(Lupin) “…”

(Archdemons) “…”

(Lupin)

(Ryuujin)

(Lupin)

(Ryuujin)

(Lupin)

(Ryuujin)

(Lupin)

(Lupin) *inhale, exhale* “So, we already got introduced into each other by Diabolus. I may seem rude now, but to leave you more time for eventual questions, which will definitely occur, I want to cut things short.”

(Ryuujin)

(Lupin) “The thing is, I want to help you in two ways: First, making you able to see the outer world without any restrictions. Second, stopping this stupid war with the humans, which causes casualties on both sides. There should be only one possibility to help you like this, and I think you are aware of what I am going to say now.”

Archdemons nod.

(Lupin) “Good, that was within my expectations. As far as I know, many demons are full of pride. How many of you are like them?”

Lucifer and Kerberos raise their hands.

(Lupin)

“Two of you? You surely have your pride as being a demon, but is your demon core really equivalent to being a demon? Imagine, you would have to choose: Keep your demon core, but lose everything else which makes you a demon, or lose your demon core, but keep your appearance and abilities as a demon? Which of these two choices would be more appealing to you, who has his pride as a demon?”

They didn’t say anything, but Lucifer got seemingly angry, and Kerberos began to think.

(Lupin) “Sorry for provoking you, but that would be it, if only having your demon core would be equal to being a demon. In that case, wouldn’t I be a demon myself, who has demon cores from beasts?”

(Mammon) “It surely is a solution, but how do you benefit from it?”

(Lupin) “Easy, I can heal my friend faster by raising my MP.”

(Mammon) “But wouldn’t potions be enough?”

(Ryuujin)

(Lupin)

“Have you heard of the so-called ‘Chimera Project’?”

(Mammon) “…! You don’t say…”

(Lupin) “You could say, that she was something like the result of a similar experiment, which took place even before that. She was just thrown away, had no family for two years. I am pretty sure that you are greedy. You are longing for whatever being in your reach. Because of this, you are able to safely manage the finances. If you were in her place, what would be the first things you are longing for?”

Mammon didn’t say anything in response for a short amount of time. He seemed to be shocked.

Then…

(Mammon) *Ahem* “At first, somebody, I could put my trust in. Then, somewhere I could live. And after that, a cure. But, even the first goal is difficult, if not impossible to achieve, because of her appearance. It would cause most people to run away, or try to kill her, because of her scary looks.”

(Lupin) “Exactly. I would have run away as well, if the situation I met her in wouldn’t have been weird. All she did was trying to eat my food while I wasn’t watching. Neither did she attack me, nor did she do anything mischievous. I was five years old back then, if I remember correctly, and she was two heads taller than me back then. Still, she clung to me, as if I was the most important thing to her, just after I didn’t run away and spoke a little bit with her.

And the present I got on my twelfth birthday from her? I got some pebbles of Aeternitum, many herbs, even the corpse of a wyvern. And then there was this, I could almost say, hill of Ambrosia berries. Yes, hill. And after I told her about the enormous value of her present the day after, she said, it still isn’t enough for her, but that was everything she was able to get. Even after she felt pain for I-don’t-know-how-many years, she still was this friendly. So, now, I try everything possible to cure her. Why shouldn’t I take the initiative then, and go help you solving this problem, if I can help her?

Yes, actually, the reason I am doing this, is egoistic. To be able to solve your problems is just a favourable side effect. Because of that, I wouldn’t refrain from killing you to increase my MP reserves, if you completely refuse. Even if only a part of you accepts, it will have a tremendous meaning to me. I mean, Diabolus already accepted, so yeah. But, to be frank, I don’t like killing. I don’t even like to hurt other people. And, like I said, it would help you as well, if you let me take your demon core.

Your pride is unnecessary, no, even harmful, if you really want to stop this war. If you have problems with the possibility of death, I have spatial magic. And even if you die, I can revive you. The only problem would be the recreation of the demon core. Does anybody of you know, how to halt the recreation? Or are there any other questions?”

(Lucifer) “You just said, you want to kill us?”

(Satan) “Foolish, I bet he wouldn’t survive one of our hits.”

(Diabolus) *smirks* “(muttering to himself) you will see…”

(Lupin) “So, why not have a duel, if you think that I can’t beat you? Who of you only follows the principle, that the weak follow the strong, please raise your hand now.”

Lucifer, Satan and Kerberos raise their hands.

(Lupin) “Very well then. Lets to a 3 on 1 right now, you three versus me. If I win, you accept my plan, but if you win, my plan gets automatically refused by all the people here, I have no right to say or do anything, and I am not allowed to enter this city for the next ten years. Do you accept?”

(Lupin)

(Ryuujin)

(Satan) “SURE! You son of a ~beep~ will surely lose, you m~beeeeeep~ piece of ~beep~!”

(Lucifer) “What could a small fry like you even do? Poke us?”

(Kerberos) “… Actually, you two should ---”

(Lucifer) “Oh shut up! You are just a big dog, and the only thing you really excel at is physical defence, and that’s why you are the weakest among us! In my opinion, you don’t even deserve to be here!”

(Kerberos) “You two know what? I AM SICK OF THIS F~beep~ SH**! First, I don’t fight together with you two, and second, I vote for his decision without any further ado! You two can lose all by YOURSELF, Miss flat and Sir hanger!”

(Lucifer) “…”

(Lupin) “Okay, then it’s just a two versus one. Now, how should we define defeat? By collapsing? Out of power? Declaration of defeat? What other rules? No magic? No potions? I let you choose, as long as it’s something I can do as well. Maybe we can do something else as fighting as well, so that your chances are not equalling zero?”

(Lucifer)

(Lupin) “Have you come up with an idea?”

(Lucifer) “Haha, I want to give you a chance! Fighting would be boring, because you would lose in one hit, so why not make a collection contest? Whoever collects the most of something, wins! Don’t worry, you only need 60 % of what we two have together, if you want to win.”

(Lupin) “But who chooses, what we will collect?”

(Lucifer) “Why don’t we let Diabolus choose?”

(Lupin)

(Diabolus) “Sure, no problem. The last contest was about herbs, so let this one be about… minerals and ores? But only collecting, not buying. Whoever buys something, is automatically disqualified!”

(Lupin) “And when are we doing this contest?”

(Diabolus) “As you have to continue answering question or some other stuff, what about tomorrow? The day after tomorrow, you have to be at school, right?”

(Lupin) “Yeah, right. And because of the rules, which minerals or ores should we collect?”

(Diabolus) “Just any. I don’t care. But, you are not allowed to access the Viragos ore mine, and interference between participants in any way is forbidden. Also, as you are the outsider, you are allowed to first choose the direction you want to search in. You then have to search in that direction, and in no other.”

(Lupin) “I have got no problem with the rules.”

(Mammon) “If I may say something.”

(Lupin) “Sure.”

(Mammon) “As you know, I am managing the finances. If you take our demon cores, we may be weaker, but our constitution as demons is still stronger than those of humans, at least in average. Also, there are two possible outcomes in connection with the other humanoid races: Either they really stop the war, or they will go on fighting, even though we have a ceasefire for some years. But, the influx of tourists rose slowly in the years of ceasefire,. mostly of neutral races, but some humans were already included.

Now, if we manage to dispel the demons aura, mainly by taking the demon cores away, as well as casting purification spells, the influx of tourists should rise tremendously, which would result in increased popularity of the demon race as well as our financial situation will be better. And, because of the ceasefire, I think that the war will be stopped, instead of wanting to fight more.

Because of the reasons I have just mentioned, I will give you my vote.”

(Lupin) “Thank you.”

(Beelzebub) “Normally, I wouldn’t care. But, your opinion makes it possible, that I will be able to try human food, so you’ll definitely get my vote!”

(Lupin) “Uhm. I may be rude, but, how much do you eat a day?”

(Beelzebub) “As much as I can? I actually never really stop. You see these 50 plates besides me? They were all cake.”

(Lupin)

(Beelzebub) “I actually make them all myself, ‘cuz the chefs here don’t reach my standards. But that’s annoying as well, so I made a automata.”

(Lupin) “You are definitely more useful that Satan or Lucifer, I’d say.”

(Lucifer & Satan) “HEY!”

(Belphegor) “You get my vote as well.”

(Lupin) “Okay?”

(Belphegor) *snoring/sleeping sounds*

(Lupin) “Is he only sleeping all day long?”

(Beelzebub) “Actually, he is able to fight even while sleeping. He may view it as a dream, but he is fully conscious during that time.”

(Leviathan) “Hmmm…”

(Lupin) “Is there something?”

(Leviathan) “Actually, I am not completely convinced yet. Do you even know, why the war is happening?”

(Lupin) “It actually began with the demonfolk envying the humans, right?”

(Leviathan) “That’s true. I once had a suppression device, but it broke. The nature out there… It was more beautiful, than what those morons could ever imagine. The worst thing is, it broke just BECAUSE OF DUMB HUMANS! I envy and hate them. Even though that time was only a mistake, but, I know what they are doing to their own brethren. They murder, hurt and rape and what-else-I-just-can’t-remember-now the other humans, just for lowly reasons like ‘my friend loves him, not me’ or power and so on. You yourself seem dependable, but because of the humans… I still have to think over it. I can’t say yes or no right now.”

(Lupin) “I understand. Many would say, that there are good humans out there as well. But the really good ones, you rarely find them.”

*to Asmodeus and Lilith* “And what about you two?”

(Lilith) “Just that you know…”

(Asmodeus) “We are twins.”

(Lilith) “And you have piqued our interest~”

(Asmodeus) “You are neither human nor demon, but yet you want to help both of them.”

(Lilith) “Even if it is ‘Just a favourable side effect’.”

Are they just acting, or are their thoughts really bond together?

(Asmodeus) “Pfft…”

(Lilith) “Hahaha…”

(Asmodeus) “Sorry for the acting. But it still contained the truth.”

(Lilith) “Well, we couldn’t continue further, it was just to funny.”

(Lupin) “Ah, who cares about that. It was entertaining nevertheless. But, what I’d rather like to know, is, whether you are for or against it.”

(Asmodeus & Lilith) “No objections!”

*Everyone stares dumbfounded at Lupin*

(Lupin) “Uhm… Is something wrong?”

(Diabolus) “No, there isn’t… but this is the first time that they instantly have the same opinion. Even though they have no important positions, actually. They are the only two having influence only here. For example, Leviathan is my Secretary, and Beelzebub is the cook. Mammon has, as you know, the finances, I am the leader, and Kerberos is a Guardian for almost anything important in the Capital. The other three are something like my bodyguards?”

(Lilith whispers something to Diabolus)

(Diabolus) “REALLY?!”

Lilith nods.

(Diabolus) “Okay then… I have no problem with it. There shouldn’t be any problems with the city management as well.”

(Lupin) “Should I be worried, happy or confused about what she has said to you?”

(Diabolus) “Uhh… probably confused? But, rather happy, actually. So, seven out of ten have given their consent, while two only accept if a special condition is fulfilled, the last one doesnt know yet. Let’s meet again tomorrow then!”

After that, all of them stood up, left the room, and Lupin got back to the inn. But, what he didn’t know was, that there were two women following him…

After he got back to the inn, he heard his door open after he went to take a shower.

(Lupin) "Huh?!? What are you two doing here??!?!?

During the night, some very disturbing/arousing sounds could be heard…