Second Reading.
"What are you thinking about?" Rias asked, noticing that I had been lost in my thoughts for longer than usual. Barely ten minutes had passed since the previous reaction, but the fact that I hadn't immediately continued was unusual.
"Oh, just whether I should bring your brother" I replied without giving it much importance. Actually, I'd probably do it towards the end of the reading. It would definitely be something everyone would appreciate: Azazel, to study all the magic and artifacts he and Eta created; Michael, because deep down he'd like to see the number of gray hairs he'd give Sirzechs; and Odin, because they are both two idiots who love to exasperate their servants.
"I vote for you to do it" Vali intervened; after all, he already liked the young man just for his personal diary.
"Should we tell him?" the Control asked, really wanting to see Vali's reaction to knowing that in that world he was Valery.
"Hmm… maybe later" I answered, not giving it much importance. To be honest, in that world she was only a girl for fanservice, and telling him he had been a girl there wouldn't change his attitude much, although some might find it terribly funny. "Anyway, let's continue with this" I said, and then simply gestured to Control to play chapter two.
Chapter 2:
At his young age of eight, Naruto was in his family's main library. He couldn't understand why there were five in total, assuming there was a reason beyond simple ostentation.
"It's not for pure ostentation," explained Sirzechs, who had the same question several years ago, and like his little brother, was incredibly frustrated to learn the reason.
"Why am I not surprised?" Azazel scoffed.
The young man shared the red hair of the rest of his family, although his was much shorter; the idea of it getting tangled in something was extremely unpleasant and painful for him. His skin was pale and his face, which some peers of his generation cataloged as androgynous, frequently caused people to mistake him for a girl.
The reason for his presence in the library was clear: unlike Rias, who preferred to wait until age 15 to live out her schoolgirl fantasy, he wasn't willing to wait seven years to start exploring the world. Therefore, he had decided to study everything possible about magic from now on.
"Oh, Lucifer! Please tell me this is not going to end the way I think it is going to end," Zeoticus said, visibly paler than he already was. There was a reason children did not study advanced magic at an early age: a traumatic experience combined with the unstable power of magic could lead to total madness.
"What's wrong, Dad?" Rias asked, noticing that all the adults were turning pale as they reached the same conclusion, or one very similar to her father's. Well, all except Vali, who was actually grinning from ear to ear.
"Magic is... life, it is power. It is, basically, an unstable force that requires a calm mind so that you don't turn into..." Venelana attempted to explain, being interrupted by Vali.
"A magic maniac who destroys all known and future laws," Vali completed.
"I don't know why I have a feeling that you are one of those, pale-face," Issei said, rolling his eyes, as Vali had just clearly described himself.
[unfortunately, he is] Albion confirmed. There was a reason Vali was a fighting maniac: by attempting to access magic beyond his capacity, the boy became completely crazy for strong opponents and for pushing his limits further than anyone else had.
In essence, seeing his father do what he did to his mother, and then his grandfather kill them both, was the traumatic experience that triggered the current personality of the White Dragon.
Currently, the redhead was absorbed in reading an old, thick-covered volume. According to his older brother, this was one of the volumes of the most advanced dark magic, written in the hand of Zeref the Immortal himself.
"Wait... that's from Fairy Tail," Rias said, realizing that such magic shouldn't exist in their world. After all, the immortal Zeref in the Fairy Tail anime was known as Zeref the Black or Zeref the Cursed.
"Different worlds, Rias. It was probably just something that happened in that world," Akeno pointed out, considering it unlikely that everything would be identical in this new universe.
"Maybe," Rias replied, shrugging. She only mentioned it because she found it strange that her brother was studying Zeref's magic.
"Exactly... what kind of magic did this Zeref use?" Zeoticus asked, genuinely worried. The nickname "the immortal" suggested one of three things: time magic, something terribly complicated; death magic, which was even worse; or the breaking of the great taboo by reversing death.
"Oh, you know, the usual: creation of dark magic beings called Ethereas, death magic, and time magic," Rias explained, making Zeoticus depressed. His poor son would end up completely deranged... incredibly powerful, yes, but totally insane.
"I'd rather call it frivolous," I interjected, snapping him out of his thoughts, since in my world, Naruto was so "OP" that he literally reversed his madness and was now the most sane and sensible person in his entire universe.
The young man deeply enjoyed learning new types of magic, which is why he spent most of his time in the libraries. Rias, in fact, had nicknamed him "bookworm." Ironically, five minutes after calling him that, she herself would ask him if he had read about any cool magic and if he would teach it to her.
"You won't learn that magic if he comes into this world," Zeoticus warned Rias. One son unhinged by forbidden magic was enough; he didn't need two. Three, if Naruto was counted.
"As if you could stop him," I scoffed, amused at the idea that anyone, other than Oliver, could stop Naruto. And even Oliver often let him get away with things he shouldn't.
Nine times out of ten, he agreed to share his knowledge. However, Rias usually fell asleep as soon as he began the theoretical explanation of said magic.
Naturally, his parents were worried that his friendships were limited to Rias's circle and her friends. However, it wasn't easy for him to make other friends outside of his sister's acquaintances, as demons were not exactly known for having a large offspring. Apart from Rias's group, Rias herself, and her cousin Sairaorg Bael, there were few people his age with whom he could relate. Therefore, he never overly worried about looking for more friends, especially since their group was, in general, quite close. In fact, Sona spent more time with him than with Rias, arguing that she preferred a quiet afternoon comparing books to watching anime and eating junk food non-stop.
"Don't steal my friends!" Rias yelled. She could tolerate having a second brother, it was actually great, but her friends were hers, and she didn't like sharing them.
"I don't think their parents were worried about his friendships" Azazel said dryly. After all, if the brat was studying forbidden magic, including the Great Taboo, they were simply worried that something bad would happen and unleash trauma.
"And now I understand why they don't let him out into the world" Michael confirmed. He just hoped nothing bad would happen, as they didn't need a lunatic with the power of the Great Taboo running around.
His discretion was the reason why the Gremory heir went unnoticed by most of demon society. Even though his parents claimed that his potential was similar to Rias, his younger sister, he was much less outgoing and rarely boasted about his strength.
This reserved attitude led his parents to use Rias as their "show puppy." Although his mother would occasionally try to persuade him to show off, he would refuse. Ironically, this attitude was pleasing to his grandfather, who preferred an heir who knew when and where to use his power rather than boast.
"Of course the old man would prefer that," Zeoticus complained. His father was a stuffy old man, and Zeoticus wondered how he would react to seeing that attitude had turned his favorite grandson into a frivolous madman.
"Oh, he actually loves it," I replied with a gesture. Zeoticus's father was so fascinated with the reverse curse ritual that he didn't care at all that Naruto was, in general, an asshole.
"What about my dad?" Venelana asked. Her father was... the great wolf Zekram Bael... and if an heir was not to his liking, things usually ended badly.
""And don't come back if you don't have a spawn growing in your womb!"" Control quoted, repeating the exact words Zekram would use for his granddaughter in a few more chapters.
"Say no more." For Venelana, that was the unmistakable sign that her father, in fact, accepted him.
While Rias loved being the center of attention, he preferred to be reserved and discreet, a dynamic he considered fair. After all, although his displays of power were scarce, they were enough to justify why he was still the Gremory heir.
And although he would never admit it aloud, he greatly enjoyed the reaction of the nobles when they discovered that the quiet and discreet brother was as talented as the bubbly Rias. Rias, in fact, loved this situation so much that she even kept a scrapbook with the surprised expressions of those nobles.
"God is already starting," commented Zeoticus. One of the signs of the personality change due to advanced magic was, precisely, the enjoyment of small acts of pettiness.
"You're exaggerating! How bad would it be to be like me?" Vali rolled his eyes.
"I can think of a few reasons," said Bikou. He genuinely liked Vali, but he wasn't exactly a paragon of virtue.
"I can think of others," added Kuroka, hoping the red-haired boy would at least be someone who wasn't damn asexual.
Putting those thoughts aside, he simply closed the enormous book and put his fingers to the bridge of his nose to relieve eye strain. He had been reading for almost three hours and was sure that if he dedicated another half hour, he could finish the third volume. After all, he had discovered that he could use the Gremory clan's natural ability to improve his reading and analysis capacity. Of course, he had to be careful not to overexert himself to avoid frying his brain, but it was one of the best ways he had found to accelerate his knowledge acquisition, as long as he acted cautiously.
Speaking of which, he supposed it was time for a break. He got up from his chair, ready to go to his room or, perhaps, to see if Rias wanted to play something. However, upon leaving the library into the hallway that connected to the wing of the rooms, he noticed that it was quite late. The artificial moon, created by Lucifer himself as a kind of "screw you, dad, I can make a moon too" (a phrase, by the way, engraved in stone on it), was almost at its highest point, indicating that midnight was approaching.
"Haha... that world's great-grandfather sounds awesome" said Vali. Now he wanted to do something like that on his own world's moon. There was nothing like a middle finger literally engraved on a celestial body to make a troubled young man consider someone incredibly cool.
"Why don't we have one like that?" asked Rias, pointing at the moon which, well, was a more than awesome display of the original Lucifer.
"Because our Lucifer, apparently, was a little saner" said Sirzechs. Although the difference wasn't much, apparently it was enough for the Underworld's artificial moon to be a normal, ordinary moon.
This, naturally, caused his plans to change: instead of going to play with his sister, he decided to head to his room to rest a bit. Tomorrow he would take a break from his studies and spend the day with her, but for the moment he only had one room to go to.
However, just as he was about to turn the corner of a hallway, he had to stop dead in his tracks and step back. He had seen two men who, for some reason, were meeting in one of the family mansion's gardens.
"I'll kill you if you hurt him, you bastards!" Sirzechs roared, his overprotective big brother instincts instantly kicking in.
"Sirzechs-sama, please don't be dramatic" Grayfia said, as there was a possibility that it wasn't a big deal and Naruto simply didn't want his father's guards to scold him for still being awake so close to midnight.
"I bet you ten that the sis-con is right" Azazel whispered to his unfallen brother.
"Betting would make me fall" Michael replied, although he actually knew Azazel was right; after all, Sirzechs' overprotective brotherly instincts were legendary."
"I'm telling the truth," one of the two men affirmed.
"I can't believe it... Is that slave trader really in the capital?" the second man asked, with a voice that denoted total ecstasy.
"What thing?" Sirzechs asked.
"Oh, this isn't going to end well," Serafall commented, already knowing that it would cause Naruto's "magical trauma."
"Surprisingly, it wasn't that," I said, knowing full well that Naruto hadn't been traumatized by the slave issue; in fact, he was lucky, although of course, it was slightly related.
"Hahaha, that's better, Buddy! Go and save the slaves," Vali cheered, completely ignoring my previous statement.
"I thought I was your best friend," Bikou complained.
That question almost made Naruto drop his book. Although it might seem ironic for demons, who use the Evil Piece system to obtain servants, slavery was strictly forbidden in the Underworld. The reason was simple but crucial: enslaving any being that was not human (a demigod, an elf, etc.) would provoke the wrath of their respective factions. This would not only bring problems with the law of the Underworld but would also trigger an open conflict with the offended supernatural faction.
Therefore, the Evil Piece system was established. Although legally considered lifelong servitude, this system granted rights and status within demon society to the servant, as long as they obeyed their master's orders.
A part of him felt the urge to run and inform Sirzechs about what was happening. However, a stronger reason advised him to stay still. He knew that those individuals, willing to break the law, wouldn't care that he was just a child, and wouldn't hesitate to silence him. That's why he remained silent, making himself as small as possible. His only hope was that the conversation would end soon and they would leave, allowing him to run to his brother's room to tell him everything he had heard.
"Thank goodness," Asia said, relieved that nothing bad had happened to Rias' brother.
"Why do I have a feeling that things won't go the way I want?" Zeoticus asked. He wished his younger son would follow the plan, but a very realistic and aggressive part of him told him that his new son would do something stupid.
"Because if they did, we wouldn't have a story," Venelana replied, more exasperated than anything. Damn it! Her new son wasn't even there and she already felt like she was getting new gray hairs, and she was relatively young for a devil!
"Yes, I have a friend who works as a guard in the capital. Apparently, that guy, the slave trader, bought off most of the city's guards," the first man replied, sounding quite amused. This explained how the hell no one noticed what was happening: they did, but money simply kept their mouths shut.
If the Prohibition in the United States last century had demonstrated anything, it was that prohibiting something inevitably prompted people to find ways to continue with that activity, regardless of the consequences.
"Yes... perhaps we should have anticipated something like that," Serafall admitted. Now, they would probably have to investigate whether that slave network existed in their world, and honestly, she only hoped it wasn't the case.
"Idiots," Michael said, rolling his eyes. Fine, it was an honest mistake, and if an angel had made it, he would forgive them. But they were literally devils, the embodiment of foul play; they were supposed to have anticipated it! Especially since they were the ones who had benefited the most financially from the prohibition.
"Yes, and you won't believe what they captured a few days ago," the first man said, with an ecstatic and excited tone that only served to tense Naruto. He sincerely hoped it wasn't something that could trigger a large-scale war.
"It must be something really good, or you wouldn't be making that idiotic face," the second declared, amusing his comrade.
"They captured elves."
"Damn it!" Azazel exclaimed.
"Shit!" Michael cursed.
"Oh, Lucifer!" Sirzechs said.
"You better hope nothing happened to the elves in our world, kid," Odin growled. The god wouldn't hesitate to impale Sirzechs' ass if something really had happened in his world, because as the guardian of Alfheim, the elves were his protected ones. Well, they were actually protected by the Vanir, but those pacifist imbeciles never did anything.
With that declaration, all hope of avoiding war vanished.
Elves were, to put it simply, God's spoiled children. They were essentially sinless humans, practically immortal. The only way they could die was by falling in battle, something terribly difficult, since an average elf was as competent as a middle-class demon. Furthermore, they were experts in all types of elemental magic and possessed eyes capable of seeing magic in its purest state. They were archers so precise that they could hit flies in mid-flight miles away. It was even rumored that the legendary Excalibur had been forged by them during the time of King Arthur, demonstrating their ability to create weapons of unheard-of power.
Damn, if the Norse or, even worse, the angels found out about this, the Underworld was completely screwed. And they were going to find out, because demons, clearly, were not known for keeping their dirty laundry hidden for long, given that they loved to show off. In fact, the devil kings themselves had recently had to liquidate an entire clan, precisely because they were experimenting with the Nekoshou clan. Amaterasu had not taken it well and had demanded blood in compensation for the insult.
"Oh, gods!" Issei exclaimed, fervently hoping that hadn't happened in his world, as he didn't want a war. "Go and save them, future brother-in-law!" he shouted afterward, thinking that being like Vali wouldn't be so terrible if a conflict was avoided in exchange.
"I can't believe I agree with the pervert... but do something!" Saji roared.
"I'm going tonight... the auction starts in two hours," the first man said, causing a dark smile on his companion.
"Do you think there will be beautiful elves?" he asked, with a small smile.
"Too many... my friend says that he and his companions were given the opportunity to sleep with several of them as a reward and to ensure silence about the slave trader... and he told me that the elves are very beautiful, and gifted with incredible bodies," the first said, before bursting into laughter.
Thus, the two continued talking about what they planned to do if they were lucky enough to buy an elf, until the first guard finally revealed the location of the slave trader's lair.
For his part, Naruto simply began to walk away after hearing this. He was going to get into trouble, and very big trouble, but honestly, right now there was no time to inform his brother and convince him of what was happening. As much of a "siscon" as he was, Sirzechs wouldn't easily believe the story, and Naruto wasn't close enough to Sitri territory to tell Serafall, who would believe him instantly because "you're So-tan's best friend, clearly you can't lie." So he would have to resort to one of the most stupid but effective plans in his repertoire: going himself and doing everything possible to free them before the auction began. With some luck, he could get in and out without being seen by the traffickers, who would be massacred by the rebellious nobles anyway.
In the worst-case scenario, I'll leave a will asking Rias to delete my Devilnet history.
"In the worst-case scenario, I'll break the great taboo myself just to kill you, idiot!" Rias screamed. Damn it, this had to be the most dangerously fucked up thing she had ever done, and she had already lived through a few dangerously fucked up situations.
"Is there any chance you can bring him?" Zeoticus asked. After all, he wanted to scream at the little idiot for risking his life just for his damn ego. Zeoticus saw it clearly: the excuses he made were just that, simple excuses, and the great idiot was going to the slaughterhouse only because he thought he was invincible.
"Maybe" I shrugged; I wasn't really sure it was a good idea.
end of chapter