DXD SI : Chapter 31 : Thor OP, DD, Botany Talk & The One-Eyed Interruption....
Disclaimer - I don't own any of the characters appearing in High School DXD or the Anime or the manga whatsoever.
Oppai Club
–Magdaran Bael–
As was inevitable, his gaze often slid to the largest booth in the distance, with the highest number of people hanging around the entire booth, hiding it entirely from his sight. Still, the bottomless well of energy was present, and so was Mjolnir, which was casually sitting right next to the seat, with none of the ladies around the booth daring to venture too close to the Divine Weapon, maintaining distance from the hammer that could break this entire place apart with a single swing if the owner deemed so.
Other than that, the drinks were nice. Food was great as well, with ridiculous ingredients as well, giving his taste buds an experience he never would have had before. Hell, he didn't even think food was supposed to taste this good. Fancy food back in the Bael House was mostly just meat of increasingly stronger Demonic Beasts, just roasted and marinated with salt. That was it.
That food had always been bland to him, making him seek out the explosion of flavours that was the human food available in some places closer to New Lilith. The open markets with big stores of human food in Lilith were the exception, not the norm. Sure, there was human food present in many places, but not as well made nor in those quantities, as they were most used by the Reincarnated Devil population, most of whom were either Low Class or Mid class at best.
This? Made with supernatural ingredients that probably took centuries to properly make, was the single best food he’d eaten in his short life here. He was already a foodie before he came to this world, and that love only bloomed further when he got a literal shapeshifting [physique that just ignored the number of calories he could assume. But this? This stuff was addicting.
He might just find out what was needed to get a Permanent Pass at this place. Money was not an issue, not for someone of his strength. He hadn’t actively chased money before this because there was simply no need for that. What little he needed for his garden was easily obtained from his hunts in the Pits. After all, he was the third most efficient Pit hunter, and that was by design. No need to slaughter everything in sight and become the number one player if he simply did not need the money.
He did not need the money when he was all but invisible to the rest of the House, and now that he was the heir, he had even less need of money, especially since Zekram had ten times his budget, which he hadn’t even touched yet.
But this? This place was bound to be expensive, and he wouldn't mind actually working hard to earn some money if he could come here regularly. Not to mention, he was sure that if he unlocked a membership, he would be able to leverage the connections of this place to, if not outright figure out a way to get his pocket dimension, or failing that, a meeting with Mephisto Pheles.
And just like that, his gaze went back to Thor. He just couldn’t help it. This was the first time he was meeting a Divine being of that level, especially in such a setting where the God was completely carefree, his energy signature spiking, coinciding with the laughter in the booth. He wondered why he could hear just that booth’s sounds and nothing of the dance floor or the dozens of conversations that were undoubtedly happening in this place.
It was kinda disconcerting, especially with his enhanced senses. It was as if he was placed in a sensory deprivation tank with only a single piece of stimuli. He could see noise being made, but only a single source of sound reached him.
“Ah, Thor,” He turned to the Fallen, whose name he still didn’t know, and he had a sinking suspicion he really wouldn’t want to know his real name, “The loveable Norse buffoon. Ignore him. The man doesn’t care much about the noise suppression and privacy wards around him. As for how you can hear him, the runes here are intent based. You want to hear him, so you hear him.”
Ah, that explained stuff.
“So,” The Blonde Fallen leaned forward, playing with his drink as the man’s gaze drilled into him, “What is the Bael heir doing in the middle of France? Hunting for your peerage?”
He wryly chuckled, downing his drink in one gulp, feeling the pleasant kick, something of a new experience for him, “That easy to look through my disguise, huh?” His form shimmered slightly before he was sitting in front of the man in his original avatar.
He then looked up from his drink, looking at the man with a smirk, “Not that you did much to hide your own identity, right? Governor General of the Grigori, Azazel.”
The man paused for a moment, which was likely just for his benefit. Beings of that age, level, and political experience did not pause, not with such a minor reveal, before he chuckled, his form shimmering once more as his original face was revealed, all with his signature smirk and the blonde hair now turning into blonde streaks, “Caught that, did you?”
Leaning back in the booth, he used the drink hand to gesture all around him, “It wasn’t really that hard. An exclusive club. A high tier of membership. Fallen of considerable power. Completely comfortable around me, which automatically filtered the majority of your kind. Then, there was the hospitality.”
He meaningfully looked at Azazel as he flicked his hand, the same menu appearing in front of him, only this time, the price menu was visible to him. Even there, there was no numerical amount listed. No, the only thing written in the price section was - “DD members exempt.”
He snorted at the name of the membership, choking a bit as he was in the middle of a sip. Then, that turned into a laugh as he realised that was certainly consistent with the theme that Odin had going.
“So, this is what? Odin’s way of maintaining diplomatic relations with the rest of the world?”
Azazel chuckled, “I wouldn’t know. The Norse are all kind of isolationist. I’ve never had to enter diplomatic discussions in here. This place is just for entertainment. To borrow the words of that buffoon there,” Azazel gestured to Thor’s booth in the distance.
“Killing enemies means you only get one fight. But sparring? That gets you a steady stream of fights with all kinds of folks.”
He eyed the man with suspicion and disbelief, “You mean to tell me there are idiots who willingly spar with the God of Thunder?”
“You would be surprised.”
“I see.”
“So, Magdaran, why are you here? If it is within my capabilities, it would certainly be nice to have a favour from the next Lord Bael, which should happen soon enough, judging by your strength.” Azazel gave him a meaningful look, one that he dismissed with a hum. He wouldn’t know what Azazel was talking about. Was he talking about his borderline Ultimate class Strength or his hidden strength? The only reason the Satans were probably aware of it was because Sirzechs’ Power of Destruction being on a higher tier than his own, and Ajuka’s Kankara Formula that probably scanned him the moment he entered his office.
Could Azazel have something else that could tell him about the true strength of something? Was it a bluff? One could never know with beings of Azazel’s cunning. Which is why it was best to deflect the question. A non answer would be the best here, which is what he did.
Still, Azazel might be willing to do him a favour, but he was not sure he could trust the man. After all, despite his supposed chill nature and this being a literal neutral territory, imposed by one of the Top Ten Strongest Beings in the world, he was not about to trust someone who was (almost) singlehandedly able to prop up what should have been the weakest of the Three Factions, and actually strengthen their standing with the rest of the supernatural world.
The Fallen were the ones who actually had the best PR and diplomatic relations amongst the Three Factions, and something like that couldn’t have come from the goodness of his heart. Every Faction Head had some dirt in their closet, it came with the job. That did not mean he couldn’t ask for something relatively harmless. After all, he was certainly not defenseless here.
Atleast, he had the element of surprise, both in terms of his actual strength and his rather high resistance to the Light Element, as Azazel did not have Holy Light anymore, so even in the case of an attack, he should be able to escape unscathed. Even if he was injured, he could just heal himself.
All in all, he gave himself good odds about a fight if things devolved to that point, which shouldn’t happen. Atleast, he hoped not. This was…nice. If he’d known about this place, he would have come here far earlier. He could certainly find himself becoming a regular here.
Good Food. Good Drinks. Supernaturally imposed peace. And mingling with new people if he wished.
Damn, laying it out like that, this place sounded like a paradise.
Still, to answer Azazel’s question, an answer came to mind. He smiled, leaning forward, his voice low as if whispering a secret, “I hear you have written a few books on Botany. What will it take to get a copy of each of the 17 Volumes you have squirreled away in your Research Facility?”
There was silence in the booth; the sound from Thor’s booth was silenced as the runes recognised his intent and cut off all outside sound. He looked at Azazel, the man looking at him with an actual confused expression on his face, his face frozen as if he hadn’t expected that question.
Before Azazel could reply or he could gloat in the fact that he managed to make Azazel of all people silent for a moment, he felt something with a jolt. He flinched in his seat, barely restraining himself from lashing out when an aged voice rang right next to them.
“Oya, what do we have here? The Scapegoat conspiring a Devil heir? Now, that’s the start of a bad joke.” He mechanically turned to the side, ignoring Azazel’s exasperated look as the smiling visage of the fucking All-Father was standing in front of their booth.