32

Getting into the Mellon family estate was easy, now finding which bookshelf the hidden staircase was behind was a different story. once inside there were no guards so I am just walking through its room moving bookshelves and looking for the staircase. walking into one room I spot a younger member of the Mellon family, teleporting beside him before he can scream I inject him with some venom to put him into a coma. so long as he doesn't have some weird physique that will help break down the venom then he will sleep for days. checking his room I find nothing other than a few storage items that I pocket to give to my employees.

having checked most of the house and knocked out most of the members I approach the last room and open it finding a study of sorts with Lombardo the head of the family at a desk looking at me. repeating what I did to all his family I toss him out the way unconscious and quickly scan all the documents he had out. some colluding with the Gorefiend Gang to send women and kids to blue lava estate for premium prices, other documents all doing pretty shady stuff but nothing tying to the blood empire. looking into his space storage bracelet I find some letters with his son William Mellon. this is the son who is in the bloody empire under some important figure working in their army. reading through it states that he is doing fine and making lots of friends where he is stationed. this might not be enough to charge with a reason but with the slave trafficking and add this on and state that we know where he is stationed in the bloody empire it might be enough to make him slip up.

I look at the bookshelf on the opposite wall and grab it and its anchored on pretty strong so I put some force on it and snatch it off. looking down the staircase Infront of me I can't help but shiver a bit, it's already getting colder just by opening it. I head down and with my devil's sight, it's no problem seeing in the pitch black of the staircase. as I descend I give in and spark some flames to keep warm, at this point on the stairs they are completely frozen over.

Arriving at the bottom I see a white plant, it has seven leaves and three fruits. from what I remember you must pick the leaves first then the fruit. I first channel Agares into it and the entire aurora frost cave and nothing happens. after waiting for the equivalent of twenty years worth of power on the whole cave the fruit doesn't change so I assume it is done. if memory serves me right then the fruit is not a fruit but the essence of the cave itself. but it should be around the time Chen Rui picked it originally and it hasn't changed after I tried Agares on it so I will just risk it and grab the leaves and then the fruit.

I pull the first leave and the whole thing doesn't explode so I let out a sigh and continue. putting them straight into the inventory to store them I then take the three fruits and the rest of the plant dissipates into particles. I stand up and head back up the stairs to gather up the Mellon family and bring them to Shea. the faster they are dealt with the better it will be to prevent further problems.

I have them all piled up on top of one another and then teleport to the storage room in the palace that has the teleportation circle and leave the Mellon family there. I find Shea in her study as per usual and sit in the chair across from her and wait for her to finish with what she is doing. she sets down her pen I made her and looks me in the eyes.

"So how did it go?" I pass over all the evidence I found of them working with Gorefiend Gang to smuggle out women and children into the slave trade. she looks it over then I pass the note to his son and she reads it and seems confused. I don't have any proof to show how I know he is in the bloody empire but I could just tell her I used magic to figure out where it came from and hope she believes me.

"That note from his son came from the bloody empire, Mellon family doesn't just betray the dark moon but the entire fallen angel empire." Shea stands up and walks around the table and sets her hand on my shoulder, I raise an eyebrow and she rolls her eyes.

"You can teleport us to where they are right?" oh that makes sense, I take advantage of the situation to grab her hand and teleport us to the room and also bring my chair since I was comfortable sitting. Shea looks at the piled-up bodies and just shakes her head. "Can you wake up Lombardo so we can interrogate him?"

I reach up and cast a circle over Lombardo and he shakes his head and looks around before jumping up.

"Where am I?!" he turns and sees me sitting in a padded chair with Shea at my side holding my hand. he is scared seeing Shea glaring at him before he double takes looking at our joined hands. Shea noticing the oddity, she looks where he is looking, and seeing our hands she has to reboot before snatching it away. pretending nothing happened she approaches Lombardo.

"Sir Lombardo would you like to explain these?" she hands a few of the slave trafficking logs and payment records, Lombardo seeing this instantly pales and looks for an escape before noticing he was sleeping on top of his family moments ago and they're all still out. knowing the cat is out of the bag and Shea is going for blood Lombardo drops to the ground begging for forgiveness.

"Lord Shea, I beg you to show leniency on my family with the current state of the dark moon we had to take drastic action to stay afloat. the only people we took were the low of the low who would starve to death anyway and going into slavery will prolong their life. I am prepared to reimburse you for the losses." Shea isn't buying any of it but plays like she is nodding along and then pulls out a letter and reads it to Lombardo. he knows who it's from and only shows a look of fear for a moment before remembering that it doesn't say anything incriminating.

"What do you say about this letter?" Lombardo raises his head and answers back with confusion, a good act but it's seen through since I already know the truth.

"It's just a letter from my son telling me how successful he is becoming." at this point I pull out a realm king fruit behind Shea and hold it to where he can see and as he looks over at me waving his eyes go wide. he then grits his teeth as I put it back in my inventory and begin speaking.

"Lombardo your son is he or is he not stationed in the bloody empire where your actual loyalties lie and the only reason you are here is to cause damage to the fallen angel empire. maybe it also has to do with this fruit I found in your basement?" Shea is a bit confused at what I am talking about but doesn't take her eyes off of Lombardo and is ready to strike him down any moment. Lombardo is pale once again and drops his head in resignation.

"I have nothing to say I have no clue what you're talking about." even though he denies the claims he has given up. he is too weak to fight his way out of here and all his family minus his son is captured. his bloodline is over other than his son, and I am sure when the bloody empire finds out the Mellon family lost the realm king fruit they will just dispatch the worthless son of Lombardo. if I remember correctly the one behind this is Teris the secret leader of bloodfall and also the host of lord midnight suns soul. he will likely send people to investigate in secret so I need to keep an eye out, he wants the real king fruit to try to break the limit on his body since it is crippled in some way.

"I see, so you have already resigned yourself to die for them even though your family was born here in the dark moon. even though the dark moon was the start of your family you turn on us when times are tough." she looks at Lombardo with a look of disgust, he stays quiet all the way up to when he gets reduced to ashes by her black flames. Shea turns to the rest and puts them down peacefully in their sleep. "Nova." I watch the execution with indifference these guys threw their lot in and it fell on their faces, they can only blame themselves. I am surprised at the somber voice she has, she seems more disappointed than angry at this point.

"Yes Shea?" she turns around and heads over to me and holds out her hand, understanding her meaning I grab it and teleport us back to her study. she lets go of my hand and walks back to her seat, and sits down.

"I would like if you can look into the other families, this is the second one since you got here that you have found traitors in. the rest are much weaker and don't have power on the council but after the Mellon family extinction we will most likely get a new member on the council and I want you to ensure they aren't traitors." I agree and bring out a realm king fruit and hand it over to her.

"Eat this when you are in your room and can focus on breaking through, it will help you learn the power of territory by giving you hallucinations. it will also boost your strength, with the rest of your inheritance from your father and the black potions as well as this you should break through. soon I will gather what I need to reincarnate you as a devil and if you already are a demon emperor that would be the best." I already have enough I am just saving for Catherine, I may need to invest a lot of sin into potions or even a mutant queen to convince her when the time comes to negotiate. plus Shea still has room to grow with what she currently has, once she exhausts what she has then I will queen her and another set of black potions after the fact. with that, she should make good progress to demon overlord and if I save the earth elemental king I could get the remnant Lucifer crystalized power he has to help Shea finish getting to demon overlord.

"Thanks, Nova, I am sure I will break through with this. I have been on the edge since the potions and with this helping me learn territory I should easily make it." her voice is no longer so sad and her smile is bright as she looks at the fruit before storing it away. "The guest from the capital will arrive soon, at the latest it will be three days so please be ready to arrive and help greet them in case they become a problem I may need your help."

"Alright, I will keep that in mind and work on a couple of projects in town." I can send someone with a summoning contract to the estate where Kia's mom is and just work at home on all my projects that have been stagnating recently. with the employees now acquired I need to get these businesses up and running.