Chapter 3: Latia's Training Arc (1)
It had been a month since my reincarnation, and there was no doubt that this life was much more enjoyable than I expected.
Since my body wasn't required to get injected with several doses of various medicines and twelve tablets every day at designated times only to barely function as a below-average person, it brought a lot of peace to my mind.
But still, it took a while to get accustomed to being a newborn child.
On the bright side, one of the few things that was easy to get accustomed to was having my mother breastfeed me.
Don't get me wrong—there were no ulterior motives involved whatsoever. Regardless of how beautiful of a woman Celis was, I felt no sexual attraction towards her, not even mentally. My main reason for happiness was being able to consume sugar without restraints, something I hadn't done in over a decade.
On the even brighter side, a funny yet entertaining incident happened a few days ago.
When my parents were out, I started throwing a tantrum to mess with Alice, who had no idea what was wrong with me.
At first, Alice did something that surprised me a little. She transformed into my mother, trying to calm me down. But contrary to her expectations, my crying got even louder.
Looking at how her transformation backfired, she transformed back to her original self, only to do something no one had ever expected.
After she pondered for a few seconds, Alice started stripping out of her red-themed armour, revealing her bare upper body to my eyes before allowing me to suck on her modest yet lovely breasts.
No, she wasn't into kids, which could be understood by how she behaved. However, since such a feast was presented to me, refusing would've been rude.
From what the Great Sage told me, Alice was a virgin, which was pretty easy to tell from how she reacted while I was sucking her breasts.
This time, there were ulterior motives involved.
Wait, no. I am getting sidetracked.
---
During the past month, there were a lot of things I learned about the Astaroth Clan and this world in general.
The first thing was that Humans and Devils were very different despite how close their biological makeup was.
Even as a one-month-old toddler, my body could do things that would take human babies at least a year to learn.
For example, a newborn Devil could lift his head for minutes without trouble, even if he was recently born, something that was impossible for human babies.
And their attention span wasn't that of a goldfish, either. Although it wasn't even a tenth of my previous self, it was enough to calculate simple mathematical problems and move around my demonic power.
The second thing was about my family.
Apart from Ajuka, I had another older brother, Sebas Astaroth, who was the middle child in this case, and from what our mother said, the one who named him was our father, which made me thankful that she was the one who decided my name.
For all we knew, my father could have named me Cell Astaroth, which would have been disastrous.
Father's naming sense was as terrible as that of Ajuka, my oldest brother, who wasn't married, unlike Sebas, who was happily married.
'To be honest, 'Happily Married' might be a bit of an understatement, considering Sebas has a harem… But still, the birthrate within the Devil race must be too low since he has nineteen wives but could only have one daughter...'
'Then again, my father has seven wives but only has three kids with my mother, so it might just be the quality and compatibility...'
Thanks to that, an entertaining piece of information was made clear.
For Pure Blooded Devils like me, it was a common occurrence to have a harem, and now, there was one more thing for me to look forward to, other than my research.
There was also the thing about Ajuka being a big shot in the underworld, as he was one of the Four Great Satans. Thanks to that, even though our family was a branch family of the Astaroth Clan, our status within the clan wasn't any lower than the current Clan Head's family.
While we were on the subject of the Four Great Satans, I also met Sirzechs Lucifer, the current leader of the Four Great Satans, and his wife, Grayfia Lucifuge, on the same day I was born, along with Serafall Leviathan and Falbium Asmodeus.
From how excited Serafall was, it wouldn't be surprising if she abducted me one of the days, something I doubt Ajuka would mind. He seemed to despise me after I intentionally peed on his lap.
My birthday was also the last day Ajuka came to see me, which made me wonder if he went to buy milk, but from how our parents didn't react much, it was easy to guess that he barely stayed home.
A few days after my birth, Lord Astaroth, the current head of the Astaroth Clan, along with his wife and son, came to congratulate my parents. From what he said, his son's name was Diodora Astaroth, and he looked around the age of seven.
Following that, many congratulatory gifts also arrived from different clans, with Vassago, Gremory, Sitri, and Glasya-Labolas being the most friendly.
The best part was that the one who delivered the gifts from the Sitri Clan was none other than Serafall Leviathan, who was, once again, a bit too excited to see me.
Although Serafall was cute and all, it was still terrifying when she hugged me so hard that I almost choked, and this happened while we were taking a bath together.
Maybe it was because of my state as a newborn, but my mind held no weird thoughts about Serafall—not for now, at least. But she was on my 'To Do List' for the future.
After that, my mother had to use an excessive amount of glaring to separate Serafall from me. Although the Leviathan was reluctant, she quietly returned me to my mother after she warned her about never seeing me again.
Serafall was, by far, the cutest yet most terrifying predator I had ever seen.
'I already feel sorry for Serafall's soon-to-come sibling...'
Moving on to other matters, Alice was still around, babysitting me whenever my mother was busy with something else.
She was supposed to stay with me whenever I was alone, at least until my Demonic Power was under my control.
My Demonic Power was already under my perfect control, but that wasn't something my parents were aware of, and the last thing they wanted was for me to get buried under a room I accidentally destroyed.
As time passed, some things about Alice became clearer. Although she always had a neutral expression, she was way too attentive to me, spoiling me even more than my mother, letting me suck on her breasts whenever I acted up a little, taking me on strolls around the palace, and telling me stories about this world.
However, there was one weird thing.
Alice was a bit too attached to me, like a bro-con sister. Secretly hoping that she wouldn't become an obsessive yandere, I pushed those thoughts to the back of my head.
Alice also talked about how she was a 'Reincarnated Devil.' Maybe that was the reason why Diodora looked at her with disgust. Although I lacked any specific details, my instincts told me that it was something worth my interest.
From her stories, it appeared as if she was three or four centuries old, which surprised me. But still, a three or four-hundred-year-old virgin, it wouldn't be surprising if she was a hidden otaku.
Thanks to her, I also learned that, right now, Great Sage could only analyse a target's physical condition upon contact. It was this ability that told me about her being a virgin, too. Things like Demonic Power and other stuff related to the supernaturals weren't accessible since we lacked data.
As for this world, it was divided into three major realms: Earth, Heaven, and the Underworld. There was a place called a 'Dimensional Gap' that existed between the different worlds, which I could only imagine as an endless void.
Devils and Fallen Angels were what populated the underworld, along with Grim Reapers.
Fallen Angels and Devils had separate domains with little to no interaction between them. As for the Grim Reapers, they lived within the Realm of the Dead under the rule of Hades, the Greek God of Death.
As for Heaven, there were as many Heavens as mythologies, with the Biblical God's Heaven being one of the most prominent.
And then there was the Human World. High-class devils would often rule over territories within that world, and sometimes, they might even overlap with those of the Church, which was one of the reasons why small-scale conflicts were a regular occurrence.
But generally, Devils and those from the Church wouldn't just attack each other out of nowhere, but each side had some retards in it who would act without thinking about the consequences, so there was that, too.
---
While playing with my father inside his office, Sebas came to hand him some documents, and those documents made me realise that even though I could understand their language, the writing system was completely different from English. That made me wonder, did everybody use some translation magic to avoid communication barriers?
In the conversation between Sebas and Sebastian, they mentioned that Ajuka was the original heir of the Astaroth Clan but that he lost his right to succession after accepting the position of Satan Beelzebub.
And why did Ajuka become a Satan? His only reason was that Sirzechs became one.
As for Sebas, he had no interest in the position of heir, so he stepped back on his own, which in turn made Diodora the only available candidate.
I was third in the succession line, with the first being Diodora, the current heir.
But there was a catch to the conventional way of choosing the next heir, and that was for someone from the succession line to challenge the current heir in something that was of value to the Astaroth Clan, be it strength, intelligence, influence, or some other talent, as long as both participants agreed to it.
Well, not that it held any value to me right now.
The second in line was Latia Astaroth, Sebas' daughter, who was almost a month older than me.
My birthday was on March 5th, 1990, at least according to the Human calendar, while Latia was born on February 11th, 1990.
When I first met her, I thought she was my cousin or something, but no, she was my niece.
At that time, Latia was continuously picking on me, but she stopped when I slapped her so hard that she started crying.
After that slap, however, she started being a bit too clingy, which was annoying. Her behaviour made me wonder if she'd end up as a tomboy.
Other than that, at first, I was interested in what the world was like in the 1990s, but all my hopes went to the nearby trashcan after seeing a modern smartphone in my mother's hand.
The technology in this world was far more advanced than it was supposed to be, which was most likely because of the various races that existed here.
---
Currently, I was sitting on my parent's bed, playing around with Latia and some stuffed toys. On the other side, my mother was having tea with Vanessa, with Alice standing behind her.
Although they had offered her to sit with them, Alice politely declined.
Sometimes, it felt like she was being too serious.
As for Vanessa, she was my sister-in-law, Sebas' first wife, and Latia's mother, who also managed his harem. From what she once said, Vanessa was from the Agares Clan, another one of the 72 Pillars of the Underworld.
"Those two get along so well."
"Indeed."
"By the way, Mother, how are Lady Gremory and Lady Sitri doing?"
It was a well-known fact that Devils could live for thousands of years, but to me, it was weird to see Vanessa refer to my mother like that. As far as the eye could tell, they looked like sisters.
"Yesterday, Venelana told me she might have her delivery in a few days, saying that Lord Lucifer has been running around their mansion without rest. As for Florica, she still has two months left."
Venelana Gremory was Sirzechs Lucifer's mother, while Florica Sitri was Serafall Leviathan's. Although I had never met them, my mother occasionally talked to them using a communication magic circle. The three of them had been friends ever since Ajuka's childhood, which should be a bit more than five hundred years.
It was funny how human relationships didn't even last five hundred days, much less years.
"I see. That's good."
Vanessa's sweet and kind smile made me wonder.
The Devils in this world seemed a little… What could I say?
Less Devilish.
Or maybe I was just too sheltered?
"Right now, I just hope Azrail won't become like Ajuka, spending all his time inside that damned lab of his. Sometimes, I wish to grab that boy by the ear and drag his Satanic ass throughout the Underworld."
'Ah, right. I almost forgot about that side of Celis. That's how she talks about a Super Devil said to have the power to match High Ranking Gods. No wonder Ajuka went to buy milk...'
Hearing my mother's words, Vanessa gave a little laugh. I was sure that wherever Ajuka was, he felt a deep chill run down his spine. It'd be entertaining when he comes back.
Sometimes, it looked like my brother didn't run away from home because he could, but out of fear of our mother. While she respected all the Satans, she didn't give a single fuck about him being one himself.
And unlike me, Ajuka was no longer in his doting period.
Oh, how I pitied this brother of mine.
Ajuka spent most of his time inside his lab, researching various things, even though his main occupation was Satan Beelzebub, while also doing his side job as the Technology Department's Chief Advisor.
In some aspects, he was similar to me.
But unlike me, whose expertise and interests were in medicine and evolution, his interests solely focused on technology and creation.
'Still, he is a Devil and a researcher. He should've at least conducted at least a few Human Experiments, or Devil Experiments, in this case, so what if I can get my hands on some of his research data?'
"I don't think so, Mother. Azrail seems to like being around his family."
'Vanessa, you know, I can't just baby crawl my way out of the underworld...'
"I hope so."
Not wanting to listen to the two of them anymore, I started a conversation with Great Sage instead.
'Great Sage, how is your observation of Demonic Power going?'
[Answer. Nothing significant had been found, but one thing has been analysed. Master's Demonic Power is naturally increasing every day, and along with the increase in knowledge, the ability to appraise and analyse has improved slightly.]
[And unlike the first 20 days, Master's Demonic Power increased slightly more than usual after you practised Gravity Magic to your current limits.]
'I see.'
That was a little experiment conducted to confirm whether my Demonic Power would increase with training or if the growth solely depended on natural ageing.
My eyes fell on the small teddy bear that was in front of me, with my right hand resting on it, and after a few seconds, when I tried to pick it up with both hands, the weight of the teddy bear had doubled, but it was still easy for me to lift it.
It wasn't difficult for me to create the first part of Gravity Magic with Demonic Power, and although it took a few trials and errors, it was a simple process.
With the first part done, I planned on creating the second part of Gravity Magic and completing it in a few months. That included reducing the weight of a target, along with zero gravity magic.
'I knew it… Doing this is a good way to pass time…'
Although I couldn't do anything significant with it, Gravity Magic would, without any doubt, be helpful to me in the future.
The reason I chose Gravity Magic first was simple—it'd help me train my physical body. Unlike humans, bodyweight exercises were useless for Devils, and weightlifting would be a lot less efficient until enhanced with Gravity Magic.
Well, that was the plan until I found some way to strengthen my body artificially.
After all, I wasn't fond of physical work or exercise, not in the slightest.
In all honesty, there was a lot of stuff on my 'To Do List' related to Demonic Power and Magic, but there was a risk of overburdening my new body. Right now, my body could barely cast somewhat noticeable Gravity Magic a few times before falling asleep.
"Waaaa..."
"Bhaaaap..."
Just as my conversation with Great Sage was about to continue, Latia's small hand pressed against my cheek, and she tried her best to push me down.
[...]
We soon started a baby fistfight, much to our mothers' happiness. To top it all off, Great Sage started the Stardust Crusader's OST inside my head, and Vanessa even took the liberty to record this bizarre battle.
Of course, Alice was the only one aware of how hard I slapped Latia last time, so it was easy to tell that she hoped that it wouldn't happen again.
Naturally, I did it again, and Latia started bawling her eyes out.
"Azrail, you shouldn't hit girls..."
Celis and Vannesa walked over towards the bed, picking us up and placing us on their laps.
"There, there…"
Vanessa patted Latia's head for a few minutes, and eventually, she stopped crying.
"Now that I think about it, Azrail and Latia's situation is similar to me and Sebastian, with them being the same age and all…"
Right. There was also the thing about my parents being first cousins who had spent their entire childhood together.
Similar to Latia and me, their birth dates were only a few months apart.
"Maybe they'll end up falling in love with each other, too?"
"I wouldn't be surprised if that happened…"
Vanessa and Celis giggled, and I blinked at their words.
If Latia and I had a relationship later on, how would it be from my parents' perspective?
Since Devils don't mind incest, considering they all came from 'Lilith', they were all related in some way.
But, for my parents, it'd be their son doing their granddaughter.
Yeah. I hate myself, too.
My mind was hard to control when I had a lot of free time on my hands.
---
Words: 3161 (Not counting author note)
A/N:
A question. Do you have any ideas for what the Astaroth Clan's Trait should be like?
Don't want it to be something inherently overpowered like the [Power of Destruction] or [Worthless], but something that has the potential to be top-notch in the right hands like Azrail and Ajuka.
And drop some power stones, too. Please?