The Greedy Frog
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DxD: The Sorcery System Chapter 3
🕑 Added 2024-06-30 16:28:11 +0000 UTCChapter 3: Devils and Choices (2/2)
“So, would you like to join our peerage?”
There were hundreds of questions playing in my head, most of which I couldn't even ask.
“Can you elaborate a little about this Peerage before I give you an answer?”
Rias did tell me a little about the benefits, but there is nowhere enough information for me to make a choice.
Especially when there was a reward depending on the choice.
“What would you like to know?” She asked, head cutely turning to the side.
I swear her moves are calculated.
The way she talks, emphasis and moves, most boys and even old men would get flustered.
“How the peerage works, what benefits I can expect other than the immortality and the money, and what happens to my life if I do join your peerage.”
The question made her smile, almost happy that I was showing interest in the peerage.
“The peerage is different depending on whom you ask, depending on the personality of the devil you will get an answer.” Her answer made me raise an eyebrow as there was a very clear meaning of the word Peerage in my mind. “I will emphasize on my Peerage.”
I let her explain, curious of how the meaning could even be different.
“Peerage to me is a family, a group that I have made that helps me in life and they get help in return,” she was quite happy explaining it. “A group of friends to most, and a family to me.”
She showed a bright smile, pleased with her explanation, and well, I was too. It was a good explanation, but not what I wanted to know.
“That sounds nice,” I didn't act like a dick, especially when she was being so nice. “But I want to know the dynamics of the Peerage, how it works and how it works with your society —the devil society.”
I mean… There had to be a reason for a peerage to exist, right? And if it was a common thing in the devil world, that would also mean that there was politics that came into play in this thing, right?
I suck at political studies and I do not think I want to get even deeper into this sewer, at least not without learning more about it.
“Well…” Rias looked at Akeno, a little unsure of how to explain.
“How good are you at chess, Reo?”
“Horrible,” I replied to the black haired girl almost instantly. “All I know is the name of the pieces and how they move.”
“That's more than enough,” She seemed pleased to know I knew about the rules. “So, imagine the Peerage to act in a similar way as the chessboard where every piece has a different power and responsibility.”
A few questions sprouted in my mind again, but I asked the one that bugged me the most.
“There is hierarchy in chess, each piece have a different value “
Peerage from what I knew was the system of grouping the nobles. Imagine the English noble titles, duke, marquess, earl, viscount, and baron.
Yes, each of them had a difference in power, title and respect. But when compared to chess, there were also pawns, which are like the foot soldiers. But in a Peerage, only nobles are supposed to exist.
“They do.” Akeno said, “And everyone that joins a peerage also gets assigned a piece that denotes their power and potential.”
“So, a person with weak abilities and bad potential would end up with something like a pawn?”
Rias nodded, “Yes. But that does not make the person any less valuable to me, each peerage member is equally precious to me.” She gave a bright smile, something she had been constantly maintaining. “The only thing that the pieces assigned to a person means is the power and maybe the growth that they will show.”
Thing was, if that was the case and pieces assigned to a person spoke of a person’s status… being a pawn could end up horribly in a noble society.
Imagine being a soldier in a playground of nobles and royals.
And this is me being generous and considering the pawn to be a soldier. It might also be possible that they are considered no less than the common folk or worse, slaves.
They are Devils and no matter what they do, the stigma of them being creatures associated with evil is stuck in my head.
And it will take more than just time to get rid of that.
“Does every devil have a peerage?”
My question made them think for a bit, maybe to find the best words to describe.
“High Class Devils, ones that can be considered noble in human standards.” Rias elaborated. “Only they possess peerages.”
And before I could ask something regarding that, she made sure to add another sentence.
“And people that join a peerage can grow and end up as a high class devil too.” She grinned, “Which means if you join as a peerage member, in the future you can have a peerage too.”
I gave her a smile as well, “That sure does sound tempting.”
It did, and my words made the two put on a hopeful expression.
But there was just one massive problem with it.
And that was the fact that the peerage was not a direct member of the society, at least in the sense that they are not originally devils which also means that there will be quite the bad blood for them.
Imagine this, you join a peerage and are close to the nobles. Which means that you have achieved something that devils born as low class can never achieve just in a moment's worth of time.
So, how would the low class devils react?
And if you do not bother with that, there is a possibility that she is lying and peerage members are nothing but servants. Their definition of peerage is wrong from the start, so I wouldn't be too surprised.
But leaving out all the possibility of being turned into a servant, and forced into facing discrimination —I decided to ask another question that was bugging me.
“So, what about you?” I pointed at Rias. “What are you? Are you the one moving or being moved in that chessboard?”
This made both of them confused, “What do you mean?”
So, I simplified the question.
“Are you a piece on that chessboard too?”
“Ah,” This cleared the doubt and she replied with a somewhat proud nod that she couldn't hide. “I am. I am the King.”
If she was the king, then who was actually the player? Who was the one moving the pieces?
Eh, nevermind. I am thinking a little too much. No need to read that much into it.
“And I am the Queen.” Akeno showed a smile too.
But it means that there was no place for a queen position left in her board.
“What pieces have been used by you so far?”
“I have a Rook, a Knight, a Bishop and obviously I have Akeno, my Queen.” Rias explained, “Which means there are a few more pieces that will certainly be fit for you.”
“Bishop pieces enhance magic, knight is for your speed and swiftness and rook is for pure strength.” Akeno added, “Pawns are the wildcard as with enough training they can be promoted to have powers of any other piece just like in the real game of chess.”
“And I assume the Queen piece has all those abilities?”
“Yes, they do.”
Thought so.
But well, I had already made my decision after hearing it all. However, I still wanted to know about the rest of the things that I asked and who knows? My answer might change.
“And what about the other perks?” I knew they wouldn't tell me about the issues, so I left that out.
“As I said, you will get an extended lifespan that stretches for thousands of years, you will obtain supernatural increments on your human limits both physically and mentally and finally you will be able to grow strong like those supernatural characters shown in shows and movies if you train yourself hard enough.” Rias explained quite nicely about the physical aspect, which drew my interest to the other part
“Then what of social status and finances.”
This was certainly a difficult question as it made her think for a while.
“That depends just like in the human world, finances and wealth depends a lot on the individual.” The king tried her best to explain. “So, you will start with a decent status and wealth, enough to live comfortably and yes you can take jobs like you do here, but consider these jobs magical.” Certainly interesting. “And imagine the pay to be ten times what you earn here.”
“With enough hard work, you can be rich enough to buy cities and as high class as you can imagine.” Akeno added and something made me guess that Rias was quite high in the social ladder, not just high class but even among the elite her family held a decent amount of power.
“That… certainly tempts me.”
I mean a lot of people would have said yes ages ago, but I prefer being fully aware of the possibilities before making a choice.
Maybe I am just an overly paranoid person, but I cannot change myself easily.
“So… would you like to join?” Rias practically climbed the table to have her nose pressed against mine. And by God, I could feel something pressing against me that most would die for.
“Err….”
But no, I couldn't let temptation push me towards an answer.
The pros were too many, astoundingly high and too amazing. Being able to live for thousands of years? Having a lot of money and growing stronger with training?
This is like the dream scenario for my middle school self who loved to read fantasy books after class.
But now, as a guy who was to graduate highschool in just a year?
This felt… burdensome.
“Rias.” I looked straight into her eyes, almost panicking at being met with her beautiful crimson eyes.
“Y-Yeah?” Even she was nervous, and Akeno too was tapping her feet a little too violently, waiting for an answer.
And I swear that I would be a fool to reject this offer.
“I think…”
I could become a god among humans if I wished to be given these powers.
“I think I will remain a human.”
But I was a fool, and I chose to remain a fool.
{Congratulations! Reo has made a choice!}
“W-What?”
I couldn't blame them. After practically pointing out everything any man could dream of, they did not expect a rejection.
“Why?”
Two major reasons, neither of which I couldn't tell them.
I didn't trust them enough as they were devils, devils always deceit people not to mention the probability of ending up a slave in the world of devils.
And other than that…
{Reo has obtained a reward!}
The fact that there was an option to select and reject and a reward regarding that, meant that there were cons in joining her too.
Of course there were, and Rias had been pushing the pros too much and trying to hide the cons.
“C-Can you reconsider?” She was baffled, almost pressed at being rejected.
Not the angry pressed, but like she had lost something important to her.
Was she in need of someone to join her?
Huh? Nah, I am overthinking again.
“I… am just not willing to let go of my humanity.” I told her one of the reasons, “The benefits of being a devil sound lovely, but I cannot be anything other than a human.”
“But being a devil is so much better than being a human!” She tried her best to sell her stance, “You never have to worry about being sick, having so little time to live as a human, being poor or being weak.”
This made me unintentionally chuckle.
“My father always said that the greatest part of being a human is being faced with challenges.” He was a man whose shadow was greater than my entire self. “And he taught me a lot about being a decent human, and maybe being a human… a decent human is all I have left of a memory of my father.”
It wasn't a lie. It was my main reason to not join her.
“So, I will remain a human, no matter how stupid that may sound.” A sigh left me, and I hope she can understand.
“I—” She was too stunned and almost heartbroken.
And I won't lie, it made me a little sad too.
“But if the offer is open in the future and my views change, I might agree.” I gave her a smile, “I won't count on these words, but there is still a possibility.”
There wasn't, but I had to say that to at least uplift her mood a little.
And it did, even if a little.
“You mean it?” She asked, extremely hopeful.
And while I felt horrible doing it, leading her on and I was definitely going against being a decent human with that… I still lied.
“Yeah, I do.”
All while staring at a certain screen floating above my head.
{Congratulations! Reo has obtained a new Magic!}
{Reo has obtained Sixth Sense!}
Comments
SUN
well, I guess he will not bag Sona😂😭
