My Servant System

"My apologies, but I should take care of Satanya and make sure she understands the severity of the situation she is in now, so I shall leave you with my dear husband to guide you around inside the Aedis. Please, look around and take in the rich history inside our walls."

Tabitha gave us a nod and glanced at her husband, communicating with her blue eyes and making sure the man got the message before she walked away, heading into the gigantic monochromatic temple and leaving our sight.

We stood in silence for a few moments after her departure, before I glanced at Belian and raised a brow, the man coughing as I said "So... I assume she is the one with the pants in this relationship of yours~?"

The older Demon rubbed his jaw before gesturing towards the temple, saying "So the Aedis is a historic site as well as the crux of Arx Impius. If I recall correctly, it was built by the earliest settlers of this region, and the three Clans came together to fortify this area even more, forming the start of Arx Impius. Now, inside..."

Ignoring my question, Belian led us into the Aedis, taking the time to explain whatever he could as we awaited the summons for dinner, continuing to dodge the various barbed questions and verbal jabs that we teasingly sent his way.

"This painting here is of the third Belian, which is four predecessors before me; I'm the seventh Belian, and we've no relation to one another besides being inside the Beliali Clan. And on either side you can see the third heads of the other two Clans as well; Apophis of the Cimeriesa Clan and Kabandha of the Asmodeucian Clan. The traits remain strikingly similar despite these being nearly a millennia old at this point; the red, yellow and blue skin remains the same, and each is clearly of those respective Clans. The sharp smirk and calculating gleam in Belian's eyes, the wisdom and Ritual Circles on Apophis' face, and the derisive sneer and muscles of Kabandha."

We stopped in front of a trio of paintings, which Belian dove into some more, clearly enjoying this opportunity to flex his historical knowledge.

"These three were rather influential figures at the time of their reign. Belian had negotiated a deal with the then Sultan to keep the eastern borders a peaceful place for a short period of time, something that had been seen as impossible thanks to Sultan Idris having a bloodthirsty personality. It was thanks to the brute strength of Kabandha that Belian was able to sit the Sultan down and strike out a deal, while the Cimeriesa's sweetened the pot by trading the abundance of Mana Crystals they had with the Sultanate in exchange for some of the rare alchemical flora that grew in the few oasis that dotted the harsh desert."

"So is my Mom also the seventh head of 'Asmodeucian' Clan, or..?"

That made Belian frown, the man staring at the paintings for a few seconds more before answering "No. She's the ninth or tenth... I'd need to look deeper into it, honestly, since the Asmodeucian Clan's history isn't as documented as ours - for obvious reasons. After Durukti lost her life in the Labyrinthian, the position of Clan Head was in constant flux; constant in comparison to our Clans, anyways."

Pursing his lips, he thought on it for a few more seconds, eventually adding "Chordeva is the ninth, which would make you the tenth, Jahi, whenever that time comes. Between Kabandha and Chordeva, there've been a few notables; Durukti, obviously, but there was also Putana, a fearsome and rather deadly warrior who held back the swarms of the Cults inside the Human Kingdoms - which were primarily Beastkin at the time - for a month straight without rest. She killed tens of thousands of Cultists and dozens of Fiends before eventually managing to cull the worst of them, only to later succumb to her wounds, each of which were inflicted by said Fiends"

"I'll be the tenth? It's... weird to think that there've been nine heads of a single Clan over the span of nearly two millennia, right? Or in the case of your Clans, seven..."

Belian chuckled, nodding and continuing to lead us around the various high ceilinged hallways that ringed around the inside of the Aedis, each one laden with various pieces of art and trinkets that held important pieces of history for all three of the Demon Clans.

"Well, when you pair an incredible suite of skills and immense strength and life force with a Core filled with so much mana that you can live for four plus centuries with ease, upwards of a millennia if you're strong enough? Of course, that expected lifespan means nothing to warriors; I've seen some promising, talented warriors die young, and I've seen cowards live multiple centuries. It's not difficult to lose your life in this world, least of all as a warrior. Keep that in mind... though I think you've all already gotten a taste of the lethality of this world once before. Especially you, Katherine."

I nodded as I continued to take in the various artifacts and paintings of the Demon Clans, my thoughts drifting briefly to Jillian and her attempts to kidnap me and bring harm to Jahi.

Even now I felt my blood boil at the mere thought of that Elf, and my fingers itched to be wrapped around her neck, wringing it out until she was limp in my grasp.

But, thinking about her was unpleasant, and I decided to just take in the various things around me instead as we walked through the Aedis, learning more about the Demon Clans as we awaited the feast that was being prepared for our arrival and visit.

Alongside that feast, perhaps we would get a deeper assurance that Satanya wouldn't be as much of an antagonizing prick to us all in the future, and that she would learn to maintain and respect boundaries.