Part 1
This weekend, me and Aya-chan decided we would spend the two days with Liliana and her servants, training and studying about the world of religions and mythologies.
As expected, Aya-chan knows a lot more about all of this than I do, she grew surrounded by a traditional family that had contact with youkais like her and the Shinto religion, so I have to study much more than her, however, regarding battle skills, she's still severely lacking, so she's training much more to make it up for that.
"Regarding Sacred Gears, there are the ones you already know such as [Boosted Gear], [Divine Dividing] and [Sword Birth] and many others around the world, but the ones you should concern yourself with are the [Longinus]"
Liliana says, she explained to me all the 13 know Longinus in existence, including the [True Longinus] that seems to be in possession of the Hero Faction's leader, a chinese guy descendant from the hero Cao Cao.
"[Juggernaut Drive], [Truth Ideal] and [Breakdown the Beast]?"
I already understand the concept of Balance Breaker, but Liliana just introduced these new words and got me confused
"Those are cursed powers that were sealed inside certain Longinus, using such abilities can grant the user a power equivalent or even superior to a God or Maou"
I nod
"Cursed... that's dangerous... like the unknown percentage, right?"
Liliana tilts her head
"Not exactly, the unknown percentage didn't had any bad consequences besides losing control over yourself, these abilities, on the other hand, are also very powerful, but they need a sacrifice to be released"
I gulp down at her words and nervously ask
"S-sacrifice?"
She nods
"Using these powers can make you go on a rampage if you can't control them, but the most dangerous part is that they greatly consume stamina, magic energy or even lifespan, using it too much can literally kill the user, that's why it's considered forbidden"
I wide my eyes in surprise.
Sacrifice, to achieve an immense power, sacrifice is needed, wheter it's your sense of self, hair or even your life, power has it's costs.
"So that's why Issei didn't used that power against me?"
A power that can surpass gods, if he had used that, I would have been defeated without a doubt
Liliana nods
"Might be, but to him the situation would have been much worse if he had used it. You see, Seikiryuutei-kun has already used his Juggernaut Drive once and didn't recovered from the effects"
"He already used that power?!"
I ask, taken by surprise
"In a battle against the Khaos Brigade, he went insane and used it, however, Hyoudou is untalented, he is not like you, Vali Lucifer or Cao Cao, that can use their natural abilities and stamina to feed their sacred gears, so the JD consumed almost all of his lifespan, as he is now, using it only one more time would spell..."
Liliana makes a dramatic pause and lifts her finger with a creepy smile
"Death"
I stay in shock for a while, a dangerous curse that lives inside a Longinus that can give god-like power at the cost of your own natural strength or even your life
After the initial surprise, I start thinking about it
"So it's better to stop them from using it, right? Not only for the well being of my friends, like Issei, but also to avoid that our enemies, like Vali or Cao Cao, use them"
Liliana's expression brightens and she gives me a defiant smile
"Oh, so you want to stop them from using their cursed powers instead of wanting to clash them head on? That's an interesting approach"
I scratch my head
"Well... it's not like I want to fight a god-like being either, but... it's also good to avoid deaths, isn't it?"
Fighting a being that powerful, even if you can match it on equal terms, the destruction would be immeasurable, as someone who was raised among heroes, I simply can't help but think about the casualties this might cause
"The colateral damage from a fight like that might be too much..."
I say in a moody tone, but Liliana happily nods
"Fufufu, you really are interesting, Tatseyo"
I feel my face reddening and turn my eyes away
"T-thanks, but... is there even a way to do that?"
Liliana puts a hand under her chin and thinks for a while
"Hmmm, oh! I think there might be!"
She gets up from her chair and goes to a book shelf
"Some time ago, I received a few books from Azazel, that guy's a sacred gear freak, so there's gotta be something in there"
I stand up and walk behind her, there are a lot of books here
"Do you need help?"
She shakes her head
"No, no, it's alright"
She waves her hand and I stay back, watching her go through the vastitude of books in her office
"You and Azazel exchange information a lot?"
I ask in an attempt to make small talk as she searches for the book
"Not as much as we used to when we first met, Sacred gears are his thing, espers are mine, aside from curiosity, our interests are not very close. But a few years ago he gave me some books on Sacred Gears and I gave him some reports of my ESP research"
"I see, do you research that for a long time?"
Liliana nods, while stretching herself to reach for a book on a taller shelf
"A lot, even before I enrolled in college... ah, it's not here"
She says in a disappointed tone after putting back the book she had just reached for
"Maybe down here..."
Liliana lowers herself reaching for a lower shelf
"Ugh..."
I groam as I turn my head to the side to not look at her rear, today Liliana is wearing a leather skirt and a buttoned shirt, but she doesn't button it up so her cleavage is really exposed! No matter what Liliana wears, she always looks so erotic, I'm really doing my best to focus here!
"Y-you said you went to a college in the underworld?"
Liliana told me that the underworld is divided into the devil's territory and the fallen angel's territory, and that most of them live and conduct their business in there, so many things work just like in the human world (with the exception that they can use magic and occult technology, of course). I was very surprised when she told me this and it made me curious about how the education in the devil's world works
"Yes, I spent a few years there before graduating after my 16th birthday"
Graduated college at sixteen?!
"S-sixteen? How precocious were you?"
Either the devil's education system is far too different from the human's or Liliana is even more intelligent than I thought she was
"Fufufu, I had access to good education since I was little, you know, since I'm a noble and all, but people always tell me that I'm a genius, so I guess that must be true~"
She says with a playful voice, guess I shouldn't have been so surprised, she does own a casino and has her territory in a big city like Kuromaku
"Ah! I found it!"
She stands up with a thick book in her hands, there's some dust on it which she blows off and uses a handkerchief to clean
"With this, I think we can come up with a plan"
Liliana starts looking at the book with a pensative look
"Something wrong?"
"Well, actually... I've been thinking and since we are here, there's something I wanted to talk to you"
"Uh? Really? Well, whatever it is, just ask"
The dark skinned girl closes her eyes for a moment and says
"Tatseyo, I'm sure you know this, but the members of the current largest faction of the Khaos Brigade are all humans"
She says this and I immediately understand where she's going to
"You wanna know if I'm ready to use my powers to attack them..."
Liliana puts the book on a desk
"I've been trying to avoid touching this subject, but if we are going to fight against the Khaos Brigade, then we can't have you holding back, as you must know, psychic abilities are also related to the user's willpower. If you waver when it comes to fighting humans, then it won't be good for anyone but the enemy. What I'm trying to say is..."
She grabs my shoulders and her golden eyes stare deep at me
"Are you not willing to hurt other people even after everything you saw and heard?"
Liliana explained to me what the Hero Faction has been doing with their soldiers, sending them to fight devils, youkais and fallen angels in order to attain the [Balance Breaker], however, what they don't tell anyone is that the members who fail this and are unlucky enough to be captured are killed by a curse that they put on the soldiers. Which means that the Khaos Brigade is killing even the humans that work for them.
When I heard that, pilling it up with what happened to Aya-chan, it made my blood boil, I got pissed and thought of dozens of ways to kill Cao Cao, Georg and anyone else leading that shitty organization!
But after the anger faded away and I remembered my family, my teachers and everyone else, one quote kept hammering on my mind
I stare back at Liliana and reply
"Killing someone would make me just as bad as they are"
Liliana wides her eyes in surprise and lets go off my shoulders
"Tatseyo..."
I place my hand against my forehead
"Ever since learning the truth about devils and the other world, I couldn't stop imagining what would have happened if I had actually killed Rias, Sona and everyone else... I also can't help but think about how many innocents I could have slaughtered when I didn't knew about it"
Right now I'm saying something that I haven't told anyone else about
"All this killing I've been doing my entire life, now that I've started to perceive you and all the others as more than simple evil beings, it made me realize how much terror I must have brought upon you because of my ignorance, to me, your lifes now mean as much as a human's and I don't wish to end either "
This has been on the back of my mind for a long time, ever since Koneko told me about the near extinction of her race, but I shrugged it off as part of my work, they forgave me and now I'm trying to do what's right, but ignoring it is impossible now
"It's not that I don't want to make them pay for what they did, I cannot forgive what they've done, but... if possible, I don't wanna kill anyone"
Shit, I just showed something so miserable to Liliana
"Uh?" - I feel a warm feeling on my hand and turn to look
Liliana has taken my hand and is holding it gently
"I'm sorry Tatseyo, I had no idea you felt like this..."
I shake my head
"No, I'm sorry for telling you this, it's a matter of life and death, yet I'm having such unnecessary thoughts"
"Stop that!"
Liliana tightens her grip on my hand and says while lifting a finger at me
"Don't ever say you are sorry for standing to your morals!"
She says that with confidence in her voice, in a scolding, yet loving manner
My heart jumped for a moment and I gulp down
"Liliana... thank you"
When Liliana said that, she seemed to almost glow in front of me, was she always this beautiful?
No, no, what the hell am I thinking?! Liliana was already beautiful, wait, why am I thinking about this?
"You are a very nice person Tatseyo, don't worry, I'm sure we can find a way to stop them with as little bloodshed as possible"
She says smiling at me, goddamnit! I can't take my eyes away from her, she looks outstading now, what the hell!?
"Let's begin then~~"
Liliana takes me by the hand back to the chair and opens the book
There are a lot of aspects regarding Sacred Gears, apparently they are directly influenced by their user's emotions and will, just like esper abilities, and some even have the capabilities of performing miracles and things of the kind.
As we are reading through it, I noticed there's something weird on top of Liliana's hair
There's some dust on it, must have been from this book
"Ah..."
I reach my hand out and slide it across her silver-white hair in order to remove it
Man, Liliana's hair is so silky, it's almost as I'm sliding my fingers through real lines of some really nice fabric...
"T-Tatseyo?"
I hear Liliana's nervous voice and pull my hand immediately
"Sorry!"
I got carried away and stroke her hair for too long!
"I-it's okay, but you shouldn't be doing this right now, someone might walk in..."
She completely misunderstood my intention!
"I-I wasn't stroking your hair! There was just some dust on it, I was just taking it out!"
Liliana tilts her head
"Oh, that's it?"
She passes her hand through her hair
"Thanks then..."
She says with a somewhat... disappointed voice?
"Sorry for doing it without asking"
Liliana shakes her head
"No problem, in fact..."
A brown hand reaches for my hair and starts stroking it
"You have some on yours too~"
The silver haired girl giggles as she says this
"R-really?"
That's all I muster to say while controlling myself, it's obvious that there's nothing on my hair, but how can this feel so good? She's just stroking my hair!
Liliana doesn't answer me and instead turns to her book
"You know Tatseyo... girls don't let any guy caress their hair"
"W-what?"
She giggles without averting her eyes from the pages
"Who knows? Fufufu, anyway, we should keep studying"
She then throws me a glance with those golden eyes and an impish smile
"If you can keep your hands to yourself that is~ fufufu"
"I told you I wasn't!"
We managed to finish today's lesson and actually come up with a plan, even with Liliana's constant teasing...
Part 2
After we finished things up, we were all playing cards while taking a break, except for Mayumi because... well, she can read minds so playing against her is impossible!
"HA! I won again!"
Liliana says as she collects the winnings, we are betting snacks instead of money and she has just cleaned me
"Heh, I think I'm out then"
The dark skinned girl laughs
"You are terrible at bluffing, Tatseyo! I can see right through ya, hahaha"
I sigh as I put my cards on the table
"I was never very good at this..."
Galard laughs, he, Diz and Manaki are also losing to Liliana
"Don't worry, Liliana-sama is just way too good at gambling"
Manaki nods
"Currently, the ratio between my victories and losses against her is 1:45"
She says while going through her cards, how many times have you played this game?!
"Well, you own a casino after all..."
I say, even though I haven't seem Liliana ever gamble against someone other than us, she's actually very good at this
"Liliana-ane is so good..."
Aya-chan says, she was the first one to be wiped clean
"Liliana-sama told us you developed a technique to deal with that shitty Juggernaut Drive?"
Diz asks while shuffling through her cards
I nod
"Yes, it's a bit complicated and it only works because of my abilities as an esper, but if push comes to shove, I think I might be able to at least deal with them without harming any bystanders"
According to the book, there are certain conditions to unleash the Juggernaut Drive, so we decided to attack this problem.
"Ara, so you are working on a way to stop it without having to fight it?"
Mayumi asks with a curious expression
"Yes, by what I was told, these forbidden powers can cause great damage just by being unleashed and also cause harm to the users themselves, I want to avoid casualties if possible"
At my explanation, Mayumi closes her eyes and smiles
"Avoid deaths at all costs, such a heroic thing to say, fufufu~"
She says with a playful tone and I feel a little embarassed
"I think Tatseyo is right, if deaths can be avoided, then it's for the best"
Galard answers, as expected of someone who once refused to use his powers for battle, he understands
"Heh, I particularly don't care, kill them or imprison them, those guys have it coming, the same for any asshole that tries to use a forbidden power like that"
Aren't you being a little too violent, Diz?
"I really don't like the Khaos Brigade, but if Tatseyo-san says it's to avoid colateral damage, then it's okay"
Aya-chan says with some bitterness in her voice, I guess she must hate them more than anyone in this room, I'm sorry for this, but I promise we'll make them pay for what they did one way or another
Manaki on the other hand just shrugs
"Whatever Liliana-sama decides, I'll follow"
Such a simple and loyal way of thinking!
"Fufufufu, I'm glad to see everyone's thinking about it~"
Liliana says laughing at our contrasting opinions, before putting her cards down and looking at me and Aya
"Hey, Aya-chan, Tatseyo, do you have any plans for this weekend?"
We look at each other and shake our heads
"No, we don't have anything special planned, why?"
Liliana smiles
"Then how about you two come to Tokyo with me?"
...
""What?!""
Part 3
After Liliana explained where we were going, me and Aya agreed and the three of us took the train towards Tokyo
"So your family owns a horse racing track there and we are heading to check how things are going?"
The silver haired girl nods
"Yup, we can also take our time there to enjoy the weekend, my treat"
She gives me a wink
"B-but you were already so kind to us Liliana-ane, letting me borrow clothes and everything..."
"There's no problem, you can't use your training clothes in there and I had these in spare"
I'm wearing a black button shirt with long sleeves and dark social pants while Aya-chan is wearing a white frilly dress that Liliana borrowed her, it looks really cute
"Did you had clothes like these in spare?"
I ask, pointing at Aya-chan
Liliana laughs with 'fufufu'
"When I went shopping once I saw this dress and I thought it would look so cute on Aya-chan, so I just had to give it to her."
She says pinching Aya-chan's cheeks
"And you look so cute on it!"
"Wah! I'm not a doll, Liliana-ane!"
Aya-chan cries out embarassed, which just makes Liliana smile even broader, I can't help but think this is very cute too, sorry Aya-chan.
"Thanks, but you really needed us to scort you?"
"Usually I have Diz or Mayumi to go with me, but they need to work at the Casino and since you guys are free, I thought you would like to come. Also..."
She then strides closer and whispers in my ear
"Consider this as a payback for staring at my ass in the office~"
My eyes wide and I nearly fall backwards, how did she noticed that?
"I-I wasn't staring!"
"Hah~ so you admit you looked?~"
She gives a triumphant smile and I look away embarassed
"It wasn't on purpose..."
"Fufufu, girls have a sixth sense for that~"
"Sixth sense?"
Aya-chan asks and Liliana turns to her
"Oh, nothing, I'm just kidding with Tatseyo"
She waves it off, Liliana holds back in front of Aya-chan, almost as if she was a little sister to her. I think it's good since Aya probably wouldn't be able to deal with Liliana's teasing side
"Have you decided where you want to go, Aya-chan?"
Liliana asks the youkai girl, who nods excited
"There's a restaurant over there that I really want to check!"
Aya says showing us the map of Tokyo that she was seeing ever since before we entered the train
"Fufufu, alright, we are going to have dinner there then"
As the two girls are talking, I feel several eyes staring at us and stare back at the men in the subway, who immediately turn away
Are these guys a threat? Someone might think
But no, they are just regular people, the thing that they were looking at was...
"Is everything alright, Tatseyo-san?"
Aya-chan asks and I nod
"Yes, don't worry, Aya-chan"
Is at this two! Beauties like them will obviously draw attention!
Unlike Aya-chan's cute look, Liliana is wearing a striped blouse that leaves her shoulders exposed and a skirt, she looks great! I really can't blame the guys for looking at them, but at least try not to stare at! I know it's hard, but look away, alright?
"Fufufu, good boy"
Liliana says petting my head, I'm not your guard dog!
"What about you Tatseyo, wanna go somewhere too?"
I tilt my head
"Not really, I've been to Tokyo a few times, whether for work or leisure, there's almost nothing there I haven't seen yet"
Tokyo is Japan's biggest and most populated town, so of course a good part of my works in this country were over there, it was good since they usually payed more than usual.
"Actually, I've been curious about this horse racing track, I've never been to one before..."
I have no interest in gambling, so even though I've been to countries where gambling was legal, I've never been interested to spend time or money in those places, but ever since meeting Liliana, I've become more curious about it.
"Really?!"
Liliana asks with her eyes shining
"Y-yes, is it weird?"
She shakes her head
"Not at all! I'm going to teach you everything about gambling and horse racing!"
Liliana says pumped, she really does like things related to gamble, well it's part of her family business after all
"Horses, bikes, powerboats and motorbikes all have one thing in common in Japan, they're part of the small selection of sports that people can bet on. And it's very profitable, to give you an idea, in the year when japanese people were first allowed to make bets on foreign races..."
Liliana explains to us the market of horse racing in Japan, about the revenue, it's place on culture and the three main modalities of horse racing in the country. She went about that for almost the entire trip, during all this time, me and Aya didn't even interrupted her because we were completely taken back by her knowledge.
After some time, the train stopped and we made our way to the horse track by cab
"Wow, it's huge!"
Aya-chan says at the entrance
"Fufufu, it's one of the biggest racing tracks in Japan"
Liliana says confidently
When we walk through the entrance, while we are making our way to the crowd area, a man who was talking with some members of what seems to be the security staff noticed and started running towards us
"Who's that guy?"
I say pointing at his direction, the man wears a formal suit and seems to be here at work, but his appearance is truly something else.
He is definitely foreigner, by his looks I would say mediterranean, curly hair with a beard, very tall and his muscular shape is evident even with the clothes he's wearing.
Also, he's not human, but a devil with a very strong aura.
Even though he's currently giving off no hostility, I can tell that this guy is a warrior.
"Liliana-sama!"
The man calls Liliana out and she happily waves towards him.
"Mel~!"
...Mel?! Did she just called this huge man 'Mel'?
"It's been so long!"
Liliana jumps in to hug the man and then he stands in front us with a surprised expression.
"Did you came all the way here by order of Caim-sama?"
He asks and Liliana makes a displeased expression at hearing the name and shakes her head
"No, I actually came here out of my own volition... just to see how business are going and show off to my new friends, fufufu"
She motions her hand introducing us
"Ah, you're very welcome in here, but... you're not devils, are you?"
The man asks with a curious expression
"No, we aren't, my name is Tatseyo Kageyama, I'm an esper"
I say, if he knows Liliana, then he probably knows what an esper is
"I am Aya, a Koma Inu..."
Aya answers and the man formally bows to us
"Pleased to meet you, my name is Melankomas"
M-Melankomas?
He looks at me
"Esper? I see, that's just like Liliana-sama"
He says with a sigh and a smile, Liliana then tugs his sleeve and points at me
"Tatseyo is the son of the Kageyama family, you know?"
She says with an excited voice
"R-really? I'm happy to see that you have reached your go-"
Liliana then squeezes the man's cheeks together in a sign for him to stop
"D-don't say that!"
She answers him embarassed
"S-shorry..."
Liliana let's go off his face and answers
"Melankomas is my father's [Rook], sometimes he and the other servants come over to check how the family's business on the human world are going"
Liliana is a heir, just like Rias and Sona, so this guy is a servant of her father, the leader of the house of Caim.
This man is strong, but he surely is not an esper, just as Liliana told me, she's the only one interested about esper's on her family.
"Melankomas... like the greek boxer..."
I say it curiously and the man looks at me with a happy expression
"Gyahahahaha! So Liliana-sama's companion has heard about me? I'm flattered!"
So he's the real deal, Melankomas, the mythic greek boxer who developed his own fighting style, owned an incredible endurance and never lost a single fight
"T-the true Melankomas... why am I not surprised?"
I say with a nervous laugh, in this supernatural world there seems to be historical and mythologycal figures everywhere!
"Mel has been on my father's side for a very long time~"
Liliana says, of course it's a long time, considering that Melankomas was alive when the Roman empire still existed, but that just makes me wonder how old her father is!
Also, could you stop calling the legendary boxer 'Mel'?
Another loud laugh echoes from the man
"Kuhahahahaha! Indeed, I had the pleasure of being Caim-sama's servant for a long time and I've seen Liliana-sama grow into such a fine lady! Ah, I'm so happy!"
He says wiping the tears of his eyes
"Ara, don't say that, I'm going to blush~"
Liliana says while laughing
"To think that you would even bring your boyfriend along, please take good care of her"- He says bowing to me again
...
""EEEHHHH'"
Me and Aya wide our eyes, while Liliana freezes
"I-I'm not her boyfriend!" - I answer outloud
Melankomas tilts his head
"Oh... really? I'm very sorry then"
He says looking at me and at then at Liliana, who just then made an impish smile and looked towards me
Oh no, I know this face...
"Don't worry Mel, Tatseyo is not my boyfriend yet..."
She throws a long glance at me
"He's still on test~ Fufufufu"
She winks at him
"H-hey, don't go saying things like that in front of him! He'll totally have the wrong idea!"
Melankomas makes an impressed face
"I see, as expected of Liliana-sama"
He already got the wrong idea!
"Liliana! Don't make up things like that on your own!"
She laughs
"Sorry, sorry~~"
The huge fighter looks at the three of us with a troubled smile
"I'm glad to see that Liliana-sama made such nice friends, kakakakaka!"
Ugh, I really don't know how to answer this
After laughing, he makes a serious expression and turns to Liliana
"But Liliana-sama, I had no idea you would be here, you should have warned the House, we could have sent someone to catch you"
Liliana waves her hand with a carefree expression
"No need, we were able to arrive by train just fine~"
At Liliana's words, the man's eyes wide
"T-t-train?! You are the heiress of the Great President's House, you shouldn't be walking around in public transport!"
He says in a worried voice, I get that Liliana is underworld royalty, but what's so bad about public transport?
"Mou, why not? I didn't want to take the helicopter and teleportation removes all the fun of the trip"
"B-but Liliana-sama, what if someone tried to attack you? The terrorists are still out there!"
He's clearly worried about Liliana, they clearly know each other for quite some time, but she just laughs
"Fufufufu, you don't have to worry about that~"
"H-hey!"
Liliana embraces my arm and answers with a cheerful tone
"Tatseyo is very strong, I'm sure he will protect me, right?"
She looks at me with the smile of someone that's expecting an answer, I sigh and look away. I think I'm getting used to this, is it even a good thing?
"Of course I would, don't worry about that..."
Liliana giggles
"Fufufufu, see? I'm in good company, don't sweat it"
The man still seems concerned
"But still..."
"Also..."
Liliana interrupts further protests with her expression having become shadowed
"I don't feel like talking to father..."
I feel her embrace on my arm tightening, Liliana's voice became gloomy and heavy, her playful and cheerful tone from before gone in a flash
"Liliana? Are you alright?"
I ask and she nods, regaining her composure and smiling
"Uhum, I'm alright, thanks"
It's obvious that she isn't, but Melankomas just sighs and answers
"So things are still like that... well, as long as you're safe and working hard I-"
BUUUUUZZZZ
"Uh?"
A loud sound was heard and Liliana let go off my arm and stood on attention
"Ah! The race is about to start, let's go!"
She and Aya go running in the front
"Wait, Liliana-sama!"
The man calls her out and she turns back before running off again
"Sorry, we'll talk later!~~"
He sighs and makes a troubled smile
"S-sorry about this"
I apologize to him as I start walking towards the direction where Liliana and Aya ran off to
"Hey, Kageyama-dono, just one thing"
The boxer calls my attention
"Uh?"
I say turning towards him
"You seem to be someone Liliana-sama trusts, so please watch over her"
I give a meek smile and shake my head
"Heh, sorry, but I think you got it backwards, it's Liliana who has been aiding me ever since I got into this mess..."
It's no exaggeration, Liliana and her servants have been my greatest helpers in getting used to this new world.
Melankomas smiles and nods
"Liliana-sama is a very diligent and responsible girl, but even she needs someone to back her up, I don't know you well enough, Kageyama-dono, but I beg you to live up to the trust she has deposited on you"
I look silently at him for a while before nodding back
"Leave it to me, I own a lot to her after all"
I give him a thumbs up
"Hey, Tatseyo! Are you coming or what?"
I hear Liliana's voice and wave goodbye to the greek fighter
"Sorry, I have to go, it was a pleasure to meet you, Melankomas-san"
"Same for me, we'll see each other hopefully soon, Kageyama-dono"
He waves me goodbye and I run towards Liliana and Aya, this situation just seems completely out of a fairy tale! I just talked with the mythic boxer who was said to never have lost a fight and won battles without even throwing a single punch!
The race was about to start when me, Aya and Liliana got to our seats, we sat on a line that gave us a good view of the tracks
"Ah, there! It's about to start!"
The horses and jockeys seem to be in their positions
"Woah, the horses are so cute!"
Aya-chan says leaning forward on her seat
"This is the flat race, the standard one, right?" - I turn to ask Liliana
She explained to us about it during the train ride, there are three main race modalities in Japan, but this one, where the horses race on a flat track and the first nose to cross the finish line wins is the most popular, even I knew about this one, it's the type of race you often see in movies, games and comics.
"Very good, Tatseyo!"
Liliana praises me and lifts a finger to explain
"The bets on this one are usually the lowest values, but that's where most of the gamblers come from, look around: The average salarymen, all longing to feel the thrill of gambling and hopefully make some cash without having to bet their entire paychecks on it"
She's right, almost everyone in the crowd seems to be working men, with the exceptions of some women and a few mean looking guys giving off a weird aura surrounded by big men in suits.
"It's going to start!"
Before I can ask who those guys were, the signal to start the race is shot and the horses with their colorful jockeys on top start running like bullets towards the finishing line
"""""""""""""GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!""""""""""""""'
The loud cheerings from the crowd fill the whole arena as hooves leave dust behind
It's a tight race, with a black horse having taken the lead at first, then surpassed by a brownish one that's surpassed by a white one with black spots.
The announcer keeps narrating the race and the names of the horses as the top three fight to see who'll win.
Liliana doesn't seem to be cheering for anyone in particular, instead watching the race with an analytical expression, her golden eyes shifting from horse to horse as if making calculations
Aya seems to be a little nervous because of the loud audience, but is trying really hard to focus on the race
"I see, Black Ballad it is"
Liliana has a satisfied expression while looking to the big screen where the horses are being show
"You think he's going to win? He's got a bit far behind"
Black Ballad is the name of the black horse with a white sign on it's forehead that had taken the lead at first but now has fallen behind the brown and white one
She nods
"I'm sure he will, just watch"
The race goes on and just as it's approaching the end
[Black Ballad seems to have sprinted towards the finishing line, he's head-to-head with Tap Dancer and Cafe Laté!]
The narrator keeps shouting as the black horse approaches it's two rivals just seconds before the finishing line
""""""""""WOOOOOAAAAAAAAHHHHH!""""""""""""
The crowd goes wild as the three equines fight for the first place, but Black Ballad still seems to be having trouble keeping up with the two. In the end, Café along with Black Ballad seem to be losing their stamina
After some battle, Black Ballad and Tap Dancer cross the finishing line together, but the dark horse almost immediately stops right after, while the white one keeps running as if it hadn't depleted all of it's energy yet
"Heh, I gues you lost this one"
I say to Liliana, who returns me a smug smile
"Is that so?"
The narrator's voice ressounds through the speakers
[Since it was a very close race, we'll use the recording feature to decide the winner. The first horse to cross the finishing line was...]
Silence envelops the arena as the announcer makes a second of mystery before the definitive picture appears on the screen
[BLACK BALLAD BY A NOSE!]
Shouts of anger and disappointment, but also of joy, fill the arena and I feel a finger poking my cheek
"I told you, the first nose to cross wins~"
Liliana says and I can only look at her impressed
"Liliana-ane is amazing!"
Aya-chan says
"How did you..."
"Easy, probability is what decides who wins, knowing the horse's conditions helps to narrow down the possibilities, but in the final stretch it was decided by fate"
Liliana then tosses a coin up and grabs it
"And boy, I'm good at this"
She says confidently
"Heh, we should have betted on him then"
I say ironically and Liliana laughs
"I think people would be suspicious if I won at my own family's racing track"
We share a laugh and stand up ready to leave the area, when a voice calls out to us
"Lucky Liliana!"
Liliana hides her head between her shoulders
"Oh no, not this guy..."
I turn around and see one of the mean looking guys from before, he's surrounded by two pairs of brutes in suits and he's wearing a rather flamboyant suit with a top hat himself, I think I have seem this middle aged man somewhere, not in history books or anything, but on the TV or newspapers...
He gives off a strange vibe, but he's human, strange, but human
"Ah, Shinobu-san, enjoying the race?"
Liliana masks her bitter expression from a while ago with a smile and turns to the man
She seems to be familiar with him, however, she's still referring to him by the last name, unlike the man, who just called her by a strange nickname
"Shinobu-san? What's with the formality? C'mon, don't act like a stranger, these guys are just for decoration, hahaha!"
The man laughs and pokes one of his gorilas with the elbow, he then orders them to stay behind and catches up with Liliana and us
She gives him a troubled smile
"Understood, so how was it today, Hiroshi?"
She calls him by the first name and I rattle my brain trying to think where I've heard it before
He shows his ripped gambling ticket
"How do you think it was?"
Liliana gives a small laugh and says
"Streak of bad luck?"
The flamboyant middle-aged man sighs
"Not everyone has the blessings of lady luck like you, but I'm going to make it up for it, you'll see"
"Fufufu, I'm looking forward to have you on our casinos or tracks at anytime"
As they are talking to each other, I remember where I've heard his name before
"Hi-Hiroshi Shinobu?"
I ask to Liliana and she nods
"So you've heard about him?"
I nod and look at the man trying to hide my despise
"Yakuza..."
I say it under my breath
Hiroshi Shinobu is the newly named oyabun of the Kirotawa group, a large yakuza faction responsible for a wide range of felonies in many regions of the country
"Of course he heard about me! I can tell just by looking at him!"
The man says that and I raise an eyebrow, what does he mean by that?
"I won't be so impolite as to ask your real name, but how should I call you?"
An interrogation must have appeared over my head, I don't answer because I can't understand what he's talking about
I simply stare at the yakuza boss for a brief moment and shake the hand he just offered me
"My name is Tatseyo Kageyama, I'm here scorting Liliana-san and Aya-chan"
He wides his eyes and answers
"Ah, I see... straight to the point, just how I like it, you have a good eye for your men, Liliana"
He says and Liliana gives a troubled smile again, she seems to be rather uncomfortable around him, well, it's not like I'm rather fond of him either
"And I take it that this cute girl is Aya-chan? It's a pleasure to meet you, young lady"
"Y-yes, it's a pleasure to meet you too"
Aya doesn't seem to be aware of who the man is and politely answers him back
"Such a polite girl, you do have good companions, but..."
The man looks at me again and makes a worried expression
"To think that even Lucky Liliana herself would need a hitman by her side, times sure are changing..."
I wide my eyes at his words
"Hitman?!"
He thinks I'm an assassin!
Liliana laughs nervously and taps the man's shoulder
"Eh... Hiroshi, Tatseyo is not a hitman, he's an esper who's currently working with me"
Liliana explains to the man, she just told him I am an esper, but this guy is human, does he know about the supernatural world?
The yakuza looks surprised for an instant and doesn't say anything, he just turns to me and looks for a while, analyzing me head to toe, then looks back at Liliana
"Are you sure? He looks dangerous"
What do you mean, 'are you sure'?!
"I'm not a criminal!"
The yakuza gives out a laugh
"I know, neither am I! Hahahahaha!"
Ugh, this guy...
"Tatseyo got in trouble a while ago because he attacked the Gremory and Sitri peerages, so now he's helping us to tackle down the Khaos Brigade"
He wides his eyes and looks again at me with an impressed face
"Gremory and Sitri? Well, that means he is as strong as he seems?"
Liliana gives a proud smile and looks at me
"Even better"
I feel my face get red, why do you give me such a nice compliment in this situation!
The yakuza leader gives out a heartful laugh and pats my shoulder
"Any friend of the Lucky Lilly is a friend of mine, if you need something, don't be a stranger"
He says before calling out to the brutes that were waiting for him and heading out of the arena
"I hope I won't..."
I say it under my breath as I watch him leave
"So, 'Lucky Lilly'?"
I turn to Liliana and ask her
"Who was him, Liliana-ane?"
Aya-chan also questions her and Liliana sighs
"A guy I do business with, he's from the yakuza"
Liliana answers troubled and the green haired girl's eyes wide
"Ya-yakuza?! Why do you do business with him?"
"I've been meaning to ask that too, isn't he dangerous? And how did he knew about espers and the Khaos Brigade?"
Liliana puts her hand against her forehead and sighs
"He's one of the clients who has a pact with me and the house of Caim, that's how he has knowledge about the other world"
"A... pact?"
Me and Aya look at Liliana and she nods
"Part of a devil's work is to make pacts with people who have greed in their hearts, we give them leaflets like the one I gave you when we first met and they summon us to make their requests while paying a price"
Aya-chan is wide eyed and doesn't say anything.
I gulp down before asking
"...Price?"
Liliana gives a small laugh
"It's not what you are thinking, I'm talking about a real price, that can go from money to exchange of favors, it all depends on the person's value really"
I'm dumbfounded by this discovery, so there are people who have real pacts with a demon.
"That's why he had that weird feeling around him..."
The reason as to why I felt something was off about him was because of this.
"So you noticed it? As expected, people who make deals with a devil tend to become 'marked' by some kind of aura, I wonder if it's karma for making a pact with an evil being..."
Liliana says with a hand under her chin
"And what kind of... services the devils provide?"
I ask a bit scared of the answer I might hear and Liliana shrugs
"It all depends on what type of work the devil and it's servants are good at, there are some who do healing, training services, music, sexual services, hell, there are even some who act like buttlers"
Liliana says waving her hand
"The heavier the work, the greater the payment is and I don't think I need to say it, but criminals have some of the highest payment rates, after all, it's a risky group to work with. The house of Caim has a long story of working with troublesome people like gangsters, politicians and celebrities"
I stay silent for a moment, just staring at Liliana
"The servants? So Mayumi-san, Galard-san and all the others are on this too?"
Aya-chan asks worried and Liliana nods
"Yes, each of us provides different services regarding our own specialities, because of our success rates, they started calling me Lucky Liliana, whatever that means..."
"But why are you doing that? Those guys are..."
Just I'm about to start inquiring her about the reason to all of this, Liliana interrupts me
"Don't have the wrong idea, Tatseyo."
"Uh?"
I freeze for a moment, Liliana's eyes having become dull and cold
"Before anything, we devils aren't allowed to directly interfere in human issues, so don't think me or any of my servants go around doing dirty things as killing people, selling drugs or robbing for them"
Liliana's expression just now was a scary one, but I feel relieved by what she just told me
"Of course not, I know Liliana-ane wouldn't hurt anyone!"
Aya-chan says and Liliana looks at her and smiles, returning to her gentle mood
"We do help them with building their influence, network, strategy and business management. As for the service we did for Hiroshi..."
Liliana's expression becomes a sad smile
"You heard about the inner war his faction experienced after the death of it's former leader?"
I nod, after the death of it's former leader, the Kirotawa went into an inner quarrel about who would be the heir of it's chair, there was even news about a possible war, but in the end Hiroshi's faction won without major complications
"We were responsible for his rise to power"
"Y-you were what?!"
Liliana nods
"Tatseyo, Aya, you both know that I am a devil. That means I deal with people's selfish requests in exchange for material gain and greater influence, in order to become a respected devil, I must do these kind of deals and not show weakness, you are aware of that, right?"
We both nod meekly
Liliana is a devil, sometimes I end up forgetting about that, even if she's trying to save this world and help people like Aya, it's impossible to ask her to be completely good.
Liliana comes closer and pats my shoulder
"Good, but I also want you two to understand that I would never, ever, hurt an innocent person."
She says looking at me and then at Aya
"Hiroshi's rise to power helped to avoid a bloodshed and gave me influece over one of the largest criminal organizations in the country, I know he's still a criminal but this is also necessary for another important thing that's related to espers."
She lets go off my shoulder and asks me
"Tatseyo, Manaki told me she spoke to you about her past before becoming my servant, so you must know about it"
I wide my eyes in answer
"Esper criminals..."
Liliana nods and explains to us
"There are criminal organizations around the world recruiting espers and even smaller criminal groups and militias made entirely of people with special skills, in order to gather information about them, we must have contacts in the human underworld."
So even when doing her job as a devil she's still thinking about the approach between devils and espers and about helping other people
"Espers like Tatseyo-san? Are we going to fight against them too?"
Aya-chan asks and Liliana nods
"It is very possible, that's why, Tatseyo, we need you to be ready to fight against your own kind if necessary, you understand it, right?"
I clutch my fist tightly
"I understand, you are planning to catch the criminals who commit crimes in human society?"
For espers, using our powers against normal people is forbidden, unless there's immediate danger or someone's safety being threatened. But obviously there are espers who just say fuck it and use their powers to commit crimes or play 'vigilante', putting our identities at risk. Even if we have ways to enforce our rules, the esper community is not a nation-state, we try to gather as much as possible, but most espers around the world probably don't even know about our existence.
"Of course, I can't forgive people wasting their talents in a life of crime, fufufu~"
I give a bitter smile
Liliana is using her contacts with dangerous groups to further her influence and gather information about organizations that even us in the esper community have been troubled about how to deal with, she's a devil, but I want to help her in anyway I can, even if it clashes with the philosophy my family has taught me
"Then I promise I'll find a way to deal with them, even if they are humans like me, I won't let them escape"
Liliana and Aya smile at my resolve and the golden eyed girl bumps her fist into my chest
"You better!"
Even if I have to adapt myself, I will defeat the Khaos Brigade and I'll stand for my morals!
Afterword: There you have it, criminals. One of the things that I'm curious about the DxD universe is which types of devils deal with the crime lords. Rias said that devils do services for greedy and sinful people, aren't criminals the greediest and sinfullest people of them all, willing to pay the highest? So this is another subject I'll be dealing with in this story and it will be directly related to the history of the characters, I hope you all enjoy.