Chapter 84: The Unclaimed Crown
He was quite pleased, he reflected, that even as old as he was, life was still capable of surprising him. It was comforting in a way. No matter how long he had existed for, there was still more to discover, more to understand.
“I am guessing we all know why this meeting was called.” Shalba spoke, the Beelzebub showcasing just how much of a disappointment he was as he did so.
Oh, there was nothing wrong with his words, it was the clear worry that they held as he spoke them. Rather than calmly assessing this new variable, he feared it. It was understandable, of course, but no less disappointing.
“We all saw the news.” Creuserey was the next to speak, “It appears that we need to change our plans.”
“I do not see why we should do that.” Rizevim finally interjected, calmly looking down at the picture that had been placed in front of him from the head of the table, “If anything, this is a windfall for us.”
“My Lord…” Katerea hesitantly started, moving as she did so and wincing from the pain of doing so, “If there is another Lucifer-”
“What’s this?” Euclid drawled, examining his fingernails from Rizevim’s right, “The one who lost the Ouroboros thinks that she can advise our Lord?”
“Now now, Euclid.” Rizevim didn’t look up as he chided the eager boy, “Katerea has already been punished for her mistake. Although, with this new knowledge, such an outcome was inevitable.”
“True enough.” Euclid grinned, satisfaction clear on his face.
That is why Rizevim allowed him to whip Katerea for her lapse, rather than doing it himself. Both the stick and the carrot needed to be used at the correct time, should you wish to keep order.
Still, perhaps he had been a bit hasty in punishing the faux Leviathan. After all, someone who was worthless enough that her ancestor’s blood refused to grant her its bounty would not stand a chance against a Lucifer.
The fact that it wasn’t a detriment to his plans and in actuality allowed him to act with greater haste and efficiency was irrelevant to the decision. She had lost a powerful asset, and so she was punished.
“My Lord, if I may?” Shalba could not contain his cowardice any longer, “What are we going to do about Damocles?”
“Nothing.” The answer shocked the room, causing him to sigh.
Truly, he was surrounded by idiots.
“He has the Ouroboros.” Creuserey spoke, hesitantly, “Should we not act before it empowers him further?”
Rizevim sighed, finally looking up from the picture of his new relative and fixing the room with an unimpressed stare, “Damocles is being a very considerate nephew to me, my slow-witted friends. It is obvious that he has been preparing to go to war with the current leaders of the Underworld, meaning that to profit all we need do is to let him.”
“I see.” Shalba deflated in unseemly relief, “We let them bleed each other dry then defeat the victor.”
“Bravo.” He smiled, genuinely impressed that the dullard had grasped that by himself.
“So we just let him humiliate us? We allow him to usurp our Lord’s rightful throne?” Katerea spat, causing Rizevim to roll his eyes.
“Shut your mouth, you utter failure.” Euclid spat, rage burning in his heart, “You were the only one of us to be humiliated. Don’t dare presume to use our Lord to satisfy your personal grudge!”
“Hmm, Euclid has a point.” Rizevim hummed, turning the page of the folder in front of him, reading up further on his new relative, committing each word to memory.
“My Lord?” Katerea weakly asked, hurt in her tone.
Honestly, his hangers on were such a handful sometimes.
“Your issues with Damocles are personal, Katerea.” He spoke, “Should you desire to avenge yourself on him, I will not stop you.”
“You mean… Yes My Lord! I shall make you proud!” The Leviathan descendant perked up, smiling widely.
Rizevim wished to roll his eyes. Hopefully, his nephew would do him another favour and teach the brat some humility.
After all, a Leviathan was nothing in the face of a Lucifer. As the elder, obviously he should be the senior of the two, but he promised himself that he would treat his younger relative well. As the last two true Lucifers, they should look out for each other, after all.
Perhaps, after he had won, he would even allow Damocles to keep the little pets he had gathered for himself.
Reading through the profiles on each of them, he smiled indulgently.
Honestly, his nephew was such a greedy boy.
---XXX---
She purred as she stretched, the light shining down from up above warming up her spread-out body deliciously, in a way that was immensely comforting.
“Hey, Rin.” The voice of an annoyance spoke from beside her, “How come these guys get a sun in their Hell and we didn’t?”
“It was made by one of their leaders, Okuu. Did you not pay any attention when Mistress told us about it?” She asked, already knowing the answer.
“Nah, it seemed really long and complicated.” The bird hummed, “She’s married the white haired guy, right? That’s why we’re living at his place now.”
“No.” She rolled, allowing the sun to warm her front as well, “They aren’t married.”
“Oh.” Okuu sounded confused.
Which meant she was about to be annoying.
“But they are living together.”
“They are.”
“Mistress likes him.”
“She does.”
“He likes her and came a long way to see her.”
“He did.”
“Then why aren’t they getting married?” She tilted her head, confused.
Rin opened her eyes, rankled that her nap had been interrupted, before she was struck with a brilliant idea, “Hey, Okuu?”
“Yeah, Orin?” The bird spoke ,smiling widely, “You going to answer my question?”
“Look at this.” Rin passed a rectangle to the bird, who looked down on it, confused.
“There are circles on it.” She pointed out, redundantly.
“Tap on them.” The taller girl did so, starting slightly when a click sounded out.
Tilting her head, she tapped on another, with another click following after. Soon she was tapping away furiously, all her attention swallowed up by the simple game.
Orin nodded, before she lay back down, stretching herself out comfortably once more.
The giant, multi-headed dragon who had been resting next to them opened the eyes of her nearest head languidly, staring down at her.
“I like you.” The dragon rumbled.
Orin grinned, the feeling was mutual. After all, it was rare she found such a good napping partner.
---XXX---
“My meeting is soon.” I spoke to the head of white hair leaning into my chest, earning a soft hum from its owner, “I will need to get ready.”
“No.” Came the reply, muffled as it was past a brownie, “I’m not done yet.”
I sighed, smiling as I stroked her head, “You’re especially needy today. What could the reason be, I wonder?”
Shiro played dumb, merely nibbling on her treat and soaking up my affections, not indicating anything.
“Perhaps the precious little sister is jealous.” CC’s voice was accompanied by a smirk as she watched the exchange, arms crossed as she leant against the door.
Shiro stiffened at the accusation, but then relaxed herself. It appeared that my Queen had hit the nail on the head.
“You think so?” I hummed, “Is she right, Shiro? Are you jealous of the newest members of our family?”
“They aren’t our family yet.” She grumbled, “Not until you get all close to the pink one.”
“So you are jealous.” Her ears turned red, but her face was otherwise carefully controlled, “That is odd, though. When it came to Selene, you were not this affected and she deliberately tried to antagonise you. So, my cute, smart and elegant little Shiro, what has you so put out by Satori?”
She turned her head away at my compliments, refusing to answer. I fondly shook my head and looked towards CC, whose face was in an uncharacteristically gentle smile. She caught my gaze and rolled her eyes, but the smile remained.
“Oya, what’s this?” A cheerful voice asked, the green and yellow clad form of Koishi popping up as if from thin air, despite the door to the room being closed. CC started with surprise at the sudden appearance and Shiro jumped in fright from where she was sitting on my lap causing me to have to quickly wrap my arms around her small waist to stop her from falling off.
“I wish you would stop doing that.” CC muttered darkly, leaning back against the door.
“Doing what?” Koishi asked, tilting her head as she did so.
“You know exactly what.” CC informed her,
“Not really.” Koishi shrugged, before turning to Shiro and scrunching up her face, placing her chin on her hand in thought, “What’s got Shiro so frowney?”
“She’s sulking because her beloved big brother went and got more woman to spend time with instead of her.” CC spoke, with her characteristic lack of delicacy.
Unfortunately, she was speaking to someone with even less shame than her, as Koishi merely shook her head, “Nah, that isn’t it. It’s because Damocles lets us read his mind, right? You wish you could do it too?”
That was a theory that I had been considering, but I wasn’t surprised that Koishi pulled it out. Of everyone in the room, I was the only one that had lowered my defences, so her third eye had been solidly staring at me ever since she showed up.
Koishi tilted her head left and right as I felt her rummage through my memories and thoughts, “Hmm, hmm, I see, aha! So that’s how it is!”
She shot forward, grabbing Shiro’s hands and tugging on them, trying to pull her out from my lap. I released my hold on her, getting a look of betrayal from the girl as she was dragged by Koishi to her feet.
She started to struggle, the strength her little body was able to exert obviously surprising the yokai, who tilted her head at the girl when she asked, “What are you doing?”
Koishi smiled in response, happily explaining, “To go see Onee-sama! I’m not good with all this thinking stuff, so I’m going to get her to explain everything to you!”
“Then we can finally get ready for the meeting that is in… fifteen minutes.” CC nodded, straightening herself away from the door and opening it, “That works.”
“I’m not going. Go speak to your sister yourself.” Shiro wasn’t much of a fan of this plan.
“Oya?” Koishi grinned as she asked, “Don’t you want to know what your Big Brother thinks about you? It’s super juicy!”
“I…” Shiro looked conflicted at that.
“Aha, got ya!” Koishi yelled, tugging on Shiro’s hands and causing her stumble into her grasp, the small girl lifting the other over her head like a prize fish, “You let your guard down!”
Cackling, she slipped out of the room and stated sprinting down the hallways, Shiro shouting at her to put her down all the way.
“...Will that be a problem?” CC asked in the silence that fell after her dramatic exit.
“I don’t know.” I responded, despite the fond grin on my face as I stood up, “If it is, I’ll handle it.”
“Sure you will.” She responded, sceptical, “Your ego is as undiminished and baseless as ever.”
“Hey now.” I chided, drawing her into a hug which she gave a token resistance to, “I wouldn’t call it baseless. I have you, after all.”
She buried her face into my chest at my words, but not fast enough, as I still managed to catch the flash of red that had bloomed on her face.
“Fool.” She complained.
Yet, I couldn’t help but notice her tightening the hug.
---XXX---
“Heiress Seekvaira Agares, be welcome to Sagan Manor.” The blond maid’s comportment was impeccable as she bowed in greeting.
Her brows furrowed at the greeting, more specifically the name that Naomi had used to greet her. Had Damocles not got around to letting the staff know about the name change? Or was something more complicated going on?
As always, when in the dark, it was always best to merely observe until more information was provided.
“Thank you, Bishop of Damocles.” She avoided using his clan name, to not accidentally provide offence, “Your greeting is most appreciated.”
Many would sneer at her for treating a reincarnated devil with such respect, one who isn’t even a Queen at that, but Seekvaira still remembered her research into the Household she was entering.
Damocles’ Peerage was nothing but monsters. Her study of him and the rating game where he humiliated her were more than sufficient to teach her that. Their youngest member, Shiro, had toyed with three established Peerages. Including her own that had been bolstered with highly costed mercenaries. Shiro was thought of as the weakest, but privately Seekvaira doubted that.
The gap in power within the Peerage was likely much smaller than many realised. They had been very, very good at hiding any detail about their abilities and power level ever since the Reveal, something that had frustrated her attempts of research immensely. However, they couldn’t stop the rumours.
How much those could be trusted was in question, but it was enough for her to conclude that there was no truly weak chain in the Peerage. Even the maid in front of her was likely stronger than most devils her age, even if she seemed content to merely act as a service. Such a thing was not without precedent, given the… predilections of the Strongest Queen, but the very fact that she was comparing Naomi to her spoke volumes about the reputation that the Sagan Peerage had accumulated.
The maid curtsied again gracefully, “Thank you for the kind words, honoured guest. Please follow me, Lord Sagan is waiting.”
Ah. So he hadn’t yet changed the name. Whatever the business he had with the Yokai, it must have been truly important to have delayed him so. Still, she knew he would get around to claiming the title eventually.
The current family title of Lord Lucifer had actually lapsed, considering Rizevim, the last to hold the name, had not shown himself for centuries. Sirzechs, who held on to the title of The Lucifer, was not actually the head of the Lucifer family, despite having the same name. The political position and the clan title were entirely separate legal entities.
That meant that all the influence that the title of Lord Lucifer was still in reach for any who had the Blood. She could not imagine just how much reputation and favour would be showered on the one who managed to take it, Devils would be tripping over themselves to curry favour and influence in the early days after the ascension.
Still, even if he hadn’t legally claimed the title, surely he should be going by the name as a declaration of intent by now?
She was missing something.
She was led by Naomi towards a stately meeting room, not encountering anyone else in the expansive hallways of the Sagan Manor. The place was large, with ancient furniture and old-fashioned, over-arching design to its rooms and passageways. With the lack of activity, it could easily have come off as cold and empty. Instead, there was a warmth to the place, helped greatly by the wafting scent of freshly baked treats that was filling the empty space.
After being prompted by the maid, she entered the room, finding one more person than she expected present. Damocles himself was present, of course, without his horns and multiple wings, sipping from a cup of warm liquid. Standing behind his seated form, arms crossed and wielding a hostile gaze, was his Queen. The few meetings Damocles had accepted always had her present and to hear talk of it, her words left many wishing she had physically attacked them instead.
As a negotiating tactic, it was fairly rudimentary. However, it was effective, especially with how well they reportedly worked together to ensure its potency. She had been expecting the deployment of this strategy well before this meeting.
It was the third person who was the surprise, dressed in extremely old-fashioned Japanese garb as she was. It appeared as if she had simply walked out of somewhere eight-hundred years ago. Her pink hair bobbed as she too took a sip of her cup, the same beverage filling it. Her position was at a right angle from the Lord of the manor, sitting on a separate chair.
She was not a human reincarnated devil, that much was obvious. Her most striking feature was a thin, blood-red thread that spiralled around her seated form, criss-crossing at several points and terminating in a single large eye with a wide red iris. Said eye was trained directly on her, even as the girl’s human eyes were closed, savouring the beverage as she was.
Despite the fact that she was the Heir to an Archduke, the Lord before her didn’t rise as she entered. In fact, none of them made a move, until he finished his mouthful and rose, bowing shallowly to her.
“Heiress Agares. Welcome to my home.” He spoke, blue eyes penetrating as they stared into her own.
She curtsied deeply, knowing just who she was standing across from. Regardless of his current rank, his pedigree and strength meant that he would soon be one of the most important people of their race, if he wasn’t already.
“Lord Sagan. Thank you for agreeing to meet with me.” She spoke, erring on the side of caution.
“Well, it is not often that I receive a letter from someone so certain they will lose before they even fight me.” He spoke, interest in his gaze.
Good. She had hoped that the letter would intrigue him as it clearly had. She looked to the pink haired girl who had yet to make any moves besides drinking from her cup, but no further introductions or explanations were forthcoming.
Resolving to let the power play slide, she nodded towards the white-haired Devil, “Indeed. Your challenge was made in such a way that you seemed certain of your victory. I decided to take you at your word.”
He smiled, “An odd way of putting it. But it does show some quite novel ways of thinking. Even if I received the letter and lost, I would be forced to honour my agreement to you. A small risk, not one that outweighed the potential benefits.”
“Benefits such as this meeting.” She confirmed, deciding to be transparent as she could afford in this meeting, “Which I have to thank you for honouring. I imagine that many Devils would be eager to steal the first private word with the new Lord Lucifer.”
“I’m sure many would, yes. All are going to have to go disappointed however.” He inclined his head, the next words she heard making the floor feel as if it was falling away from under her.
“After all, I have no intention of claiming the title.”