The Devil's Playmate

SEVENTEEN

   The whole meeting with Beelzebub's personal council didn't go exactly to what Benjamin thought honestly.

He thought everyone here would either hate him or try to kill him since... well, Benjamin is a human and they're all demons. Wasn't it the natural order for them to despise each other? It seems so considering the thousands of years of many humans having been plagued with strange nightmares and supernatural occurrences, along with demonic possessions just because of demons and evil spirits lurking around.

Apparently, everyone here seems to ignore that supposed order. They were acting so friendly that it made Benjamin restless.

Benjamin was sitting right next to Belial, nervously scooting closer to him with every passing second as the demons around them continued to grow. All of them wore happy smiles and was courteous in greeting Benjamin. They even continued to pile their offerings and presents on Belial's lap, hardly caring if he minded or not.

"You're still in school, yes?"

Rimmon, a so-called demonic god, was now named one of the dukes under Asmodeus in Hell. According to Belial, he appeared as the god of Syrians who opposed Israel. And while Benjamin was intimidated by that fact, Rimmon was nothing but kind to the human and made an effort to speak with him even though Benjamin was too nervous to keep the conversation going.

"Yes, I am..."

"Education is a very important thing. Are you sure you can handle doing schoolwork while being in this council?"

"I-I don't know... maybe," Benjamin confessed. It's not like he even wanted to be here in the first place as Beelzebub's right-hand man.

Rimmon could tell what the boy was thinking of and gave him a sympathetic look.

"I hope you can then. Being the right-hand of Lord Beelzebub is always annoying."

Benjamin felt the atmosphere sour when he saw Adramelech approach the group with his own hoard of attendants. The Grand Chancellor of Hell and the Order of the Fly stopped in front of the human, gazing down at him coldly.

Benjamin stammered out, "I'm sure he doesn't really mean... for me to take your position."

"Of course, he does. Lord Beelzebub tends to do whatever he wants considering his positions as one of the supreme rulers of Hell, but he always means what he says," Adramelech retorted. He sat down next to Moloch and Melchom, dismissing their respectful nods to greet him. "So, Benjamin, how exactly did you manage to become friends with the Sin of Gluttony?"

There were too many demons around that were trying to listen in. Benjamin glanced at them, finding it hard to speak.

But he replied anyways despite his nerves. His explanation was a little hard to hear since he wasn't a very loud talker, and it wasn't very climatic since he made a stereotypical deal with the devil which led him to meet Beelzebub and Eligos.

Adramelech raised an eyebrow at the story. It shouldn't be possible for any human to summon the emperor of this domain. If they wanted a direct audience, they would have to go through certain demons instead, if those demons would even offer up their time for a mere mortal. Other than that, some demons straight up just massacre whoever summoned them.

But to hear Benjamin using a book to get Lucifer?

"Who gave you that book again?" Belial asked.

"This woman just... gave me the book and told me to recite this one line. She said I'd get a friend if I did it..." Benjamin slowly trailed off when the demons simply stared at him.