Chapter 47: Sending A Message
"How much further is it?"
"It won't be long," The tiny blue dragon hanging onto my shoulder, which was actually Tiamat, responded. She wasn't happy about having to take on such a small form, but I was able to convince her.
For the first time since arriving in this world, I had actually left the area that was once the Familiar Forest. Though you wouldn't know it by looking at me, as I was actually in the process of sprinting through another forest.
"Are you sure this is wise?" Tiamat questioned on my armored shoulder as she hung onto me.
"I need to strike immediately," I replied bluntly, "They'll become wary and start watching my moves once they realize what happened to Rias, Sona, and Ravel. I won't be able to leave my territory carelessly once that happens."
It had only been roughly an hour since the 'kidnapping' of Rias Gremory, Sona Sitri, and Ravel Phenex had occurred. Considering that familiar searching could take multiple hours, and sometimes even over a day if you were picky, there hadn't been any alarm bells rung yet.
That meant this was the perfect time for me to make a move. I needed to do something that would make the Maou fear me.
Upon learning who I'd taken as hostages, they'd have to pay attention to me, but they probably wouldn't take me all that seriously. It wasn't much of a feat to take down three young devils and a few members of their peerage. As a result, there was a risk that Sirzechs and Serafall would just show up together to tag-team me and get their beloved sisters back.
Of course, Tiamat helped negate that risk a bit, but they didn't know she was my familiar. As far as the Maou knew, she had reported to Ajuka that she'd taken care of the 'problem' - which was me - after struggling to track me down for a couple of months. The excuse was to buy me time to let my army recover, but it was an obviously flimsy one.
Tiamat was an all-powerful dragon - she shouldn't have had trouble finding someone in the Familiar Forest, especially when my territory was considered small compared to some of the noble clan's lands. Upon learning that I was alive and had taken hostages, they'd assume that Tiamat was just being lazy and making excuses for it.
The dragon actually losing to me would be far from their first thoughts, as her losing to anyone at all was shocking, much less to someone as young as me who had practically appeared out of nowhere a few months ago.