55

After eating with Shea and discussing some things I was in the process of teleporting back home when I received a summons from Isabella. she said she would summon me only when she made it back and was at her house so no one would see me so I guess she is ready. I allow the summoning to go through and appear in a big room with a bunch of fancy furniture and high ceilings.

"Hello, again Nova." I look down from the crystal chandeliers and spot Isabella in a blue dress.

"Hey Izzy, nice dress." I spread my demonic energy as far as I can to make it easy to teleport back to the capital whenever I want. to my surprise the capital is massive, I knew it was going to be bigger than an estate but it's much bigger. so much so that it takes the majority of my energy to fully spread out to its walls.

"Thanks, I just got back earlier and had to do a few things and make reports about the situation going on and now that's all settled so I thought I would go ahead and summon you so you can teleport here when you need to. I could be busy the next few days since problems have piled up but you are welcome to use my place if you need to only I stay here with occasionally my friend Krobelus." I nod and debate telling her about my encounter with Broc but hold off to ask more about Krobelus.

"The dragon friend you talked about? you said you would like her to get reincarnated since she is hunting some strong enemy and the power boost would help her." she nods and explains once again how Krobelus is looking for a poison dragon who killed her lover. got to look out for my boy Paglio since I am aware it was him she is looking for. but all along he was her lover, he swooped in when she was young and impressionable and had no treasure and wooed her, and then later ' Died ' in a battle with a poison dragon. but the secret was that he was undercover around her a blue dragon and he ended up killing that actual blue dragon which caused all the confusion for the poor dragoness.

"I would like to meet her and feel her out so to speak, can't promise a piece without at least judging her personality for myself. it's not like she's in danger of dying soon of lifespan since dragons can like a million years or something stupid like that. though most die to fighting rather than old age so I don't know if one has lived to a million to prove the theory." we walk together to a nearby sitting area to continue our conversation since I know she will want to ask a lot about my run-in with Broc and why I didn't summon her to aid me.

"She is actually on the way, she ran home to grab some new alcohol she found for a super high price. and when I asked her about it I was surprised to find out it was some of the stuff you make and was wondering how it already got here." huh, that is pretty fast I had a few pawns go out to different towns and estates and I was going from each setting up manual circles for them to travel faster but I haven't made one in the capital yet.

"I don't know, I was setting up a teleporting network for a few 'runners' to transport my alcohol to the different towns and estates but non have made it to the capital yet since there are so many smaller towns and whatnot." I pull out a few bottles I had in my inventory and set them down with a few glasses and pour myself the peach-tasting one. reminds me of peach cobbler and that was always one of my favorites next to apple pie.

"Even though the demons don't have advanced teleporting like devils they still have some gates that work similarly but they are usually kept secret. it must have been bought by someone who had a gate and they brought it to the capital to show off or try to make a profit." it's not lost on me how she called demons ' the demons ' which puts distance between her and her old species.

"The demons huh?" she shrugs and after looking at a few different labeled bottles decides to try the one I already opened.

"It's better to accept I am a devil since I can't undo it and I already made the decision."

"That's good, better to move forward than to second guess yourself or regret something already done." we both sip our drink and I decide to bring up Broc since it seems Krobelus might take a bit of time. "So, I fought Broc and took an arm, specifically his right arm." she stops midway from setting her drink back down and instead puts it back to her lips before downing the whole thing.

"How did that come about?" she sounds a lot more casual about it than I thought, then again she is the leader of a spy organization and has done a ton of assassinations.

"I was helping a potential new piece and he ambushed us while she was busy and I had to fight him off, I had a lot of help from a defense array that kind of blasted him into the ground allowing me to wail on him while he was still recovering." she pours more while listing and when I finish she looks down at her lap.

"You don't trust me? you could have summoned me to help and he might not have got away. since you're not saying he died then I am assuming he got away." her tone is disappointed.

"That's not the case, I was in an odd situation of not wanting to show off too many cards to the potential piece who I ended up reincarnating."

"Must be an important person if you value them more than getting rid of a big player from blood fall."

"Yea she is important if it helps I promise to summon you next time even if it's not a good move. he won't get away next time anyway since I made it to demon emperor and also gained some new abilities that will increase my lethality in a fight." I still need to practice those soon, can't just expect to jump straight into combat with an untrained ability and not expect to make mistakes.

"Ok, I didn't say anything anyway. you agreed to help me kill the people who were responsible and cure me, you already cured me and have crippled the one who killed my father so I don't have anything to complain about." the front door is soon thrown open and a woman struts in like she owns the place. sniffing the air a few times her head snaps in our direction before smiling or rather smiling at the bottles on the table. "Hello Krobelus, this is Nova, my friend."

Krobelus looks away from the bottles and notices Isabella motioning to me and finally looks at me, her face starts to contort before it switches to confusion. I was puzzled by why this little treasure hunter is looking at me like that before I remember my dragon aspect from Bune. channeling Bune to shift into the Pseudo dragon form having my teeth and nails take on an edge and my pupils narrow into slits I wave at her. she sniffs once again and looks happy as she walks over dropping next to me as she continues to sniff me.

"Nice to meet you, I have never seen a dragon like you before. you must be from the human world, but then again you don't have an abundance of light elements so your not a holy dragon." Isabella on the side shakes her head watching her friend but has a slight curve to her lips.

"I am not a full dragon so that could explain the oddity that you are seeing." she stops sniffing me and leans back to get a full look at me and even looks at my nails, after inspecting their sharpness she shrugs.

"Dragon enough I say, I feel like I like you even though I just meet you so that means you are alright in my book." she pulls out a bottle and looks at it checking it compared to the ones I brought out earlier. after finding there the same she pockets her own before bringing out her own glass which is a bit too big for strong liquor. filling it to the brim with the berry flavor she carefully lifts it to her lips not even so much as a drop spills showing her expertise in the act. then with a swift upturn, the contents are gone in less than a second. "Wow! that is some nice flavor, the ones I took from- I mean the ones I bought from the merchant were all a basic flavor but when the berry is added it makes a difference."

"You should try the orange one it is a new blend that hasn't been named yet, just got it from the brewer earlier today." she reaches for it before stopping and looking at me.

"You know who makes these? where are they at I will go with you and we can split it sixty to forty." I shake my head even if I robbed the place I would only be losing even if I was the sixty and I know I am the forty. still to get such a high percentage out of a treasure-hungry dragon she must have a good impression of me from the Bune trait. not sure I like that since it's a bit brain washy but she doesn't seem to be ' tamed ' just from the trait so it's probably not too big of an influence. kind of like you would have a better impression of a good-looking person versus an ugly person.

"I own the place so hitting it for loot would just be a bad idea for me." before she can speak back up Isabella intervenes.

"Hey Krobelus, don't bully him to much he is going to help me with a few things and it would be sad for him to lose his wallet." Krobelus looks reluctant but doesn't bring up a heist anymore.

---------

After talking for a while about Isabella's trip and what Krobelus was up to in the meantime it eventually got to the point Krobelus was curious about what I was doing here. after Izzy explained I was her friend and was helping her deal with some people she even offered to help and wanted to get involved. she seems to be very genuine with her friend and it encourages me to come around to the topic of reincarnating her.

She is an early-stage demon overlord so with double potions and a mutant queen piece and some time to process all that power up she likely will be at peak overlord. not Catherine peak since that's like the peak special edition that is almost into the god-tier rankings. but the peak as in she can beat most of the other demon overlords that aren't close to pushing into god tier.

I ultimately decide it will be best to wait till after looting Paglio's treasury since this dragon girl is obsessed with treasure. Paglio agreed to let me have half the loot in return for helping break both seals and I can just use a few items from that to seduce Krobelus into accepting the piece and reincarnating.

"Well girls it was fun, it was nice to meet you Krobelus but I want to head back and get some sleep. about the thing we talked about earlier Isabella, I think it's a good idea but I think I need to prepare a few things before moving forward." she nods and smiles genuinely, probably happy to be able to include her friend in on all that's going on.

"What are you two talking about?" Krobelus looks back and forth between us and I just wave it away as no big deal.

"Nothing yet Krobelus, but when it's time for something to happen I promise to let you in on the fun." she easily accepts and I head for the door to teleport out of sight of Krobelus. before I leave I summon a pawn I reincarnated and give him enough black crystal coins to buy a building so I can set up a branch in the capital and a teleport circle for basic workers. can't have a circle for the working devils teleporting into Izzy's house that would just be weird and might give something away to anyone watching her place. I will start teaching the queens how to teleport and maybe a few pawns so they can teach the rest since I need to spend my time doing more important things.

Starting tomorrow is operation save Freya and after that, the next big thing should be Athena's birthday or Catherine making it back to her capital. lots to do and lots of progress to make but for now I am going to head home and snuggle with Athena.