"And now I'm a factory?" asked the woman grumpily.
Altair looked at the eight cursed pieces on the board. The pawns had turned the same light-absorbing black as the queen piece.
"You are," he did not deny her words.
She sighed in annoyance. Although she was fascinated deep down,
She rejected the system of evil pieces. Taking inferior races and promoting them to devils was an offense against her race. Nothing good would come of it.
But seeing Altair exploit a loophole he found was interesting. He transformed eight normal pieces into eight mutated pieces. He hadn't done anything to the Rooks, Knights, and Bishops.
"Serafall... I just thought of something," Altair called to the Maou. "I want to exchange my pieces, Rooks, Knights, and Bishops, all for pawns. They should be worth more, shouldn't they? Ten from the rooks, six from the Knights, and six from the bishops." Katerea looked at him with wide eyes.
'What a fool...' she scoffed in her mind. But then she thought better of it.
That would give him a total of thirty-two pieces, considering the king, queen, and eight pawns. She didn't know if the Maou would allow such a thing to happen. It would give him an abysmal numerical advantage—double pieces in his nobility.
But it wasn't meaningless; he was taking advantage of the same system the devils had used when creating the pieces. The rules of chess assigned a numerical value to each piece. Bishops are worth 3, as are knights, while rooks are worth 5. The queen is worth 9, but considering that it is a mutated piece, it would be foolish to change it.
The question at that moment was, was it worth trading a bishop for three pawns?
Under normal circumstances, she wouldn't, but at that moment, having the ability to mutate them, it would be like trading a bishop for three queens.
She could mutate a Bishop? Katerea wasn't entirely sure. But there was a huge chance that she could do it. But that would only increase the person's magical potential, and although it would be greater than what a reincarnated pawn would increase, it would not increase the other abilities.
"Will the Satans accept?" she wondered.
"I understand, please call me as soon as you have an answer," she heard Altair say.
They didn't give her an answer right away. It was an unusual request; they had to consider everything carefully.
---------------------
Altair was talking to the three girls who were closest to him. Violet wasn't there; she had sulked and returned to Great Britain. He would have to do something for her; after all, she had helped him save his sister.
"One of us? It must be Lavender," Harley said when she heard what Altair was asking. "She deserves it more."
"I'm not a fighter; such a valuable piece would be wasted on me." Lavender shook her head. "I wouldn't mind being stronger, but I wouldn't take the most powerful piece."
Altair, deep down, wanted her to take it; it was more than just strength.
She was his queen.
"In that case, it must be Harley," Azalea said. "Or Luna, but I don't think Luna wants to be a fighter," she added.
Altair felt a pang of longing when he thought of Luna. He hadn't seen her in weeks. He would arrive in Great Britain a few days before entering England to help her with a mysterious assignment she had asked him to do.
"Don't you consider yourself?" he asked her.
"No. I'm a scientist, not a fighter. Harley is the most problematic of us. Although... I could consider Mom," Altair's eyes widened at that suggestion.
"Do you think Lily would accept?" He hadn't considered her.
Lily was mighty. She has the power of a middle-class devil even as a human. With the queen's piece, she could even reach the Ultimate class. But would she be willing?
He had already talked to the Potter twins and Lavender. All three wanted to become devils. If they didn't want to, he would have respected their decision.
But Lily... whether she would accept was uncertain. But not impossible.
"She's coming this way," said Harley, looking at her cell phone.
Altair knew that when the Maous asked for a witch for his queen, they expected one of the girls his age to be his queen. But Lily was indeed a witch, so she fit the requirements.
"Lily," he greeted her.
She came with Asia by her side. The two had formed a bond, and Altair was happy for the young nun. The girl was wearing a skirt and a long-sleeved shirt that fit her body snugly. She waved her hand when she saw him, a beautiful smile lighting up her face.
Her hand fell to her skirt, which was just a finger's width above the knee. It wasn't unusual or vulgar, but it was the most daring thing she had ever dared to wear in her entire life.
"Altair!" Asia waved at him when she saw him, a beautiful smile lighting up her face.
"We haven't been able to spend much time together. I hope you've made friends here," he said.
"Yes!" she nodded. "Lavender, Harley, and Azalea have been very kind. They even gave me the clothes I'm wearing... uh," she looked at Lavender, pausing for a few seconds to gather her courage. "Do you think... It's pretty?" she asked in an extremely low voice.
"You look beautiful, Asia, very beautiful," he complimented her.
The girl began to rock back and forth on her feet. She didn't speak again, too embarrassed to utter a word.
"Girls, go outside with Asia," Lily said.
Harley had told her to come for an urgent matter.
The girls went outside with Asia, and the nun seemed to be jumping for joy.
"Katerea, go with them, protect them. Don't hurt them." He asked. And the devil moves without answering.
"It's wonderful how you got such a... strong bodyguard," Lily began.
"She has a good salary and benefits," he said, joking.
"I can imagine," she said quietly. "You wanted to talk to me?"
"Yes. Look," he made the board appear in his hand. He kept it in his inventory. The eight mutated pieces remained inside his inventory. He didn't want anyone to find out about it at that moment.
"Have they been delivered?" Lily looked at the pieces with some excitement. "That looks different", she pointed the queen.
"A mutated piece," Lily's eyes asked the question before her lips did.
He explained everything.
"I... queen?" She began to pace the room.
She had that habit; it was her way of thinking.
"Yes. You would be a reincarnated devil. You can take your time to think about it," he said.
"No, I accept," Lily's eyes had a distant look.
"You will live longer. You will outlive Charles, Lily." He didn't want any hard feelings in the future.
—----
She was silent for a moment. The idea of seeing her son die tormented her. But they were offering her pseudo-immortality. She could hardly imagine the things she could discover in thousands of years, the magic she would use, the power she would wield.
She also imagined that it was a way to fight Voldemort on equal terms.
The last time, she had defeated him by setting a trap. A trap in which she would die as a sacrifice. But in the end, her son sacrificed himself for her.
Harry was only three years old, but he still stood in front of her. Brave as a lion.
He wasn't supposed to be there. She had hidden him and his siblings in a secret trunk, guarded by house elves. She had ordered the elves to take them out of the house, but Voldemort had cast such a strong barrier that the elves couldn't escape with the children.
She forgot that Harry was a Potter and that the house elves obeyed his order to let him go out and find his mother.
"Mom! Don't touch Mom!" Lily was on the floor, unarmed. She would have liked to say she was a good opponent, but she wasn't. Only her death was needed to activate the ritual.
"Avada Kedavra." She couldn't even get between her Harry and Voldemort.
"Lily," she felt a firm hand on her shoulder.
"I will protect Charles as best I can, but I also have my reasons for wanting immortality. I will not regret this," she said firmly. Altair looked at her and nodded before removing the piece. "Will it hurt?"
"No, Lily, it won't hurt."
------
Harry was the older brother, so he was around three when Voldemort attacked the Potters.