The Devouring Dragon-Chapter 66: The Final Day

"It'll be made official today, so I thought I'd tell you personally," I started as I walked up to Sona and Tsubaki, who were sitting alone at the breakfast table in my palace.

This was a usual sight early in the morning, as the two disciplined and studious women were usually the first ones to wake up, while Rias's peerage slept in much later.

"Tell us what?" Sona asked curiously, tilting her head at me.

"I've struck an alliance with Ajuka Beelzebub," I said bluntly, and Sona's eyes widened slightly. "Your freedom was part of it. Tomorrow, envoys from your family will arrive, and you'll be released."

"R-Really?" Sona blinked in surprise, "That's... good to hear."

Despite her words, her lips were curved down slightly.

"You don't sound happy," I raised an eyebrow at her.

I had certainly grown closer to the Sitri Heiress during her time here, but I didn't think she was very attached to me or anything. Compared to Rias and Koneko - who had been clinging to me rather tightly the night before - I thought she'd be glad to leave.

"...I wouldn't say I'm unhappy," Sona answered honestly, "I still have my own goals and aspirations, and I will be heading to the human world soon, but I wouldn't have minded staying a bit longer."

"Really?" I couldn't hide all the surprise in my voice.

"It's been kind of like a vacation," Tsubaki chuckled.

"You've treated us well, I've got to spend more time with my sister, and I've learned a lot," Sona nodded, "I've become much stronger through training with Tiamat, and I've learned a lot about how to manage a peerage from watching you."

I blinked at her words. She learned from watching me?

I was a King, but I also left most of the specifics up to Raya. Aside from giving overarching plans and orders to Raya, Vargan, Velrissa, or Tiffana, I had spent most of my time grinding up skills or reputation for my gacha quests.

But, I guess, compared to only having one peerage member to take care of, seeing me manage the hostages and my own subordinates was probably a lot more complex.

"If you want to come back and continue training with Tiamat, you're welcome to," I grinned lightly at her, "I'm not opening my territory up for all the devils or anything, but for you two, I'll make an exception."

Sona's face flushed lightly at my words and gaze, and she nodded again.

"I... will take you up on that offer."

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"I'm sure you've heard by now," I said easily as I leaned against the side of a tree, watching Latia as she sat on a nearby wooden bench, resting from her training with Tiamat.

"I have," She nodded, glancing over at me, "For a tyrant, you're rather kind and reasonable."

"More than I should be," I smirked lightly, but then I shook my head, "But not as much as you think. You won't be leaving."

Latia blinked, turning to look at me fully, "Huh?"

"You won't be leaving," I simply repeated.

"B-But, Sona said you were releasing us," Latia said confusedly.

"Not all of you," I said simply, "You're the last direct member of the Astaroth clan. You're too valuable to let go."

"But Serafall isn't?" Latia asked incredulously, frowning lightly.

"Don't take it as an insult," I just grinned lightly, resisting letting my eyes trail down her voluptuous body, "It's not just you're value. I like you."

I was completely lying either - I was mainly keeping her in my territory for political reasons, but I also did like the woman more than I'd gotten to experience.

I had grown fond of Rias, Sona, and most of the other hostages too - but I'd spent a lot of time with them. Latia had been much more distant.

She was shyer than Ravel and Rias and didn't have a marriage contract hanging over her head to push her into growing closer to me. She also didn't have Serafall or Kuroka, in the cases of Sona and Koneko, to encourage her either.

As a result, the gorgeous woman had one of the lowest reputation ratings with me out of all my hostages - being tied with Yubelluna, who was still new and nervous about the supernatural world.

"W-What?!" Latia turned beet red, her eyes widening lightly, "W-What do you mean?"

"Exactly what I said," I just turned away, still grinning, and waved over my shoulder, "I'll continue to see you every day from now on, Latia."

I left the stammering and blushing woman behind me, leaving the training grounds before she could say anything else.

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"So, your master is Riser Phenex?" I hummed, making small talk as I sat with Yubelluna at the dinner table.

The rest of the usual guests had already headed into bed, but Ravel and Yubelluna tended to stay up later than the rest. Ravel had just headed to sleep, and I was sure Yubelluna would too in a few minutes.

"Y-Yes, that's right," She nodded a bit shakily, glancing over at the doorway Ravel had just left through. frёeωebɳovel.com

I hadn't had a lot of interactions with the woman over the course of her time here, and that was largely because of how nervous and shy she was. She had just been reincarnated into a devil mere days before being captured in my territory, and it showed.

"How'd you become a devil?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

The woman wasn't what I had expected, as in the series she was rather promiscuous, cunning, and submissive to a strange degree when Riser was around. Compared to the rather normal, shy, and nervous woman in front of me, she was the same only in looks.

"L-Lord Riser, um, took an interest in me," She explained, still looking a bit nervous just by talking to me.

I blinked at her, "That's it? He just saw you on the street, asked you, and you agreed?"

I had expected something a bit darker, but I guess I was selling Riser short-

"N-No, I was working as a model," Yubelluna shook her head, "He showed up one day, killed my manager, and then I woke up in the Phenex Estate."

Ah, that sounds more like the arrogant asshole that was Riser Phenex.

"Take this," I said abruptly, reaching into my pocket and pulling out a small ball, which looked like a normal marble. In reality, it was the result of one of Tiamat's [Sacred Treasure]'s, which had been formed from a magician decades ago.

It wasn't all that useful to me, as it just gave a couple of weak skills that overlapped poorly with skills I already had, but it did have one useful skill.

[Signature Swap] - Import your magic signature into a magical object. When the object is broken, you will be pulled to the object, or the object will be pulled to you.

The small marble-like object could be used to instantly bring myself to it now, or to bring the marble back to me. I assumed that normally someone would feel an influx of magic and be able to choose by manipulating it, but the game system just brought up a window for me to choose.

While the latter seemed pretty useless at first - as why would I need to bring the broken ball back to me? - through testing I had found out that it was a lot better than I assumed.

The reason the object needed to be 'broken' to activate was because it recorded the signature of whoever broke it, and then summoned them along with it.

Essentially, whoever broke the marble could be pulled to me in an instant.

I had given one to Rias, Akeno, and Koneko as well, and I would give one to Sona and Ravel before they left. I doubted they'd really need them, but it was a good insurance to have.

"What is it?" Yubelluna asked curiously as she reached across the table and grabbed the marble from my hand.

"I don't know him personally, but I've heard Riser is a bit of a dick," I grinned at her, nodding at the marble, "If you ever need help, just smash that, alright?"

While Riser had a bit of a redemption arc in the series, he had still started out as an arrogant asshole who made his peerage - which was only comprised of women - live as essentially caricatures to satisfy his fetishes.

I didn't know if Yubelluna had changed from a normal woman willingly, or if her slave-like demeanor had come from Riser forcing his will on her.

If it were the former, then I would have no need to intervene, and Yubelluna could live happily in Riser's peerage. If it was the latter, then I'd beat a second Phenex's ass and take the woman for myself.

Yubelluna's eyes went wide as she stared down at the marble, and she nodded quickly as she looked gratefully at me, "T-Thank you!"

A quest notification confirmed that she really was thankful, and I just waved her off.

"Don't think anything of it," I said humbly, grinning lightly.

I wouldn't take her thanks, because I wasn't doing it for her. I felt a bit evil thinking like this, but I kind of hoped Riser would be the prick I knew he was.

Yubelluna was gorgeous, and I was more than willing to take her back to my palace.

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"Is it fine to let them go?" Tiamat asked hushedly, sounding slightly doubtful as we approached the edge of my territory.

Around me, all the hostages I had built up - being Rias and her peerage, Sona and Tsubaki, Ravel and Yubelluna, and finally Serafall and Latia - were walking with us.

The alliance had been officially announced to the rest of the supernatural world a day prior, and it was time to let them leave my territory freely.

"It's fine," I simply nodded, as I wasn't all that worried.

Ajuka was intelligent enough not to betray me, as starting a war with nothing to hold either me or the devils back would just end in both of us losing everything.

Besides that, I still had my contract with Serafall tying her to me, and I wasn't letting all of the hostages go. Mainly - Latia Astaroth.

I couldn't just let all my most valuable hostages go free, as that would take away the advantage I had built up, even if it would strain the alliance a bit. For that reason, the final remaining member of the Astaroth line would stay living in my territory.

While she didn't have an insane personal value to the Maou like Rias or Sona did, she had a different type of value - one to the pillar families, and to the reputation of devil society as a whole, as she was the only thing preventing another pillar from going extinct.

Besides that, I also hadn't built up enough of a reputation with her yet to ensure she'd defend me if the need arose, which could definitely be said for Rias.

"You set up a section for me, right?" Speaking of Rias, the busty woman was walking next to me as she actually looked slightly nervous.

"I did," I confirmed for what must've been the fifth time that day, "Tiamat tied it to the Gremory crest."

"Then I can visit whenever I want, right?" Rias smiled lightly, and I nodded again.

"There's an open spot right in the middle of the palace," I confirmed again, and Akeno giggled from her spot next to Rias.

"Ara, in the palace? Maybe we should sneak in every night, Rias," She teased, but Rias just ignored her.

The 'section' in question was a surprising demand Rias had made to me: Create a section in my territory where the anti-teleportation barrier wasn't active.

I was kind of touched that she wanted to come back so often, as I figured I'd won her over enough that she'd want to visit sometimes, but every day was a bit unexpected.

Obviously, I wanted her to visit, but I didn't want to take down the barrier. If I did, then it would be inviting any enemy to walk right in.

Luckily, Tiamat was still a Dragon King, and a pretty genius one at that. She had modified a section of the barrier to allow Gremory-crest teleportation circles specifically the ability to enter and leave.

It was still a bit of a security risk, as there was one super-devil Maou in particular who could utilize the Gremory crest, but I doubted Sirzechs was dumb enough to try anything like that. With all the buffs my [Beast King] title gave me, it was pretty much suicide to challenge me in my own territory.

"You did that for her? I should've asked for one too..." Sona trailed off, blushing slightly as I gave her a curious look, "S-So I can get back to train quickly, of course! Efficiency is important. Is it too late to set one up for me?"

"I'll set one up," I agreed with a nod. Having an entrance for the Sitri-crest would double in getting Serafall back quickly as well.

"I, for one, am happy to finally be leaving that dull little mountain!" Ravel huffed, though her cheeks were slightly red as she glanced over at me, "O-Of course, my family will want to thank you for treating us well, so I suppose I'll have to come back sometime - A-As unfortunate as that is!"

I just grinned amusedly at her words. I figured she'd be back more than once.

"Oh! I'll come back soon, too, Val-chan!" Serafall nodded rapidly with a bright, cheerful grin, "I still need to get an outfit made for Ray-chan! She'd look so cute in it!"

The contract wasn't the only thing tying Serafall to me, as the friendly woman had ended up becoming quite close with some of my subordinates while she was here. Mainly Raya, who she said reminded her of Sona.

She also had a bit too strong of a desire to turn 'cute girls' - which was to say, beautiful women with cute faces like Momo and Raya - into magical girls. Much to Raya's chagrin, and Momo's amusement, that meant she planned to come back and force them into magical girl costumes.

"Make sure you bring my Shirone back often, Gremory," Kuroka smirked, the Nekoshou walking next to Koneko as she got her final few minutes of bonding before Koneko would leave.

That was kind of sweet - I guess Kuroka did have a soft side for her sister, even if she acted mischievous most of the time-

"If you have the King's babies before her, I'll be angry!" Kuroka finished, and my thoughts died out.

That's why she wanted to bring Koneko back, huh?

We continued walking, reaching the edge of my territory pretty quickly, and I glanced off the edge of the wall. At the bottom, a group of envoys waited. My eyes instantly locked onto a duo of superdevils amongst them, and I grinned lightly.

"It would be rude to keep them waiting," I hummed, instinctively activating [King's Aura] as I met one of their gazes with my own, "Let's see if you're as impressive as I've heard..."

"Sirzechs Lucifer."

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AN: Thank you for reading! This Chapter is the end of the 'Stand-Off' arc! The next Chapter will start the 'War for Devil Society' arc!

You can also read 7 Chapters ahead on Patreon.com/Koyon !