11. Misunderstanding. Haki training.

│3rd Person POV│

[Underworld Realm, Gremory Territory, Gremory Mansion, Lord's Study…]

"So, how long have you been thinking about this?"

Sirzechs heard his father ask the question and he couldn't find the hint of dissatisfaction or disapproval in his voice that he expected.

Still, he answered without any delay, "I had sent Grayfia to propose the engagement over a year ago. I have also talked about this topic with Lord Valefor whenever we happen to meet."

Zeoticus looked to be thinking of something for a moment before he commented, "So, after Rias's engagement to Riser was finalized, huh?"

Sirzechs sat a little straighter, waiting for the ball to drop.

He knew this was coming when he thought of the idea of engaging his daughter to the Heir Valefor-Zagan.

He had wanted to stop Rias' engagement, as even at three years old, he could tell that his sister was going to grow up into a fiercely independent woman.

She wouldn't like it once she learns about the engagement at an appropriate age.

However, when he took the seat of Satan Lucifer, he had to break his relationship with the Gremory Clan, so that he wouldn't favor them over others, at least on the surface.

On paper, he was essentially a stranger to the Gremory Clan members.

This rendered him powerless to try to stop the engagement from going through.

In fact, with Morgiana bearing the surname Gremory, his father also has to sign the engagement contract to finalize it.

However, he was prepared in case Zeoticus refused to do so.

"Well, alright then. I agree to this engagement."

Then, Zeoticus signed the contract without any hesitation before handing it back to Sirzechs.

A look of relief appeared on Sirzechs' face for a split second which Zeoticus caught.

He looked at his son with a raised eyebrow and asked, "Did you think there was a possibility of me refusing to sign the contract?"

Sirzechs berated himself inwardly for slipping up. Still, he answered truthfully, "Yes."

Zeoticus sighed and stood up from his seat. He walked over to the cabinet on the side, bringing out an expensive-looking wine bottle and two exquisite glasses.

Taking his seat, he poured wine into both glasses before handing one to Sirzechs.

Sirzechs accepted the glass without a word.

Taking a sip of wine, Zeoticus let out another sigh before he started speaking, "It seems that you have misunderstood my actions, my son."

Sirzechs' hands lifting the glass to his mouth stopped briefly.

After he became one of the Satans, his father very rarely addressed him as 'son'. So, he paid full attention to Zeoticus' words.

"You seem to think that Rias' engagement is just a political move to strengthen the Gremory Clan with the bloodline of the Phenex Clan.

"While that isn't incorrect, the primary reason for this engagement is to bring our two families closer.

"When I had celebrated the news of Venelana being pregnant with a girl with Raymond, he jokingly proposed marrying his third son into our family.

"I thought about this for a long time before finally making the decision. Additionally, if I were really keen on forcing Rias to go through with the marriage even if she didn't want to, I wouldn't have made the Rating Game clause.

"If she doesn't want to go through with the marriage in the future, Rias will have to get out of it through her own effort. She will have plenty of time to do this.

"On the other hand, you are too soft to make it so easy for either Morgiana or Heir Valefor-Zagan to cancel the marriage. They should at least have to struggle to get what they want.

"After all, not everything in the world will happen according to their wishes. Facing some hardships in a somewhat controlled environment will be good for them."

Silence enveloped the Study once Zeoticus finished speaking.

Sirzechs contemplated his father's words for a few moments, before breaking the silence, "I am sorry for misunderstanding the situation, Father."

Zeoticus waved his hand, dismissing the apology, saying, "It's fine. At least you didn't take any impulsive action like having Morgiana drop the Gremory name and take the Lucifuge name."

Sirzechs twitched slightly and Zeoticus noticed it.

His face was expressionless as he asked, "You thought about doing such a thing, right? Was this your backup plan if I refused to sign the contract?"

Sirzechs twitched again as he averted his gaze.

The next moment, Zeoticus stood up abruptly and walked out of the Study. Just before he crossed the door, he said, "I am going to tell this to Venelana."

Sirzechs paled as dread filled his body. He swiftly chased after Zeoticus while calling out in a frantic voice, "Father, wait!"

=+=+=+=< Scene Break >=+=+=+=

│1st Person POV of Serafall Leviathan│

[Underworld Realm, Valefor Territory, Valefor Lord's Mansion…]

I navigated through the Valefor Mansion alone, making my way toward the Training Grounds in the back.

With my frequent visits over the last year, I was very familiar with the layout of the mansion and I don't need a servant to escort me anymore.

Even the people of the mansion stopped freaking out when they saw me strolling around. They would just give me a respectful greeting before going their way.

Nearing the Training Grounds, the sounds of battle reached my ears.

A few seconds later, I came upon the scene of Melio-tan fighting against three young women with a blindfold covering his eyes.

On the side, I saw Mariana and Samara watching the battle. I joined them to spectate the battle too.

Melio-tan was fighting barehanded as were two of his opponents. Only one of his opponents was armed with a spear.

If I remember correctly, all three of his opponents are pawns of his mother.

The blonde-haired one, Sarah Foster, is a quiet woman who specializes in hand-to-hand combat.

The blue-haired one, Isabella Warner, enjoys fighting and is quite skilled with a spear.

And lastly, the tanuki yokai, Makoto. She is a glutton. This is the first time I have seen her without any food in her hands.

All three of them were reincarnated by Mariana using two Pawn Pieces each.

Even still, Melio-tan was easily keeping up with them while being blind.

Deflecting a spear strike from Isabella with a right punch to the shaft of the spear, he leaned back slightly to avoid Makoto's left swing by a hair's breadth.

He then caught Sarah's kick with his right hand, using her like a bat to send Makoto flying before slamming her into the ground.

The fight continued as Melio-tan easily handled three Peak-High Class pawns worth two Evil Pieces each. They were even using Queen Promotion to enhance themselves even further.

And to think he is just 8 years old.

Melio-tan is an anomaly just like Zechs-chan and Ajuka-chan, maybe even more than them.

If people like Zekram get wind of this, they will definitely resort to various nefarious schemes to either bring him under their control or eliminate them.

However, if they tried anything like that, they were going to face the wrath of the usually kind magical girl, Miracle Levia-tan. Hmph!

Apart from So-tan and Zechs-chan, only Melio-tan is the one who wholeheartedly accepts my love and passion for being a magical girl.

I won't let anything harmful happen to him.

Suddenly, I felt an invisible pressure emanating from Melio-tan.

Focusing on the battle, I observed that Melio-tan's opponents were kneeling on the ground, sweat pouring from their foreheads.

Whatever Melio-tan was doing was concentrated on the three of them, as the pressure I was feeling wasn't sufficient to leave Peak-High Class beings in that state.

"This is enough for today, I guess."

Melio-tan spoke, and in the next moment, the pressure vanished, prompting the three pawns to sigh in relief and relax. Their bodies glowed slightly as the strength brought by Queen Promotion faded away.

As Melio-tan removed the blindfold, Mariana and her Queen quickly stepped forward to check them.

Mariana checked over her son while Samara went ahead to help the pawns.

"Are you okay? Does it hurt anywhere?" Mariana asked in a concerned voice.

Melio-tan chuckled lightly as he answered, "Do not worry, Mother. I am perfectly alright. I am not even winded.

"You should be more concerned about your Peerage members. I gave them quite a few bruises after all."

Mariana let out a reluctant reply, "Alright."

As she went towards her Peerage members, Melio-tan walked toward me.

At just 8 years old, he was quite tall. He is only shorter than me by just 2 inches and I am 5 foot 2 inches tall.

At the rate he is growing, he will surpass my height before he even reaches the age of 10.

Why is the world so unfair?!

"Why are you pouting, Sera-nee-chan?" I heard him ask.

"No, I am not pouting."

"You were though."

"No, I was not."

"Hmm… Alright."

Heh, I win.

"By the way, what was the mental pressure thing you did at the end there? And why were you fighting with a blindfold on?"

"I was practicing using a power called Haki. I will tell you the details later. Leaving that aside, did you come here to pick me up?" Melio-tan asked.

"Hmm, I did." A few days ago, Melio-tan suddenly asked to participate in the Four Satans' Bi-Annual Meeting.

When I asked why, he just stated that he had something important he wanted to share with the Four Satans.

The meanie won't even tell me ahead of others.

Maybe he made a spell that is even more impressive than Lightning Armor?

Anyway, he nodded in response to my confirmation before stating, "Let me freshen up, and then we can go. In the meantime, you can hang out with Mother."

Looking over, I noticed that Mariana was coming towards us after checking over her pawns. She had a serious expression on her face and it looked like she wanted to talk to me.

I wonder what this was about.

=+=+=+=< Scene Change >=+=+=+=

│1st Person POV of Meliodas│

[Underworld Realm, New Lilith, Lucifer's Castle…]

This is my first visit to the seat of power of Satan Lucifer.

To say that the place was grand was an underestimation.

I have not yet seen the exterior of the castle, but judging by the interior, it is far grander than Serafall's workplace.

Vast halls, high ceilings, grand staircases, etc. were the basics of every castle.

The true grandness was because of the luxurious decorations such as gold chandeliers adorned with various gems magical in nature, huge tapestries depicting grand battles, elaborate furniture made of high-quality wood, etc.

Additionally, the quality of workers here was really high. All the Devils I have seen taking care of various things were at least at the level of Mid-High Class.

With Serafall pulling me along, we navigated through the castle to reach the Conference Room the Satans used for their meetings.

Her Bishop, Masako Nana, was just behind us. We encountered her in the castle's Teleportation Room, where she had been waiting for Serafall after she ditched her to come pick me up.

Masako is a Seven-Tailed Kitsune Yokai. She usually keeps her tails and ears hidden behind an illusion, however, I have seen them once.

They looked so fluffy. I really wanted to pat them, however, I refrained from doing so as I didn't know if the rumor of Kitsune's ears and tails being intimate was true or not.

Anyway, we reached the Conference Room it seems.

Serafall turned to me and said, "Stay with Masako, alright? I'll return in about an hour to give you a tour of New Lilith."

I accepted her words with a bright smile, "Alright, Sera-nee-chan."

Then, as Masako and I started walking toward the waiting room adjacent to the Conference Room, I activated Thought Acceleration, increasing my thought processing speed by 1000 times.

The next second, I swapped places with my Demonic Shadow Clone who was right beside Serafall all this time with various concealment spells weaved around him.

Just before the swap, my Demonic Shadow Clone anchored all the concealment spells on him onto the stone tile beneath him.

This way, once we switch places, he will become visible at my former location, and I will be invisible at his previous spot.

After the swap, I transferred the anchor for the concealment spells from the stone tile to my clothing.

All of this was done without the use of a single magic circle so the cost of doing such a feat was enormous.

At times like this, I am glad that my Blank and Archmage Essence are so broken that I can afford to bear such energy costs easily.

Anyway, Serafall waved at my clone and started making her way into the Conference Room with me following behind her.

She slammed the door open with a bang and declared cheerfully, "Magical Girl Miracle Levia-tan is here!"

Serafall opening the door in such a way allowed me to easily step into the Conference Room before the doors automatically closed.

After the doors closed, I dropped the various concealment spells, becoming visible to the Four Satans. Although I am sure Ajuka and Sirzechs could still sense me before.

"There was no hiccup with the plan, right?" Sirzechs asked Serafall, his ever-present easy-going smile on display.

Serafall answered with a shake of her head, "Nope. Even I couldn't sense exactly when Melio-tan swapped with his clone."

"That's impressive." Sirzechs commented with a raised eyebrow and looked at me.

The reason why we had to go through such complicated procedures to have me join the meeting was to hide the fact that I was even having a meeting with the Four Satans.

An 8-year-old Devil participating in a meeting with the Four Satans?

The news of such an interesting event would reach all the parties keeping an eye on them within half an hour.

Even Serafall's Serafallnesss couldn't be used as an excuse to warrant such a thing.

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A/N: No special A/N for today.

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