Edited by: dragonsam656
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Ray's POV
"Oi, can I read books that are kept there?" I asked as I pointed towards the bookshelf in the room. Hearing my voice Beelzebub, who was immersed in his work, lifted his head and looked at me and then at shelf replying "No" before diving his head right back into the documents.
I couldn't help but glare at him hatefully. "Why are you staring at me now?" He asked as he looked up from the documents in his table with a frown. "Shouldn't we be searching for someone that I can enter a contract with?"
Hearing that he knitted his brows and his frown got deeper. "I have a lot of work, father may have asked me to look after you but he didn't specify when to go look for that person so first I'll complete all my work," he said as he once again gave his undivided attention to the stack of paper on his desk and picked one of them up.
"Then what should I do, it's too boring to stay cooped up here not doing anything," I said.
"Then what do you want to do?" He asked as he supported his chin with his right hand as he leaned on the table exasperating as if tired.
"I want to go out in the city and explore it," I answered in a non-negotiable tone.
"I see, it's not happening," he replied immediately.
"Then you tell me what I should do," I said once again.
"I don't know go play by yourself."
The whole conversation had the feeling that it was really dumb to even begin with and this guy obviously doesn't want me here and I don't want to be here. Thus, I decided to put forth a deal. According to it, I will be allowed to go to the city under the condition of being with a guard at all times. At first, Beelzebub seemed a little bit reluctant to let me go sightseeing in the city but when one of his subordinates with green hair came up and volunteered to go with me. Beelzebub, after some more thinking, added two more conditions: one, that during the whole trip I will and cannot use my magic to harm any of the demons and second, that I should come back to the castle before sundown. I accepted those conditions as they didn't seem unreasonable at all.
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I was once again walking down the streets of the market place of Ambrose, which was lively with all kinds of demons. I also got to know more about Aeshma-san as we were going to be together with each other for a good amount of time and it doesn't hurt to know more about your companion.
Aeshma-san is 96 years old and he has a son who is 20 years old. Apparently, demons' development is very slow and a demon who is 30 years or below may look like only 5 years old or young. He was one of the demons with green hair and also one of Beelzebub's guard.
Aeshma-san was kind enough to take me and show where we can get stuff that is edible for humans and can be grown in human land. I also found some amazing herbs which were similar to turmeric, chilies, rosemary and many other spices which were similar to the spices from my previous life.
We were walking down the streets in search for some tavern to eat some food when suddenly a kid ran past us holding something tightly close to his body and behind him were some adults who were chasing him. I watched as the kid ran into an alley and the people who were chasing him followed behind. Then we heard some people screaming from somewhere and there was a little bit of chaos as people started to run towards the opposite direction. A huge wave of people came towards us and because there were so many Aeshma-san and I were separated. I could hear Aeshma-san calling me but I couldn't use magic because that will only startle the people more.
I could find Aeshma-san's figure coming towards me when someone grabbed my shoulder from behind as they covered my mouth whispering in my ears, "Don't even try to resist or someone will get hurt." I understood that they were the ones who had started this commotion in order to separate me from Aeshma-san and in this situation I couldn't carelessly use magic, thus, I decided to comply as they took me into the alley where the kid ran to.
As we were away from the crowd of people I was about to use magic but then the guy approached the boy from before who was sitting there near some wooden boxes anxiously and put a knife on his neck and told me that if I would do anything suspicious or use magic he will slit the boy's throat. As he told me that another guy came from behind as he released some kind of gas from his hands which caused my vision to be blurry before I blacked out.
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I slowly opened my eyes, adjusting to the darkness of the place where I was being held. Both of my hands were behind my back and my legs were bound by ropes. When my eyes finally adjusted to the dark room I used magic to cut the ropes and used fire magic to light up the room a little. When there was finally some light which enabled me to look around the room properly I saw a figure behind some huge wooden boxes which was making muffled voices. I went near it to see what it was. When I looked behind the boxes I found some kids who were bound but unlike me, they were gagged by the captors.
When they all saw me, their eyes shined as if they were saved while some were looking at me with pleading eyes. I sighed as the words that Garrick spoke crossed my mind I guess we really do attract a lot of trouble.
I untied all of their ropes, freeing them; after being freed from their restraints they thanked me for helping them. I asked them where we were and why are we being held captive and then they told me that apparently some of them were held captives as hostages. They also told me that they once tried to escape but failed and the consequences were very dire as some of them even died. As we continued our conversation they all told me why and how they were caught and taken as hostages and I too told them my side of the story. By the time I ended my story all of them had a shocked expression as they looked at my face.
Then a loud laugh came from outside the room. All of us turned to look at the door where a thirty years old man who looked as an oni was standing with two young boys beside him and two men who were in their middle twenties behind him. The man had an air of wickedness around him. All the kids in the room gulped and Azael, one of the kids who I untied, took a step back in fear. One of the demons who was standing with him looked like a pig or rather a boar who was able to stand on his two feet. And other one looked like a human but was green in color probably a goblin, I think.
I dashed towards ready to knock him out but the old man pulled the kid who was behind in front of him to use him as a human shield. I stopped before I could hurt that boy, it seems that they have noticed that I wouldn't attack the kids so they're using him as a hostage. The demon tossed the kid to the other demon who was standing him. He held me by my collar as he threatened me, "Do anything and that kid gets his throat slit." I looked behind him and saw the goblin-like demon holding a knife right next to his throat. 'Tsk' I clicked my tongue in anger. And he punched me real hard causing my nose to bleed and blood to come out from the corners of my mouth.
"Brother" a voice came from the group of kids as a young kid came forward, tears staining his face as he tried to run towards the kid who was held hostage by the goblin-like monster but was forcefully stopped by the other kids. The kid with the goblin-like monster too started to struggle after seeing his brother. As the three men got distracted I got ready to cast a spell but the Oni somehow got alert and looked at me in rage as he shouted at me, "Do you think I'm bluffing here? Don’t do anything funny kid or everyone here will die because of you, starting with him." He pointed at the kid with the goblin-like monster and then he punched me really hard once again and threw on the floor. My right side of the forehead hit on the ground and started to bleed but it's ok cause he didn't do anything to the kid they have held hostage.
As one of the girls came to help me get up. She looked at me with both a worried and a scared expression. And then, once again the Oni started to speak, "Oi, kid, we are warning you to behave, I don't care if we are supposed to ask Beelzebub for ransom in exchange for you, we will kill you."
"Heh...what do you think Beelzebub will quietly give money? What would happen to you once I tell him about this?" I spoke in a chilling tone.
"Kid, you would need a tongue to speak, wouldn't you?" He walked towards me taking out a dagger ready to cut my tongue off.
"If I were you I wouldn't touch a hair on that kid." A familiar voice came from behind the two demons by the door. The two turned around to look who is behind them and were surprised out of their mind to find the person standing behind them. A smile broke out on my face, "You took your sweet time, Beelzebub." I commented to which he responded to with a frown as he looked at me with a surprised expression. "What happened to you?" He inquired as his eyes narrowed on me. I was about to speak when Azael spoke up saving me the trouble of explaining the whole thing to him.
"Beelzebub-sama, Ray protected us in order to save Lamone's brother. They even threatened him that if even he tried to do anything they will kill us all and beat him." She explained with tears rolling down her cheeks and sobbing. She was not the only one who was like that, all of the kids were either crying or sobbing. Beelzebub hearing that shifted his attention towards the three old demons who were holding Lamone's older brother. The two demons who were scared of their wits were now trying to find some way to protect themselves. The pig demon just went in trying to punch him as he roared as he could, extreme fear taking over his rational thoughts.
But before he could even touch Beelzebub, Aeshma-san appeared in front of him blocking the pig demon's punch with one hand. He tightened his hold of the pig demon's hand as he started to twist it forcing the pig demon on his knees as if he was submitting to him.
"How dare someone as lowly as you even tries to touch Beelzebub-sama, know your place!" he exclaimed in an extremely cold voice, his eyes ice cold, no shred of mercy being reflected in them.
Sounds of something cracking could be heard as the pig demon cried pleading for mercy but Aeshma-san was not only not affected by it, he put his foot on the pig demon's shoulder as he pulled on his twisted hand ignoring the crying demon and his pleas. Aeshma-san then took his other hand and repeated his actions from before until his limbs were ripped apart from the body with blood spurting out and covering Aeshma-san in blood. The pig demon then passed out and Aeshma-san looked at the goblin-like demon with bloodthirsty eyes. The goblin-like demon, scared, shook his head in denial as he threatened, "Stay away from me or this kid will die." He kept the knife near Lamone's brother's neck. His hands were shaking due to fear.
"Just a lowly goblin henchman," he muttered under his breath.
Aeshma-san didn't even get fazed by that threat as he disappeared from the place where he was standing and in the next moment appeared next to the goblin. And chopped the goblin's right hand off. The goblin screamed in pain and terror as he fell on his knees holding the place from where his hand was severed. Aeshma-san then continued as he pierced through the goblin's mouth. After finishing him off, he went back to Beelzebub's side and silently stood behind him as Lamone's brother ran towards us and his brother.
As Lamone's brother hugged him, the Oni suddenly started laughing loudly as he clenched his stomach as he spoke, "You think we are the only ones here? Wait ‘till everybody is alerted about your presence then we'll see who is at a disadvantage." He used magic and shot a huge fireball up in the sky as a signal and smirked at Beelzebub who gave no reaction to him at all. The Oni laughed but then after some time realized that nobody is coming. The smirk was wiped off from his face as looked at Beelzebub's with a surprised look and saw him smirking.
"Aren't your people coming for us?" Beelzebub taunted him as he started to laugh this time around, "Aamon" he called out. Just then the other demon who is Beelzebub's guard appeared behind from nowhere as reported to him in a loud voice that all the demon in the vicinity has been taken care of causing the Oni to slump down as broke down laughing. At this moment he looked as if he had lost all sanity but then he made a run towards me but this time he didn't have a kid to blackmail me with. So, I simply cast a magic spell and knocked him out with a dragon made out of the water as it swallowed him and the Oni nearly drowning inside of its stomach. Unable to breathe he started to flail his arms and legs in the water until he couldn't anymore and lost consciousness then I let him go as the dragon (Chinese dragon btw) disappears.
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Later, Beelzebub took me back to the castle while Aeshma-san and Aamon-san took the responsibility of getting all the kids to their respective homes. When we got back to the castle, Beelzebub, without speaking any words, picked me up as started walking towards another direction from his study but I didn't bother asking him where he was taking me. I'll eventually find out so why waste my breath.
We reached what seemed like a bedroom and he sat me down on the bed and went outside as he talked with one of the maidservants who after hearing what he said just bowed to him saying, "I understand master." She then went away and he walked up to me as he stood a little bit away from the bed with his arms crossed across his chest with an expressionless face as started speaking, "So, why didn't you do anything before beating you?"
I pursued my lips thinking before I answered him, "Even if I wanted to do something they were keeping Lamone's brother as a hostage with a knife on his neck if I wanted to save Lamone's brother I would have to kill that demon and I have promised someone that I will never kill anyone. And I didn't want any of the kids getting hurt so it's ok if I got hurt in their stead. That's why I only knocked out that Oni and didn’t kill him." He looked at me with a surprised look and then he spoke in a very low voice which can be considered as a whisper, "Why did you save some demon kids?"
"Huh?!" I looked up at him with a confused look seeing which he just gritted his teeth as he spoke out the question loudly, "Why you, a human, would put a demon kid's life before his own?"
"Because they are as much living beings as humans are," I answered to him.
Hearing this, he started to laugh like a man gone mad and then he kept his hands on my shoulders as he told me, "Kid, you are too nice and accepting this which isn't in itself a bad thing but this will become the cause of your downfall. Be careful." He ruffled my hair as he smiled at me. Then, a knock came from the door as he a sweet voice came from the other side of the door, "Sir, I have brought the things you asked for as well as I have brought the doctor along with me." Beelzebub got up as he called them inside.
The doctor tended to my injuries while the maid brewed some tea and poured some milk with honey in a glass. By the time the doctor was done the maid had poured the tea too and Beelzebub was sitting on the chair as he was drinking it. After everything was done the maid and the doctor bowed to Beelzebub and took their leave as they closed the door with a small bang sound.
I walked up to where he was sitting and took one of the seats. He just placed the glass of milk in front of me and continued drinking his tea. The milk was warm and was sweet but not too sweet because of the honey. He then took one more sip of tea before telling me that Luci and Allen are coming back with Allen's new familiar and we are going back home. I just nodded to this information as we both went back to drinking our beverages in silence but it wasn’t awkward or anything like that, on the contrary, it was very relaxing.
"Hey, didn't you wanted to make a demon your familiar?" He asked. I just looked up at him as I answered with an expressionless face, "I didn't really want a demon familiar, it was because Luci wanted to have one that and he insisted on it relentlessly that I said yes to having one."
Then ended the conversation with an "I see," and silence once again is ensued.
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The door burst open as Allen and Luci entered the room. I looked up from the book I was reading and Beelzebub, who was enjoying his tea, frowned. Then I looked behind Allen and there was a huge hound behind him. Allen approached me with a smile as the hound followed him but he stopped smiling when he saw my injuries as he asked in a drastic manner, "Ray, what happened to you?! Why are hurt?!" I just shook my head as I answered, "Nothing big, just went outside and got into trouble." Hearing that he frowned and Luci too frowned as he looked at Beelzebub.
"I went out of my own accord and Beelzebub even sent Aeshma-san with me," but I was cut in between by Beelzebub, "No, it was my mistake not to go there with you. It was my fault." The atmosphere was starting to get a little heavy in the room.
Then Luci sighed as he asked me whether I found a familiar or not to change the topic to which I just shook my head, no. He then once again looked at Beelzebub and frowned and then again sighed.
"Well, we can find someone for you another time but right now let's go back to my castle and take you two back home." He said as we got ready to leave for his castle.
"Why can't you open a portal right here?" Beelzebub asked. "Nah, people in my castle are trained for situations when I open the portal." He said and after some time we took off for his castle.
On our way back Allen introduced me to his contracted demon, Connor, who is a Cerberus. Both of them seemed quite friendly. I smiled looking at the sea, guess they had a fun day. When I turned my face to them I found Allen and Luci staring at me intensely.
"What?" I asked them and they just shook their heads as Luci answered, "I have never seen you smile before, you look very much like Allen when you smile."
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Third person's POV
Beelzebub was looking at the retreating backs of the boys and Luci along with a beast as they were going back to Lucifer's castle with a frown on his face as he sighed.
"That's a long sigh," a woman said as she leaned on the door of the study. Beelzebub turned around with a surprised face hanging on his face. "You really can't say no to his requests now can you, Bell." She smiled at him. The woman had a voluptuous body and was adorned with jewelry which complimented her red dress adding to her woman charm. Her hair was tied up in a bun and she had white bamboo folded fan on her right hand which she crossed around her chest. The woman had an aura of elegance around her.
She walked up to him and hit him on his head, "He knew that you will say yes so he called me and asked me to take your place here. Don't worry, unlike your father who enjoys his time playing with those twins, I actually do my work properly before going out to enjoy."
A bead of sweat slid down his forehead as he agreed with her reluctantly to give his position as the governor of the capital city. 'Why couldn't any of the brothers take this position? Lamia, why can't you take over?' he cried internally but he nodded accepting her offer of taking over his position as he made way to Lucifer's castle.
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Ray's POV
When we came back to the castle, one of the butlers whispered something into Luci's ear after which his face became quite pale. After that, he told us that mama and papa asked him to send us back home immediately and that papa threatened him that he will come down to hell himself. I guess I can see why Luci's face paled after hearing that, also, I wonder how angry he would be when sees my wound.
Luci once again opened a portal so we can go back home. Connor was coming home along with us because he can guard us apparently. We were about to enter when the door to Luci's study burst opened. Today the doors have been bursting open a lot. The person who came from the door was Beelzebub, he came up to me as he knelt down on one of his knees. "Ray, I want to enter in a contract with you and go back to your home with you." He said as he looked at me dead serious in the eyes. I looked at Luci from the corner of eyes and saw him smiling while Connor and Allen looked at us confused.
"But, what about your position as the governor?" I questioned looking at him with a little bit of hesitation.
"My aunt, Astaroth will take over as governor. And father too would agree, right, father?" He looked at Luci who just nodded his head in approval.
"Um...then, I don't have any problem but how do I form a contract with you?" I asked. He handed me a paper with a spell written on it.
"It's very easy," Beelzebub took my hand then he looked up at me and warned, "This may hurt a little bit." And he made a cut on my palm just enough to draw some blood. He then asked me to recite the spell and when I did that a magic Circle appeared and started glowing. Beelzebub then recited his part of the spell and licked the blood from my hand.
As he licked the blood suddenly on his right hand, a black coloured tattoo started to appear spreading throughout his right arm. After which the contract was considered to be completed. I felt a little bit tired after that but it was something too big.
After that, we said our goodbyes to Luci as he and Beelzebub talked to him before following behind us. The portal opened on the lakeside where we met Lucy and now we have to walk all the way back to home.
When we came back home, the necklace mama gave me started to shine really brightly and healed all of the injuries making it as if it never existed. We walked back out of the bushes and was close to home when Brishen came running and panting to us and said in a very worried tone, "Ray, Allen we have to hurry back. Melinda-sensei is going to give birth to the baby."
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( I'm so sorry I know I said that I will update this chapter yesterday but in the morning I was watching Titans and at night I changed a lot of it. I'm so sorry about the late update.
Comment your thoughts about the book and thank you for keeping up with the lazy shitty me. Thank you so much seriously.)