Trouble In Italy
(MC's POV)
"Oh! Master, look at that place!" Hearing an excited Aoi, I turned and look out the car window. Following where she pointed, I see what I assume is a local café with outdoor seating.
A notable feature of it was that there were a lot of potted flowers, either on the ground or hanging on the wall of the café. They were quite vibrant in color, ranging from red, blue, violate, yellow, and white.
"Don't you think that place is a great setting for a date?" Her eyes sparkled with curiosity and a wide smile was plastered on her face. Of course, that's the first thing that comes to her mind since the owner probably designed it as a trap for tourist couples to bleed them of their money.
"Of course, it is. The owner must have had that in mind while designing it"
"Really?" Aoi tilted her head.
"Yep, it's a business strategy to attract couples into their establishments and overcharge them on products that would otherwise be cheaper elsewhere. Just take a look at the prices of the stuff sold in there" I pulled out my phone and brought up the menu of that café then showed it to her.
"W-what!? That's a 400% mark up, isn't that evil?" Aoi grabbed hold of my phone and took a closer look at the menu prices.
"It is evil, but this is the real world. Anything goes as long as it doesn't break the law, and even that's not true for all, isn't that right, Gramps?" I turn to my side and looked at Gramps for confirmation.
"Haha, well, I'm not going to confirm nor deny anything" Gramps expertly dodged the question before changing the subject.
"We're getting close to where you two will be staying for the next week, get ready you two" He then looked out the window, masterfully avoiding my gaze. I then felt a tug at my sleeve and turned to Aoi.
"M-master, does that mean I have to revise the things in my story to be more realistic?" She had tears welling up in the corner of her eyes.
"No, not everything needs to be realistic. You're going for a high school romance, right? Then there's no to be overly realistic, just write whatever with a bit of commonsense in mind, no need to overthink it" I pulled a handkerchief from my pocket and wiped away her tears.
"Thank God, I don't have to rewrite everything" Aoi flashed a smile, I held myself back from making another 'God is dead' joke and patted the head of this incarnation of cuteness.
Soon, the car we were in passed through a gate and entered a mansion's ground. It's not as big as the one back home but still big nonetheless.
After pulling up in front of the entrance, Aoi and I got off; Aoi went to get our luggage while I talk with Gramps, after Aoi got our suitcases out of the trunk, the car started up again and drove back out the gate as I waved Gramps goodbye.
Gramps came to Italy for business, he had asked me if I wanted to come along and stay for a week here; of course, I agreed, and here we are. Not every day you get a chance to travel to another country and not have to worry about money.
I turn around to see the servants of the house taking our luggage from Aoi's hand and bringing them inside. I'm starting to get used to getting the VIP treatments. Of course, I'm not reliant on it, just got used enough to not fuss over about these things.
I watched as Aoi showed her ability as the perfect maid by instructing the servants here on what they needed to accommodate me, my taste in food, my habits, even the smell I like, the whole nine yard.
This really makes me aware that I am, in fact, in an anime world. My cute and adorable little sister while we are alone, can put on a perfect professional poker face when doing her job.
Despite what you may think about Aoi based on what she's like when we are alone or with Gramps and Roy, she is completely overqualified as a maid for her age, heck even compared to the older ones back at home, she would still be considered a great maid.
Although she is a bit naïve and ignorant about some aspects outside her duty as a maid, that can be fixed with time, she's still very young after all. Even if Roy is a super great teacher and father, he can't possibly defy the laws of time that bind everyone down and teach her everything there is to know about the world in a mere 10 years.
Suddenly while I was looking at Aoi, I picked up some demonic power signature at the edge of my now 750m detection range. I quickly swap in the Grand Sonar Job and focused my detection on where I felt the presence of devils.
With the Grand Sonar Job, I can more finely control where my detection focuses in the 1km radius of my max detection. This does come at the cost of losing the default 360-degree detection but it's very useful in some situations.
After doing a full scan in the general direction where that devil had stepped into my range, I counted around 20 Low Class devils, 5 Mid Class devils, and finally 2 High Class Devils.
The 2 High Class Devils are staying in one place – probably hiding – with 2 Mid Class devils and 10 Low Class ones. The remaining ones are roaming around in 3 groups, with each having 1 Mid Class as the leader.
One of the 2 High Class Devils must be my main target, Diodora Astaroth.
I contemplated on whether I should just wipe out the roaming ones or leave them be for now. Then, I sensed that all of them were traveling towards where their leaders were staying and just dropped that thought.
I still can't fight a High Class being head-on yet, not to mention 2 of them along with their 25 servants; plus, among the 25 of them, there might be some who were in a peerage and has Sacred Gears.
Taking them all on at once is a stupid idea, so I need to either secretly pick off the small fries one by one or…..
Wait for when Diodora Astaroth goes on his nun hunt and attack them when they least expect it. After wiping them out, I can turn my full attention to killing that sick f*ck.
All I need to do now is wait- no, scratch that. I need to find someone while I'm here in Italy too.
Sigh, let's go find her tonight. In the meantime, let's just do some light magic practice.
Ignoring the pulsating feeling I'm getting from my retracted 4 angel wings, I asked a servant where I'll be staying and they led me to my room where I practiced making light-based projectile until Aoi came to spend time with me.
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(Third Person POV)
In a dark room, lavishly furnished with many expensive-looking furniture, there were 2 figures sitting opposite each other. Both of them are well dressed, both wearing finely made old-timey clothes that would make them fit perfectly in the Victorian Era.
However, these 2 were no cosplayers. They were, in fact, High Class Devils.
"Astaroth, this is about as much as I can do for you, whether you get caught is not my problem. Now, where's the thing you talked about?" A tall man spoke to the young man sitting across with a stoic face though the excitement in his eyes could not be hidden.
"Of course, Naberius. As per the contract, the item you want will be delivered to your laboratory by the end of the day" A handsome-looking young man said softly with a close-eyed smile, not even bothering to pay attention to the man's comment.
"Don't say I never warned you, Astaroth. From this point on, you and I are strangers" The tall man frowned deeply before standing up, a magic circle appeared under his feet and he disappeared in a flash of light.
After the man was gone, Diodora Astaroth, the heir of the Astaroth devil family, lowered his head.
"Hahaha! That fool! He really thought this was a fair deal, the thing he will get is only a defective catalyst I stole off some pathetic humans! Hahaha!" Diodora was laughing his ass off, his handsome looks did nothing at all when he opened his eyes with his face twisted like that. He now looks like nothing more than a creep with the way he smirked.
"'From this point on, you and I are strangers' he said. Sure, you've served your worth, there's no need for me to be concerned with those who will by below me soon" Diodora finally calmed down and returned to the fake good-natured young man act before taking a small white marble with the carving of a snake biting its tail making the infinity symbol carved upon it.
"Soon, I will gain power greater than any of the other young devils of this generation, then I can do whatever I want, capture and break as many girls as I so desire, huhahaha!" The sick b*stard broke into another classic evil villain laughter in the dark room, wholly unaware that someone else in the same city was smiling from ear to ear because his job just got way easier.
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A/N: Alrighty, who wants to see him die?
Also, Status is updated, check it out.