The Saint's Trial: Can He Resist Their Charm!?

A few months after Hiroto's 'disappearance', the Underworld was thrown into turmoil.

Some of the events that transpired, after Rowan threatened to destroy the whole Devildom, made the upper echelons of the current Devildom to be thrown into panic.

The four Great Maous have discussed what precautions they should take after this major event. They quickly ordered their trusted subordinates and the members of their peerage to patrol all over the Underworld and eradicate the tumors under their rule.

The large amount of Holy energy that Rowan emitted, when he visited the Underworld, startled a lot of the devils that are wary of a war breaking out. They quickly started packing up and canceled all of their shady operations to change their locations, which made their shady businesses obvious to the Maous.

One of the major changes that happened while Hiroto is away, was the mindset of Rias and Sona. Losing Hiroto was a huge blow for them, making them remember each and every word he said before he was gone.

They took training seriously and even asked their older siblings on how to improve their control of their innate magic elements.

As for Tannin, he received a gift that is more than what he expected.

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It happened a year after Rowan took Hiroto away.

It was another normal day for the Blaze Meteor dragon. He is roaming around the vicinity of his territory in the underworld to eliminate the so-called 'pests'. Although he is an Ultimate Class Devil in his political ranking, his power is stronger, compared to the current Maou, Sirzechs Lucifer and Ajuka Beelzebub.

That is why he try to keep it hidden when he is roaming around his territory. While he is flying quite leisurely, a sudden burst of holy aura was emitted.

He was shocked and looked around. He was there when Rowan said that Hiroto's parents will destroy the Underworld at some point, that is why the sudden spike of aura alerted him.

While the previous Dragon King is looking around, a man around his late twenties suddenly appeared right in front of him.

He is Rowan, but this time, he has 3 pairs of wings, double the size of a normal angel's wings, that radiates a silver radiance. His cold and fierce eyes looked at the dragon and his lips showed a rare smile that he only shows in a few occasions.

"It's been a while Tannin. I trust that you're doing fine?" he asked.

Tannin was startled by the sudden question and looked at the source of the voice. When he spotted Rowan, he was a bit shocked, but chose to ask a question that's been bothering him ever since.

"Um… Mr. Rowan, might I ask what the reward you were talking about, is? I am simply curious as to what merit did I do to deserve such a gift from you," Tannin said seriously, not like he isn't all the time. Due to experiencing many wars and hardsh.i.p.s, his mentality as a warrior grew, resulting in him always having a straight face even when faced with jokes.

"That? I think you already heard it from when I first visited this world but, young master is the son of two powerful beings. His mother is, although I don't know if it would suffice to describe her like this, an overprotective one. That is the reason why I came down here to give the little girls a bit of scolding. If I didn't come down and I let madam come down here herself… let's just say that we wouldn't be here talking with each other," said Rowan while smiling wryly.

He knew for a fact that the madam would, no questions asked, immediately obliterate this planet from the surface of the universe if she didn't control her anger.

'Good thing the other madams aren't here to witness what happened to young master. Although Queen Gabriel can be overprotective and unreasonable, she can still control her rage. But her sisters would definitely gang up and destroy these poor little devils. I really am thankful that the old geezers are keeping them busy for now,' he thought.

"As for your reward, I am here to hand it over to you right now. Although it isn't much, I hope you don't mind it, " he said.

"It is completely fine even if you don't reward me anything, Mr. Rowan. I am fond of the little boy and I just took care of him for 4 short years, it isn't much," Tannin said.

"It may not be much for you, but for his family, it is much appreciated. You see, there is no one who could teach him on how to stop being so dense. It was a major problem, even for his mother. The technique you taught him proved that young master is a genius, while simultaneously making him become aware of other people's feelings towards him," said Rowan.

As he was talking, he took out 16 pieces of soldier-like miniature figurines. He then infused a bit of his power in it and made it float in front of him. After doing all that, he pointed at the 8 pieces that are arranged neatly in a row.

The figurines have a semblance with foot soldiers. They are wearing plate armor, a sword in their right hand, and a buckler on the other.

"This is what I named the Birse Pieces*. Since dragons in mythologies are often associated with wrath/anger, I took it upon myself to name these things. Like what the devil's so-called Evil Pieces, this one can also reincarnate humans, or other races for that matter, into a drake, the very first rank in your, dragons, Racial Evolution Tree. They would get you racial traits, such as; Resilient body*, accelerated regeneration, much better memory retention, and a bonus random element affinity," explained Rowan. He then took one piece of each from the pairs of rook, bishop, and knight.

(A/N: About this resilient thingy. It is something similar to a Saiyan's constitution. The reason why Rowan gave him a system, is to manage his battle maniac kins. Why? Because they got addicted to the feeling of gaining strength to fighting with their fists. After a battle, their bodies would become more durable and they would gain more strength. Like a saiyan! Although not as broken as those saiyans.)

Holding out the rook piece, which has the appearance of a miniature robot tank that has two cannons placed above its shoulders, he continued,

"This one right here is a rook piece. I know that you studied how to play chess due to the Rating Games, so you probably know the effects and boosts to the reincarnated devils depending on each piece, am I right? The one that I showed you earlier is the pawn piece of this Birse Pieces, and it grants the reincarnated drake an overall boost to their physical abilities. Although for a brief moment, they can also gain the boost specialized boosts of each officials just by promoting. By now, I think you understand that these things have a similar function to the Evil pieces, correct?" Rowan asked.

"Yes, aside from the different perks from reincarnating into a drake, the boosts should be similar, right?" Tannin inquired.

"That is correct. The one reincarnated as a pawn gains a 2× boost to their physical attributes, while the more specialized one like knights, bishops, and rooks gains a 3× boost to their specialties such as; speed, magic, and strength and defense, respectively," Rowan explained.

"What appearance would they take if they were reincarnated as a drake?" Tannin asked further. He is really fascinated by the things in front of him. These things are really similar to the Evil Pieces. What Tannin didn't know is these pieces are more powerful than the Evil Pieces. It is solely because of one perk that a person will gain after reincarnating into a drake, and that is, resilient body.

"They will still take the appearance of a human, but they can transform into a drake if they willed it. Enough of this, onto the next gift. I have noticed that your Dragon Gods aren't helping you to take care of your race. That is why we decided to help you rank up, give you a pocket dimension where you dragons can stay, and a similar system that the previous Archangel created, to manage your own kin's action," after saying all that, Rowan clapped and 3 things floated in front of Tannin. Those three things were a white flame, a ball of fire, and a large device that is completely foreign to a warrior like him.

=====

Remembering that event really made him reel in shock and awe. It is completely shocking to obtain such generous rewards out of the blue.

After receiving those gifts, he and the dragons decided to make their previous territory's location as the entrance point of the pocket dimension.

It is quite understandable since Tannin still insisted to help out with his previous peerage from time to time. For him, he still feels like he owes Mephisto Pheles a debt of gratitude.

"Even though I became an Ancient Dragon like Great Red and Ophis, I still have a long way to go before I can attain my own Divinity," said Tannin while looking at a distance. He remembered the last words that Rowan told him.

"You don't have to worry about young master, he is doing well right now. Besides, he will come back to this world eventually. That is his 'trial', after all."

(Alternative Titles: 'The Wrath Pieces? No, it's BIRSE B******!!', 'Generous Rewards from a Doting Parent', 'Rowan is Gaining the Credit from Another Person's Deed!')

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A typhoon struck our house and literally destroyed our roof. The electrical supply is down so I won't be able to post a new chapter for a while. I hope you give me some slack.

About my pat reon, even though I haven't updated it for the past week, I hope you guys would support me there (this is completely voluntary). It's more on an emotional support for me, knowing that people would throw in some penny so I can buy some coffee (I'm completely serious about this statement). It is similar to receiving power stones and thank you's for my effort.

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I hope you guys will have a blessed life ahead, and I will see you next update!