If they mated with races other than humans, then the child born from them would have the characteristics of that race. That was why Kuroka pushed herself onto me and Vali, she hoped to obtain the strong genes of a dragon. The surface of the mirror was almost like the screen of a television, it was rather grainy and difficult to see the person on the other side. It was completely different to when I saw jii-chan just a moment ago. […I-I am…I-I am…]
They finally spoke…but there was too much fuzziness and I couldn’t hear them properly. The Ungaikyo added
<<It seems like he’s even forgotten his own name. His speech is also fragmented, so he can probably only listen.>>
…Why is it like this? Just what did he do? Rias faced the man who didn’t even have a clear appearance and said
“Toujou…no, do you remember the Nekomata sisters Shirone and Kuroka?”
There was a brief silence. The fuzzy voice then responded
[…Neko-mata…Fujimai…]
It seemed as though he could still remember his wife’s name…but Koneko-chan and Kuroka — he seemed to have forgotten the names of his daughters? Magari-san asked
“That’s right. They’re the Nekomata that you took away. …What did you do to those girls? No, this is how I should ask. What did you do to those children after taking them away to that place?”
And then we — learned the shocking truth. [……Took them to…the Naberius House…. There…I…wanted…to makeSuper Devils…acquired artificial methods, to make modified Devils…I did that kind of…research…]
……Super Devils, artificial methods, and modified Devils…? “Super Devils can be made artificially! ?”
I couldn’t help but cry out! Koneko-chan’s father was associated with the research that Kuroka’s former master of the branch family of the Naberius House conducted…? And that research was on — artificially producing Super Devils after birth…! T-This is somewhat beyond what we envisioned, isn’t it? Neither Rias, Akeno-san, Ravel, Sona-senpai, nor Shinra-senpai had imagined that this would be the case, and they were all extremely shocked. Rias narrowed her eyes as she said
“…It looks like we’ve stepped into an area that people should not encroach upon.”
…That seems to be the case. This is super top secret research. Ah, so that’s why the Maou-sama’s soldiers rushed over to destroy most of the research material. Someone felt that something was amiss, and that’s why the order was given for it to be destroyed. As the topic began to veer towards a bad direction, I couldn’t help but feel my heartbeat accelerating. A small portion of the higher-ups in the Underworld were aware of the internal situation, and that’s why certain theories emerged and they wanted to get rid of Kuroka and Koneko-chan. It would have been troublesome if the top secret research in artificially creating Super Devils after birth was not completely erased. Koneko-chan’s father continued. [That was…the wish of that person of the Naberius House…and also the external…order…from…Nebiros.] “Nebiros…! That name has actually come up here…!”
Rias and the others were highly surprised. Aside from me, it seemed like all of the Devils knew about that name. Seeing my confused expression, Rias explained
“…You know that the Lucifugus House served the first-generation Lucifers, right? In ancient times, there were a total of six Houses, including Lucifugus that served the Lucifers.”
Those six Houses were Lucifugus, Agaliarept, Satanachia, Fleurety, Sargatanas and Nebiros. Some of those families are still surviving today, though there were also some families that cut off contact with the government in the previous Devil Civil War and have gone missing. And Nebiros was one of those unknown missing houses. Sona-senpai spoke in a speculative tone whilst holding her hand to her chin
“…The branch family of Naberius and Nebiros were connected…. I’ve heard rumours that during the Great War of the Three Factions, the vassals of the Nebiros House included the Naberius House.”
Koneko-chan’s father continued to speak in a broken manner. […Fujimai was a good Nekomata…research on creating artificial Super Devils…not only did she help me…she herself…also seemed to have fallen in love with me…and would do anything I said.] It seemed as though Koneko-chan’s mother helped her husband with his research. I asked Magari-san
“Did you know about this?”
“I didn’t know about it in such detail. However, I only knew that Fujimai fell in love with a human who researched bad things. I also advised her not to continue.”
…I see. It looks like Koneko-chan’s mother fell in love with a bad person. I had something worrying on my mind, so I asked that person
“U-Umm, Kone — Shirone and Kuroka, the names of these two Nekomata…they’re the children you had with Fujimai-san, don’t you remember! ?”
After a moment of silence, he replied to me
[…Now that you mention it…Fujimai…indeed birthed two cats.] —What! …O-Of course! That’s not going to change! He actually saidtwo-hiki!Isn’t that way too strange!? I couldn’t resist grabbing the mirror and shouting
“Don’t you remember!? The sisters, they’re cute girls, one with black ears and a tail, and the other with snow-white ears and a tail! Aren’t they your daughters! ?”
[…I can’t remember…their names…I can’t recall either…though now that you mention it, Fujimai did indeed mention such names…]
……. ……I-I can’t possibly forgive such words…. His wife…no, he took the Nekomata away for research…he clearly had children, but didn’t even know. Correction, he didn’t acknowledge them. …Something like this, there’s no way I can tell Koneko-chan…. …Your father used your mother for the sake of his research, and although he was your father, he can hardly remember anything about you…! I was already shivering and burning with rage. Ravel also held my hand with a sorrowful expression. Ravel felt the same as me. Koneko-chan’s father continued
[…That’s right, I remember one thing…Fujimai…gave the hair ornament to…the black cat…in case anything happened…to hide the research results…the one who knows this…Naberius…and that person…Nebiros’…]
Koneko-chan’s hair ornament matched this information—. That cat-shaped hairclip was actually meant to hide the research results…? Rias and Sona-senpai seemed to have reached a conclusion. “The reason why the Grim Reapers are targeting Koneko-chan is…because of that. That girl’s hair ornament has always been treated as a memento of her mother.”
“Thanatos’ aim is probably the research on artificially creating Super Devils. Although we don’t know where he heard this information from, it’s at least a great step forward now that we know the reason.”
It was indeed a good harvest to find out about Thanatos’ motive. …Though I couldn’t say anything because I was still in shock…. However, I was curious about something, so I asked Rias
“Koneko-chan’s hairclip, didn’t you give that to her, Rias? In the past, Koneko-chan told me that she got it from you.”
“The one she normally wears is the one that I gave her. But she also has another one.