"Why were you unconscious in the woods, little Kuroka? Where is your mother, Fujimai?" Magari's voice broke Roxanne from her thoughts. It seemed that Magari had recognized Kuroka as the daughter of her old friend.
"You know my mother?" Kuroka asked, her voice tinged with surprise.
"Yes, your mother was once my vice-captain," Magari explained. "A few years ago, she fell in love with that bastard human and ran away to be with him. Since then, I lost all contact with her." She paused, her gaze softening as she studied Kuroka. "You resemble Fujimai so much when she was your age," Magari added, gently patting Kuroka's head.
"So tell me, child, where is your mother? How is she doing these days? And why were you unconscious in the woods?" Magari's tone was calm, yet it carried a deep concern.
At those words, tears began to stream down Kuroka's face. Between sobs, she recounted everything that had happened in the last year—her mother's death, being forced to join a devil's peerage, their plans to use her younger sister as a test subject, and how she eventually escaped from the laboratory.
Neither Roxanne nor Magari interrupted her, allowing Kuroka to pour out all the pain she had been holding in. Yet, the growing coldness in their eyes made it clear—both women were enraged at the injustices Kuroka had endured.
"There, there, it's okay now. You don't need to worry anymore. I'll help you solve this, " Magari said as she patted Kuroka's back.
After a while, Kuroko calmed down. And remembering what she had just done, Kuroko was too embarrassed to show her face.
Kuroko knew she should have been extra wary of these strangers. After all, even if they say they were mother's friends, who knows how accurate that information is? But she was still a little girl who didn't see much of the world. So even if her mind was warning her, her body was honest.
" Big sis Magiri, you should head towards the Nekomata village with Kuroko and persuade them to leave the underworld with us. From what I can tell, the experiments Kuroko went through are related to something the Old Satan faction desperately needed. So I'm sure they would never let Kuroko get away from her hands.
I'm sure those guys must be searching every nook and cranny for her whereabouts. And thinking logically, the only place Kuroko could have run out is towards the Nekomata village.
And so those guys might use some excuse of some sick justice to destroy the Nekomata village to search her out. They might even use this opportunity to get some more test subjects. " Roxanne said as she looked at Magari seriously.
As someone who knows the future, she is very familiar with the tricks the Old Satan faction would use.
" How sure are you? " Magari asked with a serious expression. What Roxanne said were some very dangerous claims.
" 100% " Roxanne didn't hesitate as she replied. This surprised Magari, and she raised an eyebrow.
" How are you going to save Kuroka's little sister? " Magari asked to change the subject. This clearly isn't the time to dig out into Roxanne's secrets.
" Well if I'm not wrong, then you should have left your sister with that red-haired Satan to protect her, right? " she asked as she looked at Kuroko.
Kuroko nodded. She had no choice, as she knew better than anyone how unrealistic it was to escape the underworld with her sister. So she gambled on the possibility that Sirzech Lucifer would protect her sister due to pity.
Although it was unrealistic, she still had some confidence in her gamble. After all, Sirzechs is a Gremory. Gremory is known for its kindness and greed.
She bet on the possibility that Sirzechs would get greedy for her sister's potential and protect her. That is why she even made that stupid play near a place where Sirzechs could hear her.
Magari, seeing her nod, wanted to blame Kuroko for being this naive and irresponsible. But she ultimately kept her silence. The poor girl wasn't in the right mind to make rational decisions.
" Are you thinking of rescuing her from Sirzechs? She may have already been taken in as a peerage member to avoid further trouble. " Magari asked as she looked at Roxanne.
Roxanne shook her head as she replied, " Sadly I don't have the ability to remove the evil piece inside of her, so regrettably we have to let her stay with the Gremory. And besides, as far as I know, that little girl is taken in by Rias Gremory as one of her peerage members, so we don't need to worry about her safety. That girl, although is a bit arrogant and snobbish, is kind to her own people. "
Hearing Roxanne's first sentence, Kuroka flinched, but as Roxanne continued to explain, she breathed a sigh of relief as she began to calm down. Thankfully her bet paid off.
"So what are you going to do? " Magari asked as she looked at Roxanne with a piercing glare. It seemed this girl knew perfectly what was happening here and kept quiet.
Roxanne flashed a cold smile that screamed danger and said, " Of course, I'm going to cause enough chaos in the underworld so those old fossils wouldn't have time to threaten Shirone. "
Magari and Kuroka both flinched as they reflexively backed away. Roxanne's smile screamed danger that their instincts almost took over them.
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~ Devil Council Meeting Room, Lucifaad City~
" Damn that Sirzechs! How dare he take away that Nekoshou without even informing us? Does he think just because he is a Mao he can do anything? " One devil shouted as he banged the table in anger.
"Calm down, Jonathon; being angry won't do us any good, " another man spoke as he drank from his glass of wine.
"Rowan, how could you be so calm about this? We need that Nekoshou for that experiment. If we screw this up, our heads would be on the chopping block. " Jonathon frowned as he glared at his friend.
Rowan had a mysterious smile as he replied calmly, "Oh, why do you think we need that specific nekoshou for the experiments? Isn't there already a village full of those cats? Can't we just take some from there? "
Jonathon frowned before his eyes went wide open as he understood what his friend said. " Did you send someone to that village? " he asked in shock.
"Bingo, " Rowan said as he added, " I'm sure in that village we can have as many test subjects as we want, and what's better, we can brainwash them so an accident like what happened earlier wouldn't happen again. "
"Hahahaha, brilliant, my friend. Your plan is brilliant; with this, I'm sure we would be heavily rewarded. Hahaha. " Jonathan said as he laughed. He took a wine bottle and began to pour some into his cup. He was in a very good mood after hearing Rowan's plan. So what better way to celebrate than to drink some wine?
Rowan smiled, but in his eyes, there was a feeling of contempt and disdain, which he hid before his supposed friend noticed.
'Hmph, idiot, when my actions are found out, only you would be facing the anger of the four satans. And by then I would be reaping the rewards while you face all the backlash. ' Rowan thought with a smile that appeared to be polite from the outside.
Yes, this man, Rowan, unlike his idiot friend, knew perfectly the consequences of destroying the Nekomata village. Although they could get away with it by saying they didn't want the same tragedy of the Nebiros family happening again, only idiots would believe such a thing.
And what's more, even if they managed to win public opinion, they would still have to face the backlash from the four Satans and probably from the Yokai too.
That is why Rowan needed a scapegoat for his plans. And what better scapegoat is there other than his dear best friend? When he gave orders for the army to march, he didn't use his name but instead used his dear friend's authority. And to top it all off, he gave this mission to the Nebiros family as a favor for them to regain their authority.
This way, even if there was an investigation, he wouldn't be suspected at all. After all, those two would take the brunt of all investigations.
Thinking of the future where he would be able to be rewarded for his accomplishments, Rowan smiled with anticipation. But his smile froze when an unknown voice rang in the room.
"Well, it seems I caught some big fish today. Well then, let the hunt begin [ Azathoth ] "
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