„The problem is that this marriage contract is with the current Maou Leviathan, formerly known as Serafall Sitri," said Gerta, head maid of the castle, who brought the report. She looked at Artoria with a forced smile and asked, „What should be done with this? We can't just lay it off ; it was agreed upon by the former Lord and Prince Sitri even before the war."
Artoria looked out the window with a thoughtful expression, but after some time, she smirked and said to Gerta , „Just leave it in the vault. It's not like Serafall would marry now ; besides, we need to wait for the Lady to come out of the library to decide if she even wants to do it. I know that it's her father's will, but she is now the head of this house. She needs to do what is in the interest of these lands and people to bring peace." said Artoria while she took another letter and started to work again. „Is there anything else?"
„There are some contracts that we can use to take over some of the lands from other families as they didn't pay their debt on time, and the Lord before was kind enough to let them pay later but with a clause that we can demand pay out faster or something in return for the debt , " said Gerta while looking at the list in her hand. „And there are quite a few of those debts. The Lord probably was just lending and not taking back what they took. But he preserved every contract with iron rules that can't be undermined."
„This is what I wanted to hear about. What is your name?" asked Artoria.
„Gerta, my Lady. I have served in House Valefor for three centuries already, and I became head maid when Lady Luminarie was born , " said Gerta with a little bow.
„Good. Send letters to everyone on those contracts that we want land, and because they didn't pay on time, we will take the highest rate we can to take as much as we can. How much would this get for us?"
„If we take into account every contract , then it would probably be as big as the territory of the Lucifuge Clan."
„Wait, are they on the list?" asked Artoria.
„No, but there is the Gremory Clan," said Gerta with a smile that didn't reach her eyes. When Artoria heard it, she started to laugh.
„Those lands are on our eastern border, right? And from what I remember, they were one of the most populated and rich in resources in our vicinity, right?"
„Yes. If we go with this thinking , then these are the best lands we can get from our neighborhood . If we tell them that they have to buy those lands and then give them to us as payout for their loans , then we can get the whole territory with everything there."
„Hehe, then let's write those letters and inform our Lucifer that we will take his wife 's territory as payoff for the debt his family and others took from us. Luminarie would be thrilled about this , " said Artoria while she wore a happy smile on her face, thinking about how her Master would react when she returned and saw that they had expanded without bloodshed, and in doing so , they had struck at the face of her enemy.
„I will start to write to the Lords on the list. Would you like to write to Lord Lucifer yourself?"
„Yes, I will write to him myself, as I am acting as the proxy right now. When I do it , I will ask you to send it," she said and took a clean piece of paper.
'Hehe, I would like to see his face when he reads it. Well , if you are taking loans, then you should be prepared for the outcome when you don't pay up on time , ' she thought and started to write. When she finished, she called Gerta and told her to send it.
„Now, how big of waves will it make? Let's find out," said Artoria while standing and making her way toward the window. She looked out and smiled. „This will be fun. I am really disappointed that Luminarie isn't here right now."
City of Lilith, capital of the Devils next day.
„Lord Sirzechs, there is a letter from the Valefor Clan," said Greyfia to the Maou, holding a letter in her hands.
„Hmm, what does she want now? I granted her the title of Archduke, so it should appease her a little, no?" Sirzechs mused as he opened the letter and started to read. Just after a few lines, he began to breathe quickly, and when he finished, he almost fainted.
„My Lord, what happened? Could it be that something happened in the Clan?" asked Greyfia, who had never seen him react like this to any document.
„Read it because it happens to refer to your family too," Sirzechs said instead of answering her. She looked at him with surprise and took the letter from his hands. When she finished reading it, her hands were shaking.
„Are they tired of living? This is MY FAMILY LAND," she said through her teeth.
„Well, I am more curious about how they would like to do it. To take your territory from you would be a really hard task now that you are..." Sirzechs started but was interrupted by the opening of the doors, and when he looked in that direction with the intention of shouting at the person who dared to come uninvited, he almost immediately shut up. His mother, Venelana, came inside with a letter in her hand, and she was flustered.
" What is it, Mother, that has you worked up so much ?" he asked her with concern when he saw the identical-looking letter in her hand.
" Valefor Clan is calling in their debt. And they don't want money or anything else. There is only one thing that they want : land . And they specified which land," she said while looking at Greyfia. " They want Lucifuge territory, and from what I know from my contacts, they've sent the same message to everyone who is in debt to them. They gave us a week to pay up."
When Sirzechs and Greyfia heard this, they were stunned at first, but then they were mortified.
" How much can they claim in their demands for debt?" Sirzechs asked in a quiet tone.
" Everything. And there would be other territories around which we would need to cede instead to sum it up, because they don't want anything else." Venelana said with a grave face.
" But that would mean the end of my Clan," whispered Greyfia with a terrified face.
" I think that is what they are after. Besides, in our letter to the Gremory Clan, they wrote that since Greyfia is now the wife of Maou, she doesn 't need territory as she is Queen of all."
" Why would she do that?" asked Sirzechs.
" My guess?" said Venelana. " She wants to slap Greyfia in the face without giving us any good reason to oppose, as it is their right to do this. I read the contract for the loan from start to finish five times. There is no way around it . "
" So we can only watch helplessly while she destroys my Clan?" asked Greyfia.
" Well, I would like to say that, in my sympathy, this is your own fault, girl. You killed her parents instead of taking them as prisoners. You should have done so, as they were nobles, but you still killed them-might I say , in a bloody way when she was watching from the castle-so you need to be prepared for what she might do. Because I don't believe that she will stop here . I would rather say that this is only the start of a war in the shadows, and from what I can see, it was instigated by her Queen, not her personally ."
" Wait. Are you saying that a member of her Peerage did this? Who is that person?" asked Sirzechs hastily .
" From what I gathered , she is known as Artoria Pendragon, and she has the power of a High-Level Ultimate-Class Devil who can fight Peak-Level Ultimate-Class with her Holy weapons , which she can wield even as a reincarnated Devil for some reason , " Venelana said . " And from what I know, she started clearing the castle of spies; even mine couldn't hide from her."
" Damn it ! We don't have eyes and ears there, so we are on a really tight rope here. We need to negotiate with them quickly so she will take only a piece of that territory; then maybe she will be appeased for some time. In the meantime, we could plan how to take it back from them or perhaps even take something from her , " Sirzechs said with anger in his eyes.
" Don't be hasty, my son. It could be really hard to even change their minds about the payout for the debts, not to mention anything else. They have the upper hand, and we can only try to bluff and hope that they would back off from their claims that they can make by right , " Venelana said with a sigh.
" She really hates me, right?" said Greyfia quietly, with her head down. " I shouldn't have married you, Sirzechs ; now you have troubles because of me."
" What are you talking about, love? It is only a subject who doesn 't know her place. We will quickly get it over with, and we will forget it in no time," said Sirzechs confidently . When Venelana saw this, she just shook her head.
" I don't know if it will be so smooth as you want, my son. With the contracts in their hands, they can and probably will do what they want. And the punishment there is no joke ," Venelana thought and left the young couple.