The Devil's Blend

•—[ Akuma no Kongou ]—•

『悪魔の混合』

Standard Disclaimer Enclosed and Applied.

This is a nonprofit literary work.

『Chapter III 』

• 『Preface : Family』 •

What is a Family?

How do you define it?

Is it simply just a lineage of individuals tied together by the chains of blood?

Or is it a household exceeding the bounds of the flesh and is unified by benevolence and sanctity.

Can anyone make one?

Or is it a privilege only attainable to those whom strive for it?

Whichever the case, fundamentally a family only becomes real if its nurtured by love and affection.

Anyone can acknowledge themselves as 'family' but without attachment, its just a hypocrisy.

You can have a dozen even perchance a hundred as a relative, but without connection its just a congregation of lone individuals.

So what truly makes a family?

One things for sure though;

—No one can exist without a family.

• 『Part 01 : The Gatecrashers』 •

"Its...a wall."

I said in a dumbfounded manner as i gazed upon the newly erected elongated structure that's encircling Ma-kun's whole Caste Overlord.

This kind of reminds me of that time when i accidentally created a gate to that place called China on the otherworld.

"I hope they just don't call this the Great Wall of Centrum since this castle is already the paramount of clichés."

I commented candidly as i knit my eyebrows while examining the tallest building in whole Ente Isla.

Ugh, it's so stereotypical it's making my eyes bleed just by looking at it.

"So bleak and uninteresting..."

I narrowed my lips.

"Seriously where did i go wrong, i know i should have included sense of aesthetics back when I'm teaching Ma-kun centuries ago...This castle is an insult to me as his teacher! Can't he at least made it pink?"

A slight touch of femininity would've made this castle's vibe more appealing you know?

Anyway, I looked around and see no guards patrolling so i hopped right over the wall with ease.

Sheesh, what a great waste of taxpayers money...

The one who thought of making this wall must be really stupid.

I mean, No normal humans would dare come in this land in the first place hence only beings that could use magic would do so and most of them could easily jump this measly ten meter wall.

Thinking about the state of humanity as of late, i could only let out a frustrated sigh.

Thousands of Enteans are dying hopelessly by the days,

Hundreds have become homeless and resorts to banditry,

Dozen of villages raised and in dire need of assistance,

Individual families starve and sleep without eating.

—And what did their government do?

"They build an effin' fancy useless wall right in the middle of nowhere!"

I whined as i threw my hands up in the air on a gesture of total incredulity.

And they even did it with haste so they must have also doubled the construction cost.

"Man, this is giving me the third degree headache..."

Laylah calm yourself down, stress is no good for the skin.

Can't they just barricade the Castle gates and fortify the windows? It sounds more practical and cost efficient to me.

And, Is there even a need to defend it? No one clearly will come to this castle after Ma-kun's main forces dispersed.

Also why are they destroying it? they can use this to generate income in the future for tourism you know?

And this wall would most likely be destroyed only decades later for this is central. The town surrounding the castle would quickly expand once they stop bickering and decide who will govern the Isla.

The wall would just hinder economic progress and infrastructure expansion.

My shoulders sagged down as if in tune with my deflated mood.

Sometimes I'm wondering if i should just stop this liberation quest of mine and just open a school at the Capitol.

Clearly no one can use their heads properly at that place.

"Calm down Laylah."

I remind myself.

This is just the symptoms.

The main sickness lies with Etheans being too overly dependent to the heavens.

With their blind faith to Ochibi-sama, they forgot how to truly use their eyes to see and their brains to think.

[ A/N : 御チビ | Ochibi-sama = Honorable Shorty-sama ]

Anyhow, I really have no time to criticize this damn wall for i have more important things to do.

I hopped down the damn wall and—

«crash!»

Landed butt first on the back of some guy with an ashen colored hair.

Ara?

A/N : I've Got busy around xmas and new year but luckily things on my end settled down now so updates would resume though i decided to keep the succeeding chapters relatively short for now since i haven't written anything in two months (still feeling rusty) but i'll try to update once every three days or so...

Tnx for reading.