32 Back and grounded

This is why when I came back home my mother was... Unhappy.

She ordered me to show my back before even saying hello. And to say she was furious was a big understatement. Despite me trying to say it was my sin of envy that got the better of me, it did not work to assuage her. She clearly was not a fool, and knew very well it was something like a whim of mine (not that I was gonna explain what it truly did).

In the end I was grounded until Rias and my birthday party, so around a month.

Once my mother finished ranting, she finally realized I was not alone and wondered what a human was doing here. And thus I ended up introducing Celina to everyone for the first time.

Father was not happy that I took the liberty to find a human retainer but relented when I told him she was a magician, and was pretty powerful. Mother though it was a good thing I had a servant that would not 'forget' their duties when it came to me.

As for Rias ? She didn't even bother with the fact she was MY maid and asked her if she wanted to join her peerage. She told her she would be much better with her than with me, heavily hinting I was just a failure.

It was nice to see the look of pure loathing Celina gave her. She didn't even bother answering her and simply ignored her after giving her a haughty sniff, much to my amusement.

Sirzechs was not happy with that, but even he realized that poaching your brother's servant in front of him was just rude. I'm pretty sure he though Rias would convince her with time though.

As for Grayfia ? She was stoic, but I could see she was NOT happy at all. Even more when I started to praise Celina as the perfect maid. I gushed even more about the quality of the food she could cook. Well, I'm the one who taught her after all.

As a petty revenge, Rias asked for my maid to be banned from seeing me since I was grounded and it was clear we had a good relationship.

Celina looked at her like she was lower than a flee and just told her :

Celina : "And why should I care about your family needs and wants ? I don't serve the Gremory, only the young master. I couldn't care less if your father himself banned me from seeing him. I would just give a formal complaint to lady Leviathan and queen Frigga telling them you are sequestering a member of Asgard and preventing his retinue to do their job."

Rias just looked at her with an open mouth, not knowing what to say. Father on the other hand started to realize that my double nationality may be more problematic that he first though.

Alexander : "It's OK Celina, don't mind Rias, she doesn't tend to think much before she acts. Just ignore her like you did before. As for my punishment, I'm cool with it. It's true that getting a tattoo is not the kind of thing a 9 years old is supposed to do and mother just want me to reflect upon my actions. You can of course continue to serve me as usual irrespective of my confinement. I'm just punished, not put in jail."

With that, the discussion on the matter ended, much to my father consternation, who clearly did not appreciated his opinion not being asked for. But what could he do ?

And just like that my days of solitude started.

***

Alexander : "Celina, I'm bored..."

Celina : "It's only been a day young master..."

Alexander : "I know, but I'm still bored. There's nothing much to do in my room, and I already know all the books here."

Celina : "Do you want me to bring you a TV or your computer ? I could also look for some interesting books ?"

Alexander : "No, it's the room. After a year running around with you it's just boring here."

Celina : "You did spend several consecutive days in your workshop though, and several times."

Alexander : "But that's when I have a project."

Celina : "Then look for a new one."

Alexander : "... Say, do you want a sacred gear ?"

Celina : "If you wish to give me one I will take it. I won't say no to more power to serve you better."

Alexander : "What kind of sacred gear would you like then ?"

Celina : "hum... What about the ability to make barriers ? Would that be possible ?

Alexander : "Barriers ? Can't you already create barriers with magic ?"

Celina : "Yes but I heard that sacred gears tend to align with the possessor wish to grand more power. And since I want this ability to protect us from harm, it should be powerful. Furthermore a sacred gear focused on creating barrier should be more flexible than what I can do, and should also help in protecting and warding your estates."

Alexander : "Well... I DO know where a barrier type sacred gear can be found. But it's not really what you would want, it's focused on permanent ward only, the shape is not really flexible and there are some big drawbacks. It would be better to simply create one from scratch. The problem is that I have no idea how to do that. Sacred gear creation is a bit too much for now since I have no idea how it was made."

That's when I decided to copy Azazel's notes on sacred gears.

But for that I needed a nice spying device and since I was confined in my room I thought of creating the peeping crystal ball of the fourth hokage. It would be perfect to spy on the Gremory leader, and I could use it to entertain myself until my birthday.

The creation of such a device wouldn't be too difficult. The materials however...

To have the best quality I would need a Greek sibyl eyeball, some centaurs horsehair and a crystal skull.

Even thinking about it now, I can only sight.