Chapter 5

"You want to learn swordsmanship?"

"Yes!"

"You should ask Aria, she's way better at it than me."

Currently, in the garden of the Sitri Mansion, Starrk was lying on a bench staring impassively at the little girl with scarlet hair and brown eyes in front of him.

"But Aria-neesama is currently on a border patrol. I heard the Fallen Angels have gotten reckless and some of them were spotted within the Devils territory." Said the little girl.

"Then ask Branwen."

"Aunt Raven is with Serafall-sama, filming a sequel for "Magical Girl Sera-tan and the Bandit Queen", it seems to be one of the most anticipated movie of the year."

"How about Nie-"

"But I want you to teach me!"

Starrk sighed. Again, he's stuck with a kid. Does he look like a reliable babysitter? If a kid were to play with sharp weapons and study forbidden magic, he would be too lazy to stop them and just let them be.

"Look, why do you have to learn how to use a sword anyway? You're one-fourth dragon. You're way more suited for magic." Said Starrk.

The little girl shrugs, "Magic is cool and all, but swords are way better!"

Starrk has no comment.

"Your mother would probably cry if she hears you say that." Starrk muttered as he thought of the Bishop that Serafall recruited just seven years ago.

"What do you say Starrk-nii? Please train me!" The little girl gave him a puppy dog eyes.

"Urgh." Starrk shifted his gaze away. That's way too cute and he would surely budge if he saw that for more than a second.

"Pleeeaaassseee~"

Finally, Starrk gave up and sighed in defeat. "Fine. But what swords would you like to use Erza?"

Erza Belserion, daughter of Serafall's Bishop, Irene Belserion. Erza is a quarter dragon due to her mother, Irene being a half dragon and half human.

Irene is a great magic researcher, even developing magic that is antithesis to dragons and even gods. In fact, her magical attainments are so great she stood equal to Devil King Ajuka Beelzebub and Fallen Angel Azazel, two of the most well-known magic researchers in Supernatural world.

As her daughter, Erza's talent was certainly cut above the rest. Currently, at the age of seven, she's already better than most Human Apprentice Mages who trained for a decade.

Irene was proud of her daughter due to this.

Unfortunately, Erza seems to have no interest in further developing her talent in magic and wanted to be a swordsman.

"There are different types of swords?" Erza tilted her head.

"Yes. There are short swords, broadsword, rapier, saber, and many others." Replied Starrk.

Erza thought for a moment before saying, "I want to learn them all!"

Starrk stared at her, "Different type of swords require different types of sword techniques, I don't think you can learn them all."

"Doesn't matter! I want to learn it all! So please teach me Starrk-nii!"

"…what a drag. Fine. We'll start training tomorrow."

"Yes! Yes! Yes!" Erza jumped around excitedly, "I'm gonna go and tell Sona about it! This is gonna be so awesome!"

As little Erza hurried back to the mansion, she bumped into someone, causing her to stumble back and almost fall down, only to be held by a mysterious force which caused her to levitate.

Starrk stared at the new arrival, and sighed tiredly. He has been sighing a lot for the past four decades since he became Serafall's Queen.

He's way too old for this.

"Mommy!" Erza exclaimed at the scarlet haired woman who was smiling at her.

"Hello dear." Her mother greeted.

Irene Belserion, Bishop of Serafall, a half dragon half human and a Grand Sorcerer- a title given to her by the magicians from the Mages Association, which is the highest rank one could possibly obtain.

She's a very beautiful and voluptuous woman with long braided scarlet hair. Wearing a very revealing version of a typical witch garb, which shows off her figure that could enchant any man.

Starrk thought that there might be some truths about the rumors of Ajuka and Azazel literally fighting for her affection. Those tremors and energy spikes he felt some years ago might be the result of said fight.

He once thought that those two were idiots for fighting for a woman, but as he spend more time with Irene, Starrk can somewhat understand them.

Though, he wasn't so bored that he'd pick a fight with someone just for her.

"What's this about training I heard?" Irene stared at the eyes of her daughter who was floating in front of her using telekinesis.

Little Erza looked a little guilty as she averted her eyes.

"Hmm. So you won't tell." Irene shifted her eyes to the former primera, and said only one word, "Starrk."

"…She wants me to train her how to use swords." He said, plainly. Ignoring the betrayed look that the little girl sent him.

"Oh? Swords you say?" Irene turned her gaze back to her daughter who was avoiding eye contact, "Well, I think you certainly have some talent in swordsmanship considering you have the blood of that man."

'That man' she was talking about, is certainly Erza's biological father. The man that Irene hates with every fiber of her being, someone she wished she could've personally killed him in the most brutal way possible.

Unfortunately, it was Starrk who did it. Though, she was fine with that. She doesn't want to see that man's face anyway.

Irene considered Starrk a tsundere, he acts like he doesn't care about anyone, but once one of his "allies" suffered some form of injustice or bullying, he will absolutely and thoroughly crush the source.

Such as when he found out about her past after she accidentally 'summoned' and asked her to save her and her daughter, who was only a few weeks old

"You're not mad?" Asked Erza.

"Lucky for you." Said Irene as she held her daughter in her arms, "However, I would still train you in magic even if you're already training with the sword."

"What?" Erza stared at her mother in shock, "But how can I concentrate with my sword training if I study magic as well? I don't want to do it!"

Irene merely flicked Erza's forehead, "Silly girl. Did you know if you study magic you can make magic swords."

"Magic swords?" Erza's eyes widened.

"Yes. Such as fire sword, cursed sword, demonic sword, and so on. You can enchant the most basic iron sword and turn it into a powerful artifact."

"Whoa." Erza's thoughts wandered at the future her wearing a gorgeous iron armor with iron wings, and a bunch of floating swords behind her. "That sounds so cool! I'm gonna study magic! Please teach me mommy!"

"Oh, I will." Irene smirked before putting her down, "Now move along. I remember hearing you wanted to brag to Sona."

"Oh! Right." Erza hugged her mother before running away, "And I'm not bragging!"

"Fufufu~" Irene chuckled at her daughter as she disappeared in her sight.

She turned towards Starrk and walked towards him, "So? How did she suddenly decides that swords are better than magic?"

"She did not say that." Starrk muttered.

"She implied it by how she decides to abandon her magic training and go for the sword."

Starrk opened his eyes and stared at her, "You're way too troublesome."

"Fufu~," Irene smiled as she sat down on his stomach, much to his annoyance. "You know about Kouh?"

"I don't." He replied plainly.

"Figures. It's a town that was leased to devils by the Shinto Faction after we helped them quell a rebellion that resulted in a Shinto civil war during the World War II of the human world."

"And?"

Irene flicked her witch hat as it disappeared into countless flickering lights before she lied down on his chest, "Kouh was then governed by the Belial family, but due to political reasons, they auctioned it and was obtained by both Sitri and Gremory clan. Both of the clan heads decided to use it to hone their heiress management skills."

"And what's that got to do with me?"

Irene stared at his face, "Lord Saul Sitri wants you to secure the place and make sure no other supernatural races would turn it into their base while we wait for Sona to grow up and manage the place."

"…Such a pain." He groaned. Great, another work. He really gets no rest huh?

Before that, "Until how long are you planning on lying on top of me? You're not exactly light."

"Fufu, well it's because of these-" she motioned at her chest, "that I'm a bit heavy. Though, you need to learn some tact and not say something so rude."

Starrk ignored her and just closed his eyes.