24. Interrogation. Iwaki Calling in the Favor.

24. Interrogation. Iwaki Calling in the Favor.

│3rd Person POV│

[Human World, Japan, Kouh Town, Cleria's Mansion…]

Milena Meyer, also called Milly by her King, was anxiously pacing in front of the dungeon cells while waiting for her King to arrive.

It's been half an hour since she completed the orders of her King and informed her about it.

She wasn't sure how her King was dealing with the fact that one of her Peerage Members betrayed her.

She was extremely tempted to just barge into her King's room and console her in any possible way, however, her King had told her to keep an eye on the prisoners until she came to check on them.

She could only hope that her King wasn't too distressed over Cameron's betrayal.

Speaking of the traitor, Milly looked at the cell housing him and noticed that he was starting to wake up. She couldn't fathom how he even thought of betraying her King. After all, he…

Milly shook her head and discarded that train of thought.

As she was about to use communication magic to inform her King, she heard multiple footsteps approaching closer to her.

Looking over, she saw her King and the rest of her Peerage Members arriving.

Milly noticed her King's slightly disheveled hair and the tiredness behind her eyes.

"He's waking up? I will speak with him first then. Milly, make sure the others don't wake up while I deal with him." Cleira ordered and entered the cell housing one of her Bishops.

"As you command , My Lady."

Cleria acknowledged Milly's response with a hod before focusing her attention on the man in front of her.

While he was still in the process of waking up, Cleria used some scanning spells to determine if he had been under some form of mind control or not.

Those types of spells often leave behind some traces that could be detected by master magicians.

Cleria wouldn't have been able to do this before she received the Inferior Kankara Formula from the mysterious man.

A few seconds later, she got the results of her scans. They showed that he wasn't under any mind control spells.

Additionally, she even got to know that there wasn't any significant change in his mental status in the last few months, indicating that he didn't undergo any torture nor was he coerced to betray her in any way.

Cleria released a sigh, finally abandoning the faint hope that one of her Peerage Members didn't betray her.

At this moment, her Bishop finally opened his eyes and blearily took note of his surroundings and Cleria's presence.

His expression changed from confusion to surprise to stoic within seconds as he comprehended the situation in front of him.

Cleria didn't interrupt him. Only after she saw him adopting a stoic expression on his face, did she speak a single word, "Why?"

Her Bishop didn't answer.

"You won't answer, right?" Cleria asked rhetorically before summoning a magic circle.

"You will not get any answer from me, even if you tortured me to death."

Cleria looked into his eyes and responded, "The fact that you even bothered to say this indicates that torture will have some effect on you."

Hearing this, her Bishop's eyes widened slightly.

"However, you don't have to worry about that. I have no intention of hurting you. After all, you have been in my Peerage for decades now. I can't bring myself to do it. I have other ways to make you talk, however."

A twisted expression appeared on the man's face as he snarled, "Don't you dare pretend to care about me now, you bitch!

"You didn't bother to give any response to my affections in all the years I served you. Now you are pretending that you gave a damn about me?!"

Cleria's mouth opened in shock as she processed her Bishop's words. She even stopped preparing the spell she was going to cast to make him talk.

She took a moment to recover her calm and continued composing her spell.

To distract herself from thinking about his words, she thought about how she came to be in the possession of such a potent hypnosis spell.

In the message given to her earlier today by the mysterious person, there was also something else. He had hinted that it would prove to be helpful pretty soon.

That something was the core matrix of the hypnosis spell and now, she was utilizing the Inferior Kankara Formula to fine-tune the spell so that she could cast it without it exploding in her face.

She only had to do this once. After that, her Magic Circle would keep a record of it, enabling her to cast it any time she wished, requiring just a thought and an appropriate amount of Demonic Power from her.

"Yeah, just like that. Turn a deaf ear to things you don't want to hear, bitch!"

The traitor kept spewing vitriol, both to vent his frustration and hatred that festered within him for years and also in an attempt to distract Cleria from completing her spell.

Although Cleria barely managed to keep her calm, her Peerage Members were getting increasingly agitated the more he spoke.

Just as one of them stepped forward to intervene, Cleria raised her free hand to stop them.

She was finished calibrating the spell.

She looked up from the magic circle, making eye contact with her Bishop, and declared, "From now on, you will only open your mouth to answer my question truthfully."

The next moment, the traitor was engulfed in a flash of light.

When the light receded, Cleria and her Peerage Members saw that he now had a dull expression on his face and his eyes also looked unfocused.

Seeing that her spell seemed to be working, Cleria went straight to the matter at hand, "Did you betray me of your own free will, Cameron? Yes or no?"

"Yes."

Hearing the confirmation, Cleria slumped back and put a hand over her face.

" " "My Lady!!" " "

Her Peerage Members couldn't help but shout in concern.

Cleria waved her hand at them in a dismissive way as she bit out, "I am fine."

To avoid increasing their anxiety further, she proceeded to straighten up and asked the traitor the next question, "How long have you been in contact with the Great King Faction?"

As such, the interrogation went on for more than twenty minutes.

At the end of it, Cleria got the answers she wanted and moved on to interrogate the other prisoners.

=+=+=+=< Scene Break >=+=+=+=

│1st Person POV of Meliodas│

[Underworld Realm, Leviathan City, Iwaki's Japanese Food Corner…]

When it became clear that Cleria didn't plan to make any move right away after she was done interrogating her attackers, I asked Aurora to keep an eye on her and returned to the Underworld.

The fan meet at Leviathan's City had ended by now and I returned just in time to join the celebration party at Iwaki's restaurant.

The ones present were Me, Serafall, Morgiana, Valerie, Gasper, and the others Rias invited for this outing.

While we occupied the counter seats for our celebration, our respective minders gathered in the dining area.

It seemed they were taking this opportunity to share their sorrow of looking after little devils like us, as there was plenty of space at the counter if they had wanted to celebrate together with us.

I looked over and saw the sight of Gasper interacting with Rias in a somewhat calm manner.

He wasn't having much problem doing so because Valerie was occupying a seat between the two of them.

However, the main reason my Gasper wasn't very shy was because when I kidn—, I mean recruited him and Valerie, neither had awakened their Sacred Gear.

I also ensured that their Sacred Gears wouldn't activate until they were significantly stronger, both physically and mentally, by sealing them.

And I did this with their permission.

Anyway, not having to fear being alone in a world where everything was frozen, and receiving constant love and care from Mother, did wonders to Gasper's social skills.

I smiled at the sight.

The next moment, Iwaki finished preparing our food and he brought them over to us one after another. His waiter, a Devil, helped him deliver the orders of our chaperons while Iwaki served us.

I talked with Sairaorg and Morgiana while eating.

Usually, Serafall would be occupying one of the seats adjacent to me. However, there was one person in the present company whom she adored more than me.

From the corner of my eye, I watched Sona getting embarrassed by her sister's antics.

I don't blame her as right now, Serafall was trying to spoon-feed her with her friends watching while having an amused expression on their faces.

'Hmm… should I stop Serafall? …Nah, I won't. Besides, she knows when to stop teasing her sister.'

Just as I expected, Serafall backed off the next moment with a pout, looking as if Sona was in the wrong for refusing to be spoon-fed.

All the girls laughed at the scene while hiding their mouths behind their hands, only stopping when Sona glared at them.

=><=

A few minutes later, once I was done eating, Iwaki called me to the side to have a private chat with me.

Once I enveloped the two of us in privacy barriers, I asked, "So, what did you want to talk about?"

"I am calling in the favor you owed me due to the deal we made at our first meeting."

Hearing this, I muttered, "You remembered that, huh? I was hoping you would forget."

A look of surprise appeared on his face for a brief moment before his expression turned steely.

He opened his mouth to say something only to be interrupted by me, "Just kidding." I laughed as his expression turned incredulous for a moment.

"Alright, alright. Let's get back to the serious topic." I said in response to his deadpan stare.

Taking a deep breath, Iwaki said bluntly, "I want you to kill someone."

Who? Before I could ask that out loud, he continued.

"I know that the price of what I am asking for is much higher than whatever you got from performing some scans on me. Therefore, I will let you extract my Sacred Gear in exchange for fulfilling my wish.

"Although I hope you give me a few months to settle my affairs before you extract my Sacred Gear."

Well, it seems that Iwaki is under the misconception that if I extract his Sacred Gear, he will die. That means he is willing to die if it means that I will fulfill his wish.

As I reached this conclusion, I couldn't help but ask, "Would you share with me the reason you are willing to go to such lengths? And who do you want me to kill exactly?"

I will clear his misconception after I hear his answer.

Iwaki closed his eyes and seemed to ponder my first question for a few moments.

Sigh—!

Exhaling a sorrowful sigh, he nodded, "You already know how Leviathan-san was the one to introduce me to the Supernatural, right?

"Well, a few years after that, I met a magician from Golden Dawn. She had come to Japan to research eastern magic. We met by chance and even after she returned to Golden Dawn's HQ, we kept visiting each other using various excuses.

"Over time, I grew to love her and a few months later, I confessed to her, in hopes of marrying her and maybe starting a family with her. I was so happy when she accepted my confession.

"However, just before our wedding, she went missing. I searched for her frantically, even using my connection with Leviathan-san, only to find no trace of her.

"Then, a few years later, I heard her Sacred Gear being in the possession of someone else. That person was far older than my love, so she shouldn't have that Sacred Gear.

"Unless she extracted it from her, resulting in her death. Without thinking it through or making any kind of preparation, I immediately departed to confront that person.

"However, I was no match for Augusta, the Witch of the East. Not to mention she had my love's Longinus Sacred Gear, Incinerate Anthem. She didn't even use that Gear's power against me.

"Our fight was completely one-sided as she toyed with me the entire time. She even tormented me by sharing the detailed process of how she extracted the Sacred Gear while subjecting my love to unimaginable pain in the process.

"I should have died that day, however, that Witch didn't kill me. She told me that she wanted me to suffer more before walking away, leaving me bruised and battered, but still alive.

"After that, I trained for years to become strong enough to kill her, yet, my efforts were futile as I didn't grow past a certain limit.

"That is why, I want you to kill Augusta and I am willing to pay any price for that."

=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=

A/N: Here's another Chapter of your favorite DxD Fic.

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As of now, this is how far along each story is.

First Tier:-

>>One Piece: Copying The Phoenix Fruit At The Beginning ➜ Up to Chapter 84.

>>One Piece: As Portgas D. Ace ➜ Up to Chapter 21.

>>DxD | A Devil with Three Essences ➜ Up to Chapter 29.

>>Collection of Snippets ➜

>>>>Snippet 1 – Naruto: Through the Eyes of Fugaku Uchiha (Fugaku SI). ➜ Up to Chapter 4.

>>>>Snippet 2 – Danmachi: Is It Wrong to Stop Tragedies in the Dungeon? ➜ No Advanced Chapters in this Tier.

>>>>Snippet 3 – Douluo Dalu: I have a Niffler as my Martial Spirit? ➜ Up to Chapter 6.

Second Tier:-

>>One Piece: Copying The Phoenix Fruit At The Beginning ➜ No Advanced Chapters in this Tier yet.

>>One Piece: As Portgas D. Ace ➜ No Advanced Chapters in this Tier yet.

>>DxD | A Devil with Three Essences ➜ Up to Chapter 31.

>>Collection of Snippets ➜  

>>>>Snippet 1 – Naruto: Through the Eyes of Fugaku Uchiha (Fugaku SI). ➜ Up to Chapter 6.

>>>>Snippet 2 – Danmachi: Is It Wrong to Stop Tragedies in the Dungeon? ➜ No Advanced Chapters in this Tier.

>>>>Snippet 3 – Douluo Dalu: I have a Niffler as my Martial Spirit? ➜ No Advanced Chapters in this Tier.

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