DXD SI : Chapter 36 : Cowardly Sperm Donor, Pleasant Leviathan meeting & Azazel Paperwork misery.....

Disclaimer - I don't own any of the characters appearing in High School DXD or the Anime or the manga whatsoever.

New Lilith

–Magdaran Bael–

He appeared on top of the designated teleportation pad for New Lilith, his thoughts going back to the third meeting he had with his sperm donor’s secretary, who oh so regrettably, informed him that Lord Bael was busy, and could give him no timeline as to when he will stop being so busy that he couldn’t face the son of the woman he undoubtedly had a hand in killing and if not, then in erasing her from his life. 

He let things be, simply because he was happy that he had a way to safeguard his Garden. It had been three days since he came back from the Oppai Club, and just last night, he’d received the letter from Odin. Safe to say, it was quite interesting and was the reason why he had a slight skip in his step as he got off the platform, only to realise where he was, as he cleared his throat, hoping no one took a look at him, and walked to the New Satan HQ.

He had a scheduled meeting with Serafall Sitri. She wanted to tell him something about the incident with Akihito back in Kyoto. He liked to think that Akihito was a nice fellow and would do nice stuff in the future, be it as part of the Youkai or as part of the Church. Hopefully, the cruel realities of the power struggles that were part and parcel with becoming a part of any big organisation did not wear down his calm and sunny disposition. If only there were more members of the Church who could converse calmly, use their Holy aligned Scared Gear without intending to hurt Devils, the supernatural scene would be a much better place, and it would be much, much harder for nutjobs like Kokabiel to try and restart the Great War

Shaking his head, he greeted the receptionist with a smile that he hoped was much better than the first time he came here. Back then, he was all stiff, going to meet Four powerful Devils, but now? He was here to meet who was, in his opinion, the most chill and useful Devil out of all the Four Satans they had, atleast in Peace times anyway. He was sure that Falbium, Ajuka, and Sirzechs would be supremely useful in case a war broke out, but in peacetime? Where diplomatic skill was required, especially for beings outside of the Underworld? Those three were only useful as deterrents, and nothing more. Hell, he was sure there were multiple devils part of Serafall’s staff who could negotiate a deal far better than the other Three Satans, which made sense since it was their job.

“I have an appointment with Satan Leviathan.” He informed her as she looked at him with only a slight intake of breath being the only sign she recognised him. He ignored it, as it was expected for most devils in the Underworld to recognise him on sight now. 

As it turns out, if he thought that giving humans unfettered access to an anonymous platform on the internet was a bad thing, he really should have thought about what the Devils would do with the same platform. A race that was quite literally built for war, and had the motto might makes right baked into their DNA, worshipped strength, and as was the norm, loved anything that looked mysterious.

Now, who was the newest, most powerful(supposedly) player on the board, who was almost an information black hole, which most thought was an obvious thing since he was oh so important, and also looked good?

Yeah. The Horni was strong in the Underworld. He had offers from men, women, couples, throuples, entire harems, and more, pouring in every day in the official account that was created for him the moment it was publicly announced that he was the Bael heir.

The lack of any ceremony and the lacklustre excitement in the announcement only served to fuel people’s curiosity as there were now almost a hundred forum pages, all dedicated to everything about him.

Thankfully, none of the people commenting there had the abilities or the balls to get into Bael's territory and actually spy on him. So, all they knew was about his public appearances, some analysis on his facial expressions while conversing with some people, and ofcourse, as was obligatory, some haters finding inane things to criticize about him.

If he weren’t as powerful as he was and didn’t have better things to do, he could have tracked down the haters.

“She will see you now,” The receptionist interrupted his thoughts and gestured towards a magical circle that manifested right next to the receptionist’s table. He nodded in thanks and stood in the circle, as he was teleported straight to her office, which was rare, he supposed? He didn’t really have a frame of reference for this. So far, all the faction heads he’d met were unconventional meetings, save for that one with Ajuka, but even that was highly unconventional just for getting his Evil Pieces.

Come to think of it, he had met a lot of faction heads, despite his wish to remain under the radar.

Odin. Azazel. Yasaka. The Four Satans.

The most unpleasant of all of them was his meeting with Sirzechs, which was ironic because he was supposed to come off as the approachable Satan, despite all his strength. The man just came off as too high strung to him, which was ironic because, according to the original principles that the Devil race was created on, someone of his strength should be the one with the most freedom. Free to do whatever he wanted.

He supposed that in the end, self imposed restraints created the best prison.

“Mag-chan~!” He heard the Satan Leviathan exclaim as she lunged past her desk, but contrary to his expectation, she did not go in for a hug, which would have been odd given their positions, but just extended her hand enthusiastically, for a handshake. That was….nice.

He smiled as he shook her hand and sat down in the gestured seat, Serafall snapping her fingers as a small box appeared on the table. He looked at the box in surprise, not because he was surprised at the existence of the gift itself. It was a common courtesy to do so at the beginning of any negotiation, but because he couldn’t sense anything from the box. Why would she do something like that? Even with his limited knowledge regarding diplomacy and negotiation, and first meetings, wasn’t this considered a faux pas? 

Before he could question her about it, she volunteered the information herself.

“That, Mag-chan, is the Verdant Crown of Freyr,” his neck snapped up to look at her in surprise as she described the incredibly important and undoubtedly expensive gift, “It is something that can purify cursed land, ward away demonic energy and keep a large plot of land protected from pests and magical plant diseases, for years, provided you don’t expect it to perform miracles.”

His hand reached for the extremely fascinating relic in front of him, failing to notice the smug smirk on Serafall’s face as she continued, “The reason it is sealed inside that Agrasite box is because it is divine, and quite freshly blessed. Give it a few weeks, and it should be stable enough to work properly, though I assume the sting should be nothing for someone of your strength.”

He nodded absentmindedly at that, holding the box in his hands before setting it down on the table, closer to him.

“Thank you.” Was all he could say because he had always wanted to experiment more with different types of purification, and now he finally had something else to compare with his own Conceptual Destruction. It took all he had in him to stop from going back to his garden right away.

Serafall nodded and replied, "Unfortunately, I can’t take credit for this. This is an apology gift from Azazel.”

Azazel? He was taken aback for a moment before he realised what she was talking about, “The attack in Kyoto.”

Serafall nodded, “Yes. A Six Winged Fallen Angel is quite important to the Grigori, and in exchange for dropping the matter, Azazel had to compensate us, the Church, as well as the Youkai. It was quite fun watching him cry rivers as he had to part with his treasures.”

He smirked at that. He could see why she would find that fun. 

“Now!” Serafall then clapped her hands, as two papers manifested on her table, “Since the matter was dropped and all parties are satisfied, there is no need to talk more of it, outside of the guide we sent you. I hope you follow it because even with your strength, there are more than enough threats outside. We wouldn’t want you to be attacked.”

He nodded at her in silent thanks. Internally, his mind was thinking about the gift and the timing of it. What were the chances of Odin trying to bring him closer to his faction, give him a membership to a very exclusive club that he ran, and him getting an apology gift from Azazel that just so happened to be blessed by the Norse deity of Fertility?

Yeah, he smelled something fishy, but once again, Odin had no need for any of this. Which just meant this was yet another way to create closer relations with Odin, an outcome that he was more than happy with.

“With that out of the way, let’s discuss this. This,” Serafall placed her finger on one of the upside down pages, “is the gift deed for the Sitri soil you requested. Consider a gift from me.”

He nodded. He expected that. After all, the New Satans knew of his value, and this much was nothing in exchange for maintaining amicable relations with him. He was curious about the other paper, though.

“And this,” Serafall tapped the other paper with a smirk on her face, “Is an offer from the Sitri family. You get the soil either way, but I think you should listen to the offer.”

He nodded, “Go on.”

“This is a permanent place for your Garden, in the Sitri Lakeside gardens. In exchange, the Sitri family wants your expertise in maintaining gardens in hostile environments. Your garden will remain yours; they just want your skills.”

His eyes had widened as he stopped himself from agreeing on the spot. This was an incredibly lucrative offer. He had no problem sharing his knowledge, though he wouldn’t share his conceptual destruction, the thing that allowed him to do everything perfectly. 

But he couldn’t let himself be blinded by greed. Sure, moving it to the Sitri lands was a huge step in terms of protection, and chances were that he would be able to set up far better projections and also a house of his own in that land parcel, but did he want to?

Wasn’t this just him moving from Zekram’s shadow to the shadow of the New Satans?

While it would be an immediate move, he had something else for a solution. Something that required long term planning but was a far better option as a whole. So, regrettably, he had to decline her offer for a Sitri land plot, though he told her that he would be more than happy to offer his expertise, at a cost, of course. He told her a below average consultation fee, as she nodded, not showing any of the disappointment she must have felt on the inside, as she snapped her fingers, leaving behind the Soil gift deed on the table.

“Understandable. I will let Lord Sitri know. Now, do you have anything else to tell me?”

He debated telling her about his stroll through Europe in search of a magical organisation only to meet multiple Gods, but then rejected the thought. He was a Pillar Devil; he had no obligation to tell her about anything.

“None.”

“~Alright! It was nice meeting you, Mag-chan. Don’t be a stranger. My doors are always open for you.”

“Thank you.” He nodded at her and stepped on the same magical circle, transporting him back to the lobby.

__xx__

–Azazel–

The brat must have received the gift by now. Odin must have been really spooked by what he saw because not a day had gone by before he was greeted with a blessed item, specifically for Magdaran. It was quite the divine artifact, and he would have been tempted to study it, but it was Odin who sent it, and he did not wish to breach that trust and endanger his own life.

Odin also did not want his name on the gift, and the Grigori were also in the middle of a four way negotiation for compensating the affected parties in exchange for retrieving one of their own.

A Six Winged Fallen was valuable, yes, but not as valuable as a Divine artifact seemingly tailor made for someone with botany interests. Still, he had managed to pass off the gift as compensation for Magdaran, simultaneously telling Serafall that he knew of Magdaran and his garden as well, which was just delicious to witness in real time.

She had backed off immediately after that, and handling the Church and Youkai was child’s play after that. Still, it was quite expensive to rescue poor Nash, and as such, the man was going to be the janitor at the Research Institutes for at least a century before he could be permitted to go out and be the menace he usually is.

He smelled Kokabiel’s hand all over this, but as usual, had no way of proving it.

A voice inside his mind told him that he was just old and tired of war and killing his siblings, which is why he never bothered to confront Kokabiel about it.

He ruthlessly quashed that thought before continuing the paperwork that was quite literally forced on him by Penemue.

“I’m done!” He announced triumphantly, but his smirk fell off his face as the door to his office opened up, revealing a pile of papers that were unceremoniously dumped on his table.

Penemue, the ruthless secretary who was the only one who could wrangle him out of his lab, smirked at his misery as she made sure to pour oil on the fire, “Finish this. There’s more.”

“NOOOOoooooo!”

Word Count - 2424

A/N - The Longest single chapter of the fic!