บท 69: Interlude 2
Interlude 2
POV Okita Souji, Knight of Lucifer.
Walking out of the of room where I gave my report, I noticed a rather familiar face approaching me. I could already feel a headache coming on, no doubt she was here to speak to my king.
"Lady Gremory." I greeted the mother of my king, and Lady of house Gremory.
"Okita, a pleasure as always." He neutral expression was something of familiarity at this point. "Tell me, has my stupid son done something productive recently?"
I held back a wince at her words. If it were anyone else, maybe I would have some words to say about them insulting my King. I of course had many things to say about him myself, but I was loyal to a fault and I would never betray his trust, not after he saved me all those years ago.
"I am unsure of what you are referring to, Lady Gremory." As loathed as I was to learn how to navigate through the devil's political spectrum, I can't help but admit it has done me a world of good.
Unfortunately, such things seemed to fail against Lady Gremory, I may as well be unequipped in a duel of words with this woman.
She just stared at me, expression never changing. "Has my wayward grandson been found yet?"
"I believe Young lord Milicas is with his mother, Lady Grayfia at the moment, Lady Gremory." I replied without any hesitation.
"Do I look like a fool to you, Okita Souji?" She asked me.
"No, Lady Gremory."
"No, so then, who were you trying to fool with such nonsense? Since there are only the two of us here, and I am no fool, then it must be you?"
"…..as you say, Lady Gremory." I'm sorry my lord, your mother is scary.
She hummed to herself, eyes never leaving mine. "I could have sworn you were in Japan for…..unrelated reasons, correct?"
"Of course." I affirmed her words.
"So why have you come back so suddenly?"
"I'm afraid I'm not allowed to speak of such matters, my lady." Yes, regardless of the familial connections between lord Lucifer and Lady Gremory, she wasn't 'allowed' to push such matters, less bounds be overstepped. The same reason my Lord couldn't simply annul his sister's engagement, otherwise the political fallout may result in rebellion.
Sorry my lord, I'm using you as a shield.
"I see, then it has nothing to do with the situation in Kyoto right now?" She asked.
I paused ever so briefly, and I realized that she caught me there. "It appears the situation there has become known." I could only sigh.
"Please." She rolled her eyes. "You really need to get with the times, Okita. That whole mess was already posted online hours ago. I was aware of what was going on before you even came back."
Ah yes…..this devilnet thing. I never cared for it if I were to be honest. The only reason I even started on those 'social medias' was because Lady Leviathan was adamant about 'friending' me or some other nonsense.
I was there when the chaos started, and I of course lent a hand, to better mend bridges and such. Serafall was overjoyed that I received much goodwill in that small timeframe by assisting Lady Yasaka. I believe this was the first time that Lady Yasaka willingly corresponded with Serafall in decades.
Even still, they were keen to 'kick me out', albeit more politely than that. They had much house cleaning to do and it wouldn't do any good for an 'outsider' to be there while it happened.
I certainly could not fault them for that.
Besides, I was needed to come back and give my report. Even though our relations are very strained, we are still considered 'allies' with the Youkai. Granted, they are unlikely to lend us any meaningful help unless the more dire of emergencies occurs….and even that is iffy.
"Well, a shame. I was looking forward to meeting my grandson, he is such a cutie." She actually smiled for the first time. "And the way he fought that snake, so dashing." She practically cooed.
I blinked for a moment, registering the words. "What?"
She tilted her head ever so slightly. "You don't know?" She withdrew her 'phone' pressed a few buttons and flipped it around to show me a video.
I stared at it in shock as the target of my search was right there fighting against some hydra monster in the middle of Kyoto...where I had just been mere hours ago.
A small smile rose on her face. "It appears as though my idiot son's little indiscretion has become common knowledge."
I was utterly speechless, yet she continued to prod me. "I'm curious how he got so strong so quickly. If Rias and Sona are to be believed, he was either able to hide his power so expertly that they couldn't detect anything, or he was truly powerless back then." She mused. "What do you think, Okita, how did he get so strong right under your noses?"
I steeled my expression. "I guess the blood of My Lor—"
Lady Gremory snorted, cutting me off. "Yeah, his blood." She deadpanned. "I'm sure that's it, as you can see his blatant use of our power of destruction?" The sarcasm dripping from her words. "That stupid son of mine." She scowled. "This would have never happened had he just let me raise the boy instead of putting him off to satans know where for years."
"I couldn't possibly comment." Which was a lie, and we both knew that. I was aware of the boy for many years, finding out after his mother had passed. I had offered to take him in and teach him to defend himself, but my Lord refused.
He seemed more intent to simply wash his hands of the entire situation with doing the bare minimum to secure the boy's continued existence.
"Yes, I'm sure." She drawled. "Would he even want to come meet me at this point? Or did my idiot son poison my cute little grandson already?"
"I'm sure we can convince him to return home." I said earnestly.
"Home?" She raised an eyebrow. "I doubt he considers anywhere near us to be his home." She let out an uncharacteristic sigh. "I know that father is going to make a big deal out of this as well. 'Another' one of our bloodline without the Power of Destruction."
We'll only be so lucky if that's all that happens. While I stay away from politics as much as possible, I am unfortunately forced to keep abreast of the many things that go on in the upperclass of the devil society.
No doubt my lord will come under fire regarding his bastard son. Thankfully, Grayfia is atleast showing solidarity in public, even if they are still fighting behind closed doors.
I need to find Beowulf and ask him to come make himself visible to help keep off the pressure. Unfortunately, I don't know where he is at the moment, he put in his vacation request a week ago and disappeared somewhere in Scandinavia, the only words back was he checked around for the boy in his free time.
Surtr could help as well…he is quite the hit with children these days. I believe I heard his action figures are a top seller among children under 12.
"Well, maybe I should seduce him then."
I almost choked as the words entered my ears and I stared at Lady Gremory, my thoughts completely shattered. "Lady Gremory!?"
"Hmm, you think he likes milfs?" She smirked, pushing her large chest up. "I heard that's what the young ones are saying these days."
Oh, she's just doing this to get a reaction out of me...hopefully.
***
POV Sona Sitri
"Buchou, I'm done!" I watched as Issei Hyoudou burst through the door. He paused staring at me sitting next to Rias. "Oh, Kaichou, you're here too."
"Indeed." I said evenly, even if I was annoyed at his actions. It seems that turning into a devil did nothing to diminish his inability to read a room.
Rias just sighed. It basically the default reaction she had whenever she paid attention to Issei. I couldn't help but feel sorry for her, finding out that Issei didn't have a sacred gear at all. No, he just seemed to have some draconic bloodline that seemed to suddenly manifest.
Honestly, it was an easy mistake to make. Rias's Rook, Shirone was their only means of 'sensing' sacred gears, and that was mainly due to her very attentive nose and very conservative use of senjutsu. It was almost safe to assume that if a normal kid started smelling like a dragon, he likely had a dragon-based sacred gear…..which there are a lot of.
Unfortunately for everyone involved…..Issei was barely better than a standard human, only requiring a normal pawn to reincarnate. His 'dragon' bloodline did mean he had some decent potential to tap in to…eventually, but that was slow going.
His stamina for instance, it was several times better than even Rias's knight. Too bad his other aspects aren't on the same level. But small mercies, that means he can train many times harder as well.
"We're having a meeting, Issei, sit down." Rias commanded her pawn, though with less force than I would have.
"Yes, Bunchou!" Issei said happily taking a seat near his king.
"How did he get so strong so quickly?" Rias bit her thumb, staring at the video being played.
Oh Shimoda, what have you gotten yourself into? "Was it possible he was this strong before?" I asked.
"I mean….it's possible, if he was that strong, then wouldn't be able to hide his power from us….or something." Rias was grasping at straws and even I was confused by what I was witnessing.
"Who is that? And what's he fighting? Is that a youkai?" Issei started spitting out every question that entered his head.
"That's…..my nephew." Rias said quietly.
"Awsome, Buchou's nephew is so strong! You can handle that thing too, right?" Issei spoke without filter, but his questions weren't exactly inappropriate either. He was still knew to all of this, I think anyone would excuse such questions here.
"Well….."
"No." I answered for her.
"Sona!" Rias whined at my blunt dismissal. "I could easily handle that thing." She huffed.
"Rias, you can kill it, that doesn't mean you can beat it. You lack almost any kind of defensive ability, and your spell repertoire consists of throwing your destruction at any enemy." Rias needed a wake up call sometimes. I'll admit, she is a genius, but she relies way too heavily on her bloodline and thinks nothing else matters. "Could you kill it before it spewed any of that venom from its mouths? A single hit of that and you're done."
Rias favored overwhelming destruction above all else, forging even basic defensive means. If I had to guess, it's because her bother can get away with such a thing, yet she is nowhere near his level and it would hurt her pride to admit that to herself.
Rias crossed her arms in annoyance. "And I'm sure you can beat it?"
"Yes." I replied without hesitation. "I have more than just pure power, my ice will be able to immobilize it while I could implement a gorilla-style attacks." Though I didn't admit that I would probably take everything I had to beat such a creature…and even then, it wasn't a hundred percent guarantee. Who knows how much resistance to magic it has?
And Shimoda was able to slay it with an ease like he was going for a walk...it was a hit to my pride. I watched almost all the material I could get my hands on regarding Shimoda's little debut in Kyoto. Some powerful looking swords that flew around him, taking down enemies that I would need conscious effort to deal with. Magic that I couldn't understand as space around him shattered at his whims and the large-scale eastern magics he employed with relative ease...how…?
The way he moved, the way he acted…..so calm, like it was merely another day, not literal chaos and pandemonium erupting around him, not a giant snake-dragon-youkai thing barring down on him with the intent to kill.
I could only clench my hands in frustration as Rias and I tried to analyze everything we saw, trying to dig out the secrets of Shimoda's newfound strength.
Suddenly, I question my ability to get 'even' with him for blowing me up…..
***
Oh boy, lots of stuff going on in the background. Mama Gremory is not happy with her son right now, and is taking it out on his knight. Rias and Sona are surprised at what they are watching, and hey, a wild Issei appears! Something, something, Boosted gear left a small bit of 'dragon' behind in his soul giving him a small dragon aspect. I'll see if i can't do that 'PHO' chapter this weekend at some point.
Anyways, if you want to read 5 chapters ahead or support me, visit my pat.reon.com/Astoryforone
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