Barbatos | 𝗧𝗪𝗜𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗗 𝗪𝗢𝗡𝗗𝗘𝗥𝗟𝗔𝗡𝗗

28 | Understanding

*Brrr, dying here

Bonus:

(Future Kalim and Barbatos's bickering) Instead of helping his wife, he also craves her attention and acts like a kid around her. She's supposed to take care of two children, turns out she has three children...

     "Kalim dear, I'll pamper you later..." The demoness sighed, he was holding unto her. "I need to go to Lord Diavolo. He summons me already," she explained her situation, caressing the head of her sobbing partner.

     "Love, don't leave me!" He sobbed, tightening his grip on her butler clothing. "You promised to take me everywhere you go! Lemme go to Devildom with you!" He exclaimed.

     "Darling, Devildom isn't a haven for humans like you," she told the sobbing heir. "Demons crave your soul... It wouldn't be nice to have your soul eaten by a lowly demon," she added.

     "I'm a magician, (Name)! I can defend myself!"

- Town, Sea Shore -

Deuce was shocked that Epel fought Vil first thing in the ceremony, in defense that he didn't know that Pomefiore's dorm leader is more substantial than him. That goes with Deuce and Ace who challenged Riddle—it wasn't a fight, but rather a duel before the position of dorm leader...

     "Back in our hometown, having a muscular body and being tall is a sign of strength," the Pomefiore student sighed, looking at his petite body. "I always get fun because of what I look like. Reminiscing the time Vil-senpai told me I was cute, maybe he wasn't belittling me..."

     Deuce patted Epel's shoulder, "I understand you. I don't like people underestimating me."

In the end, Epel always loses against his dorm leader. That explains why Rook said they're not fighting, it's a usual routine from the very start. The Pomefiore first-year wants to defeat Vil to be stronger, but no matter how many times they fought, he still can't win...

     "You know, Kalim-senpai and Rook-senpai told me something before I left—We should be proud of our current potential. At first, I was hesitant, and then I asked myself what am I good at. I'm an idiot that has its benefits," Deuce jested, feeling funny with his strength.

     Epel tilted his head, "Isn't that something you hate about yourself?"

     Deuce nodded, "Yes, but like see this, I don't overthink about something and I still go for it—Reverse psychology. I'm not keen, even though I'm an overthinker and I think that's why I can focus on one thing. This is the potential I have, my disadvantages as my strength!" He told his fellow first-year.

     The Pomefiore first-year sighed, "I still don't get it. I want to change my look, right? Being fragile and feminine-looking doesn't look like my strength, you know?" He said, feeling bad. *RING* *RING* Epel's phone rang, causing him to take it to look who was calling for him, "A number back home?" He asked himself and tapped the green button. "Hello?"

     "Hello, Epel dear?" It was his Mom and joy is lacing in her tone. "What happened to the apple juice we sent you the other day?" She asked.

     The lavender-haired raised an eyebrow, "The apple juice? Didn't you tell me to share it with my friends?" He asked. His Mother suddenly squealed, "It's because we got a lot of orders from the whole world! Ya know, I asked a couple of customers how they knew our shop and said they saw it from Vil Schoenheit's post in Magicam! Isn't he your dorm leader, sweetie?" She seems glad about it.

Yes, Vil's recent post is about Epel's apple juice shop with a couple of encouraging tags—good for skin, always take one after a long and difficult task, refreshing, and it's from a shop in Apple Harvest. Deuce was also glad about it and his Mother seems to be enjoying it even though there were a lot of phone calls ordering a lot of apple juices. She even needs to ask the village for their help to deliver their orders...

     "We're worried about our stock, sweetie, but everyone in the village is glad about it! Thank you so much, dear!" His Mother exclaimed, then followed by a quiet sob and phone calls at her side. "We're busy here and we need to take care of it, so I'll be ending this call! Don't worry, honey, we'll send you more apple juices! LOVE YOU, OKAY?" She hangs up.

     Deuce looks at his Magicam, "That's great... They kept commenting about ordering more apple juice."

     "I UNDERSTAND NOW!"

- ??? -

The Chairman looked at the time as they watched the visitors Eli invited to start to leave the castle. A lot of servants came inside to fix the mess the visitors made and (Name), the bodies of Hans and Eli lay on the floor with no sign of life in it. They scoffed at Eli's reckless actions, blabbering their plan to Crewel—who was (Name)—now the demoness is aware of it. Then again, it's not the worst part...

     "I told him to leave Luke alone... What a horrible person you are, Eli. Holding an innocent angel hostage for your advantage..." They gritted their teeth. The part of the picture they're holding at the moment has Luke on it, with them gently smiling and holding him up close, "Don't worry Luke. I and your sweet little mom are the only ones that should be fixed this," they said.

     "Chairman, we already fixed the lobby and the bodies. We should leave the castle at once," a director told them. "Any orders you want us to deliver, Chairman?"

     "Nothing else. Let's leave this place at once."

- (NRC) Crewel's room -

The demoness dematerializes her Crewel disguise, surprising the Professor when he saw the familiar female in front of him. (Name) sat in the opposite place of Crewel, sighing in relief since she hopes he won't sell her out to the Chairman or the deceased Eli (he's dead anyway)...

     "You... You said you're capture, (Name)! OH MY GOD! YOU SCARED ME TO DEATH!" Crewel exclaimed in shock, hugging the demoness who is confused. "STOP PRANKING ME! IT'S NOT FUNNY!" He yelled at her.

     "Professor, I'm not fond of pranking humans. What are you saying?" She stated, looking at the astounded Divus. "Do tell me what happened and made you worried about my state. I would like to hear about this prank I did on you," she said, squinting her eyes at the weakened state of Crewel.

     "... Well..."

     "In exchange, I'll tell you what Director Eli told me," she added.

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(バルバトス)