Serafall ignored Riveria's reaction and laughed at Yoruichi, "There's no way she'll be able to mobilize that many forces. Since the situation over there isn't exactly stable, the most she'll be able to command is about a thousand or so."
"A thousand!?" Riveria exclaimed while thinking that even though it's only a tiny fraction of what Yoruichi said, it's still enough to effortlessly annihilate the whole Loki Familia at its peak strength and she's confident that they are one of the strongest organizations in the whole world, 'J-just where is this army? And private, she said? What nation is she talking about!?'
As if not noticing her expression, Serafall continued, "And about that allowance, I think you can get twice that amount. Thanks to Ki-tan making cures to some of the most prominent diseases in my country, we were able to amass quite a bit of wealth."
Riveria became utterly speechless. The Loki Familia went on an expedition every 2-3 months so she's technically saying that she could get enough money to fund their expeditions for 2 years, every week. Her head has started to ache at these nonsensical figures.
"Are you actually a princess of some wealthy country?" asked Freya curiously.
"While she's the eldest daughter of a Prince Household, her sister, Sona is the current heir so she's the princess.", answered Yoruichi with an amused expression while watching Riveria stare at the dagger with her hands trembling.
"...What? Your younger sister is the heir? I'm sorry if I'm wrong, but were you expelled? But why does your representative still have so much power?" It was Loki who inquisitively asked this time.
"Eh? Well, even though I look like this, I'm still technically a king.", answered Serafall, and this time, it wasn't just Riveria but also Loki and Freya who were rendered speechless, "To be exact, one of the four kings. Since we have a very massive territory, just having one monarch wouldn't cut it."
'Although the four Devil Kings have the most of the military power and hold sway in civil power, most of the policy making is in the hands of old nobles. And even though there are monarchs, they were elected through merit and strength, and because the majority of the Underworld practices feudalism after coming out victoriously from their civil war. On top of that, Serafall is still suspended from her position... Though it'd be easy for her to take the position back by asking the other Devil Kings.', Yoruichi thought, but she wouldn't say any of that because it wouldn't look as impressive.
"So will you do the honors of testing things out? I assure you that it'll be worth your time, and Ki-tan would surely make your safety a priority... wait..." Serafall looked toward Yoruichi and asked, "Is it okay to bother him?"
"It's fine. No matter how busy he appears, he wouldn't ever let himself be so occupied that he wouldn't be able to do anything if an emergency came up."
Serafall turned her head back to Riveria and continued, "And that's how it is~! What do you think?"
"I- I don't know..." Riveria honestly answered and looked toward Loki to ask for advice.
But instead of answering her, Loki stared straight at Serafall and asked, "Can I come too?"
"No." Serafall instantly rejected, "And you know why."
Riveria looked at Loki sighing in disappointment in surprise, "You want to come too?"
"You'll understand once you've reached their 'hometown'. Setting that aside, I'll allow you to go, but do you still want to? I know their claims sound ridiculous, still, I won't say if they're telling the truth or not because I also don't know. If you want my opinion, I'd like it if you can confirm their words."
Riveria looked back down to the dagger and contemplated. She chose to ignore the power and money she'd get and asked, "About the library, how is it compared to the book that Kisuke spread?"
"It's not even remotely comparable.", answered Yoruichi, "Kisuke wrote that book for everyone here to understand the basics of Magic, and everyone proficient enough is capable of writing something like that. That library, on the other hand, is a compilation of lectures, references, notes, and records from the greatest minds. In addition to that, Mephisto Pheles, the chairman of Grauzauberer, although not the strongest, is known to be the greatest Magician for creating the modern system for Magic which only certain races could use from the past."
Riveria stopped thinking and hesitating, "Please allow me to do it."
Yoruichi stood up and went towards the door while saying, "Good. Let's prepare to reset your Falna. Since your level is pretty high, it may cause some problems and become noisy. We'll do it in our hideout so I'll just go ahead and prepare the room we'll use."
"We're doing it now?", Loki asked Serafall, "Couldn't we just teleport there?"
"Magic might be convenient, but we shouldn't depend on it for every occasion. Come on, Loki-chan, get changed. The night wind feels good. It's a good chance to take a walk. You'll be coming with us too, Freya-chan."
.
.
.
Inside the medical ward of the mansion, in the hideout under the abandoned church, Freya couldn't help but look around, "Amazing... I never knew something like this existed under Orario. How did you find this place?"
Loki, who similarly looked around since this was her first time in this room, answered nonchalantly, "Kisuke dug it up."
"He did? Didn't he just come here recently? Or did he come earlier and just didn't show himself to dig this?"
"No... Everything you're seeing, from what I heard, he did it within a few days. If not for Knossos being on the other side, they said he would have continued. And yes, without anyone noticing it."
"..."
"Don't think about it. They said he could build a massive fort beside Orario in the middle of the night and no one was going to stumble upon or notice it until it's finished by dawn."
From one of the inner rooms, Yoruichi came out, "Riveria is ready. You can start now."
When Loki and Freya entered the room, they saw Riveria laying down on the bed with her back facing up and her top removed. Aside from that, various apparatuses were also connected to her vital spots via wires, "What are these?"
"Monitoring devices to watch her vitals. If Kisuke was here, we wouldn't need this, but considering how much pain Line went through just to reduce her level by 1, I wanted to be safe and prepared everything in case of an emergency."
Loki looked at Riveria, who had already closed her eyes in resolve and nodded before pricking her finger with a needle, "Alright. I'll start."
Serafall, meanwhile, went to Riveria's side and said, "Ria-tan, although you're reducing your level, it doesn't mean it's going to go to waste. I heard that it is going to be extremely painful since your soul will be reverting back. However, don't let this chance go and focus on the flow of Magic Power inside your body. While you'll lose the majority of it, that doesn't mean that the way it flowed will be lost forever. Remember it on your own and you'll be able to get back some of your strength without relying on the Falna."
"...Thank you.", Riveria replied softly.
Soon, the process started and that night, Riveria screamed for several hours, ruptured her vocal cords, and cried for the first time in many years. If not for Yoruichi's reassurance of her overall safety, sanity, and the risk of a disastrous Soul injury, Loki would have already stopped it.