Author's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Scott Fellman.
AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!
"Stop screaming in our heads! You're not helping at all! " Bella yelled at me, and I finally stopped screaming mentally.
"I panicked! What happened, Lucius?! I thought you said 20 thousand at the most! " I asked Lucius quickly. Lucius gave me an apologetic look, though I noticed he looked slightly pale.
"Operating and calculating with false data?" Lucius said timidly. "I didn't have the time to meet any of the succubi personally, so my power worked under the assumption that they would only transmit the message to the devils of Lucifaad. There are devils from all territories here." Lucius relayed, and I grimaced. Really, did his power have to be mistaken just now? I turned and looked at Sirzechs and Lucifer.
Sirzechs looked surprised and almost sad, while Lucifer's face was slightly pale, and I could see her mind rapidly calculating.
"Okay, so how do we solve this… little problem?" I said with a shaky smile.
"Little one?! There are over 100,000 devils here! Even with my 200 people working as hard as possible, it'll take hours! Many hours!" Lucifer exclaimed, gritting her teeth. I grimaced.
"We can't keep everyone waiting for hours," Sirzechs said with a frown.
"I... could set up a time bubble," I said immediately, my mind racing. They both looked at me immediately.
"Can you cover such a large area?" Sirzechs asked curiously. I grimaced.
"Not everyone, just us and Lucifer's group. They can spend hours inside, while minutes outside. The devils only have to enter the bubble to complete all the paperwork and distribution, and then leave the bubble. For them, it will take them a few minutes in here. For those outside, it will only take a fraction of a second to enter and exit." I said quickly.
"That... might work," Lucifer said thoughtfully. "How long can you keep the bubble going?" she asked. I shrugged.
"As long as it takes," I said. Lucifer nodded. "We'll need more food." I said solemnly. Sirzechs nodded.
"Grayfia, I need you to take care of that. Spare no expense. Bring everything you can," Sirzechs said immediately.
"Yes, Lord Lucifer."
"Wait!" Lucius interrupted. Grayfia looked at him questioningly. "We don't need food," Sirzechs said. Everyone looked at him in disbelief. He cleared his throat. "At the very least, not just bringing it in. What we need are distributors, and vendors. Devils who will come and stay so we can continue selling daily and keep a supply going. At least until we can sustain ourselves," Lucius said quickly.
"What do you have planned?" Sirzechs asked. Lucius pulled out a small stack of papers.
"This is a proposal for them. If you can meet with them and see if they'll accept it, that would be fine. But I think they'll accept free building and land, less taxes than they're used to, and the same selling price. It's a bigger profit for them. They'll take advantage of it immediately," Lucius said confidently before looking at me. He quickly relayed the entire contents of the contract. I nodded in his direction.
Grayfia took the papers and looked at them before looking at Sirzechs.
"Mr. Malfoy is right; the city needs distributors. But we need to be quick. Meet with them all simultaneously and quickly, show them the contract, and make sure they understand it's urgent. Don't negotiate with them. If they say no at first, just kick them out and look for other devils." Sirzechs said coldly.
"It will be done, Lord Lucifer." Grayfia said as she bowed before disappearing with a teleportation circle.
" Um, guys, people are starting to get restless," Enid interrupted. We all turned around, and I could tell. They were all confused. They'd been caught staring at the city, but once the surprise wore off, there was now restlessness and anxiety. They were starting to stir among themselves. I grimaced.
"I don't like doing this…" I groaned slightly. I swallowed the brass and began to burn it. Emotional Allomancy, is the ability to influence and calm the emotions of those around me. It wasn't something I'd used much—in fact, almost not at all. So, I wasn't the best at using this skill. But my powers as a Mistborn were developed enough that I could affect everyone present.
Lord Ruler Rashek could control hundreds of thousands of people at once and render them completely apathetic, another form of control over his empire. He could even control the creatures he created with emotional Allomancy from hundreds of miles away. He was truly adept as an emotional manipulator.
As far as I could tell. 100,000 devils. That wasn't too many. I let my general calming spread throughout the territory. I made sure not to suppress them too much. I only calmed the anxiety, restlessness, annoyance, anger, and rage. There was no need to render them completely apathetic.
The effect was almost immediate. Many of the devils who were restless calmed down completely and flew peacefully. That didn't stop the chatter among them in any way, though. It simply worked as a general tranquilizer. It had worked, but I could feel the tension in my body as the brass burned inside my stomach, and I continued to use my ability constantly.
"It's okay, that's weird. I can feel you trying to influence my emotions. How are you doing that?" Sirzechs asked, grimacing.
"Sorry, I couldn't think of anything better." I gave him an apologetic smile. "It's not mind control… not really. I'm simply calming certain negative emotions. And it's localized, so I can't direct it." I explained lightly. Sirzechs nodded.
"All right, hold on as long as you can. We need to quickly explain everything that's happening," Sirzechs said simply.
"Before that, we need a system for allocating the houses. Not to different sections; we've already worked that out. But many people will be upset if we start on a first-come, first-served basis," Lucifer pointed out. I grimaced.
"Randomly?" I asked tentatively.
"Do you have any way to do this?" Lucifer asked, raising an eyebrow. I hummed. I transmuted an orange box with a small hole where someone's hand could fit and held it in my hands. Then, I created small tokens with numbers on them in the air. I quickly manipulated them and shoved all the tokens inside the box. Finally, I began casting a few spells on it.
"There you go. This box contains tokens with numbers from all the buildings in the educational zone. I've enchanted it so they can't guess, and it's completely random. Just have the devils take one of these tokens to make it their new home. They can't complain if it's their luck." I said simply.
"Easy and efficient. The tokens can't be duplicated, so it's impossible for us to make a mistake when assigning houses. Perfect," Lucifer said, as I nodded. "We just need a way to move the boxes between all of us." Lucifer hummed. I sighed and charmed it again.
"Okay, just say the name of the box, it's simply the name of the area, and the box will fly towards you. It's enchanted so that it will go to the first person who calls it, and unless that person drops it, it won't move again, so you have to be quick. Call the box, grab it, have the devils take out a token, and drop it again." I replied quickly.
"Excellent," Lucifer said simply. "Now we need a place where we can accommodate the devils. I don't think there's a place in the city for that," Lucifer said as he looked down. "I grimaced.
"How many of you are there?" I asked Lucifer.
"217." She said immediately. I nodded. I flexed the Philosopher's Stone again, and several pillars began forming from the ground before creating a massive rectangular platform.
Desks and chairs quickly appeared, along with stacks of papers and other office supplies. Each desk had a number hanging on the front, up to 217. I also created the missing boxes and index cards before quickly enchanting them.
"Will that be enough?" I asked. Lucifer nodded.
"Perfect." She said simply before turning around and signaling to the group of devils. The entire group immediately flew to one of the seats, preparing everything. Each one had a solemn look on their faces as if they were about to engage in mortal combat. But seeing as they were facing over 100,000 devils and a lot of paperwork, perhaps it was.
"Okay, we're all set. Now..." I cleared my throat and placed my hand over my throat. I looked at the large crowd and opened my mouth. " SILIII ...
"Welcome all of you to my city! Pentagram City! You all know why you're here. For one reason or another, you decided to take a chance and move to this completely new city without any proof that it would benefit you. I'm pleasantly surprised by the support. I'm beyond flattered by your trust in me, so I will reciprocate that trust."
"The houses and the demarcated lots are free for everyone present." The hubbub began once more. This time, it was one of complete joy. I hadn't suppressed any positive feelings, so the excitement was real.
"Silence!" I shouted again. Everyone immediately fell silent. I sighed. "As I said, it's free, as long as you make sure you follow the instructions I'm about to give you. There are a lot more devils than we initially thought. Don't worry; there's room for everyone. But we were forced to... expedite the whole process."
"I'll place a time bubble. Time will pass faster inside than outside. You'll make 217 rows at the marked points—" I waved my hand, and 217 numbers appeared in the air, magically. Just far enough apart that they could be easily arranged.
"-Stay organized and without pushing anyone. Then, you will immediately enter the time bubble when you see the devil in front of you exit the bubble. For you, it will feel like a split second. So everything will be over very quickly."
"Once inside, please follow the instructions you'll be given. You'll have to fill out some basic information, and then you'll be assigned one of the available houses. For now, that's all it will be. In the following days, we'll go door to door to complete all the residency paperwork in more detail so that everything is in your name and in proper order."
"The houses are habitable, except for a few things. They just need to install some basic services. That's what the group of devils dressed in neon orange are for. They'll be going to your homes to complete the instalation. Please cooperate with them so the installation is quick."
"And one last warning. If you recognize her, she's my queen, Bellatrix Black. She'll be the one to make sure everyone stays in order. So don't cause any trouble, please cooperate. Or not, I'm sure my queen would like to have a little fun. And… that would be all. Once again, welcome to my city. I'm happy that you've all chosen to start living here. I hope I don't disappoint you."
I sighed in exhaustion once I finished explaining everything. When would this day end? I looked at the devils, who immediately began to form ranks. The succubi were already at the front, as they were the closest. I gestured to Fengxian once more, asking her to come closer.
Fengxian immediately approached.
"Lady Prince?" she asked. I sighed.
"The brothels are completely finished. The area temporarily painted red is where they're located." I pointed to the ground, and Fengxian looked there immediately. "The main building is a perfect replica, while everything else was rebuilt and improved. Do you want to distribute yours to the succubi, or should we? By the way, it will be completely random." I asked simply.
"I have no problem, and I'm sure the others won't either. Although I'm sure some of them would prefer to live near the brothel," Fengxian said. I nodded.
"We'll keep that in mind. If anyone isn't satisfied with their accommodation, they can file a complaint in the next few days. We can't promise we'll be able to fix it, but if there are enough of you who want to move, we can swap places." I said with an apologetic smile. Fengxian nodded.
"Okay, anything else?" Fengxian asked, and I shook my head.
"Is Marion okay?" I asked, and she nodded.
"Just as you wished, she teleported to your mansion and waited there." Fengxian said directly, I nodded.
"Well, Lavish Chateau is also finished, so you can tell her it's ready once you settle in. You can visit the brothel and then go to the mansion to find her and help her teleport directly." I said. Fengxian nodded. With a few parting words, Fengxian walked away once more.
I looked at the devils behind me and sighed.
"Okay, shall we get this started?" I used my time bubble on all of us.
I'd like to say the next few hours flew by in a blur, but it was downright tedious. Keeping the crowd, the time bubble, and everything else calm with my magic was mildly annoying and quite boring. We were inside the bubble for almost 12 hours.
I certainly couldn't create food with a complicated structure. Still, it was too easy to replicate coffee, something I started offering after the first 15 minutes because anxiety got the better of me first.
All government workers welcomed the coffee like blood to a vampire. The taste of that creation with the Philosopher's Stone counted for using the Faery Feast perk, making it a magically enhanced coffee. It made all the devils moan with pleasure.
Once we were finished inside the time bubble, nearly 75% of the city's housing was handed over to the devils. So I was finally able to break the time bubble. All the bureaucratic devils collapsed right there. Half went home to sleep, but the other half fell asleep on chairs or the floor nearby.
Bella stood outside, keeping the lines in order with a menacing glare. Luckily, thanks to my ability to calm everyone down, no one dared to cause any trouble, and all the devils began to leave for their new homes.
The construction devils began their work; luckily, there were more than 1,000 of them working at the same time. Unfortunately, there were too many houses. It took them almost 10 hours to finish everything.
I was sure more than one person would have complained if their emotions were normal. I just hoped they wouldn't be a problem tomorrow when all the effects finally wore off, and maybe they'd understand what had happened.
Throughout this process, Grayfia had arrived with several signed contracts. Just as Lucius had expected. The devils she'd signed contracts with began arriving, and since I was no longer busy maintaining the time bubble, I started building and modifying the locations where the food stalls would be located.
Once that was done, I created giant arrows with a magic sign to point everyone to where they could stock up on food and other essentials.
It was already dusk when everything was finished, and all the devils were settled in their homes. The construction devils had also taken care of installing the lights on the streetlights, so the city was well lit. I could finally breathe calmly and release the effect of emotional calm.
"You really did it." Sirzechs said, thoroughly surprised. I groaned in exhaustion as I was finally able to stop using all the metals in my body.
"And I'm terribly tired. I want to go to sleep." I grunted annoyedly. Sirzechs laughed lightly.
"Go, you've earned it. Everything's done for today. Hopefully, nothing will happen for the rest of the night," Sirzechs said simply with a smile. "Congratulations, Serena, on building a new city." Sirzechs smiled. I groaned.
"Thanks, but I'm tired. We'll talk tomorrow… if I wake up." I groaned in exhaustion. Sirzechs laughed.
"Very well, we'll talk about the opening party later." Sirzechs said.
"Yes, yes, s-" I stopped stiffly. I shakily turned to Sirzechs, who just smiled widely at me and disappeared with his teleportation circle. "Bastard! Come back here! " I exclaimed to the air. I groaned loudly. No, I wouldn't think about another party, which was a problem for future Serena. I'm Too tired to bother.
"Lady Prince, congratulations." Lucifer said as she approached. I groaned once more.
"Lucifer. Thanks for the hard work." I said with a tired smile. She nodded. "Is there something important to discuss? Can it wait until tomorrow? " I asked immediately. Lucifer stopped and nodded.
"Very well, we'll talk tomorrow. Get some rest, Lady Prince." I nodded.
"By the way, if you still don't have a place to sleep, use the middle area, the government zone. There are housing areas for those who work for the city. You decide where to live." I said simply. Lucifer looked surprised, but I just opened a portal and stepped into it.
There was still more to do before I could completely relax. But… I felt a deep sense of pride in my chest when I saw the fully constructed city. All this was a burden, something I didn't want, more responsibilities than I needed or wanted. But now, it was my city, and I was proud of it.
Author's Notes: The city creation is finally finished! I didn't think it would end so soon! Well, there are still some things left to do, but most of it, the important part, is already finished! So in a short time I will finally be able to start with the DxD canon!
A/N: If you liked the story, join my patreon, patreon.com/Camellya_Addams, there are up to 10 chapters in advance, thank you. Or you can also visit my Ko-Fi, ko-fi.com/camellya_addams.