บท 11: Chapter 11
Ace returned to the kitchen after his training. Sweat rolled down his face as training soul energy wasn't something easy, especially at the start. His mind would hurt as he tried to do it, and the progress wasn't particularly fast, but progress was being made.
He was quite tired by now, but a smile was on his lips as he felt that he did get a good improvement as his change from one state to another was much smoother now compared to before.
In the kitchen, Ace's uncle and aunt were looking a bit troubled as Asia stood in front of them. Neither knew what to say since Asia did not know Japanese so she couldn't communicate with them.
"Ace-kun, it is good to see you up so early." Gorou Hyoudou, Isane's father and Ace's uncle, said with a smile. "We were worried about you arriving home so late."
"Please do not mind, I was just busy with some work that got out of hand in terms of time. At least I got a good pay for it." Ace said with a smile as Gorou nodded.
"Good, it is great to see that my nephew is so dedicated and hard-working." Gorou said, his appreciation of Ace's work clearly shown.
In truth, this was a common theme between Gorou and Miki, both liking that Ace was so hard working and secretly hoping he and Isane would get together if for nothing else because they doubted their daughter could do better. Sure, they were cousins, but that was of little concern since in this world there were few problems regarding incest apparently.
Ace was quite sure that it was due to the fact that the Gods loved to fuck one another regardless of how closely related they might be and the idea of it being bad didn't sit well with them, as such they changed things up to make it where it wouldn't be any big issue. Thanks to that, besides Ace, everyone just saw the idea of incest as quite normal and acceptable overall, simple as that.
Regardless, Miki spoke up.
"So, could you introduce us to your friend over here? Isane brought her home yesterday very tired and a bit sickly. Our daughter said you knew her and that she has gone through some form of accident, is everything with her alright?"
Ace showed a serious face before explaining the lie he figured out.
"She is a bit of a unique case. She is an orphan who was kicked out of the church she was living in due to politics and was sent to Kuoh instead. Thankfully she had some people looking for her that knew the area and they entered in contact with some of my clients that indicated me to look out for her until she gets a good place to live. She doesn't yet know Japanese well but I will help her with that. She passed out yesterday because someone tried to attack her as that creep did to Isane before, thankfully I got there in time but she was pretty shaken by it." Ace explained, making Miki and Gorou look at Asia with teary eyes.
The two might be full-grown adults, but they were ultimately very emotional and sensitive to others' wellbeing. It was one of the major reasons why Ace hasn't moved out or something similar over the years despite having the financial capabilities for it and the near-constant sexual harassment that Isane put him through (so many underwears missing), Ace simply liked them.
"Asia-chan, don't worry. We will make sure to let you live a good life." Gorou said confidently.
"You don't need to be an orphan any longer, you can think of me as your mother from now on." Miki said and Gorou nodded.
"Yes, finally a daughter we can be proud off." Gorou said excitedly just as Isane was entering the kitchen.
"Hey! What about me?" Isane said indignantly.
"I know what I said, and I've seen your eroge collection before." Gorou said with a deadpan, causing Isane to sweat bullets.
"And I've had to go and put away your sex toys, some you forgot turned on in the ground when going to school." Miki said, making Isane look down for a bit before looking up with a strong face.
"I just had those because I want to be sure I can do well when I find a boyfriend!"
"And you doing all that is helping you get a good boyfriend... how?" Miki asked, making Isane's eyes water as she left the kitchen in a sprint.
Asia, meanwhile, was looking confused at all this as she did not speak Japanese at all. She could only turn to Ace and ask.
"Uhm, sorry but what is going on? I don't quite remember what happened last night after..."
"I understand, and will explain everything to you soon enough." Ace said in fluent Italian before turning to his uncle and aunt and speaking in Japanese. "She is a bit overwhelmed and I want to have a small chat with her to explain to her everything, how about it?"
"Of course, please make sure to tell her how we feel and that she can stay here for as long as she wants!" Gorou said to which Ace nodded before motioning for Asia to follow.
The girl followed Ace who moved to the outside of the house.
"Your name is Asia, correct?"
"Y-Yes! Can, can you tell me what is going on? I still don't quite understand it." Asia said meekly and Ace nodded his head before speaking.
"Well, you prefer the long version or the short version?"
"T-The short one?" Asia answers/questions it.
"The short of it is that you are mine now." Ace said directly, wanting to take that band-aid out at once instead of trying to sugarcoat it.
"Huh?"
"Wait a sec, as I owe you I should be able to... there we go." Ace said as he did what he desired.
In other words, he transferred his memories of the previous night to Asia. As she belonged to him in her entirety right now then Ace also had the right to control her memories, as well as copy in her mind what memories he had of the previous night to her. It was as if the memories in the brains were bank accounts, everyone has one of their own and normally it is necessary some procedures to transfer the 'account' of the other person, but, as Ace 'owed' that part of Asia as well, he could just deposit his own memories directly in Asia's brain as that was technically his propriety
Of course, the memories did not include the memories of the thoughts Ace had at the time so Asia couldn't have known of what Ace was scheming at the time, all she saw was Ace going in the church to save Isane and giving Asia several years of his own life span so that she could survive what accounted for Asia's own stupid decisions (she did go willingly to Kuoh to seek the fallen that nearly killed her, after all).
Asia only stared at Ace for a while, not knowing what to say for a bit before her eyes watered. Ace figured she might slap or yell at him, he did after all take advantage of her moment of weakness and delirium to make her essentially his slave and he wouldn't find either choice of hers weird in any way. However, unlike his expectations, Asia opened her mouth and said.
"W-Will you really give me a home to belong?"
"Of course." Ace said instantly, not even doubting himself for a mere moment. "It is in the deal I made with you that I will help you make friends and will help keep you safe, and I am a greedy person, I take care of what is mine and you, miss Asia Argento, is one of my possessions. You belong on my side." Ace said without any doubt.
It was crude, Ace was quite sure of that, but it was also truthful and overall he was quite sure it would be somewhat effective in Asia. If she was anything like her CANON DxD counterpart she should be desperate for a home to belong, to have friends and family to care for her, and to live a normal-ish life.
Everything that she originally got from CANON Issei, and everything that Ace was offering to her now.
Ace then continued.
"I also talked with my aunt and uncle, told them something close to your story without mentioning the supernatural aspects to it, and they both said you can stay here as long as you want. They said you can think of them as your own parents and to see us as your new family. So, what do you say? Want to stay or not? Of course, if you want to leave I won't stop you, at most request help from you in some matters every once in a while and pay you a corresponding monetary price." Ace finished, and he was being perfectly honest.
Ace did not mind slavery of enemies, if you were a defeated enemy then your life belongs to the one who won, and thus it is in Ace's right to do whatever he wanted with the downed party. However, if the person was neutral or friendly then Ace did not appreciate slavery and would much rather give the other party freedom of choice. Asia never went against Ace, so if she were to choose to not be by Ace's side he would understand but still fulfill his side of the deal in protecting her (within reason) and helping her make friends (give her to either Rias or Sona as peerage member for a suitable price considering Asia is a high tier SG user that has the rare skill of healing).
However, Ace's concerns were unnecessary since Asia's tearing-up eyes decided to let go and the tears she was repressing cascaded down her face. In truth, Ace could not fully grasp the meaning of what he said to Asia.
She was born and raised alone, with no friends or anything like that. So he would be with her and give her friends.
She was kicked out of the only home she had and no longer had a place to belong. So he gave her a home and a family she could belong to.
She was nearly killed and was abandoned by everyone and 'God' himself as she was excommunicated from the religion that represented to much for her. He now took her as his and would not let her go, taking in her everything while also letting her choose everything for herself.
How could she not react to such a situation?
Seeing her crying Ace honestly did not fully know what to do. He was used to Isane crying sometimes, mostly crocodile tears or complaints about how he acted towards her or the like, and he would usually either ignore or find some way to make her stop crying, likely in a violent or offensive fashion, but Ace was just not that good with dealing with other girls' crying.
Thinking on what to do he decided on a course of action he figured would likely work in someone as innocent as Asia. It seemed to work wonders in the show he remembers in his past life (still hoping to unlock that world).
Approaching her Ace gave her a hug and gave her some light pats on the back to keep her calm.
"Shh, shh, let it out, let it out. It was hard, I understand. You went through a lot and were all alone until now. You'll be fine now. I'm here for you." Ace said, quoting someone he was quite confident he should be able to sell some stuff in that world.
Asia continued to cry like that as she used her small hands, clutching Ace's clothes tighter as if she didn't want to let go of the warmth she was feeling right now.
It was a good dozen minutes before she finally stopped. She was still sobbing a bit as Ace moved a bit away and with great care cleared the tear marks from her face.
"Now, all better. Also, I will be transferring you a small gift. It is the knowledge regarding the Japanese language, it will make understanding what others say hard but possible and it will make you becoming fluent easier." Ace explained as he transferred that knowledge to Asia.
It didn't really affect Ace, he still had all the experience of learning the language after all and that just made it so that he could 'relearn' the language in a matter of seconds after trying it. It was kinda like a house of cards, even if the last stage was removed it would be relatively very simple to get to the same level he had previously again. And it would make Asia learning the language much easier as well while better selling the whole 'learning the language' to make the idea of her coming from other nations more believable (Ace honestly could not understand how in CANON no one thought it strange that a foreigner that has just arrived in Japan could speak perfect Japanese without any issue or accent, he just figured it might be hypnosis).
As Asia got the 'gift' Ace took out his phone to make a call, but remembered that Ravel should be in the Underworld much like Rias and Sona's groups.
'Well, I guess I will have to wait a bit and hope that aunt and uncle don't do much regarding Asia suddenly starting to understand them. Or at least won't do much until tomorrow, I will have been with Ravel by then and she should be plenty able to deal with this situation through hypnosis.' Ace figured with a nod before taking Asia back inside the house, only to feel himself getting past a barrier and seeing something he wasn't expecting to see whatsoever.
Namely, his aunt, uncle, and Isane all had a dazed expression on their faces while the red-haired girl from the night before was looking in shock at what a white-haired loli with purple eyes and two small black horns on her head was saying to her.
Ace felt like he had seen these two in the past, but he wasn't sure when. And no, not in the past like last night when he saved the redhead bombshell, but more like in his previous life. He just couldn't remember where, but that hardly mattered at this moment since there was a more relevant part that Ace took notice of.
Someone touched his family, right in their home no less.
Not seeing a need to think any further than that simple fact, Ace dashed forward. The sword he always kept at his side and that he used during morning practice left its sheathe as he moved to slice right through the loli that clearly was the one responsible for using magic against his family members.
Sure, Ace fully intended on using similar means on his family members later tonight to make sure they do not question what is going on and keep them in the dark about the supernatural, thus letting them be safer overall, but it would be in a controllable manner and in which he could be sure that his family is safe through the whole procedure.
Some stranger of unknown origins or objectives was an entirely different story, and Ace had no issues in slicing through the girl right away.
The girl barely reacted in time, a magic circle springing up in front of her as the sword collided with it. The sword hit the sword and was bounced off, but Ace did not stop and instead did the next logical thing to be done and used the bounced off power to jump at his family, positioning himself between the newcomer and them.
"I don't know who you are, but you either stop whatever it is that you did to my family or I WILL kill you." Ace said. He has failed to kill the enemy in one strike and he's very squishy, very killable family was way too close to where the fight would be in case the conflict continued.
And if that were to happen things would grow considerably more complicated.
Of course, that was not that huge of a problem as Ace was using the time he was talking to communicate with Leiur and Garie through the slave fallen he left with them. Ace didn't care about the opinions or freedom of those fallen who tried to kill him and his cousin, so he didn't feel anything as he controlled their bodies directly to issue commands to those two to prepare for teleportation to the house.
He just didn't instantly tell them to come over as he could not be sure that it would be safe to his family if the enemy got agitated due to the appearance of new people and he did not want to risk it.
The loli just raised her hands and said with a cheerful smile.
"I surrender."
"... Huh?" Ace voiced, not understanding what the hell was going on.
"I said it, I surrender. I have no intentions or desire to hurt anyone here, I came in peace. I just used a tiny bit of hypnosis to make sure that the other humans didn't interfere while I talked with Mio-sama and later you as well." The girl said with a smile and Ace squinted his eyes for a moment before speaking.
"Then let us make a deal, I will let you say what you came to say and won't try to remove your head from your shoulders through the talks, and, in exchange, you won't harm in any way, shape, or form my family members or those under my protection."
"Fine by me, I didn't come to fight anyway." The girl said and Ace relaxed his shoulders and put the sword back in its sheath.
Then he turned to Asia and spoke.
"Asia, if you don't mind how about if we go to the kitchen and prepare some snacks and tea for the guest while she finishes speaking with miss... you know, I never really got the names of you two." Ace said, looking at the loli and the redhead who blinked for a moment before realizing that it was true.
The redhead in special was very flustered since she had her life and integrity saved by Ace and she hasn't even introduced herself to him. Well, she has just gone through her parents' dying the night before, so it isn't like that was that huge of a deal anyways.
"Then how about we introduce ourselves before anything else. My name is Maria Lilith, a succubus of the royal line, please take care of me." The loli, Maria, said with a bright smile, a tail with its tip looking like a heart coming out of her back and waving as if to say hello.
"... My name is Mio Naruse, thank you for the help last night." the redhead, Mio, said with a bow that she tried to keep as polite as she could.
"Well, my name is Hyoudo Ace, or just Ace for short. And don't worry about last night, I have issues with molesters and rapists in general so it isn't like that was that big of an issue for me. The ones behind you are my aunt Hyoudo Miki, my uncle Hyoudo Gorou, my cousin and a pervert (be warned) Hyoudo Isane, and this one beside me is a new friend that lives here now, Asia Argento." Ace said, introducing everyone before motioning for Asia to get moving while he sent the order to come for one of his autoscorrers to come over.
Using Ace as the coordinates of travel it was easy for the Leur to arrive via the teleportation crystal. It was a good thing that creating those was very easy and Ace had a big amount of those from his deals with Carol and the Bavarati Ilumitati over the years.
"This here is Leur, she will watch over these talks to make sure no funny business is done." Ace explained, unwilling to show all his subordinates to who might become an enemy (Maria did come out of nowhere into his house and was from a race Ace didn't remember being in DxD).
"Try anything and I will paint these walls with your blood in an extravagant fashion." Leur said and Ace got the impression she'd likely be friends with Tengen from the Demon Slayer world if the two ever met.
With that Ace moved to the kitchen and left Maria to talk with Mio. It was only while the water was boiling for the tea did Ace remember where he knew who Maria and Mio were.
"Well, damn." Ace said, making Asia look at him who just waved her off before helping her with getting the biscuits for snacks. The girl smiled and blushed a bit as Ace gave her a smile, hiding the fact he was kicking himself over not realizing WHO he saved the night before and what this all means.
He has likely just saved Mio Naruse, the daughter of the previous demon lord and someone who both main factions of the demon race want to capture for their own purposes. She was a political nightmare in the making and Ace has absolutely no idea how that might influence him entering a peerage, not only that he was quite sure he was already on the shitlist of at least Zolgear, a very old and likely very powerful and influential demon.
A demon that, in CANON, had not hesitated to use mind control and hostages to capture Mio with the express objective of turning her into a mindless sex slave and power provider. Great guy, the type that Ace just loves... his head would look great on Ace's wall.
It was a short while later that Ace finished everything and returned to the living room. Maria had sent Ace's family to their respective rooms, mostly to open up some space for discussion and because she didn't want a constant visual reminder that she had acted against the Hyoudo household.
Serving the tea and the biscuits Ace noted that Mio had a pensive face, she has just heard about all the details of what had happened and would need a while to think it all through. Ace meanwhile turned to Maria.
"So, care to explain what is going on? I saved Mio last night only because I was nearby at the time and saw what was about to happen, so an explanation would be great."
"Of course." Maria said as she started to explain everything to Ace.
It matched what he knew mostly pretty well, there were just some small differences. First, the demon and devil race are mostly neutral to each other but Mio was allowed to stay in this town due to the personal friendship/rivalry that Satan Lucifer had with Mio's father, the two being equals in power and ability, with Mio being entrusted to live in the territory of house Gremory as they both thought it would be safer. Well, it didn't work that well, but it kept Mio safe and hidden for 16 years so at least it did something right.
Besides that, another difference was that Wilbert, Mio's father, did not simply disappear as it was in CANON. Instead, he was challenged a few years prior and was defeated and subsequently killed by Crom Cruach, taking out one of the evil dragon's right arms and left eye, it was a terrible fight but, after his victory, the dragon refused to have those parts lost healed or anything of the sort wanting to keep the proof of that demon's strength. This was a heavy blow for the evil dragon who was amongst the strongest existences in the world, but was no less of a blow for the demon race that has been in turmoil since Wilbert's death.
As to why the demons wanted Mio, the moderate faction wanted her to use as a figurehead for the new Demon King since she is the previous king's only descendant, and the Demon King Faction wanted to remove Mio's powers as they believed she might have the same unique power that his majesty used to have which would make the path for the new demon king much smoother and let him more properly replace the previous demon king and perhaps reach even greater heights.
"So, what would you think of helping me protect Mio-sama?" Maria questioned with a smile on her face.
"Fuck no." Ace said instantly and without hesitation.
That whole situation sounded like a huge pain in the ass and Mio's problems had nothing to do with him anyway, he just protected her once and that was about it.
"Eh, now now, a young hero like you surely wouldn't hesitate to help an innocent and sexy maiden in danger, right?" Maria said before giving him a suggestive grin. "Who knows, you might make her fall for you so you can enjoy her body all you want! Imagine it, all of that sexy, sexy body all for yourself."
Mio, hearing this, got red in the face and shot a glare at Maria who pretended not to notice it.
Ace just shrugged at the whole suggestion.
"I won't risk my life and that of my loved ones in hopes to perhaps get laid, no matter how honestly pretty Mio might be."
Mio looked at him and spoke.
"You know, I don't know if I should be offended you won't help me or be glad that you are not some creepy scumbag that wants to get in my panties."
"Oh, I very much would like to get into those, I just refuse to get myself and my family killed for it. Besides, I would rather only take girls who are willing to my bed, not scheme to get there." unless it is necessary was left unsaid. Ace very much intended to seduce and get Ravel in his bed as soon as possible.
Mio looked a bit troubled, but let it go. Her mind was too much of a mess right now to try and understand anything more than the fact she was a princess who was being hunted to either be forced to take a throne she did not want, or hunted to be killed and have her powers taken away.
"... I heard you like to make deals. What do you say we pay you for the protection then?" Maria suggested to which Ace scoffed.
"I won't take that job. I may be greedy and be willing to take jobs no matter of who as long as the pay is good and it doesn't harm my bottom line, but I know my own worth. I am not strong enough to be worth that high a value as a bodyguard while I also would only accept a deal to get involved in a race war that has nothing to do with me if the price was just that exorbitantly high to make it worthwhile to risk myself. Of course, if the price offered is valuable enough to compensate for my efforts I would take that job, but that is about it. If you want to go talk with your superiors about it then go right ahead, the door is that way." Ace said, not believing for a single moment that they would actually take out something that was of high enough price to compensate him for risking his life and that of his family.
"Then, how about this. As long as you keep Mio-sama safe I can be yours as compensation?" Maria said, not really knowing what to offer and just wanting to see what Ace would say to that. She WAS ordered to get his help, but she had to see if such a thing was even truly possible at this point in time.
Ace was about to say something when it happened.
Despite having done many deals by now Ace was far too careless in his wording, he specifically said that if what was offered was of sufficient value he would accept to protect Mio, however, he never expected that Maria would actually give him something of that value.
Protecting a princess from who knows how many enemies while in likely hostile lands? That sort of thing the value of such work can only be imagined! However, Maria's whole being was of equal or greater value than this work, so Ace could only stare in terror as his essence took over, making the deal valid and effective, start immediately.
"... Fuck." Ace said as reality settled in. He now had to not only deal with three devil princesses, but also a demon princess as well as a loli succubus who would likely try to make everything even more complicated for shits and giggles.
Just his luck.
///---///
AN:
What is this? A surprise update? Yes, yes it is.
Haha, no one expected this, right?
Me neither, actually. I just felt like updating this chapter now since I will have way too much work this weekend and have no idea how much or even IF I will be able to post much of anything. Anyway, we see the plot advancing further by a bit and show Ace's first meeting with Maria, his talk with Asia, and prove that Ace too is under the influence of his own Essence and can, yes, get fucked up by it if he doesn't pay attention.
Now he is stuck protecting Mio and, in exchange, he gets Maria as his new servant (a price well worth it if you know how much she represents in her CANON self).
In other news, I started an interesting fic. Not sure how it will progress but it is my attempt at a Waifu Catalog fic in One Piece. Check it out if you are interested to see what I cook up next. For those in Webnovel, I posted it in a friend's account, search for 'New Emperor and his Catalog' on the account of 'Dark_Spider'.
Thanks, see ya next time.
— ตอนใหม่กำลังมาในเร็วๆ นี้ — เขียนรีวิว
สถานะพลังงานรายสัปดาห์
-- การจัดอันดับด้วยพลัง 
-- หินพลัง