Chapter 31: Joining a Faction

"Then, I will agree to exchange the three fragments for Arondight, sword of Knight Lancelot." The sword might not be a pure holy sword and turned demonic but it has the dragon slayer attribute and the holy attribute still exists.

Xenovia looked shaken and wanted to object the trade but Sister Griselda stopped her.

Before this trade reached its conclusion, Ray corrected Michael's misunderstanding that the Excalibur fragments already fused into Proposition. The fragments only sealed and Ray unseal them and brought out all three fragments in his possession.

Ray tried spying on Kiba's reaction when he brought out the sword but Kiba didn't react that badly. He only stares at the swords for a few moments before taking a few deep breaths. Even Rias, Akeno and Koneko are surprised that Ray remains calm and collected when seeing the Excalibur fragments after he went rogue literally after knowing the fragments are within Kuoh town.

Then we returned to the present.

"Mhm, the Church will deliver the sword tomorrow. Thank you very much for accepting the trade." Michael almost bowed his head but Ray stopped him very quickly.

"No worries, we mutually benefited from this."

An intact legendary sword for fragments? Ray definitely profited from this exchange.

After the exchange concluded, Ray excuse himself and Cheshire. He still felt tired from the battle and decided to return to his apartment. No one stopped him on his way home. Serafall even offered to teleport him back, which he appreciated since he had a sleeping Cheshire to carry.

…

At home, Ray tucked Cheshire to bed and accompanied her to sleep. Ray just sat on the bed and contemplated his life.

Not even half a year since he met the creator that transmigrated him. Before that, Ray was a simple bachelor living a boring life of work and sleep with entertainment like Ourtube, games and novels. He isn't a person with much experience in life. In fact Ray is very inexperienced in life and most decisions he makes are spontaneous without thinking much about what the future holds because he never needed it with his repetitive lifestyle.

Now he thinks about it, why did he even want Cheshire as his daughter? He has never been a father before… As far as experience goes, all of them are from manga or anime that he watched. He can't even provide he safety with his own current path of life. Especially after what happened today with the Hero faction.

Ray isn't strong, he doesn't have anyone strong that he can rely on if anything goes south. Logically thinking, he shouldn't even live a high profile life like this. He is in better luck laying low for a few years getting strong enough before revealing himself.

Ray undoubtedly made a big mistake. Even now, his progress with his levels has stagnated on level 200+ when he can gain 100 levels in a month grinding his ass off in Mission.

Ray sighed and reminded himself that his current home is no longer safe with the Hero faction already knowing the location. Perhaps having a permanent home itself is a problem with Hero Faction now targeting him.

Then he remembered that Azazel made him an offer after he was discharged from the hospital.

The Grigori although is a faction composed of fallen angels but due to Azazel policy and obsession with sacred gears and their cooperation with various supernatural organizations made up of human like magicians, the Grigori have plenty of human members within their rank. The humans usually are sacred gear holders, contracted magicians and mercenaries.

The fallen angels and pure angels, unlike devils, cannot replenish their number using evil pieces. Their numbers are also decreasing due to being killed during missions or any battle. The fallen are currently the lowest in number among the supernatural races. Due to this, they employed humans to fill their ranks and paid them to handle dangerous tasks like an adventurer guild handing out missions or bounty.

These humans are field agents for Grigori and they also gain benefits other than their payments which are actually the real interest of most humans that work for Grigori. The Grigori function basically like a guild for the field agents. The agents gain protection, a place to exchange supplies, training, etc.

Ray thinks he is going to join Grigori as part of their field agents. He can gain protection to himself and Cheshire, an opportunity to grow himself in exchange of being sent to complete missions that he honestly thinks is okay.

Besides with how interested Azazel is in his abilities and equipment, Ray can confidently say that his value to Azazel is not low compared to Sacred Gear wielder.

The Sacred Gear wielder in Grigori are very high in status compared to contracted magicians and mercenaries. They are personally groomed by the Cadre and even Azazel himself and very highly protected members for Grigori.

…

After thinking this through and through. Ray exits his room to the balcony and pops on a cigarette before pulling out his phone to dial Azazel's personal number that was given to Ray.

*Tut tut*

*Tut tut*

*Tut tut*

"Hello? Azazel here. The Governor General of Grigori" Ray heard Azazel introduce himself. Ray took a calm breath before he greeted back.

"Hey, Azazel… It's me, Ray." Ray awkwardly talks to Azazel over the phone.

"Oh, Ray… if you are looking for your girls then they should be done by tomorrow. There was a lot of paperwork that needed to be filled and protocols to fulfill to officially remove them as members of Grigori. Sorry if I made you wait for your girlfriends for too long…" Azazel replied with a semi serious and semi joking tone while obviously thinking that I bedded the fallen trio.

Fallen is a creature of sins after all and it would be weird if none of the trio made their move when two of them did show affection toward Ray in Azazel's eyes.

"No, it's not about that…"

"Then?" Azazel replied almost immediately as another reason why Ray would call him would be regarding the offer he made to Ray.

"It's about your offer. You probably heard about what the Hero Faction did today in Kuoh… I don't think it's safe for me to stay around without a tree on top of my head. Then there is my daughter that is my weaknesses that my enemies can exploit."

"Say no more, I am very glad that you decided to join Grigori. As for your worries, I will personally act just for you, Ray. Be glad that you are quite an attractive piece of juicy meat to me." Azazel said but at the end, Ray felt goosebumps and shiver with the way Azazel ended the sentence. Why does it feel gay?

"..." Ray is speechless and also spooked.

"Ahem, anyway… do I-"

*Ding dong*

"I'm at your front door to fetch you to our headquarter."

"-need to pack my stuff… That's quick!" Ray said through the phone before ending the call and went to open the door to see Azazel in suit and smiling brightly as if he just won a jackpot.

"Yeah, pack your important stuff that you want to bring. Grigori prepares housing for each of their members but don't expect it to be luxurious as a newbie member.

"There is nothing valuable here anyway, just gonna pack some clothes and we are ready to go." Ray said before he went to his room and put every clothes in his wardrobe into his inventory.

After that, he also grabbed all the extremely comfy expansive pillows he bought and raided all his stock of canned drinks in the cupboards and pantry and the one currently in the fridge.

Azazel saw Ray use his inventory that didn't exude any magic power which caused him to raise an eyebrow.

After everything is packed, Ray carries Cheshire and the kitten sleeping on her head before he teleports away with Azazel to their headquarters on earth. The one on earth is the one built specially for their human members while the one in Underworld is the more core members only and high ranking members. Grigori also has their special transportation to move between Earth and Underworld connected to both headquarters.

…

"Welcome to the headquarters of Grigori on Earth. You don't need to worry about registration and I will lead you to your new home." Azazel said as he teleported me and Cheshire to a dorm area.

Azazel said he gave me a bonus of better residence that is usually given to Sacred Gear wielder.

"How about Raynare and her group? They are no longer part of Grigori, can they still live with me?" Ray asked this question to Azazel.

Azazel paused before explaining to Ray that they were simply no longer part of the Fallen Angel group of Grigori. They still can join Grigori starting from lowest rank just like Ray of simply categories under companion or relative of Ray which will be protected by Grigori unless they seek trouble themselves.

When Azazel finished showing his new dorm, he gave Ray a tour of the headquarters and told him Raynare and the others will return tonight since they can easily move within the headquarters. He noticed that he received many curious look or pity when seeing that Azazel is personally giving me a tour.

Ray then returns to his own home which might sound small but actually 5 times bigger than his previous apartment. The privacy also assured plus the very small population of the residents since most Sacred Gear wielder currently is either on mission or in Underworld headquarter training.

…

"Papa… why are we living in a new home?" Cheshire curiously asks while looking at the unfamiliar home.

The new home is well furnished and equipped with most important equipment like fridge, stove and washing machine.

"I am worried about your safety, Cheshire. We wouldn't want the bad guy from this morning to attack us again right?" I said while lifting her high to the air that made her giggle and smile before putting her down on my lap.

"Mhn mhn, we don't want the bad guy to attack again. Right kitty?" Cheshire says before asking the kitten on her shoulder that responded with a mewl of agreement.

"Look, papa! Kitty also says yes." Cheshire immediately points it out before praising the kitten for being smart.

"Yes, that's why we will have to live here now. Raynare, Kalawarna and Mittelt will return soon too and stay with us." Ray informed Cheshire while giving her a head rub which made Cheshire to have a blissful expression and laid to Ray's arm.

*Growl*

"Look like someone is hungry."

"Mhn, papa… Cheshire wants salmon." Cheshire urges while still in blissed state.

"Oh, sure… just let me buy-

"Cheshire wants premium salmon…" Cheshire suddenly declared and opened her eyes to look at me with her cute face every time she wanted something. The kitten also copied Cheshire which made the damage doubled.

"F-Fine… your papa has hundreds of millions of points… Just a few millions for salmon wouldn't hurt…" Ray lied to himself as he tried to resist but was utterly defeated by two kittens attacking him with cute faces for salmons that cost 200k each.

Ray quickly buys the salmon before using it to create a quick meal for Cheshire. For the kitten, Ray only dice it up into chewable chunks before the Kitten pounce on her meal while salivating heavily. Premium salmon is the equivalent of a drug for both kittens. Once tasted, forever will be addicted.

After making both kittens their food, I went back to the kitchen and made myself cold coffee before munching on ration bars. The ingredients are very low in this new home since he had none to bring from his old apartment. Ray can just buy from Marketplace but it's too much effort for him.

Then he spent the afternoon moving his stuff from inventory to his new home.

—————

(Note: I reached a conclusion that Ray will just keep being harassed unless he has support due to his dubious background that didn't match his current self. With joining Grigori, Ray will be able to have a better place to grow and a helping hand from Azazel personally and Grigori.)