Scarlet

After breaking the two up, which took a lot of work to do, the three of us continue flying through the air for a few seconds until a large castle comes into sight. One clearly made out of blood metal and designed in a style similar to the nation that used to occupy Demon Isle before the demons.

Satan brings us through an open window of the castle into a large throne room where a three-meter-tall pool of blood stands in front of the throne like a mirror. The oni then walks up to the raised dais and kneels in front of it, following which the pool of blood begins shifting until it turns into some sort of screen showing Gramps’ throne room. And the very moment he sees me, Gramps begins smiling.

I also notice Leonidas standing off to the side of Gramps’ throne, likely not sitting on his own throne due to it being too far for the screen to show.

Leonidas smiles at me as well and nods before Gramps says, “Young Blackthorn says you wish to make a bet, Princess?”

His formal mode is clearly activated, so I nod my head in return and answer, “Yes, I do. Is it safe to assume you already know the basic contents of the bet?”

“I do,” he answers, his eyes narrowing slightly. “If I’m to understand this correctly, you wish to make a bet with us that you will return to Tartarus to fulfil all of your duties as the Princess of the nation should Earth’s forces fail to push us back to Demon Isle and the Arctic, and that we will retreat from Earth should you manage to do so?”

“Yes, you understand it perfectly,” I tell him with another nod. “But in addition to that, I would like to add onto it a little bit.”

Gramps starts rubbing his chin a little bit, leaving both throne rooms in silence before he lowers his arm to his throne and says, “Very well, and I, of course, will be doing the same.”

“Of course,” I respond with a nod, still feeling rather unused to speaking with Gramps in such a formal manner. Especially considering how doting he tends to be.

I glance at Red, who has been silent this entire time, simply looking between Gramps and Leonidas without saying a word. Meanwhile the two of them are ignoring his existence entirely.

And Satan still has his head lowered in a kneeling position.

“To start off, we should set a limit for the number of Class V demons that can pass through to Earth each year,” I state, making Gramps’ eyes narrow further. “I’d say about three Nobles passing through a year would be fine, since we’re already limited to only about seventy Class Vs ourselves and you have more Class Vs than we have by over double currently on Earth.”

Gramps taps his throne’s arm rest a few times before raising a brow and saying, “Ten Nobles a year. Remember that you have your Knights on Earth as well as yourself.”

I hold back my wince as I retort, “Seven Nobles a year. You have Satan and Damien here, and I’m pretty sure you’ve sent over another two Clan Noble demons since those two came as well.”

He frowns, his gaze turning to the Red Knight finally while he says, “Nine Nobles a year. Your Red Knight has already killed one of those two Clan Nobles.”

Rest in peace Aurora.

Or not, I guess. She was kind of trying to capture me after all.

Not to mention force me out of my hunting grounds.

An unforgiveable sin indeed.

Tar snorts in my head, bringing Gramps’ attention to me again as his eyes narrow a little and he looks around me. As if searching for something.

He can hear Tar from all the way over there, across whatever skill or item we’re using to talk to him?

Wow.

“Eight Nobles a year. The demons far outnumber the humans, and the humans are less structured as well,” I state my final counteroffer, which I know is a little weak, but should still work, nonetheless.

He raises a brow again but smiles anyways and says, “Agreed.”

I let out a mental sigh of relief. Not an actual sigh, of course. Because that would be bad for negotiation.

Even if he is my grandfather.

“Now, my turn,” Gramps says, making me stiffen up ever so slightly. “You have a clear winning condition attached to the bet for the humans, but how will we know if we win? There doesn’t seem to be a time limit yet.”

Shit, he noticed.

Then again, of course he would. He’s over two thousand years old and has probably been in negotiations longer than I’ve been alive. And that’s just the time he’s spent in the negotiations themselves.

He is a King after all.

“How about in ten years’ time, if you haven’t forced us back to Demon Isle and the Arctic yet, then you will lose this bet and return to Tartarus where you will fulfil your duties as Princess,” Gramps says, making a chill run down my spine at the short deadline. Since I was hoping more along the lines of three decades to a century.

There’s no way we’d be able to do it within just ten years.

But how could I…

My eyes widen as an idea comes to me.

“Counteroffer,” I state while folding my arms under my chest, “If we haven’t forced you back to Demon Isle and the Arctic yet by the time the void forces arrive on Earth, we will lose the bet. Does that work?”

He blinks once, then smiles and nods.

I relax ever so slightly at the outcome.

Good.

From what Amelia has hinted, the void forces shouldn’t arrive on Earth first when they do reach our universe. They’ll arrive on other planets and begin spreading across the universe before eventually making it here.

Which should give us a lot of time to force the demons back.

Then, after winning the bet, we can deal with peace with the demons and talking about joining together in the war effort against the void.