A Fae's Emporium 14 (Patreon)

Commissioned by InfiniteChaosRai

A Fae’s Emporium

Chapter 14

-VB-

When Sirzechs finally got the full story out of Rias, he had been skeptical at first. 

Who would give away such a great power that can end the existence of a Phenix without even taking collateral or other means of reassuring return? Even if the dealer in question was a fae, Sirzechs couldn’t find anything wrong with Rias. Not with her power or her. 

But it happened anyway. 

A week after the Rating Game, Rias broke out into a scream in the middle of dinner. She fell to the ground, sobbing and screaming as something happened to her body. 

It was only after the doctors checked her out that he learned what exactly had happened. 

Whatever power that had been given to her to help achieve her now legendary feat? 

It was gone. 

Worse, whatever happened had also robbed Rias some of her original power. The magic reserve, the demonic essence, and even her vibrant personality. 

Rias recovered since then, but talking to her felt like he was talking to a depressed version of her. She wasn’t as loud as before. Not as naive as before. She had been … humbled. 

Oh, he drove him crazy. He wanted to find the fae and burn him and everything he loved to the ground.

But he couldn’t find the fae. No one could. Hell, not even their spies in Ireland could find any trace of a teleporting shop that the fae supposedly based himself out of. 

He was a ghost who had disappeared after burning his sister. 

Right now, though, something called out to him. 

What he wanted was to find the fae, and this feeling he was getting… it wasn’t his. It wasn’t his emotion but it was guiding him.

Was this the fae? 

Was this how Rias walked into a fae’s store and made a deal with him? Made a deal that he reneged on and made Rias suffer? 

Whatever it was, he went along with it. 

He was Sirzechs Lucifer, the Satan of the Underworld and the New Devil Faction. Nothing short of a being on par with God was going to make him submit. 

So he followed the urge.

He went through street after street in the Underworld. The wider avenues became narrower streets. Narrower streets became alleys. And in the corner of that alley was a door with a very simple sign above it. 

The Fae’s Emporium.

He’d found it. 

For a second, he was prepared to blast the door and the occupants behind it. 

… But at the same time, he felt that the bastard deserved to at least see the face of the man who would kill him and why he was going to die. 

He opened the door and walked in. 

And found himself immediately pressured by the magical and divine powers emanating from the items on display. 

Sirzechs realized this may not be as straightforward as he thought just now. 

How did Rias not feel what he was feeling? 

“Welcome~!”

I looked towards the back of the store and saw him, and he looked just as Rias described him. 

A cat-eared “femboy.”

He hadn’t been sure what that term meant, but he now understood what Rias meant by “femboy.” She was just referring to effeminate men! 

Kids these days. They always made up new words. 

The shopkeeper sat lazily behind the counter, eyeing him with a knowing look. Almost like he was telling Sirzechs how disappointed he was for his inaction so far. 

He looked very punchable.

Sirzechs took a small breath in and squared his shoulders. He walked up to the counter and glared down at the shopkeeper.

“Greetings, shopkeeper. You must be Alan Marris that I have heard about.”

“Why yes, I am Alan Marris!” the shopkeeper grinned. It wasn’t a pleased grin or a happy grin. 

It was a malicious grin of a man playing along.

“How’s Rias doing?”

For a second, Sirzechs’ control over his power stuttered, and in that stuttering, his demonic essence spiked and pressed up against the divinity and magic exuded by the shop and its items. 

He quickly regained control. 

“... You know who I am.”

“Of course. It would be foolish of me to not be aware of one such as yourself!” Marris drawled. “Especially considering how rudely Rias Gremory demanded things of me.”

“You stole from her.”

“No, the contract simply returned to me what I was owed,” he shrugged. “Not my fault that your sister decided arguing with a fae was better than just taking the deal the said fae offered.”

“So you admit you deliberately harmed my sister.”

“Harm? What harm could have come from foreclosure?” Marris smiled. “She wasn’t able to pay me back in time, so I merely took back what had been loaned to her. With interest for the work I put in as well.”

“Your interest crippled my sister!” 

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t think she wouldn’t be able to walk.”

“What? No, you ruined her magical reserve,” he snapped before realizing what had happened. “No matter. I am here to punish you for harming my family.”

The shopkeeper… giggled. “You think you can?” 

“I am a Super Devil. I know I can.”

The fae smiled. “I’m sure you can beat me in a straight-up fight… but you forgot something.”

“What?”

“You walked into a fae’s domain.”

Sirzechs’ eyes widened before they narrowed. He almost snarled at the mistake he’d made. He had been so blinded by his anger that he hadn’t even considered the most basic cautions. Because he assumed that he would be able to power through them with his magic, strength, and experience. 

Instead, he found himself in a fae’s domain. 

“How about this, mister Super Devil,” Marris drawled out with a casual grin as if he wasn’t being threatened by a Super Devil. “How about we make a deal?”

“A deal? Why in the hell would I make a deal with you?” 

“Because I can do things you and other devils can’t. Just as I was able to lend Rias a power that would have been hers, I can also restore what was lost… For a fee.”