Chapter 41

[Crap! We didn't negotiate our next meetup!]

Masaomi gripped his hair in panic, internally berating himself in the process.

[You're useless Masaomi!!! Useless! Useless! Useless!]

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|DxD|

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Having exited Kuoh Park, Cleria was suddenly intercepted by young man with long silver hair. Contrary to the weather aside, he was dressed in warm clothing.

Cleria noticed him and giving a friendly smile, she greeted him.

"What a lovely surprise to meet you, Shemhazai-san."

Approaching the fallen with gentle steps, extended her hand. Shemhazai took it with a kind smile.

"Indeed it is, Belial-san. You won't mind if we have a little chat, do?"

Although she was cautious at this sudden turn of events, she did not refuse him.

"Not at all, Shemhazai-san."

But hidden beneath her smile was a sense of trepidation. It had already been over half a decade since Cleria had last communicated with him. Even then, it was only a polite greeting, not this sort of drawn-out conversation.

But her years of experience weren't for naught. Hiding any sense of unease in her heart, she followed Shemhazai to a much quieter location.

The both of them eventually winded up near a tuckshop. Standing next to it, Shemhazai didn't waste time and got to the point.

"Belial-san. I came today to ask you something."

Cleria saw no reason to refuse so she nodded.

"I'm listening, Shemhazai-san."

Shemhazai quickly brought some candy from the clerk for them to chew on during their talk. Not only would this help to calm the clearly nervous Cleria, it would also seem as if he wasn't here to prod or interrogate her. 

Handing her a sweet, he spoke.

"My wife has been sad that you no longer visit her."

"Oh?"

Cleria was truly surprised. She expected that Shemhazai would come here to talk about her relationship with Azazel. But upon hearing the fallen enquire about his wife, she started to relax.

Unwrapping the sweet in her hands, she responded with a relaxed smile.

"It's because I'm so busy that I don't have the time to visit her anymore."

Cleria lamented in her heart about one of her very few genuine friends. Eveline was a middle-class devil that she met around a century ago. Both of them enjoyed watching rating games and it was also because of them that they both met.

Their friendship was a fruitful one and once it was verified that Eveline didn't possess any malicious intent against her, Cleria began to truly treat her as a friend. Having been friends for decades, it came as a complete shock to her when Eveline revealed to her that she had married the Vice Governor-General of Grigori. It was three years ago when she first heard the news. She was apologising for not inviting her but Cleria understood the reasons. If word of their union went out, countless assassins would be sent to kill her.

Unfortunately, the last time they spoke with each other was over a year ago.

Eventually, Shemhazai and Cleria started chatting about Eveline. Shemhazai would ask questions about his wife under the guise of wanting to know more about her. They continued speaking and Cleria would enthusiastically answer any questions the cadre had. They would order sweets from time to time and continue talking, the atmosphere between them gradually relaxing.

It was only after a little over two hours of speaking that Shemhazai looked up at the setting sun. The shop behind them had closed down and the park had emptied out.

"Thank you for today, Belial-san. I never knew that Eveline had such a 'rich' history. But alas, I must get going now."

Cleria softly smiled in response.

"Indeed it was enjoyable speaking with you, Shemhazai-san."

She also gazed at the sunset as well, her clasped hands slowly moving towards her chest. 

"You must truly love your wife."

Shemhazai had a gentle smile on his face.

"With all of my heart. I've loved her since the first moment I saw her, just like how you love my brother."

"Yes, I do…"

Silence…

It was then that Cleria realised what she had just admitted.

"W-w-w-w-wait!"

So engrossed was she in Shemhazai's words that she didn't even notice her little blonder. But he didn't care. 

Just that simple "Yes" was more than enough for him.

"My job here is done."

"Waiiiit!"

Shemhazai simply smiled while a teleportation circle formed under him.

"Thank you for your confession, Belial-san."

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|DxD|

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"Hey old man. Tell me more about those descendants in Italy."

Right now, Igor was flying with Sun Wukong down the mountain. The blonde now wore a long-sleeved black shirt after some insistence from the monkey sage for him to wear something on top.

Igor was genuinely curious about the descendants of that woman. Hearing the word 'Italy' had struck a chord in the blonde since in his previous world, the Dimori family was based in Italy. Even if it was just the tiniest sliver of a chance, Igor genuinely wanted to seek some of his kin in this world and if possible, find someone who shares the same surname.

Hearing the blonde continue to enquire about his possible relatives, Sun Wukong stopped.

With his nose pointed in the air, he spoke with confidence.

"Alright alright, I'll tell you. I'll even travel with you to them. But in exchange, you'll have to do me a small favour."

Sun Wukong was absolutely sure the blonde would agree. He had long since figured out that Igor was yearning for a family connection, something he would take advantage of.

[Hehe. Once he agrees, I'll bind him to this favour and recruit him to Indra's army. After all, being recruited to fight is a 'small' favour compared to finding family members, right?]

But instead of receiving a response, Sun Wukong only found Igor to be staring at him weirdly. 

[Small favour my ass!]

The blonde was truly considering whether he should run, but he bit the bullet instead.

"Let's do it like this, monkey sage. You show me where the descendants of that lady are, and I'll consider whether to accept your favour depending on what it is. You have my word that I won't back out without a proper reason."

As slim as the chance might be, Igor couldn't bring himself to let go of such an opportunity. As long as they possessed the same blood, he would wholeheartedly treat them as family. Such was his yearning when he was thrust in an unfamiliar world.

Sun Wukong accepted the favour with a nod and grabbed the blonde by the shoulder.

"Alright kid. I'll bet on your word this once. Let's go."

And like that, they vanished.

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Rome, Italy

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Igor and Sun Wukong were walking through the richer districts of the city. The monkey sage used a transformation technique to appear like the human version of himself in his fifties. Both monkey and human walked down the streets in relative silence. 

It was sunrise so the traffic on the streets had increased immensely due to people leaving work for home. Hundreds of people were walking on the sidewalk and yet the duo paid no attention to them.

Struggling to ignore the noisiness of the city, Igor was grateful when Sun Wukong eventually led him to a less populated area of the district. 

Seeing the beautiful houses, Igor couldn't help but whistle.

"These people are living the soft life."

Sun Wukong didn't show much care for the extravagance of these houses.

"They worked for it. Now come on. We're almost there."

"Okay, monkey sage."

Following Sun Wukong, the duo soon came upon a massive mansion with large black gates attached to tall white pristine walls. Rows of trees and carefully maintained gardens could be seen from outside the gate. 

Igor and Sun Wukong didn't approach too close, but stood quite a way from the gates.

"Kid. I want you to follow my lead from here."

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|DxD|

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Shemhazai teleported away from Cleria with a barely perceptible smile on his face.

[Just as I thought.]

Using a roundabout way of interrogating her, Shemhazai found out that Cleria held feelings for his brother, something he already guessed was possible. 

His line of questioning confirmed a few things. Cleria was not against fallen angels. Her happiness for him and Eveline was genuine. She also did not seem to be seeing anyone. He was initially curious about the exorcist that came earlier than him but having heard the contents of their conversation, those worries were extinguished.

There were times when she stared absentmindedly at the surroundings whenever he talked about his relationship with his wife. He had a hunch as to who she might've thinking about for her to zone out like that. 

So he laid that little trap at the end to bait her in. Even now as he walked along the paved grounds of Grigori, Shemhazai released an imperceptible smile.

He could already imagine his brother's happiness.

[I can already see all three of us brothers sharing drinks and talking about our women.]

Yet while he contemplated the future, Cleria was stuck in the present. Looking at the spot where Shemhazai vanished, her face was buried in her hands, a steam of embarrassment sifting through her fingers.

"Waaa~ I said it. I really said it."

She didn't even know that she was led into a rhythm and before she knew it…

"This is embarrassing…"

...her true thoughts were fished out without her noticing before it was too late.

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Grigori, Underworld

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Azazel was sitting near one of his lakes with a fishing rod in hand. Fishing was one of the pastimes he genuinely enjoyed doing. As the Governor-General of Grigori, the job itself came with its own headaches. Doing something as mundane as fishing helped him relax.

Yet even as he held the rod, his mind was elsewhere. He had heard the whole conversation his brother shared with Cleria. He had also especially heard the last part. The fact that she said "Yes", even if it was subconsciously, made him smile because if she truly despised him, then she wouldn't have said yes even if a knife was on her throat.

Hearing the soft sounds of shoes moving through grass, Azazel didn't look up when Shemhazai stood behind him.

"You didn't have to. But, thank you."

Shemhazai crouched down and gave Azazel a friendly shoulder pat.

"No problem, brother. Every one of us knows you deserve this the most."

Turning around, Shemhazai took a few steps forward before he paused.

"Don't take too long, brother."

With that, he continued walking away, leaving Azazel to continue his fishing.

[Hehe…]

Try as he might, Azazel couldn't stop the slowly spreading smile on his face. Even if he tried to frown, his lips would tremble for a bit before the corners of his lip curved upwards.

He only held the fishing rod for a few more seconds before he put it aside.

"Well…I can't waste my brother's efforts now, can I?"

He adjusted the cuffs on his shirt, a confident grin spreading through his face.

"Brother! Handle the paperwork for me!"

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|DxD|

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"Old man."

Hovering above the mansion under the cover of an illusion, Igor's voice darkened.

"Why don't we kill them?"

Igor could still vividly remember how Sun Wukong immediately found out about how they had abandoned their own daughter at an orphanage simply because she was a girl. It made Igor so angry that they could so easily abandon their own blood that Sun Wukong had to stop the blonde from killing them on the spot.

Even when the couple got on their hands and knees, begging for forgiveness and mercy, the blonde could only go so far as crippling their legs with two well-shot ki beams to the spine before Sun Wukong 'finally' stopped him.

But even when the couple middle-aged couple was crippled from the waist down, Igor wasn't fulfilled.

"Scum like them should have their lease on life ended."

Sun Wukong didn't oblige the blonde. Instead, he grabbed his shoulder.

"Come on kid. Leave their life and death to their daughter. Now let's go to that orphanage they spoke of."