The Golden Apostles II

The servants were having a celebration of their own and we joined them. The banquet was a success, they were all rejoicing about it with their own little party.

"Did you hear that, they said we're great!"

"Lord Bael complimented us!"

Some of them cheered while others showed a more lacklustre expression, possibly hoping for something more substantial. Even then, Fia approached them and hugged them for comfort like a mother.

Richter saw this and harrumphed with his mouth full of shrimps.

"Hmph! Brats! I'm the Golden Dragon God and I'm telling you your shrimp are tasty and the banquet was wonderful. Why would you care about their opinion!?" the Dragon God pouted much to everyone's surprise since he wasn't the sort to make this expression.

"Big brother!" The lads and lasses jumped on him; recalling how he protected them from Raiser Phenex and also how he established dominance in front of the four satans.

"Big brother is so cool!"

"You were incredible as well, Richter-sama!" Lucy jumped on him as well as before even noticing, Richter had more than five boys and girls clinging to him.

"Oi, stop... I can't eat like this."

"Richter-sama blushed!~"

"So the mighty Dragon God can be flustered as well, huh?~"

...

The three Lucifuge ladies were sitting at the table; witnessing how the servants were tidying everything up. Fia had told them that they could leave it for tomorrow and go to sleep but they refused vehemently. Richter also decided to help them his own way... by eating all the food that remained together with the lads.

Fia, Layla and Grayfia were having tea on the table with dead silence in between, only Fia laughed every so often when she saw Richter's reactions and her servants playing with a cheerful aura all around them, for her this was true happiness.

However, there was a problem that needed to be addressed and it was the sparks flying between her two daughters, or it was more accurate to say that Grayfia was looking at Layla with plain killing intent while the younger -or older- sister giggled every so often while drinking her tea, totally disregarding her older sister's killing intent.

"Would you two please talk with one another... what happened?" Fia asked with a frown, unaware of anything strange happening, she figured when Layla left together with Richter, they did so to speak something in private, but... she couldn't be farther from the truth.

Grayfia cast a barrier around the three of them, in order to explain, afraid of what those words could cause and how the servants of the Lucifuge Household would see Layla from then on, even then... she was considering her sister's reputation. However, Layla waved her hand and a gust of golden magic was released in the form of a gust of energy.

*CRACK!*

Both Layla and Grayfia gasped when the barrier she had just cast exploded.

Layla gasped and looked at her own hand in bewilderment, that was way more powerful than she intended it to be, all she desired to do was to convey her intention of not erecting a barrier, in any case, the only person she cared to remain ignorant was Millicas and he was in a deep sleep.

"S-Sorry, big sister... I have nothing to conceal anything from this castle. Mother, I made love to my brother-in-law in the forest while we were away from the banquet".

!!!

Fia's lips shivered, aghast.

'S-So fast!!?' She couldn't believe her daughter took such a bold step forward so quickly and also, in the middle of the party!

The cheerful atmosphere seemingly stopped all of a sudden once those words dropped and everyone began dropping a cold sweat; aware that this conversation was no longer casual, in fact... they hoped not to have heard that!

The servants all looked at 'Richter-sama' in disbelief while the girls blushed. Lucy in particular seemed to be giggling. His charm had now increased to them severalfold, he was enough to fuck Lucifer's wife while he was still in the banquet!

It added several points of shamelessness to his profile, but also, a plethora of points in masculinity.

The servants finished their labour as if their lives depended on it under the ominous silence of the sisters; they kept drinking tea as if it was water. Richter had all the shrimps that he could in the meantime, enjoying the heat irradiated by the sparks they produced, soothing and peaceful.

"Have a wonderful night, Lady Fia" Lucy bowed and winked towards Richter before leaving last, the castle was once again pristine; now with a beautiful golden wall on the fifth floor which would be properly decorated eventually as a memorial to the eventful banquet that took place in the Lucifuge Castle.

"You too, sweetheart~ for your wonderful service during the banquet you all have two days free, enjoy it~" Her words dropped like a bomb on the servants who retracted and instead of rejoicing, knelt down in front of the stairs.

"Each day with you is a pleasure for us Lady Fia, there is no need to-"

"Mou, you will make me blush, just do as I say, two days free you can go wherever you want and get wherever you want, it will be all in your big brother's bill~"

"Hey..." Richter almost spat all his shrimps!

"Thanks, big brother!" All the servants ran cheerfully downstairs, ready to note what they'd purchase for their small holiday, all at the Golden Dragon God's expense.

Richter deadpanned towards the giggling Fia, "No need to look at me like that, son-in-law~ after all, what I will give you is going to be way more valuable~"

"And what is that?"

"Fufufu~" Fia giggled and drank her tea, not saying anything conclusive.

"There is something I'd like to speak to you about my lady..." Lucy hadn't yet left, she bowed and addressed Fia politely, the latter lifted her eyebrow in slight apprehension.

"Is it about Albedo-chan?"

"Yes".

"We can address that tomorrow, have a good night~"

Lucy nodded and bowed courtly one last time; leaving the family to sit together in the -now cleaned- hallway. It was as if the banquet had been a dream, except it wasn't and several spicy events took place in it.

"So, Layla..." Grayfia began, her tone as cold as her golden ice.

"What is it, big sister?~"

"Should we have our duel now or later?" The maid growled only to be shut down by her master who much to his sadness, finished all the shrimps and there were no cherries left.

"No duels are happening between you two, Grayfia. Layla is my second Apostle" He declared, it was a comment that shocked Grayfia to the core but merely caused confusion to spur in Fia's mind.

'What does he mean by apostle?' It wasn't a topic they touched on yet.

"A-Ah?!" When those words dropped, Grayfia only felt even more threatened by her sister, she examined Layla and sure enough, she was releasing a small -almost imperceptible- golden aura.

"Don't you see her hair?"

The silver-haired maid paid attention to Layla's hair, noticing the change.

"What about her hair?" Fia frowned and stood up; inspected her daughter only to see a few strands of pristine golden hair in there, it was way less than Grayfia and that's why none of them noticed initially.

"D-Did you-" Grayfia gulped, holding her chest in apprehension and trying to not feel hurt about all this, her master's answer however, reassured her.

"I didn't give her my scale. Layla, release your aura"

"Yes, Richter-sama"

The maid did and asked and Grayfia was able to read her aura more accurately than before.

"Second Apostle of Gold? h-how did that happen, master?" She needed an explanation.

"I don't know... I never tried this before. So, I'm unaware of what took place for her to become my apostle" Richter scratched her head, none the wiser about the situation, however, the outcome wasn't against his desires.

"I thought in my case it had been because of the scale?" Grayfia touched her lips in contemplation, feeling the scale still deep inside her chest.

"What scale? what are you talking about, mummy is lost..." Fia held her aching head and asked for an explanation herself, Layla sighed, she had been told about the scale by Grayfia, but none of them told their mother about it.

It is because the process had been rather gruesome.

Grayfia sighed and began explaining everything and as expected Fia gasped in horror and sent her son-in-law a reproachful look that didn't last long.

'W-Well he gouged her heart out, in order to make her stronger...? is that a valid excuse?' the lady held her aching head, not coming to a conclusion just yet, but since Grayfia is okay and more powerful than ever, she had nothing to complain about.

"You have his dragon scale, on your heart?"

"Uh hum... initially we thought me becoming his apostle was due to this but... that doesn't seem to be the case if Layla accomplished it too, we also can't say that it is due to intercourse since at that moment me and master... we hadn't done it" Grayfia added her piece, increasing the confusion in the room.

"Could it be then... devotion?" Layla spoke attracting everyone's attention.

"Uh?"

"We both have devotion for Richter-sama... therefore he acknowledged us? although I don't know if it works that way, I remember Lady Calliope once talking to us about how the god system departed the blessings on Earth, it was a faith system in which only those devoted to the belief of heaven received the blessing, being acknowledged by the system itself" Layla deepened her argument.

"Could you speak more simple words?" Richter grunted, he understood absolutely nothing of what she said.

*cough!*

"Sorry, master... what I mean is that I and my sister wholeheartedly feel devoted to you, which makes us qualified to be blessed by you and in exchange, you also trust us... that triggered a 'blessing' which turned us into your apostles..."

"..." Richter frowned, wondering if that was the case, he could confirm with Grayfia, but... 'Do I trust Layla that much?'

"I know what you're thinking and that may be the reason why compared to my sister, my changes aren't so prominent."

Layla protruded her eight wings and it was as she expected, compared to Grayfia's wings that were fully turned into gold; hers merely had the tips turned into gold.

"I believe the act of giving my big sister your scale was the best portrayal of how much trust you have for her, hence why she receives the most faith from you compared to me, master... it is the only explanation I can think of" Layla concluded.

"... that's... logical" Grayfia agreed with her explanation, during the Heart Lineage, although she hadn't initially noticed, the changes weren't immediate, she was slowly morphing into this current form.

'Maybe Layla is going to go through the same now... that means the golden scale itself is not the reason why I'm an apostle, however... it might be the reason why I can use master's primordial gold' The maid deduced and looked at her sister.

'We may need to research her growth for future reference, master' she sent him mentally and Richter nodded in agreement. The first time with Grayfia had been an accident and now, the second time with Layla was not intentional either.

'I need to learn how this process works, for as long as I have been primordial, I never had subordinates so I don't know, but those geezers... their entourages work like this as well; I remember that bastard Hong has some inherited Destruction from Crush... so this is how it works...'

Slowly but surely, Richter tied the loose ends.