|Alexia! I finally found you!|
Alexia, ignoring the owner of that voice, turned to her black-haired companion who was barely holding in her laughter and spoke.
"And here comes the stalker, he seemed to have come alone too.
Oh well, it's good for me, if he came alone then I have nothing to fear.
Still, did he forget he's not allowed to attack me till the second phase begins? "
"Who knows, most of the guys in that camp are all stupid.
On more important things, surprisingly, the distance between that sun and this planet was more than we thought, the explosion didn't destroy the entire planet, just about 30%, alongside half its population."
She replied while looking around at the scorched earth around them.
|You dare ignore me!|
The figure who spoke finally revealed themselves, descending from the sky majestically, ignoring the sparks of causality around him and landing on the ground not far from the duo.
He had red hair and the expression on his face could not be described as anything but pure rage. However, Alexia just shook her head and held up a middle finger at him.
"Fuck you."
The next moment, her body began fading as she began teleporting from that location. Naturally, the red-haired man would not let her get away so easily.
He stretched clasped his hands together and spoke;
[Dimensional Lock]
However, Alexia's black-haired companion clicked her tongue and released a burst of energy That broke his dimensional lock with ease.
She then glared at him and spoke, the anger evident in her voice.
|You arrogant brat, did you really think I would let you?|
She looked up at the sky and continued.
|Redan! Better watch your Candidate, I might kill him the next time he pulls something like this.|
She then teleported out alongside Alexia leaving the red-haired man who was gritting his teeth in indignation. He looked up at the sky and shouted.
|Redan! How can you let that bitch get away from me?|
A man in black clothes appeared out of thin air and looked at the spot where the two women stood moments ago, he shook his head and spoke to the redhead who was throwing a tantrum.
"Obviously because you're not allowed to do anything to her, are you stupid or something?
If she didn't stop you, I would have done it myself.
You seem to forget that you cannot harm her until the second phase of the selection begins."
|When is the damn second phase starting then?!|
"First of all, stop speaking in your true voice, it's hurting my ears, secondly don't ask me when the next phase begins, I don't know either."
The red-haired man bellowed in rage before stomping his foot on the ground, shattering the scorched earth under his foot.
Spider web-like cracks spread out from under his foot, spreading at a frightening speed around the entire planet, in a few moments, just like the shattered earth under his foot, the entire planet shattered and exploded, killing all intelligent life on it.
The culprit of this destruction clicked his tongue and teleported away from the spot he was in, leaving the black-clothed man behind.
Sighing, he spoke with a trace of annoyance evident in his voice,
"I didn't become a supreme to babysit foolish kids like him, when I get back I'm gonna apply for a transfer."
He then teleported away, leaving behind the incomplete solar system that had lost a star and a planet within the span of a few minutes.
◇ ◇ ◇
While a planet was being destroyed with its innocent inhabitants dying for a reason they would never have imagined, Arthur was speaking with Count Harper concerning Nicole's matter.
"Um, Prince, My daughter didn't do anything to anger you right?"
"D-dad!"
"Have a little more faith in your daughter Count Harper."
Arthur laughed and replied to the worried count who was being punched in the stomach by his daughter, however, for the count, her punches couldn't even tickle him.
Layla made some tea, which she found in the director's cupboard. She poured herself a cup and poured two more for Nicole and her father.
"Huh? Where's mine?"
"You don't drink tea, do you, Arthur?"
"Yeah, but you should at least pour me some, it's common courtesy."
Layla rolled her eyes at Arthur's shameless reply and poured one more cup of tea for him, she then sat down on the sofa the director sat on earlier.
"So we know of the exact situation you're going through now Count Harper."
Arthur's next words evoked a surprised expression from the Count, he turned to Nicole and was about to scold her but Layla stopped him.
"I know you don't want her troubling other people but it was kinda hard for us not to notice something was wrong, you do realize she is not the best at hiding how she feels.
Besides, seeing that pest hang around her irritated me, I would have taken action even if she did not tell me, luckily she did and we realized the situation is more serious than we expected."
"More serious than expected? How?"
The count asked with a skeptical look, to which Arthur replied while sipping his tea.
"Zach Pearce obviously doesn't like your daughter the way he claims he does, and getting engaged to your daughter is just a means to an end.
The real target is most likely you, Count Harper. Either you or something else in your possession."
"But I don't have anything the Marquis wants?"
"Yeah, but you might have something the Duke behind him wants."
Count Harper's face became ashen as he heard Arthur's words, he could not understand why a duke would take interest in him.
'What could I have that a duke possibly couldn't?'
Looking at his phone and smiling, Arthur spoke up again with words that made the count grow paler.
"Correction. You might have something the Grand Duke behind him wants, or at least the member of the Grand Duke's house who's manipulating the Marquis."
"Huh? Grand Duke? How are you so sure?"
Layla asked Arthur impatiently, last time she had some people look into it, it was a Duke who was discovered to be behind the Marquis, and suddenly Arthur says it was a Grand Duke. Her surprise was only natural.
"The drifters have found the one involved."
"Who is it?"
The Count also asked impatiently, he waited to find out who was behind the Marquis and was causing him problems.
"There are only 4 'Grands' in the Devildom; My grandmother, Grand Duchess Inglis, but she's not in Hell at the moment.
The other Leviathans are also magic fanatics who're more likely to blow up the Count's territory rather than scheme against him.
The next is Grand Duke Belphegor, however, though you may not notice, Uncle Bel is actually very lazy, he's the holder of sloth after all. He would not go through the stress of scheming just to get what he wants. That also applies to everyone in his household.
The third is Layla's father, Grand Duke Conrad Eryrth. He's completely out of the question. Underhanded schemes like this are below him."
"Yeah, knowing my dad, he'd probably deal with whoever wants to scheme before they can even begin."
Layla nodded in affirmation of Arthur's words as she spoke. Nicole's quiet voice then rang out, breaking the silence.
"The only other Grand left is Grand Duke Mammon, the one in charge of most of the military."
"Yep, he's also the one with the largest household among the 'Grands', he has almost a hundred kids with various women, and his children have also grown old enough to have their own great-grandchildren."
"So you're saying one of these many children is manipulating the Marquis behind the scenes?"
"Yep."
Nicole and her Father stared at Layla and Arthur who casually unveiled the household of the true culprit behind their recent misfortunes.
"The problem is finding out who among the hundreds of descendants is scheming against the Marquis, even if we checked the academy alone, there are more than fifty of them currently admitted."
"Yeah, even the drifters are having a hard time narrowing it down, however, they did leave an extra message."
"What did it say?"
Arthur looked at his phone and pondered on the meaning of the message before replying to Layla,
"That 'The one you are looking for is closer to you three than you think', is what it says."
Layla and Nicole both showed slightly troubled expressions, they were close to some ladies from the house of Mammon.
Five of the members of their class also belonged to the house of Mammon, one was even assigned a seat not too far from Arthur in the classroom.
"I don't think they meant physical distance though, it's something else, I'd figure it out later, for now, we have to think of what our dear Count over here has that may catch the attention of a member of the house of the Holder of Greed."
As he spoke he was thinking about something else,
'Good thing the drifters found it fast, I really didn't want to pull 'those guys' out of the crystal realm.'
He then turned to Count Harper, who showed a troubled expression due to Arthur's earlier words, he truly did not know what could possibly catch their attention.
"I have a few expensive family heirlooms but they're nothing valuable to anyone not from my family."
"Are any of them artifacts?"
"Some are but they don't have any eye-catching abilities."
Layla thought for a moment and asked,
"Is there any heirloom one needs to be the next head if the house in order to get access to it?"
"Yeah, 3 of them."
Nicole then asked another question;
"Did you perhaps use any of these heirlooms during the war two decades ago?"
"I...Did. One of them, but it was over twenty years ago, why would they act n-"
Arthur interrupted him after pondering on the two questions asked by Layla and Nicole.
"Did you gain any artifacts during the war, one you had to report to your superior in the military that you acquired and you were allowed to take them with you as spoils of war?"
"Yes, there were dozens of them."
"That's it then."
"""Huh???"""
Looking at the dumbfounded trio, Arthur sighed before deciding to explain his speculation to them.