Chapter 15: The Red Dragon Emperor Meets His Cooking Master

"Eh?" That single syllable came out from the mouth of a surprised and confused Sona. The visitors stared in bewilderment at Jon's reaction, who soon realized that he was too disrespectful to people that, perhaps, Sirzechs wanted him to meet. Then, he coughed lightly into his fist. 

"I'm sorry about that. It was a surprise for me. Who might you be?" 

"I brought you here to introduce you," Sirzechs smiled amiably as he pointed to the woman beside him. "Here, right next to me, is Venelana Gremory, formerly Bael. She is my mother. Behind her, is my father. Zeoticus Gremory. I also brought my beautiful and adorable younger sister, Rias!" 

Jon tilted his head slightly. Venelana was a woman who didn't seem to have that big of an age gap with her own children. Her hair was long and brown. Her eyes were a pretty violet color, as she wore a white dress that showed off her shoulders. Zeoticus, behind her, was a tall man, also young looking. Crimson hair and a rather nice beard. He was wearing an outfit the same color as his wife's dress: white.

As for Rias, she was also beautiful, as all the women of the Devil race seemed to be. Crimson hair like her father and brother, bright blue eyes, and a curious expression.

"It's a pleasure to meet you all. My name is Jon Snow, and I became friends with Sirzechs a short time ago. I hope we'll get along."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Venelana said in a soft voice. "Sirzechs has few friends, so it's a joy to see a new one. You can come to our home for a visit, or if you need anything."

Zeoticus nodded behind him.

"By the way... the lady over there..." Jon looked at Sona curiously.

"It's Sona Sitri, the younger sister of a friend, Serafall Leviathan."

 "Ah, the Demon King Leviathan," Jon nodded, recognizing the name. "It's nice to meet you too. And even though you haven't seen me before, I have seen you. Thank you, by the way."

"That's true. You recognized her right away. How?" Rias asked curiously. "I don't think Sona has traveled to America."

"That's true. I haven't. I'm just curious."

Jon smiled a little. "When I first came to New York, I had food, but I didn't know anything about cooking," he shrugged for a moment before continuing. "I had the TV connected to the Underworld network, so I had a lot of channels. I just happened to see her making a cake recipe."

"Honestly, it was the first thing I ever ate that I made with my own hands. It turned out pretty good! For that, thank you."

Everyone blinked. Rias looked at her friend a little surprised. She didn't know that she attended an Underworld TV show. But most of all, she could see her stoic friend blushing a little and trying to hide it with her typical eyeglasses movement!

"W- Well... You're welcome. I didn't think... I would actually be useful to anyone."

Sirzechs, who watched everything, decided to quickly intervene. He knew perfectly well that his sister would take advantage of it to make fun of her friend. "Jon, would you like to have dinner with us?"

"Of course. Since you're inviting me, I don't see why I should decline. Besides, I have nothing to do," Jon nodded with a smile. "I just... hope your wife isn't mad at me."

"Ah... Don't worry!"

"So you're the one hiding Sirzechs," Venelana commented with a smile of pure amusement.

"He was the one who bought me my shop. I couldn't just reject him after such kindness."

. . . .

In the Gremory mansion, everyone was sitting at a long table, with comfortable and large chairs. The food cooked by the Gremory cooks was, in Jon's words, quite good. However, despite not mentioning it, he thought that his was better. 

Grayfia, who saw her for the second time, was not angry as he thought. 

"I don't mind my husband being relaxed, but he tends to overdo things, so I have to keep a close eye on him so he doesn't do crazy things," was what she said. 

"In the past, when he had a night of fun with Azazel, they almost blew the top of a building off," she mentioned with a cold expression. Jon could only snort, he could imagine something like that. 

They all seemed to be incredibly kind, for Devils. Although, Jon could see where Sirzechs was coming from with his personality. His parents really were relaxed and there didn't seem to be a single speck of evil in them, for Devils. 

 Rias and Sona even had their groups with them, so he was able to meet them as well. Though, out of everyone, the one he talked to the most was Kiba Yuuto. That boy was seemingly too bright, but his behavior was the closest thing to a good gentleman from his world. He was sure he would do well in that place. 

After eating dessert, everyone got up while Jon was invited to spend the night at the Gremory mansion. 

"Wouldn't it be a bother?"

"Don't worry," Zeoticus shook his head. "We don't have as many visitors as we would like. Besides, I would also like to have a talk alone with you."

"… Fine. I understand. Thank you for the hospitality."

Zeoticus smiled before walking out with his wife and son, while Rias gave him a tour of the mansion, alongside Sona. 

"I didn't think the Red Dragon Emperor would suddenly appear in a ranking game battle," Rias commented as they walked down a hallway. Jon immediately noticed how luxurious the mansion was. Floor with carpets, expensive looking vases, portraits and paintings on the walls, golden chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. Flowers and pretty arrangements of all sorts.

"By the way, can I ask about your last transformation? I didn't think the Boosted Gear could do that."

"Hmm… Did you hear Ddraig's voice before the transformation?"

"His voice?"

"Burning Blood… that was what the dragon's voice said, right?" Sona said calmly.

"Yes. That was literally what we did. A few months ago, through sheer luck, I was able to obtain some of Ddraig's blood. I absorbed it, but when I was fighting, I really wanted to win. So I asked him to burn the blood that formed his bloodline into my body. I guess you could call it an evolution of my Balance Breaker."

"Such a thing…" the two girls looked at him in shock. "Didn't you lose vitality from that?!"

 "Yeah. But we already figured that out," Jon nodded confidently. 

Rias stared at him for what seemed like long minutes. Until she said, "Do you want to join my Peerage?"

Jon looked at her curiously before smiling. "No. I'm sorry, but no. I really don't want to get tied up like that with you devils."

"Ugh... Even though I knew, I still had to ask. It didn't hurt," Rias pouted slightly, while now, Jon was looking at her out of the corner of his eye. She remembered Sirzechs telling her about her sister's engagement. She was probably looking for allies herself to get out of that engagement. 

"Sorry for the question that might sound weird, but, do you have internet here, right?"

"Sure. I'll give you the password later. Do you have something to do?"

"Ah, it's not important. I just wanted to watch the Gundam episode. I didn't want to miss it!"

Rias blinked. "You like anime?!"

"Uh… yeah? I watch it from time to time," Jon stepped back slightly as Rias got too close. The girl's eyes sparkled before she stepped back, realizing what she had done. She coughed lightly into her fist. "I… see. It's cool."

"That's right…", looking at Sona, who looked at him curiously, Jon said, "You're Serafall's sister. She plays a magical girl, right?"

"Uh… oh…", Sona's eyes widened before she took a step back. "Well, erm… yeah."

"It turned out to be true, partner," Ddraig decided to speak up at that moment, drawing the attention of the two girls. More from Sona, who wanted to immediately end the topic about her sister.

"You're Ddraig? The true dragon of domination? It's nice to meet you."

 "Good afternoon, Rias Gremory. You too, Sona Sitri," the gem in Jon's hand flickered at Ddraig's words.

"The Demon King, it turned out to be Miracle Levi-tan after all!"

"W-Why do you seem so excited?" Sona deflated upon hearing Ddraig's voice.

"It's part of our leisure time," the sealed dragon commented. "When my partner has nothing else to do, she usually watches TV or surfs the internet. At first, I didn't think it was her. But, the more I watched, the more I remembered the girl who can make things explode with her icy glow."

Rias began to laugh upon hearing such a description. "Yes! That's Serafall-sama!"

"Please don't laugh! If my sister glows, she could destroy entire countries!" Sona cried out in exasperation.

"It's okay. Sorry, Sona," Rias said, but she had a smile that clearly said she wasn't sorry at all. "Come on. Maybe we can play some chess with Jon."

"Chess? Are you guys also good like Sirzechs?"

 "I don't know if I'm as good as my brother, but I can give Sona a run for her money. And she's one of the best in the world!"

"Really? Then I'd like to play. I also have a similar game with me. Maybe, I could teach you."

"A game similar to chess? Go? Shogi?"

"No. I know them, but I don't know how to play those two. What I have is called Cyvasse," Jon smiled, thinking that he never expected to have to create that game from his world. When he was little, Maester Luwin taught him how to play, but he never really cared about it, to the point that he had forgotten about it until he played chess for the first time with Sirzechs.

Sona looked at Jon intently at that moment. "It's a game I hadn't heard of."

 "Unlike chess, there are twenty pieces per person. Therefore, the board is larger. Also, you have to place your pieces strategically before starting a game. The goal, as it should be for these kinds of games, is to kill the King. Of course, it's not that easy, as some pieces can only be eliminated by specific others. Although, the King can be eliminated by anyone."

"Sounds interesting. I'd like to try it out," Sona said immediately.

"Then I'll go get my GameBoy. It'll definitely be a couple of hours before you let me play. Petty!"

"No, I... ! Tch, I don't even know why I'm talking back to you, Rias."

"Heh heh heh~ That's because you're way more vulnerable than you want to show."

"Humph," Sona snorted as Jon looked at her with some curiosity. That little gesture, was rather cute in her opinion.

Anyway, she was hoping to have a fun night while waiting for Zeoticus to want to have that talk she mentioned.