"So, let me get this straight…."
In the throne room of the 9th Heaven, Tiamat crossed her legs and slightly leaned back on her majestic throne.
Her head was resting on her palm, her elbow resting on the armrest as she leaned to the sides, as she looked at the floating screen with a visible smirk on her regal face.
"You want me to lend you the sum necessary to open a direct portal between our two territories so that your daughter can come and have some fun with her husband and daughter?"
Gabriel groaned inwardly – seeing that conniving smirk on the face of the lecher that was Tiamat – and nodded, albeit reluctantly.
"Indeed."
"Ohoh! Interesting, truly interesting."
Tiamat's lips formed a toothy grin, looking at Gabriel with amusement.
"You do know that all of this is happening because you just suck at managing your territory, right?"
Gabriel sighed at Tiamat's blatant remark. She couldn't say anything because what she spoke of was indeed the bitter truth. But she still tried to put forth her reasoning, "I am not the only one in this case. All the remaining old generation divine beasts have territories that are hard to live in."
Tiamat laughed, she knew that fact very well. In fact, out of all those first generation Divine Beasts, Gabriel was the most tame.
Asmodeus's territory, for example, was a complete land of unending ice where life was basically impossible to thrive in.
Same was the case for the territory she inherited. Before her, this territory, under the control of Lucifer, was just a big power supply to amass the power of the sun.
Of course, Tiamat perfectly understood the reason behind that…
Demigods were extremely hard to kill. That fact multiplied innumerable times over in the case of the Divine Beasts.
For so many of them to have died at a time, one didn't need to explain just how harsh, merciless, and unforgiving the war was back then.
In such a harrowing situation, who would…could…develop their territory with the thought of it being an attractive place for outsiders?
In fact, accepting outsiders in your territory was considered the signs of a lunatic.
Once the main foundation of a territory was set, it would become very hard to revamp it to fit a new standard.
"Well, that isn't important currently. Let's discuss our payment first."
"I will be able to pay my debt back in around two years."
Tiamat shook her head in derision, clearly, Gabriel wasn't able to infer or at least tried not to infer what she really meant.
"Money isn't a problem and I don't care if you take your time to pay me back.
"The payment of the debt isn't what is interesting to me. What can you give me as interest?"
The part Gabriel dreaded to no end finally came. She had tried to deflect it somehow but Tiamat was relentless in her chase, leaving her no way out in the end. Since she was beaten, she knew she had to accept the reality of her current precarious circumstance.
"Very well, I will do the same service as last time.”
“Tut~ Tut~ Tut. Last time was last time. Now is now. I won't be satisfied with that anymore. You must do something else or give me something that would be amusing enough to intrigue me.”
“Then… How about I serve you as a maid for four days?”
“Oh, you have my interest now.”
Tiamat thought for a while, sketching the abominable things she could make Gabriel enact, before nodding to herself.
“I want two months and you have to address me as Mistress or Lady the entire time.”
“One week. No calling special names.”
“One month, still the same proposal with the appellations.”
“Two weeks of serving you as a maid and I will call you Lady. This is my last and final offer. Take it or leave it. I'll whip up another way to send my daughter there.”
“Hmmm~ You are driving a very tight bargain. But very well… Let’s not say that I am too greedy. I accept your proposal.”
After quite the lively haggling, Gabriel finally smiled, happy to have been able to haggle such a bargain out with Tiamat. After all, whenever they had a deal in the past, she would be the one to sorely lose out. There was no moment where she was the one to win out.
“My bottom line was one month, honestly. I would have done it for way less than you proposed.”
Gabriel wished to see the smug face of Tiamat vanishing for a chance, sadly for her— this was an impossible dream for her.
“Well, I would have done it for free.”
Immediately, Gabriel fell silent.
“....Huh?”
“I mean, I already had plans of taking either Sol into the phoenix territory or bringing the girl called Nefertiti here. If your daughter took the ride along with us then it wouldn’t have been a problem. I wouldn't mind, and neither would Sol, in fact, I think he would welcome it…”
She was not lying or trying to gloat to Gabriel. She knew that…now that Sol had become a Duke, his days in the Astral Realm were numbered. Soon, he would leave this realm and get enthroned as the king of Lustburg.
Of course, now Sol had the coordinates to the Astral realm. But it was impossible for a Duke to have enough energy to open a portal between two territories. Once he left, she wouldn’t be able to see him anymore until he became a King at the very least.
Since that was the case, Tiamat wished for Sol to have the best holiday possible for the rest of the days he would be here. Her only wish was for him to leave this place with good and joyous memories.
Thankfully, unlike Gabriel, Tiamat's territory was vast and the seasons came and went to form a cycle of multitudes of seasons. Currently, it was summer so this was the perfect moment to relax. Maybe go to the beach and have some fun in the sea…
‘Though…Hehehehe, her reaction is really cute.”
It was taking all of Tiamat's strength to not explode in laughter while gazing at the dumbfounded face of her old friend and comrade.
“So you mean…”
“You paid for something that could have gotten essentially free.”
“Argh!!”
Gabriel had never felt so embarrassed in the entirety of her life. Not even the moment when she had to enact the lecherous deals she had with Tiamat. She covered her face with her hands and groaned and screamed like a little girl throwing a tantrum while berating herself about how dumb she was.
“Hahahahahahahaha!! You should see your face!”
This time Tiamat could not stop herself from laughing out loud. It had been a long time since she could laugh so joyfully without any sort of worries.
‘Perhaps I should tease her more later on.’
Be it Gabriel or Yggdrasil, all the Divine Beasts of Virtue had this slight naivety in their personalities that they could never get rid of no matter how old and experienced they became. Perhaps it was the fault in their creation, as was the case for all that was created by the goddesses.
Perhaps it was something intended. She could easily imagine the goddesses creating divine beasts with such an idea in mind.
Gabriel was well and in the truest sense of the word…distraught. She knew that there was no way of taking back her words. The deal was made and the conditions were now set. Even if she did manage to erase the monetary debt, then the special interest would only increase exponentially with the passage of time.
“Why the hell do you act like an old pervert?”
“Hey, I resent that statement. Take it back! I just like looking at beautiful things and feel good when strong beings bow to me in respect. There is absolutely nothing perverse about that.”
Gabriel waved her hand dismissively with a sniff of utter disdain. Her eyes were looking at Tiamat as though she was looking at utter trash. Nevertheless, she responded with a defeated sigh… “Well, it’s my fault for having fallen into your trap. I am not one to renege a debt. When can you open the portal?”
“In one or two days. So you should prepare on your side. I am honestly rather interested in seeing Nefertiti. She seems like an interesting girl.”
Gabriel coughed a little, hearing Tiamat's remark and the intrigue in her tone…
“Indeed… Very… She's very… Well, interesting is indeed a good way to describe her.”
She couldn’t help but wince when she thought back to what she had seen in Nefertiti’s room.
‘Well, perhaps she will come down once she meets her beloved.’
At the same time, she couldn’t help but feel envious— really envious…
Be it her two daughters or Nefertiti, they seemed to have all changed for the better after entering into a relationship.
Meanwhile, here she was, a woman whose age merely determined how many years she went by without a man or any significant other of the sorts.
Looking at their happiness — craziness also, sometimes, she couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to be with someone for the first time in her entire existence.
It would surely be an interesting experiment.
Perhaps, it would also lead to a bond that stretched beyond eternity….
Who knows….?
Right!?
