Thomas Prest: A Simple Magician

Tom stared at the inviting smile and compassionate look of a red-haired aristocratic-looking man who seemed to be in his mid-twenties, trying to ignore the cold and expressionless face of the maid standing behind him.

Inwardly, Tom felt a strong urge to let his eye twitch.

'So he wants to come off as the good guy, leaving the position of the bad guy to Grayfia?' Tom thought, already finding this charade exhausting.

"Hello, Mr. Lucifer. I am Tom Prest." Since the guy wanted to play it like this, Tom decided to oblige and went with a friendly and informal approach, which earned him a glare from the maid.

Not that he cared about her. He only briefly smiled at her in reply before redirecting his eyes back to Sirzechs who apparently found the situation amusing.

"I am Sirzechs Lucifer. Nice to meet you, Tom." Sirzechs stood up and offered Tom a handshake.

After they shook their hands, they both sat down and Tom had to admit, Sarael had a style. His second living room, where the meeting was happening since Tom wanted a 'neutral' ground, was quite lavish.

Seeing that Tom was subtly looking around, Sirzechs's lips twitched. He didn't know if he should feel exasperated or amused. It has been a long time since somebody dared to ignore him like this.

But he understood. Tom was just showing he would not be cowed by such passive-aggressive play. Sirzechs could respect that.

But he was a busy man too.

"We both know why we are here so let's cut to the chase." Sirzechs promptly started, the easy-going air around him turning serious as he leaned forward and put his chin on the clasped hands in front of him with his elbows on the table. "Can you cure my grandparents?"

He was obviously aware that Sarael would give Tom the necessary information. Hell, Sirzechs expected it and was happy about it. Less wasting of time that way. There was a reason why he used one of his favors to make Serafall support him rather than her family in this matter.

His family was just that important to him.

Tom inwardly frowned. This was not the chatty happy-go-lucky sis-con he remembered from the DxD anime. This was a powerful man who was clearly willing to play nice but he was obviously not interested in getting a negative answer. Depending on what he said next, these talks could go sideways really fast.

'Well, at least he is not a forceful prick like so many other devils would have definitely tried to be.' Tom wryly thought. 'Very well, since he wants to skip the foreplay and get to the business, I guess I can humor him.'

Tom had to admit that he was starting to get used to wordplays and misdirecting jokes due to his interaction with Sarael. The old Sitri devil was definitely a bad influence.

"Mhm. For a price." Tom bluntly spoke.

Grayfia's eyes narrowed at that but Sirzechs's smile only slightly widened. Tom's answer satisfied him. He was here as Sirzechs Gremory. Not Sirzechs Lucifer. He had no interest in pulling rank over Tom. Over a human, at that.

"See? I told you he wouldn't care in the least about my position." He mirthfully stated and cheerfully looked at Grayfia who just sullenly frowned, refusing to let him get a rise out of her.

Sirzechs couldn't give a toss about Tom wanting something in return. Of course, it would depend on what the price was but... He was not the original Lucifer. He was fully willing to pay for a service. Especially a service that would put House Gremory in enormous debt to the person in front of him.

Sirzechs turned back to Tom, expecting him to be a bit surprised at the interaction between him and his maid but with a small disappointment, he realized Tom didn't bat an eyelash. Shrugging it off, Sirzechs nodded, "Very well, state your price."

Outwardly, the red-haired devil was completely at ease but inwardly he was very anxious. His grandparents were already fast asleep when he was born but as someone raised in House Gremory, Family was everything to him. It was the reason why he even bothered to fight against the Old Satans and it was the reason why he bothered to put up with the King Faction's bullshit every day, being swamped in paperwork from sunrise to sunset.

Tom slowly nodded. He had no idea how the next thing he was about to say would be received but... he thought long and hard about what benefit he could get from Sirzechs.

Obviously, Tom's price couldn't be something outrageous.

Firstly, Sirzechs might have been the ruler of devils but most of the things were still decided by the Devil Council. Tom knew that any request concerning some large favor from the entire devil race would have been promptly shut down.

He could not be greedy here.

But he could ask a lot too. As long as this 'lot' only concerned Sirzechs personally and not the devil race.

Unfortunately, in the political view, Sirzechs was the devil race.

He was their leader and their figurehead. In that regard, he was similar to the President of the United States. Whatever the man did, the devil race followed. The only reason why the Devil Council had power over him was his reluctance to suppress them with his power.

But that was a completely different can of worms.

It simply meant that Tom could not request Sirzechs to move on his behalf. Whatever price he asked of the man, it can't be a favor he could cash in at a later date because Sirzechs owing a favor to Tom would be tantamount to the Devil Race owing a favor to him.

"Well," Tom pleasantly smiled, inwardly feeling a bit like a crook. And damn if that wasn't making him nervous as heck. "I'd like a copy of your combat memories."

There. He said it.

Sirzechs blinked several times in bewilderment. It took even him a few seconds before he managed to utter a confused, "What?"

Grayfia also sported furrowed eyebrows, not knowing what to think about... this.

It was so far from anything they imagined Tom would demand of them that it made them shocked for a moment.

"You want my... memories?" Sirzechs gave Tom a weird look. It was not hostile but it showed the man was not... comfortable with the idea.

"Only a copy of instances where you are fighting or training." Tom curtly nodded, once again making Sirzechs and Grayfia stumped.

Seeing the man still had a somewhat reluctant look, Tom hurriedly added, "Don't worry, I intend to sign a contract for them with you in exchange for curing your grandparents. You will have a complete overview of what will be copied and a small power over limiting a few things so no... ahem, intimate or secret things will be leaked."

To be honest, Tom didn't ask much in Sirzechs opinion. He just... asked something too unprecedented. Sirzechs expected anything. Demand for money, influence, marriage, a chance to become a devil, and support until he is high-class... There were many things Sirzechs expected Tom to ask of him.

But this...

"Why?" He frowned, considering the deal.

"Experience." Tom shrugged. "Only after seeing a certain situation will a person be able to react appropriately to it happening again, finding it easier. The first time always seems like a massive hurdle. That's in a nutshell experience. The same thing applies to combat experience. Viewing your combat and training-related memories might not give me the same thing as experiencing these moments myself but I believe there will be many valuable insights for me, considering you fought in the Devil Civil War and you are one of the strongest beings in the world. It's a... passing curiosity of mine, you see?" He calmly explained.

Sirzechs slowly nodded. It was a... plausible reason. "Are you sure this is what you want? You know you could ask for a lot of money or..."

"Yeah. I am kind of interested in research concerning memories and experience right now and what better sample than memories of the Lucifer himself?" Tom said, some of his excitement involuntarily seeping into his tone.

The excitement was real, the statement... not so much.

"Ah. Ajuka-wannabe. I see now." Sirzechs forced a smile but now he understood fully what he was dealing with.

'A research nerd.' He wryly thought, 'Just great. At least I can rest assured he will do his job properly, I guess.'

It started making sense how a human found a way to cure Sleeping Sickness.

Well, not really but Sirzechs suspected some sort of Sacred Gear or a special ability. After all, the secrecy measures around it were so strenuous it made even him raise an eyebrow at it. But that was not his business. Lord Sitri clearly tried to 'woo' this human into his family so Sirzechs decided to be polite and not get mixed up in that.

Giving up on trying to understand how the mind of these crazies worked, Sirzechs inwardly sighed. "I... wouldn't be against providing what you want. Of course, I'd like to see the contract first."

Tom smirked and leaned forward, grasping a clean parchment on the table before turning it over, revealing an already pre-written contract, making both Grayfia and Sirzechs a bit flabbergasted.

"You are, uh, prepared." Sirzechs lamely remarked, resisting the urge to scratch his head. Looking at Tom, he gave him a weirded-out smile and tilted his head a bit. "What if I rejected your proposal?"

Tom just nonchalantly shrugged, "I am not asking anything important, anything of great value to you or the devil race as a whole, and you are a Gremory. But if that happened, I could only accept it and change my price. Though, I am not prepared for that eventuality."

Which was a blatant lie.

Sirzechs raised his eyebrow at Tom, his smile regaining a twinge of easy-going amusement, "I see. You have thought about this a lot."

"Mhm." Tom hummed.

"Well..." Sirzechs sheepishly chuckled and reached toward the parchment, "Let's see."