35 Changing Tides

The day after, you made an offer on the mansion that you saw out in the sticks. It was accepted almost on the spot thanks to some clever financing that Venelana had performed after your evening date together. The estate agent was desperate to get rid of it – and even accepted a lower offer than the market price that was originally listed. Nobody wanted anything to do with it until you came along.

"I heard about your date with my mother, husband."

You groan and cover your face as Rias leers over you at the front step of your new home; "Why is that the first thing you have to mention?"

"Because it's relevant to me!" Rias responds smugly, "She was a very happy woman when she came back. The kind of look that one sports after a good night of-"

"I get it! I get it," you shout. The eagerness with which she discusses you sleeping with her damn mother throws you for a total loop, and it isn't even the first time she has done so in front of you. Most people would be extremely weirded out by the whole affair – but for Rias it's just a natural part of devil life.

The real reason you invited her was to take a look at your new purchase. After studying some different ideas for designs, you decided that a splash of the gothic would fit the building well. It'd make things feel a little cosier too. You've seen enough giant, empty mansions with big open plan living rooms and overly featured kitchens for one lifetime. You need a little colour in here.

Rias' head cranes upwards to the ceiling as you walk into the main lobby.

"It's very… large."

"Right? Whoever designed this place went totally overboard. I have no idea what to put in here."

Rias is already making plans in her head, "A good carpet would spruce up this tiled floor. Though it would have to be big to make much of an impact. Some silk curtains around the door should make things feel more personable, and we can put a sitting area over here, even if nobody plans on using it."

"We could also change the layout a little – since the place isn't finished just yet."

Rias smiles, "Please allow me to take the floorplan to the building back with me. I can consult with my mother more closely on what we should do."

You forget that Rias and her family have a construction company under their control sometimes. Hopefully they don't go quite as overboard as they did when they 'upgraded' Issei's house in the TV show. It's more than big enough already. Venelana and Mitsuru have probably already pulled some strings and purchased a construction company or something along those lines…

You follow her through into the main living room in the left wing of the house. Rias gives an approving hum as she wanders over to the windows and studies the frames. "Red curtains would suit this place rather well, but I don't want to impose any particular style onto you."

You laugh it off and approach her from behind, "You know more about this than me, that's why I invited you."

"But wouldn't it be nice to differentiate this manor from the clubhouse? I think a different colour scheme would be a good place to start."

You picture the heavy, expensive curtains and the metal railing in your mind; "What about blue?"

Indeed – a deep royal blue would allow Rias to use her usual stylistic choices, while also serving to give the manor its own identity. You step back into the middle of the room and imagine a large television hanging from the wall, surrounded on both sides by heavy oak bookcases. Wooden floors with a matching rug and ornate furniture. The spacing would be crucial to making a comfortable and well-designed living area out of such a huge, empty room.

Rias scours every nook and cranny of the mansion for ideas, sketching out future plans in her mind. This is going to be your designated hangout spot in the near future after all – a private place away from Mitsuru, or just a better place to come back to after a long day of doing hero stuff. The master bedroom is of particular interest to Rias, who immediately begins scoping out the location of your future bed.

"Hm. We may have to get a proper bed-frame custom made. I found the offerings available in this human world to be very lacklustre," she comments. No matter the size she thinks is appropriate, there's more than enough floorspace for it. Your immediate reaction is that the bedroom is too big. There's simply no way you can think of enough uses to fill it out without designing yet another sitting area, or filling it with wardrobes and shelves.

Some big heavy curtains on the overly large back windows, a big rug, and some other touches might make it feel homelier than it is isolating. You never liked the way that Issei's house turned out in the show. It was huge, but most of the rooms were empty of anything that required so much space – aside from the absurdly huge beds they used.

"I trust your judgement on that front."

Rias smiles, "Good. I need to make sure that there is enough space for all of your wives, after all."

This is a very generous version of Rias Gremory. You have to pinch yourself every time one of them makes a statement like this. It's culture shock. Their media must be filled with relationships like this, and they talk about them so openly. Not a hint of jealousy to be seen – though you suspect Rias enjoys living vicariously by having her 'husband' be successful in love.

"Lala's time-space… things can be used to expend different rooms and even add news ones. We should never hurt for space."

"That's right," Rias recalls, "That technology is amazing. Mother would be beside herself trying to get her hands on it if she knew. Speaking of my mother…"

You nearly fall to your knees and beg with her, "Rias, please."

But she isn't going to stop this time – the smirk on her face is filled with malicious intentions. She knows full-well how embarrassing you find this to discuss with her, this isn't something that you should ever bring up with your girlfriend, under any circumstance.

"We must have these kinds of honest discussions," Rias insists. "The proper functioning of a devil's harem is based on open communication and trust. Mother and I have already spoken on some of the issues that were brought up during your dinner together."

It takes all of your nerve to even ask, "Such as?"

"Inheritance. As the current heir apparent to the family, I'll soon be tasked with taking on the responsibilities of running our house. It's been a very expedited learning process, ever since my older brother chose to become a Satan and passed the title down to me."

That seems simple enough, "Okay."

"Put simply – our first child will become the next head of the Gremory family, unless something unusual occurs as it did with my brother. Mother was concerned that baring another child for herself would cause issues with succession in the future. Though the process I described is the common convention, many exceptions have taken place, usually through infighting between family branches."

"I hope that any of my children won't be so recklessly ambitious." You don't know what can be done about that. You'll just have to nudge them in the right direction in twenty years or so, when you might actually have some children to worry about.

Rias turns to face the windows and decides that now is the time to twist the knife; "She also said that the sex was fantas-"

"Okay, I'm stepping out for a second," you squeak, turning around and striding out of the room as fast as your legs can carry you.

------------------------

Mitsuru stared at the gigantic pile of components and failed prototype devices in abject despair. Despite her almost supernatural genius, Mitsuru savoured challenges like this. The apex of her own knowledge was knowing that she had limits. Mitsuru had well and truly set herself a momentous challenge by trying to create an alternate form system for the Herarmor. Never mind the eventual functionality of each individual configuration, Mitsuru had stumbled at the first hurdle.

Switching out parts on the fly, during combat.

The Sledgehammer was a precise tool indeed, capable of teleporting people at great distances into her world. Yet it still utilized a little number fudging to make it happen. As long as they didn't teleport into a solid object, it didn't really matter so much as to their precise arrival location. There came the issue – Mitsurus's teleportation algorithm and calculation system wasn't accurate enough to switch components within a mechanized armour shell!

No matter how much she twisted and turned her own logic back on itself, she never found herself getting closer to her goal. The code which she had worked so hard on had blinded her to its myriad faults. She needed a fresh pair of eyes to point out where she had gone wrong. She sighed and tossed away another failed device. Dozens of similar designs littered the laboratory space. It was always the seemingly simple problems that turned out to be the most difficult. Nothing less than divine intervention would be enough to help her now. It wasn't like an expert on the subject was going to fall out of the sky.

Mitsuru stared at the ceiling vacantly.

"What on Earth are you doing?" she chastised herself, "Why would something that convenient happen?"

Mitsuru decided that a quick break and some fresh air would do her wonders. She placed her glasses back down onto the table and headed out through the front door. She really needed to spruce the industrial yard up a little – she was the singular owner of the property now. She didn't want to enjoy the wonderful sights and sounds of an abandoned industrial unit on the edge of the city. There was a dog barking in the distance.

And a dustbin falling over.

Mitsuru's ear perked up. Someone was sneaking around the lot, was it someone trying to take advantage and strip the empty buildings for materials again? Mitsuru considered confronting the person responsible, but quickly realized that she was so filthy rich that it didn't matter. She didn't need any of the other buildings anyway.

After clearing her head, she turned and headed back inside. Everything was just as she left it, except for a stack of white paper on her workbench. That wasn't there before.

"Hm?" Mitsuru didn't hesitate to head over and investigate further. It appeared to be some kind of research paper, but the title and names of the authors had been redacted with a black marker. In fact – any identifying details on who authored the booklet was removed in a similar manner. Most of the pages had also been removed from the binder. Mitsuru found that extremely curious. This wasn't hers. Someone had… left it here for her.

As she moved on to the content of the paper itself, her breath was stolen and her hands started to shake. This was… this was her algorithm! But, it was so much more advanced than anything she had created before.

"What the hell is this?"

This was no mere plagiarism. The explanations and details were written in a familiar style and tone. These were her own words. All of the quirks of her original interpretation had been retained, with several changes made to increase the accuracy of the teleportation.

Divine intervention?

Mitsuru wanted to reject the assistance out of principle. She didn't know who had created it, or what their motivation for leaving it behind in her laboratory was. Maybe it was all an elaborate trick by the enemy to destroy them. But Mitsuru couldn't easily eject what she had already seen from her memory. All of the changes in the paper made perfect sense. They'd do exactly what she wanted them to do, it would allow her to begin making her form change system.

But first…

Mitsuru wheeled over to her computer and quickly opened her security system's recording folder. She had installed cameras in every sensitive part of the garage and underground complex, except Lala's Sex Chamber – which needed no further explanation. She scrolled back the moment she left the building. And right on cue, the moment she stepped through the door, something strange happened. A red magic circle appeared on the left side of the garage by the car lift.

"Rias?" Mitsuru pondered aloud. A cloaked figured rose from the teleportation spell and immediately made a b-line for the workshop. As they drew closer to the camera, Mitsuru realised that it wasn't Rias at all. It was a stranger. A man with a youthful face and red hair. With practiced ease and firm intent, he removed the document from his pocket and laid it in its final resting position.

Then, as if to prove a point, he tilted his head upwards and looked directly into the camera. Wise guy, huh? So why didn't he bother to wipe the footage or destroy it before he entered the building? Mitsuru took a screenshot of the culprit and hid it inside of a private folder for later. She'd need to investigate who it was later. Instead of leaving through the same magic circle, he snapped his fingers and dismissed it, choosing to leave through the back door. He must have run into the dustbin that Mitsuru had placed back there.

"Long gone by now," Mitsuru muttered, "Who are you?" She flipped through the paper once more for good measure and frowned.

A devil – he was a devil. She rewound the footage again and zoomed in. The details of the magic circle were obscured by the low quality of the footage. Mitsuru knew every woman who her dear friend had summoned, and this fellow wasn't on the list. So how had he crossed over into their world? The only answer she could muster was the evil empire trying to conquer their world. They had access to similar technology.

"Why can't anything be simple?"