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The following is a fan-based

FICTION

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Chapter 14: Clashing Forces

I hummed quietly as I started to play around with the blocks Millicas was offering.

Currently the general plan was to create a massive 250 blocks high tower, make some courtyard all around it and then go for a small hospital.

"Hmph." I blinked on the side, seeing Vali as the teen continued brooding in one of the couches, relatively away from the two leaders of the Gremory but decided to keep to an acceptable distance to where I was.

A power-play? Again?

I guess that this was more of him picking the 'lesser evil' inside the room and just deciding to keep close in case of any strange situation happened.

It was a pretty awkward disposition, but from the lack of annoyed reactions from both grandparents I just decided to roll with it.

The small red-haired boy blinked, eyes focused on the foundations of the tower and the developing inner-works.

Yes, I was literally spending time and effort in getting the insides of an imaginary tower to appear as 'realistic' as possible. I wasn't a Lego madman, but this time I was actually enjoying the eager interest of the young Gremory while leading the operations.

It was around twenty minutes in the work that Millicas decided to start some questioning.

"Hekishoku-san?" Red-eyes glanced my direction briefly to see if I caught his call and he returned back to the building once he saw me nodding. "I know this might sound improper but… you are not a Devil, aren't you?"

I paused just a single moment, blinking and then nodding once more. "That would be correct, Millicas."

I could see the child getting intrigued by this very small details. "But you also are not a Fallen Angel?"

Nodding again, I decided to give some more details. "That is correct too. I am a Magician."

Red eyes frowned at that answer and the boy stopped once more. "A Magician?"

"A Magician is someone that is specialized in the use of Spell-craft. There are Devils and Fallen Angels that deem themselves as such, but the backbone is made by humans with high magical attitude."

The child looked in awe at this discovery. "So they could work well with a Bishop piece?"

...Oh right, Millicas did state in Canon that he was already planning how to compose his future peerage this early.

I gave him an uncertain nod as I wasn't that much keen in studying how really the Rating System worked. I was so much focused with how things worked that I generally ignored what kind of rules it make use of.

Even through Canon explained it well, I generally skipped those parts because… I wasn't that much interested in something related to Chess.

I didn't despise the game, it was more of a dislike caused by the fact I failed to memorize how the pieces moved on the board and by the fact people seemed to have some obsession with it and compare it to real life.

"I… think so, yes." I answered. "If I remember correctly Bishops are those who have large magical reserves-"

"And are mostly revered as support units in a Rating Game." The boy nodded in agreement and I smiled at him.

"You are quite interested in Rating Games?" Another nod, this time some child-like glee present as he looked like a boy talking about his favorite sport team.

"Yes. I wish to get a powerful but balanced peerage." He blinked as I started to pat his head unconsciously, but then he nodded at the gesture.

"I bet you are going to win some of the tournaments if you keep this determination up." I commented quietly. "But do remember to be careful about every matches."

"I will." He proclaimed quickly, blushing a little at the sudden outburst. "I-I mean-"

"No, that's alright. That is the determination I am talking about." I interrupted, still patting his head. "That is what will lead you to some victories in the future."

He blinked once, then twice. Finally his smile returned and he nodded again. "Thank you for your kind words, Hekishoku."

"You are welcome, Millicas."

We shared a chuckle as we returned back to the construction block but I managed to catch a glimpse of Rias' parents glancing at the scene with a pleased look.

Vali merely glanced at what had just happened, possibly thinking little of it and surely going to forget it few minutes later.

"It has to be quite difficult for a human to keep up with the standards of Grigori." Zeoticus finally asked after so many minutes of quiet watching. "Azazel must consider you highly to have you partnered with such..."

He glanced at Vali, the host of the Vanishing Dragon ignoring such action.

"Peculiar individual."

I nodded, understanding the curiosity. "I was found by Azazel-sama." I explained. "And he trained me for the first three days after I joined Grigori."

"You have to have left quite the impression to get Azazel-san's interest." Venelana pointed out. "The man might be eccentric, but he would be this earnest only with those that manages to catch his attention."

"I did 'win' against a rogue Fallen Angel back where I live and he was impressed by my 'potential'."

The woman giggled regally. "That man, he can be quite the mysterious leader once in a while."

"Indeed dear, but I find it interesting that he decided to send Sougyoku-san too for the occasion."

… "E-Excuse me but, what?"

The Lord Gremory blinked curiously at my confused reaction but continued to explain.

"After hearing what happened in Kyoto, I asked to Azazel if I could engage the ever-mentioned by Yokai faction, Hekishoku-san, to babysit my young grandson." He paused a moment, then sighed. "He stated that he would accept the request only if I had Sougyoku-san to join you for the task."

I blinked, my confusion hardly vanishing with those words as my brain had to deal with the conflicting ideas of 'being a hostage for the diplomatic talks' to 'merely be a babysitter because I caught the interest of a nobleman'.

Paint me as clueless as Vali was right now. He looked annoyed, very confused and incredibly pissed at the idea Azazel decided to attach him to a mission that I was supposed to be the lead figure.

Blinking again, I slowly turned at the teen causing him to look back in kind as my mind did formulate a very interesting detail from that development and revelation.

"So, because I am the leading one in our partnership, at least in this mission-" I started to explain my sudden realization. "Does that make you… my sidekick?"

Vali kept quiet for few moments, his arms then crossed close to his chest and he spoke. "No, I am not."

"Yes, you are." I pressed on. "And I believe that Azazel-sama did this on purpose."

"I am not and he has to have done it on purpose." His tone turned stronger at the beginning before reluctantly agreeing to the second section of my rebuttal.

Just before I could keep up with the teasing, the doors of the large living room opened to make way to a familiar figure.

Millicas looked away from the half-completed building of blocks and locked onto the woman walking inside, smiling and standing up to rush for her.

The silver-haired lady paused, accepting the hug from her son and showing a small smile, a contrast to her previous stoic expression.

Grayfia Lucifuge, the wife of Sirzechs Lucifer and sister-in-law of Rias Gremory, looked prim and proper with her maid outfit and I now had reason to believe it fitted her perfectly.

It was the strange allusion to Sakuya Izayoi and the overall regal air that she had around herself that made it quite an opportune kind of dress.

The hug ended and she finally glanced at the other guests of the room and proceeded to walk slowly towards… the two grandparents of the child.

She ignored Vali's presence, mine too, and bowed slightly their way. "Lord Zeoticus, Lady Venelana."

"Grayfia. We didn't expect you to come back to the mansion this early. Did something happen at the talks? Is everything alright."

She gave a slow nod. "The talks are proceeding smoothly. I decided to leave as the discussion was turning to some sensible topics and Sirzechs-sama accepted my request to leave earlier than planned."

Then the woman turned to glance my way, I was now standing up from the carpet and looking at her as she let out a minuscule scowl.

I flinched at that reaction, knowing how her expressions meant much more than they appeared. "I do remember asking to not have any strangers to babysit Millicas. Yet, just like Azazel had informed me an hour ago, you decided to still go with this decision."

Their smiles suddenly turned nervous and I felt the need to apologize about this.

Thus I bowed slightly and spoke. "Grayfia-san, I'm sorry if my presence-"

"Please, spare me the apologies, Hekishoku-san. We both know the fault isn't yours in this situation but..." The maid frowned. "I wish to know what kind of individual I am referring to. Right now I'm seeing just someone with a mask and with a fake name after all."

I blinked and nodded. "I can see the issue, but I can't divulge my identity and-"

"I thought about offering the classic customary glass of wine to any guests of the house of Gremory." In her hands was a large red wine bottle and I narrowed my eyes at it.

I wasn't in the mood to play the 'get me drunk to make me spill my secrets' and I wasn't a fan of alcoholic beverages whatsoever as my tolerance was pretty low.

"I-I don't want to impose-"

"It's a must. As a guest you should abide to the rules of this house and… It would be improper if you refused."

She was pushing me to a corner and I knew that I wasn't going to receive support from anyone in that situation. I was in the worst predicament but it was right as I continued to despair that the solution to this issue manifested in my brain.

I blinked and smiled. "I suppose that I shouldn't be shying away from such kind offer… but I hope you understand that I would prefer to not be the only one making use of this expensive bottle."

The maid stood quiet for a moment. "You wish for me to join you? Even through I am asking you as a Maid of the Gremory house?"

"I think you are inquiring as Millicas' mother rather than the role you mentioned, Grayfia-san."

Her lips twitched, knowing full well that she did leave that small opening for me to exploit. Now she had to deal with whether or not honor her own trickery and… the woman sighed.

"I suppose it would be fair if we both discussed in an equal manner." The maid conceded much to my partial glee. At least I had a chance of having her drunk and confused before she can get me on that state.

We sat in two opposite small couches a small glass table between us where the bottle was placed with two small glasses.

Venelana stood up and took the hand of the confused Millicas in her own, leading him out of the room as she didn't want the boy to see this unfold. Grayfia nodded gratefully at her mother-in-law and she continued to focus on me.

Zeoticus merely stared with some interest while I could perceive Vali's curiosity coming from several couches away. Hopefully I can hold from any external assault as I focused on the woman.

The lady poured the red content of the bottle within the two glasses and I noticed quite the difference about the whole 'equal' deal we had struck just now.

While my glass was almost full with wine, hers wasn't even close to half its capacity. The woman had a poker face and brought her glass to her lips, sipping slowly and annoyingly.

Eyes narrowed at that challenge, I decided to return fire with fire. Picking my glass in my hands, I started to sip at it softly, quietly and, most important of them all, the slowest possible.

Her red eyes glinted at some dismay at the fact I wasn't going to fall for such a crappy attempt and the woman decided to break away from trying and literally poured some more wine in her glass, normalizing the competition and making me start drinking normally.

We both downed the content of our glasses and stared back at each other.

Our faces were slowly turning red, our eyes dilating as the alcohol kicked in pretty swiftly. My brain started to feel lighter and I found myself wobbling a little, just like the woman in front of me.

"I-I guess we should s-start talking about Millicas- hic!" A hiccup suddenly left her lips as she was talking, her eyes showing some embarrassment and I felt my lips twitch amusingly at the adorable sound.

I opened my mouth to speak about the boy but I was interrupted by my own hiccup. "Hic!"

… "Hehehehehe~"

The woman's smile twitched back to her face and she had to press her hand on her mouth to keep herself from giggling at my little chuckling.

Boy, this shit shure ish…. Shupa-stronk~!

Vali Lucifer continued to silently stare at the slow but visible drunkening of the one he knew only as Hekishoku while challenging the fortitude of the current Lucifer's wife.

It was kind of surprising to see a woman of her standards slowly descending in a state of open expression, the silver-haired maid humming amused as the fellow teen chuckled once more while melting in his seat.

"I-I-I was shaying that my shon ish-"

"G-Good?" Hekishoku guessed. "Cute, a-adorable, shmart?"

"Y-Yeah-" Finally a giggle pierced through her frail attempt to keep her composure under the influence of alcohol. "N-No, I shouldn't b-be gi-giggling."

"Why nyot?" The only human in the room questioned. "I-It was adorable, heh! I byet your hubby lovesh them."

Her face reddened even more. "H-He doesh." She admitted and nodded. "B-But we are shupposed to b-be talking a-ab-about M-Millicash."

"Oh?" Hekishoku nodded multiple times. "Yesh, Millicash is shuch a good kid. He is shmart, polite and… shmart." He giggled. "I r-repeated shmart tw-twi-two timesh."

She giggled again, this time seemingly forgetting about trying to avoid such thing from happening.

Vali blinked at the strange scene, glancing at the other individual in the room and finding the Lord Gremory smiling while filming all of this with a large camera?

The owner of the Divine Dividing Sacred Gear frowned but decided to don't do anything about it. After all the scene there was worth letting some copies… spread around.

"H-He ish very precocious a-and I sho proud of him." The woman remarked, relaxing on the couch. "B-But I think I-I am not doing a-a… a good job."

Now that was… strange to hear. Grayfia Lucifuge had seemed so much confident in greeting her son and Vali was fairly sure that there was no way that the little brat was unhappy with her own mother's behavior.

"T-That is b-bullshit, yeash!" Red eyes narrowed at the foul response. "Millicash adoresh you, he ish shuper h-happy when you a-are around!"

"B-But he doeshn't have any friend to play with-"

"Then o-once he ish old let him go to a normal school."

The maid looked hesitant at that suggestion but decided to inquire more. "B-But wouldn't he be bullied? Wouldn't h-he shuffer?"

"I-If that ish what you ar-are scared for, then y-you could get him t-to the shame school as her auntie. I-I think I remember hearing tha-that Riash-shan went to a normal school, dunno which o-one tho."

She blinked and hummed quietly as she thought about the detailed answer, then nodded. "That- That could work- but what about w-when he ish home?"

"What a-about it?" Hekishoku asked quickly and the woman sighed.

"I-I am shtill too strict- S-Sirzechsh think I should ease up a little-"

"Y-Ya're doing fine." He interrupted quickly. "Y-Ya don't have nothing to worry about!"

"W-What if I- U-Uh?"

The masked young man snorted and slowly got up from his couch, making his way to the confused maid and… placed one of his hands on the top of her head.

"Y-you are a dummy." He said softly. "B-but you are a-a good mom, sho never heshitate anymore, 'kay?"

She blinked, red eyes slowly lifting to stare at the mask, confused, surprised and mostly relieved as the small action was finally registered by her brain.

Grayfia smiled and giggled. "Y-You are d-doing it wrong. S-Sit back down."

The teen didn't oppose being pushed back onto his couch as the maid wobbled towards him and slowly removed the hood of his cloak, exposing his… light-brown hair.

An aspect of the fellow member of Grigori was learning just now as the woman hummed a lullaby as she started to ruffle his hair softly.

"Y-you need to be a tad bit more careful or you can hurt p-people."

"I-I am jusht drunky, I-I am good at thish normally." His muttering slowly dwindled as he quietly let her ministrations silence him.

"I'm s-shure you are." The woman giggled. "B-but you do remind me of S-Sirzechsh's little Riash."

"Uh?" was the most intelligent thing the boy could ask and the maid let out a grin.

"Riash wash cute, she shtill is, but few yearsh ago she was a-adorable and she liked being patted in her head."

"She doeshn't want anymore?" He seemed skeptical at the woman's sad nod. "Th-then she ish losing a lot! Y-you are good, Nee-I mean, Grayfia-shan."

She paused a moment and gave a weird look to the human. "Y-You want to call me Onee-san?"

He looked up. "I-I think it fit better Neechan, c-caushe you are pretty."

The woman blushed but nodded at that. "Uh… can- can I call you Otouto, then?"

There was a brief silence and Vali took this to re-valuate everything until now.

Somehow, a mid-ranked member of Grigori was getting cozy with the wife of Sirzechs Lucifer and… he was succeeding big time.

This was surreal and illogical- yet alcohol was making things happen before his eyes.

"I-I mean, if you wish-" She giggled and nodded, continuing with her ministrations.

The situation with both still drunk and lacking common sense would continue for two more hours, by lunch-time the maid and the moron would present with everyone else for the lunch prepared by servants and both would voice out some minor headache from their idiotic competition.

At least nothing bad for the talks had happened to them… yet.

AN

Some explanations before getting lynched by some:

1. Grayfia is canonically a light-weight about alcohol and she is quite quick to forget this very flaw of hers;

2. Her insecurity about motherhood is actually mentioned in the Light Novel, but it's never given too much scene about;

3. Zeoticus, just like Sirzechs, likes to tease his daughter constantly, thus why he has a camera at hand, always;

4. The third part will be by dinner time and will include the Satans, so expect lots of randomness from the likes of Sirzechs and Serafall.

Also yes, I did just make Grayfia a possible older sister to MC. It's quite strange when this is one of the few instances this happen where the MC isn't related to her. Leshrug!

And with that I go back to bed.

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User may be a smug prick: It depends on the kind of fucking. This is one of the embarrassing, drunk kind of fucked up.