After that small incident, the butler was rapidly carried somewhere else to get healed while we were escorted into one of the many guest rooms.
The room was lightly decorated; instead of the usual red, the walls were gray, the furniture was mostly made out of hard metal, the floor was gray, and the whole room felt very depressing to look at.
Near the center, four couches were four large white leather sofas, all gathered around an incredibly short, square table.
The twins sat on different sofas, and I sat on the sofa facing the girl. The only sound present in the room came from the maids bringing in a set of tea and snacks.
I quietly took a sip of tea, carefully mimicking the way the twins drank; since the two of them were drinking in almost identical ways, I felt it was proper to match them.
Keeping one hand on the table, back straight, and gently lifting the cup, allowing for small droplets of fluid to enter my mouth at a time, it was an extremely annoying way to drink, as I could barely even taste the drink.
"Why were you so scared of demonic powers?" I asked them the moment they put their cup down.
The girl remained silent, staring at me with her cold, sharp gaze.
"They're scary." The boy answered.
A natural answer: most people were afraid of them, but only because of many exaggerated rumors; the number of actual incidents was quite low. What more often happened were cases of people overdosing on ashes.
However, right now he looked anything but scared; he seemed more wary of his surroundings than me, constantly looking around. He managed to calm himself down when he spotted one of his servants waiting in front of the guest room.
"Those with demonic powers are usually quite violent; they rely on their strength to get what they want, even if that means extorting others." The girl added bitterly as she took a bite of a snack served by our maids.
Ugh… is she perhaps referring to…
It felt clear that must've been a personal jab aimed at the whole Jittermeist family, as they were commonly referred to as the Tyrants of the Fracture.
"Not only that, but they can also easily get corrupted by their powers, turning into mindless beasts. " The boy then added as he lay down on his back on the sofa. "Their powers are also quite horrifying to look at. Don't you agree?"
He was clearly expecting me to agree with his statement.
"I… I don't think so." I hesitantly replied as I nervously grabbed something from the huge plate filled with snacks. I didn't care what it was; the mood felt too awkward for me to care what I was eating; I just needed something sweet to chew on.
My father never showed any of those symptoms, and like him, many of his friends were perfectly healthy and of sane mind.
"Well, when my father raised me, he often used his demonic power to entertain me; he would use that power to craft a story; sometimes we would even take turns drawing cards, making up weird rules, and seeing how those rules would change the stories we created together." I explained while longingly reminiscing about all those times.
"Demonic powers aren't just weapons to be used to kill one another; they're also used as tools for everyday use at times. That's one of the things he taught me."
"Mhh, makes sense." The girl seemed unsure yet decided to temporarily agree with me. She quietly listened, sometimes raising an eyebrow at what I had to say.
"For example, a lot of people in moving companies or other jobs that lift heavy stuff make use of demonic artifacts daily; the same can be applied to farmers and teachers," I explained.
"So, are you still scared of me after knowing this?" I asked them.
"Not at all; we know everything we need to know about the dealer. We know that so long as we don't also possess a deck, you can't harm us," the boy explained.
Technically speaking, you only need to be in possession of just one card; whether it's yours or not doesn't matter, but correcting him right now would probably make the situation worse since I offered them a card earlier.
"Oh, you even know the name of the power." I said, surprised.
"Well… it is one of the five noble pillars; it would be strange if we didn't know about it." The boy was clearly proud of his knowledge but tried to be nonchalant about it. I could see the corner of his mouth rising as he tried to keep a straight face.
The Dealer, Repel, Recoil, Dragon Scale, and lastly, the Judge, commonly referred to as the five noble pillars, as we studied in history class, became well known during the war of liberation when the Fracture decided to no longer be a subject of the people living on the surface.
I didn't think people so detached from the world below would be so knowledgeable of what happened in the Fracture.
"How did you get your hands on that? I thought all the users of Dealer had died." The boy curiously asked.
"Actually… I inherited this from him," I hesitantly replied.
Enough time had passed so that I wouldn't start crying over remembering that day, but it still was a heavy topic to talk about for me.
The mood suddenly tanked; the cheerful boy suddenly covered his mouth and seemed apologetic. The girl, on the other hand, remained as unfazed as ever.
Why did I even bring that up? I just tanked the mood for no reason at all…
"Erm, don't worry about that; it happened a while ago, so I'm already over that incident." I quickly added to reassure the kid and to recover from that previous mistake.
"You can pass on your demonic powers? I never heard of such a thing." The voice of the girl immediately sent shivers down my spine. When I raised my head and met her eyes, I found her staring intently at me, her gaze scrutinizing my every movement.
"Well… I don't know much… but if you think about it, how else do noble families manage to pass on their family traits? There must be a way for them to pass on their powers, and that's how they all remain in power for so long." I tried to explain.
The girl's eyes widened in shock; I could see the gears starting to turn in her head. She lightly lowered her gaze for a moment, but she quickly recomposed herself.
The brother didn't seem interested anymore; he was awkwardly looking at the window, looking at the gray sky outside as he kept eating the rest of his dessert.
"Go on." The cold and acidic voice of his sister immediately grabbed back my attention.
Her flair was more intense than ever; the arrogant demeanor had disappeared, and all that was left was pure wrath.
Heh? Did I say something wrong? Was that theory that bad? Why is she so angry all of a sudden? It was just an innocent comment. Did I perhaps hit the nail on the topic?
But then as I tried to think on it for more than a second, I realized my theory was wrong; both Lucifer and his mother had bright red hair. If she had transferred her power to her son, she would no longer have red hair.
"Well, that's all I know," I boldly lied.
The conclusion was obvious: someone who has forsaken their body to a demon will not be able to live comfortably without that body part; in certain cases, he wouldn't even be able to stay alive. My father died immediately after handing over his powers because he lost his heart along with his liver.
But the Scarlet Devil was perfectly fine, still at the peak of her power; noble families were famous for having one colored trait shared with every member of that family, meaning it couldn't have been transferred from one member to the other.
"How about the fracture? Compared to here? How good does it look? What about the food? What does a regular day look and sound like?" She asked.
Her glare was no longer as intense as before; she still seemed to hold some grudge over the fact I hadn't told everything I knew regarding the topic of how Nobles pass down their family trait.
"Compared to here… Mhh, it's hard to say; it doesn't look bad. Sometimes you can find its colorful spots, but those are very rare. The food, on the other hand, is a lot more… impactful. Here it's tasty, but also mild; it feels somewhat underwhelming." I explained.
After all, I always thought food nobles in the sky ate was so tasty it couldn't be put to words; instead, what I found was just different kinds of bland food with weird textures.