For a moment, seeing the man's smirk made me regret coming, but I needed information about the Demeot and I wasn't sure where else I could get real information. He waved me over, and the temptation to walk out was strong. I headed to him after flagging down the bartender for a drink. As I approached him, I got a Notice.

[Notice] With [Demeot Eyes], you have successfully identified [Rajal], a Cambion. Mastery of [Demeot Eyes] has increased by .05%.

So that was his name. This Skill wasn't too bad after all.

"We meet again," he said as I sat down across from him, all youthful charm. He didn't have the stubble from before, and he looked recently bathed even. Or at least his tan skin didn't look dirty and his brown hair wasn't oily. He almost looked ten years younger, too, but he still edged more on handsome than boyish.

"You knew I'd come find you again," I said. Instead of waiting to haggle, I dropped a small pouch of coins in front of me on the table to let his imagination get ahead of him.

Rajal's eyebrows raised. "I knew you would because I was betting on having made a good impression." He smirked again, then took the last swig of his beer with his head tipped back. The cup came down on the table heavy and he wiped his mouth with his forearm. "Just wasn't expecting a second date so soon. Usually I like to play a little harder to get, but I'm game since it's you."

"Flattering," I said as someone came over to set down two drinks for us. I took a drink because I could tell I would need it. "Even though your first impression was terrible. You were dirty, drunk, and smelled awful."

He laughed. "Harsh. Well, now that I'm cleaned up, I guess I might as well raise my price. What do you need?" He took the new beer I'd bought him and tipped it in my direction before drinking.

I'd expected to pay more this time. Information on Rashania and Co was probably rather easy to get on the streets. It was a subject meant to be avoided if you didn't want trouble, which meant it was information meant to be a secret and shared as widely as possible. On the other hand, King Enosh XXI was personally seeing to the control of all information on the Rashirat, the Demeot, and the Plane of Demeot. Getting information like that always costed more.

"I need information," I started. I was careful with my tone. Seeming casual would be best--not desperate but not flippant. "Way more information. Information that's apparently hard to find. Where else would I go but you? I've got all night. Drinks all on me."

"You came to the right person. Information about what? Some information's more expensive than buying me one night's worth of beer. Beer won't get me talking about myself, for example."

The twinkle in Rajal's green eyes made me scoff. But I was stalling. Was it the right decision to ask him? Out of everyone I knew, he was the most likely to know something. He also was one of the few people I'd spoken to who seemed to actually care what was happening, albeit about the pretend the Rashirat rather than the real ones. I didn't think he'd tell on me to anyone, either.

I chugged the rest of my beer. Catching the attention of the bartender, I ordered another, then I sighed. "I want information about the Plane of the Demeot, the Demeot who live there, and the Rashirat who rule it."

"...Can't say I wasn't expecting that. Yeah, information like that's going to cost you more than my weight in beer, no matter how much of a pretty boy you are. And I'm heavier than I look. All muscle." Rajal flexed for emphasis.

I kept from rolling my eyes. Using [7-Years-Bloodlust] would be easy right now to intimidate him into talking to me, but I wasn't sure it'd actually work on him. He didn't seem like someone who'd be intimidated by bloodlust. I'd also probably need more information in the future. He could probably tell me a lot about Brugge, the royal guards, the royal palace, and the king as well.

I'd probably regret this, but keeping him close was my best bet.

"Do you want a job?" I asked. "I might have some work for you. I have a younger brother, and I need help looking after him because I'm not around enough. Someone to protect him from danger. Feed him. Help him with homework."

Rajal sat forward. "You want me to live with you? Be your housewife? Is that what I'm hearing?"

"If that's the title you prefer." I offered him the pouch, sliding it over toward his side of the table. "Week's worth of salary. You'll be paid well for it anyway."

"What's your name again?"

"Trygve."

He picked up the pouch to feel for how much was in there, then offered his hand to shake on the deal. His grip was tight. A little static charge pricked my eyes for a moment, and I had to blink hard against the feeling. When I opened them, the feeling was gone.

[Notice] Mastery of [Demeot Eyes] has increased by .05%.

"Rajal," he said with a cheeky grin. "Or housewife, if you prefer. What do you want to know? Don't worry about anyone overhearing. I've got a silencing spell around the table." He tucked the pouch away into his shirt.

Convenient. I'd made the right choice, if he was that good at magic. Maybe there was a lot I could learn from him. Probably best to just come out with it. Paying people meant there was room to be embarrassed without losing much face. I took a long drink.

"From the beginning," I told him. "I don't know a lot. My father didn't want me to learn about any of it because he didn't think it was worth it. I'm thinking it's pretty damn worth it."

"From the beginning... like from the creation of the Universe beginning?" He blinked, and when I made no attempt to confirm or deny his assumed starting point, he nodded, rubbed his hands together, and started without preamble.

"The Universe System created the universe, right? From a big burst of light called the Nix Fin Lux. This light is what we call Energy, which is the creation of everything and all that." He played his fingers out on the table. "The Nix Fin Lux divided into ten, and those are the Shevirat. You know them?"

I listed them from memory, and he raised one finger from the table at the time. No eleventh finger meant no Di'at, but I didn't want to talk about that asshole anyway.

"Of course you know all their names," he grumbled. "So imagine the Nix Fin Lux as a branch of lightning with ten nexus points of Energy that flow from one another."

He raised his hands from the table, and an illusion came together underneath his palms on the surface of the table of a tree of lightning that reminded me of the tree of life or something. And it also reminded me of the trees and the Demeot I'd seen on the other side. Veined with Energy, light gathered at certain pressure points on darkened forms.

"Each of these points? They're associated with one of the Shevirat." He named each one quickly, starting with Ket'ha at the top and Malfon at the bottom. "Energy flows through these points, through the Shevirat, to all things. From the different planes of existence to me to you. Forms born in the month of one of the Shevirat are said to channel Energy through them specifically. That influences those forms, gives them attributes usually associated with that Shevirat, too. You know any of those?"

"Like those born in the Month of Ket'ha are supposed to be willful and faithful," I provided.

He nodded. "Good enough, yeah. Okay... so stay with me on this..."

Why was he treating this like a kindergarten lesson, asking me to stay with him as if he was explaining something deeply complicated? I sat back and folded my arms over my chest. His lightning tree moved, zooming in on the light of the lightning until the illusion was just a white dot fading into blackness. Then a line circled around the white part of the circle, then another circle around it, a third circle around that, and then a fourth that was just all black. It was like Dante's nine circles of hell but there were only four.

"The center, where it's just pure light?" Rajal prodded his finger into that center circle. "That's the Plane of the Shevirat. Then here, where it's starting to turn gray, that's where souls go when they're between forms. Then here, where it's more black than white, that's where we are now. The last one is the Plane of Demeot. Let's call it the Other Side."

His lightning tree returned, and he pointed to the edges of each branch and asked, "With me still?"

I gave him a dry look and almost said this wasn't rocket science. "Yes. Keep going."

Rajal laughed. "You said you knew nothing. Just checking. Shit. Okay, so each Shevirat has a shadow, where their light meets the darkness, where their attributes reach the extreme. Those are the original Rashirat--the strongest of the Demeot. The firstborns. They're the closest to the Shevirat as the first creations to be manifested through their Energy."

He named those ten Rashirat in order of the Shevirat whose shadow they apparently spawned from. Rajal's words echoed in my mind. This made the Rashirat demi-gods, didn't it? Di'at could've mentioned that. Or been more clear about it. Or something.

"Each of the strongest," Rajal continued, "has their own dominion in the Underworld, the size corresponding more or less with their strength. They defend their borders from one another with their own Orders, which have a hierarchy according to strength as well. There's one Grand Cross, who's basically one of the ten's right-hand. Three Knight Commanders. Six Commanders. Sixty-six Knights. Six hundred and sixty-six Cavalieres. They're all called the Rashirat, because under them, there are thousands of Demeot."

It was like a pyramid scheme, though I wasn't sure who was at the top. He'd listed Ket'ha as the first point, so perhaps that meant their shadow Rashirat Torron might be at the top of Hell's pyramid. Then beneath Torron were the following nine strongest of them, and under each of those nine were the strongest in each of their Dominions, all the way down to the youngest demon surely salivating at the chance of proving their worth and climbing the ladder.

Even if they were getting the shit stick of the deal. They were probably doing all the work to simply increase the territories and power of the Rashirat they served. I doubted it was a Cavaliere who'd possessed King Enosh XXI, for example. What did that say about Garta's father that he had been possessed by one? Or, on the other hand, that meant those above Tinnek had possessed more influential people than the current King of the Silverwinds. Many of them.

But I just had to worry about King Enosh XXI and whichever Rashirat had possessed him, which was probably Torron.