"Pardon for interrupting, Serafall-san. But with my lord here, I believe more in-depth talks about our potential alliance are necessary."
"..."
While Igor was glad that Aurelia had stopped calling other people with "sama", Serafall nearly outwardly groaned. The second round of bleeding was about to begin. Aurelia was definitely going to squeeze her right down to the marrow.
.
|DxD|
.
Aurelia was a very happy woman today. Only ten minutes into their impromptu meeting and she had milked several benefits for them. For one, she and Igor now had free-reign over most devil territories. Correction.
Aryans had free-reign over most devil territories.
"So to summarize, Serafall-san, my lord and I are allowed to have access to all general access areas. Barring clan estates and most privately owned land and assets, publically accessible and publically owned areas of all levels are theoretically, permissible to our entry.
"...yes, Aurelia-san."
Signing the document with her magic, Serafall could only stomach her grievances and accept it. How could she not know that she was being played? Aurelia said 'we', but both knew that these privileges would not end with only them.
These terms would apply to their children as well.
[It's not a loss, Sera. It's not a loss.]
"Thank you, Serafall-san. Next on the agenda…"
Over the course of the next few hours, several more agreements, amendments, and concessions were made.
The first were territorial concessions. The devils would cede quite a substantial amount of territory to the "Aryans", atleast enough territory for a small town to be built. Instead of one large territory, a map was shown where Aurelia outlined several territories she wished to acquire. Some were in completely remote regions while others were next to clans.
The second was military support. While Igor nearly voiced his confusion at why he would need help from the devils, Aurelia quickly told him through telepathy that intelligence would count as military support.
As powerful as they were individually, they did not have the vast network of connections and spies the devils had. While the devils could not compare to Grigori, their own information network was still substantial. The terms also included resource support such as monetary support and magical artifacts.
The third was the establishment of a trade agreement, something Serafall deeply wanted. Officially, Aurelia could now be hired by them to upgrade their current systems. Of course, amongst the heap of words littered underneath the trade agreement section, it highlighted in somewhat vague words that Aurelia had the right to decline any job she found distasteful. Of course, this also meant if she so wanted, Aurelia could decline all jobs without consequence.
The fourth was a cultural-exchange agreement, another thing Serafall had been explicitly asked to obtain. Knowledge about the reclusive and now-extinct Aryans was extremely rare. The devils couldn't care much about their culture. What they deeply wanted was their knowledge and Aurelia was guaranteed to be a walking encyclopedia of knowledge.
However, Aurelia changed the terms a bit and signed only under the factor that Ajuka Astaroth would be her liaison or point of contact. Why it wasn't written as Ajuka Beelzebub in the contract was something Serafall only partially grasped.
However, the true reason was something Aurelia knew. Ajuka Astaroth was effectively 'dead'. Only Ajuka Beelzebub remained. Officially, unless Ajuka gave up his title, she would not be contractually obliged to share the culture and knowledge of her people.
Furthermore, instead of treating themselves as individual entities, Igor and Aurelia were now ambassadors of their own race. Unlike common citizens, they were not barred from high-level meetings, especially meetings that concerned them.
And so, further agreements were discussed, written, and signed with Atid as witness and Shuri, a completely unrelated party on paper, as a second witness. For Atid, even if he was friends with Igor, he acted as a representative of the Hindu Pantheon for the duration of that meeting.
With his presence, power, lineage, and stature, the contract was completely rendered conclusive. And with Shuri, a descendant of the Himejima clan here, the legality of the contract was further solidified. The only signature required to completely finalize the contract was one from Sirzechs.
For the first time, Igor willingly listened to the entire contents of this meeting. He didn't understand most of the jargon and other fancy words that were used, but he grasped the scope…and found the whole thing a bit stupid.
Realistically speaking, he could break any number of promises there and nothing would happen to him. Who was going to punish him? It was an arrogant thought he momentarily allowed himself to have, but apart from no longer pulling their weight, the devils could do absolutely nothing if Igor decided to no longer honour the contents of the contract…not that he had much to do anyway.
Apart from a mutual defence agreement where he would provide aid to the Underworld in times of war, he didn't have more to do. It was Aurelia that mostly had to do the heavy lifting, though that was heavily optional on her part from what she told him through telepathy.
Even then, his worry was not on her potentially having a heavy workload, but on having to endure discrimination from the devils. It was because he voiced this concern that the Non-Aggression Pact was also amended.
.
Minutes prior…
.
Serafall carefully read the contract before nodding.
"Aurelia-san. So we agree in this pact of non-aggression that we will not engage in hostile actions against each other?"
"Yes, Serafall-san. I agree as stated in the-"
"I don't agree."
It was Igor who spoke, instantly garnering the eyes of everyone at the table.
"I don't agree with this pact of non-aggression because…"
Properly sitting up, he thrummed his finger on the table to indicate a point.
"...tell me if I'm wrong, Leviathan. But this pact…does it mean I cannot attack or retaliate against members of your devil race under any circumstance?"
"No, Dimori-san. If one of our people do attack you, then you are liable to defend yourself."
Aurelia also spoke.
"Do not worry too much about this pact, my lord. It exists so that any attacks against us will be discouraged-"
"Do insults, swears, and derogatory comments count as attacks?"
""…""
They were both silent. The answer was obvious, no? Since when did words count as hostile actions? Never.
"..."
Igor looked at them for a moment before his frown deepened.
"If they don't count, then remove this pact. It's useless."
With a word of finality, he leaned back against his chair and crossed his arms.
"..."
Amicably, Serafall tried to convince him.
"Dimori-san. I can promise you that the devils won't-"
"No you can't. I'm not naive, Leviathan. You cannot sincerely tell me that no devil will dare insult us."
"..."
In due time that would be true. But he was right. She could not vouch for every devil, especially those from the Old Satan Faction.
"I…"
"Let me interrupt you again, Leviathan. Before you sign anything, let me state my terms right here and right now-don't, sister."
Lifting a finger to halt Aurelia who wanted to say something, he continued.
"This is something that has to be said right now to avoid any problems."
"..."
.
.
.
Silence…
Everyone's eyes were on Igor as he calmly looked at Serafall. This was one of the few times where he truly radiated the aura of calm authority.
"Leviathan. I have worked my hardest from day one to reach my current level of strength. From a child who didn't have the strength to crush a rock, I have forged myself into an existence that can stand shoulder to shoulder with gods."
The atmosphere tentatively grew tense as he released a faint pressure.
"Under. No. Circumstance…will I tolerate disrespect from centuries-old weaklings I can kill with a flick of my finger."
It was not a brag. It was a fact.
"I am a fighter, not a diplomat. I am a warrior, not a politician. I have my pride as a son of Dimori. When I am insulted, I do not know the word 'endure'. I will tell you with all honesty, Leviathan. Should I or my sister be insulted or discriminated by any devil, I will kill them on the spot."
""?!""
Not just Serafall, even Aurelia couldn't help but widen her eyes. Did he not know what he was saying? These words of his could completely dissolve the entire alliance before it had even formed. He didn't just threaten. He promised to kill any devil that dared to say an offensive word to him.
Was that not childish? Aurelia could already see thousands of bodies formed. This was not a casual matter and from a political standpoint, the scope was too vague. Did he mean that if a devil scoffed at him, he would kill them?
"..."
Thinking on it again, Aurelia concluded he most likely would.
Sigh…
Was he petty? Was he too domineering? She didn't know. Truthfully, Igor was indeed amongst the gods in terms of power. Now that she thought about it, gods wouldn't tolerate the slightest disrespect so why should he?
"..."
She had a feeling she was going to sigh a lot more often in the future. She could see the gears churning in Serafall's head. Aurelia could imagine she was calculating the weight of the decision. From Igor's resolute gaze, the chance of convincing him to 'endure' was minus-zero.
In the end, Aurelia had one solution she could propose.
"Serafall-san. By all rights, my lord does indeed have the capital to make such a statement. In order to make sure this agreement can work, please issue a public statement declaring to the entirety of the Underworld the existence of this alliance. I shall leave disclosure of the benefits brought by this alliance at your discretion. However, it is imperative that my lord's strength is classified as no less than yours. This should disseminate most untoward thoughts people may hold against my lord."
She sighed at the end…
Sigh…
…because there was no avoiding the inevitability.
"This should drastically eliminate the casualty rate should you choose to agree, Serafall-san. Otherwise, we can dissolve this prospective alliance and return to our individual lives."
"..."
Truthfully, everyone expected Serafall to begrudgingly sign or outright disagree and leave. However, no one expected the smile to form on her face.
"Alright. I agree to your terms, Aurelia-san. Dimori-san, I have no problems with your desires. I shall do my best to prevent unnecessary deaths, but should anyone disrespect someone of your calibre, then I will not stop you from doing what needs to be done."
What she said sounded like someone who had no choice but to agree. But, why was she smiling? This should be disadvantageous to you.
But who knew what Serafall was thinking? Because while others would see peril, she saw an opportunity…an opportunity to get rid of a few members from the Old Satan Faction.
Legally of course.
[The halls had been getting a bit too full over the years.]
.
AN
.
I...what? This is the weirdest alliance contract I have ever seen. I'm hoping for proper justification in the next chapters because…this just doesn't make sense. No matter how strong Igor is, it doesn't make sense to agree to such detrimental terms just to kill a few old fogeys. That would be far too short-sighted.