บท 236: Negotiations

(Since someone asked about it and I'm not sure if I described them or not, DAGONS are water people with fins for ears and webbing between their fingers as well as emerald green hair, not to be confused for DRAGONS.)

After Remia dropped a bombshell by referring to Alex as 'husband', the atmosphere of the room instantly became chilly as each of the girls immediately narrowed their eyes. Then Rias stepped forward and asked with a smile that didn't reach her eyes,

"So what exactly did you mean by "husband", hm?" As if she was completely unaffected by the atmosphere she just created, Remia just replied by saying with a smile,

"Ufufufufu, isn't it obvious? If I'm Myuu's mama and Alex is her papa, then that would make him my husband since mamas and papas are husband and wife." Hearing her explanation every girls eye twitched at how outrageous it was. They had long since given up trying to prevent the amount of women around Alex from growing, and had already prepared themselves for the possibility of something happening with Myuu's mother since she mentioned that her actual father died before she was born, but having someone they literally just met moments ago try casually make themselves Alex's wife had truly annoyed them. Rias glanced at Grayfia and without any for of communication the two came to an understanding. Rias grabbed Remia's left arm, while Grayfia seized her right, and Remia's 'ufufufufufu' immediately turned into an 'eh?' As the two started dragging her away.

"Wait, what are you doing?" She asked. Grayfia simply said without even looking at her,

"It seems to me that we need to have a serious discussion in private." With Rias throwing in her agreement, Remia was dragged to her bedroom as her eyes showed a brief second of panic before the door closed.

"Stay strong mama!" Myuu said as if she was trying to encourage her mother. Alex only smiled wryly as he already expected such an outcome, but the girls reaction seemed a bit more extreme than he assumed it would be.

A couple hours later Remia was happily cooking dinner in her kitchen with Myuu and Shia giving her a hand. Though she received a scolding from Rias and Grayfia earlier, she was still in a good mood from Myuu being brought back to her. As they were working Myuu ran out of the kitchen to where Alex was sitting and said,

"Try this papa!" Alex smiled at her and dutifully ate what Myuu offered before saying,

"That's very good, theres more right?" Myuu laughed in response and said,

"Yep! Mama and I are making a whole bunch for everyone for dinner!" She then ran back towards Remia to continue helping them make dinner. After her husband died Remia wanted to focus on raising Myuu properly, but after a couple years it became the popular opinion that she should remarry partially because she was widely considered to be quite beautiful and many thought it was a waste she was still single. As her biggest concern in remarrying was finding a proper father for Myuu, Remia couldn't help but smile after seeing the scene with Alex. When she looked closer at his figure she also thought she could do a lot worse in picking a man with how muscular he was, though during her scolding she was also warned to be careful if she considered entering his bed, being a "normal" person and all.

***

With Remia offering them her home while they stayed in Erisen, Alex and the others stayed there for a couple days while they prepared to enter the next labyrinth, the Sunken Ruins of Melusine. Since they needed the light of the full moon along with the pendant they received from Gruen Grand Volcano, they needed to wait for the few days until then anyways, while Hajime was putting a few finishing touches on a submarine he was making to make the trip easier. On their last day before departing however, an unheard of sight was walking through the streets of Erisen. With how much attention they gained when they arrived as well as how they all stuck out, Alex and his companions were all extremely well known in Erisen after just a couple days. Though Alex kept his tail tucked away around his waist like usual, people like Kuroka made no attempt to 'blend in' as she proudly strutted around the city with her ears and three tails out, questions were going around about Gasper, Valerie, and Yue with their red eyes and pronounced canines, and Tio showed off her dragon wings once which sparked furious rumors about her as well. Alex never minded any of this since they decided to stop hiding for the most part and the church didn't have any presence in Erisen since it was a city of demihumans, but what caused the most furious rumors was his entourage as Remia led him towards the place where the public officials gathered.

With Remia at his side, while also displaying to everyone around she taken by looping her arm through Alex's, they were followed by a trio of individuals the likes of which no one in Erisen, or even the entirety of Tortus, had ever seen. Firstly was the mature beauty following directly behind them, with her kimono that allowed such a gratuitous amount of her ample cleavage to be seen it was a while before most people noticed the fox ears and nine fox tails flowing behind her. Standing behind Yasaka to her left side was another beautiful woman, except she had pink hair and a set of horns protruding from her forehead; and contrasting the stylish high class dresses she usually wore, Roygun was currently wearing a suit with sunglasses that made her seem more like a secret service agent. Finally walking to Roygun's right was the one that put everyone on edge the most, Bova Tannin. No one on Erisen had ever seen a dragon before, and after the extinction of the dragon race there were said to only be the wild monster dragons left; so even though Bova was in his mini form and showed no signs of hostility, there was almost a panic from seeing him walking around. Apparently the two insisted on accompanying Yasaka during her negotiations as her body guards since they were technically supposed to be Alex's vessels, though even after separating herself from the leylines of Kyoto she was still quite the powerhouse herself.

"It's still strange to think that we're actually in a different world than the one we know." Bova said in wonder as he observed the surrounding dagons, though the difference in how this floating city operated compared to a devil or modern human city was obvious.

"I know, maybe once we're done with this job I'll go and check out those labyrinths myself to see more of this world." Roygun agreed as she scrutinized everything behind her sunglasses. Alex laughed lightheartedly at their words before turning back and saying,

"Just remember not to fall in the ocean again Bova, I don't want to have to keep fishing you out." Roygun snickered in response to Alex's words while Bova tried to tuck his head back in embarrassment when he recalled what happened when they first left Remia's house, and he found out firsthand how he couldn't swim anymore. His embarrassment persisted all the way to their destination along with the occasional snicker. Soon they reached what appeared to be the largest building in the area where several "official" looking people were going in and out, both dagons and humans. Even though she herself wasn't anyone actually important, no one stopped Remia as she led them to Chiefs office due to the fact that she still needed to explain what actually happened regarding Myuu's kidnapping, as well as no one wanting to get in Alex's way after his display when he arrived. They soon entered an office where they found the representative who Alex met when he arrived, as well as a seemingly older Dagon that a few streaks of gray going through his emerald green hair. When they looked up at who intruded the representative paled immediately while the one Alex assumed was the chief of the Dagon race frowned slightly when he saw the three people he hadn't heard about. He then turned towards the representative and said,

"May we resume this conversation later? I would like to hear of the recent events myself from Remia." Since it important that they understood what exactly happened the representative agreed, but said he'd read the report and quickly made an exit while avoiding eye contact with Alex. He then handed the chief the letter from Ilwa explaining the events that took place, while also giving his own testimony so it would be "official". Seeing that Alex seemingly wasn't like how the rumor depicted him, the chief raised his opinion of him but didn't let it show on his face while he wrote what Alex said down in the official report. He then glanced as the now sitting Yasaka and the still standing Roygun and Bova before asking,

"So may I ask what these three are doing here? From what I understand they aren't the companions that arrived with you and with no disrespect intended, I've never seen nor heard of people like them before." Instead of answering Alex simply gestures towards Yasaka who stood and politely bowed her slightly in greeting before saying,

"It is a pleasure to meet you sir, I'm called Yasaka and these two are my body guards during my time here. I am here to negotiate on Alex's behalf regarding a possible opportunity for the Dagon race." She then handed over a folder that contained the general description of what they wanted and what they expected of the chief, which was even written in the language used in Tortus after studying the books Alex brought back when he first arrived. As he read the documents the Chiefs eyes switched between widening and narrowing as he saw what was expected of them and the opportunities they would supposedly have.

The first thing was that they would establish a secondary community in this place known as Asora by the sea, which wasn't an issue since all Dagon people loved being near the water. What surprised the chief was that unlike in Tortus where they had to stay on the sea for fear of enslavement and so that the kingdom could ensure they were getting their seafood, the members of their race would be able to travel freely around this world without fear of being attacked by humans and they wouldn't be restricted only to seaside territories. (A.n. Since I couldn't think of a better way to explain it, think of the districts in hunger games where they were never allowed to leave, but as a sea dwelling race the majority would choose to stay in their own community anyways.)

The second requirement was that each person migrating would be required to go through language classes. Though Devils, Angels and so on were automatically able to understand other languages, this wouldn't apply to every person that ended up moving to Asora. To fix this a single language was decided upon and every new resident that wasn't able to understand it or write it would be required to take classes to learn it. As the worlds Alex planned to visit originated from Japanese manga or anime he chose that since, unless stated otherwise like Tortus, the majority of those worlds would most likely have Japanese speaking residents.

The third and fourth requirements were relatively easy, as they simply had to create and supply a seafood market, and explore while mapping the underwater terrain. Both of these were easy enough to fulfill since they mostly survived on seafood anyways, and the population in Asora wasn't very large so it wouldn't be difficult to supply for compared to the entire Heiligh kingdom. Meanwhile they would naturally explore the underwater terrain anyways to determine the best fishing grounds and to learn of any possible threats such as sea monsters. The documents also mentioned that members of the Dagon race would be able to learn how to better themselves in combat, and after some trial and error possibly be able to learn magic. When he saw this the Chiefs eyes went the widest they had been so far as he turned toward Alex and Yasaka and demanded,

"What are you playing at?! Demihumans can't learn magic, it's impossible! What kind of trick is this?" Neither one said anything in response to the Chiefs demands, instead Yasaka held out her open hand and with any chants or magic circles, summoned a small ball of fox fire. The chief went statuesque at his eyes glanced between the magically conjured fire, and Yasaka's ears and tails. Since they were alone Alex also revealed his own monkey's tail, and similarly summoned a ball of flames with ease. Seeing how dumbfounded the chief had turned, Alex started talking slowly,

"We are from a different world than this one, that also means we use different forms of magic. I won't guarantee that demihumans will be able to learn our brand of magic as there are different types, but after some examinations and testing we may be able to find a style of magic compatible with the Dagon race." After hearing Alex's explanation the chief collapsed back into his chair as his thoughts moved as fast as a hurricane, one part of him was convinced this was a trick to enslave them, but another part of him couldn't help thinking 'what if it isn't?' After a few moments of silence Alex spoke once more,

"We'll leave for today and let you think about this offer. Tomorrow I'll be journeying to the nearby Great Labyrinth, but Yasaka will be staying with Remia in order to continue the negotiations. I'll say two more things before leaving though, if it's impossible for the entire population of Erisen to move then you would just need to find those who would want to and we'll still accept them, and please don't mention this to anyone from the Heiligh kingdom. I'll speak to them sooner or later so leave that discussion to me." Alex then led the group out the door while leaving the chief of the Dagon race to decide their fate.