NOTE : DECIDED TO UPLOAD AROUND 30 CHAPTERS FOR MORE REACH AFTER THAT NORMAL SCHEDULE MENTIONED IN THE AUTHOR REVIEW
--STORY CONTINUES--
"Miss… what was your name again?" I ask looking a bit sheepish. I can't just call her by her name because that has not yet come up in the conversation.
….
"So much for getting to know your recruits. I knew it. You Devils all say sweet words and catch innocent impressionable children to do what you please." She huffs but her tone is not rude and has a playful tone to it. The reputation and obedience doing their work perfectly. "My name is Meredith Ordinton. Nice to meet you, Master? My Lord?"
"Shin Kageyami, you can call me Shin. There has been a small complication just now. I didn't know that your Sacred Gear was a holy type and turning you to a devil has lead to the magical energies in your body to fight against each other. We need to make you stronger so that your body can withstand that and reach a point of balance. The faster we do that the better." I say casually as I see the colour draining from her face a bit. Not surprising though, anyone would be scared if they find out that their body has become a magical equivalent of a bomb.
"Am I…. going to die?" her voice cracks as she comes to term with the situation
-15 Affection with Meredith Ordinton (15/100) for making her a walking magical bomb.
"Not really, as I said we have to make you stronger." I say maintaining the same casual face for myself.
"No one can make me that strong so fast. It is impossible. I am going to die. I am going to …die."
As she starts to sob, I grab a hold of the back of her shirt, picking her up like a cat from the neck and open an ID.
The sobbing stops abruptly as she looks around with a confused expression on her face. "What is this place? Where have you taken me?"
"We are here to make you stronger. Kill anything you see…except me of course and you will see in an hour what I am talking about." I explain as I look around to see a group of zombies closing in on us.
I'd rather take her to the graveyard area with the wraiths. They give better experience but it is better if she gets used to killing here than be stunned by the wraiths and faint suddenly. That would be a massive waste of time. I only have 5 days period to return back to the underworld and I still have to 'Collect' Issei's Boosted Gear for my collection. It is the reason I have held back from killing people with Sacred Gears for a while because that might attract unnecessary attention to my direction.
She looks at me for a few seconds before she starts killing the zombies. Her attack and defense magic are nothing special, but her barriers are quite good. I can use that. Maybe add something to it using an artifact.
And then I felt it. An uncontrollable urge to run away as the hair on my skin rises at the feeling of great danger around me. Meredith has summoned a longsword shaped nail filled to the brim with undiluted Holy Aura.
The undead around it burn away leaving ashes as it rushes past them. This continues for a while as I lead her to higher level areas. She seems to have forgotten about her situation or is just venting her frustration on the undead.
Either way good for me. The more she kills, the faster we get this over with. I let out my wings and take flight. I am not getting any experience from all this but its fine for now. I wouldn't want to steal her kills. We can start hunting together if she reached level 125.
After about 3 hours of venting she calms down as I receive a message from game.
Servant Meredith Ordinton has reached the level cap for the current tier. Do you want to promote her?
y/n.
"Wait for a moment Meredith" she turns towards me with a feral look on her face as I call out to her. "No need to be so tensed, I just need to do something and then you can continue with your fun."
"Fun, Fun ….FUN. DOES THIS LOOK LIKE FUN TO YOU? Have your fun when your own ass turns into a living bomb." Wow, okay I seriously need to calm her down before she throws one of those Nail Swords on my head.
"Here, let me show you something that will calm you down." I approach her and gently pat her head while accepting the game's message with a y.
With a sudden rise in power, a new pair of wings pop out of her back making her a 6-winged devil now. She looks around in amazement temporarily forgetting her worries as she feels the rise in her power level and calms down a bit.
"See, I told you. I could make anyone strong enough if I wanted. Just a little more of hunting around and you can balance all your power and even gain something good out of this trial." I keep my voice as soothing as I can as I slowly caress her head. She has been over-excited for a while now and that has been taking a great toll on her mind. She is currently in a state of mental exhaustion. First being turned down by her birth family, then me poking around that wound and making her a devil and finally finding out that she has turned into a living bomb.
I can't blame her for it. Although, when the mind is exhausted it tends to accept whatever is easier for it to do as a self-defense mechanism.
"Don't worry your pretty little head. You are my peerage now and I am very possessive about what is mine. I won't let anything happen to you." gently placing her in my lap, I slowly keep caressing her head as she falls asleep. I jump out of the ID with her and teleport the two of us to the nearest hotel where I put her to sleep. She has had a long day and she deserves her rest.
- Next Morning – (4 days left to return to the underworld and 7 days to the Rating Game)
I wake up to find a Meredith still sleeping, slightly drooling from the side of her mouth. She is still a child no matter the amount of power she has.
I need to get a maid to take care of the daily chores like cooking and cleaning. Maybe I should use that companion gem. I was waiting because summoning them would mean talking them around with me on this hunt and I'd rather wait a while when I am about to return to summon them.
Sensing some movement beside me, I wake up to see Meredith waking up. I get out of the bed and start getting ready for the day. The faster she is lvl. 150, the faster I can restart my hunt. I even have to get the last piece of my setup for stealing the Boosted Gear from Issei. Simply making him vanish, will raise too many questions with people I don't want to draw attention to. I have to make it out fast enough while not leaving any tracks back to me. This would have been more difficult by myself but now that I have Meredith with me, I can use her powers for a better use. It's just that should I trust her with something so important right from the start.
I have to think about it and reach a decision soon enough.
She gets up slowly and I can see her looking around groggily stopping when she catches a sight of me. Good thing that she is calmer now than the last night. I turn towards and give her a reassuring smile and nod at her.
+ 20 Affection with Meredith Ordinton (35/100) for not abandoning her.
+10 Obedience with Meredith Ordinton (50/100) for being a good boss.
"Get up and get your breakfast soon Meredith. We have to increase your strength soon so that you can balance the magical energies in your body. Last night we got a decent increase in your power, today I hopefully want you to get it sorted out." I say as I continue getting ready. I need to get her to level 125 as soon as possible before I can continue with my hunt and search for an essential part of my plan to stea…..borrow Boosted Gear from Issei and never return it again. The disappearance would cause some doubts in people whose attention I don't want on me. That's why I have been planning this out for a while.
It would have been much harder with my own power but now with Meredith it could get that much easier. It's just that…..should I tell her about the plan? Do I really trust her so much right now? The answer to this is something I have to find out for myself. No point in wasting time right now.
"What was that place from last night? How did I get stronger?" she finally asks me as she recalls the events from the last night.
"That was a realm of death, where you can face trials and gain power or perish and…..forever be forgotten." Sometimes I myself am amazed at my ability to make bullshit with a straight face.
"Realm of dead? But How? Aren't we supposed to be dead when we go to the realm of dead. I haven't read or heard about anything like that. How can you even go there without dying? Do you have a God of death as your patron God? I didn't know devils even associated with gods. Who is your patron God?" oh my fucking…..Big G. Phew, close save. This girl is a freaking machine gun of questions. How could her cute little brain even manage that many things at once?
Human Magicians have to do high level calculations to invoke their magic. It is only natural that she is smarter than those of her age in general.
Ughh, thanks game. You are a great help.
"Wow, wow, wow Miss Firecracker. One question at a time. Unlike you my tiny brain is not really capable of multitasking. Answering your questions in order. No, I don't need to die in order to go to the realm of dead. No, I don't have a God of death as my patron god. And please don't stereotype devils in general. Serafall talks to Gods quite frequently." Taking a deep breath, I proceed to the second part of my answer. I had taken time to think about this excuse for a while and because Death was the one who got me into this mess, I might use her name to solve some of my problems.
"My patron is no not any God of death, it is 'Death' herself. The entity from which all the Gods of deaths draw their powers. I have a deal with her." Not lying about any of this technically. "I can enter a realm of death and take the trials and also take others with me. Though it would be better if you kept this to yourself. I have no intention of using this power for others."
If I had levels for Bullshitting, it would be at mythical grade.
Skill Added
[Bullshitting (Adept)] (Passive)
The art of bullshitting is an old and arduous one. One has to face many trials and errors to master this art.
+40% believability to any lie you spew.
-20% if the lie is too outrageous to believe.
…..Thanks Game. Thank you very fucking much.
The bullshitting does give the desired results though. The shock on her face is an absolute proof of the same fact that she bought it all.
"Now you see why I was so confident in making anyone powerful. I don't especially care about your Sacred Gear, only you. Now get ready. I would like my breakfast hot if possible." I finish off as I leave the room.
+ 10 Affection with Meredith Ordinton (45/100) for caring about her.
+20 Obedience with Meredith Ordinton (70/100) for being a good boss.
A smile couldn't help my grace my lips at the message.
Perfect.
- Later –
Slashing down another greater wraith with her sacred gear she reached level 132. For today that should be enough. The danger to her life has passed. I could go on for the bonus reward today itself but I'd rather not force her to overexert herself. Unlike me she doesn't have the Gamers Body or Gamers Mind.
"That is enough Meredith, your power is enough to balance the holy energy of your sacred gear for now. We will train again later. I have some urgent matters to take care of in a few days. Let's get of here for now."
We come out in the hotel room where she goes to get cleaned up. While magic can do things like that, it is just not the same as a good long soak.
While waiting for her to return, I use the 4 gacha tokens, that I have accumulated in the past few days.
Item : Tenrou Jade
An S-Ranked treasure holding high amount of Magic power which was corrupted after absorbing too much evil magical power.
Skill Orb : Combo Star
Item : Vibranium Ingot x 5 (Crafting Item)
Item : Cure All
Cures all diseases magical or non-magical.
….wasn't Tenrou Jade something that absorbs souls and binds it with other things like the bones of a dragon. Okay, not touching it. It goes into the inventory to probably never see the light of the day again.
Combo Star is a good skill. It's from Nanatsu no Tanzai if I remember it correctly.
Vibranium is never bad. Anyone with a lick of brain in Marvel could tell you that.
Cure All…sounds like the Heal All of Pokemon. The effect is good though, so I am not complaining about anything.
"So, what plans do we have for today boss?" Meredith's voice breaks me out of my thoughts as I look at her. The Sin of Lust trait doesn't make it any easier to remain in close vicinity of any member of the opposite sex without making my mind fuzzy and senses dulled with lust. I really need to get this out of my system because I have a feeling that it is growing stronger everyday.
"We need to catch a Stray Devil. I have located one nearby." I tell her as I get up to get myself a bath as well.
"Oh, the official Devil work. Do we get paid for it? How does it actually work?" and there she starts again. Firing questions one after the other. With her level of curiosity I wouldn't be surprised if she were a nekomata or nekoshou.
"No it's not any official devil work. I just need this one captured to help me out with a certain something." I leave it at that.
Meredith may act like a child sometimes but as curious as she is, she is also very observant and knows when to draw the line. A very good quality that I appreciate my subordinates for having.
- Outside a certain town in England (Stray pov) –
Stray devil Runa was having a time of her life. Feasting on humans who were attracted by her beauty only to be horrified after seeing her true form. Runa was a half Siren-half Devil hybrid who killed her master a High Class Devil of House Forneus by poisoning him to death and later devoured him to gain more power.
Doing contracts was not her thing. Why bother when you can just eat and become stronger. She would soon surpass the Satans and rule the underworld. being a stray devil until then is just a minor price to pay.
She was chasing her latest prey, relishing in his screams before she devoured him and enjoy her increase in power when she heard a voice behind her.
"Are you satisfied with weaklings like these? Do you not want to eat something truly delicious and just as fulfilling? A Dragon or something along the lines?" the voice said and all she saw was a shadow standing behind her. She threw a burst of demonic energy at the speaker only for it to pass by without harming him in the slightest and then she froze. Power, overwhelming amounts of Demonic energy threatened to drown her never to see the light of the day again and a pair of green eyes looking at her through the shadows.
"Disappointing, and here I thought that you had some potential. Do you still wish to defy me Runa…..or do you wish to eat more fulfilling meals by working for me? Devils, angels, fallen and youkai anything you want. All you have to do is work for me and you will get regular meals like a good pet.
The growl that left her mouth was received with a chuckle. Before the she felt deep fear. If the amount of demonic energy was terrifying then what came next almost stopped her breathing. Holy Aura, pure and untainted Holy Aura came from a sword behind her. The sword was a bit odd, but the church people were eccentric and could always make weird shaped Holy Swords.
"I …..I will." She answered with the only answer she could. That holy aura was threatening to burn her away just by being close to her. Not that she had any other option, it was either work for the voice or die.
"Good girl. As a kind master I will give you something good to eat soon. A dragon and maybe even a Devil with the PoD." She could swear that she saw a demonic smile forming on the shadow when he said that. But the PoD only belonged to those high and mighty Bael scum and those idiotic Gremorys. If he could give her something like that then it won't be a bad deal at all.