Chapter 87 - Ex-Grand Ducal Couple

"See you next time I'm over here, as for the track, I should probably tell mum to get it upgraded so the race could be more fun next time."

Phil, who just fist bumped Arthur, couldn't help but be stunned at his words, same with the others who were with him.

"Say what now?"

"Hmm, I said I was going to-"

"Sometimes it's best to stay silent Arthur."

Layla spoke after covering Arthur's mouth to prevent him from speaking, she looked at Phil and his gang and gave them a bright smile.

Her eyes however, were conveying a different message.

'Leave. Now.'

A message they understood clearly and waved at the duo before running off.

After they left, Layla pulled Arthur out of the ring, into one of the walkways before releasing him.

"What was that for?"

"Your next words had a 50% chance to make them uncomfortable so I stopped you."

Arthur, who couldn't understand what she was saying, was about to ask a question, however he bumped into someone who was walking on the same walkway.

"Sorry about that."

Arthur apologized without even looking and was about to continue speaking, however he felt that the person he bumped into was still staring at him.

He turned to look at the person, it was a muscular old man wearing a casual shirt and Jeans with a baseball cap on his head, his facial expression showed he was obviously displeased about something.

On his chin grew a beard that did not fit his looks at all, he had deep dark eyes that seemed to be glaring at Arthur, yet there was no hostility in his eyes.

'Then why the f*ck is he staring at me?'

Arthur and the man stared at each other for almost a minute, as for Layla, she was busy trying to remember where she had seen the man before.

'It was in one of my history books, just can't remember which one it was or who it said he was.'

And then she got her answer in the next moment, courtesy of a surprised Cattleya who had returned with Iberis and was on her way to meet up with Arthur.

"Pops??!"

Hearing her voice, the frowning man turned to look over at her, however she was already long gone from her position.

She reappeared nearly ten meters away from him with a surprised Arthur and a confused Layla in her arms.

"Huh? Mum?"

"Don't get too close to him Arthur, he's a creepy old man who likes to play with little kids."

"That's an awful thing to say about your grandfather now isn't it, little Leya."

A feminine voice rang out from behind the trio, turning around, Cattleya met eyes with a woman who looked like an older version of her mother, Inglis.

"Grandma!"

Dropping the two children in her arms, she jumped up and hugged the dark haired middle aged looking woman who was overflowing with motherly charm.

"Been a long while little Leya, Glis said you were over here so we came over, we wanted to finally meet your kid too."

Arthur who had been dropped by Cattleya, walked up to the frowning man who happened to be Cattleya's grandfather, the previous Leviathan Grand Duke, Sean.

'Since he's mum's grandad, then he's my great-grandfather.' 

Arriving in front of him, Arthur opened his mouth to speak, his first words to his great-grandfather who he finally met after 13 years were-

"Loose the beard."

-far from what one would expect.

As such, Sean's glare instantly turned into one filled with hostility.

"Oh my, I just saw him but I like him already."

The Ex Grand-duchess, Kenia, spoke as she walked over to Arthur and patted his head, before turning over to her husband who was displeased at his great grandson's words.

"Told you the beard didn't fit you, you're cutting it when we go back okay?"

"But the other-"

"You're cutting it when we go back okay?"

The man who finally spoke, was immediately cut off by his wife's words, ones she spoke with a smile on her face.

"Tsk….fine."

"He's a pushover!"

Of course, Arthur decided to piss the man off even more with his words.

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Ex Grand Duke Sean, was a man of few words, he had a face that looked like he was always glaring at everyone and everything and whenever he spoke, he hardly said what he really felt.

Very few people were able to discern the true meanings behind his words that were always filled with thorns.

"That's why, when he says 'Grandmaster huh? Not bad for a 13 year old brat', he actually means, 'You're already a grandmaster at 13? I'm proud of you!'."

"I see..."

Arthur nodded in affirmation at his maternal great grandmother's, Kenia's words.

"What nonsense are you teaching the kid?"

"That's just him simply hiding his embarrassment at having his words true meaning discerned so easily."

Arthur and Kenia hit off relatively quickly, currently, she was in the process of teaching him how to interpret his tsundere great grandfather's words.

For the past ten thousand years, the ex Grand Ducal couple had been traveling around various faraway universes enjoying their retirement life.

Sean was one of the unfortunate few who was forced to provide assistance to the previous holder of Greed when he stole the throne from Diablo.

He had no choice, after all his wife and youngest son were being held hostage. 

As such, albeit reluctantly, he aided the previous holder of greed in his hostile takeover. It was all fine until the previous holder of greed, requested Inglis' hand in marriage.

A request, that pissed off the research crazed Inglis at the time, so she decided to take matters into her own hands.

Defeating her father in an official duel, she took the position of Grand Duke from him, much to her elder brothers' displeasure. In return, she only gave them one line.

"What? If you got a problem talk to my fist."

And that they did, the result; they saw stars.

She then went on to fish out the only semi-innocent person in the house of greed at the time, Mammon, and suggested him to Belphegor, who just returned to Hell at the time, to be used as the next holder of greed.

As for the Grand Duke of Eryrth, Conrad, he really didn't care who was on the throne, as far as his Grand Duchy was not harmed in any way, or so people thought.

In reality, his pride could not take being subservient to someone who claimed the throne through underhanded means so he cooperated with Inglis and Belphegor who planned to help Diablo take the throne back.

Inglis successfully lured the devil who lusted after her out, Conrad and Mammon handled his armies, while Belphegor and Inglis took out his direct subordinates.

Kenia was able to handle herself as the only reason she got caught was because the direct subordinates threatened her with her son's life. With those subordinates being occupied by an enraged Belphegor, rescuing her son was not an issue.

She even killed a few herself, especially the ones who handled the threats, she made sure to torture them to death as slowly as possible.

The man himself, was ended by Diablo, personally, in the most brutal way possible.

"Ah, it's been a while, Conrad boy."

"Sir Sean, good to see you again."

Layla was shocked that her father let someone call him so informally, the only other person she had seen doing that was her mother after all.

Even his younger brothers addressed him with his official title.

'I keep seeing new sides to my parents lately, it's too much to take in all at once.'

While Layla was having a semi-mental breakdown, Arthur was chatting happily with Hades, Cattleya, Kenia and Iberis. Until his phone rang, that is.

"Sorry, gotta take this."

He hurriedly stood up and left the room quickly, leaving Hades slightly stunned.

"Any idea what that was?"

"It's probably related to his recent searches."

"Recent searches?"

"Yeah, Lute told me that Arthur asked them to search for a few planets with some strange criteria in the Crystal realm, I wonder what he's looking for."

Cattleya chuckled as she remembered the look of confusion on Lute's face when he told her about it.

◇　◇　◇

"Really Phil, didn't we just split up not long ago."

"Sorry your highness but it seems that a planet matching the criteria you gave had been discovered."

"The crystalline raindrops are there too?"

"Yes."

"Good, I'd come check it out in a few weeks time, watch it closely."

With that, Arthur cut the call. 

Contrary to what Layla thought, Phil was already aware of who Arthur was, it was only naturally, after all, he was Arthur's subordinate.

One who was tasked with sending periodic reports to Arthur about the results of his search. Meeting him at the racing track was not a coincidence, it was part of a predetermined plan.

'Cant take any chances with all the eyes on me lately.'