On a mountain near the capital city of Anatol, a young boy was standing alone against a group of masked adults. In the lead was a man wearing a priest-like outfit, like a hooded cassock that only reached a little past his waist.
A hollow black sun symbol hung around his neck, contrasting strongly against his pure white outfit. However, the inverted pentagram that had been on the slave trader's pendant was nowhere to be seen. The rest were wearing the same exact outfit, but instead of letting the short cassock's hood cover their faces, they simply wore masks.
Their pendants had the inverted pentagram.
"Ok. How about we talk this out?" Ciel felt relaxed after he noted all the key points down in his head. Everyone else had bolted on his command and no one had gone after them. He found that point strange but it didn't matter right now. His purpose was to stall until reinforcements came.
The man laughed, "Talking out conflicts only happens when two people are equal."
"So why not skip over me and go after them?"
"Well, big brother has been bored lately, and he needs a funny puppet like you. Merchandise can be caught later."
Ciel's mind turned as he caught an important word, 'big brother'.
"I don't think you'll be able to do that. You see, I already belong to my god." Smilingly, Ciel lifted up the hollow sun pendant he had taken from the dead guard's corpse, rubbing the inverted pentagram in the middle. His name wouldn't be Ciel if he didn't inherit a dead body's assets when he was able to.
He may not know the sub-organization had cult aspects, but he had enough guts and information to scam the person in front of him. If it failed, it failed.
Anyway, no one else was here to drag him down. He could play around however he wanted now.
The sub-organization had played a large role in the demon invasion throughout the years. Whenever a demon was in trouble, they would help. Whenever a demon planned something, they would add in a few ideas of their own. Whenever a threat to demons appeared, they would move to eliminate it.
They wore a short white cassock and a mask yearlong, and when the demons were sealed, they were the main force in terrorizing the people, not caring if they were human or eve.
The demons called them their benefactors, while everyone else called them terrorists. They themselves called their organization 'Novus Vita'. As important villains of 'The First Saintess', even if some minor details were unknown, Ciel knew a basic thing or two about them. For example, the behavior of each executive and their units.
Ciel continued as he browsed through the information he dragged up from his memories, "I've heard about Lord Beelzebub from my boss. It's an honor to finally meet you."
'Hehe, I've always wanted to try convincing someone with absolute bullsh*t.'
Beelzebub tilted his head, making the hood covering his face fall back, revealing a handsome young man with dirty blonde hair. His features made him look amiable, but they were ruined by a bad imitation of a manipulative smile.
"Really, then what's your boss's name?"
As Beelzebub spoke, Ciel felt an ice cold feeling on his neck. The blade was held by one of the men he had ignored earlier. But it didn't really matter, for his entertain—cough cough, for Beelzebub's trust, risks had to be taken.
With those thoughts in mind, Ciel pushed his neck gently against the blade, making a thin red mark appear on his pale neck. "My boss is my boss. There is no need for us to know his name. But he mentioned that Lord Beelzebub was the insider for our family."
Beelzebub grinned, "That look in your eyes does match the look in that guy's crazy hounds."
"Really? I'm newly recruited, so it's an honor to be praised by Lord Beelzebub." Ciel grinned back.
"But I'm troubled now, I can't easily trust you, you know? However, I'm sure you were thoroughly educated on what to do when you meet one of the executives right? That man behind you is indispensable, you are a new recruit of that mad dog. Now, what should you do?"
Ciel blinked his eyes as his mind automatically pulled out a scene from 'The First Saintess'—it was quite similar to the situation he was currently in.
He suddenly gave an insane smile, and his sky blue eyes clashed with Beelzebub's dull pink ones. He knew exactly how to make this more fun.
Ciel pushed the blade deeper into his neck, not enough to kill him, but enough to allow blood to flow freely out of the wound. He gave a challenging look to Beelzebub as he slowly utilized his mana.
The blood quietly slithered out of sight and shaped into a small curved blade behind him. With a quick movement, Ciel slipped out from the man's hold.
'Oh?' Looking back, the man didn't even flinch with a large gash on his arm. But then again, the man wasn't bleeding, underneath the clothing was just a solid color of skin. Ciel had tried to aim for his neck, but it had been blocked. His manipulation of blood was still a bit too slow.
He glanced at Beelzebub, who applauded, "So you're the new blood mage?"
Ciel nodded smilingly. "May I go now? I was planning to guide the merchandise and let them walk into the auction house with their own two feet. If we delay any longer, the prince and his aide will really leave the mountain."
Beelzebub didn't say anything, but the man who Ciel had cut moved to join the ranks of the people behind.
Ciel gave a light bow to Beelzebub. "Thank you for your lord's generosity."
However, just as he turned around, a burst of pain came from his legs. Dropping to the ground, Ciel saw two bloody arrows near him. They had shot straight through his legs.
"Tch, what gave me away?" He was fearless as he sat up and faced Beelzebub, who was passing a small copper colored bow to the men behind him.
Beelzebub's eyes curved, "I admit it was amusing, so I went along with it. If you had addressed me as Cardinal, I would have been completely fooled."
Ciel's smile didn't waver.
'So it was another cult thing the novel completely skipped over. Ah, at least I got the answer to the question I've been thinking about for a long time.'
This isn't the world of a novel. Rather, 'The First Saintess' was based on this world.
The novel had clearly stated how the underings called the seven executives lords. But here, Beelzebub had told Ciel to call him cardinal. The very roots of Novus Vita seemed to have changed and it was definitely founded before Ciel was born and fluttered his butterfly wings. That could only mean that the novel's author had purposely tweaked a few things as he was writing 'The First Saintess'.
'Well, this is getting more and more intriguing–'
"What are you blanking out for? Weren't you so courageous? Come on, if you stop now, you won't be worthy of being given to big brother anymore."
Seeing the slightly insane glint in Beelzebub's eyes, Ciel scratched his head, his previous line of thought broken.
"Then how about I show you a magic trick?" Taking this chance to take out his cards, Ciel started to shuffle them. Fanning them into a semicircle, he held them out to Beelzebub.
"Choose one."
"Wipe the blood off those things before you offer them to me."
Ciel tch'd again as the blood on the cards automatically floated away and back into his neck wound.
"No harm in trying."
Beelzebub made no move to stop him as all the blood went back into Ciel's neck and leg wounds. He had no need to, because with Ciel's cultivation, Beelzebub could squish him with one hand. Ciel also knew that, which was why he didn't try to purposely cross Beelzebub's bottom line. Once Ciel stopped the blood from flowing out again with mana, he held out the cards again.
This time, Beelzebub was willing to take a card.
"Ok. Remember that card." Taking the card from Beelzebub's hands, Ciel shuffled the deck thoroughly. Then, he held up a queen of hearts. "This your card?"
Beelzebub nodded, "Is that all you have?"
Ciel smiled, "Of course not."
He had plenty of tricks up his sleeves.
As Ciel continued to perform magic tricks for him, Beelzebub was surprisingly calm. Like a child, he curiously watched Ciel's performance, and the men behind him made no movement.
The two who were at each other's throats earlier were now sitting on the ground straight across from each other. One was watching, and the other was performing.
It was so peaceful it seemed like an illusion.
Well, it was an illusion.
***
Meanwhile, Erin was tumbling down the mountain with Dominic and Cedric. If he could, he would have transformed back into his beast form. But a black snake with wings would be too conspicuous and his idea was shot down by both Dominic and Cedric.
Revealing himself as a eve or even a beast was too risky. Both for Erin and Fatalite.
The trio reached the edge of the capital walls, and Dominic displayed Cedric's family seal—a depiction of a crossbow and a rifle forming a cross together.
"Gather a unit of soldiers as fast as you can and inform the Norama family. Their son was kidnapped and the culprits have not been caught yet." Dominic's eyes burned with irritation. He didn't like that maid boy, but he disliked owing favors more.
The boy had saved him, not once, but twice already. Back then, when he was being carried away, if that boy had just opened his mouth to tell the man that Dominic was awake. Dominic would have never gotten the chance to escape.
At that moment, Dominic came to a realization. He didn't even know that boy's name yet.