SHK CH 287 (Patreon)

"So, let me get this straight."

In the throne room of the 9th heaven, Tiamat crossed her legs and leaned back slightly.

Her head was resting on her palm as she looked at the floating screen with a smirk on her face,

"You want me to lend you the sum necessary to open a direct portal between our two territories so that your daughter can come and have some fun with her husband and daughter?"

Gabriel groaned a little but nodded reluctantly,

"Indeed."

"Ohoh! Interesting, truly interesting."

Tiamat grinned as she looked at Gabriel with amusement.

"You do know that all of this is happening because you suck at managing your territory, right?"

Gabriel sighed , "I am not the only one in this case. All the remaining old generation divine beasts have territories that are hard to live in."

Tiamat laughed, she knew very well. In fact, out of all those first generation, Gabriel was the most tame.

Asmodeus's territory for example was a complete field of ice where life was basically impossible to thrive in.

Before becoming her, this territory, under the control of Lucifer, was just a big power supply to amass the power of a sun.

Of course, Tiamat perfectly understood why.

Demigods were hard to kill. Even more so for divine beasts.

For so many of them to have died, one didn't need to explain just how harsh and unforgiving the war was back then.

In such a situation, who would develop their territory with the thought of it being an attractive place for outsiders?

In fact, accepting outsiders in your territory was considered crazy.

Once the main foundation of a territory was set, it would become very hard to change it.

"Well, this isn't important currently is it? Let's discuss our payment."

"Well, I will be able to pay my debt in around two years."

Tiamat shook her head, "Money isn't a problem and I don't care if you take your time to pay me back.

"The payment of the debt isn't what is interesting to me. What can you give me as interest?"

The part Gabriel dreaded finally came. She had tried to deflect it but Tiamat was relentless in her chase, leaving her no way out. Since she was beaten, she knew she had to accept the reality of her situation

"Very well, I will do the same service as last time.”

“Tutut~tut. Last time was last time. Now is now. Give me another price.”

“Then how about I serve you as a maid for four days.”

“Oh, you have my interest now.”

Tiamat thought for a while before nodding to herself,

“I want two months and you calling me Mistress or Lady.”

“One week. No calling special name.”

“On month, still the same proposal with the appellations.”

“Two weeks serving you as a maid and I will call you Lady. This is my last offer.”

“Hum~You are driving a tight bargain. But very well. Let’s not say that I am too Greedy. I accept your proposal.”

After a lively haggling, Gabriel smiled, happy to have finally be able to haggle so much with Tiamat. After all, whenever they had a deal in the past, she would lose out.

“My bottom life was one month honestly. I would have done it for way less than you proposed.”

Gabriel wished to see the smug face of Tiamat vanishing, sadly for her; this was an impossible dream.

“Well, I would have done it for free.”

Gabriel fell silent.

“....Huh?”

“I mean, I already had plans of bringing either Sol into the phoenix territory or bringing the girl called Nefertiti here. If your daughter took the ride it wouldn’t have been a problem.”

She was not lying or trying to goat to Gabriel. She knew that now that Sol was a Duke, his days here were numbered. Soon, he would leave the Astral realm and get enthroned as a king.

Of course, now Sol had the coordinate of the Astral realm. But it was impossible for a Duke to have enough energy to open a hole between two territories. Once he left, she wouldn’t be able to see him anymore until he became a King at least.

Since this was the case, Tiamat wished for Sol to have the best holidays possible as to leave this place with good and joyous memories.

Thankfully, unlike Gabriel, Tiamat's territory was vast and the seasons came and went at her beseech. Currently, it was summer so this was the perfect moment to relax.

‘Though…Haha, her reaction is really cute.”

It was taking all Tiamat's strength to not explode in laughter while gazing at the dumbfounded face of her friend.

“So you mean…”

“You paid for something that could have been essentially free.”

“Argh!!”

Gabriel had never felt so embarrassed in her entire life. She covered her face with her hands and groaned and screamed like a little girl throwing a tantrum while berating herself about how dumb she was.

“Hahaha!! You should see your face!”

This time Tiamat could not stop herself from laughing out loud. It had been a long time since she could laugh so joyfully with no worries.

‘Perhaps I should tease her more later on.’

Be it Gabriel or Yggdrasil, all the Virtues Divine beasts had this slight naivety in their personalities that they could never get rid of no matter how old and experienced they were.

Gabriel was well and truly distraught. She knew that there was no way of taking back her words. Even if she did manage to erase the monetary debt, then the special interest would only increase exponentially,

“Why the hell do you act like an old pervert?”

“Hey, I resent that. I just like looking at beautiful things and feel good when strong beings bow to me in respect. There is absolutely nothing perverse about it.”

Gabriel waved her hand dismissively with a sniff of disdain, “Well, it’s my fault for having fallen into your trap. I am not one to renege a debt. When can you open the portal?”

“In one or two days. So they should prepare on your side. I am honestly rather interested in seeing that Nefertiti. She seems like an interesting girl.”

Gabriel coughed a little, “Indeed…Very…Well, interesting is indeed a good way to describe her.”

She couldn’t help but wince when she thought back to what she has seen in Nefertiti’s room,

‘Well, perhaps she will come down once she meets her beloved.”

At the same time, she couldn’t help but feel a little envious.

Be it her two daughters or Nefertiti they seemed to have all changed for the better after entering into a relationship.

Meanwhile, here she was, a woman whose age determined how many years she went by without a man.

Looking at their happiness —craziness also sometimes, she couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to be with someone for the first time in her entire existence.

It would surely be an interesting experiment.