Greed

I stood before the mansion doors. The mansion was built entirely out of valuable ores and minerals. Gold gilded everything, no doubt he loved the color.

Pushing open the doors, I was greeted with a demon. A servant. His skin was painted gold, cracks in his skin revealed the original red of his skin.

"Hello Lord Sloth, Lord Greed has been awaiting your arrival," he told me respectfully. The servant gestured to come in, and I nodded at him.

We walked down the halls in silence, before eventually arriving at a pair of doors. Two maids opened it up for me, and I walked in.

A luxuriously decorated dining hall was what I saw. At the end of the wooden dining table, sat Greed. He was cutting into a piece of steak, gilded an edible gold. The goblet held a golden nectar. At this pointed I even wondered if he shit and pissed gold.

Greed was eight feet tall. He had black dollar sign pupils, and golden irises. His skin was green and papery. Five rings adorned each of his ten fingers, and so many necklaces surrounded his neck, I questioned how he could breathe.

"Take a seat old friend," he greeted me affably. The teeth that showed from his smile were diamond. An array of food was beared before me, a feast. I sat at the opposite end of the long dining table, facing him.

"I'm not here for pleasantries," I told him straightforwardly.

His actions paused, and his eyes that were focused on the food in front of him shifted to me. He set down his knife and fork. Picking up his royal purple handkerchief, no doubt made from the best silk, he wiped his mouth with soft, elegant dabs. When Greed was done, he put down the handkerchief.

"Still quick to business I see?"

"Of course," I answered.

"Then let's talk business." He flashed me with a devilish smile.

"What valuable thing do you have for me, and what can I offer you for it?" he asked.

"Information," I said simply. At my words, his face became noticeably dismayed as he frowned.

"I thought you knew this by now, Sloth, but I don't have much interest in words, you see," he explained.

"And yet, you're so good at them," I quipped with a smile of my own.

He stared at me, "You're still as silver tongued as ever, I see."

"I'm just stating the facts," I replied, before continuing, "You were the world's best merchant before you were Greed."

"... I still remember it," Greed suddenly said.

"Remember what?" My brows furrowed

"The day I found someone better at speaking than me," He closed his eyes in reminiscence.

"Hmm," I stayed silent.

"It feels like just yesterday when I saw you speak your way into becoming The Demon Lord of Sloth," he elaborated. I narrowed my eyes.

"Where are you going with this?"

"Where I'm going... I'm saying that I'll hear you out."

My lips curled up, "That's all that I will ever ask you to do."

"Let's negotiate," I said.

"Here are my terms. For my information, you will give me two beginner magical tomes, one for black magic, and the other beginner elementary magic. You will give me a sword you deem, "Valuable," and a grimoire of necromancy," I said concisely.

"You're asking for a lot," he told me.

"Yet it is miniscule compared to your wealth, friend," I smiled.

"... Verbal agreement?" he asked.

"Yes, you may begin."

"I, Greed, will give Sloth tomes for beginner elementary and black magic. I will give him a sword I deem valuable, and a grimoire of necromancy. I will fulfill these conditions, ONLY, if I find his information satisfactory," he finished.

"Good?"

"Great, actually," I praised.

"Then it's up to you to fulfill your end of the agreement."

"Yes, okay... I guess I'll begin now," I started.

"..." He stayed silent, listening intently.

"I have seen the future, friend." I could see his eyes widen imperceptibly with my enhanced eyesight thanks to, Eight Eyes.

"You..."

"Indeed, that's exactly the reason I have been moving so earnestly recently... It's because of these prophetic dreams," I explained.

"What did you see?" he asked impatiently.

"I'm getting to that part, and I'll get to it quicker if you don't interrupt." His mouth closed.

"Greed, my friend, my kin... I saw the need for change. I've been trying my hardest to change, to improve, you've no doubt heard of it," I danced around the topic a bit.

"The future I've seen... was one of disaster. Mountains of corpses, of our kind, spread out across valleys. Me, you, Lust, Envy, Wrath, Gluttony, Pride, and Satan... we were all dead. Felled by the angels and other races, who united against us in a Holy War-"

-Bam!

Greed stood up from his chair, and his hands slammed against the table's surface. "Those bird bastards declared a Holy War! Are they insane?!"

"..." I sat there, silently staring at him. Realizing his outburst, he took in a deep breath, before sitting back down.

"Yes, a Holy War. But not for no reason, they found a wielder of The Holy Sword, a Hero." Greed closed his eyes, taking in this information.

"How long?"

"Seven years is when The Hero will be born, in ten the Holy War will start," I said.

"Shit. What do we do?" He broke his sophisticated demeanor with a crude curse.

"As I said before, we change."

"But... how? Tell me how! We're demons, we don't change damnit!" he told me furiously.

"Calm yourself, we have time. For now, I see two options. One, you all don't heed my words, and then I go to the human realm while the entirety of demon kind fight a pointless battle. I will be your enemy in that war, and I will guarantee each of your deaths as I stand by The Hero," I laid it out to him.

"You speak of betrayal...?"

"Greed... I became The Demon Lord of Sloth to be able to sleep without a care in the world. To sleep, I need to be able to live. To live, well, I might just need to kill all of you. I need to cut my losses somehow. Unless, of course..."

"Unless what?" he asked in a whisper.

"Unless our kind changes with me."

"..."

"It'll be hard. We'll need new laws, we'll need to make treaties with the other races, so that they'll take OUR side in the war," I explained to him.

"Greed, five months ago, I saved seven humans from goblins," I brought something else up.

"What?"

"My two guards, what they did with them while I was asleep-"

"The males went to Lust, and the females went to Gluttony. I heard."

"You want to know what I realized?" I asked rhetorically.

"Excuse my language, but I realized how fucked we are. Every race, is hostile towards us, and it's not for trivial reasons!" I painted a picture for him.

"Greed, our race needs to undo thousands of years of horrifying actions. Of murders, terrorism, wars, famines, plagues, and any other things we've done. The eleven of you will need to figure that out, without me," I said.

"Without you?" His eyebrows creased.

"Yes, without me. I will be leaving to the humans, and in eight years I might return. If the demons have changed, I will come back, permanently. If not... let's just put it at that you won't be seeing me for another two years," I told him.

"..."

"Hey, Satan's the one who gave me free reign to do whatever I wanted. If I sleep in the human's territory, what right does he have to tell me off?"

"You fucking fence sitter!" Greed spat spitefully through his gritted teeth. There wasn't any better compliment than that, from the greatest merchant.

"You're goddamn right," With that said, I stood up. Walking past him, I patted Greed on the shoulder.

"Send the items to me within a month, I don't want to wait around. And Greed?"

"What!"

"I didn't need to tell you, you know? I've seen so many other valuable things with these dreams of mine, and every one of them you'd be salivating over with stars in your eyes..." My sentence drifted off as I turned my head to look him in the eyes.

"So don't be angry, be thankful."

"I'll see you later." With those parting words, I left Greed.