Up the sweeping staircases of the Phenex Castle, just beyond the gallery, stand two ornate double doors, carved intricately from hell-born ebony and gilded with pure aged gold imported from the immortals of the Jade Dynasty. Behind that door, the office of the Lord Phenex.
Exquisitely furnished, with a grand desk at the front, three highbacked chairs couched with blood-red velvet matching the gold inlaid satin cloth covering the desk and with a tall, imposing bookcase behind it, two golden lamps burning with flickering golden flames on either side of it.
Fun fact, these lamps had started a fire in the room twice before they had the good sense to enchant them with wards against tongues and sparks.
To one side of the desk, well lit with a great window for natural light and lush lapis curtains inseamed with more gold, sat a circle of sofas and ottomans around a coffee table carved from pure ruby gemstone. Yes, one singular gemstone the size of a great dane.
To the other side, closer to the side door leading into the master bedroom, sat a smaller, less ornate desk, usually manned by a secretary. Today, however, it was enthroned by a ten year old boy, nearly buried up to his knees in messy piles of papers.
Yours truly.
"Fuuuck!" I planted my face into the contracts, resentfully eyeing the coterie of 'Sexy Secretaries' having a little tea party on the sofa, while I suffered under the weight of the contract work.
"Is this how I spend my birthday? Dying under a pile of paperwork?" I groaned; I can't even cramp up my wrist writing all this up, because that's just how overpowered Phenex regeneration is- Its pure mind numbing boredom.
Well, not entirely. I eyed the latest contract. Another in a long line of dotcom executives and middle management asking for a bailout. The bubble was crashing and with them, the overinflated stock values of all these new and burgeoning- read bloated- internet companies. They'd spent their investors money flagrantly, until of course, they ran of other people's money to blow on blow.
And who do they turn to when their life comes crashing down? When the world turns their back to them?
Us.
The same way people don't pray when in times of plenty. They remember their gods only in times of need.
So too are they unwilling to entertain us until it is too late. Until there are no other avenues of retreat left, no doors left to open and no windows to jump out of.
Then, they call us. Only then are they ready, to make a deal with the devil.
And that suits us fine. Desperate people means greater leverage, and greater leverage means better contracts- for us of course, not them.
And watching this crash, these jobless middle managers and coke addicted programmers coming off the high of the 80s and 90s, soon to be unemployed, gave me an idea. I had planned for something like this of course, and so had our clan- all clans really.
Who do you think caused the crash? Encouraged reckless spending on meaningless growth?
Heh. A few sweet words here, a false tip there. Anonymous braggarts, engendering jealously, competition, feckless expansionism. Keeping up with the Joneses but at a corporate scale.
We knew what we were doing. The Great Depression, the World Wars and the proxy ones, both cold and hot, the market crashes and collapse of the gaming industry in the 80s. The sickening greed and lust for power, gluttony leading to rot leading to destruction.
And we, the devils, rising, all of us kings of the ashes.
We, the oldest service industry, create our own customers.
We are, after all creatures of sin. Made to induce the fall of humanity, remade in our own sinful image.
Of course, we don't always succeed. Sometimes, the forces of heaven intercept us, foment dissent and misfortune does tend to get their attention after all.
And it's not always bad, like that one time some genius had the light bulb of an idea to fake a Nuclear War to raise interest in their big bunker scam. Stupid bastards.
Thankfully, some Russian submarine operator just happened to be blessed with the good sense to double check the readings and the world was saved, left alive to be corrupted some other day.
And the devils responsible…well, let's just say, they got themselves a one way, all expenses paid trip to Heaven's premier water park, and a great time was had by all.
No one else had tried anything similar ever since. Well, until now, at least. Because soon, I'll be trying something even more ambitious and sinister.
But first, the contracts…
"Aw man….still three more bundles left." I bitched.
"It's not like you need all of them, now do you?" A voice rang, and I looked up to see a tall, blonde, well-built man in a cream suit, with a wine red shirt and a tasteful, Fanta orange pocket square leaning on the open door.
"Of course, I do!" I said softly, gesturing towards the secretaries on the opposite end of the room, "I need to get to high class before the ceremony."
"Ah, but that is more of a guideline, than a hard and fast rule. It's supposed to show that you're a responsible and trustworthy devil, because so many people trusted you enough to make a contract with you." The man feigned ignorance, "And they, by extension can trust you to not abuse the Evil Pieces system."
"Doesn't stop most from doing it anyway…" I grumbled, gesturing at the women again.
"That's none of our business. As long as we do right by the rules, that's all that matters." He said, before nodding and turning to the ladies.
He clapped his hands.
"Girls, break's over. Go help my mother with the party prep."
"Yes, Lord Ruval." They took the hint, and got up, bowed respectfully, and filed out of the room, closing the door behind them.
"Now, what's keeping you?" Ruval asked again.
"The Contracts." I said, laying on hands towards the piles of paperwork.
"We both know you don't need this many contracts. We are nobles, we are high class by birth." He pressed, "I know public scrutiny has increased recently with DevilTV and such, but we're still powerful enough that we don't need to worry about it."
"Be a shame to waste all that hard work Rigal did…"
"Is that so?" He raised an eyebrow, amused, "Such a caring and responsible brother."
"Yup, I'm the best, sweetest and coolest brother ever." I grinned.
"Of course you are." He chuckled, reaching out to pinch my cheeks.
"But that was reckless. In the yard." He added, "Ravel was watching. You know how much she adores you. She copies everything you do. She even sticks around the library, just out of sight, like a lost puppy, even though the books make her eyes spin."
"I know." I sighed, "But I had my reasons."
"Hmm? Pray tell."
"Tonight, people from all across the underworld will be here." I started.
"You say tonight, as if it isn't fifteen to seven already. The guests will begin arriving here in less than an hour." He interrupted.
"And they will bring with them questions. Small and secret at first, but once the wines begin flowing, they will get bolder, the probing will get tougher to ignore, in such numbers at least." I explained, "I have no doubt, they have eyes and ears in the castle already."
"All the more reason to give them our best showing. You didn't even use half of your power back there." Ruval pointed out.
"Would it have changed anything?" I asked coolly.
"Nope."
"Exactly. Mom would've still wiped the floor with me and the only thing that would do is reveal all of our cards to our enemies. But taking mom by surprise? At least I keep my progress a secret, get to defeat mom and cultivate a reputation."
"A reputation for reckless behaviour." He poked.
"A man's reputation is worth his weight in gold, but a reputation sheathing a hidden dagger? That is worth doubly so." I quoted, "Tell me Ruval, are we weak? Would me exposing my progress give us any actual advantages aside from a marginally higher social stock?"
"Fair enough." He slumped back in his chair, relaxed.
"A great showing, on the contrary, would put the other houses on guard. 'The third son of the Phenex clan is a prodigy' will be read as 'the third son of the Phenex clan is a potential threat. A sign of a future powerhouse.' Tell me Ruval, how well has that fared for you? On probation for Ultimate Class for over four decades. I'm sure you'll become Ultimate Class any day now~" I teased.
"Touche." Ruval shrivelled up, frustration and disappointment in his eyes as he sighed, "But you didn't have to put it like that."
"It's been nearly 50 years and they have cockblocked your application for Ultimate Class at every turn. It's a running joke by now that it'll be a century before they finally approve it."
"Petty bastards!" He spat, "Couldn't win against me in the rating games and now they're being generational sore losers. Hate those pencil pushing nerds, throwing around their families' political weight around like it's their own damn dick."
"Amen to that." I nodded in agreement, "Everyone hates those limpdick bureaucrats. Doesn't change the fact that they'll do the same to me if they see another Ruval Phenex rising up."
"However, a reputation like 'reckless but resourceful' and 'decently talented, as befitting the Phenex clan' would douse suspicions, especially with how many stray devils have been mysteriously disappearing around the territory." I added.
Of course there was another benefit to that reputation. By the time the reputation for 'reckless but resourceful' reaches the ears of those in power, by virtue of the long game of telephone, it will be stripped of all nuance and end up becoming 'reckless and simple minded', causing people to underestimate me, even when making contracts. After all, would you comb over a contract for loopholes if the person you're contracting is a simpleton?
No. People don't even read the four sentence instructions on their medicine bottles and one page house deeds, and then they complain when they realized they got roped into an HOA. Hell, people push doors with a clear one-word direction to 'Pull' written in bright red ink, right before their eyes. And don't get started on the Terms & Conditions on software and gym subscriptions.
With this rep, I will have to worry about neither political hurdles nor contractual ones.
"You've really thought this through, huh? That's good then. You have a better sense for politics than I had at your age." He said, looking proud.
"That reminds me, I have gathered the next batch of practice dummies for you." Ruval added.
"Already?" I couldn't help but be surprised.
Stray devils are strays precisely because they're good at hiding and running. They are devils, usually reincarnated ones that betray their masters and abandon their duties to run away.
The pitiful part is, they almost always end up trying to get back home, from where they were forcefully kidnapped and press ganged into service. Mostly intelligent supernatural beasts and creatures like the yokai or lesser spirits. And it is because of this predictable behaviour that they get caught just as easily again.
"That rumor about a stray safehouse worked wonders on the less intellectually inclined members of their population." Ruval said, with a chuckle.
"I see." I ruminated for a moment in silence, before asking, "Say, do you ever think about how messed up and broken this system is, what with the steady stream of stray devils and declining quality of life for the lower classes?"
Ruval looked at me, his eyebrows quirked up in concern.
"Where did that come from? Don't tell me you've suddenly developed a conscience after all those experiments you put those strays through?"
"No, nothing of the sort." I shook my head, cracking my knuckles with a pop as I stretched in the chair, "My concerns are purely logistical in nature. Fears of rebellion and riots are reasonable if such trends continue, and those will certainly damage our assets, an eventuality I'd like to prevent if possible. You should know that too, shouldn't you, Flame Tyrant Ruval?"
Ruval's face ran pale.
He cringed, burying his face in his hands in embarrassment.
"You've been watching my old rating games, haven't you?"
"They finally committed them to VHS tapes last month." I chuckled, "Its pretty interesting, seeing your transformation between then and now."
"Nooo…" He groaned and buried his head in the paperwork.
"Though I have to admit, you really rocked the leather." I teased.
"I regret being born." He deadpanned and I couldn't help but laugh.
"Pfft..hahahahaha!"
"Yeah, yeah laugh it up at my misery. No respect for your oldest brother." He rolled his eyes in frustration, crossing his arms across his chest in a pout.
_____________________________________________________________________________
2000 words. Phew, what a long chapter.
Anyways, this is further worldbuilding, explaining stray devil, the reasoning for why mc was acting all cute with his mom last chapter and a little character exploration on Ruval Phenex's delinquent youth phase. This will be the last of the family bonding and slice of life chapters. All members of the Phenex clan have been introduced and explored. Its all scheming and action from here on out as the plot picks up.
Tell me what you think of the story till now, and next chapter we'll finally get to the party, the evil pieces and the first peerage member. Stay tuned!
Remember to donate your powerstones and add this book to your library if you haven't already?
What are you waiting for? It's all uphill from here baby! Strap in and strap on for the ride!
Also, if we reach 500 collections or 200 powerstones, I'll post an extra chapter each, so there a little incentive for y'all.
See ya later skaters!