"I see imagining the more human oriented magic system's calculations makes things easier for you." I nibbled on a fried curry croquette as Lisa blasted a purple bolt of lightning from her fingertips.

"I've only gotten the imagination method you mentioned once!" She grumpily pouted, "Calculations are slower, but at least they're consistent! How is teleporting easier to wrap my head around than firing laser beams?!"

"Everything takes time, don't worry."

I offered a bite of my snack and even though she was clearly tempted by the savory treat, having had one a few days back, she shook her head. Eventually she'd learn that she didn't need to manage her eating habits to maintain her figure, but human habits die hard, I suppose.

I shrugged and kept on with my reassurance.

"Plus, teleportation has half of the work done for you by the circle itself. More like… filling a cup. Right now you're trying to imagine a cup and fill it at the same time. But you know, the cup fires lasers. I'm more impressed that you're able to handle magic calculations at all. For me, it's like forming the cup with a Rube-Goldberg machine rather than using your bare hands. I myself could never do more than incorporate elements of it into my own spellcasting rather than cast spells the human way outright. You're doing great, seriously. Don't beat yourself up over it so much."

"The spell calculations just make so much more sense though. I thought imagining magic was supposed to be easier than this." She groaned. "When I try it your way everytime I feel like I get it, suddenly I'm back to square one, it's like running on a hamster wheel."

"You really don't need to stress it so much. The Bishop piece chose you. It means you've got great magical talent." I gave her an affectionate head pat, ruffling her hair a little, half to her enjoyment and annoyance. "Honestly you're doing amazing. Loads better than me at calculatory human magecraft by far already, seriously."

"Mmmrrrr. I'll have to refix my ponytail stoooooop."

Under a barrier that kept our presence hidden in the abandoned junkyard location gifted by Uber and Leet from two weeks earlier, I smiled as I enjoyed this quiet moment.

Things had been pretty busy most nights of recent note, and even though Lisa only worked the nights she felt like, keeping only two more permanent contracts at the moment with Leet as a potential source of shared income and a PI named Dunham out of personal curiosity.

Regardless, she needed to unwind as much as I could get her to.

It seemed that at least the positives were that Leet and Uber begging for guidance about making their 'artform' decently profitable and trendy was good for her ego. They were still adamant on sticking with their daytime shenanigans, although Lisa had stepped in and stated that whatever plans they made should involve her oversight if they intended on associating with her in any fashion.

They had thought after their Mario Kart spree they'd take a page out of something called GTA.

She pointed out that it was an awful idea and emphasized further that their plans to even go as far as to beat up a hooker was a horrible plan right after his most recent shutdown of a prostitution ring as well. Not only were they a bit harder to find now, they'd pretty much lose all the goodwill they were sort of building up via loose association with my Peerage.

A quick heated argument cooled off after some back and forth over a burner phone and they both eventually relented and agreed that she was right.

But of course. She was his Bishop after all.

Now apparently they were off planning a Roller Coaster Tycoon plan using their hard-light projector system that might even make them some cash from curious locals and tourists instead.

Said plans didn't even yet touch on the fact that she had even mentioned that they had gotten some feelers from the PRT about using the video game duo as a middleman to make contact with us. While she was being hesitant about it, and her hesitation was cute, I just ended up giving her the go ahead and that she was free to spin that around for the show for more money.

Not even because of the money, though they were definitely offering a good amount of cash, but because it would grant some minor pardons for some of Uber and Leet's past crimes, which would give them a little more legitimacy and it would allow them to become better tools for my Bishop. I wanted to make sure the resources at her disposal would be as useful as possible, especially since I lacked the kind of resources to grant as I was used to.

The things I would have done to have even a fraction of the Gremory fortune to take care of her in the way I should…

Also I was interested in a potential rematch showdown between me and Ser Armsmaster, but in a more fun casual setting. Though it was the others that weren't sure if the Protectorate Cape could do casual fun. I thought that was impossible. The man literally dressed up and ran around like a Kamen Rider. He was an otaku, even if he didn't make it obvious to others, and I knew a thing or two about handling an otaku after growing up with one.

I glanced at the smoldering, smoking holes in the various junked cars and appliances around us.

And whatever contract fulfilling she was doing for them and the PI was working well enough. It seemed that hunting down cheating husbands and housewives was good for building up her energy. Though not a huge difference, she was improving in power quickly, though she was bad at giving up to her more base Devil instincts.

I'd suppose I'd have to watch over her some more. I was enjoying watching her grow and did not want to artificially accelerate what was happening for my own benefit. It was the job of a King to watch over his Peerage after all.

Now if only she'd stop trying to perfectly rationalize magic. Even normal human mages didn't do that and accepted magic as more of an esoteric force that could be shaped rather than truly understood, but Lisa was unusually driven to make sense of it all.

It did make her control of her Demonic Power better, but it certainly interfered with her ability to utilize her imagination to make it do what she wanted in the first place. It sounded like a contradiction, but Demonic Power could just be like that sometimes.

In all truth, it was a similar issue to what I had growing up. Though Rias and I had instinctively had a good enough grasp to utilize our Demonic Power in the beginning, when I started taking lessons under my Maou-Father Ajuka and learned more about the intricacies and the nature of Demonic Power and had begun to question the way things worked, I had found myself slipping backwards in my ability to initiate spells in the first place, even if the flexibility, utility, and power of my Demonic Power had definitely increased.

It was an issue that Uncle Ajuka also claimed had occurred to him as he delved into the nuances of magic and Demonic Power. In the end it was something a younger Adam had to let go of. My pride got in the way and I had to acknowledge that some things were beyond me. To focus on truly mastering myself and my magical powers before delving further into the why and how.

Lisa too would have to learn to occasionally let go.

Or perhaps she'd be the one to figure out what I could not. Her Cape powers seemed uniquely suited for such a thing, perhaps she'd be the breakthrough that Ajuka and myself could not manage.

There was no pressure for her to deliver such things, but I admitted that a small part of me believed she could pull this off one day. My Bishop was special like that.

And that would be a sight to behold.

After a few more volleys and a bit of light cathartic flying, we left the junkyard and took a casual walk along the boardwalk, buying some street meat and enjoying the sea breeze.

It was a bit tainted by the scent of smog, algae, and rust, but addition of loosened human inhibitions, indulgence, and vice in the air made it delightfully bearable.

Even Lisa enjoyed the atmosphere, though I was sure she didn't fully understand why quite yet.

Additionally, thanks to my recent positive press attention over the past two weeks, there was a bit of an influx of people dying their hair to a Gremory red. A part of me was befuddled by just how easily humans would jump onto the silliest of trends, but it was to my benefit by giving me the extra leeway of not needing to disguise my own. In the end it suited myself just fine, as I was proud of my heritage and preferred to take it as a compliment rather than be slighted at attempts at fashion.

Lisa was still a bit paranoid about my strutting about with my normal hair color, but she agreed that humans weren't half as perceptive as they pretended they were.

The truth was you could take a movie star with their face on a billboard in Times Square, have them mill about nearby wearing merchandise from said movie, and the odds were they wouldn't really be noticed unless they did something drastic to draw attention to themselves. Humans were self-absorbed, often busy with their own myriad of problems to boot.

Plenty of bank robbers before the advent of CCTV didn't even hide their faces because it usually didn't matter.

Thinker powers were where the problems would begin to arise, but frankly, it wouldn't surprise me if a good amount of Thinkers were already usually in possession of multiple Capes' identities and were smart enough to keep mum about it. If a Villain knew their identities were made, they'd likely get rid of the Thinker in question, after all, it would only really be Heroes that bargained about it. I certainly knew Lisa would be able to extrapolate such information readily enough if she cared to do so. Though admittedly I didn't exactly have a baseline to compare my precious Bishop against.

Perhaps I should try to expand my circle of interaction? Try to get in touch with some Thinkers to learn more about their powers? But I felt like if I did that then Lisa would get mad at me for exposing myself to potential information danger just for my curiosity.

Though her angry face was plenty cute.

And on that note I recalled that I still needed to check in on that girl from New Wave. The healer girl, named after a medicinal… Panacea, was it? Having finally gotten a proper cell phone two nights ago alongside a few burners, I did finally have the opportunity to make sure she wasn't going to be a liability by whatever means necessary.

"You know you worry me whenever you make that face." Lisa narrowed her eyes, finishing off her sweet and savory chicken and baby corn skewer. "Just tell me what you're scheming so I can make some contingency plans."

"Can't trust me?" I laughed, "I'm hurt."

"Pft. I trust you more than maybe I should." She admitted as she rolled her eyes as she pretended to not care, warming my heart. "I kind of hate it. What am I, a damsel in distress?"

"No, just that I'm doing my job of looking after my Peerage well."

Lisa laughed as she hip-checked me, the both of us dancing out of the way of a few screaming kids running about the boardwalk hopped up on soda and funnel cake.

"Ok, I never got to ask more about that. Peerage. What am I, well... What does that mean for me? I'm a Bishop which means I'm good at magic, sure. I'm guessing Rook would play some sort of defensive role, Knight being offensive, Queens would do it all, but what's… the plan with it all? Are you going to pick more people to be Devils?"

Lisa fidgeted.

Lisa didn't fidget. She was too proud for that.

The sight of her sort of made me want to make her sweat and squirm and watch as she had a nervous breakdown, breaking her pretty pride.

I shook the sadistic thought from my mind.

I saw why some of my peers became useless once they gained Peerages. Power could truly corrupt absolutely.

"I don't know." I admitted. "For some Devils a Peerage is merely a means to an end or a tool for whatever vices they desire to chase. We Gremory are more… possessive. To us a Peerage is seen as a new family. One that we pick and choose for ourselves. I suppose it's not odd for us to pick someone up on a whim, but the moment they turn, they're family. It might be hard for you to understand, but it's like… flipping a switch."

I shrugged, not sure what else to add.

"If it came to it, I'd protect you with my life. Though I suppose that isn't supposed to be the duty of a King."

It took a few steps for me to realize Lisa had fallen a bit behind me.

"Lisa?" I turned to her, seeing a complicated expression on her face.

"That… didn't answer my question."

"...I don't know." I spoke honestly. "I'm currently just happy to be spending time with you. If you expected me to have some grand plan about taking over the Bay or causing some deep upheaval of society, I'm afraid I must disappoint." I shrugged. "I'm just a boy enjoying his time with a girl."

Lisa chewed her lip quietly, contemplatively.

"Mmm. Ok."

She stepped forwards to reach me and pulled me by the hand.

"Just ok?"

"Ok enough." She quipped as she walked in front of me, half dragging me along with her. "But outside of life or death moments, if you want to reincarnate someone, I'm demanding a voice in it."

"Done." I nodded naturally. "Whatever you want."

Lisa laughed, though it sounded slightly strangled.

"You're really fucking weird sometimes, Adam."

I shrugged, even if she couldn't see it, she'd likely feel me shrug and piece it together.

"Devil." I replied.

"Shit. That simple, huh? Maybe I'm the weird one for liking it."

"Weren't you the one that said normal was overrated?"

"Everything in moderation." She sassed, her cold hand warming in the grasp of my own. "Bishop's orders."

I couldn't stop the deep belly laugh that erupted from my lips.

"I should promote you." I joked, "How does Arch-Bishop sound?"

"That's not even a thing in chess."

Our bantering continued for a while before calming down into a quiet lull as we observed volunteers setting up a slew of holiday decorations.

It was Friday of the 30th of October. Tomorrow would be Halloween and we had plans to visit a big Protectorate managed fair by the Boardwalk involving a multitude of entertainment for the general populous of the Bay.

Apparently it used to be much more involved but the event had begun to trickle down in interest over the past decade and there were rumors that it would stop altogether after this year, becoming more of a private, higher class affair with big investors and donors instead.

So naturally, there was a bit of a frenzy being whipped up for one last big hurrah. Who knew, maybe it would be kept up more as a result of it in the end. Maybe if the Protectorate stopped hosting this event, I'd be able to convince Leet to take over? He had drones and a multitude of gadgets and devices that could do something fun.

I always enjoyed holiday celebrations. Especially taking the Christ out of Christmas and dressing up as Santa to mock the Church. Hells, it was originally Jupiter's day before the Romans went Christian anyways.

And we were also three days away from November 2nd.

It would be the first full moon since I arrived on Earth Bet.

Where we would be attempting to access the mystic realm of beasts, often referred to by magicians as the Reverse Side of the Moon. It would be a bit potentially dangerous, as there were likely no Familiar Masters in this world, but would allow for quite an adventure.

Lisa might have felt she wasn't performing up to par, but she was powerful and her mana volleys were more than enough to defend herself from even a decently powerful beast. She simply lacked the combat experience and knowledge to understand that from the human Protectorate's perspective, she probably had a pretty decent Blaster rating.

I also, perhaps, really needed to look into maybe finally getting around to recruiting.

A good Rook would do wonders in allowing Lisa to start realizing her potential as an artillerist-tactician, especially as it would buy her more time for her spellcasting. Her Cape power to read opponents and battlefields was undoubtedly second to none even perhaps from my own world. Of course she'd need some guidance and training to have any sort of leadership role or presence, but that was something that I could teach her. We could make some private lessons of it, make it fun.

Even should I one day have a Queen, I was pretty sure that I'd still leave Lisa in her position as my second in command, though that might cause some friction.

Maybe I was looking at it all through rose-tinted lenses for the moment, but I simply couldn't picture anyone else in that position.

It might even be worth eventually changing the Evil Piece in Lisa into my Queen piece in the future. Sure the inert Bishop piece I'd get back would be a pain in and a half to recharge and get working again, but it wasn't impossible since I understood better than most the intricacies of the Evil Piece system having been trained by Ajuka since I was but a boy.

Or at least, I had the memories of it, real or not.

That would have to be good enough.

"Think we should get costumes for tomorrow?"

"Nah. Too much of a hassle. The more normal we look the more we'll blend in, too. Let's not stress it."

"That's fair." I agreed. "Shame. I think we could have had fun dressing you up."

"Please." She rolled her eyes, "Rather I think I'd force you to play as a ken doll. I'm sure you'd look good in spandex."

"I could rock anything." I shrugged with a faint grin.

A few cracks of gunfire echoed distantly.

"And we are avoiding that direction." Lisa huffed. "Long way home it is."

I stared at a large white tent being set up, a public first aid area in case any kids scraped a knee or fell on their faces. I smiled at the sight of a sign.

"Hmm?" Lisa turned her head in the direction of where I was looking. "Oh, looks like Panacea will be here on baby monitoring duty. Poor girl."

"Mmm." I agreed, my voice rumbling with amusement.

"Poor girl."