Marinus P.O.V
I smiled as I walked into school the next day with a slight skip to my step. Last night had gone better than I could have hoped, especially since I took out the fallen angels sooner than expected.
After cleaning up the mess that had been made I took Mittelt and Asia back to my home where I had a realization. My house is too damn small for six people to live in. Amber and Momo had already been sharing a room and with the addition of two more people we needed more space.
Thankfully we were able to have a temporary fix with Mittelt sleeping with me and Asia staying with Celeste. Though this was only temporary and we would need an upgrade soon.
Speaking of the two new additions, I gave Mittelt aura as a reward for her completed mission. In return she showed her gratitude enthusiastically...all night long. Needless to say I had a great night and it was only made better by the notifications I got early this morning.
{Added potential [Mittelt has Aura (Rwby)] -5 [100]}
{Captured: Asia Argento 12 [112]}
{An Extra Devilish Leviathan additional objective 4 completed.
Reward [Perks: Sexual Calibration and Fertility Calibration.}
Yeah, in the span of a single night I had gotten a lot of work done. The most surprising of the notifications was that I had captured Asia, whom I wasn't expecting to finish capture for a few days. Having seen the notification I went to Celeste to know if anything had happened last night with Asia and apparently the maid had talked with the former nun.
Asia had felt extremely indebted to me and had expressed a desire to repay me somehow. Of course Asia wasn't aware the person she expressed this to was my most loyal follower. Being as loyal as Celeste is she had expertly guided Asia to the belief that she should devote her life to me just as she had the church.
By the end of the explanation I was greatly pleased with Celeste. Not only had she manipulated Asia into dropping all resistance to capture, but she had already shown the seeds of loyalty. Now I wouldn't have to spend precious time turning the former nuns gratefulness into devotion.
The final notification had made me extremely excited as I now had two very useful perks. Sexual calibration made it so that little inconveniences were erased such as cleanliness and the elimination of my refractory period. The second perk was what I had really wanted from this objective.
Fertility calibration was exactly what it sounded like and allowed the manipulation of chances of pregnancy in a sexual encounter. That was a boon in more ways than one. The first was that I could now avoid accidentally knocking up one of my girls after a little fun. The second, was that I could now actively knock up a full blooded devil and start siring heirs.
Now some may wonder why I would want to do the second seeing as I wasn't even in my twenties yet, the answer is really simple. I'm a devil, specifically the last male of house Leviathan, having children soon is an expectation of every young devil. The problem is that devils as a whole have very low fertility.
However, if I can find a way to leverage my own fertility I can essentially guarantee a great amount of political influence. Of course it won't be that clear cut, but it will certainly be a start. Right now however I am content to carry out my simple daily life as I wait for Riser to appear.
Upon entering the main building I was immediately greeted by Ruruko and Kiba who were each giving the other sharp looks. It appears the heiresses are going to try redoubling their recruitment efforts after last night.
With a mental shrug I smile and greet the two. I had something's to work out after school, but right now I could humor them. Especially, if I'm not wrong, each are planning a trip to the familiar forest soon.
The day went by fairly normally with the only thing out of place was the constant visits from each peerage when I was free. Now it was the end of my favorite class, gym, and this time I had been called out to put up equipment with Kiyome Abe. I shrugged and simply did as I was asked since for once I didn't have anything planned during this time.
As we walked around the field collecting equipment I could see Kiyome watching me intently out of the corner of my eye. It had been like this for the past week and had only been getting more obvious. Ever since my first day here she had been keeping a close eye on me always having a knowing look whenever we passed each other in the hall.
When we finally got the last bit of equipment packed away in the room I turned to leave only for Kiyome to shut the door and lock it behind her. As she stood in front of me with a smug knowing look I raised an eyebrow wondering what she was doing.
"Senpai what are you doing?" I asked.
Her smug look turned into a smug smirk as she spoke. "I'm just getting some answers...devil kohai."
Her replied wiped all traces of joviality from my expression as I stated at her intently. Mentally I began berating myself at having forgotten she was supernaturally aware and my mission only protected me from devil notice.
"I'm not sure what you mean Senpai." I replied evenly trying to gauge just how much she knew.
"Oh really? Then I'm sure Rias and Sona would love to know you're actually a devil. I bet they would also like to know you're living with another devil and a whole bunch of other supernaturals." She replied with a smirk.
'Fuck!' I thought to myself as I simply stared back at her.
"I bet they'd be thrilled to-*gck*!"
She was silenced as without so much as a sound I had appeared in front of her and snatched her up by her throat. Her arms shot up to my wrist in an effort to pry herself loose, but I held firm. Without a thought I held her up against the wall of the shed just barely allowing her to breathe with how tight I held her throat.
"You know...I've done pretty well dealing with problems that pop up." I told her as I slowly leaned in causing her previously smug look to turn panicked. "Do you really want to become a problem?" I asked dangerously.
I held her there for a few seconds as I tightened my grip cutting off her ability to breathe. "I'm going to let you go and we're going to have a talk, but if you so much as shout...I'll kill you." I told her as I dropped her to the ground.
She immediately fell to her knees and started coughing as she tried to get her breathing under control. When she could finally breathe right she looked up to me with a glare, but whatever she was going to say died in her throat as I glared back far more heatedly.
"What did you intend to do with the information you have?" I asked evenly.
She stared at me for a moment before speaking. "I was going to blackmail you into helping me." She finally stated.
"With?" I asked.
"I...I'm being married against my own will. I'm a beast tamer and my dads decided I need to keep the bloodline going. He's arranged a marriage as soon as I graduate and I don't know how to stop it." She explained.
I stared at her for a few moments before speaking again. "You really are an idiot, aren't you?" I asked.
"What?" She asked insulted.
"You find out I'm a devil and instead of trying to make a deal you try to blackmail me." I answered simply.
"Not like you can do anything to me." She replied standing up with a smirk. I raised an eyebrow prompting her to explain. "If I went missing Sona and Rias would question it and I seriously doubt you want to piss off two heiresses."
I smirked as I started walking towards her causing her to back up. When her back hit the wall she looked panicked as I reached out and held her chin condescendingly.
"You really are stupid." I told her as I roughly seized her arms and held them above her head. "My name is Leviathan...do you know what that means?" I crawled out slowly.
"Le-Leviathan...as in-"
"One of the original four kings? Yes." I told her causing her eyes to widen in terror.
It's obvious she hadn't thought this little plan of hers all the way through. If she had she would of considered the possibility I was on the same level as the two heiresses or above them.
"So rest assured that if I wanted, I could do anything to you and no one would stop me." I told her as I leaned in closer causing her to turn away with a slight whimper as I increased the force on her arms. "I could kill you, your family, or fuck you and I guarantee no one in the underworld government would bat an eye." I told her.
Just as quickly as I had grabbed her I let her go and took a few steps back. "You're lucky however, I'm in a good mood so I'll help you." I told her causing Kiyome to let out a breath of relief and turn to me.
"You will?" She asked to which I smirked.
"I will, but not for free. You see you've already caused me a bit of distress and you're going to pay for that." I explained and she cringed. "First tell me how you expected me to help you."
"My dad will let me challenge him for my freedom. The catch is that I have to have someone in mind as my fiancé and they will fight in my stead in a tamer battle. Afterwards I can annual the engagement with my new betrothed." She explained.
"Which you would have blackmailed me into doing." I said after the fact and she nodded unashamed.
I nodded as I had a rough idea of what I was going to do now. I also couldn't help but smirk at the ruthlessness of the actions which Kiyome was willing to take to free herself. It was just a stroke of bad luck that she had tried that with me.
"Very well, I know how to help you." I told her and she looked a little relieved.
"What will it cost me?" She asked the million dollar question.
I smirked as I walked back up to her and held her face gently so that she would stare into my eyes. "I'm going to win your freedom...just to take it away in the same breath." I told her causing her eyes to widen.
"What?" She asked with a small tremble.
"You threatened me, no, not only me, you threatened the very people I care about by threatening to inform Rias and Sona of my identity." I told her causing her to look down, whether out of guilt or shame I didn't really care. "That's unforgivable and I'm sure if I dropped that little tidbit of information including my true identity to your family they'd be terrified. You'd be wed to the first stranger off the street just to be locked up and continuing the bloodline out of sight." I informed her causing her to cringe as I'm sure she was already imagining her parents reaction.
"What are you going to do?" She asked in defeat.
I smirked as I gave her cheek a chaste kiss and stepped back. "I'm going to win your hand in marriage and you will spend the rest of your life as one of my wives as penance."
Kiyome looked completely defeated as she nodded her head. "Ok, I'd rather be your wife than be married to someone twice my age anyway." She replied.
I nodded as I stepped back and took out the company device. "Cheer up dear, part of the deal with marrying me..." I start as I buy what I need. "Is that I prefer my women powerful." I replied as I held up an orb that looked like a green eyeball.
{Purchased: Green Eye Orb -10 [102]}
"What is that?" She asked as she stepped away slightly.
Ignoring her I take out a ring with a clear diamond and hand it to her."Put this on." I tell her.
She looks at it with a frown and does as she's told. After she puts the ring on I quickly put a hand around her shoulder and we disappear in a flash of bright green light.
It hardly felt like a few moments, but after the distinct pull of being teleported lessened I opened my eyes to see that we had reached our destination. Looking around I saw that we were in the middle of a fantasy type city, more specifically in a town square.
Looking around I could see dozens of people walking about and looking around excitedly. With a smirk I nodded to myself pleased, we were exactly where we needed to be. We were in a green orb market, specifically one ran by ClayUndead a veteran contractor.
"Where the hell are we?" Kiyome asked.
"It's called a green orb market, only certain people can access these and I'm the only one from our world." I answered causing her to look around in awe.
"Holy...what is that?" She asked as she pointed toward the statue in the middle of the square. It looked almost like a rotting zombie with elongated fingernails and eyes in the back of its hands.
"That would be ClayUndead, he's the one in charge of this market." I replied as I finally found what I was looking for and started walking towards it.
Kiyome followed me as we approached a map like you would find in a mall. There were several dots on it that were lit up green and some that faded only to be replaced. Each one was named after a store or service that contractors were looking to sell.
"Here." I pointed out one on the map that said 'Familars and Summons Emporium'.
"You can buy familiars here?" Kiyome asked uncertain if that was a good thing or not.
"You can get your hands on just about anything here." I answered as we started walking towards our destination.
As we walked I could see a few people stealing glances or outright staring at Kiyome. It wasn't much of a surprise considering Kiyome is a very fit and sexy young woman, not to mention she was still wearing her gym uniform. However despite most people here being contractors I wasn't really worried.
The entire market is governed by Demi plane laws that prevent conflict and poaching another contractors revenue. That was the reason I had forced Kiyome to put on the ring I had given her. She wasn't one hundred percent mine, but since she was 'in progress' the laws still protect her.
After a few minutes we arrived at a large building that had a sign hanging out front stating 'Familiar and Summons Emporium'. It was...much larger than I was expecting. The building itself was three stories tall and probably as large as three warehouses put together.
As we entered I couldn't help but whistle in surprise at the inside. I was expecting something along the lines of a pet shop, but this was more like a zoo. There were glass exhibits that held Pokémon, Digimon, and even a lot of creatures I didn't recognize.
"Like what you see?" I heard someone ask and immediately looked to the side.
There stood Cilan from Pokémon black and white, though he was dressed differently. Instead of his butler outfit he wore a very expensive and nice looking suit.
"Names Cilan, I'm the owner of this establishment." He greeted and I immediately realized he was a contractor that had substituted into a Cilan.
"Marinus Leviathan, Draconic Deus, it's a pleasure to meet you and yes this place is amazing." I replied having Kiyome look at me strangely. Though I was grateful she chose not to say anything.
"Thank you, my mission was to become not just a Pokémon connoisseur, but a connoisseur of everything considered a familiar." He explained.
"I'm guessing these are all of your extras?" I asked to which he nodded.
"They are and normally one of my wives would handle sales, but I make it a point to meet first time customers." He explained gesturing to an Iris that was at a dragon exhibit with another customer. "So what can I help you find?" He asked cheerfully.
"My friend here is a beast tamer, so I was hoping to find a Moemon or Pokémon to suit her." I explained.
"I see, we do indeed have an abundance of familiars that would suit you, but might I make a suggestion?" He asked.
"Oh course, this is your specialty." I conceded politely.
"Considering your world is one rife with conflicts would it not be better to have a familiar that had the strengths of both a Pokémon and moemon." He prompted immediately catching my interest. "Please follow me." He stated before leading us further into the store.
After a few minutes of walking we stopped at an enclosure. Looking inside the habitat was constructed to look exactly like a mountainous environment with a cave for the familiar inside to use as shelter. We didn't need to wait to see the inhabitants for long as a charmander left the cave just as we arrived.
"Awww it's adorable." Kiyome gushed at swing the Pokémon for the first time.
"Indeed, this is Charmander, a fire type." He told her before taking out a tablet from his coat. He pressed a few buttons and soon we could barely hear a melody play inside the habitat.
The reaction was almost immediate as the Charmander looked up excitedly as it glowed. I was surprised immediately thinking Cilan had induced an evolution somehow. However, I was quickly proven wrong as when the glow died down the Charmander had changed from its Pokémon appearance to that of a small orange haired girl wearing an orange sundress with a charmander tail.
"It changed between its Pokémon and Moemon forms?" I asked in surprise just to make sure my eyes weren't playing tricks on me.
"That's correct, Charmander retains its previous ability's and moves, but now has the added bonus of human like maneuverability." Cilan explained.
"Why the melody though? Can it switch forms at will?" Kiyome asked before I could voice the same question.
He nodded "It can, however it needs to be trained in doing so. The melody is the only method to force the transformation until it has been properly trained." Cilan explained.
"Is that the only benefit Charmander gains from the transformation?" I asked having a feeling there was more to this.
Cilan simply smirked. "No, in fact I would say the greatest benefit is that these particular versions can fully learn human speech." He explained causing me to smile widely.
"They're perfect, what's your price?" I asked causing Cilan to swipe the screen on his tablet.
"This is a full catalogue of all that we currently have in stock." He explained handing us the tablet.
I couldn't help how my smile widened at the large selection he was showing us. This was going to be fun.
Three hours...it took nearly three hours to finally find either of us something we were willing to agree on. Yes, I'm aware I could have made Kiyome accept whatever I chose for her, but that sorta defeats the purpose of having a best tamer. It's literally their specialty to tame and care for beasts and familiars. In the end we were able to settle on our familiars.
For Kiyome, we ended up settling on the Charmander that we had seen first. It was perfect for her for two reasons, the first being that Charmander and it's evolution line can be...difficult to control. However, for a beast tamer like Kiyome I have no delusions that she can't handle raising Charmander.
The second reason was that Kiyome desperately needs the raw power. Eventually the goal will be to have Charmander evolve into Charizard. Since most of Kiyome's beasts are very niche in what they can do having the power of a Charizard at her back will be a huge boost.
As for me, well I was caught between two choices that made deciding really difficult. The first choice was Salamance, one of the stronger dragon types that would be extremely useful in straight up combat. The second choice was Gardevoir, a psychic and fairy type that would be more of a support, but could easily fill in a combat role.
After a while of thought and discussion I decided on Gardevoir. The main reason for this was simply price. Cilan offers his familiars at a rate of half off their catalogue price for anything over tier six. It's not a big deal anyway as I could always come back after getting some more credits.
{Purchased Charmander (familiar) -5 [97]}
{Purchased Gardevoir (familiar) -25 [72]}
As I said they were not cheap. I had hoped I could exchange some treasure I had stored in my pocket space for our familiars, but Cilan was adamant his business was company credits only. As annoying as it was I had to concede and pay using his desired monetary policy.
That was the thing with Green Orb markets in general. Each store has its own rules and so long as they don't break the overarching marketplace rules they're allowed. There was one small saving grace however, Cilan was kind enough to point us in the direction of a database store that accepts other currencies. Now we were on the way towards that particular store.
"Awww, who's an adorable little lizard~" Kiyome cooed beside me as she carried Charmander in her arms, her pokeball on her waist.
"It seems they've started getting along well?" I asked looking to Gardevoir who was walking beside me in her Moemon form.
Gardevoir's human like form was that of a young woman wearing a dress similar to her Pokémon design, but with green stockings. She was fair skinned with shoulder length light green hair held back from her face by a feather like hair clip. In all honesty I was very happy and planned on thanking the creators of Moemon if I ever got the chance.
After a few minutes we reached the store that had been pointed out by Cilan. Honestly we probably could have missed it because, well...it looks abandoned. The building was in okay condition, but the windows were murky and covered in dust. Hell even the sign was practically hanging on by one rusty chain link.
"Okay girls, this place looks like it's about to fall apart so let's put you away for now." I say causing Charmander to pout and Gardevoir to give a smile and bow before we returned them to their respective pokeballs.
"Are we sure this is actually it? I mean look at it!" Kiyome exclaim as she gestured to the building.
With a shrug I pushed the door open and started to lead inside. When we walked in it was obvious that the store could barely even be called a store. There were boxes all over the place with only some having been opened and the merchandise placed on the shelves. Not to mention the six inches of dust that covered everything.
"Hello?!" I shouted out while wondering if we had the wrong store after all.
"PEOPLE!?!?"
Only to suddenly here a voice shout excitedly as a door burst open from the back and a guy came running out. He had brown hair and square glasses that framed a very angular face. He was also kinda short, not midget short, but still short.
"Hi! My names Gregory, how can I help you?!" He asked excitedly and a little out of breath.
"Uh, hi Gregory...is this your store?" I asked looking around at the cobwebs.
"Yeah...it is." He confirmed as his shoulders slumped.
"Did you theme it after the Great Depression?" I asked causing Kiyome to elbow me in the ribs.
"Nooooo." He whined. "I'm a new contractor and I was an accountant before so I saw 'Cash still Rules' and 'Wage Slave' and-"
"And you took two of the hardest choices even conceived and thought 'I got this', right?" I asked causing my eye to twitch at hearing this idiots stupidity.
"Yes!" He wailed as he dropped to his knees. "I spent so much I can't even afford a slice of bread with the loan I have hanging over my head!"
Kiyome looked at Gregory in pity while I could only stare at him in confusion. Why was I confused? How in the hell could this guy have gotten himself that far into debt?
"How much do you owe exactly?" I asked out of curiosity.
"Three thousand credits and roughy one hundred million dollars." He stated causing my eyes to widen and Kiyomes jaw to drop.
"What the fuck?!" I shouted. "How the fuck do you even spend that much you stupid fuck?!"
"I bought as many perks as I could thinking I would make a mint anyways in return...I forgot I didn't make any credits from captures." He replied.
It honestly took everything I had not to strangle the moron in front of me. There were only a few things I really and truly hated, complete idiots were right near the top of the list.
"How do you even owe any regular money anyway? Doesn't the company only deal in credits?" I asked in exasperation.
"My guide during chargen said I could keep spending credits and they would tack on a monetary fee afterwards." He answered.
"I thought you used to be an accountant?" I asked amazed at just how stupid this guy was.
"I never said I was any good at the job!" He defended. "Anyway now I have this store and I'm trying to earn money to pay off the debt. I can't even visit any new worlds I unlock with 'exit stage left' I just-"
"Wait you can unlock them, but not visit?" I asked slowly as an idea started to form.
For his part Gregory looked lost as he answered me. "Yeah, I only have a handful though."
"What are they?" I asked.
"Redo of Healer, Boku no Pico, War Hammer 40k, and Honkai: Star Rail." He answered.
"Gregory, I may be able to relieve your financial burden slightly." I told him as I smirked. "Can you contact your guide? Mine sorta cut me loose after I was done."
"Sure!" He answered as he stood, excited to finally have a customer, and took out his company device.
The device rang for a few seconds before someone picked up.
"Hello?"
"Hi Mr. White, I have someone here who has an idea I'm not sure about." Gregory explained.
"Oh, what kind of idea?" Mr. White asked as Gregory put it on speaker.
"Hello Mr. White, I was wondering if it's possible to purchase one of Gregory's worlds he's not visited for my own personal 'exit stage left'?" I asked.
The voice let out a loud whistle as if impressed by the suggestion. "Damn son, got some money to burn huh? Sure, I already know who you are."
I was about to ask how he knew that as it slightly alarmed me before he spoke again.
"Relax kid, can't have little Greg getting ideas so we keep tabs on him and anyone that interacts with him." He stated. Suddenly a tablet appeared on a shelf nearby listing the world Gregory had told us about. "You and Greg work out a price and I'll make sure it's added to you jump list. Don't worry about any overlap with Gregory, I'll make sure its a mirror of his and just delete it from his list."
I thought about it for a second before shrugging and selected Honkai: Star Rail. I had always loved that game and the world was full of strong people I could recruit.
"That'll be ten million dollars." Gregory said with an excited gleam in his eye.
I shrugged as I opened my pocket space and mounds of gems and gold started to fall out. When it built up to a pile about my own height I closed the pocket space and looked at Gregory who was staring in awe. Looking over to Kiyome she herself was staring at the pile of treasure with a slack jaw.
"Will that do it?" I asked.
"Who the hell are you?" He asked after coming out of his stupor.
It was almost an hour later when Kiyome and I returned to DxD. Of course since the world was on pause while we left it was still just the end of gym class. When the green light disappeared Kiyome stumbled a bit before regaining her bearings.
"Did...did you really need to buy so much stuff?" She asked while slightly disoriented.
"It will come in handy in the future." I replied as I simply stretched, having been used to teleporting at this rate.
What Kiyome was referring too was a handful of databases that I had bought off of Gregory. They would come in handy down the road and I couldn't help but get them at a steal. All together I should have spent roughly seven hundred credits or so, but Gregory was more than happy to take treasure as payment.
I smirked at the thought of it, I had originally only been intending to purchase familiars, but Gregory was a fool I couldn't help but take advantage of. Having been so consumed by his debt he had completely forgotten to simply refund most of his perks.
Sure it wouldn't have been a complete recovery, but it would have saved him a lot of headache. Did I tell him that? Hell no! There's a price for stupidity and as far as I'm concerned Gregory can pay it.
"So should I go ahead and set up the challenge with my dad?" Kiyome asked with barely hidden excitement.
The two of us may have gotten off to a rocky start, putting it mildly I know, but spending a day together had mended most of those issues. While originally I had considered Kiyome a possibility for recruitment I could now easily see her as a valuable asset.
"No." I tell her immediately killing her excitement.
"What why?" She asked confused.
"Tell me what this challenge consists of first." I instructed and she nodded.
"The challenge is a battle between tamers, specifically their beasts or familiars. The gamers choose three of their beasts and...have..matches..oh." She explains until she slowly realized why I don't want to head into the challenge yet.
"You see my point?" I asked to which she nods.
"You only have Gardevoir don't you." She states rather than asks.
"Exactly, I've spent my life away from devil society until I could handle the politics. That includes the familiar forest." I explained.
"I see." She nodded. "Then what are we going to do? I can let you use some of my tamed beasts." She offered.
'It could work.' I think to myself.
At the same time I can't help but want to really blow her father out of the water. Kiyome would officially be recognized as my fiancé after this so there's an old fashioned part of me that wants to prove myself in his area of expertise.
"No, as much as I agree that it could work I want to get at least one more familiar first." I explain.
"Why? My beasts can hold their own and I'm sure you already have a few plans in mind." She stated.
I nodded with a genuine smile for once. Kiyome was incredibly sharp once she actually spent some time around someone. Even now she was relaxed and calm in my presence despite having been about to have her neck snapped in this very room not too long ago. It went a long way to show that she was a strong woman, not physically, but mentally.
"I'm a bastard most of the time, that I freely admit. I love to play things and twist a situation to my favor, but I'm just a bit old fashioned. That old fashioned part of me is telling me to go above and beyond to beat my future father in law at his own game." I explained causing her to blush slightly.
I looked around to make sure that we had actually cleaned up the room before I walk towards the door. Just as I'm about to walk out I turn to Kiyome with a smile.
"There's a full moon soon, meaning the familiar forest will be open for business. I'll get a familiar and then I'll let you know I'm ready." I said before leaving.
Regular P.O.V
As Marinus left the room Kiyome couldn't hide the blush that had flared from a light dusting to full on tomato. She had been complimented before on her looks or her body, but she had never had someone support her in such an emotional way.
"Maybe...maybe I can enjoy being your wife." She said to herself.
