Chương 149: Chapter 145

Bael had taken every opportunity he could to stare up at the sky. It felt as if time was translucent to him, people appearing near and vanishing next. A moment ago Wade's skeletal minion had been right here, pointing out birds, clicking his teeth, happy as could be. The next moment, Bael was now alone, still sitting in the same place. He knew he was in shock. Was still in shock. Medy could and had adapted to everything almost by instinct. She was truly the stronger one here.

But some part of his mind was slowly coming to terms with the idea that he was safe. The mithril sea no longer had a hold on him. Hell wouldn't drag him back. He could outright feel the missing chains around his body. The black tattoos under his skin that all demons had. They were now exactly that - simple geometric tattoos with no more meaning in this world. If he died, he would remaining here floating as disassembled essence for an hour or four, and then return back to living nearby. No more teeth.

No more running. No more fear for his eternal life. He'd lived so long under that threat, he didn't quite know what to do without it anymore. One more blink and now he found himself speaking to the Archdemon Zin. An actual Archdemon. And one that was following his contract again, to help their people. He'd been a grand duke of the third circle, but time had not been kind to the Archdemon, the thoughts and feelings of mortals had affected him, slowly changing them all.

The man had his black suit off, sleeves rolled to the elbows, gesturing with the confidence of a man pitching a timeshare on the moon. Jabbering away for the passt ten minutes now while Medy, Wade, and Leon stayed in the kitchen doing some kind of Alchemy.

"Here's what I'm thinking," Zin said, pacing along the hottub's edge.

"I'll grab some land first. Know a guy in Lancaster, owes me like ten favors and a kidney, don't ask, it wasn't his. And he just so happens to be sitting on forty acres of pure nothing in Nevada, two or three hours from here. Desert scrub, couple abandoned structures, zero neighbors for miles, perfect traditional spot to do trade deals in the past, might be a tad bit of a problem from that angle, but what can you do huh?

We'll get some land, take turns to let the drug dealers run their business, nobody shoots each other preferably, it'll be perfect!" Bael's eyes tracked him like a cat watching a bird it didn't respect enough to chase.

"You want to build a city in a desert? Nostalgic of you, Archdemon." The first circle had been a complete desert. Waves of sand and half-buried buildings now of a prior civilization. The only place with water and life had been on the mountain ranges.

"Not a city." Zin held up a finger.

"Cities involve a lot of mortals coming around asking questions. I'm talking a compound here. For now. Baby steps, goat-boy. Cults do this all the time out here on Earth, if those idiots can make it work, we can too. We're like, the exact kind of people cults build themselves around, you know?" That finger rolled around in the air.

"It'll be real easy. You get some land, throw up a fence, file the right paperwork, and as long as the county gets its property tax check on time, nobody so much as drives past. It's beautiful! The system practically encourages it."

"A cult. You want us to be a cult?"

"I'm comparing our legal strategy to a cult. There's a distinction. A subtle one, sure, but it's there if you squint. Come on, quit being a stick in the mud here, work with me pal. Besides demons and cults are made for each other." Bael exhaled through his nose with the weight of someone who had lived long enough to hear every bad idea at least twice.

"And when humans come asking questions? You know they will. Their kind is the most territorial of all races, and they work together better than any other." Humans of Azdrial had no other choice but to work together. And their built-in tendency to band together against a common enemy proved an extremely strong instinct.

"Not in this world they don't." Zin waved him off.

"At least, not for the first few months, at minimum. After which, your employer and my esteemed business partner will get us a lot more options to build elsewhere. Look how far the little champ's gotten in three days flat."

"The laws governing this land will not notice taken space?" Locations to settle cities and buildings were expensive on Azdrial. Most terrain already made it difficult, meaning the parts that were flat enough to build on were valuable. Zin ticked off fingers.

"LAPD gets their envelope, nice and regular. The drug boys and I already have a standing arrangement, mostly because I already killed all the others they were upset with in the local area - I'm very good at my job here, thank you. Anyhow, we stay out of each other's ways, they occasionally come over for some tea and trade deals using our space as neutral ground like before, except with a nice cult as the witnesses, and everybody's happy. And LA county? Bael, buddy, pal. This city has seen things.

A gated compound full of tall people with unusual skin conditions barely cracks the top fifty weirdest things in this zip code." The Archdemon looked him over.

"Just wear some giant straw hat or something, hide the horns, wear a giant poncho and you'll be right as rain." This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work. Bael couldn't tell if this Archdemon was speaking fact or simply making the attempt to appear in command. Ultimately, he simply had to trust the Archdemon could deliver.

"And for food?" He asked.

"Mortal meals I can understand we'll get one way or another. Emotions and mana however?" Zin's pacing slowed. Just a fraction.

"Food is... a logistical challenge. The mortal food I can cover for us all until we grow something, emotions…" He thought for a moment.

"We can just take a joyride on a car with real tinted windows. Pass through just about anywhere in L. A. traffic and you're going to be eating good already."

"Mana?"

"I admit that part's an itty bitty bit more complicated."

"Demons need to eat. What is your plan?"

"Reeeelax buddy, they will." Zin's jaw worked sideways, like the next words physically disagreed with his mouth.

"Against my personal moral code, and every financial instinct screaming inside my head right now, I will…" He swallowed, then took a deep breath, then compulsively itched at his throat.

"I will graciously offer up a few of my stored mana crystals. Communal use. Give it a quick lick, get your mineral and buzz going, should be plenty to go around for a little while until we establish proper supply lines. And by that I mean the kiddo back there." He jabbed a thumb back inside the house, where Wade was currently up to no good.

"This round he's absolutely coming back home with a drum barrel of crystals, I'll make sure of it." Bael stared at him.

"Oh, don't look at me like that! I said graciously."

"And if he dies?"

"That's the neat part, he can't die on the other end of that world. He can die right here in this one, so it's in our personal best interest to make sure he's well protected on Earth. But if he gets us that drum barrel back home, that'll be like, fifty years in the tank right away. Forty if he brings back more friends somehow. Point is, he started as a nice little potential business venture in Play's employ, and a possible way to get her out of my business here, but I've come around on his potential."

"He's indispensable."

"He's goddamn indispensable yes. Happy? Kiddo over there holds basically the keys to demonkind ever returning to some kind of normality, and even better - we'd be outside the circle of life. I don't know about you, but I don't exactly miss the days where I had to eat souls to stay alive. Made us real unpopular with the local mortals and bada-bing-bada-boom, the first chance they had to screw us over, they took it. Duh. Let's not make the same problems here, you get what I'm saying?"

The sliding glass door opened behind them and Wade waltzed out, spray bottle hanging off his waistband like a gunslinger ready to take on a hoarder's depression nest. Leon ambled next to him, sporting his usual happy-go-lucky grin. And Medy followed behind the pair, completely focused on another task: Cradling an open bag of barbecue chips while trying to reach for another chip.

"Gentlemen," Wade said.

"I am happy to report we had some high success on the alchemy project." Both demons turned. Medy waved with a chip.

"Oh, Bael, have you tried these yet?? They're amazing!" The demon gave a grunt, but extended an open hand in curiosity while Medy showed up to stack a few chips on. She managed to do half a chip and the destroyed sprinkles of another.

"Huh, I could have sworn there were more in there." The near empty bag was lifted up to eye level, and Medy began a more thorough investigation.

"By the way, Wade, your metal tablet, you could record a this video thing with it, right? Of anything?"

"Yep." Wade confirmed, the spray bottle out as he was mid-talk with Zin about what he could potentially do with such weapons of mass destruction.

"And you can record anytime, with sound too?" He shot her a thumbs up.

"Okie dokie, well, for the next round you have a lot to remember and need to bring notes and everything with you, why not just take video of us explaining everything that way you can review it later?" Wade stopped and then realized she was completely right. He wasn't stuck to just writing notes on a piece of paper. He could take digital notes, pictures, video recording, just about anything. Not just that, he could stuff survival handbooks and all kinds of information on hand to use in the wilds.

"Medy you're a genius." He hissed out, already running through the possible textbooks he could cram into his phone. She nodded happily, scraping off the last of the chip bag remnants into Bael's hand, then giving him a slightly guilty look. It did not stop her from licking whatever was left off her fingertips. He gave a shrug that was mostly neck and head tilting, and then licked his own hands clean of the single half-held chip and the pulverized leftovers so generously given.

"That goddess of yours, Play, she can also talk to you through the phone-thing? Phone. Fooone. Wow, that's such a weird word. I can't believe your language already has a dedicated word for something that specialized." Medy said, taking a seat on the concrete bench.

"Maybe she could send you more information about the arcane realm through that if you run into something we didn't mention?" This time Zin was the one laughing.

"Please, mana mining is an actual job and her NEETness the type I'd need to censor that word around her. Job I mean. J-O-B, just so we're crystal clear here." Wade felt his phone buzz with righteous anger. Medy tilted her head at Zin, and then over to Wade.

"And he's her butler, right?"

"Don't remind me." The Butler groaned.

"And you have to clean her space up?" That got Zin started on a full on tirade that lasted an entire minute of fast paced talking.

"You were getting to a point?" Wade asked, cutting Zin's tirade midway.

"Oh, sorry, yeah I was thinking if Play can send you messages on your phone while you're in Azdrial, and Zin can be there with Play, could we also follow him too? That way we can give you better instructions through Play, right?" Zin completely shut up. And then the most evil grin stretched across his face. Leon laughed to the side, "All I have heard of her, maybe she not very social. Would be good for her health, da?" Wade's phone started vibrating.

"Absolutely, could even say it's outright noble of us to step in and fill her space up with normies." Zin added.

"And how could she say no either? You two being right there next to her, telling her advice on how to keep wonderboy here alive, well she can't say no to that, can she? It's optimal gaming." The phone continued vibrating with message after message.

"Oh, it could be pretty fun too!" Medy smiled, not quite understanding the byplay happening behind the scenes.

"It'll be like a ship captain's cabin all together, and we can have your goddess be the communication officer!"

"Not even the captain. The communication officer!" Zin seemed to have trouble breathing.

"In her own domain space. Oh, this will be delicious. And again, this is the optimal move forward, she can't wiggle out of it. Brings a tear to my eye."

"… can you do it?" Wade asked, actually curious if it was possible to bring someone else into Play's domain like that. The phone had not stopped buzzing the entire time.

"Of course I can kiddo. She lives in my basement, remember? It's real close by from here, small pad I have in the neighborhood where I first got everything started from. And speaking of, I think it's time she got a social visit."