Chapter 11 - Part 1 - Nostalgia and Elves

Aaron Toole's Soliloquy

— ○ ● ○ —

A few days have passed since the fiasco with Leviathans, remnants of the Monkai Association, and Nyx's group. A few things happened to them. One, the Leviathans were handed over to the devils, and they were dealing with them now. Zekram wanted to be involved with the punishment of the original Leviathan and the descendants.

Apparently, Tsufaame still remembers Ajuka and taunted him the entire time, so that was something. They also brought Katerea Leviathan to it, shocking her further by letting her see the original Leviathan and other descendants—although O-Leviathan made fun of how weak she was.

It also came to light that there were more clans of the original 72 pillars that survived, but O-Leviathan and the others refused to share who they were, so they asked me instead, and I leaked it, pissing the Leviathans off even more. 57 still remain instead of 32. So they've started a small campaign in searching for the remaining ones; they've started to search the deeper parts of the Underworld and started in the human world too.

They haven't found any yet. However, some older devils have been demanding! Not asking, but demanding that I find those hiding houses for them. Before I could respond to that, Sirzechs and the other Four Satans, and surprisingly enough, other family heads, were against it and helped defend me.

I guess my popularity among the devils was a lot higher than I thought. Zekram also knew that he wouldn't win, so he did a uno reverse card move and sided with Sirzechs' side to save his own ass, enraging the other older devils.

Currently, I am in my office (surprise, right?) and I have finished sifting through documents. I decided to take the day off since, after the events with the Leviathans and Nyx, I spent most of my time at the restaurant, putting some of the suggestions that the customers left for me into the menu and changing some of the interior design per their request.

When those same customers came back, they were happy with it, and some of the regulars were also happy with it, so it was a win-win for me.

After going through a few more, I was done. Luckily for me, it was still around four in the afternoon, so I still had time to, well, relax and do my own thing. Being a working adult, juggling my work as the Middleman is taxing as shit—not including the anomalies I had to get rid of, which amounted to fifteen. It feels like they're increasing. I mean, I'm not even moving from my spot when I get rid of them in the omniverse, but still...

"Good work. Do you want some tea?" Suzaku asked beside me. She has been staying in my office with me since she got back an hour ago.

She was pulled away by Akeno for a little bit, but eventually came back. She had been busy, so I told her to go relax by herself or with the others, but she chose to stay here.

"Yes, please," I replied, stretching my body while still sitting on my chair. "I've been a bit out of it; has anything happened the past few hours?"

Suzaku poured some tea for me and hummed for a few seconds. "Aika Kiryuu and Mil-tan came over to learn and practice magic from Lavinia, Lisa, and Fusae. They seem to have reasonable talent for magic and are learning at a fairly brisk pace," she clarified.

She walked back over and gave me my tea. "Here you go."

"Is that so? And thank you." I took it and drank it immediately before getting up.

Suzaku inexplicably grabbed my arm, blushed, and asked, "Y-you're going to Ireland soon, right? To take Róisín-sama, Aoife, Cindy, and Lisa for a small…outing…"

I reached over and cupped her cheek. "Do you want to come with us? If you're worried about the rest, then they won't be coming apart from Danu since she's a goddess there, Irene, and Ophis since we plan on doing something during it."

"Is it the raid on Satanael's base in the Mariana Trench?" she asked, and I nodded.

I told a few people about it when they asked me what I planned on doing in Ireland with the ones that I was taking with me. For the most part, we'll be visiting some places we used to frequent while there; some of the Irish gods and goddesses and others may stop by to see us.

After the first day we're there, I plan on leaving an avatar with them (unless they find out and ask to go with me), and we'll go to the Mariana Trench to deal with Satanael and whatever else is there in his base.

Ophis also asked to deal with Satanael by herself. He, along with the Wizards of Oz, were partially the reason why the Khaos Brigade started—and it seems to have come full circle, and now we're about to get back at them, especially Ophis.

Suzaku looked to the side before squeezing my arm a bit tighter. "Then I would like to come with you," she announced before looking toward the door. "Will Velgrynd come? She did express that she wanted to go with you to your various jobs as the Middleman."

Did they talk about it among themselves? Well, in anyway—

"No. She plans on going out into the multiverse with Azathoth for something. They didn't elaborate on it, but it seems like those two are getting along well. They seem to have a relationship similar to that of you and Lavinia."

Even though they have a lot of silent conversations, whatever they speak about to each other is mostly done through their eyes, telepathically, or sometimes using their actual mouths and words.

Do I know why they're going back out there? Yes. Will I stop them? Probably not. Why? Because it has something to do with me and cooking, with a bit of creativity, most can find out what they're up to with those hints. Looking back, Artemis and Athena did something similar to me earlier in the week, so there's that.

"Aaron?"

"Hmm?" I looked back at Suzaku, who seemed to want to say something, but she shook her head in the end.

"N-no, it's nothing. How about we check up on Lavinia and her students?" she suggested.

I was curious about it and agreed. We left my office, went downstairs, took the elevator, took it down, and stopped at the [Training Facility]. When we got there, it was already strange since we saw from a distance that Mil-tan was facing off with Bikou for some reason.

We looked at one another before making our way to the others who were there. Obviously, the Vali Team was here; they had today off as they had three consecutive matches earlier in the week and were not taking some time off. Even if they didn't fight more matches after their last three, they would definitely enter the main stage; that's how many games they played for the tournament and won.

Even though Bikou was holding back, the rest of the watchers were impressed with Mil-tan's... erm, brute strength? He was clearly using magic enhancement on his body while also letting out magical sparks from his body.

Serafall was also here today and mentioned offhandedly that she may recruit him into her peerage because of his magical potential. From looking at him, his current potential was at least the peak of Ultimate-class, and his current power level was that of a Middle-class devil, which was impressive for someone who only recently learned of magic.

Aika was still a low-class but she was learning magic for practical use in the human world, so I doubt she would be aiming to become powerful in that regard.

"So… what happened here?" I asked as soon as we arrived beside them.

"Yo, Jin-senpai!" Aika greeted me with a peace sign. She started 'ufufufu-ing' and added, "Monkey-boy over there provoked Mil-tan—it was something about getting back at him for something he did last year?"

A short memory flashed in my head, but I don't remember Mil-tan doing anything to Bikou back then. It was when they were still part of the Khaos Brigade, and when Lavinia dropped-kicked Vali…

"I see. How's the training coming along?" I asked Lavinia, who promptly hugged my arm.

"They're really good for beginners. Aika-chan needs some more practice, but as you can see, Mil-tan-chan is quite the prodigy," she explained and rubbed her cheek on my arm. I reached over with my free hand and cupped her cheek, earning a happy moan from her.

"Uwa, so they do flirt like that. Reni-san wasn't just bragging!" Aika cried in shock, backing away slightly.

I awkwardly smiled at Aika before looking back at the fight; Suzaku was already hugging my other arm, so there was no 'fight' per se.

Bikou was using his Ruyi Jingu Bang to parry Mil-tan's barrage of very powerful punches covered in pink aura.

"W-what the hell is wrong with this dude!?" asked Bikou, slightly panicked.

"I have been training by myself, nyo!" announced Mil-tan as he kept up his attack.

Being slightly flustered, Bikou screamed, "Screw this!" before he readjusted his strength and thrust his staff towards Mil-tan, who miraculously dodged it. "What the hell!?"

"Nyyyyyooooooooo!!" Mil-tan screamed before uppercutting Bikou, sending him flying backwards and into the wall.

He did absolutely no damage to the youkai, but he did surprise all of us. I wasn't sure if I should be impressed by Mil-tan or disappointed in Bikou.

"Rule one, Bikou. Never underestimate your opponents, no matter how weak they seem," Vali and I said in unison. He looked back at me, grinning, before we both looked back at Bikou.

"Man, screw you guys! I'm holding back so I won't hurt him!" he quipped back.

Mil-tan suddenly did a strange pose and pulled out a wand from somewhere underneath his skirt. "No need to hold back, nyo! I am training myself, nyo!"

Pink magic circles began to appear around him, and they fired pure magic balls towards Bikou.

"Is that so!? Then I'll take this a bit seriously!" Bikou shouted, covering his own body with touki. He also coated his staff with the touki before charging Mil-tan.

Bikou swung his staff down and deflected Mil-tan's magic attack. He repeated this process to deflect the rest, but as the youkai arrived in front of Mil-tan, the enormously muscular magical girl was already sending an uppercut his way—a magical pink uppercut where the veins in his arms were popping out.

The monkey youkai grinned and dodged the punch at the last second before thrusting his staff toward Mil-tan's stomach. This caused the hulking man to cough out some spit before being launched away, slamming into the wall.

To everyone's shock, Mil-Tan wasn't knocked out, but he couldn't move from his spot. I quickly went over to him and fed him a Slime Pill, causing the injuries around his body to quickly heal up. The imprint of the end of a staff also faded from his abs.

"Are you okay?" I asked, helping him up.

"I'm fine, nyo. Thank you, Jin-nyo~!" he said and did a weird cat girl pose.

"D-don't worry about it. You have a lot of potential; keep working on that, and you'll definitely become a top-tier magical girl in the future," I told him. I had to choose my words carefully there.

He smiled at me before thanking me. He quickly walked back over to everyone else. Bikou was being scolded by Lavinia about taking it easier on newcomers.

"It's fine, Reni-senpai-nyo. I asked him to take me seriously, so I only have myself to blame. But it was a learning experience, nyo," said Mil-tan.

"See? The guy's fine with it. But—you really surprised me with your punch earlier. You're a lot quicker than you look," Bikou told him, and Mil-tan flexed his muscles with a proud smile. The two suddenly linked arms; a strange bromance was starting between them.

"With that said, fight me, Ani—" Before Vali finished his sentence, I pointed my finger at him, and he fell asleep. I caught him before he fell on the ground, so no harm, no foul.

"Safe," I muttered.

"No!" Lavinia chastised me while softly karate-chopping my head.

"It's even a comedy skit between these two... they're like 'Fated Ones'!" exclaimed Aika. Suzaku's head instantly snapped towards the young lady, scaring her. "Eh? A-ah, erm, y-you're Akeno Himejima-senpai's…senpai…?"

"I'm Suzaku Himejima, Akeno's older cousin. It's a pleasure to meet you, Aika Kiryuu-san," Suzaku said, shaking her hand. Aika seemed extremely nervous the entire time.

"L-l-l-l-like w-w-w-wise!" Aika stuttered while shaking her hand nervously.

"Aika-chan, let's continue. Mil-tan-chan, if you're too tired, you can rest but feel free to join us again, okay?" Lavinia said after she stopped bonking me.

"…Kiryuu-san, I know you said to learn 'love-centered astrology' to make a living in the future, but may I suggest branching out a bit? Aaron—um, Jin said he'd eventually expose the supernatural to the rest of the world once things were a bit calmer," said Fusae.

She had been silent the entire time but had been glancing at me from time to time. However, from what I've been told before (these two have been students of Lavinia for quite some time already), Fusae is also a good teacher. Even if she kept quiet earlier. Although…

"Where's Lisa?" I asked, looking around. She wasn't here.

"She left earlier, saying that she wanted to check on something," replied Le Fay.

"I see…" I tapped Vali on the shoulder and woke him up. "You wanted to fight, right? Let's go, but it'll be only for a few minutes."

He grinned and punched his fists together. "I'm getting fired up!"

— ○ ● ○ —

Vali lay on the ground, knocked out, twitching. We fought for around thirty minutes, and I took it easy on him for the first few minutes before slowly ramping up intensity. After that, I just started one-shotting him every time he got close enough to me.

Lavinia wasn't too happy about it but was also content that I wasn't hurting our little brother that badly, so she wasn't too 'angry' with me.

Vali finally regained consciousness and got back up. "Alright…that's fine, I'll go train with my team. I can't beat you as I am right now. But just wait, I'll make you take me seriously in the finals!" he declared.

"Is that so? Good luck then, and work hard," I told him before walking away. I walked back over to Lavinia, Fusae, and their students. Lisa hadn't come back yet, but she was still in the house. "We'll get going then. You know where to find me."

Lavinia stopped teaching the two of them as she got up, pecked me on the lips, and went back to teaching them.

"Oya, oya~? Does Jin-senpai want a kiss from me too—"

"Aika-chan, please concentrate," Lavinia said coldly. A small cold freeze blew through the area, making everyone there shiver.

"I-I was joking! I'm listening, Reni-sensei!!" Aika replied, nearly shouting it. She smiled back at Aika and continued teaching them. Fusae was too scared to try to do the same thing to me, so we just awkwardly smiled at each other.

Suzaku and I left the [Training Facility] and arrived in the entrance hallway. Once we were there, and to our surprise, we saw—

"Aaron!" Shuri shouted before waddling over to us. She hugged us both and said, "I'm here on my own today. Is Akeno here? Actually, this is good timing, Suzaku. Join me too."

"Akeno is with Rias and the rest of her team; they're training in a separate dimension I prepared. Do you need her for something? I can call her for you," I suggested to her.

"Yes please."

I quickly opened up a magic communication circle and called Akeno here; a small magic circle appeared beside Shuri.

"Mom?" Akeno asked, tilting her head. Shuri whispered something into her ear before grabbing Suzaku's hand and dragging them both away.

"I'll be taking these two, okay? I'm sorry if you have plans, but it's for your future~!" she said as they walked upstairs to the bedrooms.

"Yeah…" I mumbled, watching them go. Well, I had planned on going back to my room to flirt with Suzaku, but I guess that's not happening now.

Making my way to the living room, I saw that there were a few people in there. A sleeping Kuroka and the rest (Kiyome, Latia, Griselda, Gabriel, and Hephaestus) were watching TV. A few turned to wave at me, but before I could greet them back, Gabriel got up from her seat, ran over to me, and pulled me away.

"Gabriel?"

"Mmm~" she hummed happily, and she dragged me upstairs and into her room.

Her room was a replica of hers in Heaven. She had asked me to make it like that, so most of it was white; most of her drawers, desk, chair, and even the walls and ceiling were turned white. The only thing that wasn't white were the clothes that she owned, since the rest of the girls helped pick them out for her.

Gabriel closed the door, ran, jumped, and sat on her bed before rapidly slapping her thighs while smiling at me.

Amused by this, I said, "While I appreciate the gesture, do you mind telling me why?" Regardless, I walked over to her bed and accepted the lap pillow she was offering me.

"Remember when we went back to Heaven?" she asked.

"Yes," I replied as Gabriel began stroking and prodding at my hair.

"Altaria-chan and Layla-chan suggested that we have an 'Angels Date Night'. After you changed various things in both systems in Heaven, we, the Angels, can procreate and conceive without having to do a ritual, which limited many of us. So, in a bid to increase our population organically and not artificially through the [Brave Saints] system," elucidated Gabriel.

"Angels Date Night, huh? So Michael, Raphael, and Uriel agreed to it? Does that mean they want to find their own wives too?" I asked, sitting up to face her, but she quickly put my head back down while puffing her cheeks.

"That's right~! Brother Michael, Uriel, and Raphael agreed to this. Of course, the other 10 Seraphs agreed to it too! Many of the low-level angels were happy with this decision too since they can start families without having to worry about falling!"

"…Hmm? Does that mean Altaria and Layla found someone up there?" I asked.

Normally she wouldn't come up with something like this without consulting me first, but since it'll benefit angels and Heaven in the long run, she probably assumed I would agree to it. However, after I asked that question to Gabriel, she frowned at me.

"Altaria-chan likes someone, yes. But he's sometimes dense and sometimes not. Maybe he just thinks that his own creations may like him romantically, or he has other reasons~?" she asked, squinting her eyes at me.

"…Point taken. But we barely see each other because she's in Heaven most of the time, but... I'll try to fix that, thank you, Gabriel." I got up before petting her, which made her happy. "So, I'm guessing you want to spend some time with me before—"

"I want to go to Ireland with you!" she suddenly blurted out.

Another one—how many does this make? Well, it's not like I'm against it, so it's not a problem for me, but...

"Gabriel, you know one of the other reasons for our visit, right? Suzaku, Ophis, Lisa, and Irene are coming with me, not including my mom, Cindy, and Aoife—and the other goddesses and gods we'll meet in the country."

"Mmm. It's been a while since I went there. I did go there with Brother Uriel to meet up with Queen Halloween about something, but apart from that, I haven't been there since we went there with Natsume and Shigune."

"No, I mean—"

"You want to let Ophis-chan take down Satanael, right? I want to help too. Please let me come with you," she begged, looking at me with puppy-dog eyes.

[It's a critical hit! What will Partner do!?]

Well, he's right about one thing—seeing her like that made me feel way too guilty. I scratched the back of my head and sighed. "I won't deny anyone from coming with me on my jobs, but they need to behave, obviously. Even if Genshirou or Sairaorg were the ones to ask me, you know? Anyway, yes, you can."

Happy with my answer, she tackled me and embraced me as I fell onto her bed. She began rubbing her face on my chest but eventually stopped and looked at me, blushing.

Well, I half-expected this outcome. Gabriel and I shared a quick kiss before I rolled us over and was the one on top of her now—the mood was right, I think. This could work. Reaching over with my left hand, I groped her left breast, earning a small yet cute moan from the Seraph below me.

"Aaron…bad…" she mumbled, her face turning brighter red. Yet she didn't stop me as I continued to squeeze it.

It was soft. Even with her shirt in the way, I could tell that these may have been the softest breasts I have ever felt in my life so far. Could Gabriel be the perfect woman? Maybe Big G made her like this on purpose? But for what? It's not like he or the other 3 Great Seraphs would have let any man get close to Gabriel.

Leaning back down, I captured her lips again—as I was about to pull her shirt up, the door to Gabriel's door slammed open.

"Jin-kun! Gabriel—!" Michael's voice boomed throughout the room.

Gabriel and I looked back at him—at the doorway—only to find her three brothers frozen in place. We stared at them, and they stared back at us. If Gabriel's face wasn't red enough before, then it definitely was now because it was comparable to Rias'—to Gremory's hair color.

"Excuse us!" Michael screamed before pushing the other two out and slamming the door shut.

When I looked back at Gabriel, she was covering her face out of embarrassment. "I can't get married anymore," she mumbled.

"Don't worry; we're already engaged," I reminded her. She removed her hands from her face and gained a thoughtful look before nodding.

"Ah, that's right, hehe~" she said before pushing herself up and kissing me. "I-I guess we can't really continue after that. We'll have to say hi to my brothers," she said, and we got off her bed.

It was unfortunate, but it was understandable—however, I will definitely do it with her when we're in Ireland. I don't want to wait anymore, although I have a feeling that Gabriel won't be the only one I do it with during the small trip...

— ○ ● ○ —

Once both of us went downstairs, we went to the kitchen and found the three other Great Seraphs there.

"Brother Michael, Uriel, and Raphael, what are you doing here? Are you here for a visit?" Gabriel asked, waddling over to them.

All of them had strained smiles on their faces and refused to look her or me in the eyes. However, they did nod their heads.

"Y-yes, we were going to ask Jin-kun to attend 'that' event for us. We were going to ask Brother Azazel and a few other fallen angels to it too," explained Michael.

"Event? What event?" Grayfia asked while pouring them all tea.

Michael explained the 'Angels Date Night' event that will be held in a few days to everyone there, and many of them became fascinated by it.

Once he was done, Kanami asked, "So Angels had trouble doing it before Jin changed it, huh?"

"Yes. Yet we are thankful for him for doing that and making it easier for us to increase our population. With this new and hopefully once-a-week event, we will hope to help our fellow angels find love up in Heaven. For our first event, we would like Jin-kun here to be there," he explained to Kanami.

Kanami tilted her head. "So, does that mean you expect Jin to find another angel there?"

This left the three stunned, and they looked at one another, trying to find an answer to her question. Gabriel's wings suddenly burst out as she flapped them and hugged my arm.

"He has me, Irina-chan, Griselda, Altaria, Layla, Jessica-chan, Lint-chan, and Mirana-chan—he doesn't need any more angels," she declared to Kanami, surprising her.

If she had shown any of these emotions last year before I changed the system, I wonder if there was a chance of her falling? With strange expressions, the three other angels said that they believed that she would have fallen, but honestly, with all the weird things that happened in the book and with Irina, I really doubt it.

Without saying a word, I reached over and began petting her, trying to calm her down. It worked, and she put away her wings.

"I don't mind, Michael. I already agreed to go since Gabriel told me a few minutes ago. Do I need to do anything specific or dress up?" I asked.

"No, just wear what you usually wear. I'll be the one to make the speeches along with Altaria, Uriel, and Raphael. You can be on the stage with us or in the crowd; the choice is up to you—ah, but you have to come alone; that's the only other requirement."

"Hmm. I see, that's fine then."

After that, we continued speaking in more detail about the event. Even though they're trying to help the other angels start families and increase their population, they don't want them to just be 'flings' or 'one-night stands', since that goes against their ideals and principles. So their aim is to quite literally get the ones that meet on the day to get married in the future.

If it's the angels, then I don't see it going any other way—unless some of them do fall, then they'll be going to Grigori, and the Great Seraphs do suspect some will fall because they'll be introduced to these kinds of sins.

Hell, according to Michael and Altaria, there have been 23 recorded angels that fell since I made those changes. In the grand scheme of things? It doesn't seem like a lot, but if you take into account their numbers, then it's quite a blow. However, Azazel was apparently more than happy to accept them into Grigori.

Speaking of Grigori, Azazel has also been making progress with his own reincarnation system. With the help of Avezza and Ajuka, things have been progressing smoothly. However, it's nothing special or complicated—he's using chess as a reference, but instead of using the chest pieces, he plans on using different feathers from birds, which was an interesting choice on his part.

— ○ ● ○ —

Nighttime. Michael and the rest left earlier on the night after they stayed for dinner. Since they stayed, they made dinner for us, and they were quite happy with that. Things were slowing down now, but I had been speaking to Nuada and a few other Irish gods in my office about my trip that's happening in a few days and what I had planned with it.

It was then decided that Scathach, Aífe, Minerva, and Vita would accompany us to Satanael's base in the Mariana Trench. More people with me, although it's a lot less than bringing most of [DxD] or [EXE].

Glancing at the clock in my office, I sighed. "I should go to sleep; I still have things to do tomorrow…"

"Yeah, you should," said a voice. I looked over at it and found Artemis.

"Oh, Artemis. I didn't even see you there; did you need something?" I asked and walked over to her after clicking my fingers and cleaning up the room.

"I have been here for the past hour; however, you did not even glance up from your desk while you spoke to the Irish gods. It seems like you take your job quite seriously," she said and patted the spot next to her.

Chuckling, I sat beside her. "Well, I have been told that I tend to do that—mostly by Cúntóir and the dragons. The few times that my secretaries are with me, they also say I'm quite hard to get a hold of when I'm 'in the zone', and they have to literally slap me with magic at times to get my attention."

She just sighed at me while shaking her head.

"So, what did you need? Unless you came here to ask to come with me to Ireland?"

She shook her head and said, "I...this may seem a bit selfish, but since I moved here, I saw a lack of different things in Kuoh town, although it seems like you're slowly making it into 'Kuoh city'. Anyhow, I'd like to ask you if I could open up an archery sports club here, and before you ask, I have already brought it up with Rias and Sona—they have spoken to their fathers about it and are fine with it. There are a few abandoned buildings here after all."

Archer Sports Club, huh? That certainly would be a known thing here, but would there be interest in it? How serious will it be? Well, if she wants to do it, then I don't mind funding it.

She suddenly pulled out fliers and her phone. "I have made these fliers with the help of Hephaestus and the others here. This is also a short survey that was done a few days ago, and I had Akeno, Ingvild, and Kiyome spread it in the college division, while the members of the high school division were done by the Occult Research Club. There seems to be an interest."

Well, shit, I was pretty surprised by this. She really wanted this to happen, huh?

"You seemed to have answered most of my questions with these," I told her. The fliers were well made, and out of the population of Kuoh, around 72% want to experience it, so there is definitely an interest in it. "Alright, Artemis. Pick a location and we can get started on it; we can even have a small restaurant in it too, for anyone interested in eating after trying out the sport."

She nodded. "Yes, I've already spoken to Grayfia and Raiko about that too. Here are the blueprints for the sports center and restaurant integrated into it."

Artemis handed me the blueprints, further stunning me. Looking over at it, she had given it a lot of thought, and I didn't see anything wrong with it, but running it by Cúntóir later wouldn't be a bad idea just to make sure everything is up to code.

"When do you want to start this?" I asked.

"Within the month, preferably. However, if it's not possible, then I don't mind waiting longer."

It's doable, so I agreed. We spoke a bit more before she went to sleep.

Cúntóir: Answer: Do you wish to examine those locations she suggested?

"Yeah, I guess I'll sleep a bit later then."

— ○ ● ○ —

The day of the trip, the ones coming with me were ready. The Fated Ones that couldn't come—which was all of them except Suzaku and Danu (who weren't here)—weren't that upset... kind of. The only one missing was Rossweisse, and since she's been with her grandmother since she filed those papers, she wanted to help her get back on her feet.

"Lavinia-senpai, we need to go to California…" mumbled Fusae, holding back the upset Lavinia. While she wasn't having a tantrum, she kept looking at me with a very sad and adorable expression, silently asking me to help her out.

I was torn about it, but in the end, I couldn't do that since Mephisto needs her over there. Lisa also told me she had already told him that she would be preoccupied for the next week, so he couldn't ask her for favors—so, basically, it fell on Lavinia's and Fusae's shoulders.

This was definitely the job that Lisa was doing since she was gone a while, but now she's basically booked a holiday and won't be available.

"We'll get going then. We'll see you guys in a bit," I told them before we waved to them and left. As we did, Lavinia broke into tears and screamed my name—it felt surreal, almost like a drama, and I felt guilty, but I couldn't stop it.

— ○ ● ○ —

"Dun Laoghaire! I've missed this place; it's not that different from our one, huh?" Aoife said while quickly looking around herself.

Suzuka, Gabriel, Ophis, Irene, Lisa, Mom, Cindy, and Aoife were with me. Although I had teleported us to an inconspicuous spot, as soon as we stepped out and people saw me with a large group of women, I already received very strange and questioning stares; a few were jealous ones from men.

"So we're close to our previous home; do you want to look at it first before going around the town?" I asked Mom, Cindy, and Aoife.

To my surprise, Cindy pulled out a small check list and gave it to me. Reading through it, they had a couple of things they wanted to do and places to go to and compare to our previous one. All in all, it was a short list since Dun Laoghaire wasn't exactly a big town, so they didn't have many places to go and explore. However—

"I see. Well, I did visit this version of our town a few times, and there are some differences and some unique areas that may be of interest to you guys, so I'll take you there after we go through this list," I told them.

"Can you give an example?" Aoife asked, peering at my face, excited by the prospect.

"A small cove and forest-y area with a fairy circle that connects to a forest in the Faerie Kingdom."

"Eh? When did you find that out?" Gabriel asked.

"…One of my Shadow Soldiers has been staying in the Faerie Kingdom for one reason or another, and they've reported various findings to me over the last few months. There's a small issue happening over there, but they've done enough to keep it under control, and both Titania and Oberon have been doing things to keep it from escalating. I want to go there and help them, but they haven't reached out to me again, so it's a waiting game. This specific one connects close to Undine's home—a water spirit, they're similar to Sylph."

Glancing back, I made sure—

"…Where did Ophis go?" I asked. Scanning the immediate vicinity with my eyes proved fruitless, so I used my powers and found her near a food stand. I sighed and walked over there with the rest.

"Fufu, I saw her go over there but didn't stop her. She's an adult, right?" asked Irene, smugly smiling at me.

That is true. Ophis is right now in her adult form, and although she does use it 99% of the time now, the exceptions are when Kunou comes to visit, and that's when she changes back to her loli form.

We watched her order some food from the place, pay, and walk back to us.

"Fish and chips at this time of day?" Aoife asked.

"…Food is food. Also, I didn't eat enough earlier," replied Ophis as she began eating.

"Haha, fair enough! Now then..." Aoife pointed in a certain direction and shouted, "To the house!"

"Yeeeaah!" Mom shouted too, pumping her fist up. Both of them held hands and practically skipped forward. I looked at Cindy, who did the same to me, and she nodded before following after the two closely.

"Ara, ara~ they're quite excited about this. With that said, where are the gods?" Lisa asked.

We started following them, and I answered, "Near the fairy circle, Danu should be the one meeting us there since she's coming with us too for the raid. The others will join once we're about to depart for it. Áine and Cana will also join us after meeting up with us in the Land of Heaven Falls. The same with Aífe, Minerva, Vita, and Scathach."

After the brief explanation, the girls around me enjoyed the somewhat nice scenery here. Truth be told, apart from the sea to our left, there weren't too many things you could see in this little town. The smaller things that were hidden and that were unique to this universe were the only notable things that I found; the rest were normal and from my previous life.

"Is that normal?" Suzaku asked, pointing at some people jumping off a ledge into the sea.

"More or less, there's a place not too far from here called the 'Forty Foot', where a lot of the youth go to just jump into the water from, well, forty feet. Of course, you need to be a decent swimmer otherwise you'll drown and die, and you need to jump relatively far if you don't want to jump into rocks."

"But they're fully naked, though?" Gabriel added, tilting her head in puzzlement.

"…Well, that part... isn't normal. They might be—ah, there they go."

As soon as I said that, the police, or the gardai, appeared, batons in hand, and chased the youths who were running around naked and laughing. I wasn't sure if I should be proud of this or not, but holy hell...

"…Their ding dongs are small," Ophis muttered, causing everyone around us to choke on air or awkwardly cough into their fists. "Aaron is bigger."

When I glanced at Ophis, she had a sly smile on her face while licking her lips. Don't tell me she did that on purpose. Damn, her being in tune with her emotions is quite scary; she can do things like that now.

"Oh!" Aoife exclaimed. We had arrived just across the street from my previous home, and to our surprise, the new or current owners of the home had renovated quite a bit.

It was bigger than before; it had a few balconies and another section added to it. The colors went from white to a mix of black and brown, making it stand out from the rest of the homes, which were mostly white or some other color.

When looking at Mom and Cindy, they seemed to be silently reminiscing, as both were gripping their skirts quite tightly.

Going up to them, I suggested, "We can ask them if we can look around if you two want—and maybe use a bit of magic to convince them if they say no."

To my surprise, Mom shook her head. "No…it's fine. That place, while it holds many memories, most of them weren't that happy. So looking at it from this distance is fine."

"However, it does make me curious... are the 'hidden' rooms still there? And... if sir exists in this reality. We did not, however, what about the others that we once knew?" Cindy asked, looking at me.

Mom and Aoife also looked at me, but to their delight, I shook my head. "After evolving, I found out that Azathoth found a universe where we didn't exist but also put in most of our previous friends here so that it would be a seamless enough transition for me if and when I come back to Ireland."

"That's why—"

"Hmm? Oh shit! It's Aaron, Cindy, Aoife, and Miss Toole!" someone shouted. We looked to our right and saw Jamie.

I last saw him when I took Akeno here for our first date; he was working in one of those stands where Ophis bought something earlier. I'm surprised he's here today.

"Jamie? Oh wow, I didn't think I'd see you here!" Aoife said before walking over to him.

"Same with you! There were so many rumors saying that you died, but some said you were just taken out of the country for better medical care!" he replied. They both high-fived and started talking.

Because of Aoife's popularity, everyone liked her—Jamie was one of them. However, I was the one who manipulated this after I evolved. She didn't die; she was just brought to another country for better medical care, and now she was back. That's the narrative I went with.

As for the bullying, well, I erased it from their minds. It was a product of my father and the fear he created. Everyone was terrified of him because he could do something to you or your family—essentially making you homeless for generations to come. That type of fear was something unreal, so they just joined in, or at least ignored me.

I don't blame them, and I don't hold a grudge anymore. After I found out the truth, they were victims too—only those who relished in it all I won't forgive, and those were just a few people, which I'm fine with.

They took a selfie together before coming over here. Jamie put his arm around me. "Who are they? More moths?"

"Well—"

"Oh, he's dating all of us, minus his own mother and Cindy," Aoife said, interrupting my response to him.

Mom, for some reason, crossed her arms and puffed her cheeks like a child. Cindy simply smiled back at Aoife and Jamie.

Jamie's eyes widened in shock. "Holy shit! Holy shit! You feckin weeb! You actually did it! Yo, I should tell Cian and Alannah about this!" he exclaimed and brought his phone out.

Cian and Alannah were school friends of mine; we were super close but got along well enough. This Alannah was a different one from the one who bullied me. I also met them during my 'date' after I beat Scathach in our first duel last year. It was strange seeing them, but we did so on friendly terms, and I did sense a bit of tension with them because we didn't address it.

"Will ya calm down? Jesus feckin Christ, man," I told him and lightly punched him on the shoulder.

"Feck you! You got all these babes and you ain't sharin'? Screw you!" he shouted back, put away his phone, and we kind of delves into stupid children smacking each other in a not-so-serious manner.

However, we were quickly stopped. "Master Jamie, may I ask you to stop this?" asked Cindy. We both looked over, and Cindy had adopted the famous 'smile' like the other girls in my home. This caused Jamie to shiver and back away from me.

"W-well, it's nice seeing ya two, you too, Miss Toole! And um, Cindy... but I have somewhere to be, soooo bye!" he shouted, turned around, and ran away.

"Ye, keep runnin ye feckin' coward!!" I shouted at him.

"Your Irish side really came out there, Aaron," said Aoife, giggling at me.

I slightly blushed and looked away. What can I say? My accent and cursing in every other sentence were nearly the norm back then. I had to train it out of myself while in Japan since they were quite modest people there.

Looking at the others, Irene and Lisa seemed amused by it, Ophis was confused, Suzaku just shook her head at me, and Gabriel looked confused.

"Feck?" the angel repeated, unsure of the meaning of the word.

{[Oh no…]}

"Please forget about that word; it's another way of saying 'fuck', and you don't want to say it," I explained. Gabriel looked horrified and agreed while muttering, 'Bad Aaron!' to me.

"Anyway, let's go and explore these spots you guys wrote down... if you're ready, I mean." I looked at mom, and she agreed. So, we went on a little tour of a town we used to live in.

— ○ ● ○ —

We ended up eating at the knockoff McDonald's in our town. Everything went without any problems; we did, however, come across some old friends and acquaintances. Most of them were made by Mom and Aoife, but everyone was introduced to them, and they made new friends from it.

I myself was too busy looking around again; many of the stores and minor things were so different here that it felt weird, but I quickly got over it. We were just about done eating, but everyone else was talking about this, that, and the other, while Aoife had stepped out earlier.

"I'm going to get her," I told them before getting up and leaving. When I arrived outside, I quickly located her life signature and made my way to her.

The spot I arrived at was near the bank, in a small alleyway that connected to a different part of the town. However, this alleyway went underground briefly and had different shops there. I didn't explore this part of the town that much even in my previous life, so I was going here mostly blind.

Walking down it, I spot Aoife in the distance; she is surrounded by older-looking guys who seem to be pestering her about something.

'Why did she come down here?' I thought and approached them. "Hey, Aoife, let's go," I said, gaining their attention.

"Oh! Aaron!" she shouted and ran over to me. The other guys there seemed annoyed by this, but we ignored them and walked away. "Hehe, sorry for disappearing all of a sudden. I wanted to go buy this."

She pulled out—

"Tea? They sell tea over there?" I asked. It was a box of Jasime Chung Hao.

"Mmm. These ones in particular I used to get for mom and dad since we were here. I wanted to see if that store was still here, and luckily for me, it was. Although the ones selling it are different people. Too bad Mr. and Mrs. Feng aren't the ones that own the store."

"You must be a frequent customer to know their names like that."

"Yep, Zhelan Feng and Zhou Feng. They were a really great elderly couple. I became a regular that they'd have my order prepared after they saw me come in. The ones running it are Qing Hou and Dai Hou. They're a middle-aged couple but are still nice," she explained.

I listened to her but noticed that the guys from earlier were following us. Even though we were approaching the knockoff McDonald's, they still kept following us. It looks like Aoife also spotted them.

"They're quite persistent. It's as you suspect; they tried hitting on me and I said no, even saying I was engaged." She held up her left hand and moved her ring finger while frowning. "I don't get people like that—you're not like that, are you, Harem King-sama?" she asked.

"I'd like to think I'm not…I haven't really 'pursued' anyone for a while now. I've just been going through life here day by day and letting things flow naturally."

"Good~!"

I patted her head before we entered the fast-food restaurant again. We made our way to the table and told everyone else what was happening and to just ignore them. The weirdos following us were people I didn't recognize, so they were probably just a group of friends or a small gang here? Even if that's kind of rare in Ireland.

The Irish mafia—the IRA—was the only one that I was aware of in my previous life. The rest, if there were any, were probably threatened by them, but who knows? I wasn't going to go digging since if I compare the gangs of the human world to the supernatural, they're vastly different.

"Alright, so... to the cove first, right?" Aoife asked.

"Yep, let's just go there, but I'd like to stop those guys following us before we go to the fairy circle, okay?"

They agreed with me, and if it was necessary, we'd just scare them at the cove if they followed us. They didn't come into the restaurant, which was smart of them since I alerted the guard here. After coming up with a small plan for them, we quickly left.

We made our way back to the sea, but this time we went in the other direction. In this world, there was a hidden path in one of the tunnels beneath Dun Laoghaire. I think these were previous railways for the Irish Railway, usually referred to as the DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transit).

Walking that way, the girls spoke among themselves while Suzaku and I hung back. We were keeping an eye on the youth that were still following us—their hostility towards me increased since, well, I was surrounded by women. It didn't help that Suzaku was hugging my arm, so they probably want to beat me up after we go into the cove.

Speeding up, I took the lead and turned right to a different street. A small alleyway was to our right, so I went into it, confusing everyone. Couching down, I pushed open a small indentation in the wall and went in first. I heard some surprised murmurs behind me, but they all came down one by one.

"Woah, is this part of the DART? I didn't know anything about this," mumbled Aoife.

"Yeah, it's part of its abandoned lines; one of its doors leads to the cove, so we just use that. Not many people know about it, and the ones that know use a much more complicated way of getting there," I explained and helped Mom and Gabriel down.

Once I did, I closed the path up and made it impossible for them to follow us. If they knew anything about the cove, then they'd use the more obvious way here, which was going up the roof of the building and jumping down from it onto the sand, which would hurt them if they landed wrong.

The only way out is the way we used it, or they had to set up some rocks in a way to boost themselves up a certain ledge and go out that way.

Leading the way, we walked down the dimly lit tunnels. Using some fire magic, Suzaku and I lit the way. There were brick pillars and railway tracks around us; most were rusty or crumbling. It made me wonder if this was ever going to be maintained; otherwise, it would just collapse.

"It's like we're going into some kind of new world via a tunnel," Lisa remarked.

"Mmm-mmm, I was thinking the same thing, Lisa~! What kind of world do you think we'd go to if it were true~?" Mom asked her.

Both of them started talking about the knockoff Harry Potter of this world. Mom was shocked by it but went along with it—she basically told Lisa the plot of Harry Potter, and she was intrigued by it.

We eventually arrived at the door, and I pulled it open. I let them all go first before going through it last. Some very rusty stairs were to our right, and we descended them. Mom and a few of them were skeptical, but I reinforced it using my powers so it would collapse. They reached the sand, and Aoife and Gabriel broke out into a sprint.

Generally, if you managed to get here, the Gardai would ignore you. While you may have gotten here in a slightly illegal way, this place wasn't restricted, as there was another way of getting here: swimming around while carrying your things. It would take around two minutes of swimming to reach here, but most people didn't want to bother with that, so they just jumped from the room and risked breaking their legs—or even killing themselves.

"The water's cold, so don't just jump in," I told them. Both of them took their shoes and socks off and frolicked in the wet sand. Mom looked like she wanted to join them, but she knew that doing that at her age would look strange.

I looked at Lisa, and she understood what I wanted her to do.

"Fufu, why not let loose a little, Róisín?" asked Lisa as she took her hat and shoes off before running towards Aoife and Gabriel. This was enough of a push for mom to join them, as she also took her shoes off and joined them.

"…Is it too late for me to say that their shoes were waterproof and would prevent water from seeping into them?" I queried, earning a pinch on the cheek from Suzaku.

Clicking my fingers, I set up a little area for the rest of us—some chairs, a parasol, a large blanket, and some food. Even though we just ate, Ophis looked like she was hungry again. Once it was all set up, she immediately went for the food. Irene also changed into a crimson bikini and laid on the chairs.

"Wanna join them or wait here?" I asked Suzaku.

As she was about to answer me, we heard loud thuds behind us and people complaining to each other.

"For fuck sake, we should have just gone the other way!"

"Fuck you, you stupid idjit, that's too long, and I don't want to make myself wet!"

"I think I stepped on shit—who even brings their dog in this weird cove?"

"Who gives a shit? We get to fuck some pussy!"

In total, there were eight of them. I didn't like this; I just wanted a calm day with them—especially after visiting my country of birth. We, who were nearest to them, turned around and saw the group of guys from earlier—their leader, a tall blonde-haired, blue-eyed Irish man, had a smug look on him as they walked over to us.

Irene, who was happily and calmly sitting there, got up and crossed her arms. Ophis, who was still eating, stopped to look at them.

I sighed. "Here we go..." I mumbled before one of them walked up to Suzaku and me, attempting to push me. However, I didn't even budge, confusing him.

He tried again, but I didn't move. He did this repeatedly for a minute, increasingly getting more and more frustrated because he just gave up entirely and faced Suzaku.

"Hey beau—" Before he could even get a sentence out, Suzaku slammed him hard enough to knock him out.

[Partner…we can feel how you feel, and holy crap, you're so smug and giddy right now. I'm always amazed at how you can keep a poker face when you're feeling this cocky…]

'Shhh, Ddraig, don't expose me,' I told him, and he sighed at me again.

"You cracked his cheek bone," I said, pointing at the knocked-out man.

Suzaku closed her eyes and muttered, "My emotions got the best of me; I'm sorry," she said before aiming her hand at him and healing him. "I didn't want to be bothered today like this."

"It's fine—"

As I went to reply, we heard a crunching sound, and when we looked back at Irene, she had kicked two of them in the balls, and they went down. In total, there were three hits on her. One of them had taken her hat, and now he looked horrified. He tried to run away, but Irene grabbed his neck and choke-slammed him to the sand, knocking him out too.

Out of the eight, four of them were already knocked out. The leader of their group wasn't part of this. The last four were hesitant to come over to us, especially their leader, who looked incredulously at the scene.

"What's going on here?" Aoife asked. Looking back, I saw that everyone else had rejoined us. Suzaku gave them a brief rundown of what was happening, and they also frowned while looking at the guys that followed us.

"Now what?" Lisa asked. "Shall we 'tease' (shock) them a bit?" she let a bit of purple lightning from her finger.

"…No, I'll deal with it. I'll let them be their own demise," I said, confusing them.

Pointing my hands at the ones that were knocked out, I forced them back awake, and once they were, they quickly looked around, saw us, and jumped away from us.

I smiled at them and said, "Let's…make this quick, shall we?"

Summoning a pen in the air, they were surprised by this, and I started writing something. Time hadn't stopped, so everyone could see what I was doing.

[These eight will run naked to the nearest Garda station. They will confess all their crimes and all of their deepest secrets, including their kinks, to everyone on the way to the Garda station and the Garda themselves. Afterward, they will masturbate in their cells and pass out.]

Once I finished writing that, I smiled again at them and clicked my fingers. Like zombies, their bodies became limp before they started screaming. They then stripped off their clothes, ran past us, and began swimming in the water.

"Looks like they're taking the long way," I said, watching them go.

"…Don't you think that was a bit excessive?" Suzaku asked.

"Hmm. Well, truthfully, I don't know—I was just feeling petty. At worst, their reputations will be damaged in their little town, and well, they may have some kind of criminal record, but... it's fine, right?" I asked and turned back around. "Let's stay here for a little while longer before going to the other spots and then the fairy circle."

— ○ ● ○ —

"They have a hole like that!? Why!? And for what purpose!?" Aoife asked as we walked through a small forest path.

We had finished checking out the other spots in Dun Laoghaire, and it's safe to say that she was intrigued by a giant hole in the ground that went nowhere.

Why was it there? Some supernatural people from the past decided to dig it up. Why? They felt like it—nothing more, nothing less—and they also wanted to fuck with people. So, because of a few idiots in the past, that hole has become a famous attraction here. I also have not informed them of this, but Suzaku and Irene suspect that I know something because I've been smirking the entire time since we left.

"Mmm? I can sense a barrier up ahead," said Mom.

On instinct, I reached over and put a hand on her head. "You've been getting better at that; good job."

She blushed before playfully slapping my hand away. "I'm your mother; don't just pet my head!" she chided.

"My bad, my bad. But you really are improving."

In response to that, she puffed up her chest, proud of herself. We eventually reached a clearing that was still covered by leaves above us. However, in the middle there was a large arid grass formation—or a fairy circle.

As we stepped through the barrier, we heard someone shout at us.

"Finally! We've been waiting here for an hour! Took you long enough!" Áine shouted at us, hands on her hips.

"My bad, we wanted to explore Dun Laoghaire for a bit," I replied, putting my hand up. "Also, weren't you supposed to wait in the—"

"I got bored, so I dragged Cana with me," she said, stopping me from asking my question. "Danu's over there." She pointed to our right and found Danu playing with some birds that passed through the barrier; there were also some small grass spirits with her.

Cana was behind her, playing with her harp as usual. She waved at us while walking towards us. Seeing as how everyone was mingling with each other, I went over to Danu, with Suzaku and Áine following me.

"Danu, we're here. Shall we go to the Land of Heaven Falls first or can we go directly to Thine Ifreann Réimse?" I asked.

The plan was to bring these guys to two of those realms to let them explore them while I dealt with some things on my end. Mom, Aoife, and Cindy weren't involved with the little operation we were going to do, but they vaguely know that I have plans for something for this trip.

The rest would come with me, barring a few since I wanted them to be guides for them while we're gone. Unless they somehow find out (which is possible) and want to go with us,

Danu got up while the spirits around her flew around her. She glanced at Suzaku, and both of them nodded at each other, confusing Áine and me. Danu and Suzaku quickly surrounded me and then hugged me. Suzaku was behind me, while Danu was in front of me.

"W-what the—what the hell are you two doing?" Áine asked, confused. I was also confused by this, but they started stroking my head for some reason.

"…While I don't mind this, I agree with Áine. What's this about?" I asked them while enjoying the sensation of boobs from both sides of my body.

"…Lavinia and Rossweisse aren't here to fawn over you," said Suzaku.

"…Róisín, Aoife, and Cindy are busy being enthralled by this trip. We can monopolize you for ourselves for these few short days," said Danu.

So... They were just jealous, huh? I try to spend enough time with most of them, but since both of them have other responsibilities, we sometimes end up not having enough alone time together.

Lavinia and Rossweisse essentially work for me, so them being around me 24/7 makes sense, and from an outsider's perspective, it would seem I'm favoring them.

"This…is ridiculous," said Áine. "There's a time and place for everything."

"…Say that when you're not squeezing me too," I told her. While she had said that, trying to sound like the reasonable one, she joined them in this weird hugging session.

Áine's breasts weren't as big as Danu's or Suzaku's, so she was fighting for her life in that regard, but—

"What in the world are you guys doing?" Aoife asked. When I looked back at them, they were confused by this…boob-calypse I was experiencing.

"Hoh?" Irene muttered, walking over and joining them.

"Didn't…you chide them for this…last summer…?" I asked Irene.

"Times have changed, Aaron," she said, pushing her breasts up against me. Everyone else joined too—Mom, Cindy, Ophis, Gabriel, and Lisa—except Aoife and Cana.

"H-help…!" I pleaded, looking at Aoife. All I heard around me were half-arguments and some 'ara, ara's'.

"…I think you should let him go; you'll kill him with too many breasts," Aoife told them.

"He'll be fine; he's the Oppai Dragon after all~!" Mom said, not helping me at all.

— ○ ● ○ —

"Haaaa…haaaa…haaa…!" I was panting from too much tits around me. Typically, I would be overjoyed, but there are appropriate times for this—just like what Mr. Oak would tell us about bikes and shit in Pokémon games...

"Are you okay?" Cana asked as she put her hand on my back.

"Yeah, I'm fine—the Oppai Dragon can't lose to breasts, right?" I asked with a strained smile.

"Anyway, can I get an answer for my earlier question?" I asked Danu, who had a satisfied expression on her face.

"It's fine, but some of the elves wish for your help in the Faerie Kingdom," she told me, facing Mom's group. "Áine and Cana will go with you to the Land of Heaven Falls and let you experience that place—tonight we will go to Thine Ifreann Réimse and sleep there, and you can explore it tomorrow. Queen Halloween has a tour guide ready for you, so please look forward to it."

"We're also going with you to Thine Ifreann Réimse tomorrow, so you're not getting rid of us that easily," Cana said, winking at mom's group.

"Hmm? Is something happening that you won't be able to join us?" Mom asked, staring at me.

Truth or lie? …No, lying at this point would be useless, so I'll tell them the truth. "Actually—" I told them of what was happening, and that's why Ophis and Irene were with us today. "So, you can continue with this vacation while we deal with that for tomorrow, but we'll be back soon enough, so—"

Mom put her finger up, asking me to stop, so I did. She looked at Aoife and Cindy before all three of them nodded.

I already knew where this was going, so I let out a sigh and put my hand out.

"I'm glad you know our answer; we'll be helping with it, Aaron," said Mom.

Putting a hand on my head, I sighed. "Yeah, yeah, I kind of expected that. But until then, please go enjoy your time over there, and I'll deal with the elf's request by my—er, with my group, but..."

Glancing at Irene and Ophis, they both nodded and walked over to Mom.

"We'll be going with you, Róisín. I'd like to explore that place with you," said Irene.

"…Danu said that there's good food there too; I want to go," added Ophis.

Mom shook her head and sighed. "You worry too much—we have Cindy, you know?"

"I'd like some reassurance," I told her, and she gave up fighting there. Turning my attention to Áine and Cana, I said, "Take care of them too." I reached out and stroked Áine's head, making the older woman blush and turn her head away. I did the same thing to Cana, who was a bit more receptive than Áine.

"Alright, we'll see you tonight then, Aaron!" Aoife said, raising her hand to show me a peace sign.

"Yeah, take care," I told them before Áine and Cana teleported their group away.

Suzaku, Gabriel, Danu, and Lisa were left with me.

"Let's go~!" Gabriel exclaimed, pumping up her fist. Lisa jokingly joined in her antics before we stepped into the fairy circle and were transported to the Faerie Kingdom.

— ○ ● ○ —

Aoife Murphy's Soliloquy

— ○ ● ○ —

"Ooh! It's big!" I exclaimed, quickly looking around us.

Buildings of all shapes and sizes were all over the place; it felt like we were transported to a medieval fantasy world all of a sudden! I also felt numerous different races and species here; there was even an elf! Aaron liked them, didn't he? …It's strange that he hasn't gotten one in his harem yet. I did hear from Rossweisse that there were elves in Asgard, so I wonder if he's charmed anyone there yet?

"You like elves too?" Áine asked, smirking. "Aaron did say he liked them.

"I know, he told me before—I was pretty surprised to find that out back then. Truth be told, I was a bit jealous too. How was I supposed to compare myself to those blonde beauties!? …Did he ever tell you he liked blondes?" I asked.

Áine and Cana sighed. "We know," they said in unison.

"I mean, he has a lot of blondes, doesn't he? Lavinia, Ravel, Lianne, Cana, Asia, Gabriel—to name a few," said Áine. "So he never needed to state it himself, but he does deny it from time to time when we do bring it up."

That's just like Aaron—for some reason, he'll deny, deny, deny that he likes blonde-haired people. I'll never understand why he tries too, though.

"With that said, where do you want to go first?" Cana asked all of us.

"Hmm? Ah, you ladies are back—hmm? Who might they be?" an elf man asked Áine and Cana.

"Oh, hello Padraig. This is Jin's mom, maid, and HER," said Áine, glancing at me when saying 'her', which confused me.

Miss Róisín and Cindy were confused by the way the goddess referred to me, but we didn't bring it up.

"Hoho, Jin-Jin's Mom and Maid, eh? And…Miss Transcendent Flash, huh? This is an interesting group that came here today. But Jin's not with them?" he asked.

"He has a job in the Faerie Kingdom, so he's letting them explore this realm for now, and tomorrow we're going to a different one," explained Cana.

Miss Róisín and Cindy looked at me, confused. I was also confused. Was that some kind of new title or epitaph I had? Aaron hasn't mentioned anything about it, nor has Aurelia, but...

"Transcendent Flash? What's that?" I asked Padraig.

The two goddesses and an elf blinked at me, then looked at the three of us as we shook our heads. I looked at Ophis and Irene, and both of them shrugged their shoulders.

"You didn't know about your moniker that was made for you as the tournament progressed?" Áine asked me.

"N-no, I don't usually keep up with that stuff. I'm just busy training or living my life, but... I have a cool nickname now, huh? Who came up with it and what does it mean?"

We arrived at a shop, and it seemed Padraig owned it. When we entered it, we were met with a lot of smells—most were from freshly baked bread and the like. Padraig asked us if we wanted to buy some, and Ophis grabbed Róisín's hand and tugged on it. I'm pretty sure she has her own money, but I guess that slips her mind from time to time.

"Well, like with most epithets and monikers, no one knows who originally came up with it, but as for the meaning of it—there isn't one, but there is a popular theory as to why it was chosen," said Cana. She pointed at me and continued.

"You came out of nowhere—most of the supernatural knows of the women of the Dual Dragon Emperor, but just before the tournament started, you showed up and seemed just as close to Jin. I'll compare it to Lavinia and 'them' (Fated Ones), okay? This made most people confused, and they began questioning who you were. You can check the supernatural internet about it; you're mentioned a lot, even now because of the tournament."

"You also showed how powerful you were on your debut match, taking out Ultimate-class and up fighters, and of course, during the Sitri game where you dominated Ruruko, who was also a powerful player in the tournament. Not to mention having a unique and powerful sword that has been speculated to be on par with legendary weapons, God-class weapons, and some of the Longinus Sacred Gears."

"—You came into the scene like a 'flash'. The devils like Ajuka Beelzebub and Sirzechs Lucifer are considered 'Transcendental Beings', or the more popular term, Super Devils. Devils with the power to contend with gods or god-class beings. You—who they assume is a Human—a being compared to that, hence the 'Transcendent' part of your epithet. Put that all together and you get 'Transcendent Flash'," explained Cana.

…They really thought of it like that!? Wait, no, she said it was a rumor, but putting it all like that—it kind of makes sense, right!? Someone made a nickname for me and put thought into it. Unlike Aaron, who sometimes called me ginger in our previous lives,

"Right, don't forget her bubbly personality—you're quite popular with everyone because of that, Aoife. Your other 'less-cool' moniker is 'Helpful-Girl', I don't need to elaborate on that, do I?" said Áine.

T-that's a bit lame, but I shook my head since I understood why. I've always been like that, back then and now. I can't change it and don't plan on it.

"Many are looking forward to more of your matches, you know? Especially in the main stage, although some have their own strange reasons," Áine clarified.

"Haha, that's true. Have you seen the strange fanart of you online? Especially on strange sites that have art of Jin and his harem—some of them are quite... well, shall we say, not safe for work?" said Padraig as he came back with a bag and handed it to Ophis.

Miss Róisín handed over some money to Padraig, and he stared at it for a few seconds.

"T-this is a bit much—"

"Just keep it, sweetie. From the aroma, I already know they're tasty," she told him.

Padraig nervously laughed. "Like mother, like son, huh? Thank you very much."

Cana clapped her hands and said, "Why don't we meet the other gods here too? Nuada and the rest are probably in the meeting room doing the usual."

"You mean eating and drinking the day away? Well, it's fine, I guess?" replied Áine. "Just be prepared for the stench of alcohol and the drunks. They don't exactly showcase our pantheon's gods at their best."

We agreed. Meeting the gods of various pantheons was already exciting, but meeting the ones of your original country was something else—I wonder if Aaron felt the same way?

— ○ ● ○ —

Aaron Toole's Soliloquy

— ○ ● ○ —

"Not to sound rude or anything, but can't you do it yourselves by sending a few of your powerful warriors?" I asked the Elf Queen.

Presently, we are in the throne room of the High Elves of the Faerie Kingdom. I had taken Natsume here before for our date, so they're already used to me. However, this was the first time I met their leaders.

The Queen was called Tialha Valeth. Her attendant was Lixiss Syllen. There were also a few other elves here.

Tialha had long, light blonde hair, a crown of flowers around her head, earrings on her ears, pale green eyes, and wore an elegant white and gold dress. Unlike the others here, she radiated royalty, much like the other leaders I had met so far.

Lixiss, her attendant, was a bit different; her skin was darker than the high elves here, perhaps tanned? Does that make her a dark elf rather than a high elf? Because when I used [Observe], she was a mix between a dark elf and a high elf. Although in my mind she's still an elf.

She had short white hair, tanned skin, pale blue eyes, and earrings like Tialha. She wore a tight green outfit with steel shoulder guards and a bow behind her back. She seemed indifferent towards me, probably still judging me.

After I said that, one of the elves, a young man with long blonde hair, typical elf ears, and green eyes, seemed angry with me.

"You may be the Middleman, but you can't just—!"

"Respen, it's fine; it's a valid question," said Tialha, interrupting him. "It is beyond our current power. We have sent some warriors over the last few weeks, but they have not come back because they were killed. Lady Titania and Lord Oberon have been busy dealing with the rest of our realm, so we wanted to deal with it ourselves, but..."

"It hasn't been going the way you want it, huh? You also don't want to burden Oberon and Titania further since they're still dealing with the fallout of the war and the other problems here, right?" I asked, and she nodded.

Some of the elves didn't like my casual tone with their queen, but I didn't care. This is how I spoke to everyone—being overly respectful was just weird to me, so I wasn't going to do it.

"Well, I'll accept. I'll have it done in a few minutes; we'll get going then," I said and turned around.

"F-for the compensation—!" shouted Tialha.

Waving my hand as I left, I said, "We can discuss that when we get back. I'm a bit busy today, so I want to make this quick."

"You could have been a bit kinder there, Aaron," Suzaku said, squeezing my arm.

"They clearly weren't too welcoming of me from the start—well, the other elves, the Queen, and her attendant seemed fine, but like I said, the rest weren't," I replied as I teleported us out of the place.

We ended up back at the central plaza, with various elves walking around the place.

"Will you revive the ones who lost their lives?" Gabriel asked, grabbing my arm.

The face she was making made it hard to say, 'I won't', but in reality, I had no reason to refuse. One could argue that I had no reason to revive them either. However, there is a high chance of it increasing my standing among them—all they've heard about me is from the news about the supernatural and their leaders, Oberon and Titania, so this should be beneficial for me.

Using my other hand, I massaged her cheek. "Of course, this could have been avoided if they called me earlier, so they lost their lives in a valiant effort to stop this monstrosity."

I almost said that they lost their lives in a futile attempt, but I might sound like an asshole if I say that. Pride—everyone has it; some put it above all else; I have some, but I really don't care about it; only if it gets in the way of my life will I do something about it. People's lives are more stressful if they care about them to an unhealthy degree.

Examples of this include some antagonists in the original DxD story. Their pride and ego get in the way, making them make irrational decisions. DxD has a lot of them; they're so arrogant that it's amazing that they somehow manage to get any plan started.

Gabriel was happy with my answer as I started walking in a certain direction.

The place and monster we have to kill are part of the supernatural. The Pooka, or Púca. It's a creature of Celtic, English, and Channel Islands folklore.

Considered to be bringers both of good and bad fortune, they could help or hinder rural and marine communities. Púca can have dark or white fur or hair. The creatures were said to be shape-changers that could take on the appearance of horses, goats, cats, dogs, and hares. They may also take a human form, which includes various animal features such as ears or a tail.

However, in this instance, the Púca mutated for one reason or another—honestly, when I looked into it, I was the reason. As I mentioned before, anomalies were things that Azathoth had to take care of in the past, and now it's my job to do so.

Normally, I would get rid of it without having to move from my spot, but since Mom and Aoife wanted to come back to Ireland, it gave me an excuse to deal with it in person rather than just thinking of killing it.

The Púca evolved because of an anomaly. Anomalies usually vary in degree of effectiveness. Some may turn something ordinary into a God-class or Universal-class being, while in other instances it'll just boost its power to High-class or Ultimate-class.

In this instance, the Púca who looks like a giant goat-tree hybrid, is Satan-class. Hence, none of the elves that were sent could defeat them since most of them were just High-class. The Queen herself was just Ultimate-class and the rest here were High- to Middle-class.

The place this Púca has taken up residency is deep inside the forests of the elves. Because he had taken on the form of a goat and was affected by the anomaly. One of the nearby trees fused with it, and it has been rampaging since.

We arrived at one of the entrances towards the forest. The entire town of the high elves was surrounded by high walls made of wood from the forest; it was also enchanted using magic, so its durability and defensive capabilities were much better than they normally should be.

"I can sense an abnormal amount of magic deeper inside the forest," said Lisa. She squinted her eyes towards the trees, and the rest agreed.

Danu put her hands together and closed her eyes. A few seconds later she said, "The winds of the forest tell me that it's destroyed a large area of the deeper sanctums of the forest. However, some of the spirits there, along with other creatures, have been keeping it at bay in that area, stopping its destruction. There are also the corpses of those young elves still lying there."

"Right—well, let's get this done. Let's get them back and go join back with the rest," I said and teleported us near the spot where it was rampaging.

— ○ ● ○ —

Upon arriving near the location, we were immediately greeted by a large barrier being maintained by various creatures in this forest. We could also hear the very loud and ear-piercing shrieks of the Púca.

An enormous dark-furred goat with branches coming out from behind its body in the form of hands. It also had a layer of armor in the form of thick and sturdy wood.

Danu quickly walked over to the creatures and helped maintain the barrier for them; the cracks on the barrier were instantly repaired, and it had become even more powerful. They were surprised by this, but quickly gathered around Danu and began thanking her.

"It's Mama Danu!"

"Yay~"

"We're saved!"

They cheered and crowded around her. Danu smiled at them and quickly explained the situation and our help. They turned to us, and two of them came over.

"Can you help the Púca? It wasn't always like this—he was kind, but something happened and—"

"I will, don't worry about it." I was partially to blame for it, so I'll separate the anomaly from the Púca, revive the dead elves, and restore this part of the forest, and then we're done. "It won't take long…"

Stepping into the barrier, I was immediately felt by the Púca and it charged towards me. Dodging its initial attack, I tapped its side and pushed the Púca out of this new body. The separation was complete, and the only thing left was the anomaly. It was even more violent than the Púca and began to thrash around while attacking everything around it.

The Púca was still asleep after being separated, so I teleported him out of the barrier into Gabriel's hands. I nearly asked Cúntóir if it was possible if I could make these anomalies into [Electa] or Shadow Soldiers, but it was possible, but I saw no reason in doing so right now. I'd like to study them more because, even with Azathoth's previous information, she didn't know much about them.

They—the anomalies—just happen and also exist, so they are one of the biggest mysteries in the omniverse. Even if I made a new omniverse, these things would also exist there; there's no stopping them—like how bugs appear in code. If you add, remove, or change things, bugs will eventually creep up.

I can make various blocks for them, but they'll eventually exist, so I may as well completely study them before doing anything about them. However, my gut told me that they were 'needed' in the omniverse, and if I got rid of them, it would be more trouble on my end. But for now, I'll observe them.

The anomaly also went from Satan-class to Universal-class after being separated from the Púca. So it seems like merging with it nerfed it quite a bit. They work very strangely, but I'll just get rid of this one for now.

It shot a branch towards me, and I dodged it. Quickly making my way towards it, I coated my right arm with touki and shot it forward to its chest. At the moment of contact, I shot a powerful, concentrated blast of touki into the anomaly's body and then jumped away.

With many things in life, if you get an excess amount of something without careful preparation, you tend to become encumbered or overwhelmed. An easy example is water balloons.

Just like the anomaly right now—I put way too much touki into it than it can handle, and it'll eventually explode. Just like water balloons, if you put too much water into them, they'll explode before you can utilize them for their intended purposes. a.k.a. throwing it at someone.

The anomaly's body increased in size rapidly before it exploded in multiple colors. It was odd; I would have thought it would explode into a goopy black mess. The colors remained there for a few seconds before vanishing.

[Are we saying that anomalies are gay?]

{How in all living fuck did you come to that conclusion?}

The little information I have about them also says that they may sometimes form black holes after being killed, so I was prepared to destroy it, but luckily it didn't form one. After confirming that the anomaly was truly gone, I gave Danu a thumbs up, and she undid the barrier.

I held my hand up and repaired the areas that the Púca and anomaly had destroyed. The location around us quickly regrew its trees, undid the damage to the forest floor, and brought back several other notable structures, like the ruins of a building and a few natural flower beds.

Walking over to Gabriel, the little Púca was still asleep, so I woke him up. Its eyes opened, and it looked around itself before jumping off Gabriel's arms.

It was confused, so I pointed at it and gave it the relevant information about what happened. The expression on its face darkened, and it began bowing. It even looked at the few corpses of dead elves around the place.

"I'll bring them back; don't worry about it, although explaining the cause for it will be a bit more complicated…" I told it and sighed.

I can't exactly just say, 'Hey, so some thing called an anomaly took control of the Púca and ran amok for a few weeks, and it's basically my fault, my bad, teehee~'. They'd think I was psychotic or wouldn't believe me. The leaders know of the multiverse, and I'd assume the Queen of the High Elves does too, but if the other high elves are staying for our discussion, then that would be a problem.

The Púca looked at me confused, but I patted its head. "Leave it to me, alright? If you want to pay it back, help protect this forest for a while."

It stared at me before nodding and going over to the creatures of the forest. I got up, clicked my fingers, and gathered the corpses of the dead elves. In total, there were around 27 of them. 14 were men; the other 13 were women. All of them were killed quite cleanly—nothing too gruesome like with the cryptids I first fought back in Spain a year ago.

So I didn't need to deal with missing body parts or severed heads, but most of them were either pieced in the head or multiple times around their bodies. I put my hand forward and mass-resurrected them. Lisa and Suzaku stood beside me while Gabriel and Danu stayed back with the creatures of the forest.

The light that encompassed their bodies shone brightly but briefly. Once it dissipated, slowly, one by one, their eyes fluttered open. They slowly got up and looked around. They found me and Danu there and seemed to understand what happened.

The 'leaders' of the groups (I assume) came over to us and bowed deeply.

"Middleman and Lady Danu, thank you for rescuing us," they said, and the rest of the elves bowed.

Rescuing, eh? Well, I won't correct them on that. Some may know reality and choose not to speak, so I respected that.

"It's fine; I'm just glad you guys are back. Tialha Valeth is waiting for all of you, so let's go back and inform her that we got rid of the one causing trouble," I told them.

"Y-yes, thank you again," replied one of them. He turned back to the army of elves and shouted, "My comrades, let us go back; we are victorious today!"

They cheered before they vanished from the spot. The one who shouted that turned and bowed to me one more time and also disappeared.

"…Did you do something to their memory?" Lisa asked.

"No. They're aware but are choosing not to say anything about it, probably for the sake of their own mental health. Anyway, let's make our way back too, but…" I peered at Danu, who seemed to be busy with the creatures again.

"Danu…we'll leave you and Gabriel here and get you later since you seem busy. We'll go and report this first, alright?"

She smiled at me and agreed. Gabriel also agreed to this, so I teleported us back to the entrance of the Queen's home. The guards there didn't stop us and let us in; we made our way through the castle-like structure that was a mix of stone and wood. Once we arrived at the entrance of the throne, luckily enough, they were still there.

The ones we revived too weren't back, so I clicked my fingers and had them teleported behind us.

"Eh? W-what the... Middleman? Were you responsible for this?" asked the leader from earlier.

"Yes. I was going to teleport us all back, but you guys ran off before I could tell you. Well, in the end it worked out, so don't worry about it. Anyway, let's go," I told them and pushed the doors open. "Yo, we're done."

The stunned faces I was greeted with weren't anything new, but their jaws dropped further when the supposed dead elves came into the room and awkwardly waved to them.

"Illtran!? You were alive!?" Tialha asked in disbelief. Before I could say anything else, Lixiss, her attendant, dashed towards Illtran—one of the leaders—and embraced him.

Using [Observe] on both of them told me the status of their relationship—they were engaged to one another. It seems that she was quite distraught with his supposed death, so this was nothing short of a miracle for her.

"So... is your power of resurrection true?" Tialha asked sheepishly.

"You could say that," I replied.

We then told her what happened and who was responsible for it, omitting the fact that it was an anomaly. However, I gave Tialha enough hints that I wanted to speak to her privately about it, and she nodded at the end of the discussion.

Once it was over, the rest of the elves were asked to leave the place. Lixiss came over to me before touching my hand and thanking me.

"Thank you…"

I silently nodded at her, and she left with Illtran. Once the doors were closed, I put a barrier around us, preventing anyone from listening in.

"So... you're aware of the multiverse, right? If not, I'll just send you the relevant information," I asked, and she nodded. "Alright, so—"

After a few minutes of explaining it to her and everyone else with me, they were surprised by it. I hadn't explained the reason for the Púca's strange behavior and things that were left behind, but after hearing my explanation, it made sense.

I had informed them of the anomalies before, but since I usually took care of them across the multiverse without so much as going to them or moving from my spot, they didn't think it would be the case this time around. However, I was informed by Azathoth and the information I received after evolving that they can and will appear anywhere at any time. This world wasn't excluded at all.

"…To think something like that would come here. Will it be a regular occurrence?" she asked worriedly.

"That, I wouldn't know. As I said, these things can happen at random anywhere, so the next one may occur in Italy, or even the Hindu Pantheon, or on the moon. I won't know until it appears, and that's when I can take care of it," I told her.

"I see," she said, looking at the ground. "Regardless, thank you for your assistance, Middle—Jin. What compensation would you like?" she asked.

Before I could respond, Suzaku pinched my cheek, and Lisa grabbed my arm, confusing me. Did they expect me to request something scandalous or something? Well, maybe the me of a year ago might have, but now...

"You know the gardens here? One of those shed things was locked; is there any way of going there?" I asked, surprising her.

"The spirit there and the elf that takes care of it have limited access to others; however, one of the warriors you brought back today was one of her cousins, so she will give you an exception once I tell her of this. So yes, it's possible," she explained, smiling at us.

"Great, I could take Natsume there when we came here for our date, so I'd like to take her back there."

She stared at me blankly for a moment before she asked, "T-that's all you want?"

I tilted my head, confused. "Yes?"

"Do you not want something else?"

"No?"

I could get anything I want, so apart from things that were inaccessible to me because of others and me respecting that boundary, I can do anything, so most things that people can offer me won't really be necessary...

"Well, we'll get going then. I'll ask the others about that in the future then. Take care," I said and walked out with the two I was with. Once outside, the other elves were gone, but we saw Respen at the end of the hallway, staring at me. He frowned one last time before running away.

"Hmm. Is he a tsundere?" Lisa asked.

"He may just hate me for other reasons—probably some teenage angst. But whatever it is, hopefully he'll grow out of it," I replied. "Anyway, let's get Gabriel and Danu and get back to—"

A magic circle appeared in front of me suddenly—

"Aaron! Get over here, y-y-y-your mother is—!" shouted Cana.

I was concerned and quickly looked into it, but after I did, the adrenaline I felt quickly faded, and I ended up wearily smiling at the magic circle.

"…We'll come in a minute; luckily we just finished over here, so hang tight," I told her before dismissing it.

"Is everything fine?" asked Suzaku with a look of concern.

"Yeah, it is. It's... something stupid, but I want to go there and stop her. For my own mental well-being too. Anyway, let's get Danu and Gabriel."

With those kinds of thoughts racing in my mind, we left for the forest.

Why would Mom do that? Is she trying to stress me out? Make me jealous for some odd reason? Well, whatever the reason may be, I'll find out soon.

— ○ ● ○ —

Check the chapter comments to see images of certain characters.