Chapter 2:
At his young age of eight, Naruto was in his family's main library. He couldn't understand why there were five in total, assuming there was a reason beyond simple ostentation.
The young man shared the red hair of the rest of his family, although his was much shorter; the idea of it getting tangled in something was extremely unpleasant and painful for him. His skin was pale and his face, which some peers of his generation cataloged as androgynous, frequently caused people to mistake him for a girl.
The reason for his presence in the library was clear: unlike Rias, who preferred to wait until age 15 to live out her schoolgirl fantasy, he wasn't willing to wait seven years to start exploring the world. Therefore, he had decided to study everything possible about magic from now on.
Currently, the redhead was absorbed in reading an old, thick-covered volume. According to his older brother, this was one of the volumes of the most advanced dark magic, written in the hand of Zeref the Immortal himself.
The young man deeply enjoyed learning new types of magic, which is why he spent most of his time in the libraries. Rias, in fact, had nicknamed him "bookworm." Ironically, five minutes after calling him that, she herself would ask him if he had read about any cool magic and if he would teach it to her.
Nine times out of ten, he agreed to share his knowledge. However, Rias usually fell asleep as soon as he began the theoretical explanation of said magic.
Naturally, his parents were worried that his friendships were limited to Rias's circle and her friends. However, it wasn't easy for him to make other friends outside of his sister's acquaintances, as demons were not exactly known for having a large offspring. Apart from Rias's group, Rias herself, and her cousin Sairaorg Bael, there were few people his age with whom he could relate. Therefore, he never overly worried about looking for more friends, especially since their group was, in general, quite close. In fact, Sona spent more time with him than with Rias, arguing that she preferred a quiet afternoon comparing books to watching anime and eating junk food non-stop.
His discretion was the reason why the Gremory heir went unnoticed by most of demon society. Even though his parents claimed that his potential was similar to Rias, his younger sister, he was much less outgoing and rarely boasted about his strength.
This reserved attitude led his parents to use Rias as their "show puppy." Although his mother would occasionally try to persuade him to show off, he would refuse. Ironically, this attitude was pleasing to his grandfather, who preferred an heir who knew when and where to use his power rather than boast.
While Rias loved being the center of attention, he preferred to be reserved and discreet, a dynamic he considered fair. After all, although his displays of power were scarce, they were enough to justify why he was still the Gremory heir.
And although he would never admit it aloud, he greatly enjoyed the reaction of the nobles when they discovered that the quiet and discreet brother was as talented as the bubbly Rias. Rias, in fact, loved this situation so much that she even kept a scrapbook with the surprised expressions of those nobles.
Putting those thoughts aside, he simply closed the enormous book and put his fingers to the bridge of his nose to relieve eye strain. He had been reading for almost three hours and was sure that if he dedicated another half hour, he could finish the third volume. After all, he had discovered that he could use the Gremory clan's natural ability to improve his reading and analysis capacity. Of course, he had to be careful not to overexert himself to avoid frying his brain, but it was one of the best ways he had found to accelerate his knowledge acquisition, as long as he acted cautiously.
Speaking of which, he supposed it was time for a break. He got up from his chair, ready to go to his room or, perhaps, to see if Rias wanted to play something. However, upon leaving the library into the hallway that connected to the wing of the rooms, he noticed that it was quite late. The artificial moon, created by Lucifer himself as a kind of "screw you, dad, I can make a moon too" (a phrase, by the way, engraved in stone on it), was almost at its highest point, indicating that midnight was approaching.
This, naturally, caused his plans to change: instead of going to play with his sister, he decided to head to his room to rest a bit. Tomorrow he would take a break from his studies and spend the day with her, but for the moment he only had one room to go to.
However, just as he was about to turn the corner of a hallway, he had to stop dead in his tracks and step back. He had seen two men who, for some reason, were meeting in one of the family mansion's gardens.
"I'm telling the truth," one of the two men affirmed.
"I can't believe it... Is that slave trader really in the capital?" the second man asked, with a voice that denoted total ecstasy.
That question almost made Naruto drop his book. Although it might seem ironic for demons, who use the Evil Piece system to obtain servants, slavery was strictly forbidden in the Underworld. The reason was simple but crucial: enslaving any being that was not human (a demigod, an elf, etc.) would provoke the wrath of their respective factions. This would not only bring problems with the law of the Underworld but would also trigger an open conflict with the offended supernatural faction.
Therefore, the Evil Piece system was established. Although legally considered lifelong servitude, this system granted rights and status within demon society to the servant, as long as they obeyed their master's orders.
A part of him felt the urge to run and inform Sirzechs about what was happening. However, a stronger reason advised him to stay still. He knew that those individuals, willing to break the law, wouldn't care that he was just a child, and wouldn't hesitate to silence him. That's why he remained silent, making himself as small as possible. His only hope was that the conversation would end soon and they would leave, allowing him to run to his brother's room to tell him everything he had heard.
"Yes, I have a friend who works as a guard in the capital. Apparently, that guy, the slave trader, bought off most of the city's guards," the first man replied, sounding quite amused. This explained how the hell no one noticed what was happening: they did, but money simply kept their mouths shut.
If the Prohibition in the United States last century had demonstrated anything, it was that prohibiting something inevitably prompted people to find ways to continue with that activity, regardless of the consequences.
"Yes, and you won't believe what they captured a few days ago," the first man said, with an ecstatic and excited tone that only served to tense Naruto. He sincerely hoped it wasn't something that could trigger a large-scale war.
"It must be something really good, or you wouldn't be making that idiotic face," the second declared, amusing his comrade.
"They captured elves."
With that declaration, all hope of avoiding war vanished.
Elves were, to put it simply, God's spoiled children. They were essentially sinless humans, practically immortal. The only way they could die was by falling in battle, something terribly difficult, since an average elf was as competent as a middle-class demon. Furthermore, they were experts in all types of elemental magic and possessed eyes capable of seeing magic in its purest state. They were archers so precise that they could hit flies in mid-flight miles away. It was even rumored that the legendary Excalibur had been forged by them during the time of King Arthur, demonstrating their ability to create weapons of unheard-of power.
Damn, if the Norse or, even worse, the angels found out about this, the Underworld was completely screwed. And they were going to find out, because demons, clearly, were not known for keeping their dirty laundry hidden for long, given that they loved to show off. In fact, the devil kings themselves had recently had to liquidate an entire clan, precisely because they were experimenting with the Nekoshou clan. Amaterasu had not taken it well and had demanded blood in compensation for the insult.
"I'm going tonight... the auction starts in two hours," the first man said, causing a dark smile on his companion.
"Do you think there will be beautiful elves?" he asked, with a small smile.
"Too many... my friend says that he and his companions were given the opportunity to sleep with several of them as a reward and to ensure silence about the slave trader... and he told me that the elves are very beautiful, and gifted with incredible bodies," the first said, before bursting into laughter.
Thus, the two continued talking about what they planned to do if they were lucky enough to buy an elf, until the first guard finally revealed the location of the slave trader's lair.
For his part, Naruto simply began to walk away after hearing this. He was going to get into trouble, and very big trouble, but honestly, right now there was no time to inform his brother and convince him of what was happening. As much of a "siscon" as he was, Sirzechs wouldn't easily believe the story, and Naruto wasn't close enough to Sitri territory to tell Serafall, who would believe him instantly because "you're So-tan's best friend, clearly you can't lie." So he would have to resort to one of the most stupid but effective plans in his repertoire: going himself and doing everything possible to free them before the auction began. With some luck, he could get in and out without being seen by the traffickers, who would be massacred by the rebellious nobles anyway.
In the worst-case scenario, I'll leave a will asking Rias to delete my Devilnet history.
end of chapter