With all the young girls engrossed in their studies in the study, the entire manor gradually returned to peace.
Nighttime is usually the time when Devil are most active, but due to recent events, the members of Eligos Peerage are destined to be unable to continue their activities, leaving countless humans who were preparing to summon Devil to fulfill their wishes secretly frustrated.
As night fell, Leo, having finished his shower, left his room, drying his wet hair with a towel as he walked towards the open-air balcony.
When Leo arrived at the open-air balcony, he immediately saw a girl standing there, gazing at the distant night sky.
The girl was wearing the most ordinary home clothes, her slender arms and plump thighs were directly exposed to the air, and her beautiful figure clung to her clothes in the night breeze, showing off her figure to the fullest. Her fiery red hair swayed in the night breeze, making it a truly picturesque scene.
Yet this beautiful girl's gaze as she looked at the distant night sky seemed melancholic, as if she had been abandoned by the whole world, with an indescribable sense of brokenness that evoked pity.
Seeing this, Leo paused slightly while drying his hair, then continued walking onto the open-air balcony and approaching the girl.
What are you thinking about?
After drying his hair, Leo hung the towel around his neck, and a can of chilled drink appeared in his hand, which he opened with a "hiss".
Leo casually asked the question while sipping his drink, without looking at the girl, as if he didn't care at all whether she would respond.
In fact, the girl did not pay attention to Leo's question, nor did she care that Leo had come to her side. She just stared blankly into the distance, as if she were looking at something that no longer existed, and she was completely immersed in her memories.
"Even if you look again, a country called the Vermis Kingdom won't suddenly appear here," Leo said calmly, continuing to sip his drink. "And you won't see any familiar scenery here either, since you're not from this era."
These words, which showed no regard for the girl's feelings, finally elicited some reaction from her.
"If that's the case, why did you bring me back in the first place?"
Stella said these words very coldly.
"Or what? Throw you into those ruins?" Leo curled his lip and said, "You've already broken free of the seal. If it weren't for my Evil Piece resurrecting you, you wouldn't even be alive again; you'd just continue being a living dead."
"If I leave you there, you'll starve to death in no time."
"Even if you are Devil, or Princess with Dragon Bloodline, you still need to eat, don't you?"
Let alone Stella, even Leo hasn't escaped his need for food and needs to eat regularly to survive.
During the days he was exiled to the Dimensional Gap, if Leo hadn't been Perfect Devil with a much stronger life force than ordinary Devil, able to survive for a long time even without food, and if there hadn't been some food in the space where he kept the Evil Piece, he probably would have been most worried about starving to death in the Dimensional Gap.
Only pure -Blood Dragon like Kanna can spend hundreds of years in slumber without worrying about hunger. Otherwise, it would be unrealistic for anyone else to stay in the castle for hundreds of years.
Naturally, Stella was the same.
Previously, she was in a sealed state and didn't need to worry about food. But after being freed from the seal and coming back to life, she now needs to consider survival.
If she insists on staying in the Dimensional Gap, her final fate will likely be dire.
However, Stella clearly didn't care.
"Isn't that a good thing?" Stella said with a self-deprecating tone, "Just like you said, I'm not from this era. So perhaps my destiny is to wither away in the Dimensional Gap, along with that castle."
"Unfortunately, your death won't be a release," Leo said expressionlessly. "Perhaps I forgot to tell you, those who become my servants, even in death, will have their souls return to me, instead of going to heaven or hell."
"If you don't care about this, then I won't stop you."
One sentence plunged Stella into complete silence.
"You shouldn't have woken me up."
After a long silence, Stella finally managed to utter those words.
"Well----"
Leo sighed, threw away the can of soda in his hand, and turned to look at Stella.
"So, you'd rather remain asleep forever, rather be this depressed than accept reality, is that it?" Leo said bluntly, "Then you're more fragile than I imagined, showing no signs of being a noble princess."
Stella's hand clenched quietly.
"Is being rejected by the Great Red really that disheartening?" Leo glanced at Stella's clenched hands and said, "Does losing the Great Red's support mean you can't accomplish anything?"
"Then the Vermis Royal Family really chose the wrong target. They shouldn't have risked everything to protect you, the last of the Dragon Bloodline and royal bloodline."
This statement had a far greater impact on Stella than anything Leo had said before.
"Then tell me, what should I do?" Stella's chest heaved, her emotions rising. " The Dragon God has no intention of helping me at all! How can I restore my country and reclaim the glory of the Vermis Kingdom?!"
This sole wish, with no hope of being fulfilled, truly caused Stella pain and despair.
At this moment, she truly didn't know what to do. She felt utterly hopeless and longed to leave this world to apologize to those who had sealed her away with their last glimmer of hope.
Father, mother, brothers, sisters—the faces of these people appeared one after another in Stella's mind, making her really want to cry her heart out and reunite with them.
Then—she heard Leo's voice.
"Isn't the solution already right in front of you?"
Leo's unusually calm words made Stella suddenly raise her head and look at him.
"Me... in front of me?"
Stella froze.
"Didn't you hear our conversation?" Leo looked at Stella as if she were a rich man's silly daughter, and said, "We've already talked about how many people in our family are about to be promoted to Middle-Class Devil, and I'm about to be promoted to Ultimate-Class Devil. Can't you connect that to anything?"
"The memories I gave you should have included some knowledge about the Devil realm, right? Do you know what advancement means for Devil?"
"If you can become High-Class Devil, you can become a nobleman, and even receive a fiefdom as a reward, becoming the lord of a vast land."
"In other words, as long as you have a high enough status in the Underworld and own your own territory, isn't it easy to build a so-called Vermis Kingdom within that territory?"
These words struck Stella like a thunderbolt, leaving her completely stunned.
"To rebuild the Vermis Kingdom in the Underworld—?"
Stella was stunned, seemingly never expecting that this could be done.
"Otherwise what? You think you can establish a country in the Human World?" Leo shrugged and said, "Then I advise you to save your breath. Although it's not absolutely impossible, the Human World has long been divided up by the major Mythological System powers. If a Devil like you wants to build a country here, it's likely to touch a nerve with many people."
"But it's different in the Underworld."
" The Underworld is vast and sparsely populated, with land much larger and cheaper than in the Human World. Establishing a country in the Underworld is entirely feasible."
"You don't even need to become High-Class Devil. As my servant, I can give you a portion of the territory of Eligos Territory right now. You can do whatever you want there."
Stella stared blankly at Leo, and after a long while, she finally stammered out a word.
"R-really? I can rebuild the Vermis Kingdom in the Underworld?"
The girl seemed somewhat unwilling to believe it.
"As long as you're willing," Leo said nonchalantly, "I wouldn't mind if you established a country in the Eligos Territory, provided you manage it well."
"I... I lack the confidence to manage a country well—" Stella tensed up, looking unsure whether to be excited or not. Finally, she said with shame, "My father never intended for me to inherit the country, so I've never studied how to manage a nation."
"Then let's start learning." Leo smiled as expected and said, "Although this era is not the one you came from, the advantage is that knowledge spreads quite well. As long as you are willing to study diligently, you can learn everything except for some forbidden knowledge."
"If you don't know what to do, then just survive as Devil for now."
"Just like my followers, we strive to hone our skills, become stronger, learn more knowledge, accumulate merits and achievements, and gradually advance towards the ranks of Middle-Class Devil, High-Class Devil, and even the Ultimate-Class Devil."
"When you become High-Class Devil or even the Ultimate-Class Devil, you'll probably be mature enough to do what you want independently, even if it's establishing a country."
As he spoke, Leo patted Stella on the shoulder.
"Think it over carefully. Do you want to continue living like this, in a daze, or do you want to strive to achieve your dreams through your own abilities?"
"Your ancestors may have been able to continue the Vermis Kingdom thanks to the blessings of the Dragon God, but that doesn't mean that such a thing couldn't be done without the Dragon God."
"Besides, after your ancestor obtained the Dragon Bloodline and the Dragon Treasure, the Vermis Kingdom was no longer weak and was able to continue. You have already obtained everything your ancestor had. Is it possible that you cannot do what your ancestor could do?"
Leo left those words behind and turned away.
"You should think about what to do yourself."
Leo ignored Stella's expression and left the open-air balcony.
Stella was left alone, staring blankly at Leo's departing figure, unable to react for a long time.
In the days that followed, Stella changed from her previous taciturn and lifeless demeanor, as if she had truly come back to life, radiating a vitality she had never had before.
She began to actively communicate with the other people in the manor, and like Yukino Yukinoshita and others, she devoted herself to studying in the study, working hard to increase her knowledge, and she was more enthusiastic and driven than anyone else.
When Stella saw Leo, her attitude was completely different from before. Although she didn't call him "master" like Ram and Rem, nor was she as respectful to him as Ravel Phenex, she would do whatever Leo asked for. When following Leo, she was like a proper servant, following him half a step away and keeping up with him step by step.
This is much better than Kanna, who spends all her time eating and sleeping in the manor.
Kanna completely let herself go. After being brought back by Leo, she didn't seem to recognize a master at all. Instead, she was treated like a pet owner, being cared for by him like a pet.
Sometimes she would run to the courtyard to catch butterflies, and while she was catching them, she would swallow them whole. Other times she would sneak into the kitchen to steal food from the refrigerator, even raw meat, which would frighten Asuna Yuuki and Mahiru Shiina quite a bit.
Both Yukino Yukinoshita and Ravel Phenex solemnly stated that the Young Dragon needed human guidance and education to learn human knowledge and understand modern lifestyles and behavioral norms.
Thus, under the arrangement of Yukino Yukinoshita and Ravel Phenex, the Young Dragon entered the most prestigious elementary school in Chiba, becoming a proud nine-year-old student.
As a result, the Young Dragon actually developed curiosity and interest in elementary school life, and ended up happily staying in elementary school, even making friends.
That's just how reality is; it always surprises us.
Stella and Kanna gradually integrated into the lives of Eligos Peerage, truly becoming their companions and even their new family.
Meanwhile, Yukino Yukinoshita, Asuna Yuuki Utaha Kasumigaoka, Mahiru Shiina, Ram, and Rem, after a month of hard work, all participated in the Middle-Class Devil promotion examination arranged by the Underworld, and passed the written test and the practical test without any surprises, officially becoming Middle-Class Devil.
During this period, Leo also accepted the summons from the Underworld and was officially appointed as the Ultimate-Class Devil in the ascension ceremony arranged by the Underworld.
The Underworld has allowed him to return to the Eligos Territory to rebuild his lands and begin the great cause of restoring his family.
Thus, Leo can be considered to have officially debuted in the Underworld.
He also learned that his Debut Match was over, and with the threats from the Hero Faction and others having been repelled, the Three Factions had officially formed a peace treaty and would no longer be hostile to each other. What awaited him next was no longer a magnificent life, but the mission of rebuilding his territory and family.
but----
"Before that, there's one more thing I need to do."
Leo retrieved his " Queen " piece.
It's time to give an answer to that matter.