Chapter 71: Back on Ground

~3rd Person~

"Huh, you guys decided way faster than I had initially thought. Not that I am complaining, I like decisive women." Takumi commented while taking a sip out of his wine glass, purely for decoration, of course, it was actually filled with cranberry juice, he wouldn't risk getting drunk again so casually.

Looking at Takumi in front of her, Ravel stood behind her mother and sighed slightly, as always she was suffering for her brother's shortcomings. Since her brother had gotten himself trapped because he pissed off someone he shouldn't have it had fallen to her to temporarily take care of his peerage as her sister, even if she wasn't the queen she was unofficially the second place in the peerage after all.

Now, not only had her father screwed the entire family over by hiring an assassin to kidnap the biggest rising star of the underworld who had the unanimous support of all 4 Satans behind him and forced her mom to become his servant because of it and she would have to go with her mom to have her stupid brother unsealed.

Well, she wasn't exactly forced. She always had the option of refusing and making her family pay a different exorbitant price to get her brother but if she did she would be in an even worse position. Not only would she leave her mother alone but she would be stuck adultsitting her older brother and this time she wouldn't have her mother as support when scolding him.

Frankly, being stuck in the family without her mother keeping the men of her family sounded like a deeper layer of hell than the one she lived in. They were apparently allergic to patience and thinking things through, because the first thing her even older brother Ruval thought to do the moment he heard the dilemma was to try to go to Takumi immediately and challenge him to sort things out. Of course, this was prevented but it didn't change the intent.

She swore they were just trying to get the family a direct visit from all of the Satans holding baseball bats and asking for a chat.

So, she had agreed to her mother's request and Lord Takumi's demands, besides, it didn't sound bad for her at all, sure, he had made it explicitly clear that he expected... carnal services from them, which was obvious after all, she was a proud Phenex, many would lust after her body of course, though she didn't appreciate him asking her mom(yuck) first and her second.

Besides, she didn't think Takumi was that bad of a person. Sure he was making these demands and essentially taking her mom as a slave but any other devil would have done far far worse in his position. And h-he was very handsome and her type.

She totally didn't stalk Rias and her queen's Devitter accounts and read about them gushing about Takumi and how good he was as a romantic partner a-and in bed. They really talked about Takumi a lot on Devitter and posted pictures of him, at least compared to what she assumed was Takumi's Devitter account.

It was named Alchemist123 and it had a singular post, a blurry picture of an off-white slime sitting on a wooden table with several unidentifiable alcohol bottles lying around it with the captions simply reading "Blorbo my beloved".

Regardless, it was only for 10 years anyway, she could stand serving him for those years no problems. She didn't exactly feel enthusiastic but she wasn't blinded by pride, unlike her father and brothers.

Her mother bowed to Takumi, it felt strange to Ravel to see her so submissive.

"Yes Lord Sekiryuutei, we have agreed to your conditions and brought over Riser, please unseal him." Takumi nodded with a self-satisfied expression and walked over to the ice jail of Riser they had brought over after putting his drink down.

"Alright, let's see..." Takumi casually put his hand on the crystal before...

"Open sesame." And it all crumbled down instantly into fine snow without any fanfare, making Rayne look at Takumi with bafflement.

"It was that easy? How did you break it so quickly?"

"Oh, it was voice-activated. That was just the phrase you use to dispel the seals." Rayne and Ravel exchange dumbfounded looks with each other before looking at Takumi in resignation, no words just came to their mouths no matter how much they thought. So they decided to turn their attention to Riser who had just dropped onto the floor and started wheezing and gasping for breath.

"*huff* *huff* what in Satan's name...? What the fuck just happened...?" Riser got on one knee and held his chest while looking around, seeming way calmer than Rayne had imagined and his eyes landed on them, they looked haunted. "Mom? Ravel? You guys actually got me out of there? I thought I was sealed..."

"Nope, I did, behind you." Riser quickly spun around at the familiar voice and jumped the moment he saw Takumi's face.

"Shit! Fuck! ...That scared me. ...Please don't tell me this is something bad." Rayne quickly came up to Riser and hugged but Riser still had his eyes on Takumi, his pupils trembled slightly and he averted his gaze before starting to sweat buckets, his body was cold, no trace of the heat it held before.

"Riser? Honey? Are you... you seem remarkably calm, I thought you would be screaming and crying right about now. We have been trying to get you out for weeks." Riser turned to her with a shocked expression.

"Wait, weeks? How long was I in there? I could have sworn I spent at least a few months there."

Takumi clapped his hands to gather their attention.

"I believe I can explain that for you all, since I made the seal and all. I am not so cruel so I didn't just lock you in an isolation chamber for an eternity. I also put your mind in a frozen state too. So instead of a torture session that should have felt like you had the trippiest half lucid longest sleep in your life. You are welcome for me not leaving him comatose by the way, not doing so was actually extra effort." Rayne nodded to me in gratitude before turning to her son.

"Riser, why don't you go home for now we still have matters to discuss with Lord Sekiryuutei." Riser nodded far too quickly, still sweating buckets.

"U-uh, yeah, I think I should leave yes. Definitely not because I am scared or anything. Anyway, see you, mom, see you, sis! Please don't die goodbye-!" Riser speed walked his way out of the room while Ravel face palmed, leaving just the three in the room.

"So, now that my son is freed and the deal is sealed, could I please hear how you desire to use us Lord Sekiryuutei?" Rayne said with a professional tone, the underlying meaning of 'Please don't tell me you are just gonna use us as trophies' was clear.

Takumi rubbed his chin in deep thought.

"I never really thought that far ahead. Let's see, what do you guys consider yourselves proficient in? I think have plenty of uses for you, the default if you don't have a recommendation for me is maid. Let's start with you Rayne, what can you do?" Takumi said casually putting them on the spot.

Rayne stepped forward and put a hand on her chest proudly.

"Lord Sekiryuutei I have been managing the Phenex trade businesses as well as personnel for hundreds of years, seeing as you are rather... young I was thinking I could help you manage your businesses? I-if I am not overstepping of course. Surely that is better than just having me around doing nothing." Rayne said nervously, it was a bold decision considering she was the wife of the man who tried to have him kidnapped asking for control over some of his biggest assets.

"Eh, sure, why not? I don't want to spend precious time managing those anyway. You can't really betray me anyway with my seals and I don't have any experience in management so the stage is yours. However, if the results aren't satisfactory you are getting heavily punished. Also, just because you are managing my business doesn't mean you can skimp out on other duties. I expect you to be there when I call on you and you will live in my mansion from now on. Also, you will be heavily monitored." Takumi said pretty firmly and Rayne nodded.

It was... not as bad as she expected. She expected to be treated like a slave at first and a glorified toy, as one would expect from a teenager not only a devil but also a Dragon, to expect them to be capricious would be the minimum. That didn't mean she particularly liked it but she at least still would be in a position of power.

Takumi turned to Ravel who stiffened up and bowed slightly with his attention now on her.

"So, what can you do Ravel? Keep in mind that you can just opt for the default option of a maid." Ravel shook her head, she was willing to be his servant but she didn't want to stoop down to the position of a maid, she still had her pride after all.

"Well... I received plenty of political and management classes to support my brother and consequently myself. I consider myself quite skilled in management and organization if I may say so." She presented herself proudly, after all, she was a proud Phenex and unlike her brother, she had quite a mind politics as stated by her teachers.

"Hmm, I don't really need a second manager for my businesses'." Takumi scratched his chin before looking at Ravel who paled when she briefly heard he had no need for her. "Say, Ravel, how confident are you in working as a secretary and dealing with a bunch of old and stuffy devil geezers?" Ravel rapidly nodded.

"Very much, s-sir." She said, trying to show her appeal getting a look from her mother. "In fact, I was the one who was managing my brother's public image and his schedule. I am quite sure I would be able to manage your meetings and appointments with the noble families." Watching Takumi think to himself a moment Ravel felt quite tense before releasing a relieved sigh at the sight of Takumi nodding.

"That'll do, I don't want to have to deal with those myself, there are frankly too many people trying to meet me and trying to make deals with me. Your job is to sort them and summarize them before listing them in a ladder of importance which I will check out later, we can talk about the rest later."

Takumi stood up from his seat and clapped his hands happily signifying the end of this meeting.

"Alright, I will let you two go for now and gather your belongings and sort out any unfinished business you may have before settling in my mansion. Try to be here by 5 pm, Earth time Tokyo, Grayfia will pick you up then. Until then, you are dismissed."

Rayne and Ravel quickly bowed slightly and left promptly to sort out their businesses while Takumi picked up his phone and texted Sera and Grayfia that he would be going back to earth and subsequently home, and to Grayfia to pick up the Phenex's at the specified time as well gather up the paperwork he had to dump on Rayne and Ravel to take care of.

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~Takumi Katsuragi~

"Man, I fuckin' love earth."

I stretched like a cat on my patio facing the garden back in my home, taking in the sweet natural air and floral scent of my carefully maintained gardens. I was feeling quite good honestly. Not only had I acquired the Phenex Mother and Daughter pair as my new Harem members, soon to be made official after I engaged in coitus with them, but I had also gathered most of the materials needed for my new body.

But man did I miss the simplicity of Earth and Kuoh after dealing with the annoying and stressful politics of the underworld. I also disliked the underworld quite heavily now, fucking full of snobs and annoying bastards around every corner. Thankfully now I had a sexy mother-and-daughter pair to handle that stuff for me from now on.

But the thing I missed most was Rias and Akeno honestly, I texted them semi-frequently but being away from my lovers just as I got into a relationship with them was frustrating. Speaking of, I quickly texted Rias and Akeno that I was back in Kuoh-

-And instantly a red devil circle appeared in the living room of my home. And two busty and familiar figures came out of it. Consequently, it didn't take it more than a handful of seconds for me to get tackled by a red and black blur. I was barely able to stay on my feet against their combined assault.

"Takumi-kun! You're finally back!" "Ufufu~ I'm glad you're finally back Takumi-kun." I was hugged from both sides by Rias and Akeno, holding back a chuckle I hugged them back.

"Yeah, I'm glad to be back too. Seriously, the underworld and its politics were the worst. Hopefully, I won't be back there anytime soon. I missed you guys a lot too." We moved to the couch where Akeno and Rias took either of my sides, Rias more nuzzling up to my chest while Akeno was grabbing my butt for some reason. I'm just gonna chalk that up to her daddy issues too.

"I really missed you Takumi-kun, my bed was really lonely without you. My body has really been craving you, it's really hard to satisfy myself after you ruined my body like that you know~?" Akeno purred at me before her nose was flicked by Rias making her recoil.

"Hey now Akeno, down girl. Save it for the night. He just got back. Besides, I want him to meet his new fellow peerage members today." I raised my eyebrow at that ignoring the pouting Akeno.

"New peerage members? You found some potential candidates? That sounds great." Rias nodded proudly.

"Yep, and they are a good fit for the rest of the peerage, everybody is already getting along and they really want to meet the elusive ace of the peerage too. I was thinking we could do a club activity together for you guys to meet each other. In fact, I have something planned for tomorrow that I think you will really like." Rias looked up at me with a vixen smile on her lips. I was genuinely proud of her for taking the initiative and building up her peerage.

"That sounds really nice Rias, I look forward to meeting my fellow... peers? Whatever the plural of a peerage member is anyway." That got a short chuckle out of both girls as I smiled.

Truly it was good to be back.

A/N: We are finally back on Earth and all of that annoying political stuff is out of the way for now. It's time to focus back on the more slice-of-fun stuff in Kuoh. This was more of an in-between chapter to conclude the underworld arc and start focusing on more Earth.

Takumi finalized his purchase of a Phenex Mother and Daughter for one Phenex Son, this was truly one of the greatest deals of all time. Also, Takumi put the way to get rid of the seal something so stupid because people would both never guess it and they would also feel stupid for never guessing, he never intended to seal Riser away permanently in the first place.

Also, what did you guys think about the little harem Rias and Akeno duo scene at the end as well as the whole Phenex debacle? I would love to hear your thoughts about it. Hearing your thoughts about it would really help. Your comments help motivate me and help me improve

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