"And what'll happen now?" Konrad asked, pale as snow.
'You mean what'll happen to you?' Paula teased, because, sure. She prevented his wives from reading his mind, but that didn't mean she wouldn't mess with his head instead.
"Like, what the Old Man'll do?" Lily snickered. "Oh. I don't know. Investigate, I guess?"
"There's a natural order to things," Gabrielle claimed. "He can't pass judgment without—"
"Watching Lucifer destroy half the universe?" the demoness offered, rolling her eyes. "Sure, let's not be hasty. It's not like Lu hasn't taken over a dozen worlds yet."
"A dozen?" Konrad repeated, eyes wide. "You mean, like, a dozen actual planets?"
"Well, at least," she nodded. "Judging from how many races invaded us so far."
Ugh. Yeah. They did say that Kasserlane was under attack.
"B-but what'll happen with this world, then?" he asked. "You're still defending it, right?"
Otherwise, why would they look this tired?
"That's only natural. I take full responsibility for Kasserlane," the archangel said. "Though that might be my downfall, I'm not going back on my promises."
Okay. Great.
But who did she promise, and what exactly?
Konrad had been out of the loop for a while, and things had changed—a lot.
"How long would this investigation thing last?" he asked, his brain going into overdrive.
"Hah. Wouldn't you want to know?!" the little ginger laughed, throwing herself at the cushions where he sat earlier. "We're talking about the Almighty God. An eternity or two? Who knows?"
His eyes widened.
Well, sure, he was a literal God, not a minor deity sharing control over a single planet.
As far as Konrad could tell, he ruled over the entire universe, and—
"That said, given how he sent those envoys only a week after the incident," Lily pondered.
"For the record. What exactly does he investigate?" Konrad asked, unsure whether to look at his first or second wife. "Like, it should be pretty obvious by now that Lucifer's a fallen angel, right?"
"Yes, yes. He already knows that," Gabby answered first with a sigh.
"Bet he wants to know how deep the rot goes," the demoness offered with a smirk.
"Yeah. That's why I'm asking," he said, heart pounding. "In a sense, I'm part of that rot, so—"
"Indeed, you are," the archangel stated, as a matter of fact. "And it doesn't put us in the best possible light that we have gathered four more of his puppets here, either."
Or as Null called them, Lucifer's Apostles.
Yeah, it must have looked pretty bad.
In fact, if Konrad were an almighty God looking for an easy and quick way to wrap things up—
"And there you have it," Lily sighed. "We can't make any hasty movements without putting you and Meow Midori in the crosshairs. Even if all you did was fixing what the Old Man did not."
"Fixing this was never his job," Gabrielle argued. "And whose fault is this, anyway?"
"Of you, arrogant heavenspawns, duh," the demoness snapped back. "Of all the Mr. and Mrs. Perfect, who can not be corrupted or make the wrong judgment, ever. Am I right?"
Ah. So they still wouldn't miss the chance to jump at each other's throats?
"But wouldn't it be best if we sealed Lucifer away?" Konrad asked, stepping between them before things could escalate. "And then show God that we're on his side and all?"
The two wives sighed and gave him a look.
"Which part of nothing hasty do you not understand?" the little ginger moaned, while—
"As you have already guessed, you're also part of this investigation," the angel added, too.
Yeah. But that's why he wanted to do something before the final judgment.
Because no matter how he looked at it, he was in some deep shit right now.
Reincarnated by a fallen angel.
The husband of a greater demon.
A duke on a world affected by Lucifer's fall.
No matter what kind of investigation they ran, he must have been at the center of it all.
And Strelok, Soap, Roach, Maou Midori, too.
'You should worry about yourself, first of all,' Paula pointed out. 'Don't know those other guys, but Pavel at least has no magic. In the grand scheme of things, he's harmless. But you are not.'
"This is why we're careful now," Lily said, crossing her arms. "Take our time to, you know—"
"We need to portray you in the best possible light," Gabrielle stated.
"Portray?" Konrad repeated, furrowing his brow.
"Maou Midori was already on our radar," the angel explained. "So it would be hard to convince him that he's an ally now. But we could still claim that Konrad had turned him and—"
"Claim?!" he protested. "Come on, I actually did that."
"Yeah. And we could show that Konny runs a peaceful, organised duchy and all," the demoness added. "Ruling fair, bringing the different people together—unlike the Old Man, you know."
She flashed a shit-eater grin at Gabrielle again, but Konrad raised his hand.
That's when Paula butted in.
'Let's not forget, you saved Earth from yet another nuclear disaster. And Pavel helped out a lot, so I sure hope you won't let him fall, either.'
Right. As if he had any say in that.
If it were up to him, he wouldn't let anyone take responsibility for what Lucifer did, but—
"What you're saying is that, rather than delivering the finishing blow," he grunted. "We must stay on the defensive and act like insignificant but friendly specks of dust?"
Though, in all fairness, compared to the angels' boss, that's exactly what he was.
"Well, if you had the power, you could also become a greater demon like me," Lily offered. "It would be fun, and we could more or less ignore the Old Man. But would be on the run."
"Ignore or be on the run?" Konrad scoffed. "Pick one."
"Showing you're a righteous ruler who rejected Lucifer is the best bet to avoid punishment. It might only work if you cut ties with this idiot here, but—"
Nope. he didn't like Gabrielle's offer, either.
"But as much as it pains me to say," the demoness sighed. "If we went on the attack, they'd see us as a threat, regardless of which side we fight for, and yeah. With you, I don't want to risk that."
"So, to clarify," Konrad grunted. "What do I do to make sure we all survive this investigation?"
He needed something more than a vague 'be nice'.
"Continue your life as you would," the angel said. "As that righteous Duke of Halaima, whom everybody loves. Leave the fighting to us for now, and about the other puppets—"
"We'd best keep them out of sight," Lily noted, glancing at the still unconscious Strelok.
Good thing he went through all that to bring him back.
But remembering how they actually returned, and what he did with the Heavens—
"Would that be enough?" Konrad asked, trembling, scratching the back of his head.
"Enough?" Gabrielle repeated, crossing her arms. "My Dear Husband, have you seen how much paperwork you have to sign off on?! Not to mention the king's invitation. You have a lot to do."
Ugh. Why did he even ask?
Sure, he saw those documents towering on Eyna's desk, but—
Well, he was, in fact, the Duke of Halaima.
If that's what they expected of him to do, he might as well have started acting like that.