Chereads / Living as I Please (LAP) / Chapter 22 - Chapter 22

Chapter 22 - Chapter 22

"___" Text speech

'___' Internal thoughts

[___] status

(___) skills

(Great Sage:___)

{Author:___} author notes

Some things are subject to change depending on how I develop this story

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At the same time, the original Meelis was chilling, sitting in his bed while talking to Grayfia as they were both not asleep yet and Meelis was waiting for the information brought back by his clone.

"So Grayfia, how long have you been married with Sirzechs-sama?" Meelis asked Grayfia, both to kill time and spend some time talking with Grayfia, so as to acquire more information that could be used later on.

Grayfia took a moment, her usual stoic expression softening slightly as she reflected on Meelis' question. "It's been several centuries now," she replied quietly. "We've been married for a long time by human standards, but time feels different for us devils."

Meelis nodded, despite knowing the general history of most characters in DxD, his curiosity was piqued, it was one thing to see it from a TV/Phone screen and it was another to hear it from the mouth of the person involved. "That must be quite the story. How did it all begin between you two?"

Grayfia looked thoughtful, folding her hands neatly in her lap, the action itself was quite the sight as doing that squished her breasts together a bit, accentuating their size even more, "It wasn't love at first sight, if that's what you're thinking," she said with a small, almost nostalgic smile. "Sirzechs and I were both products of our positions, of responsibility and duty. He was always kind, though, and that kindness… it's something that grew on me over time."

Meelis raised an eyebrow, intrigued by her openness. "Duty, huh? Did you ever want something different?"

"I wasn't always on the Side of Sirzechs, before I married him, my House was part of the Old Satan Faction and consequently I frequently engaged in fights with Sirzechs. Eventually I fell in love with him and married him, so I betrayed my House." Grayfia answered, though her tone and facial expression were normal, her eyes did give off a sense of sadness.

Grayfia's expression returned to its usual calm, but there was a flicker of something deeper in her eyes. "We all have duties, Meelis-sama," she said carefully. "I serve Sirzechs not just because he is my husband, but because I believe in his vision. Peace between the different Devil Factions was important, or else the Devils would be too weakened and possibly risk an attack by the other Pantheons."

Meelis inwardly smirked, knowing that Grayfia wasn't revealing everything, but that was fine. He had time to dig deeper. "You must have seen a lot of changes over the years, then. How do you think things are now, compared to when you first started?"

Grayfia tilted her head slightly. "The underworld and the human world have both evolved. More factions, more complexities. But some things never change, there is always conflict, always power struggles. Sirzechs always tries to maintain the peace we worked so hard for, but there are those who would see it undone."

Meelis leaned back, considering her words. "Do you think that peace is possible?"

Grayfia looked at him with a sharp gaze. "Peace is always fragile, Meelis-sama. It takes constant effort, constant vigilance. And even then, it can be shattered in a moment."

He smiled knowingly. "Interesting. What about you? Do you ever wonder what your life would be like if you didn't have all these responsibilities?"

Grayfia blinked, surprised by the personal question. After a brief pause, she answered. "I am who I am because of my responsibilities. I don't dwell on 'what ifs.' They are distractions, and distractions can be dangerous."

Meelis nodded slowly, appreciating her answer while filing away the details in his mind. Grayfia was dedicated, but even she wasn't immune to deeper thoughts or vulnerabilities. He'd have to approach carefully if he ever intended to sway her, if that was even possible, not that he doubted it was possible since if there's even a small crack in her will, he can exploit it.

"I don't think 'What ifs' are bad Grayfia, you know my background, I always wondered 'What if I had a better background, what if I could gain the strength to obtain my dreams? Although my background now can be considered a dream come true, at my time in the orphanage I did not know that yet, being able to think of those 'What ifs" is what kept me going, so I don't think they are bad." 

Of course, Meelis was just pulling words out of his ass to Grayfia as he knew his true origins and motivations, but she wouldn't know that. One thing was for sure though, Meelis really did believe in 'What ifs', I mean which otaku had not dreamed of being Isekai-ed at one point in their lives, Meelis himself was not expecting a reincarnation into DxD, so he was especially grateful to Segenam for giving him that opportunity.

Granted, Meelis wasn't about to turn fanatical or crazy over the possibilities of events happening, but he was going to make sure that the events that he did want to happen, Will happen.

Before he could speak further, Meelis felt a subtle shift in his Demonic Power. His clone had returned, bringing back the memories and experiences of his reconnaissance.

Just as Grayfia was about to respond to Meelis' comment to continue talking, Meelis suddenly fell to the bed in pain while grabbing his chest as if he had been wounded. 

Grayfia, seeing his sudden actions, quickly went up to him and grabbed him, "Meelis, Meelis, you alright?" she asked as she used her Demonic Power to inspect his body, only to find nothing, the only difference was the extra amount of Demonic Power, which should've been lower sine he used his clone technique earlier.

"ughhh… I'm alright, it's just that I got the memories of my clone back, and it turns out he got himself killed." Meelis stated as he grunted while trying to sit back up and failing.

"Killed? How? Why?" Grayfia questioned, shocked.

"An exorcist spotted me, and since I used a disguise in case of any accidents, he probably thought I was a stray devil and attacked me." While Meelis was mostly truthful about his conjecture, his story was adjusted just a bit since he obviously could not say he went searching for the Red Dragon Emperor.

"As for the pain, I honestly don't know, I think it was because my clone was attacked with a Holy sword and his experience of it was transferred to me." Although he said that, Meelis was actually a bit confused as while memories and experiences of shadow clones do go to the original that's not how it usually goes when the memory transfer happens, so Meelis thought it might have been since the clone was made up of Demonic Power and he was attacked by a Holy Sword.

'I might have to make a note of that and probably test it, experiencing the worst pain for a devil once is enough, don't want to go through that again, and also, that guy, I know who he is.'

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LP: 500

Devil Nobility Class: Low, Mid, High, Ultimate, Special (these are the actual cannon rankings of DxD)

Devil Strength Rank: Low(F), Mid(E), High(D), Ultimate(C), Satan(B-), Maxed Longinus(B), Dragon Kings(B+), Heavenly Dragons/Super Devils(A), Indra/Shiva(A+), Ophis/Red(S+ to EX)