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Serena Snape: Love of Magic - chapter 89
🕑 Added 2025-03-29 01:45:07 +0000 UTCAuthor's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Scott Fellman.
I pulled a piece of metal from my inventory. It was simple steel. I clapped my hands lightly, and the piece quickly transformed into a small, delicate ring. After hesitating for a few seconds, I placed a seal on top. It was a downward-facing crescent moon with three spikes at the bottom and a dot at the top. There were also two crescent moons on either side of the first.
It was the symbol of the Harmonium, Ettmetal, the metal god that belonged to the Shard of Harmony in the Cosmere universe. It seemed… appropriate. I'd been thinking about several symbols for my new house. The symbol, the family crest, was something I'd been putting off because I couldn't find anything appropriate.
As options, I had the Prince family crest. The Slytherin symbol. Magia Baiser didn't have any crest or symbol beyond the four-point star. The alchemists had the silver dragon. Archer's command seal, which Rin had. And a few other similar options. None of them convinced me enough.
Finally, Rashek didn't have his own symbol; there was the symbol he used for his empire, which he ruled for a millennium. But there was also the steel alphabet. It was a set of glyphs representing the various metals that could be used to create metal arts.
I had several options. From the symbol for iron to the symbol for duralumin. Even Atium and Lerasium had their own symbols. But again, they were missing something. Finally, I arrived at the symbol for Harmonium.
The Harmony Shard was the combination of the Ruin and Preservation Shards. The shards from which the metallic arts were generated. Even with the strongest powers I possess, the near-infinite accumulation I could achieve was simply ridiculous. So, it seemed like a good choice.
Once I finished creating the ring, I quickly enchanted it with several charms: one to make it self-adjusting, another to make it impossible for anyone other than the person wearing it to remove, an unbreakable charm, and finally, I turned it into a portkey. Once finished, I threw it to Maomao.
"Here. It's a portkey. No matter what magic you use to bypass normal teleportation or how far away you are, the ring will bring you to the manor without any problem. To activate it, just say 'Hogwarts' out loud," I explained to Maomao. Maomao looked at me in confusion as she looked at the ring.
"Hogwarts?" Maomao barely finished saying the word when she vanished from the spot as if sucked dry before reappearing a fraction of a second later in exactly the same place. We all remained silent for a few long seconds. I slammed my hand against my face. "W-what was that!?" Maomao squealed, slightly pale.
I sighed longingly. I could see Fengxian tiredly massaging her forehead while the other succubi chuckled. The others beside me and behind me were also laughing. I sighed once more, stood up, and walked over to Maomao.
"That was you traveling through space in a very different way than devils are used to, so normal barriers won't stop it. Still, avoid saying the word to activate it. I used an impossible-to-say word by mistake in everyday conversation for some reason." I said dryly as I grabbed the ring once more. Maomao blushed slightly and looked away.
Once I enchanted the ring once more with the necessary enchantment, I grab Maomao's hand and placed the ring on her pinky finger. The ring immediately fit her finger.
"The ring is impossible to break, and only you can remove it. Keep it on your finger at all times, just in case. If Iokal tries anything—and he will—use the portkey to come to the mansion and find one of us immediately." I explained to Maomao. Maomao nodded seriously.
"Thank you, Lady Prince," Maomao said seriously.
"Don't worry, it's easy to do. I'll send more for the other succubi soon. Explain how to use them once you have them." I dismissed them as I sat back down between Enid and Bella.
"I thank you, Lady Prince, for everything." Fengxian bowed once more. I rolled my eyes.
"I already told you there's no need to bow down," I snorted. "Now, return to Verdigris House for the time being. I'll try to get everything you need quickly, but it may take several days, maybe weeks. Even so, prepare to move and contact the rest of the succubi, and only the succubi. The rest of the devils who want to move into my territory will have to do so legally. Although, I will see how to expedite the whole matter." I said simply. Fengxian nodded.
"I'll take care of it, Lady Prince." I stifled a groan of frustration; this would be worse than trying to tell Dobby to stop calling me Lady Prince.
Now, I had a difficult decision to make. Ravel or the Sitri? That's the dilemma.
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"...so? What do you think? About building a city?" I asked after a long silence. The succubi had left a few minutes before. Lucius and Narcissa sat across from us, and Dobby began serving us tea along with some sandwiches. Lucius took a sip of his tea.
Thinking about the succubi, the three princesses were satisfied with how the conversation had gone, especially with Meimei completely healed. While she still needed to mentally heal from whatever Iokal did to her, she was on the right path.
On the other hand, there were Fengxian and Maomao, both of whom seemed to still have more to say. Fengxian seemed to take the succubi's safety seriously, so it shouldn't be surprising that she kept trying to get me to make a decision immediately. I guess she saw that I was completely serious about taking some time to think about it and didn't want to upset her only way out.
Besides, she'd already achieved so much: Meimei was cured, Maomao would be protected, and she'd been given a free pass to go to the human world so the succubi could feed. If she kept insisting, it would be seen very negatively, and that was something she clearly wanted to avoid.
Finally, Maomao was different from her mother. She spent most of the meeting staring at me and holding back, almost biting her tongue, I'd say. I just realized she never gave me back the empty vial of potion. And if she's anything like her canon counterpart, then it would make sense. Canon Maomao has a huge fascination with medicine, especially poisons and herbs. And me? I practically had everything she wanted.
On second thought, it wouldn't hurt to have Maomao as a helper. I had Devola and Popola to collect ingredients from around the island, which saved me a lot of time. Regardless, I still had to keep brewing potions myself. While I could easily handle a dozen cauldrons at once, having to keep brewing simple potions took time.
While it would take a while until Maomao was qualified to begin brewing the more difficult potions, I could still save a lot of time if she helped me prepare ingredients or monitor some of the easier potions. Besides, having someone as smart as Maomao who also loves brewing medicine and poisons so much was a blessing.
Trying to teach someone who didn't like potions how to brew them always ended very badly. I shudder to think of Severus's memories of teaching students who truly had no love or talent for potions. Neville came to mind. I shuddered once more. The horror.
Hmm, something to think about. It would really be a good idea to have her as an assistant.
"Does it matter? You've already decided that you want to help them," Lucius said calmly, snapping me out of my thoughts. "So, that's not the right question," Lucius said simply. I rolled my eyes.
"Well, you know-it-all, then! Who should we choose? A marriage with the Phenex? A pact with the Sitri? Or can anyone think of a third option?" I asked dryly in Lucius's direction. The bastard gave me a condescending look.
"OH EM GEE, let's build a city!" Enid squealed as she started shaking me back and forth in excitement. "Can I help design the buildings?! Oh, oh, oh! Can I have one?! I enjoyed healing Meimei. It felt nice. Can I have a clinic or a hospital?!" Enid asked excitedly. I nodded.
"Sure, I'm sure there are plenty of low-class commoner devils out there who need some sort of healing," I said simply. Enid squealed and hugged me tightly. I let out a muffled noise from the force of the hug.
"I want a tailor shop or a boutique to sell my clothes. As much as I love creating clothes for you, I'm sure you already have enough clothes to last you for years. It'll be fun to branch out a little more," Narcissa said, also excited.
"Can we have a stadium?" Bella asked with a smile.
"I don't think that would be profitable right now. Our starting population will be low, and they'll all be low-class devils, so we won't have any Rating Game equipment." Lucius hummed. Bella snorted.
"Think about it, we can always play locally. So far, every match that Phenex has challenged us to has been at Lucifaad because it's the only stadium we can treat as 'home. ' We get a cut of the profits every time we show up, but it's a tiny fraction. That would change if we had our own stadium." Lucius considered this slightly.
"It could be, it could be. The Rating Games are famous among all social levels. So it wouldn't be strange if our new population enjoyed the same thing. We could even sell, say, half of the tickets to devils from other territories. It would be a good way to start earning money for the city," Lucius said as he considered it.
"Oh! I can work as an emergency nurse and treat all the injuries that occur in the Rating Games!" Enid said, raising her hand excitedly. Lucius nodded.
"We can have Sera prepare food for us to sell, or we can buy the Faery Feast upgrades so Dobby and the dolls can make them in large quantities. That will entice most of the devils to return to the stadium." Narcissa added with a smile.
"Wait! What the hell is going on!" I interrupted the conversation and looked at the other four in disbelief. It was as if they were playing a city-building game, the way they were talking. "I asked about which option we should take, not about planning the town," I said in disbelief. They all snorted at the same time and looked at me at the same time.
"Sera, my dear, we all know which one you're going to end up choosing, only you don't," Narcissa said amusedly. I looked at her incredulously. Bella just snorted.
"Just pick Ravel already so we can get back to planning the city," Bella said dryly. I blushed slightly.
"I wasn't going to choose Ravel." I squeaked slightly, blushing even more at how high-pitched my voice came out. Enid laughed beside me.
"We've already talked about it. It's super obvious you like her." Enid laughed at my side, clinging to my arm. I looked at her in disbelief before looking at Bella and eyeing her cautiously. Bella raised an eyebrow.
"I'll give up trying to stop you from getting women," Bella said tersely before narrowing her eyes. "But I'll still be your first wife. I hope you make that clear to the Phenex girl," Bella said definitively.
I watched her awkwardly as I opened and closed my mouth. What?... When did that happen? When did they agree to something like that?! Is this a way of saying I have free rein to be with all the women I want?! Was it a trap?!
"No, you can't bring all the women you want," Bella said dryly as she glared at me.
"I wasn't thinking about that!" I exclaimed, embarrassed as my cheeks blushed, Bella rolled her eyes.
"We decided we'd consider the women you're attracted to and then see if we approve. Although, well, most of the analysis comes from Lucius; he's a real lifesaver with his power," Enid said with a shy smile.
"It's a pleasure, my dear," Lucius said amusedly as he continued to sip his tea peacefully.
"I... you really don't care?" I asked cautiously.
"Nope!" "No," Enid and Bella said simultaneously. I grimaced as my mind raced before nodding and sighing. I looked at Lucius.
"Can-"
"I already did. I was just waiting for the moment you'd ask me to hand it over." Lucius interrupted. I sighed. Fine... I guess lets do this. I'll marry Ravel. For some reason, I couldn't help but notice that everything was moving so fast.
"Then, I guess with that settled, we can get back to city planning, for some reason." I said quickly to try and distract myself; it was all happening too fast. "We'll have a lot of work to do for a few weeks, especially you, Lucius. Most of the paperwork will fall to you." I said mockingly. Lucius's eyes twinkled as he smiled at me.
"Oh, I didn't know my birthday was coming up," Lucius said with delight. I rolled my eyes.
"Of course you'd like to have more paperwork and run an entire city," I said dryly. Lucius smiled at me.
" To practically rule a city, make laws, and decide the fates of thousands while signing papers and playing politics? It's a dream, my dear." Lucius said with a huge grin. Everyone, including Narcissa, snorted at the same time. Lucius gave Narcissa a mock-pained look. "Et tu, my love?" Lucius said long-sufferingly. Narcissa rolled her eyes as she smiled amusedly.
"I'm just kidding, you're sexy while signing papers," Narcissa purred as she pressed herself against Lucius while trailing a hand over his chest.
"They're going to make me throw up," Bella said dryly. Lucius smirked at her.
"Don't forget, Bella my dear, that we've seen you completely bound and gagged," Lucius said mockingly. Bella glared at him.
"Don't forget, I can kill you at any time, Lucy," Bella snapped. Lucius just kept smiling.
"You will do no such thing, sister." Narcissa chided as she rolled her eyes. Bella just growled at Lucius, who continued to smirk at her. Enid, next to me, was laughing at the scene.
"Fine, you can continue glaring at each other later. Let's get back to the point," I said, still wearing an amused smile on my face. Bella snorted in annoyance but stopped glaring at Lucius. "And before you start planning any more of a hypothetical stadium, let's start at the beginning. We need an estimate of how many devils we'll be receiving and prepare everything necessary," I said before they went off on another tangent. "I can easily transmute an entire city in a few hours, no matter how much is needed, so the most important thing is food."
"Unfortunately, we will have to rely on an outside source for the first few months," Lucius said bluntly. I grimaced.
"I really don't want to keep adding the Phenex into this," I said with a grimace. Lucius smiled.
"Oh, I wasn't thinking about the Phenex, but Lord Lucifer." Lucius said, and I looked at him like he was crazy.
"I'm about to marry a Phenex. I know you said he might not get mad and all, but I don't see how asking him for a favor to help a city founded with Phenex help is a good idea." I replied quickly, Lucius nodded.
"Normally, maybe. Take this with a grain of salt since I can't prove anything, but my powers are coming to the conclusion that Lord Lucifer wants to bring down Lucifaad," Lucius said seriously. My eyes widened slightly. "Not literally, but metaphorically," Lucius added. "The reason Lilith's capital was founded is because they couldn't remove the old devils from Lucifaad or the hold they had on it. They couldn't just attack the devils again once the civil war was over, so they had to settle for that."
"Lord Lucifer is fully aware of what's going on in Lucifaad, but his hands are tied. He would anger several pillar families if he interfered directly and forcefully, so he has had no choice but to stay out of it, even if he doesn't want to."
"But let's say, helping a newly ascended devil build a city where commoner devils will be much safer than in Lucifaad? Oh, he'll come running to do that right away and even help expedite all the necessary paperwork for devils to move in almost immediately." Lucius said, and I considered it.
Sirzechs could be completely ruthless when he wanted to be. He didn't win a civil war simply by talking, but he was also a bleeding heart for the Devils. If anything or anyone could help keep the Devils safe? He would definitely see to it. For that very reason, he had sealed himself with Trihexa to keep the Devils and the rest of the beings safe in canon. So Lucius is most likely right.
"Well, I guess that's the plan." I nodded in his direction.
"Can we continue planning the rest of the city now?" Narcissa asked with a smile, I moaned loudly.
"Yeah, yeah, do whatever you want," I sighed tiredly. Narcissa squealed, as did Enid. The group started throwing around ideas on how to build a city. I sighed, but I joined in too. This would be MY city. I would not be left uninvolved in its creation.
Author's notes: Harmonium/Ettemetal:
Editor’s notes: I want an anime studio in the city!
Comments
Gerrymil Garcia
I hope this leads to them working with Night Raid.
