about I turn it into a Mystic Code for her?"

I mulled that over. "I don\'t have a problem with that, I was probably going to do something similar. It has very strong protective properties."

"Yoink." She practically ripped it from my hands and already put it away before I could offer any means of protest. "How\'d you even get one? Phoenix\'s aren\'t exactly common, even during my Era. They\'re technically Divine Beasts."

"Apparently the Headmaster of the School there has a Phoenix as a Familiar."

"....huh."

"My thoughts exactly. But it speaks to his character at least. Phoenix are creatures that prefer the lighter side of the spectrum. Not to the same extent as a Unicorn, but a Phoenix wouldn\'t be a familiar of a bad person...probably."

"So he just gave you one?" Yasaka asked. "And does this imply you met with him to set up a meeting?"

"I sent a letter...which is apparently facilitated through owls....or in his case, his Phoenix. But I actually got it after challenging the bird to a drinking contest, or something like that. It\'s a bit of a blurr..."

"You said words, they had meanings individually, but when you put them all together, I find myself unable to comprehend them." Medea responded.

"....As long as you had a good time." Yasaka shook her head, giving me a light pat on the cheek. "And didn\'t cause any trouble.....right?"

"Nothing that can be proven." I said immediately.

".....good enough I suppose."

"Anyways, shall we get this show on the road?" I clapped my hands. "I\'m sure Meridia doesn\'t like being held up like this as we just chat."

"I do not mind." Meridia said simply. "I made sure to procure enough time in my schedule to be here. I enjoy these moments."

"Aww~" Jinn quickly wrapped up the Eldritch Goddess in a big hug.

Meridia, still stiffened despite the normal occurrence, but quickly accepted the Genie\'s affection. And didn\'t even bat an eye when Jinn didn\'t release her.

"Did you guys start already?" Mordred pushed open the front door, hollering to everyone inside.

"Nope, you\'re right on time!" Jinn answered back.

"Awesome." Mordred hoped in, followed by Artoria and Jeanne.

"Not that I\'m against it, but why is everyone here?"

"You think I\'m gonna miss seeing someone turn into a Devil?" Mordred asked.

"....I was curious." Jeanne said quietly.

Cute.

"I admit my interest is piqued." Artoria said simply.

"Same with me in all honesty." Medea spoke up. "I want to see these things that can overwrite someone\'s soul."

"You are the new one, yes?" Meridia looked at Jeanne.

"Um....Wilhelm just brought me here?" Jeanne looked confused. "H-hello?"

Meridia inspected her for a long moment. "You have a beautiful soul. It makes me envious that it is claimed by another."

"T-thank you?" Jeanne awkwardly replied.

She turned back to me. "I approve."

"W-what does that mean?" Jeanne looked around, confused by what was happening.

I just patted her head. "Do you want me to spell it out for you?" I couldn\'t help but grin.

She puffed up cutely, looking like she was about to swing her little fists at me as she tended to do.

"Anyone else then? Are we waiting for any more people to come?"

"we have one more." Yasaka responded, her tail brushing against my arm while she held her own Kaleidophone in her hand, presumedly messaging someone. "Otherwise, everyone else is preoccupied with other things."

"Thank you for waiting." Another familiar voice quickly opened the door. Izzy strode in like she rushed over here.

"I didn\'t think you would be interested." I was mildly surprised to see Izzy hurriedly come over. "Happy to see you regardless though." I stole a quick kiss on her cheek as she came over.

"Normally, it isn\'t something that would interest me. But this isn\'t a normal occurrence." She pointed out.

"True." I couldn\'t deny that.

"If we\'re going to begin..." Venelana stood up from her seat, she was holding a rather ornate looking box. She opened it to reveal a set of chess pieces, they were a color of a baleful red and I could practically taste the demonic nature pulsing from them.

Meridia\'s nose scrunched in obvious disgust.

I quickly took her hand in reassurance. Not that she was feeling unwell due to their presence, but that they were just something she despised at her core. She had expressed on multiple occasions that she didn\'t voice her thoughts on some things purely because they existed outside her home, but that didn\'t mean she liked them.

I looked at the full set, not a single one of them used yet. "I don\'t know the...social rules according to these things. Would it be rude if I asked to look at one?" I asked Venelana.

She let out a small laugh. "They\'re considered something very personal. But not in the sense that you\'re not allowed to touch them or anything like that." She held it up to me. "Feel free to take a look."

Well, with permission granted I poked a few before taking out a pawn. Medea was also practically pushing her face against mine as she too looked at it closely.

"What do you think, a total sublimation of the soul by cannibalizing part of the existing Saint Graph then filling in the pieces with \'Devil\' Data?" I asked.

"The Devil Data, as you say, acting as a sort of virus that then spreads and replaces every other part, working its way through their entire Saint Graph until their Origin changes?" Medea hummed.

Jinn pushed her head next to ours as well. "That would make the actual \'Evil Piece\' unnecessary. From what I understand, the Evil Piece acts as the focal point. It\'s not a sublimation, but a mutation."

"That\'s true." Medea pursed her lips. "It would be significantly more difficult if the \'Evil Piece\' attempted sublimation. But for mutation to occur, that would imply that Devilhood is a direct path from the concept of \'human\'."

"Devils apparently were birthed from one of the first humans of the Abrahamic Mythos." Jinn pointed out.

"That would explain how other species can be turned into devils. Off the top of my head I don\'t think that there isn\'t any other \'race\' on the planet that doesn\'t have a direct link to Humanity, other than Deities. And it\'s well known that Deities can\'t be turned." I voiced my thoughts as well.

"Amusing, so an Evil Piece requires there be some link to humanity to work? That\'s kind of ironic if you think about it." Medea chuckled.

"Isn\'t there a dragon that was turned into a Devil?" Jinn asked.

Me and Medea shared a look.

She frowned. "There goes that theory then."

I shrugged. "We\'re just making casual guesses." I had forgotten about dragons, but then I realized my mistake elsewhere too. Hell, we were just talking about Phoenix\'s and that was another one. "But it\'s undeniable that the Devilhood acts as a sort of invasive data virus that overtakes the original Saint Graph."

"That\'s obvious, it\'s not like this process is natural by any means." Jinn nodded. "It explains some of the things I\'ve read. Apparently Newly Reincarnated Devils need to be close to their \'King\'. My guess is that the \'King\' acts as a sort of control beacon to the \'Virus\' that consumes the original host\'s soul and uses it as a \'reference\' on how the new Devil should look. If they\'re away for too long, the \'virus\' goes out of control or it moves in ways it\'s not supposed to, causing unintentional mutations." Jinn summarized.

Medea took the piece into her hand and held it up to her eye. "Regardless, it can\'t be denied that this is an extremely elegant and beautiful piece of magic."

High praise coming from one of the greatest Magic Users ever.

"Did you just analyze the mechanics of the Evil Piece, which is supposed to be a secret?" Venelana asked.

Medea shrugged, putting the piece back into the box. "It\'s not like it\'s difficult. I doubt that it\'s actually a secret outside of your Devil Society. Don\'t get me wrong, it\'s very complicated. Just looking at the surface of the spells interwoven in that little thing....it would take me probably months to actually fully unravel the full spell sequence."

"I have no comment. Magic was never my area of expertise." Venelana just shrugged too.

"Did you notice that it wasn\'t whittled down into the shape of a chess piece but it was devised as a chess piece first?" I asked.

"I thought I was mistaken." Jinn giggled.

"I wasn\'t going to say anything. But that\'s weird that they would design the container purposely as a Chess piece and it wasn\'t just something they were like \'Hey let\'s do a chess theme\'." Medea snorted. "Which, sort of makes it more impressive."

Oh well, I kind of stopped caring about the thing. I wasn\'t going to waste my time delving into it when I actively disliked the things.

"Are you done?" Meridia asked. Not in an impatient way, but more like she just wanted to get it over with.

"All yours." I got out of her way.

The others, well, they were just standing quietly, watching the show.

"I want it to be known that I dislike these." Meridia grumbled. "I do not like the idea of turning something like a Heroic Spirit into a Devil." Her lips pursed. "But this is neither my home, nor my business."

The silent acknowledgment being that something like this wouldn\'t fly with her if it was based on stuff from her home.

Which....was a fair boundary to have.

"I am truly grateful." Venelana expressed.

Meridia\'s expression softened. "Yes, I would not help if one of you did not ask." She replied simply. Her way of saying that she was trying to be caring towards her \'mortal\' Harem Sisters.

"I had a random thought." Yasaka spoke up. "Are you technically able to get your own Evil Pieces? I know you don\'t want any and particularly don\'t like them, I\'m just curious." She said while directing the question to me.

"I....have no idea."

"Technically?" Venelana looked thoughtful. "You could probably get them just due to how high profile you are."

"It\'s not like I would use them for anything –" I paused because I had a sudden....idea. I glanced at the chess-shaped objects and then at Jinn. "ow." I suddenly jerked because someone pinched me.

"You deserved that." Izzy said, not apologizing for pinching me.

"I didn\'t do anything."

"It\'s obvious what you were thinking." She rolled her eyes.

"...I admit to nothing." I said quietly.

But in the safety of my own mind, I\'ll still play with the idea of getting a set of Evil Pieces and treating them like I did Jinn\'s lamp, but for everyone else.

"I would give you my Queen piece." I whispered to Izzy.

She flushed slightly, having trouble keeping her expression even.

"Alright!" I clapped my hands. "Let\'s do this. I wanna see a Heroic Spirit get turned into a Devil."

"Wonderful!" Mozart stood up with an exclamation. "Madam." He bowed to Meridia. "I thank you from the bottom of my heart for this opportunity."

Meridia didn\'t respond, merely nodding briefly his way.

"I will be using this." Venelana said, taking the Queen piece – a Mutated one at that – out of her box before closing it. "How do you want to do this?" She asked, looking at Meridia.

"Proceed normally, I will make sure the process operates as you would desire."

Venelana looked nervous but complied. Mozart quickly joined her at the side and she pressed the Evil Piece into his chest. A red light suddenly enveloped him as she inserted the piece into his body.

There were a few moments as we all watching quietly, waiting for something to happen.

"...did it work?"Mozart was the first to ask.

"No." Meridia said bluntly. "I have not acted yet, I was watching it. Your....you call it a \'Saint Graph\'...it is rejecting this Evil Piece, thus it cannot turn you normally."

"Not surprising, it\'s the expression of humanities\' worship and collective acknowledgement that crystallizes their vessel in the first place. A Servant\'s Saint Graph is naturally resistant to modification, it takes quite a bit to modify one." Gramps only felt comfortable using the Grail. Scáthach did mention that it was technically possible to alter a Saint Graph through the use of Primordial Runes, but she said she didn\'t wish to experiment with it for various reasons.

"Very well, I shall assist." Meridia grunted. She merely placed a hand on his shoulder, and he was consumed with a red light.

Horns sprouted from his head, a maleficent tail shot out from behind. Large, bat-like wings sprang out of his back and his eyes glowed an evil red. His hands turned into claws, and his legs turned into cloven hoofs and –

"Stop playing around." Meridia slapped my shoulder. "Dismiss your illusion."

"Party pooper." But I relented and released the illusion I cast the moment the room lit up. Honestly, it was significantly more mundane.

There was actually no outer change to his appearance.

However... "Our Master Servant contract just broke." I revealed.

"I felt it as well." Mozart looked at his hands. "I.....I feel alive."

"You are now a living being proper." Meridia released him from her grip. "Everything should work fine now, it was not too difficult."

"Wait, that\'s it?" Mordred asked. "Shit, I was getting excited until you said it was just an illusion and....nothing freakin changed." She huffed in annoyance.

"....It was sort of anticlimactic." Medea noted.

"The only physical difference from humans are our wings...mostly." Venelana explained.

Just as she said that, bat-like wings sprang out from behind Mozart. "Oh my." He blinked, inspecting himself. "That is an odd sensation."

"Ah, I remember my first time." I nodded with a hint of nostalgia.

"If that is all – "

Before Meridia could finish, Venelana nearly threw herself at the Eldritch Goddess. Similar to how Jinn did it, Meridia stiffened slightly, perhaps even surprised, more so than when it\'s Jinn. "Thank you." Venelana whispered.

Meridia had a hint of a smile appear. "You are welcome."

"Welp, this was a waste of time." Mordred grumbled.

"Mordred." Artoria sighed.

"Don\'t act like you\'re not thinking the same thing." She snorted. "Anyways, I\'m gonna bounce. Wanna come Frenchie, or stay here?

"Um...well, I would like to stay...if that is alright?" Jeanne stumbled a little.

"Aight, later then." She flicked her hand, and didn\'t look back as she walked out the door.

"Welcome to Devilhood." I offered to Mozart. "That\'s all I got cause I\'ve never actually been to Hell so I have no idea what you\'re going to encounter."

"It\'s strangely a rather nice place." He replied. "My King was kind enough to give me a tour of some rather interesting places while we were away."

"Speaking of, we still need to register you." Venelana had already released Meridia.

"Register?" I tilted my head.

"Yes? Don\'t you recall from the Peace meeting. My Son said he would start recording the use of Evil Pieces better."

"Ah."

"You forgot?" Yasaka looked at me.

"No, I just thought they were going to bullshit until everyone forgot in a few centuries."

"I can\'t say that isn\'t something that was probably considered. But in this case, they are....somewhat taking action to do what they said. They recently implemented the laws that you have to register any new Peerage members within a month of gaining them, bar extenuating circumstances."

"I find myself oddly skeptical." Yasaka said softly.

"Well, there isn\'t any actual punishment for not doing so. At least none of the books so...do with that what you will." Venelana shrugged.

"Yup, there it is." Yasaka snorted.

"Well...that is going to open up some interesting questions when you\'re asked." I mused.

"I thought it would be entertaining." Mozart looked amused. I could guess that he wasn\'t going to be entirely truthful.

Venelana nestled herself against me. "Thank you as well." She looked up at me warmly. "This has turned into one of the best days I\'ve had in a long time."

"As long as you\'re happy." I smiled back. Then I realized something else I forgot to mention. "I almost forgot!"

"Is there something wrong, Wilhelm?" Artoria asked.

"I have an announcement to make. We have a new member of our strange....family."

"Oh my, did you add another woman to your harem?"

"Oh Hestia, this train wreck is better than T.V." Medea cackled off to the side.

Due to Venelana\'s comment, my girls were looking at me with a mix of concern and a hint of perhaps anger at the thought.

Of course I wouldn\'t just push a new lover onto them so suddenly.

"Not me." I took out Sir Wiggles from my storage. Much less entertaining than pulling him out of my hat, but what could I do when Olga was still using it?

"I forgot you had a bunny." Jeanne cooed.

"Hey, show some respect to your king!" I scoffed.

"P-pardon?"

"You stand before, Sir Wigglesbottom Fluffytail Octavius Benedict III, Crown Prince of the Emerald Kingdom, Duke of Carrot Island, General of the northern Armies, Lightning born, The Devil Slayer. Head of Chaldean department of Phantasmal Beasts. And the newly ascended to the throne, King of France!" I held him up as I exclaimed his many glorious titles.

There was a pause that Jeanne just blinked at me.

"I am not kidding by the way."

"What...?"

"I asked Marie in the singularity. She anointed him the actual King of France."

"I-it doesn\'t work like that...."

"The Royal Family of France was dead. Marie, as the former Queen had the highest claim to the throne, thus Sir Wiggles is the proper King of France."

"That\'s not how it works!" She quickly tried to deny.

"Let\'s ask an expect. Artoria, is Sir Wiggles the rightful King of France?"

"It sounds correct to me." She replied, not missing a beat.

"There you have it, bow before your new king!" I smooshed him into her face.

"Neh!" She made one of her strange noises, despite giving Sir Wiggles lots of little rubs.

I will hold this over her head forever.

"Ignore him, dear." Yasaka hugged the Penniless Saintess. "He likes to play around with his familiar."

"It\'s real, I\'ll even get Marie to confirm it." I argued. "But that\'s not what I was going for. A side benefit, but not my purpose. She\'s a little shy, so please be patient." I said as one more little bunny joined our group. "Meet Lady Wiggles, Sir Wiggles\' girlfriend."

She floated up into the air, landing next to Sir Wiggles and they began moving around the room as all the girls cooed at them. It was hard to not be immediately taken by the adorable pair.

"As pleased as I am to see you have a mate for your familiar...I must return." Meridia bit her lip, watching the two. Even an Eldritch Goddess was not immune to the floof.

"Kiss?" I asked.

She leaned over, sharing a quick and intimate moment with me. "I will be available if you require my assistance." And by that she meant, that I better go to her for help if I needed it.

I nodded and she disappeared from the living room.

"Well, this has turned into a strange day." Yasaka noted, watching as everyone played with the two bunnies. Jinn was on the floor with the two of them nearly immediately.

"You\'re telling me. I\'m still nursing a bit of a hangover. Drank too much Magic Alcohol from that world, not used to that sort of thing."

"Magic Alcohol?" Venelana perked up. "I want to know more, but I also want to go register...."

"I brought a lot back with me. Go do your thing, I\'m not going anywhere."

She looked at me with a beautiful smile. "You\'re so good to me." She shifted her gaze to Mozart. "Ready to go, my dear Queen?"

Mozart cackled. "Yes, my king."

I felt like they were just enjoying playing the whole \'peerage\' thing like a game.

Venelana lit up a Magic Circle and the both of them disappeared, going to wherever they needed to go.

"So you handled everything in that world that you needed to do?"

"Yup, we got a meeting set for two weeks from yesterday. Which is.....some amount of time for us, I\'m not sure what the time correlation is. I\'ll calculate it tomorrow."

"Good. And what are your thoughts about it?"

"Eh, not bad I don\'t think. The Magic there is actually somewhat interesting, but it looks rather lower tiered than what I\'m used to. But since It\'s just for Kunou to build a foundation, then it\'s acceptable. Did you know they use wands there? Like....all of them. It\'s the norm."

"Wands?" Medea peeked over to our side of the room. "How trite. A good staff is usually better."

"It\'s not a matter of like....social etiquette or any kind of fashionable statement. Like, they literally need to use wands. Well, most of them probably do. They don\'t actually have a type of Magic Container, instead the wand acts as a pseudo one that connects the Magical Energy in their body to the Mana of the world to actualize spells."

"Huh, that seems odd."

"Tell me about it. Took me forever to cast one of their most basic spells until I found out."

"I could imagine. A simple fix, you just need to connect with the outside Mana directly."

"Exactly." She figured it out with a few words. "That reminds me, I tried to get a wand made, but I didn\'t really resonate with any of the wands there so I was going to get some custom pieces for the guy to make me one."

"....any reason you need one?"

"Nah, just want one to have it."

She shrugged. "As good a reason as any."

"Got a bunch of goodies. But....I\'ll say I\'m not against that place, but It\'s not something I\'m thrilled about."

"Is that because of how you perceive the place or because you\'re worried about Kunou?" Yasaka questioned.

"...admittedly, about 90% of my reservations are the latter."

Yasaka just chuckled, wrapping her tail around my waist. "We can talk about it more after seeing this \'school\'. I\'m sure Kunou would enjoy a trip there to see it."

"Yup, it\'ll be fun."

"That reminds me, I received a letter myself."

"Oh, a secret admirer?" I teased.

She rolled her eyes. "I have my people burn those these days."

"Wait, you still get some?" I blinked.

"Oh you\'re cute." She pinched my cheek. "Do you think it stops just because I have a man now?"

"I would assume..."

"No dear. If anything, they increased. Lots of offers for subtle meetings that no one needs to know about." She let out a sigh.

"I have no words..."

"Believe me, I know. I\'ve had to get a bit more firm with the senders, but that\'s really only slowed it down since. Otherwise, I have my people just burn them all, like I said." She shrugged. "But I\'m going off topic, I received a letter from the Devils! And I should have probably brought this up while Venelana was here, but it slipped my mind in the excitement of everything happening."

"Should I preemptively scowl in annoyance?"

"You know, I\'m actually not sure. It\'s a rather...strange request...they are requesting your presence. Something about putting a team together to fight the Khaos Brigade?" She sounded confused about even speaking.

"Dammit Odin." I let out a sigh.

He worked damn fast though. That was like....a day or so ago he proposed the idea? And now they were already sending out invitations.

"Welcome to my life." Izzy looked across the room. I don\'t even think she knew what we were talking about but as soon as I said that, she immediately registered it with sympathy.

"Right, he said he was going to do some stupid thing like this. Partly for his amusement, partly because he thought it would be a good idea to keep most eyes away from everything else."

"....that\'s not a horrible train of thought."

"....are you suggesting I....join?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, not at all. I mean if you want, I wouldn\'t say anything. But don\'t treat this as me trying to push you that way."

"Yeah, I gotcha." I found myself sighing again. "It sounds completely....ugh."

"Ugh?" She repeated.

"I didn\'t have any proper words to describe the feeling I was experiencing."

She giggled. "I think that\'s a perfect way to respond. I\'ll gladly send them a rejection. I just hope they don\'t keep bothering me."

".....it won\'t hurt you any if you reject on my behalf, would it?"

"Well, not in any meaningful way."

"Would it be better if I rejected in person? Like....more politically polite?"

"It would give them some face." She admitted. "Like if you showed up, rejected the thing and left after the meeting or what have you."

"I\'m....trying to be more cautious of the political state I put you in. I don\'t want someone to be able to take jabs at you because I told them to fuck off." I still felt bad about dropping the Indra mess into her lap.

"Oh Wilhelm." Her expression softened. "I am extremely grateful that this is your main consideration. But....you don\'t have to join anything. Frankly, it would be worse for our position if you did join in the long run. But if you want to just go over there and put in a token appearance and then decline any offers...that would probably be the best case scenario."

I was glad she was being honest and not trying to just spare my own distaste for the whole thing.

Part of being a partner to someone was helping with burdens when possible.

"I\'m surprised though. You would normally vehemently reject any possibility of associating with the Devils. Bar Venelana, of course."

"I.....don\'t want to just keep pretending that they don\'t exist, you know? Don\'t get me wrong, I\'m never going to be on good terms with their faction or society, or whatever. But burying my head in the sand whenever anything devil related pops up isn\'t a good mental state to have."

"I\'m proud of you." She said softly. "If you want an actual reason to go, I can give you one if it makes you feel better."

"Oh?"

"Kunou is a huge fan of Magical Girl Levi-tan."

I scrunched my nose. "I did remember that, but I think I sort of repress the whole concept whenever it\'s mentioned."

One of the four leaders of Hell dresses up as a Magical Girl and has her own t.v. show....which Kunou absolutely adores.

I admit, it\'s a special kind of hell for me that only a real devil could cook up. I could make Kunou a better magical girl than that woman ever could.

"And as the head of foreign affairs, it stands to reason that she would be managing this \'event\'."

"Yeah...I get where you\'re going with this. Her birthday is coming up really soon...may as well get started on the gifts."

I was definitely not going to get caught up in any \'super team\' bullshit ideas they had going on, but I guess I could drop in and politely reject their stupid invitation.

"And Venelana has been bothering me about a \'dinner\'.... that\'s rude, let me rephrase. I don\'t want it to sound like she\'s annoying me or anything like that. She\'s brought up the idea of meeting some people, which...I\'m not entirely against. I suppose since I\'m going to be in Hell, I may as well....bite the bullet so to speak."

Yasaka just looked at me. "Yes, I\'m sure a family dinner with the Gremory family will go splendidly."

Why did she sound sarcastic?

[***]

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