In general, I was very right when I predicted problems with Agrippa even at the stage of conceiving this whole idea with calling Serafall. But I couldn't even imagine that he would decide, firstly, to take it out on Sakura, and secondly, that he would have the audacity to tell me, roughly speaking, to fuck off when I started standing up for her and trying to stop him.
To be even more rude, he basically insinuated that I should go get bent, because during the polite excuse, which he said through his teeth, he looked at me like shit, and then led me to a stationary teleport seal to the Underworld.
I vaguely remembered what all these squiggles meant, and I realized that this was his version of the order to get the hell out, and not an introductory tour of the mansion.
I looked at him, he looked at me - the spark, the storm, the madness, yeah, but in the end he couldn't stand my deliberate incomprehension of hints and slowly, as if for an idiot, he spoke.
"Mistress Rias, please send the energy to the seal. You are capable of that, I hope?"
Agrippa, as he spoke, squinted and folded his paws on his belly, which was clearly some kind of manifestation of his inner challenge to the system, which placed him lower in position than the snotty idiot, me. I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't like my gender either. The carpet is not the wood, uh-huh.
Of course, I would like to ask why, even ask once again what the fuck, if he didn't have a clear answer to "why". But I wasn't an idiot, and I knew what he meant.
And just as I was about to open my mouth to agree and say goodbye, he decided to anticipate my possible protests and decided to sharpen his breadmunching hole on his own. So much so that I somehow even had no desire to agree with anything just like that.
"Mistress Rias, due to the problems in my territory allocated by the Gremory Pillar, I cannot continue your studies, as I have already informed your mother."
Would you figure it out, you slouchy dog, is this your territory, or is it given to you by the Gremory pillar? And I am the Gremory heir, and I don't give a fuck about all your excuses, you piece of rotten meat, pissed on by a rabid elephant.
They tell you to teach magic, but you turn your nose up? What the fuck, mister Pecker?
I only ended up in this world because I wanted to learn all sorts of things, and not for this shit!
Apparently, my thoughts showed on my face, because Agrippa decided to finish his crumpled farewell with me and went to the exit of the hall, in which this stationary seal for teleportation was located.
"Send me my stuff along with Sakura," I threw out after him, which made him stop and look at me questioningly.
"Who is Sakura, mistress Rias?" Agrippa said indifferently and froze in mid-turn, waiting for my answer.
"The tsukumogami-maid," I probably had an inappropriate crooked grin on my face right now. "Who wasn't even given a name after her reincarnation."
"She's a pawn of Master Zeoticus," he shrugged and chuckled, twisting his prominent nose. "If you want to know, I needed it to study the influence of demonic energy on such an unusual entity, and not for some personal relationship. Therefore, there was no such question."
"I take it the research has already concluded? So please transfer her to me. It's not just to accompany my stuff, really," I widened my smile, trying to make it sincere, but somehow I doubt that it turned out as I wanted. "I really liked her tea."
"It's not for me to decide, mistress Rias," he smiled toothlessly and condescendingly at me and shoved his palms into the pockets of his embroidered coat. "Discuss this issue with Mr. Zeoticus."
Yes, just have to catch him between get-togethers with the same old men as him, pounding a harem of concubines or pounding his wife. Of course, I, or better say, Rias, wasn't even allowed near her father at such moments, so I could only guess what he was really doing when they turned her away. It felt like my suspicions were not much different from the real state of affairs.
Honestly, Rias saw her father less often than I did my sociopathic dad in my previous life. Perhaps because, no matter what anyone was making up, he was obsessed with work, and therefore relaxed a little in the company of his family. But the father of this bod was more likely to constantly rest and strain himself just in communicating with his family on serious topics, or with old people like him, if they were not friends, but this useless parliament of theirs in the capital of the Underworld, named after Lilith. After all, the mother was in charge of the businesses that brought income, not him, so Rias didn't see her very often either.
And this Zeoticus guy is also pretending to be the loving one. I had a really loving father in the first of the do-worlds after the first death. He could both support me and suggest killing someone in my name, seriously considering it as one of the solutions to the problem. So the father who arranges your marriage and perhaps doesn't even give you explicit loopholes from this contract is, in my understanding, not a particularly loving father at all. We're not playing Crusader Kings, after all, to play with eugenics. And such a rich pillar as Gremory certainly didn't need anything else. So, he perceived me, as in, Rias, as just a factory for kiddies production, or what?
But for some reason, I didn't feel much negativity towards him when I vaguely recalled all these nuances. Although he's probably the one who arranged this contract for me with the devil knows who, the devil knows how. And it is he who is formally responsible for everything in the Gremory pillar, so messing with the upbringing of Rias, some kind of mentally unstable and extremely glasshouse sloth, is exactly what his action is. Or rather, inaction. Whether it's conscious or not, of course, need to look at it, but it's certainly impossible to call it useful.
But for some reason, I didn't feel much negativity towards him when I vaguely recalled all these nuances. Although he's probably the one who arranged this contract for me with the devil knows who, the devil knows how. And it is he who is formally responsible for everything in the Gremory pillar, so messing with the upbringing of Rias, who is, kind of, mentally unstable and extremely glasshouse sloth, is exactly what his action is. Or rather, inaction. Whether it's conscious or not, of course, need to look at it, but it's certainly impossible to call it useful.
I didn't even have a familiar, as if you could only get it if you obtain an evil piece! Although it wasn't like that at all. Well, it wasn't just me and my entourage at the train station through Ginnungagap - two ordinary devils were going to hand over documents for registration at this station as well. And judging by the presence of Gremory symbols on them, which could be easily removed - a bracelet and a pendant, they were simply subjects from the lands, and not some kind of close servants. Some of those had the symbols right on their clothes, and the oldest representatives could sport tattoos on their palms, necks, or collarbones.
So, that couple of devils, a mother and a son - he was even a little younger than me - were with the familiars. The son periodically tossed his pokemon up, and it whistled merrily - it was some kind of obviously magical bird, because it behaved like a snitch from Harry Potter, that is, it flew fast and deceptively hovered, and at the same time spread small gray lumps of fog around itself.
Back then, when I saw them, I didn't pay much attention to it, because I wasn't up to it, but now, in retrospect, the thought even crept in that my familiar-less state was again some kind of game in the upbringing of Rias. On the other hand, it's even good, because a familiar would quickly burn off the new additions to Rias' soul and my selective amnesia, which affects some trivial things.
I don't understand at all, these devils are waiting for children not just for years, but for centuries - and it's so stupid to waste the formative years of life!
Something doesn't add up here, as far as I'm concerned.
So far, I could notice only the increased sensitivity due to increased mental alertness, as something out of the ordinary, therefore, most likely, the mental development of devils is about the same as that of humans, only more so, like, from extreme to extreme.
After all, this is a well-known topic - the more intelligent a growing being is, the greater its emotional range and overall sensitivity, unless, of course, there is a special case like acquired sociopathy or innate cases of the autistic spectrum. That is, you can sort of process more things with your brain, and that's why feelings sometimes overflow. Because of this, it is necessary to improve control and somehow connect the body and mind together, so that excesses do not occur in adulthood. Therefore, the little devils should be dealt with more care than most human kids, that's a given. It somehow didn't fit in with the trite way Rias's upbringing kept getting slaughtered to the root. And that's despite how valuable kids seem to be to these devils. Bullshit on a stick, there's no other way to explain it. But what exactly is the core of that bullshit?
I sighed and adjusted my leather folder with the PDA and documents, once again lamenting somewhere in the depths of my soul about being in the past, relative to my original self.
In the first two pre-lives, I was reasonably sick of waiting by the sea for the good weather, that is, for sensors on the phone, and for flying Internet on the streets. Except that the past world was pleased with solid-light screens without unnecessary buttons, but even there the Internet was in the style of it seems to be, but it doesn't seem to be. My country didn't have the fastest Internet connection in the world, but it was cheap and affordable. So far, this devilish network has given no reason to complain, but the PDA itself was just a mess made on the knee of some random chinese genius, apparently. The gadget was most likely picked up from humans, and the network was obviously magic. That's why, when we watched cartoons with Akeno, I was pleasantly surprised that it loads without any lag.
Eh, the only thing I agree on with Mr. Asshole, who just left my company, is that I should have continued associating with Akeno. The girl was surprisingly sincere and quite a pleasant companion. Of course, I'll take the phone number from Serafall to call Grigori for any urgent negotiations, but whether Baraqiel will allow it - is a question.
I was actually quite surprised that this angel was Fallen at all - I remembered my first visit in a tour group to the reconstructed Cathedral of Christ the Savior, the one on Volkhonka in Moscow. Of course, people knew about it because of the destruction in Soviet times, and later the pool was built on the foundation for the giant Palace of Councils, the construction of which was postponed and then canceled by World War II. For me it's still the Great Patriotic War, despite two - barely - lives in the United States, and the one right now is literally a devil from Hell.
In my previous life, half the time I was without a clear memory of myself, because in my life before that I tried to kill some crazy deity, better be left unmentioned, honestly. And everything in general was because of the overly adventurous blonde, whom I had an extremely awkward crush on. It's embarrassing, because falling into the same hole is my credo, yes. In the first world, there's a blonde who didn't appreciate me, and in the second world, there's also a blonde who didn't appreciate me.
In general, unforeseen circumstances happened - I don't know what they were, and in my previous life I found myself with single understanding that I was actually once a man, I could swing axes and daggers around, and I remembered some music and random pop-cultural references. In short, my memories of the temples' features definitely did not appear there.
The construction of the pool on the site of the temple was very reflective of the spirit of the era, to be honest, that's why it was very easy to remember. So, going back to Baraqiel, his Orthodox version, sounds like Varahiel, was depicted there with some roses in his hands, above one of the arches. I will need to take a look here - if everything is the same or changed due to the actual Angels walking the land.
Either Baraqiel became Fallen in this world, but this info was not brought to people, or he became Fallen in the last couple of centuries, and then the puzzle will somewhat come together. Both options made the thought turn somewhere odd, to be honest. I'm not up to it right now, of course, but those turns are surely interesting.
If this angel continues to live with his daughter on the surface, as the Fallen sometimes do, judging by their eternal struggle with devils on earth, then I'm unlikely to be able to see them often to maintain this relationship in any way. After all, it's supposed to be kind of impossible for me to own territory and teleport under contracts, while being without active evil pieces. That is, there is no way to explain visits to Earth, and without an alibi, no one will let me hang out with the Fallen. It is necessary to clarify the local history altogether - maybe that temple here did not contain any mention of Baraqiel-Varahiel at all.
And if this bracelet is not deceiving me, then these pieces connect to the soul when you use them to support the reincarnation of a creature into a local version of a demon. And it uses this mechanism of your own demonic energy.
And my soul is already too complicated, so somehow I really doubt the decision to do like all the devils around do, and not in my own way. We need to figure out what's what first, and only then make such important decisions.
Well, I'll have to survive without mine own set of servants, and to hell with them. I'm more concerned about my personal strength, because this is the only thing that can go with me on my reincarnations.
I don't believe that for ordinary devils, without a pillar origin, there are obstacles to contracts concerning servants. If only because all levels of demons go to contracts, from the lowest to the highest, so they could raise their level in hierarchy. Perhaps I just had some memories that I would - stupidly - not be allowed to fulfill contracts if I did not have my base on Earth, and I needed to find pieces for owning that base. That is, again, the conditions that hold me up? Aren't there too much coincidences for it to be accidental?
If it doesn't work out to find a loophole in the marriage contract, then I really will have to drop this beautiful, goetic surname like an old skin, and subsequently develop not only personal strength, but generally climb all the steps of the social ladder, except perhaps the lowest ones. Although is it so bad if you think about building a reputation?
Still, it would be strange if I couldn't technically fulfill the contracts because of the ban on it, and not because of my magical weakness or something like that. As I understand it, registration to be able to port to Earth for all devils born in the Underworld took place - among other ways - during the first visit to Earth via this train through Ginnungagap. It obviously would be stupid to make this train only a one-way option for registering only reincarnated devils.
And after this registration, the devils had automatic permission to visit Earth. It was convenient, and at the same time it turned into a kind of rite.
The devils got to teleporting only by the sigils of the pillars and their derivatives, so it is obvious that ordinary demons had to, figuratively speaking, belong to one pillar or another in order for their contracts to be available to Earth. Perhaps this is how I could have been banned from running around to earn a reputation for myself without pieces, on bald enthusiasm. After all, although I was born into the status of a high-level devil, in fact I was definitely not treated that way. Improving attitudes of others could be achieved by gaining strength and reputation. Reputation would be the first, even, because any devil can kill someone with magic, with or without the power of the pillar, but the reputation?
Rias's reputation among her own people was something like "a lazy princess rolling balls of destruction on the power of not giving a fuck," rather than "a child prodigy with a claim to the ultimate class of demonic power." It was too early to blame myself, that is, the past Rias, because no matter how you look at it, a child cannot develop independently on their own, even if that child has plenty of brains, but no motivation.
In general, my main problem and at the same time the question was the attitude of those who, in theory, should have helped me.
And I got the answer when I finally moved back home to the Underworld and was filled with fucking disgust mixed with wonder at my mother's reaction to the disrupted lessons.
More precisely, the lack of reaction.
But when I asked her to let me see the marital agreement, she raised her eyebrows expressively and very kindly began to ask me where I got such ideas from. Of course, I dismissed it, as if I just want to look at the contract, because of the desire to work with legislation in the future, or some other nonsense, if only she would just back off and comply with the request.
The mother of this body was a gorgeous madame. She had huge boobs - God have mercy from such a growth, long dark flaxen hair - my coloring was transmitted to me through the Gremory line, and a condescendingly kind tone of voice that gave off the unnaturalness of the emotions conveyed.
And so, under the weighty gaze of my mother, I looked at a small stack of the contract, sweated, turned pale and cursed in the depths of my soul. As a joke, I could have asked for vodka half a liter, and I probably would have done so, if it hadn't been for the mother acting like a vulture. But seriously, this body is actually not that much years old, and Rias is definitely not a super-master of the Underworld laws. And, again, they - stupidly - won't let me take this contract and poke around in the library. Nanny took it out of the safe in papa's office, unpacked it with her personal magic seal, sat me down at Zeoticus's desk and hung over to the side, so that I wouldn't do anything with the only copy in their hands, uh-huh.
I had an idea to just fart my fog of destruction towards the pieces of paper, but I was stopped by the fact that this crap was probably, logically, certified in a special way and in two copies. Even humans have figured it out - you should expect no less from devils.
I suddenly wanted to chew on khinkali or some kind of kebab - apparently, this body is getting nervous. But I doubt very much that I'll be in the kitchen in the next couple of hours.
I pulled the papers towards me and began to read them persistently and dementedly.
Persistently, because I didn't stop, even when my mother began to show with all her glances and noises how much she didn't like hovering over me here.
Dementedly, because I didn't understand shit anyway, for the most part. And so I just tried to remember all the references to other laws that I could find, all the reasons that were indicated as the main ones for such a contract without the consent of the ones getting married, well, I tried to remember all the personal names that were found there..
I ended up with tears in the corners of my eyes, pursed lips, and increased hunger.
I didn't find any loopholes, but it was too early to give up. It felt like devils were making it up under some kind of Roman law offshoot. From the time when there is official slavery, and the head of the family is, of course, a dude, who owns everything in the family, including the rest of the family, and even more so non-dudes. Some son of the Phenex pillar, number three, was supposed to be my husband here, and the formal reason was indicated - to actually merge the Phenex and Bael lines. I'm not fucking Bael, if anything! Let him, that antediluvian piece of fossil, rent out his penis, and not create problems for me, by the God!
And yes, Zekram Bael is absolutely behind everything - the very original Baal from the fucking mythological tales, one of the few first pillar demons who lived up to the twenty-first century.
My mother gathered the papers from the table, put them back in the safe, and quickly performed the entire sealing ritual, which I watched with painful nervousness.
She, looking at my facial expression after reading and realizing the whole ass of it all, advised me with a grin.
"Dear, instead of going into your outlandish ideas, you could better think about how you will greet your fiance at your Birthday. I have already approved the guest list and, of course, representatives of the Phenex pillar will be there!"
Instead of telling her where I saw these Phenexes and her insinuations, I did the wiser thing and tried to get away from these insinuations.
"I don't know what you're talking about. I just wanted to read a contract that is directly related to me! I have been very interested in the laws of the Underworld lately, and I think I can associate my future activities to this..."
"Darling," Venelana interrupted me, sighed and looked at me as if I were something amorphous and brainless. "Even if you really want to do something related to that, it definitely shouldn't be a priority right now. It should be important for you to find a common ground with the young Riser Phenex. After all, you understand that there is simply no escape from marriage, not without consequences for you. So wouldn't it be better to do what's best for everyone? You told me yourself that you liked playing with Milikas, because he's such a cute kid! If you get married, fate may as well give you one of your own! And with young Phenex, the main thing is not to quarrel, because they have made concessions, and your children will be Gremory, and you will remain in your place in the family. Just look at the big picture, Rias, and stop resisting the will of your elders. You know deep down that it's better this way..."
"I understand your opinion," I said, feeling my lungs bursting from the inside out with impotent anger.
This happened when I was an ordinary human teenager against the crazy ghouls, who were sparkling in the sun, and when I was not quite so ordinary human teenager against the crazy ghouls, who - more logically - burned in the sun, and when I was a teenager in a world where human souls and their emotions were hunted by the Grimm monsters, but at the same time however, people still found ways to shit aplenty under each other's noses.
"I think you understand, dear Rias, that neither father nor I are going to support you in wanting to break the contract," mother's tone became more ingratiating and soft. And my breathing almost lost its rhythm, although I tried not to show how exceedingly I got annoyed.
I even waited for the notification of the sin of Wrath, but strangely enough, I did not get it.
"Daughter of mine, the Pillars and the governance system of the Underworld based on them, give us, the pureblood devils, more than all the creatures in the Underworld, but they also require us to return the favor. The number of pure-blooded devils is small, and our special powers may disappear in the half-bloods. You're lucky to have Bael's bloodline added to your Gremory blood. The same thing, just let's be honest, much stronger and better, happened with Sirzechs. And that's why he's Lucifer now."
"I understand it all, you don't have to continue," I tried to escape from the conversation, but she stopped me and decided to finish me off anyway.
"You, Rias, do not possess his special mutation of Bael's power, which allows him to be the main boogeyman not only to the Underworld, but also of the Heavens. And other pantheons, too. You should listen to your elders and make an effort. You are not required to lead a revolution against the Old Satans, you do not need to seek power and knowledge in order to survive and end tyranny. All this has already been done before you, Rias,"
She irritably folded her arms under her chest and bent down to my eye level, causing, for some reason, my heart to press painfully against my ribs in obvious fright and some other emotion, a mixture of everything in a row, to be honest, that I couldn't even really identify.
"Do your duty and stop looking for a way out where you need to look for an opening, at last!"
Of course, I really wanted to say something like "the consequences of my refusal will be for the pillar, not for me," and thus I would have given out my already formed plan. After all, if nothing comes out with a more peaceful option, then give up this fucking Pillar and raise a terrible stink from here, from Hell, and up to to the Seventh Heaven. The last heavenly courier, whose job is to carry Michael's slippers, would know about my resentment, and I won't give a shit about the consequences, not for the pillars, and not even for Brother Lucifer personally.
But for now, I need to understand why these words from my mother immediately increased the sin called Acedia, judging by the message from the bracelet.
No, I really felt kind of nauseous, but I thought, sin is supposed to be something that depends on my decisions and actions?
And what exactly, then, would be this Acedia?