I came to help out.”
From the looks of it, it was for ani— one of the members of [DxD] who fought together with Sairaorg; he had rushed over to the city of Bael to help with supressing the rebellion. “…[DxD] huh. I never imagined that I would receive help from them.”
From his own standpoint, he couldn’t help feeling a sense of irony. Hearing such a reply, Saji tilted his head, and a question mark floated up above his head…. Magdaran said
“It is indeed a great help.”
They then planned to leave Bael city, with Saji in the lead. In order to pacify the civilians and supress the rebellion across the whole territory, Magdaran’s own peerage had gone out, and the Bael castle was left with just his [Queen]. And now, that [Queen] had also gone out to ensure that they had a safe escape route. In order to discuss the countermeasures against Trihexa, chichihad left to meet the first generation’s Zekram Bael, who lived in seclusion. Hahahad left here early two days ago to seek refuge. The next Head of the House — ani Sairaorg had left the territory as a member of the anti-terrorist team. In other words, this Bael castle didn’t have its Lord, or the next heir, all that was here was the second son. The Great King side that was respected by the current Maous, even the Lord’s castle was now empty…. Magdaran made a sarcastic smile. Indeed, that’s how chichi was. Whenever a decision had to be made, he would rush over to the place where the previous generation and first generation had secluded themselves, and then ask for their advice. Regardless of whether it was a political affair or family affair, he had never made a single decision on his own. Hence, as long as he protected his pride and appearance, even his wife and children could be discarded without hesitation. Because he had not inherited the power of destruction, his half-brother had once been abandoned in the outskirts of the Bael territory. The second son Magdaran had been born with the power of destruction, hence Sairaorg was banished and he was selected as the next heir early on. Magdaran, who was brought up with the identity of being the next family head, had been strictly educated ever since he was young. Magdaran’s combat strength couldn’t be said to very high, but since he had inherited the power of destruction, he didn’t have to train too hard. There were actually people with an even stronger power of destruction who were born in a family outside of the House of Bael, thus Magdaran was always compared to the Gremory siblings. Having always lived under a strict educational environment, Magdaran despised Sirzechs and Rias. It was not long afterwards that he found out what the Heads of the House were thinking. Then, one day, his world changed. His half-brother Sairaorg returned from the outskirts, and declared that he desired the position of being the next Head of the House. The current head, chichi, and the first generation head laughed at Sairaorg. A Bael who didn’t possess the power of destruction trying to say that was nonsense. The current head originally wanted to cast aside ani’s words as a joke, but he decided to use this as an opportunity to truly sever their parent-child relationship, and he ordered Magdaran to be his opponent. A few minutes after the beginning of the contest to become the next Head of the House — it was ani’s overwhelming victory. Lying on the ground was Magdaran, who had inherited the power of destruction. Magdaran was powerless, the speed and power of his ani who had trained his body exceeded all expectations, and completely disregarded Magdaran’s power of destruction. Chichi, the current Head of the House also looked at Magdaran who was lying on the ground, but with a gaze that seemed as though he was looking at a pile of rubbish. Ever since then, a strange life began in the Bael castle—. The Bael family members who lived within the castle only consisted of four people: chichi as the current Head of the House, his second wife who was Magdaran’s haha, his ani Sairaorg who was the next Head of the House, and the second son who had the position of the next Head of the House taken away from him, Magdaran. Regardless of whether it was during meals, or other things, there were only these four people. As the current head, his chihci was reluctant to acknowledge the eldest son, and constantly asked the previous generation and first generation for advice on the decision; the haha, whose son had the position of the next Head of the House taken away from him held a bitter grudge, and did not conceal her dissatisfaction of living together with the eldest son. Magdaran had received the education for becoming the next head, so he had to assist his ani who had taken away his position. Every time they sat down for a meal, there was no conversation as they ate in silence. Haha withdrew early each time. Haha felt despair at her husband and child, and hatred towards Sairaorg, but still did not let go of her position as the Bael wife. Naturally, aside from government affairs, only Magdaran’s peerage would talk with him. His chichi and haha would not talk to him at home. No, thinking back about it, ever since he began to be brought up as the next Head of the House, he had never received the love that a child should have. At best he was seen as the ‘Next Great King of Bael’, and sensibly continued. …He attended the meetings between the children of other nobles, and one of their sons said to Magdaran
—It was really comfortable when my mother cleaned out my ears. Ear cleaning—. Magdaran had never received anything other than a maid since his brith. There were some children who had gone with their families to have fun at the beaches of the human world. Aside from inspecting the Bael territory, Magdaran had never gone on a trip outside of Bael territory. Let alone having a holiday together with his family—. Family…in the end, what were family for? This castle was the residence of those who had the blood of Bael flowing through them…this family. And the Bael who lived here…should also be called ‘family’ members. In the end, what was he himself? He was born as the second son, and also raised as the next Head of the House. That was then taken away, and he was left alone to be treated as someone who didn’t exist… It felt more and more painful. He no longer understood the meaning of his own life — he didn’t know his own fate, and hated this Bael castle. At some point unknown to him, there was only one blood relative who would talk with him, and that was his half-brother Sairaorg. “How have you been recently?”
“Speaking of which, this has become quite popular within our territory—”
“There’s a man called Hyoudou Issei in Team [DxD], he’s very interesting—”
Towards all of these things that brother said, Magdaran could only reply stiffly with ‘I see’, ‘Yes’, ‘oh’. Magdaran acknowledged that his brother was strong, so ridiculously strong that he didn’t even think about trying to regain the position of next head.