Aeternum: Group Chat

Aeternum: Chat Group

Chapter 2: New Possibilities (2)

Behind a large desk, a young girl with red hair was lightly biting her thumbnail. Her eyes seemed to be fixed on the floor in front of the desk, right between two sofas and a coffee table. Near her, the only light was the lamp on the desk. The rest of the room was lit by candles on some furniture that adorned the room.

Sure, she could turn on the lights, but when it was night, she liked this room to be like this. Besides being alone, this type of environment helped her calm down when she had a lot of things to think about. And, right now, she had only one thing plaguing her mind and not letting her think about anything else. Above all, and unfortunately, it was not a good thing, at least for her.

The young girl lifted one of her legs and placed it on top of the other while she raised her head and moved her finger away from her mouth. A second later she let out an annoyed sigh.

"Thinking so much won't get me anywhere," she stood up after speaking and slowly walked towards the window of the room. It was nighttime, so she couldn't see any people walking around outside, much less see any kind of pretty scenery, but it was better than just sitting for hours, which she had already done.

"Koneko already informed me of the smell that Hyoudou Issei has started to give off. And Akeno informed me that she hasn't seen anything strange," she gritted her teeth a little before rubbing her forehead with one of her hands.

"Honestly, I don't want to recruit him at a bad time... but it's hard to get close to him when he'll only be paying attention to my breasts, or Akeno's. This is so annoying!"

"Eh?", Rias Gremory blinked at seeing something strange in front of her.

[Do you want to break your engagement?... Keep your destiny close to your hands? [Let no one dictate your life?]

[If the answer is yes, just press the button][Yes] - [No]

From magic to monsters and other races, Rias Gremory had seen many things that could be considered rare or strange. However, she had never seen this kind of 'thing'. To her, who knew what magic felt like, this didn't seem like some kind of magic. She knew that the words were specifically for her, but she wasn't entirely sure what to make of it.

But... What if this could actually help her with her engagement?... Was what she thought at the time. Said engagement was what plagued her mind and she had begun to look for methods to end it, to get out of this agreement that she hated.

Rias Gremory might be someone inexperienced, but she wasn't stupid, perhaps a little naive due to that inexperience, but never stupid. She understood her parents' reason behind the engagement, but that didn't mean she had to like the idea. Perhaps, if the person wasn't Riser Phenex, then I would think about whether it's a good idea or if she would like to be married. But, the moment I hear the name of the Phenex Clan member, I hate the idea immediately.

Devils like her had some kind of trait that was superior to a human's. She didn't quite know hers, but she thought it might be greed. Her brother's, for example, was pride. However, Riser was just... kind of ugly in her opinion. No matter what race he was, but except for angels, everyone had some greed, lust, pride, gluttony, laziness or something... but Riser... he was proud, arrogant, and lustful to the point that it was disgusting.

Thinking about all this, Rias Gremory slowly moved her hand and pressed the button with the affirmative answer. The floating screen with a holographic appearance disappeared in a blue line and she had to reach out her hand to grab the smartphone that appeared out of nowhere.

When she took the phone, she blinked as she knew that there was a special app on the device. And unbeknownst to her, she didn't receive any gifts like someone else. She simply went to the settings to change her visible name for chat members.

Because, even though Princess of Destruction sounded nice, she liked her name to identify herself to other people.

What caught her attention, was that there was only one other member in the chat group, and the name really caught her attention.

Rias Gremory: Hello?... You... Are you really Harry Potter?

Harry Potter: ... Erm... Yes?... At least, the only Harry Potter I know, is myself. Who are you?

"Oh god... Is it really him?" Rias muttered in surprise. She of course knew the name Harry Potter. He was the main character of a rather entertaining book series that she had already read.

Rias Gremory: Umu... well... My name is Rias Gremory. It may be hard to believe, but I am of the devil race and... well... I know you because you are a character in a book series.

Rias moved around the phone and immediately searched for some website where she could download the books. And in fact, it only took a second for the device to search for such a thing and another second to download all the books.

"So fast..." Rias blinked at the download speed. She then sent the download through the chat and waited for a reply. After about thirty minutes and moments of impatience, she heard a notification and opened her eyes as she finished reading the reply.

Harry Potter: It's definitely me!... But this is just hard to digest!... The first pages of the first book match my life and I can remember it perfectly!

Harry Potter: But wait... Does this mean you're from another... world? Universe?... This is so complicated! Not only because I found out that my life could be captured in books! But also because of the damn missions and travels section I just opened!"

"Eh?" Rias tilted her head and noticed an icon on the top right of the chat. It was three parallel lines that displayed a menu with several categories: [Shop] [Quests] [Travel] [Exchange].

Rias first entered the shop, noticing many other categories, from weapons to skills and magic. In fact, there were even magics she didn't know about! Completely unbelievable things from their descriptions that could help her! Unfortunately, they cost what were called chat points. These points were earned in two ways: by completing quests or by exchanging things with other members of the chat group.

Quests were, as their name said, quests or tasks that the chat would launch from time to time. Each of them involved at least two members of the chat and they would have to travel to different worlds to complete them. This was at least with the main quests of the chat group.

Travels were related to quests, but not so closely linked. One could travel to a world already visited by means of points, or tickets that could be obtained through rewards. This meant that they could travel as many times as they wanted as long as they had the necessary!

Rias Gremory: True... But it's still amazing! The possibility of traveling to other worlds is wonderful! One could encounter so many things or discover things that we could consider fantasies!"

Harry Potter: Yeah... In fact, I don't even know what to think about the Devil thing. Do you actually eat souls?"

Rias rolled her eyes, but a small smile appeared on her face. That was always what many humans asked when they met a Devil. But, the reason for her smile was two different things: the first was being able to talk to someone like Harry Potter, who she considered just a character and not someone real. The second was because she felt much calmer not having to think about her commitment.

Rias Gremory:... No, actually that was a long time ago. Now we simply help humans or other races who have requests. By doing this, we charge for the work in many different ways. Simply put, we fulfill the wishes of others and receive rewards of various kinds. Of course, we also have the right to reject any wish that goes against our principles.

Harry Potter: ... Oh... I'm sorry if I offended you in any way.

Rias Gremory: Don't worry, it's just a misunderstanding that we'll always have to deal with.

Rias was about to go back to writing when the sound of a notification rang again and she was surprised to see a window appear hiding a part of the chat.

[Event available]

[A First Trip to the Shinobi World]

(2 members required)

- Objectives -

[Add a new member to the chat group][Defend Konohagakure no Sato]

[Important: Members of the chat group will gain the ability to understand any language they hear, this to facilitate communication. Also, the world each member belongs to will have its time stopped until the return of said person]

Rias blinked twice before starting to write.

Rias Gremory: It seems that the first mission has already appeared.

Harry Potter: ... Yes... And I'm honestly nervous. We don't even know what we'll meet. But I think we have to go... not just for the possible rewards. Currently we don't know who sent or created this thing. Maybe we'll know more if we have more members.

Rias Gremory: You're right... then I think we can meet now.

Harry Potter: Yes... we'll see each other wherever this thing sends us.

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