Chapter 44: The importance of time

Chapter 44: The importance of time

Tom and Natasha spent a few more minutes with the now awakened Misla and Sairaorg. When the confused woman learned what happened to her and that Tom was the one to help her, she started profusely thanking him and that got awkward really fast.

She wanted to pay him for it and while Tom was quite a shameless individual and proud of it, he refused. Being paid three times for one job sounded damn delicious but unfortunately, Misla only offered money and Tom didn't need that. Maybe if she offered something else...?

It didn't take long after that for Tom and Natasha to 'retreat' and leave the room, letting Sarael deal with the consequences of someone being cured of the Sleeping Sickness.

The old devil was openly cussing and glaring at Tom as he realized the shitstorm coming his way when the Devil Council and the other nobles got to know Misla was cured. Sarael expected months of experiments, which would give him time to prepare. Not even in his wildest dreams, did he dare to think that Tom would just walk in and an hour later, walk out with Misla awake!

Tom couldn't help but show him a cheeky satisfied smile as he teleported home. His goals were accomplished, his theories confirmed, and his path forward clear. Now he only had to walk it.

He decided to wait for the chaos to erupt and for the noble families to start begging Sarael to heal their family members too. That should make Sarael nervous since he didn't have the means to do it and the political pressure on his family should be at least a bit concerning.

Tom definitely did this as revenge for the old devil always messing with him. Serves the prick right.

He planned to let Sarael and the other noble families stew in anxiety for a while. That should make them more amenable to the same secrecy contracts he put Sarael under and force them to give Tom good offers. After all, Tom couldn't really do his thing if somebody observed what was going on.

On top of that, Sarael would want to win political brownie points with other houses too so he shouldn't be averse to being the middle-man and figurehead for these deals between the other pillar houses and Tom, allowing Tom to stay under the radar.

Oh, Tom couldn't wait! He had a few hundreds of sleeping devils just waiting to be milked for their magic and life energy by him!

The best part? Their family will completely willingly pay millions for it.

...

After arriving home, Natasha prepared hot chocolate and they sat on the couch in their living room, Natasha taking up her usual spot on Tom's lap. She didn't instantly burst into questioning mode and rather let the mood between them become comfortable as they cuddled and occasionally kissed while enjoying their drink.

Only when they both were completely relaxed did Natasha slowly ask the question that bothered her the most.

"Yes, darling." Tom, happy that she caught up so fast, pecked her on the nose, eliciting a small involuntary giggle from her, "I focus on alchemy. It's creative magic with a lot of versatility. I am not going to throw that versatility away just because I have access to the most destructive magic in the supernatural world. It's that kind of versatility in my way of interacting with magical energies that allowed you to get the Power of Destruction in the first place."

Tom knew most people would jump at the possibility of having the Power of Destruction but... until now, Tom was walking his own path. The path he made into a possibility with his own ability, Sacred Gear, and ingenuousness.

And it was working.

God. He actually managed to steal a freaking Power of Destruction and nobody had any idea about it! How friggin' cool was that!?

Throwing his future possibilities of creativity just to train a wipe-all type of magic?

Screw that.

Tom was not doing it.

Natasha was in a different position than him though.

"Plus, you are an assassin, Natalia." Tom said and Natasha stiffened a bit.

She didn't like her occupation. She wasn't proud of what she was. And the last blunder with the Jasin Family made her very embarrassed. But Natasha knew her way of thinking was inevitably affected by her childhood. She just... couldn't stop being herself.

"Nobody said you gotta use the Power of Destruction like a hot-headed idiot and charge head-on at your enemy. The ability to destroy anything in the hands of the best mundane human assassin. I want to see it, you know?" Tom's smile turned into a curious grin and his brown eyes gained a peculiar glint as he exclaimed in a firm voice, "I want to see just how far you can go with it."

And that... was all the motivation Natasha needed.

She no longer cared why Tom gave her the Power of Destruction. He had his reasons. It was not important to her. The reality was that she possessed it now and to show how much she appreciated that, she would train it and make herself useful to Tom.

She will show him her worth and become a pillar he could depend on! Her resolve was firmly set.