“All right! It’s finally time for our retreat! Three days, and two nights!” Mammon’s attitude had done a reversal, and he was now sounding quite enthusiastic about the situation. Melody leaned on her luggage at the top of the stairs. Well, at least he wouldn’t be grumbling about it. However, she couldn’t say the same for his brothers.

“Mammon, you’re being really loud,” griped Leviathan.

“Aw, what’s wrong with you, Levi? Get that grumpy look off your face, killjoy! Ah, I know what’s going on here. You stayed up real late last night playin’ games and readin’ manga and stuff, didn’t ya? Yup, I knew it! One point for Mammon!” Naturally, Mammon loved the feeling of being right. Unfortunately, it was a very rare day in the Devildom when anyone would acknowledge that he was right… even when he actually was.

“You’re like… too excited right now, Mammon, and it’s really annoying.”

“Mammon being annoying is nothing new, but yeah… this morning he’s ESPECIALLY annoying,” grumbled Satan, arriving with his own luggage.

Before Mammon could get riled up too much, he was interrupted by the soft thud of Melody carefully walking down the stairs. Not only did she have a pull-case in each hand, but a backpack on her back. She looked way too loaded down, and thus was being very cautious in her descent. The three brothers present looked up at her. Levi and Mammon looked mildly concerned, but Satan just looked surprised. Nothing so far had indicated that Melody was an overly material person. In fact, Asmo had mentioned on several occasions that Melody didn’t have much in the way of clothing. What was in all those bags?

“Actually, he wasn’t only up playing games and reading,” Melody said, a bit breathlessly as she made her way down the stairs.

“Oi! Give one of those bags here, or you’ll hurt yourself, and I’ll never hear the end of it from Lucifer,” Mammon said. For a moment, Melody was about to refuse, but then she smiled gratefully and offered him the bag. Satan just shook his head. In his experience, he had never seen a human, with a pact, so blatantly ignore its usage. Was she truly so unaware of the power she held? She could have gotten Beel, Levi, or Mammon to treat her like a princess, but it didn’t seem to occur to her.

“Whoa, Beel, that bag of yours is way too big! Pff, I bet it’s stuffed with food, ain’t it?” Mammon said as he turned away from Melody. Speaking of Beel and bags, the Avatar of Gluttony had appeared, with a rather large bag. Melody suspected it was one of his Fangol bags that he had temporarily re-purposed for the retreat. And it did look very heavy. Still, she gave him a smile, which he briefly returned before frowning again.

“What about Asmodeus? I’d say he’s the one you should be criticizing when it comes to luggage,” Beel pointed out mildly, gesturing to Asmo, who had come puffing up behind him. But, Asmo wasn’t at all bothered by the metaphorical finger-pointing.

“Gooood morning, everyone! My, you’re all early!” he chirped, looking as pretty as always. Melody often wondered how he managed that; she’d never seen him on a ‘bad’ day. “Ugh, I just couldn’t decide how I wanted to do my hair this morning, you know? It took so much time…” Of course, that would be Asmo’s complaint! Melody put a hand up to her very basic ponytail, nothing fancy. At least he had promised to help her with her hair the night of the dinner and dance. Now, if only she could be sure he was the kind to keep a promise.

“…Asmodeus. WHY do you have so much luggage?” Satan often seemed like he was in cahoots with Asmo, as far as Melody had observed, but that didn’t stop him from giving his younger brother a jab now and then.

“Yeah. It’s only for two nights, ya know?” piped up Mammon, wanting to get his shots in too. “You think you’re headin’ off on a tour of the three worlds or somethin’?”

“This is actually quite a bit less than what I wanted to bring.” Asmo wasn’t having any of it. He looked cross for a moment. Then he brightened and turned to Melody. “But Melody was such a dear and lent me a tiny bit of her space to pack a few extra items.” Mammon almost dropped the bag he had helped Melody with, staring at it as though it were a bill of debt.

“Why’d you have to go help him of all people?” Mammon objected. Melody winced slightly.

“Well, he was going to help me with my hair, and makeup, and things. So, he wanted to make sure that he had the right equipment with him, plus, I feel like I owe him for helping me. It… just made sense.” Mammon opened his mouth to protest, but then the final brother arrived, cutting all conversation short.

“It looks like everyone’s here,” he said calmly. “It won’t do to keep Diavolo waiting. We should head over to the Demon Lord’s Castle right now. I want to get there before the angels and Solomon do.” His glare said that now would be a bad time to delay things any further. Melody tightened her hands on her backpack straps. While Lucifer had been entirely civil since the incident in the tomb, she still wasn’t entirely over her fears.

Since everyone had luggage, the group of them piled into a large van that was rented for the trip out. While Mammon had his own car, he rarely used it, and it wouldn’t fit everyone. Lucifer had a car he used, primarily for shopping, but it had the same difficulty. It was rare enough for all of them to go to the same place, at the same time, with enough of a burden to make flying, or running, impractical. They lived fairly close to RAD, and most of them were in good enough shape to walk regularly, even Levi and Melody.

During that ride, Melody told herself that she never wanted to be in the car with all of them again if she could help it. Crammed into such a small space, their arguments seemed even louder and more oppressive than usual, and she had to put all her efforts into just breathing and staying calm. Everyone except Lucifer, and Beel, were intent on sniping each other with complaints and insults. Lucifer listened with the air of a martyr, and Beel mostly kept his face full of snacks he had brought. Finally, Lucifer issued a few threats which made Melody pale, and they managed to have a short span of peace for a few moments. When they arrived, she couldn’t get out of the vehicle fast enough.

Fortunately, when she went to unload her luggage, she was told it would be brought in, and not to worry, but to go on inside. It was then that she looked up. The Demon Lord’s Castle was… everything it was said to be. The structure was beautiful, haunting, and every inch the fairy-tale item that Asmodeus described. However, Melody was still sure that even a beautiful place like this could hide the threats that Mammon had mentioned. Whether or not the Demon Prince condoned such things, she had no way of knowing. He seemed nice enough to her, the few times she had actually stopped to talk to him.

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“Oi, get your head out of the clouds and get inside,” Mammon said, prodding her gently in the back, since she was no longer wearing her backpack.

“Oh, yes, I’m sorry,” Melody replied sheepishly, following him into the Castle, keeping close so she didn’t lose her way. While she couldn’t know the layout of the building, she could tell it was rather grand from the outside, and it was exactly the kind of place she would get lost in. Fortunately for her, Mammon didn’t speed ahead, but even if he had, the chances of her getting lost were actually lower than she expected. As soon as they entered through the double doors, she found herself in a large room which was so opulent, it made the dining room at the House of Lamentation look positively ordinary. Gold was worked into the bulk of the décor, to the point that the light reflecting off it stained the marble floor yellow. Everything was shined to a high polish, and the walls were lined with portraits. Skulls peered at her from the tops of marbled columns, and a double-sided, grand-stair case dominated the far back, bracketed around a two-floor tall set of windows, draped in red.

Melody’s jaw dropped, and she felt like a codfish. Realizing it probably made her look rude, she shut her mouth quickly. Diavolo was there waiting, with his usual beaming smile, arms spread wide in a gesture of welcome. It felt a lot like when she first arrived. At least she was more used to the Devildom by now, but, castles were still something new to her. Barbatos, as expected, was standing beside his Lord, and a little behind, his calm expression a wonderful counterpoint to the Prince’s enthusiasm.

“Well, good morning. I must say, I couldn’t wait for you to arrive!” Diavolo’s words were more heartfelt than proper.

“Welcome to the Demon Lord’s Castle. It’s a pleasure to have you here.” Barbatos’ greeting was far more clipped and subdued, his expression betraying nothing.

“Good morning, Diavolo. And you too Barbatos.” Lucifer’s mannerisms were closer to Barbatos’ than Diavolo’s, but with a much more tired sound to them. But then the barest of smiles graced his lips as he continued on. “Well, it seems that neither Solomon nor the angels have arrived yet, have they?”

“Man, now that’s just shameless. Listen to you pre…” Mammon didn’t get far though. Melody could tell this would not go over well with Lucifer, and she didn’t want to see them fighting this soon into the retreat. Actually, it wouldn’t even be a fight; it would be Lucifer saying something intimidating, or hitting Mammon, and Mammon withdrawing, probably with a yelp and a complaint. So, she acted quickly and ‘slipped’, clutching at Mammon’s arm. Blushing, he immediately forgot what he was saying to Lucifer. In that moment Melody caught Lucifer’s raised eyebrows, and she looked away, her face sporting its own embarrassed blush.

“Well, Mammon, I see you’ve gotten better at taking care of Melody. How wonderful!” Diavolo exclaimed, his face blooming with a broad smile. Meanwhile, Asmo and Satan exchanged glances; Mammon getting praised for anything was pretty unusual. They just weren’t sure if it would go well to point out that Melody was taking care of Mammon, not the other way around.

“Ah, speaking of our other guests, they’ve just arrived,” Barbatos said, smoothly, making any commentary by Asmodeus or Satan superfluous. Finally realizing how close he was still standing to Melody, Mammon took half a step away, turning to see the three residents of Purgatory Hall being ushered into the main hall.

“Hello, and good morning!” greeted Simeon, his voice gentle, but bright. “We’ve already got quite the crowd here, don’t we?” Melody gave him a faint smile. She didn’t know Simeon very well at all, but it was hard to actively dislike the angel. She simply didn’t know what to make of him, largely because she didn’t know much about angels in general. Being in the Devildom, she had learned quite a lot about demons, but angels were still a mystery.

“You demons sure know how to get an early start. I see you managed to get here before us,” chimed in Solomon. Melody was quite a bit more wary of Solomon than Simeon. He made her quite nervous. By all accounts, he had sought out his pacts, a full 72 of them, while she had stumbled into her 3. The vast difference between them was daunting, and she often worried about how the sorcerer would view her and her paltry experiences. But, she didn’t worry about that for too much longer. Luke poked his head out from behind Simeon. Spotting Melody, he sprinted across the floor, sliding slightly on how smooth the floor was, and practically crashed into her, wrapping his small arms and folding her into a hug.

“…Melody!”

“What the…! HEY! What’s the big idea, runnin’ up and huggin’ Melody like that?!” Mammon wasn’t impressed, and it probably didn’t help that if Luke’s start had been even a little off, he would have crashed into the Avatar of Greed instead.

“Ugh, THIS is why I can’t stand normies…” Levi muttered. Melody wondered if Levi really hated hugs, or if it was his envy speaking and he actually wanted one. It was a little hard to tell with Levi sometimes. Not that she minded. But, she considered being more careful. Even so, she couldn’t help but hug Luke back; if he had been bigger, she probably would have had to ask for relief to breathe.

“Melody, I’m SO happy you’re all right…! So, SO HAPPY! There aren’t even words…!” It was probably the most excited Melody had heard Luke get when he wasn’t proclaiming how much he didn’t like demons. Which, she supposed, was a step forward… right? Melody comforted Luke the best she could, telling him she didn’t blame him at all, and that everything was just built on a lot of misunderstandings that spiraled out of control.

“Are you actually an angel? Is that it? An angel disguised as a human?” Luke asked. Melody didn’t want to point out this was unlikely as she had a pact with three demons already. Truth be told, she didn’t even know if an angel could pact with a demon. And she didn’t know if it was blatantly impossibly, or just highly dangerous. While she was turning this over in her mind, she almost missed what Solomon was saying.

“I’ve heard rumors that Simeon and Diavolo met and mediated a solution together. Is that right?” Melody was curious to hear about this since she wasn’t there for the actual aftermath; she had woken up in Beel’s bed and he had filled her in, somewhat, with what happened.

“Yes we did,” agreed Simeon with a gentle nod of his head.

“Indeed, yes. Isn’t that right, Lucifer?” Diavolo asked, turning to Lucifer with a chuckle. Melody tensed slightly; as curious as she was, something nagged at her mind. Rehashing all this probably wasn’t a good idea after all. She didn’t think the Avatar of Pride would appreciate any mention of his… loss of temper.

“…Yes.” The look on Lucifer’s face after that short word was enough to confirm Melody’s suspicions. Lucifer was not happy. Melody decided to take another risk.

“You have a very beautiful home,” she said, politely but still leaving off his name, so she didn’t have to worry about his title. He seemed to want to be spoken to in a more familiar way, but with Lucifer and Barbatos standing there, she was sure that would be a bad idea. Yet, not calling him how he preferred to be addressed felt rude since it was his home, even if it was a whole castle. “I’m looking forward to seeing more of it.” It was completely true, and the way her eyes were shining made it obvious that she meant it.

“Thank you very much, Melody, and you’ll soon have your wish!” He said, laughing straight from his belly. “All right, then. Now that we’re all here, perhaps we should go ahead and explain how this retreat is going to work.”

“Certainly, My Lord.”