Chapter 9

"The institution of the Arbitees functions and is maintained thanks to the existing balance between the 3 main founding families and the careful vision of the 4 Maous is that we are allowed to continue safeguarding the safety of the lower class devils in the Underworld" It was all quite simple when we entered the main building.

The current general of the Arbitees, Marcochius Andrealphus was a thinly built man wearing a long, thick purple robe and carrying a wooden staff. He was practically Gandalf except that both his hair and beard were of a strange blue color.

"Although I always knew that the Arbitees were essentially the 'police' of the Underworld I am still disappointed that they are SO similar to the human police "For special operations you will also need to be here".

To my right was both Edmond and Simo, clearly more attentive and seemingly even taking it more seriously than I was... Kiyohime already belonged to the force so she obviously wasn't with the recruits.

"Also remember that while the use of lethal force is fully permitted we will not tolerate you succumbing to bloodlust, if you end someone's life, be it Devil, Angel, Fallen, Human or Yokai you must report in detail what led you to kill someone" His voice was stern about this "If we notice irregularities or too many 'coincidences' in this matter an investigation will be carried out which may or may not end with the execution of the assigned Arbitee."

I thought that being literal devils they would be much more permissive with acts of cruelty or things like murder, in a way I'm glad I was wrong.

"And with that Marcochius disappeared from our sight, just as he told us, everyone started to leave little by little, and I was glad to see that we were all able to leave.

"I must admit that was a lot more..." Simo spoke "...Normal than I expected" At least I wasn't the only one who thought of that...

"If I were you I wouldn't be so sure, remember that no matter how nice they are we are still in hell" Underworld Edmond, you don't need to use a derogatory word like that.... "But if it is as he says then I can be calmer" He adjusts his hat and looks back at me.

"I know" Simo replied "I will remain alert to any irregularities but this may even be a respite from what it used to be". 

Although they had been reincarnated for years, not enough time had passed for them to abandon their humanity, in Simo's case not even five years had passed as a devil. The war left him with so many wounds both physical and mental that someone like him who was nicknamed 'The White Death' begged me to deliver him from his nightmares.

No doubt going from that to a simple police force could be seen as a relief.

"We should go" I decide to interrupt the small talk "It's the first day and I don't want to miss anything".

The two nodded to me and without saying anything else we left the building towards a building that had nothing remarkable, it was a solid concrete structure painted black and strange orange spots here and there, 2 floors with well distributed windows and a seal that resembled a scale.

The prosecutor's office of the Agares.

Obviously I did enough research on the place I applied for. Founded after the events of the extinction of the Halphas, the heiress of the Agares and daughter of the founding member Pavel Agares, Ecrin Agares, broke away from the jailers and took an important aspect of human justice into her own hands.

The judgments. 

"Every devil will be treated equally and justly before us" was the phrase that could be read on a monument outside the building. Ecrin Agares died 8 years ago during an assault on the territory of the fallen, I never met her but Kiyohime has only good words about her.

"I still find it hard to think that devils are so... different from what the church tells you" Simo spoke again "Not that I'm complaining but it will take me a while to get used to them being so... human".

"Don't get confused Simo" I spoke "Although in appearance and customs we are similar there are still many devils that are as evil as you think and much worse. Even me, sooner or later you will realize that I am not as human as you think." 

He had only been reincarnated for a short time, even Edmond found it hard to understand but finally he seemed to know the difference. I on the other hand had been living as a devil for decades, eventually I learned that no matter how similar we are we are NOT human beings.

"Let's go" At Simo's insightful look I simply ended the conversation and smiled politely "I'm excited for what can happen!"

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"You are all welcome to the Agares Prosecutor's Office. The most prestigious institution in ALL of the Underworld" The booming voice that was currently heard belonged to the current leader of the Prosecutors, the Leader of House Agares, Siem Agares.

His hair was a greenish blond, slicked back and unlike Marcochius he wore no elaborate tunic, simply a black tuxedo and a blue tie with black stripes. Pretty much like a clerk if you ask me.

"Now, before we move on to the next point..." His expression became serious and a strange pressure began to flood the atmosphere....

"W-What is this...?" I heard Edmond's tense voice next to me.

"This year my daughter is also receiving as a freshman. Any stupid degenerate man who thinks of doing one thing to her...!" Eh? "...will suffer my wrath..... IS THAT CLEAR!?"

And as if we were all being controlled we simply said at the same time.

""""YES LORD"""" "Dad please not now!!!!" 

And I guess the embarrassed female voice I heard was from his daughter, Seekvaira.

I looked sideways and confirmed my suspicions, she was practically the same as her version from the anime and novels. A greenish blonde hair like her father, red eyes quite intense behind gray glasses. And unlike the other girls I had seen Seekvaira was wearing a blue suit that didn't show any skin, all quite formal too.

"Well, once that's clear we can move on to the next thing" Clearly ignoring his daughter he turned to a blackboard "First of all, Leonardo Barbatos, I need you to come up here" Eh? Why?

Everyone was looking at me, clearly they knew who I was, didn't they? With no choice I simply stood up straight to denote confidence and walked over to where Captain Agares was standing.

"I heard he was able to defeat the best executioner in the church." "Bullshit, there's no way he could have" was one of the few things I heard as I walked. Admiration, derision, disbelief, even fear?

Weeks after Tino's funeral I learned that the news of our fight against the Pope reached the ears of the rest of the community of devils. Even in times of the great war when real demons fought against high ranking Angels and even Seraphim it was rare to hear of a demon or devil LIVING after fighting the highest office of the church.

The best documented sacred gear so far by the Underworld society. Even the Longinus were not as detailed as St. Peter's Rosary.

It was something quite simple really, 48 beads that had different abilities from protections, blessings, attacks and even the ability to momentarily freeze time that the cross had. This last piece of information was added after I had been interrogated, apparently before me no one had ever witnessed the use of the cross and lived to tell the tale.

So now I was basically a sort of celebrity... nothing too big yet to acquire such a trait as my peerage it seems.

"Leonardo Barbatos" As soon as I arrived the captain put his hands behind his back and looked at me seriously "You are strictly forbidden to go on missions higher than B rank and missions whose main feature is escorting or chasing" .... WHAT!?!?

"WHAT!? Why!?" I lost my composure for a while but quickly calmed down a bit "I mean, what is the reason for this kind of prohibition sir?" It didn't make sense, in any case I was the only one who in theory tried SOMETHING among all the recruits.

"The only reason you are on the force is because my mother was indebted to your brother" .... Seriously? "A crippled demon like you would NEVER have been able to get into the Prosecutors under normal circumstances. Don't ever forget that."

Crippled...there's that damn word again....

After sacrificing my 'Genius of Illusions' trait and becoming unable to manifest my family's magic on my own I became a 'cripple' according to the rules of the devils' society...

"How dare you...-" No, I won't get anything out of simply getting angry and insulting General Agares. Besides, if what he said is true, doing anything now will only provoke my expulsion... "...May I leave now, sir?" 

"Hm, go back to your post rookie, try not to die while you're here."

Since my father committed the massacre to stop the Barbatos from supporting the Ancient Devils faction the only one who kept the Barbatos name as someone important in the Arbitees was my brother. Now that responsibility will fall on me.

As the welcoming speech continues I can't help but place my hand on the pommel of my sword. Damn general, damn devils, I will prove to you all that I am not a cripple.

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There was nothing much more relevant after that, just a matter of protocol and that was it, we were sent to the administrative area where we received a sheet with a special seal, in theory this would glow red every time a mission was assigned to me.

The Underworld was a VERY dangerous place, even if the situation had improved a lot under the care of the 4 Maou and the Arbitees we still had a lot of work to do, even the recruits had already started to receive their first calls, all except us.

Edmond was sitting reading a book that I didn't know the name of, but it seemed to be something out of our own. Kiyohime communicated with us a couple of hours ago but she was called to interrogate a spy of the fallen, I probably wouldn't see her until next week. Simo just seemed to be polishing his sniper rifle.

One of the rules for reincarnated devils was that they would always join their master in the branch of his choice. Another was that they were not allowed to receive or do missions on their own until they proved to be strong enough.

The day was nearly over and without a mission we really had no reason to stay here much longer. Better to spend my time training my new ability to use more advanced Kido.

"We have nothing to do for today" Yes, this was for the best "We better go back home". 

...This wasn't what I expected when I thought of becoming Arbitee, always expect something more from... action and adventure. Even for that reason I applied to the prosecutors.

The jailers in essence were responsible for imprisoning and keeping criminals alive until their execution came. In the past they were allowed to carry out executions but there was too much negligence and when the Prosecutor's Office was created the jailers lost privileges. In command of the Andrealphus family if I remember right now a cousin of my mother's was in charge.

The interrogators, the branch that Kiyohime was in, are in charge of getting the truth out of prisoners and spies. Although it was not as common nowadays, they were pardoned if someone died during one of the interrogations. It was also the branch that was supposed to be run by a member of the Barbatos family but my brother never got that far. So since my father's retirement the family in charge was the Bael family.

And finally we, the prosecutors. We answered most crimes, we searched, captured, tried and executed whoever was found in the territory of the Underworld. Technically we were allowed to do missions in the human world as well but they were special cases most of the time. Obviously as the name says this branch belongs to the Agares.

"Ahem, excuse me..." As I get ready to leave I hear someone behind me and I see her "Can I have a word with you?" Seekvaira Agares.

Naturally I smile and bow a little in respect, Simo and Edmond doing the same "Of course Miss Agares, what can I do for you?"

"Tch, no need for such formality, I don't care what my father said" I say nothing and simply look at her. I've known Sona and Serafall for years, I've also met the other Maous including Sirzechs and still I'm surprised to see that they are exactly the same as I met them in the Anime and Novels. "Just call me by my name and that's it."

"So... Seekvaira" Why do I feel like someone is watching me? "What do you need me for?" 

She just looks at me "I just wanted to apologize for the attitude my father took during the meeting, you didn't deserve to be treated like that" At least someone else agreed with me! "And if it makes you feel better, I'm not allowed to take missions higher than B-rank level either"

"Is that so?" I asked surprised "I thought you would receive the best missions to increase your prestige".

"Pfff Yeah right. Like my dad would ever allow that" Uuuh, it's trouble at home I see? "Missions below B rank are practically non-existent and only come by order of the Maous. In other words my dad doesn't want us to go out and do any work with minimal danger." 

"No need to worry about me" I'll think of something to prove my worth "Anyway it was nice to meet you" I don't say much more and just walk out of the building, Simo and Edmond behind me.

"Mon ami" Edmond speaks first "Are you sure he's okay with...this?"

"Ha! Of course not Edmond, I could never agree to something like this" I won't let it end just like that "Simo! How long do you think it will take you to steal some juicy capture mission for us?" 

"Give me 2 days and I'm sure I'll come up with something" That's it! I can always rely on my pawn!

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Tino always told me that the life of an Arbitee was difficult, even more if you add to that being the heir of one of the 72 pillars, but I don't want to just sit around doing nothing! Not after so much effort...

"Mother" I arrive at the mansion and go to my parents "Father. As much as I'd like to, I don't have much to report" 

My mother just smiled at me warmly but my father seemed a little...dissatisfied with my words. Wait a minute... now he's smiling? Is it me or does it look like they're planning something weird?

"Fufufufu, I'm so glad Leo" My mother spoke and... You know, your father and I have been talking a lot about how you should continue with your training to be a worthy heir".

"And we thought that now that you established the first members of your nobility and even decided to follow in the footsteps of your father and mother and even your older brother..." Why does dad talk like that? It was as if he was too happy... "That you've grown up enough for the most important lesson!"

"What do you mean...?"

"Fufufu" For some reason that laugh gives me chills "You're going to learn how to be a good leader and that means..."

"We'll find you your fiancée for the political marriage!" ... Shit

You know, a part of me always thought this would happen, another part thought they would let me fall in love on my own terms....

"Perks... so many political perks..." Father please, you don't need to drool "New lands..."

"Children... Yes. I will need many grandchildren after all" What are you thinking Mother!?

"Ha...hah..." Simo? Are you making fun of me?!?

"Kuhuhu..." At least pretend a little Edmond!

Everything looks like it's about to get more messy for me...

THANKS FOR READING, ANY COMMENT, RECOMMENDATION OR CRITICISM IS WELCOME AS LONG AS IT'S WITH RESPECT!

Damn university and damn homework...