At your service

A.N.: many ideas for KKM fics recently, most specifically with an older version of Yuuri…

Disclaimer: do not own a thing, except my stupidly over working imagination, which lead to this fic…

Also, I'm still unsure as to which pairing this fic will lead to, I intended a GwenYuu, but my recent addiction to ConYuu might affect this fic a bit too much…

Such a hard choice…maybe your reviews will help a bit! ^_^

Chapter 1: How it all began

"Shibuya!" the great sage's call resounded within the walls of Blood Pledge castle.

The call made the concerned Demon King lift his heavy head from its uncomfortable position, as he could finally tear his eyes away from the evils of paperwork, without being on the receiving end of his dark haired councilor's ever deeper angered glare. Although Gwendal had stopped scarring him shitless every time he so much as saw him walking from afar, he still felt relatively uneasy, every time the older male glared at him directly. Ever since he knew of his softer side: the cute and children loving side; he couldn't seem to consider the blue eyed man as a 'scary type' of man, and most of the time he felt guilty whenever an angry glare was directed at him. And today had been especially hard, since he had avoided the paperwork with such passion the days before, now the piles of papers were literally littering the ground. And he knew Gwendal must have had tried his best at keeping the invasion in check… He had therefore been the source of never ending work and headaches to the man in the past few days (actually months would be more like it, but Yuuri didn't know it went to that extend).

It's not like he did it on purpose though… He had just wanted to take care of the upcoming baseball tournament in Shin Makoku, and play a bit with his favorite knight in shinning armor. He had just finished his university yearly exams on earth too! So he had considered that he had seen way enough paper for the next few months. But now he suffered both his lack of better judgment, and the terrible guilt at the many glares he was, not so subtly, given.

Said general was now eyeing the door to his study, instead of his king, expecting it to burst at any moment to reveal the usual noisy tribe that constantly followed this peculiar sort of cry. He only sparred one last tentative glance at his king, briefly wondering if he had the time to ask for his leave before the inevitable chaos erupted. Seeing how his king had been especially compliant today, he might have a chance.

Unfortunately, just as Yuuri finally saw that he was, again, on the receiving end of his stare, the door finally burst open, revealing an unusually serious double black.

"Shibuya!" he repeated, in a softer tone now that his target was in sight.

"I heard you the firsts hundreds times… What's the matter now?" the king calmly answered. In the six years (earthly time), he had been king in Shin Makoku, he had learned at least some restrain. Besides, this kind of panic was much too usual (might he say daily), so he had finally taken the hang on keeping himself in check, at least for the firsts few minutes of panic, to his caretakers' infinite relief…for the firsts few minutes…

"It's terrible!" Murata added, trying to make his friend tick.

"I could have guessed…" Yuuri agreed easily, he still had to know what the problem was, but his old friend's nasal voice was really getting on his nerves, and on his ears, which hadn't heard much of anything apart from rustling paper, flying birds, bone tribe representatives and far off huffs from the training grounds, for most of the day.

Gwendal himself impatiently rubbed his temples as his seemingly ever present headache worsened. Idly he hoped that the Great Sage could had been as difficult as their king when he was proposed Shinou's blessing to live a Mazoku life time… At least if he had taken as long as Yuuri to accept it, a twenty years old great sage might have sounded a little less annoying than a sixteen looking years old brat…

Oh, How he had wished things were reversed! That way the cute Yuuri would have remained for a longer time, and his little brother wouldn't have whined so much about his fiancé growing like a mere human… AND the great sage wouldn't look so unreliable and sound so bratty…. Shinou was too cruel…

Though everything wasn't so bad: the king had grown into a remarkably good looking man… Even if, at the very least, as the king's fiancé's brother, he shouldn't be thinking of the young man's physique so inappropriately; but his majesty truly was…gorgeous. To the point where he wished Wolfram hadn't coerced the king into letting his deep black hair grow; now it went easily past his shoulders, about as long as the general's own hair length. The long hair truly suited him. And he wasn't even talking about the Maoh's dignified deep inky black colored hair and eyes… It looked as if the Maoh's hair and eyes darkened with time: before, one could still easily see shadows brought by the sun within the black mane and the detailed shades of very dark grey in his eyes; now the older looking Maoh had hair and eyes so black that it literally absorbed any light that came in contact with it. The soft and silky stands were threads of blackness, pure tendrils of oblivion to anyone who tried to detail them, and his eyes looked like they had been drawn in ink, the irises the same color as the pupil and as the long and delicate lashes; even the Great Sage had compared this to earth's old Japanese paintings in black ink, seemingly, their Maoh was art by himself.

"Ah~ha… You're so cold today Shibuya! Anyway, Ulrike saw a grave disturbance happening near Tartarus' barrier." He said.

"Ta-rue-ta-russe? Is it French? What kind of barrier?" the king asked confused. On the other hand his general sounded distressed.

"Tatarus? You mean that this old legend about Hell's gate is actually true?" the older man asked.

"Hell's gate? Wait, wait, wait! Tartar didn't sound quite as unfriendly!" Yuuri finally started to panic at the ominous definition.

"That name might be a bit over the edge… And it's not actually the gate that is being troublesome…not now anyway. It's just one of the surrounding areas that started acting up: I think someone or something might have attempted getting in (or out)." Murata explained as though he made perfect sense.

"Could someone, anyone, pour some light, I mean real light on this situation? For me?" Yuuri complained, trying to pull out some cute face for Gwendal to answer, unexpectedly someone else was his savior.

"Tartarus, in the legends, was a door leading to the underworld. The surrounding areas are said to have sucked up its demonic energy long ago, to lead mortals to terrifying lands of death and destruction, from which none could come back… This legend is often used to scare children, your majesty." Conrad who had suddenly appeared by the door helpfully replied. Gwendal sent him the usual glare, the one he had created especially for his troublesome brother: to keep him from abducting the king from his paper filling duties.

"And you're telling me that this sort of frightening place exists? IN Shin Makoku? Why would ANYONE ever want to set foot near such a dangerous area anyway? And it's YUURI, Nazukeoya!" Yuuri cried, afraid that he knew exactly what his black haired friend had in stock for him.

"Well… I'm sure some people might go thinking that they could, maybe, steal a bit of that terrifying power. But I'm more afraid of the possibility of the seal around these grounds weakening." The Great Sage explained, completely ignoring and cutting off Conrad's own playful call of "Yuu~ri".

"Don't tell me you intend on doing the same as with those boxes!" Gwendal exploded, definitely not looking forward to another near death and world's end experience.

"No, no, no! Ahah! Nothing like that! All we need would be a bit of Shibuya's power, to reseal the area. Luckily we should be able to do this without removing the old one prior." Murata explained the situation, which didn't seem to content his king in the last.

"You don't mean… That we have to go to this place… This scary place! Full of monsters and weird stuff…" the king began as he imagined all sorts of horrors surrounding the ominous landscape that had formed in his mind's eye.

"What are you imagining Shibuya…?" the Sage sighed.

"Can it really be so easy?" Conrad mused; worried about his king's safety. Although his vision of the unknown place wasn't quite as ominous as Yuuri's, it was still filled with terrible dangers for his innocent charge.

"At best, Shibuya's control over his maryoku should be enough. You made enough progress to completely suppress the need for your 'Maoh mode' now." Murata encouraged the two dubious men.

"At best, you say?" Gwendal, ever the compliant one, underlined the weak point in the sage's speech.

Said sage winced noticeably at the accusation. He had almost forgotten that the general was near as much of a worry wart as the faithful brown haired soldier. At least, he sighed, the silver haired wailing ball was still depressing over the fact that his dear king wouldn't be able to assist to his lessons today either, because of Gwendal's express demand for the king to do his paperwork.

"Yessss… You heard right… But don't worry!" he quickly added as three dark, death glares were suddenly directed at his small person. "A-at worst… I might just have to pump a bit of my own maryoku into Shibuya to help completing the seal! I swear it's really not as dangerous as it sounds!" he reassured.

"Really…? I guess we should get ready then…" Yuuri sighed, defeated and knowing he would have to meet his fate… eventually. He unhappily realized that he'd probably have even more paperwork to do when he got back, and a probably an even grumpier councilor… To think he had finally managed to get himself to work, he had even gotten to a good working pace, deeply immersed within the many minor problems experienced by his people, mostly noisy nobles who liked to complain about the most unimportant things…and a few farmers with land delimitation troubles… And now, maybe for the first time in his short life, he was given an opportunity to get out of evil paperwork that he didn't want to accept!

"I will prepare the proper accommodations then. When do we leave?" Conrad asked.

"Tomorrow morning would be good." the Great Sage answered.

"Damn… I'll have to tell Wolfram…" Yuuri complained.

"He'll probably insist on going with you, your majesty." The brown haired soldier pointed out.

"That's the whole problem, Dear lord Weller…" the said king mocked. Calling Conrad through this title usually brought the knight an unstoppable twitch to his eyebrow, and a frown that could perfectly match his older brother's. Fun, though much scarier than seeing Gwendal's stare: even Wolfram had hid behind him the first time he had witnessed his half-blooded brother imitating his dear and respected "Big Borther".

"I'll come as well then." Gwendal suddenly cut in, cutting off Conrad's usual "Yuu~ri".

"You will? Then could you help Conrad with the preparations? Murata and I will prepare our own stuff. And Murata, I'll need you to explain this sealing process to me." Yuuri said before getting up from his chair and walking up to his friend, now that he was towering over the 'great sage', he liked to subtly insist on their, only apparent, age difference.

"We can do that while we travel: it should take a few days to get there anyway." Murata explained, straining his neck to look up at his black haired and black eyed, 21 years old king. Although Yuuri wasn't overly tall, one might even point out that he was still rather small, actually smaller than Conrad or Yosak, one could guess he at least enjoyed the little time when his best friend and Sage was still shorter than him…

"I'm not locking myself up in some cramped carriage with, probably both you and Wolfram, for days of travel! If you can't explain everything within this evening, at least give me an introduction or something! And compact the rest for tomorrow would you?" Yuuri complained as he passed the door, holding his friend's arm in a firm grip, praying that the important conversation could be used to woo off his insistent fiancé should he meet him in the halls.

"You getting into university definitely got my work more complicated! Who would have thought, that there would be a time when, Shibuya Yuuri would be asking for a formal report? But oh, well… I guess I could explain the basics… It should be simple enough. Your usual originality should do the rest once we're there…" the sage finally gave in.

By the following morning, a sleep deprived young monarch appeared, followed by his fierce, angry looking fiancé, into the crowded courtyard. Their departure was planned early morning, as their king usually didn't have much difficulty in waking up early, but Conrad silently worried about his charge's current state.

"Rough night?" he half joked as Yuuri stubbornly chose to mount his horse instead of going into the carriage, which was already occupied by the Great Sage.

"I'll be better in a moment…" the king assured. "It's just Wolfram having a fit for hours on end last night because of this trip…" he cringed as said fiancé mounted his own horse and came close to the king, angry resolve set on his delicate 17 years old like features.

And although Wolfram had grown a bit in the last six years (the equivalence of one human year), he was now a child next to Yuuri. His mood even worse knowing his fiancé had accepted to live as a Demon, only three months ago…using his own powers (and not Shinou's) to extend his lifetime. He considered that if Yuuri had planned on accepting his fate, he should have done so earlier!

But Yuuri had wanted to age a bit, so he could at least look fatherly for his daughter, and continue his studies without too much trouble (if he remained at 16 for almost the whole time he'd had to spend in university, it might have caused some unwanted attention).

"What are you whispering behind my back, wimp? If you think I'm going to accept you gallivanting, with my own half-breed brother at that, you've got it coming!" the blond yelled into his face.

"G-galivanting? Where and when did you see me do such a thing?" the king cried, he was used to the other's false accusations, but generally he didn't go to such a high level of insults before noon…

"Right NOW! Don't play stupid with ME!" Wolfram yelled again.

"Wolfram! Keep it down! We have a long journey ahead and I don't feel like hearing your complaints!" Gwendal suddenly cut in, before someone, most probably either the Maoh or his faithful protector, decided to shut his youngest brother's trap, possibly with a much harder comment.

"But, Brother!" the young noble tried another complain, only to be cut off by the dark grey haired demon shaking his head disapprovingly.

Deflated, the blond prince still managed an indignant huff at his betrothed before he chose to follow closely the carriage's departure.

Yuuri breathed a sigh of relief and threw the deep sapphire eyed man a grateful smile. For now, it'd probably be better if he kept close to his reassuring presence, Gwendal being the only one who had the ability to efficiently shut the blonde's trap.

"I have a bad feeling about all this…" Yuuri mused, as one could easily take this 'marvelous' morning call a bad omen.

And the Maoh really wished those birds would stop agreeing with his somber thoughts.

The journey to the "cursed lands" as Yuuri had so optimistically renamed them, took only two days and a half; which was much faster than what they had expected. Luckily the Great Sage had managed to keep Wolfram's attention from the king who had been suffering the blond's permanent glare.

Yuuri sighed deeply, calming his nerves. He just finished his hair preparation so he could wear the wig (with longer hair now). It turned his hair into the same old reddish brown and it was still better than most of his tries at dyeing his long hair, but putting all this hair length back, then up and flattening so one wouldn't see the very black strands under the wig, was a very troublesome job. The only real advantage was that it could stay in place much more efficiently (with the pins). Also the wig was more water resistant than most of the dyes his retainers allowed near his royal head. He also still had to wear the 'dragon scales' to hide his black irises, those "lens" were still terribly itchy and hard to put on by himself. He felt so lucky to have Conrad to help him with that still…

"Oi! Wimp, we're going ahead, so you don't trip! You better not get any funny ideas while I'm gone!" the king's fiancé yelled as he rode into the forest that apparently hid "Hell's gate" and all of the surrounding "areas" that Murata had been talking about.

"Really, frowning like that, he's going to end up like Lord von Voltaire before you know it!" Murata joked as he went up to his king, oblivious of the fact that said "lord von Voltaire" had perfectly heard him and was now creating a new wrinkle in between his brows.

"It would be so much easier on me if he did become like Gwendal…" the Maoh whispered, thinking of how he would have preferred his fiancé to have been responsible, calm, and most of all, non-headache inducing… His best friend on the other hand, gave him a strange look which he couldn't quite decipher.

"Your majesty, will we need to do something concerning the replacement of the seal?" Conrad asked, as he suddenly appeared next to his king.

"It's Yuuri! And, I don't think so. Just watch out for anything unexpected: I won't be able to concentrate on much of anything aside from the seal, from what I could tell with Murata's explanations…" the king calmly replied, as if the sudden appearance hadn't surprised him at all.

"Very well, Yu~-" the brown haired soldier began.

"Your majesty! We found the place!" Yosak suddenly came up, unconsciously cutting off the half breed demon.

"Show us the way then." The king immediately replied, leaving his most faithful knight and his double black friend behind.

'I'm starting to think it's a plot…' Conrad angrily thought, and seeing the Great Sage's amused smile, he couldn't help but glare at the younger man, efficiently making him cover away.

"So this is the place?" Yuuri asked, a bit surprised to see that the clearing didn't look especially threatening.

"It's your imagination that's overworked." Murata laughed.

"hmmm… So I just need to concentrate and imagine a barrier surrounding the area? Even using Maryoku, this seems really easy…" the king mused as he readied himself nonetheless.

'Too easy…' the three brothers instantly thought: it was impossible for something involving Yuuri to be that easy…

"That's the main idea. It should still take a few hours to make, but as long as nothing perturbs your focus or the concerned area, it should be fine." The Great Sage answered. "I'll be your back up." He added.

"Let's all hope…" Conrad sighed.

"Let's…" Gwendal agreed. "And keep your eyes wide open!" the tall demon reminded a little louder, for all of them.

Once all of them where ready, Yuuri began calling forth his power, to seal away the presumably terrifying place named "Tartarus".

The three brothers were tense, even Wolfram, for all his harsh words, he still deeply cared for his king, as it really was just his couple's frail balance that bothered him.

The blond noble didn't even know where he should stand now. It seemed like his fiancé would never fall for him, it had been six years, but no improvement at all. Worse so, it was almost as if Yuuri simply ignored his presence, accepting him in his bed, like he would a cat; going on whatever date his fiancé asked for, only accompanying… He could force Yuuri into things, like not cutting his hair, or eating a few of his preparations… But the blond prince was now sure he really shouldn't coerce anyone for a kiss, ever again…

Wolfram tightened his grip on his sword at the memory, so deep in thought he missed the slight movement at the other end of the clearing. When he finally noticed the figure standing in the middle, it was too late to stop the chain reaction.

"What the-? Who are YOU!" he yelled, making his two brothers tear their eyes away from the sides they were guarding.

"When did this get there?" Gwendal raged as he turned to face the 'person', at least he guessed it was a person, but since it was well covered with a dark brown hooded cape he couldn't determine its gender.

"A normal human shouldn't be able to get in there…" Murata said, making the brothers grip their swords tensely, while the redheaded half demon spy tried to determine if the figure was a lone one.

"What's happening?" the king asked as he kept his eyes closed for better focus.

"Don't worry about it, Shibuya. Just keep your focus and don't think of anything else…" the Sage warned, which was answered with a slight nod.

And the young king tried, really he did. But the voices, the cries all around him made the task definitely more difficult. In his mind eye, the barrier began to falter, his vision blurred, finally it seemed like little white flashes were appearing at the edges.

He tried to tell Murata, but he found that he couldn't breath, and therefore, couldn't voice his troubles. He tried to move, to grasp at someone, anyone, but his body wouldn't move. Finally he felt the ground under him slowly disappear, and he fell through, unable to fight, and with no one to catch him.

His heart ached, his head went light. He could still hear the voices around, the various calls that all seemed to ignore his silent suffering and fall. Finally he willed himself to open his eyes, although it felt like every single nerve in his body was dead. The instant his eyes opened, intense pain flowed through them, burning, eating away and throwing horrific images into his brain: faces of death, visions of destruction, decay, war, murder, things that had been swallowed by "Tartarus" and were now thrown at him.

He wanted to cry out, he wanted saving, and he wanted to save,…but nothing came. Instead he did the only thing he was still capable of doing as he kept on falling within the endless dark abyss: he closed his eyes again.

And everything tuned into nothingness…

On the outside, the king's body slowly fell backward. Gwendal who had been the closest to him, caught the limp body, his eyes showing clear confusion and fright.

"Yuuri!" he screamed at the unconscious body, efficiently catching the attention of the others.

"Shibuya?" Murata echoed, unable to explain the sudden turn about.

Conrad crisped his jaw to the point his teeth were close to breaking, doing his best not to show his own worry. Settling for an angered mask, he threw all his hate and spite in the direction he knew the strange figure was, ready to run the thing through with his sword should anything bad had happened to his king. However, his gaze only met the sun warmed greenery of the clearing, no cloaked figure, no potential danger. Only the mocking calmness, in which his king limply laid in his brother's arms, the only testimony that something did happen…

"Damn it! Where is he?" Yosak stole the words from his captain's mouth, spitting them angrily.

"Could it be…? I didn't see that coming… This is bad." The Great Sage whispered, doing nothing to ease the feeling of dread that tightened the soldiers' guts.

"What's going on? What about him?" the grey haired demon raged as he slowly brought his monarch's body down to settle him in a more comfortable position, making sure that the youth was still alive at the same time as he could search for the weak pulse once the king rested more on the ground than on him.

"My guess would be that, what we just saw wasn't human… It was a tangible form, born from the excess of energy the "hell's gate's" produced. It probably appeared because of the seal's weakening and redoing…" the double black explained.

"What about Yuuri?" Wolfram finally breathed, not tearing his eyes away from his unconscious fiancé, but not daring to get close.

"He… was probably absorbed by this place…" Murata guiltily answered, facing down, unable to face the terrified stares he was given. It was his fault after all. He was the one supposed to prevent this kind of things. But he had been too confident, and hadn't been able to foresee this happening.

"What do you mean absorbed? The kid's still here isn't he? Wha-what's goin' to happen to him…?" Yosak screamed at the Sage. Forgetting his own place, he griped the double black by the collar of his uniform, unable to stand the whole "peacefulness" of this place, not with his kid king laying like he was dead, half on the ground, half on the disaster faced general.

"Think of it like when he was absorbed into the demon mirror to the past: his body's here, his mind's elsewhere. All we can do is hope that he'll find his own way out before the end of the month…" Murata said, his tone dark.

"The end of the month?" Conrad echoed, his voice at the edge of cracking, as if he was close to breaking down himself, even if his face didn't show it.

"My own assumption of how long his maryoku/demonic energy can sustain the link between his original body and his soul…it's not as simple and sure as the demon mirror: that place he was absorbed into, I don't know what it is, or what Shibuya will encounter there…" the Great Sage explained.

"The link?" Wolfram whispered, not even bothering to hide the small tears that unwillingly gathered at the corners of his eyes.

"Yes. The Link. If the link breaks… Strictly speaking, he won't be able to wake up or return from that place….ever again." He dropped the bomb he knew, though he couldn't bring himself to speak the "d" word…not when it concerned his best friend's fate. Especially when he knew they were all completely powerless to change it.

"Yuuri! Yuuri is…he's going to-" Wolfram began, freely crying now. "It my fault! I-if I had seen that thing earlier…if I had-" the blond chocked on his tears now.

"It's no use thinking about these things! We should go back to the castle! Have the king rest…properly. And think. And ask Shinou for a possible solution!" Gwendal ordered around, not bearing the sight of his brothers in such a pain. The weight in his arms being the other reason: the defenseless body he had been unwillingly trusted with. As if the king's unfortunate fall had designed him as his caretaker. The feeling only intensified with the Sage's next words.

"We can't move him too far. Just in case, for lack of better information, we should stay here, put the tents up and wait. I'll go back and ask Shinou. Wolfram should go back to the castle as well: he needs to call forth Gisela, maybe inform Gunter about holding out for a bit longer and take care of the place while longer, and most of all, tell Greta." Murata uneasily pointed out, shivering slightly, sorry for the man who'd feel the young adolescent princess' wrath and pain when she learned that something unfortunate had happened to her dear "father"…

The little girl took after Anissina's personality, more and more, each and every day… Fortunately Gwendal had managed to get appreciated by Greta enough that she didn't bother him too much… Contrary to Yosak, the Sage guessed, as the spy gave a shudder so strong he loosened his grip on the black collar. Conrad was in the same boat as his old friend though, as Anissina's pendant, the young human was more inclined to experimenting on half humans rather than on demons...

Experimenting and questioning, Murata reminded himself as his late try to answer the young girl's question about "baby making" had almost killed him the second Yuuri heard his, maybe a little crude, description from across the whole castle! The guy just had that kind of hearing for when it concerned his cute daughter's well being. And a damn straight terrifying murderous face…a face he was pretty sure had never been shown to the last Big Shimaron's king (or else they'd be at the Maoh's feet, imploring grace).

"I'll tell Greta…I also need to take care of a few other things…" Wolfram said, lifting the invisible weight off both half-demon men.

"Alright. Let's get moving then…" the redhead spy ordered the remaining soldiers who had politely kept a blank face on, though they were probably just as stressed out as some of them, Dorcas, for example, was having an especially hard time with keeping his cool.

Behind the small commotion brought by the new order, the tall, dark blue eyed demon finally accepted his fate as he delicately placed the limp, thin body comfortably in his arms. Although the king probably couldn't feel how he was laid, given his current state, he still felt like he should be careful. The grumpy looking man thought that this feeling might just come from the fact that his king had a tendency to look exceptionally, and deceivably, frail and delicate…

A.N./ As stated previously, I'm still unsure about the pairing (though there definitely won't be any Yuuram or GxG, sorry for the fans of the genre, but that's final! I have…certain plans, for Gunter and others… (as secondary pairings)).

Anyway, reviews are loved! Feel free to inspire me, point out mistakes (English isn't my mother language), tell me if you'd prefer a GwenYuu or ConYuu or GwenYuuCon (saying that one out loud might be fun XD).

And now for a little kit kat break (I love doing those at the end of a chapter ^^)

What actually happens when Murata gets on the Maoh's bad side.

Greta: Say, MuraMura! How are babies born? Papa Yuuri tried to explain me, be he kept stuttering so much I couldn't understand a thing! And Papa Wolfram was just complaining about the fact that papa Yuuri refused to bear any of his children…

Murata: *looks nervously around* W-well, you see… Ah, maybe Conra-

Greta: I already tried uncle Conrad, but he just smiled and said that he didn't know either! Though he was sweating quite a lot too, and papa Yuuri said he might be a bit sick at the moment so I shouldn't bother him with such questions…

Murata:(damn you lord Weller! Though I'm not surprised if Shibuya was there…) Well, what about Gwen-

Greta: I tried uncle Gwendal too! *annoyed* But he gave me a, weird looking but cute, plushy and said that he didn't have the time to!

Murata: Okay… then maybe Yosa-

Greta: Aren't you going to answer? *starts to glare menacingly, and very Anissinaishly*

Murata: I-I, Y-you see, I'm just trying to orientate you towards people that might be a bit more…knowledgeable in the matter…

Greta: Aren't you The Great Sage? *getting suspicious*

Murata: Ahahah… B-but, you see, as a great sage, I'm bound to the temple and have never been allowed to have any child! So I didn't push my knowledge in this sort of matter! (please buy it!)

Greta: Oh, I see. But I already asked Yosak and he disappeared in a "pouf" like thing after telling me that he had to hurry to some sort of mission! And I asked the maids and they giggled and said that I should wait till I was a bit older! And all my friends know, but it'd be too embarrassing to ask them! And Grandma Cherry started asking me what type of boys I liked and then if I'd like to see them naked, and papa Wolfram and both my uncles took me away saying that I shouldn't listen to her lessons. And GunGun just started to bleed through his nose and say some stuff about papa Yuuri and "bounds" and "toys" and-

Murata: OK, OK, I GET IT! You can stop now… (I swear she's getting Yuuri's rambling habit! And doesn't it sound like I am the last resort? I'm kinda vexed, somehow… I even came after Gunter!)

Greta: So?

Murata: (ok, so a little recognition first!) *looks around once more to assure himself that no one is here* Where are your papas Greta?

Greta: Hm? Papa Wolfram went out of the grounds to train his men, and papa Yuuri is by the entrance, playing baseball with uncle Conrad! Why?

Murata: (To ponder my survival chances! But I guess it's okay, Shibuya's at the other side of the castle! Plus they're out and we're inside!) All right Greta, but since your papas might not be too happy that they weren't the ones to tell you, you'll have to keep my words to yourself, alright?

Greta: *Getting excited* 'Kay!

Murata: Well, you see, when a papa and a mama, or in your case two papas, decide that they should get a child, or not decide in some other cases. For whatever reasons. Sometimes they just want one to try and mend up a breaking apart relationship, or just because they want an heir or something. Though most of the time it happens by accident. Well, anyway. Papa and mama, or papa and papa, have sex, papa puts some sticky thing into mama, or the other papa and then-

Yuuri: MUUU. RAAAAHHH. TAAAAAAAA! What ARE you TELLING MY DAUGHTER?

Murata: EEEP! S-shibuya-! Weren't you otherwise occupied with sir Weller? *sweats profusely*

Yuuri: I heard you from there! AND I'M GOING TO MURDER YOU! Fuck the non-killing policy! I changed my mind! I'm gonna choke you down with YOUR OWN GUTS! *evil, purely demonic glare*

And thus, Greta's question remained unanswered. And the Great Sage had to escape the king's wrath, hiding away in a cave for months with nothing but his "school uniform" on, as he didn't risk going back to the castle or temple to get anything else. He quickly learned the basics of being a cave hermit, and had great hopes for finding the answer to the great unanswered questions of the universe as he meditated by himself within the obscure depths. Though, he did find the company of a certain Yosak Gurrier during his travels, an unfortunate spy who had gone for a cave recognition "mission". And Sir Conrad Weller, who believed he was in need of some "cave cure" for his "sickness"…