The Protagonist System

Unlike my homeroom teacher Miss Yamanaka, the gym teacher definitely gave me looks of desire and need when the bell rang to end the school day. It wasn't because I had kept up with her and wasn't tired afterwards, either. It was because the students we taught had actually succeeded in the things we taught them.

“I'm looking forward to seeing what you can really do during your detention on Monday, Hyoudou.” The coach said to me before I left.

I couldn't very well say I was as well, since it was supposed to be a punishment and not a reward, so I only nodded and followed the other boys into the locker room. A quick shower and I was dressed and out before anyone else. Once I was out of sight, I stepped to Grayfia's office in the Underworld and she handed some files to me.

We worked and made notes of everything Serafall had done or ignored while in office and gave Grayfia a much needed refresher course in how to not do the job. Serafall had been more active and travelled a lot to have meetings and things, with her goal to cover things up and hide them, so the general public and the world at large would never know the problem happened.

It surprisingly worked and the only ones that knew anything was wrong, or had been wrong, were Serafall and whomever had brought the complaint to her in the first place. It was no wonder why the various pantheons were upset with the devil race as a whole with how she had handled things.

Grayfia had a lot of work ahead of her to try and smooth over or make it up to all the people Serafall had annoyed while she was the Minister of Foreign Affairs. As her assistant, it was my job to help her as much as possible and I would offer my advice when it was necessary.

“Oh, I almost forgot.” I said and produced a report and the documents I had found in the Khaos Brigade's HQ, the Hero Faction, and their plans to kidnap either Kunou or Yasaka to force them into conflict with the devil race and possibly attack us, possibly sparking a small war to wipe out both sides, so humanity had less enemies to defend itself against.

Grayfia took the report first and skimmed over it. She stared at the thing in silence when she was done and didn't show any reaction, then she dropped it to her desk and looked at me. If she had heat vision, I might have been severely burned with the intense look.

“You had information of this nature since last night and you are only now bringing it to my attention?” Grayfia asked and one of her eyes started twitching.

“Did you miss the conclusion?” I asked and flipped open the report and pointed to it. “I resolved the problem and dealt with them. They can no longer threaten anyone or harm our newest ally, because they are no longer among the living. Yasaka won't be forced to break the contracts we agreed to or have to pay the penalties that would entail.”

Grayfia took a deep breath and let it out. “No, I didn't miss it.” She said and glared at me. “You attacked an entire organization on the premise that they might instigate a fight between us and another faction at some point in the future, if they managed to succeed in breaching the youkai's dimension again.”

“Attacked is such a strong word.” I said with a smile. “Soundlessly slaughtered with no resistance at all is more accurate.”

“You... all of them...” Grayfia whispered.

“Sure. It was easy to slip in through their defenses.” I said and pulled out pictures of them in their beds and then tossing them through portals. “None of them knew what hit them and I left just as quickly.”

“But... the rumors that Ophis was behind them...” Grayfia tried to argue.

“She was and I found her relaxing in her bedroom with a happy smile on her face as she ate some cookies. As long as she's not disturbed, and no one in their right minds would ever do that, we never have to worry about her.”

Grayfia let out a sigh. “Is there anything else you did that I should know about?”

I thought about that. “I may have removed the magic organization that opposed Mephisto Pheles.”

Grayfia gave me a blank stare. “Why?”

“Their leader Walburga was a sadistic bitch that loved using her sacred gear, Incinerate Anthem, to burn devils at the stake.” I said and Grayfia caught her breath. “I didn't bother trying to figure out which ones were only going along with her for greed or because they agreed with her. Either way, they were guilty of many deaths of Underworld citizens and I executed them.”

“You found their records in this mess and filed them appropriately.” Grayfia said as she remembered the things I told her about the day before.

“I corroborated the information I recovered from other sources and used it to track down and eliminate any threat to the peace you are working so hard to enact and maintain.” I confirmed. “Although, I did realize when I was done for the night that all those sacred gears returning to the Heaven System might catch Micheal's attention.”

Grayfia let out a cute groan. “You know I have to tell him what happened, don't you?”

“As long as you couch it in terms of ensuring the peace process is stable and that we're working towards the same thing.” I said and she nodded. “You can even say it was me, a returned foreign national that did the deed and not a devil at all, even though we're trying to maintain the illusion that I am.”

Grayfia's eyes went to my lower back. “How do you have 2 more wings than I do?”

I smiled knowingly. “The wing power scale won't go higher than 12.”

Grayfia gave me a flat look. “You're telling the truth.”

“Well, I don't know how many wings I'd have if there wasn't a cap of 12, so there's that.” I joked and she sighed. “Would you like some tea? Coffee? Some snacks?”

Grayfia looked at her desk as various things appeared there as I asked her. She picked up a teacup and one of the saucers with chocolate chip cookies on it. I stored the rest and produced a tea kettle with more tea for her if she wanted it.

“Chamomile Tea.” Grayfia said and hummed with appreciation as she sipped it.

I went back to work as she took a break and I felt her eyes watch me as I did so. The notes I took were handed to her, so she could keep abreast of what I was finding in the files before I filed them. I visibly paused when I found a particular file that pointed out a secret that could cause a lot of trouble.

“What is it?” Grayfia asked and paused her own work to look at me.

“You're not going to like it.” I said and handed her the file instead of the note I had made.

Grayfia took the file and opened it. She looked through the few pages inside and she closed her eyes as she took several deep breaths. “Serafall, what were you thinking?”

“She probably thought she was stopping two factions from igniting an all out war.” I said and sat down to take a break. I had some tea and ate a few cookies as I watched her to see what she would do.

“If I sit on this and the peace talks go through, it could ruin any chances of trust we could have gained with the Norse Faction.” Grayfia said. “If I act on it and inform Odin about it, the peace talks might not happen at all.”

I nodded along and didn't say anything.

Grayfia noticed my silence and gave me a pointed look. “What do you recommend I do to salvage this?”

I had to think about that for a few minutes. “Is Persephone still the Mistress of Hell in the Greek Pantheon?”

Grayfia frowned slightly and turned to the expanded file cabinet that held the Greek Pantheon paperwork. She pulled open the drawer with the 'P' files inside and pulled out the one she needed. She flipped through several pages and nodded.

“Then I arrange to seduce her, give her the means to kill Hades to get her revenge, and you can inform Odin that he can take care of Loki for arranging the death of his wife, Frigga.” I said, as if it was easy to do those things.

Grayfia looked like she bit into something sour. “Issei, you can't just...”

“I think Persephone would make a great Queen of Hell, don't you?” I asked and finished my tea. “I'm sure she wouldn't mind the promotion, either.”

Grayfia frowned. “Zeus won't be happy that she killed his brother.”

I chuckled and her frown changed to a glare. “You're forgetting where they live, Minister. Hades will only be stripped of his divine post at the top as he becomes an inhabitant of his own realm.”

Grayfia blinked her eyes at me several times. “You can't be serious.”

“I am and I'm sure that Persephone will be delighted at the irony of their positions being reversed.” I said and stood up as I stored my teacup.

“It can't be that easy to deal with it.” Grayfia denied.

“Easy? Not really. It should be worth the effort, though.” I chuckled again. “It might potentially be hilarious as we watch the two pantheons argue over who gets to draw and quarter Loki over causing their conflict in the first place.”

Grayfia let a small smile show before she blanked her face. “Do you need to leave work early to get started on that?”

I shook my head. “I won't try anything until late tonight or tomorrow morning. If I catch her after an encounter with Hades, she might be angry enough about it to accept a lunch date with a stranger and we can have a lengthy conversation about relationships and the various mistakes we've made.”

Grayfia nodded and we went back to work. With a bit of luck and some more planning, things might just work out well enough to distract both pantheons enough to let the peace talks go through without any fuss.

*

Persephone decided it had been the best decision of her life to accept a lunch invitation from the most powerful magic user she had ever felt. As he railed into her from behind, giving her yet another powerful orgasm that shook the bed, she agreed that Hades needed to die for denying someone else the love of their life.

She was also highly amused at the thought that their roles would be reversed for as long as she wanted and she could command him to do her bidding and not the other way around. Yes, she was definitely going to enjoy ordering the smug bastard to stay on his knees for hours on end to eat her out until she covered him in her juices.

*

I was surprisingly tired when I finally managed to go home for supper the next day. Persephone had really enjoyed the fact I did my best to get her off as many times as possible and didn't do so myself. Holding back like that had also given her quite a few strong orgasms and she looked inordinately pleased when she ordered me to come for her and she was nearly drowned by the results.

Some women just had some really weird fetishes. I thought and sat down to eat the meal my mother made for us. I didn't tell her the details of what happened, just that it was a successful negotiation and the contract would be completed by tonight. I also sent a text to Grayfia about it being handled, too. She needed to figure out a good way to let Odin know without tipping Loki off.

I spent the evening with mom on the couch, just relaxing, and caressed her a little. It was comforting to not do anything for a while and spend some quality time with someone you loved. Miki seemed to think the same way and cuddled me with a smile on her face.

Sunday was another day of nothing to do and I wasn't worried about anything, since I could check on a few things with my powers. A quick peek at what Grayfia was doing, let me know that she had sent messages to Yasaka about The Hero Faction being responsible for the attacks on her family and to Odin about Loki and Hades murdering his wife.

I very briefly chanced a peek at the Greek Pantheon and they were meeting with the Norse Pantheon to discuss the beaten being in the cage in the middle of the room, Loki. The talks looked to be loud and heated until Odin stopped shouting and turned away from Zeus to look right at me.

I cut the connection and sighed at being caught. I had avoided looking at the Norse specifically because I was sure Odin would notice anyone trying to scry him or anyone near him, and I was right.

“CAW!” A raven crowed.

I turned my head to look at the window of my bedroom and saw it perched there on the windowsill. “Dammit.”

The bird tapped its beak on the window a couple of times and glared at me for not opening it right away.

“I'm trying to be in denial, here.” I said.

“Caw.” The raven responded, clearly admonishing me for being stubborn.

“Yeah, yeah. I'm just being petty.” I said and hopped off of the bed and walked over to the window. I opened it and it hopped in and held its leg up to show off the note it carried. “Thanks.” I said and pulled out a large bag of seeds I would have used to plant wheat back in Smallville. “Help yourself.”

“Caw.” The raven said in thanks and its sharp beak tore the top off the bag and it dove its head inside and started feasting on them.

I unrolled the note and wasn't surprised to see a summons to visit. What was surprising was the teleportation circle coordinates and permission to visit their heavenly realm of Asgard. “Is next weekend okay? He's obviously busy today.”

“Caw.” The raven agreed and gave me a look. “Caw?”

“Sure, you can have it. I'm not using it anyway.” I said and waved a hand at the bag to close the top and made it light as a feather. A conjured string let me tie it to the bird's leg. “There you go.”

“Caw.” The raven said goodbye and hopped out the window before it flew off much faster than a bird should have been able to.

I watched it fade from sight and closed the window. I sighed and wondered why he wanted to meet. If he was going to punish me for spying, he wouldn't have been so polite with the invitation. It could have been a direct order and possibly accompanied by armed guards, so I was grateful he wasn't letting his wife's murder influence his decisions too much.

I went downstairs and helped my mother clean the house, do some other chores like laundry, and then I went outside to do the yardwork. It hadn't been done in a while and I spent the afternoon taking care of everything from the lawn to the hedges.

When I was done, I put everything away and went inside. I showered and dressed in comfy pyjamas before I ate supper with a happy Miki and we spent the evening on the couch watching television. I would let Grayfia know tomorrow about my private appointment to visit Asgard, too. There was no rush to tell her, since the appointment was a week away and wasn't an official part of my duties.

Technically, anyway. I'd have to wait to see him face-to-face to find out what he wanted. Trying to take another peek was not a good idea. No sir, not at all.