31 Return to the Capital

It has already been 2 weeks since Artemis and Fitoria fought and the new family of 6 were relaxing in their mansion and were absolutely nothing. Other than Ayane that is, it seems that the poor girl doesn't like it when she is doing nothing.

Lucifer looked at the contented look on Death's face as she looked at Artemis, Zoe, and Fitoria who were sparring while Ayane was standing beside them. He then looked at Ayane curiously as he didn't know what to think of her anymore.

He looked back at Death and thought, 'I'm already satisfied with my wife already, but what is Ayane to me now? A love interest? A maid? A friend? *Sigh* I'll think about this on a later date...'

Lucifer then looked towards Artemis, Zoe, and Fitoria sparring and noticed that they were doing hand-to-hand combat right now. He looked at the discarded weapons and saw that it only consisted of bows and... gloves?

He shook his head in amusement and turned towards Death and said, "Hey, honey."

Death looked at Lucifer with a questioning look and hummed, "Hmmm?"

Lucifer then looked towards the direction of the capital and said, "Why don't we go to the capital or whatever it's called? I want to go to that disrespectful blacksmith and teach him a lesson."

Death raised an eyebrow at that and said, "Is that really why you're going there?"

Lucifer gave her a confused look and asked, "Huh? What do you mean by that?"

Death looked surprised at his reaction and quickly said, "Okay, let's do that..." 'Huh, I actually thought that he was going there for other stuff and I never really thought that he was getting this close to Erhard. Huh, so that's why he was always going to the capital every now and then.'

Lucifer looked at Death's surprised face and shrugged it off and walked towards Death and Ayane who was keeping silent. He then put his hand on her shoulder and looked towards Ayane, "Hey, Ayane-chan. Death and I are going to the capital, okay? Keep the girls in line, okay?"

Ayane looked surprised at Lucifer in surprise and said, "Ah! H-Hai! Yes, Lord Lucifer..."

Lucifer smiled warmly at her and then looked at the sparring girls and then back at Ayane and said, "Well then, I'm counting on you on that one Ayane-chan... Ja!" and then proceeded to teleport to Erhard's shop with Death.

As soon as Lucifer and Death were gone, the three sparring girls stopped in their tracks and went towards the nervous Ayane. When Zoe arrived first, she quickly dragged Ayane towards the kitchen while saying, "Now that they're gone, you'll be cooking something for us," as Artemis and Fitoria nodded their heads.

Ayane sweatdropped at her words and the other girls' reaction to said words and thought, 'This is not going to end well for me,' as she knew how much the girls liked hers and Lucifer's cooking.

When Lucifer and Death appeared inside Erhard's shop, they were quite surprised to see Naofumi and Raphtalia being there also.

"-grateful that we are, but you need to think about yourself first!"

Lucifer looked at Naofumi, Raphtalia, and Erhard in surprise and said, "Oh? So the brat and his little brat is here too? Huh... hey Noafumi!"

Naofumi, Raphtalia, and Erhard looked surprised at the two new people in the shop but calmed down when they saw that it was Lucifer and Death. They weren't actually afraid of the duo with how they acted as if they were on a vacation and are pretty much chill and easy to vibe with.

Naofumi smiled at Lucifer and Death and said, "Ah! Lord Lucifer! What are you and Lady Death doing here?"

Raphtalia and Erhard kept quiet as they saw Death walking towards them and left Lucifer and Naofumi to talk.

Lucifer smiled teasingly at Naofumi and said, "Oh nothing really. Just went here to talk some sense into that knucklehead of a blacksmith behind you... but how are you doing? And isn't that your little daughter behind you? Huh, they do grow up so fast don't they?"

Naofumi nodded at his words and opened his mouth to say something but was beaten to it by Raphtalia saying, "Ahhh!! I'm not Naofumi-sama's daughter! I'm his slave and sword!"

Lucifer raised an eyebrow at her answer and smirked, "Oh? You aren't? Truly? But with how Naofumi was, and still is, taking care of you doesn't it look like you are his daughter to other people?"

"Guugh!" Raphtalia looked like she was shot in the chest with his question and couldn't refute anything he said. Lucifer, Death, and Erhard on the other hand looked very amused at her reaction whilst Naofumi was being the dense protagonist that he is.

Lucifer then ignored the now brooding Raphtalia and turned towards Erhard and said, "Oi! You useless Blacksmith! Are you finally thinking about accepting my offer?"

Erhard then turned towards Death for advice but immediately went to Naofumi when he saw her look away.

Seeing Erhard look at him like that, Naofumi could only say, "If it sounds too good to be true then don't accept. If it's just so-so then accept. I don't know anymore, this guy is the literal Devil! How can you expect me to know what he's thinking?"

Erhard sweatdropped at that and turned towards the expecting Lucifer and sighed, "Why are you exactly persistent on taking me as your personal Blacksmith? You're much more skilled than I am at the art of smithing and you still want me as your personal Blacksmith. So why?"

Lucifer smiled cheerfully at him and said, "Well... I accidentally created a world inside my soul that goes with me wherever I go and I want one of the only humans that I've come to like to be the first inhabitant of it."

Death sighed at his antics and thought, 'So this is the true reason on why he keeps pestering Erhard. How can one even make an inner world accidentally? NO! Don't think about this more thoroughly or you're going to get a headache, Death!'

Erhard, Naofumi, and Raphtalia looked shocked at his words as Erhard said, "Huh? So you're saying that 'accidentally' created a world so you're asking me to become the first Blacksmith in your world?"

Lucifer smiled at his words and said, "Oh? So you're finally getting it? Finally! So you going to accept?"

Erhard fell silent at his words and started to ponder on his words and said, "Give me more time and I'll answer your offer."

Lucifer shrugged his shoulders at his answer and said to Death, "Why don't we leave the big guy alone so he can think about the offer?" and then turned towards Naofumi and Raphtalia and said, "What about you guys? Wanna come with us?"

Naofumi nodded at Lucifer and walked towards him whilst Raphtalia looked at Naofumi in shock and said, "Naofumi-sama! We were supposed to buy equipment for you! What are you doing walking away!?"

Before Naofumi could even reply, Lucifer immediately said, "Hmmm? Was it about his equipment? Well then, OI ERHARD! Give Naofumi here a made-to-order armor, neh?"

Erhard then snapped out of his thoughts and looked at Lucifer in surprise and said, "Huh? Ah, yeah, sure," and then went back to thinking.

Death and Raphtalia sweatdropped at what happened whilst Naofumi quickly said, "Ah, no! Don't do it Erhard! I don't want to be indebt to anyone!"

Lucifer looked at Naofumi incredulously and said, "Huh!? What are you talking about being indebt? Were you implying that I would have payed for you? Keep dreaming! You're paying for all that! And what's with Erhard stopping it? Wasn't that what you were doing here for?"

Death's and Raphtalia's sweatdrop grew in size at what Lucifer said and turned to Naofumi who was looking at Lucifer in surprise. Lucifer then shook his head in amusement and went out of the shop and was followed by Death and Raptalia.

Naofumi looked at Raphtalia in shock and thought, 'Weren't you the one that said things about not going and we should worry about our equipment? We haven't even bought any new sword for you!' He then sighed in defeat and followed after the devil, his wife, and his tanuki-slave.

The four of them could now be seen walking down the streets going towards Naofumi's favorite restaurant. Lucifer and Death never really intended to go there for the food but for the two younger people in their group as they wanted to talk more with them. Mostly Death though.

When their group finally arrived, Lucifer looked on in amusement when Naofumi said to the waiter that Raphtalia was going to have a kid's meal and she threw a tantrum.

When the waiter finally left, Lucifer quickly looked at her and said, "Oh? You say that you're not acting mature but who threw a tantrum just now?"

Raphtalia's face grew red at his words and wanted to lash out but was stopped by Naofumi's laugh. When she heard Naofumi laugh at her, she could only lower her head in embarrassment and said in a meek voice, "Gomen..."

Death watched the three in amusement and said to Naofumi, "How was it?"

Naofumi looked quite alarmed at her question and asked, "Huh? What do you mean by that Lady Death?"

Death looked at him confusedly and said, "I was asking how was taking care of your daughter to adulthood felt like? What exactly did you interpret it as?"

"Ah!" Naofumi looked at her in embarrassment as Lucifer laughed at what he guessed was what Naofumi thought Death meant.

Naofumi then scratched the back of his head and said, "Ummm, it was quite frustrating at first but Raphtalia was, and still is, a very good girl. It wasn't hard taking care of her when she was still a child."

Raphtalia's flushed face grew redder as she said, "Naofumi-sama! I already told you that I am not your daughter! And please don't talk about me as if I am not here!"

Lucifer, Death, and Naofumi looked at Raphtalia in amusement who cowered in embarrassment in Naofumi's cape. Seeing her lean in Naofumi's cape, Lucifer's mood turned sour a little as he thought, 'What is this idiot wearing a cape for?'

He then looked at Death who was also looking at him and said in her mind, 'Why don't we leave them after we eat?'

Death gave him a slight nod and turned towards the arguing Raphtalia and Naofumi and replied, 'Yes, yes we should.'

Naofumi and Raphtalia stopped talking as they could feel the stares on them and turned towards Lucifer and Death who were staring at them and simultaneously said, "What?"

Lucifer and Death looked at each other and chuckled as they looked back at the two 'father and daughter duo'. Death then said, "You two are so cute. You act like many fathers and daughters that I've come across in my life."

Naofumi chuckled at her whilst Raphtalia flushed red in anger. She then thought, 'I don't want to be a daughter-figure to Naofumi-sama! Stop saying that you old hag!' Unknown to Raphtalia, Death and Lucifer heard her surface thoughts clearly and had different reactions.

Death was quickly angered at her words whilst Lucifer quickly threw three gold coins at Raphtalia's face and said, "Sorry about this kid but I think that Death and I need to go back home! I just remembered that we left our daughter, daughter-in-law, and loli to our maid. Ja!" and quickly teleported out of there with Death before she could go on a rampage on Raphtalia.