A Nascent Kaleidoscope.

Chapter 474: Chapter 430

Well, I think we were off to a good and productive start!

Silence was better than the alternative, I supposed.

"You have a lovely home." I decided to break the silence.

Zeoticus smiled, completely unconcerned about the awkwardness that was obviously shared by most of us at the table. "Thank you, but I can't take any credit. My parents were the ones who had it built, and Vene was the one who updated it over the years."

"I'll make sure to give you the full tour after." She smiled happily.

"I believe it's customary to give a gift in a situation like this?" I mused for a moment. I should have handed it to him right away, but I had been...understandably focused on other things. With a thought, I produced a bottle of Firewhiskey. I was thankful that I managed to snag enough that I didn't waste it all when I got drunk.

I simply floated the bottle over to him.

He happily accepted it. "I don't believe I've ever seen this brand before?"

"It's Fire Whiskey, it has a bit of Magic in it, so it has a certain kick." I explained briefly.

Nothing extravagant, but it should be a novel gift.

Without even a word, the butler from before was behind him holding a tray of glasses with ice in them as he set them about the table.

My Grandfather poured himself a glass of it and he eyed it curiously. He went through the basic motions of investigating the foreign alcohol. Not in the sense that he was skeptical about my gift, like poison or anything, but from the perspective of a connoisseur, testing the aroma, opacity, smell, and the color.

He finally took a sip and finished with a satisfied smile. "What a unique taste. I can also feel some strange force swelling inside of me."

"First time most people drink it, they accidently burp a bit of fire, hence the name." I replied.

"Haha." He chuckled. "What a wonderful gift, thank you."

And now that's out of the way, I had no idea what else I'm supposed to say.

Thankfully, the butler returned with plates of food prepared.

And it smelled wonderful.

The meat....was not beef, but it seemed similar? Some kind of Prime rib of a creature almost indistinguishable from a cow at first glance. Only a few more moments of inspection could I see the small differences.

"What animal is this from?" I whispered to Venelana.

"Minotaur." She said simply.

"...." I...didn't know what to say to that. I was not against eating creatures with intelligence. Give me a giant crab that could talk? If we ended up fighting to the death, I'd happily eat it. But a more humanoid creature....it made me feel queasy.

"Don't worry, they're barely more intelligent than cows." She said again.

Alright. That made it somewhat better.

I cut a piece off and put it into my mouth and it was fucking delicious, which just made me more conflicted.

I just decided not to think too hard about it.

"So, tell me." Zeoticus took the reins. "I'm curious how you reached the spot you're in now. I only have the faintest idea of what you've been up to since you've left."

The question was obviously directed at me. And it wasn't really....probing? It didn't feel like he had a malicious or secondary reason for asking just....almost like small talk.

Well, everyone else seemed interested enough, but I didn't particularly care too much.

"I went up north, met some good people and joined the College of Winterhold." I said casually. "Learned a bit of Magic there. Then met with my Grandfather and joined the Mage's Association –"

"I've never heard of those places." My biological Father interrupted.

"What a surprise, you're ignorant about something." I replied without missing a beat and meeting his gaze.

"oof." Venelana's daughter whispered.

His eye twitched a little. "As Lucifer of the Devil Faction, there are very few things I am unaware of."

"It's a good thing I wasn't needed then. Yes, it was certainly a good thing I didn't need to move twice to rescue my woman."

"My Mother would have been rescued regardless."

"I suppose you were simply unlucky that twice in a row landed upon the 'few things' you were unaware of?" I snorted. "But I guess, I shouldn't complain, otherwise, I wouldn't have met such a wonderful woman and have a child on the way."

There was a beat of silence as they processed what I said.

"EH!?" Rias blurted.

"Mother!?" Followed her brother.

"Lady Gremory!?" Lastly, the maid.

"Oh stop, I'm not pregnant." Venelana rolled her eyes and playfully swatted at my shoulder. "Don't say that to them just to get a reaction."

"You're not pregnant...mom?" Rias hesitantly asked.

"I assure you Rias, I'm not pregnant. Yet."

"Mom!?"

"And that's not for a lack of trying, mind you."

"Mother, please stop!" Her son pleaded.

"Do you want to use the wine cellar?" Zeoticus offered, confusing the lot of us.

"Oh, that's a good idea." Venelana's eyes lit up and turned to me. "That's where Rias and Sirzechs were conceived. We could never prove it, but that room has to have something special about it."

".....please stop." Rias whined.

"Don't forget little Sona too." Zeoticus added.

"Of course, how could I forget about her?" Venelana nodded.

"....mom, please don't tell me that's how..."

"It was a relief that Sona inherited the Sitri bloodline..."

"...kill me now." Rias's head slapped onto the table.

"....is that why there's a bed in the wine cellar, Lady Gremory!?" The Maid squawked in realization. ".....now I know why it was always unkempt in the past...."

"Well, we certainly aren't going to do it on the cobble floor." Venelana shrugged.

One of the few times in my life I was utterly speechless.

"My children are such prudes." Zeoticus shook his head. "I'll have you know that my parents loved to tell the story of how they conceived me. It was the early days of spring, late into the 6th century –"

"Oh Zeo, they've heard this story more than enough times now." Venelana giggled while her children looked scared for life.

"They are Devils, they should be accustomed to a bit of Debauchery." He harrumphed. "Back in my day, our fathers would offer us one of his mistresses for our first learning experience! But do you know what happened when I attempted to do the same for Sirzechs?" Zeoticus looked at me. "He ran away crying!"

"The woman I thought of as an Aunt ambushed me and took her clothes off!" The Lucifer squawked himself. "What was I supposed to do? I was a kid back then!"

"You were twenty years old!" His Dad shot back.

"Dammit Dad, you promised not to mention that again." The Lucifer dropped his face into his palms.

....I take back everything I said, I love it here and this was one of the best days of my life.

[I agree, this has been entirely worth it just for this.] Ddraig also seemed to be enjoying himself.

"At least my grandson doesn't have the same hang ups! Look at him, he already has a Harem!" Zeoticus gestured to me. "And he even managed to land your mother! You should take a page out of his book."

"Actually, she seduced me." I pointed out, adding a little bit of fuel to this wonderful fire. "She practically tore her clothes off and pinned me down."

All their eyes snapped to me.

"He's not wrong~" Venelana cooed.

"See? That's how you handle it! He didn't run away crying!" Zeoticus slapped the table. "He manned up, and gave your mother what she needed!"

"Why are you like this!?"

"I'm a Devil!"

"...is this normal?" I whispered to Venelana.

"Oh yes, don't worry, this is normally how our dinners go." Venelana reassured me.

Well, okay then.

"What about Rias!?"

"Sirzechs." Zeoticus's voice got a little firm. "I told you years ago that your little sister was off limits."

"That's not what I meant, dad!"

"Hmm, Rias already started on her own Harem." Zeoticus nodded to himself.

"I what!?" The Red-headed Girl blurted out.

"Of course, we all know what you get up to with your Queen." Zeoticus actually sounded proud. "You're well on your way. Be sure to ask your mother for advice if you need it. She knows how to handle a Harem from the perspective of a woman."

Rias's face turned brighter than her hair, and her head fell back onto the table as she began to whimper.

"Dad, this is why we don't come back for dinner often." The Lucifer sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"Well, the truth can hurt." His dad snorted.

"Dammit Dad." He groaned. "Do you really have to embarrass us now of all times?"

"Alright Zeo, I think their fragile sense of decency can't handle anymore." Venelana finally spoke up. "We should probably accept that this generation of Devils doesn't have the same views as us."

"Bah, I'll never accept it. I don't care about that other nonsense that the Old Bloods spouted, but a Devil should be free to indulge in harmless fun!"

"I think your daughter started bleeding from hitting her head on the table." The Maid pointed out the red-headed girl that was still whimpering with her head smashed against it.

"It builds character." Zeoticus was dismissive.

"This is a really sturdy table." I randomly mentioned.

"We finally splurged on something a bit tougher. You wouldn't believe how many tables we've gone through in the past." Venelana replied.

Yeah....I can't imagine why.

I just calmly cut apart my meal and took bites.

"Hmph." Zeoticus snorted, seemingly dropping the whole argument. "Continue where you left off, my dear Grandson. Tell me of your adventures. How did you meet your harem members?"

"There's not much to say." I said casually. "I met Meridia during my time at the College. I met Artoria when I went to the Mage's Association. Then I went to the Land of Shadows where I met Scáthach."

"The woman presumed dead." The Lucifer narrowed his eyes. "Curious how there seems to be many people like that around you."

"Maybe they're ghosts?" I hummed.

He scoffed.

"Well, I trained there for a few years. Time difference and all that. Wandered over to Kyoto for a bit, and that's when I met Yasaka and my Daughter." I continued. "I also met Izzy – Izanami. Jinn came soon, then I met Salem and Raikou. Last was Venelana here." I smiled towards her.

She leaned over and we shared a quick kiss.

"But....how did you get so strong?" Rias rejoined the conversation with a bruise forming on her forehead. "That can't be all of it?"

I shrugged. "I fought a lot. Learned a lot. Trained a lot."

"That's it....? That sounds so...normal." She said softly.

"I almost died fighting a dragon when I joined the College. That was....a month or so into my trip."

"...oh."

"The Heaven Faction were kicking up a fuss about the Saintess you brought with you." My Biological Father did his best to look uninterested as he barely looked my way. "They're wondering where she came from."

Was he really trying to needle information out of me?

"Presumably her Parents." I said without missing a beat. "Assuming you didn't also run away from the talk, it should be an obvious answer."

"You would be the expert on running away, wouldn't you?" His tone was sharp.

Ah, so he decided to press that button, did he?

Well then.

"You can call me Dad if you want." I didn't react outwardly much. "My own Dad was a shitty deadbeat, so I think I can at least do better than him."

The fork in his hand bent sharply as he tried his best to keep a neutral expression.

"Boys." Venelana's voice carried over and I think we both sort of stiffened at her warning.

Ah...stern Venelana.

That's sexy.

But I would relent. If she spoke up, it meant that we were getting close to the line.

"Hmm, I noticed that all the women in your harem fit the mature category." Zeoticus possibly decided to change the subject due to the awkward atmosphere.

"I like older women." I said simply.

"It's refreshing too because they've been so welcoming." Venelana chimed in. "I've never seen any fighting or anything like that and they've welcomed me with open arms."

"How wonderful." Zeoticus had a big smile as she said that. "We'll have to get Mother and Father to meet as well."

"You sure that's a good idea? Next thing we know, Grandma might be screwing him too." Red-Haired Lucifer snorted.

Venelana gave him a look.

"You know, I noticed that other than a butler, there are no other people working around the Mansion? Especially no Maids. I wonder why that is?" I glared his way.

"What are you trying to say?" He narrowed his eyes.

"Maid Fetish." I spelled it out for him.

He twitched again.

"Better than an old woman fetish." He snorted.

"So your mom is an old woman?" I shot back.

That made him stiffen again and not respond. Realizing he just insulted his mom, which I'm currently in a relationship with.

"So....um Wilhelm, what have you been up to recently?" Rias very subtly tried to change the subject from our bickering.

"I was scoping out schools to send Kunou to. Trying to find ones that would fit her well enough. Other than that, I got into a drinking contest with a Phoenix." Which was pretty much my past week.

"Someone from the Phenex family?" She blinked.

"No, I mean the bird." I clarified.

"....like the actual mythological bird?"

"Yup." I popped.

"....." She seemingly didn't know what to say to that.

A for Effort, however. She tried well enough.

"Oh, speaking of drinking, the thing you asked me about is almost done~" Venelana clapped her hands.

"Thing? What thing?" Rias lost a lot of her earlier shyness.

"Wilhelm here gave me some interesting and exceedingly rare ingredients. I've been making them into wine." She leaned onto my arm with a big smile.

"Really, it's almost done already?" I was surprised.

"I cheated a little with some time variance." She casually replied. "But that's not really too difficult. It's looking good."

"Interesting, and what's in this wine?" Zeoticus's eyes lit up.

"I gave her a Peach of Immortality, and some water from the River Styx to compliment it." Was there really a reason to hide it? It was a better topic to talk about than whatever was happening before.

"....where did you even get those things?" Rias asked quietly.

"I know people." I shrugged. "Met Sun Wukong a few times. Izzy knows Hades, so that wasn't hard to ask for."

"....yeah, you know a lot of powerful people." She muttered, soundly oddly defeated for some reason.

"I'm curious about something." Zeoticus suddenly spoke up again. "What made you get together with Vene?"

Ah, the others were preemptively cringing at the inevitable answer.

"Besides the obvious?" I raised an eyebrow.

Zeoticus let out a laugh. "I'm just a little curious about what captured you at first. She has enough good qualities that it would take a long time to go over all of them. Just satisfy an old man's curiosity."

"So, what immediately swept me off my feet, as it were?" I summarized. "Well..." I glanced at her rather large boobs.

"Good choice." Zeoticus nodded sagely. "Vene's chest is hard to match!"

"Dad, please don't talk about mom that way!" The Red-Headed Lucifer threw his hands up in frustration.

"There's nothing wrong with the compliment~" Venelana giggled, intentionally bouncing her chest for everyone to see. "Believe me, I know the looks I get for my boobs, and I don't shy away from them~"

Why did I enjoy her tormenting her children so much? Their groans were just....so much fun to hear.

Honestly though. I love her boobs, I won't deny that. Physically, she was everything I wanted in a woman. But...

"Jokes aside, I think what really tugged at me at first were her stunning eyes." I turned to her, happily taking her hand. "It might sound a bit cliché to say, but they were so calm and gentle that I couldn't help but stare at them when we first met."

Out of all my girls, she definitely wins with the most vivid and hypnotizing eyes.

"It also helped that my clothes were torn and I was practically half naked at the time." Venelana added.

That may have also helped with her seduction.

Most of the questions seemed to revolve around Venelana and myself, but that was to be expected. This little....dinner was mostly for them to get used to us together, or something along those lines. Among other things of course. The half-assed attempts from him to try and poke at me for certain knowledge was not missed, but it's whatever.

But even the way we were seated, it was obvious that She and I were sort of on the outside in a sense.

"A good answer." Zeoticus nodded, seemingly pleased. "Venelana certainly has been much happier in recent weeks. Why, she even used one of her Evil Pieces! I was sure they would be left to collect dust forever. I assume that you have a hand in her new Queen?"

"Mozart." I mused. "How is he handling being a Devil?"

"Oh, he's adapted well. It almost makes me question if he wasn't a Devil beforehand. He took to it like a fish in water." Venelana replied.

"Someone else that should be dead." Lucifer snorted. "Care to explain that one?"

"Isn't Okita Souji listed as dead?" I rolled my eyes.

"That's not the same thing!"

"How so?"

"I used an Evil Piece on him!"

"Well, so did Venelana." I crossed my arms.

"That...." He scowled. "Sophistry. Mozart died hundreds of years ago. He has a grave. I attempted to recruit him myself and he rejected." His expression hardened.

"Well, that sounds like it would be inconvenient for me to answer. So, I'll just do what you do when something is inconvenient and ignore it." I just rolled my eyes at his attempt to force me to answer his obvious prodding question.

He shot up to his feet and slammed his hands on the table. It seems like his temper finally flared. "I didn't want you!"

I felt an old wound reopen, one that I thought had scarred over a long time ago. I found myself mimicking him as I was on my feet and my hands slammed into the table as well. "Well look at that, neither did I! But I was the one who got fucked over because you're a fucking idiot!"

"You weren't my responsibility!" He shouted.

"No shit!" I shouted in return. "That's why I lost my fucking childhood, because you couldn't be assed to take the bare minimum effort!"

"You had everything provided for!"

"I was a fucking kid who was grieving their dead mom and I had no one, you cunt."

"...that wasn't my fault." He seemed to verbally stagger there.

"No, but you failed every step of the way to do something about it." My voice lowered back to normal.

I didn't back down as we stared at one another.

Finally, he pulled away, turning around and marching out of the room.

The Maid also stood up.

She had been...mostly silent this evening, she looked like she was having an awkward time throughout.

But at this moment, she looked at me and I was ready for her to say something.

"Thank you for saving my son." She bowed her head with the feeling of genuine thanks in her tone.

Why.....did that make me feel good to hear?

I....didn't know how to reply to her. I was uncharacteristically angry, but I felt weird about the idea of snapping at her in this particular moment despite my dislike for her.

Quickly, she seemed to follow after her husband.

"Come on." Venelana stood up, tugging at my arm. She didn't look too upset, almost sympathetic if anything. "Let's go for a walk." She smiled gently.

I let out a sigh and allowed her to drag me off.

Some fresh air would do me good.

[***]

A/N

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