The group was sitting on wooden chairs facing each other with a metal table separating them, inside a small shop barely the size of an average room with only 5 seating places like this.
No one spoke, just staring at each other with their own thoughts running wild, while outsiders stared at them like watching a circus.
A young boy with a cheerful smile approached them, "So, what will you gentlemen like aye?" His voice is highly energetic.
"Five hot coffees, and Osh baby pancakes, same number please." Johan replied in an equally cheerful voice, his eyes emotionless, but his lips smiling.
The boy nodded repeatedly, the smile never left his face as he placed five metal cups on the table—one in front of each of them, while placing a metal jug filled to the top with water in the center.
"Just tell me James, I would really prefer getting over this sooner than later." Velmire spoke with a forced smile, chugging down the cup of water Orihime filled for him.
"But first tell me what the hell is going on damn!" Orihime screamed with a frown, they had been just cautiously staring at each other the whole night, like playing some mind game, while the girl with them wanted to kill her and Velmire, Orihime could feel her blood thirst.
"The energy you sensed earlier… it was of a high-level devil." Velmire, looking at Johan who was just quietly reading one of the books Velmire gave with a composed smile, not even replying to him, chose to focus on Orihime first.
Orihime's eyes widened, her lips parting as the jug almost fell from her hands if not for Kirin grabbing her hand before it could fall, 'You won?' Without caring about any other thing, she just directly asked with a grin.
"...Yes, but he is still very much alive, and even currently in the Crimson Empire." Velmire lied with a straight face. If he confessed the truth of how badly he lost, it would completely crush her confidence, and hope.
And, in Velmire's opinion, if they lost hope even before fighting, they would lose the battle, there's not even a need to fight then.
Both Sebastian and Kirin also listened very carefully, their eyes filled with curiosity as Johan was yet to tell them anything.
"His name is Lucifer…" Velmire went through every ability Lucifer had—Kratos, that ability to transport to different realities, physical strength that could break a black hole, while hiding every detail that might lead her to think that Velmire lost.
Thud!
The young brown-skinned boy placed five big mugs of coffee in front of them, the sweet aroma of coffee and raw honey filling their noses.
"This our specialty aye, we only get the honey out of the beehive when we need to put it in our coffee, our beans are also always less than a week old, this will be the best coffee you fancy people have ever drank!" he said enthusiastically, grinning ear to ear politely.
All the light on Orihime's pale white face had completely vanished, this was crazy, absolutely crazy.
A Devil existing was already crazy, they were allegedly wiped out by the Goddess of creation herself, it was all over, so seeing a Devil was like an international discovery, and a high-level Devil that could cause Velmire problems?
"We should contact the church and hunter organization, no maybe even the Aurelian Empire as soon as possible…" Orihime said, fanatically gulping the perfectly hot coffee, it lived up to what the brown-skinned boy yapped about.
"Hmm, I will inform Astreus for now. There is nothing the hunter organization could do, as the only person who could be valuable—the Mantle of Rust—is participating in the Doomsday Trial, and will most likely die inside. And I don't trust Radhaan enough to share this." Velmire shook his head, leisurely taking a sip of the sweet coffee, letting the liquid rest on the center of his tongue to absorb the bitter yet sweet taste, but suddenly—
He spat some of the coffee, before swallowing it with a cough as he felt all three of his 'allies' giving him strange looks. 'Did I say something wrong?' he thought to himself before giving a forced smile.
The three of them reverted back to normal, their behavior definitely strange to Orihime and Velmire.
"Makes sense, Radhaan is definitely sketchy, but… if we need him, don't hesitate because of your stupid pride or something." Orihime warned. No matter how much she didn't like Radhaan, his status as the strongest man alive couldn't be denied.
Few more minutes passed in silence, the pancakes arrived and they were better than anything Johan had in his previous life, perfectly soft texture, and really refreshing sweetening with a little bit of saltiness.
Johan leaned back on the chair, his eyes still showing no emotion, he clutched the black ring he was wearing, as if trying to relax his thoughts. "Alright, now shall we get to the deal we agreed upon." His lips curled upwards in his usual evil grin.
All four of them got serious, their eyes completely focused on Johan, not saying a word.
Velmire's heart pounded as he unconsciously grabbed the soft hand of Orihime by his side. Orihime pressed it with her other hand, taking Velmire's hand close to her lower waist, and let her warmth seep into his bones.
He calmed down a lot from this small action.
"First, make a seal for me. I will describe it as clearly as I can, but you will improve where you find the chance to." Johan said calmly, staring straight into Velmire's soul.
Velmire pulled out a small handbook from the bag Orihime brought, manifesting a pen out of thin air. "Yes?" he got in full business mode, as if he was a tailor about to take measurements.
"A divine-level illusion spell that doesn't just cast an illusion, but makes it exist. I heard there is a spell that lets a person enter an illusion world for millions of years and no one can break it no matter what, as the illusions are so real." Johan took a breath, and with a soft all-knowing smile, he continued.
"I want something similar to it. It creates a completely new reality for the victim rather than just an eye trick. No one should be able to tell the real world and illusion apart, and it should be able to be cast through aether or mana connection, like as my mana touches the victim's mana, it should activate." Johan explained everything seriously. He had considered this for a long time.
For what he had planned, he could see this spell being a great boon for it. It will only make it easier. Even though not perfect, there was still a chance this could significantly lower the risks of making the real plan work.
But, there was always a little gamble in everything.
Velmire jotted everything down neatly in different swirl patterns, weird line breaks, and random code words only he would understand.
He can't really create such a high-level illusion spell, but he knew someone who could, definitely. After all, they were the one who created the Devil in the new dress—this is just an inferior version of that.
"Alright, I can get it in… 2–3 days. What about the final request?" Velmire asked, taking a deep breath as he felt the familiar warmth sting in his heart—a sign that the second request was complete.
Johan's grin widened. "For the last and final request…" he turned towards Orihime, her face still filled with pancake crumbs which she was trying to lick off clean instead of just wiping off with a napkin.
"I want Orihime."