The Underworld.
After teasing the Gremory clan a little more, I changed locations and visited the Phenex clan, who welcomed me with all honors. Of course, there was a reason for this visit, namely, to fulfill my promise to Riser, who had asked me to go on a date with his younger sister, which is what I was doing now.
The place of our meeting was the garden of the Phenex mansion, which was, as usual, huge, pretentious, and extremely rich, with a bunch of neatly trimmed vegetation, perfectly laid out paths, and all that sort of thing. Ravel and I were sitting in a small gazebo in the center of the garden, where there was a table with hot coffee, tea, and treats.
- "Here, try this!" Ravel said, beaming with joy, and handed me a piece of cake. "I baked it myself, and I'm sure you'll like it!"
- "How sweet," I giggled and accepted the treat, causing her to blush deeply. "I take it you asked me to wait so you could bake it, right?"
- "Of course," Ravel nodded.
At that, a silence fell between us, which I would describe as comfortable for both of us.
I enjoyed the coffee, which the Phenex clan had apparently gone out of their way to get especially for me, and Ravel's baking, which was more than decent, though not quite up to Archer's standard. Ravel herself watched me and smiled, occasionally contributing to the conversation.
In fact, right now, Ravel looked like the image of the perfect wife from the Victorian era. Docile, skilled, beautiful, shy, and of noble birth. In other words, she was the woman that men of an entire era dreamed of, but I was interested in one question, and I wanted to hear the answer.
- "Ravel."
- "Yes, Romani-san?"
- "To be honest, I still can't understand why you're interested in me," I began, at which she stopped and, looking at me, tilted her head to one side. "When we first met, you already showed the first signs of it, which, of course, could be attributed to my excellent appearance and character, but now? When news spreads so quickly in your society? It seems strange to me."
After listening to me, Ravel silently put down her cutlery and wiped her mouth with a napkin, then smiled.
- "I understand what you mean," she began. "I don't know all the details of the Red Dragon Emperor's death, only those where you broke your promise and let him die."
- "Well, it's a huge loss for both the Underworld and the entire Biblical faction," I shrugged. "However, getting back to the topic at hand, right now I don't sense a single negative emotion from you. Why is that?"
- "I believe you," she said confidently. "And I also believe that you will fix everything or have already fixed it."
I raised an eyebrow.
Where did she get such faith in me? To be honest, I had already forgotten about her, and therefore we hadn't been in contact for a long time. However, this girl sincerely believes that I am fundamentally incapable of something as dishonorable as breaking my word and so on.
Yes, she was right, and I had already fixed the situation. Issei's body had almost been restored by the two dragon gods, and now the Great Red was just waiting for the signal to open a rift in the Underworld. Anyway, never mind. That was her business and the business of everyone else who thought that way.
- "Oh? Is that so?" I smiled and looked at a bush off to the side. "You think so too, huh, Riser-kun?"
- "Wh-what?!" Ravel jumped up and turned in the same direction, pointing her finger there. "Brother! You promised!"
- "I'm sorry, Ravel, but I couldn't do anything else," Riser said guiltily as he emerged from the bushes, followed by his entire entourage.
- "You called your entire entourage?!" Ravel exclaimed indignantly. "You're terrible!"
- "But I was worried," Riser sighed and turned his gaze to me, who was giggling as I watched the scene unfold. "Romani-san."
- "Yes, Riser-kun?"
- "Ravel is right, and I also think that you're not telling us everything you're doing," he began, then grinned cheekily. "And since I interrupted your date, you owe Ravel another one, don't you?"
- "B-brother!" With a completely red face and a steaming head, Ravel exclaimed. "Have some conscience!"
- "Wow, acting like a real member of the nobility, huh?" I smirked.
- "I am a real member of the nobility, Romani-san," he declared arrogantly. "Even if it means nothing to you."
- "Well, you're right about that," I nodded and looked at Ravel, who, despite her brother's antics, was hiding behind him so I couldn't see her face. "All right. Why not?"
- "Thank you," the arrogance and insolence on Riser's face immediately gave way to gratitude.
- "R-Really?!" Ravel asked with barely contained excitement.
- "Yeah," I nodded. "Now then..."
I didn't have time to finish before turning toward the capital of the Underworld, as I sensed something. More precisely, someone...
- "Romani-san?" Riser addressed me. "Is something wrong?"
- "It seems like it's going to get very noisy..."
-0-
After saying goodbye to the Phenex clan, I teleported to Lucifer's castle, where Goetia stood by the huge windows of his office, gazing into the distance at the still untouched capital.
- "I understand you felt her too, huh?" I smiled and stood next to him.
- "Yes. She's here. And she's not alone," he nodded without turning to me, then fell silent.
- "Come on, don't be silent," I rolled my eyes. "Do you need the Pillars to deal with her and the dragons?"
Yeah. Along with Rizevim, who deliberately let me find her, there were also the Evil Dragons that were in the canon. Judging by their auras, there were seven of them, which meant that Rizevim had gathered every single one of them, which, to be honest, was commendable.
I mean, she could only resurrect five of them with the help of the Grail's Sephiroth: Ladon, Apophis, Grendel, Yamata no Orochi, and Azi Dahaka. The other two had apparently been recruited, which was also in line with the canon, well, almost.
- "I won't stoop so low as to beg that witch for help," Goetia said coldly. "I'll be enough to deal with these pests."
- "But you wouldn't mind returning the Pillars to their normal state, would you?" I chuckled, to which he did not respond or show any reaction, but it was all too obvious that this was indeed the case.
- "You'll owe me," I said, to which he also remained silent, but did not deny it either.
I smiled again at his stubbornness, then contacted Morgan through the Master and Servant connection.
- "Morgan, dear, how are you? I hope I'm not distracting you from important matters?"
- "Oh, what a sweet way to start, husband. I think this is the first time you've ever asked how I'm doing, and so politely at that," she replied, which didn't sound very sincere, as it gave the impression that I was an insensitive tyrant in our family, when in fact the opposite was true. "But since you contacted me, you must want something. What is it?"
- "Could you break the spell on the Pillars?" I said, followed by a short pause, then a chuckle from her.
- "What if I don't want to?" she asked, her sarcasm pouring into our connection like a river.
- "And you won't even ask why?"
- "Ah, that would be a waste of time," Morgan said. "But if the Beast I needs the Pillars so badly, I'd be happy to hear it from him personally."
- "On your knees, begging for forgiveness, I presume?" I asked, rubbing my temples, and waves of power rose from Goetia's body, who was standing nearby and had apparently heard this, clearly indicating his mood.
- "How lucky I am to have such a clever husband," she replied. "Oh, he's right next to you, isn't he? How rude of me. Perhaps I should ask for forgiveness?"
Hmm... Even a simpleton would understand the true meaning of her words. And apparently, Morgan really didn't like Goetia's antics, which, due to the nature of fairies, made her touchy, and in her case, even more so.
- "Come on... Just cancel the spell, and I'll repay you somehow," I said, calmly, at least trying to sound that way.
- "Hmm..." Morgan muttered thoughtfully, taking quite a long time to do so.
- "Um... Morgan? Darling? The best wife in the world?"
- "All right," she said finally. "But you'll have to work for it, husband."
With that, she cut the connection, and silence hung in the air, both mentally and physically. A moment later, both Goetia and I felt the demon pillars begin to return to normal, though... not all of them.
- "I'll say it again, Romani," Goetia began with cold anger in his voice. "Fuck you and that witch."
- "What does this have to do with me?!"
-0-
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