Chapter 12: Tom's first request

After the dinner, Sarael took Tom to his office, leaving Lareth playing with Sona since the men were going to talk business... or so Sarael proudly called it as Lareth rolled her eyes at him.

Naturally, Tom was not interested in a six-year-old brat and didn't try to speak much with Sona during the dinner. He had two adults right in front of him so why would he try to entertain himself with a child?

That's why he probably didn't make an impression on the girl. Which was completely fine by him.

In Sarael's office, they took a seat on the cozy couch and Tom could see Sarael had already prepared the items he requested. On the table near the couch, an old parchment and a queen chess piece were placed.

"The Queen belongs to one of my retainers. Since you just requested to be able to inspect it, go on. Don't worry, though. We will have the piece looked over before returning it to the owner. You know, just to make sure." Sarael said with a too-pleasant smile but cold eyes when he noticed Tom staring at the chess piece.

Honestly, Tom didn't care how the old devil felt about his requests. What mattered to him was that he delivered. But still...

"That's it? No complaining about me inspecting it?" Tom furrowed his eyebrows. He expected a lot of reluctance, yet, Sarael was oddly relaxed about it.

He got a snort in reply. "Do you really think you are the first magician requesting to be able to inspect an Evil Piece?" Sarael asked with an amused undertone, finding Tom's question as entertaining as it was naive.

"I guess not." Tom grumbled as he took the piece into his hands.

"Many magicians tried." Sarael lazily continued while boredly leaning on the backrest of the couch. "Some even did harsh pacts with us just to have that kind of chance. Yet, nobody ever succeeded. I am honestly not worried about this at all."

Tom didn't outwardly react but he was listening to Sarael. It seemed as if the man tried to reassure him that failing was fine but...

What Sarael said between the lines was that if Tom succeeded, his worth in the eyes of the devils would increase exponentially. If that happened, Sarael would not only see something interesting, but he would also most likely start to be active in his attempts to recruit Tom, instead of his passive approach so far.

And if Tom failed, nothing would change. Tom would just prove the superiority of the Evil Pieces over human magicians. Again.

It wouldn't be a reason to be ashamed. After all, much stronger and older magicians failed and someone at Tom's current level could be said to be foolish to attempt something they failed at.

Yet, Tom just knew failing would give Sarael ammunition for some quality teasing. Oh, joy.

For Sarael, this was a win-win situation. Especially since Tom 'wasted', in his opinion, one of the requests he was willing to fulfill for something so... stupid and simple. Sarael was really satisfied with this arrangement.

His irritation stemmed from the fact he actually had to present a Queen piece to Tom. That meant he had to ask a retainer of his who hadn't used that piece yet and borrow it from him. It might not seem like a lot but Evil Pieces were very important to every devil. And for non-noble devils, it was doubly so.

They had to actually earn them, instead of getting them like the children of nobles. That was not an easy task. Becoming a high-class devil was hard. For some, it was an unattainable goal. And the Evil Pieces were proof of that achievement so they were a massive source of pride for every non-noble devil.

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Even the devils who didn't indulge in pride would find it hard to part with their Evil Pieces. Especially when they had no idea what would be happening to them.

Naturally, Sarael's retainer was not thrilled but his Lord ordered him and there was nothing he could do but to listen. The least Sarael could do was to make sure nothing wrong would happen with the Queen Piece, but he still didn't like how asking for it would tarnish his perfect image as a benevolent and kind lord.

Of course, it was still infinitely better than offering Tom an Evil Piece belonging to a family member. That was simply not happening. No way would Sarael offer his or his wife's Pieces even if they hadn't used all of them already.

"It's good that you are not worried but I'd like it if you were on alert. My method of inspection is... very self-damaging." Tom said, visibly uncomfortable with admitting that. "Having a doctor like you on hand while attempting this is reassuring."

Sarael curiously looked at Tom, staring at him for a long moment before... "You bastard. You want to make me work for free!" He exclaimed in horrified apprehension. But then a realization struck him, "And I can't even refuse because you are a guest! Are you sure you are not already a devil!?"

Tom chuckled at the aggravated old devil before redirecting his focus to the Queen Piece, ignoring Saraels indignant childish muttering.

When Sarael came to invite him for a family dinner six days ago, Tom had to finish a lot of work to be prepared for this moment.

Under his shirt were three small purple crystals, hanging on a leather thread. To charge all of them in time, Tom had to focus only on charging them and replenishing his mana before repeating the process for five days straight.

He was like a zombie during these days, lifeless and without energy as all of it went into charging the crystals.

And even though he spent eighteen hours a day doing it, he only managed to fill three crystals. And now, he could only hope it would be enough.

Well, that was his thought process before he knew how Sarael and the devils viewed magicians inspecting the Evil Pieces. It was surprising that they took it so nonchalantly, believing in their superiority enough to not worry about someone cracking it.

Then again, the Evil Pieces creator was Ajuka so... Tom guessed it was a justified smugness on their part.

And since the devils apparently didn't mind all that much, Tom could definitely request to inspect an Evil Piece again in the future. It really made him relieved to have this option. Even if he failed today and three crystals were not enough, he could still prepare better and make a proper inspection later.

But since he was already here, he would not waste this opportunity.

'Let's start.' Tom thought and started channeling the magic from the mana crystals through his body, feeding it into his Sacred Gear as he peered at the Evil Piece.

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