The Prince of Sloth [DxD]

A certain Castle – somewhere in the Belphegor Domain, Underworld

Have you ever thought about what it's like to truly understand the world around you, not just through your senses, but through words?

While each person may have their own interpretation of this question, the true answer may lie beyond the limits of human perception. After all, words are merely symbols we've assigned meaning to, but can they ever truly encapsulate the essence of the world? Can a single word, no matter how carefully chosen, fully express what it feels like to exist, to be aware, to live?

Philosophically speaking, the desire to master language is more than just the need to communicate. At its core, language represents humanity's yearning to understand, to capture the complexity of existence, and to grasp the fleeting thoughts, emotions, and sensations that make up a life. Words are the bridges between the inner and outer worlds—between thought and reality. But even as people pour their hearts into words, no single language, no matter how complex, can ever truly convey the depth of a human's experience.

Therein lies the paradox: We depend on language to give shape to our reality, but the very tool we use to define the world often falls short. Yet, this doesn't stop us from trying. Humans, in their insatiable desire to understand the universe, continue to twist and shape their languages, constantly inventing new ways to describe the indescribable. It's almost like a futile attempt to tame the chaos, to somehow impose order on the infinite unknown.

But what happens when a being is born into a world of language, into a world where words have power and meaning, yet they are still too young to understand their full weight? Does the infant grasp the world through sounds, through the rhythm of speech, before they even know what the words mean? Perhaps. Maybe it's not so much about understanding at first, but simply about feeling the weight of language—hearing it, sensing it, before one can truly use it to shape the world around them.

Seir's experience with language was almost as extraordinary as his rebirth. For reasons he couldn't explain, moments after his birth, he found himself able to understand the flow of conversations around him and grasp the meaning of every word spoken.

Even the name his father, Malakarion, had bestowed upon him—Seirios Vandegor Belphegor—registered clearly in his mind as his father spoke it for the first time. Though newborn Seir couldn't properly see his father, he could hear him distinctly.

When his elder sister uttered, 'He... he is... my younger brother...' those words, though foreign and spoken in an unknown language, made perfect sense to him.

The words his mother had spoken, 'His eyes, hair, and tail are just like yours, Mal...' resonated clearly with Seir.

From the moment of his birth, he had been able to understand the meaning of the words spoken by those around him even if he didn't exactly understand their language.

Each day, as he listened to Sephie, Mal, Roygun, or the maids Cecily, Élise, Agni, and Sheetal talk in different languages, and each time, even if he didn't recognize their language, he still understood their meaning in the language he speaks. This oddity has been incredibly weird and made him wonder, 'How am I able to understand what they're saying even though I don't know their language?'

While this ability to understand the language spoken by people around him was undeniably convenient, as it allowed him to understand the world around him and grasp his situation to a certain extent, a doubt kept nagging him, 'Why? Why exactly?'

'Was it some sort of blessing from an unknown God before reincarnation into another world? But a child of the Demon tribe getting blessed by some God? Sounds too good to be true… There has to be some other reason.'

It would have made sense if everyone around him spoke English or his native language from his past life. In that case, everything would have been straightforward, and he'd have no reason to question it. After all, he had prior experience learning and using those languages. He could read, write, understand, and speak both fairly well. He might not have been the best at them, but he was competent enough to make sense of most conversations.

But here was the problem—not all of the people around him were speaking English or his native tongue. A certain few, like Cecily, certainly spoke in English, but others? Not so much. Neither his parents, his elder sister, nor the other maids in the castle were speaking in any language Seir was familiar with from his past life. Instead, they spoke in a variety of languages he was completely unfamiliar with—one of which, spoken particularly by his parents and elder sister, sounded somewhat ominous, which made sense given they were demons or something similar.

What baffled Seir was the fact that, despite not being familiar with most of these languages, he could understand the meaning behind words and sentences effortlessly from the moment he was born.

Yes, he hadn't spent a single ounce of effort learning or mastering it, yet the meaning of their words came to him as naturally as if he'd known it all along.

It wasn't just about understanding the language—Seir could also speak it effortlessly.

'Or perhaps it's more accurate to say that instead of actually understanding and speaking their languages, I somehow grasp the meaning of their words and sentences directly in the language I'm familiar with. Likewise, they seem to understand me in their own language—probably.'

However, to be more precise, the words spoken by those around him in foreign languages seemed to register in his mind as if they were spoken in his native tongue. 'But even that isn't the most precise way to explain it... A better way to describe this would be... would be... ahh, it's so hard to put this bizarre phenomenon into words!'

'What do they even call this phenomenon? Automatic mental language translation or something?'

Of course, actually speaking, in any language for that matter, was a bit challenging, as his vocal cords were still immature and underdeveloped due to his infancy, so whatever he spoke actually probably sounded like how an average baby would sound. Nevertheless, he could string words together. While his attempts didn't always sound clear to the ears and required the listener's special attention, it was unmistakable that he was communicating with those around him.

For months, Seir pondered why he could understand their language and why they could understand his language without any effort. Eventually, the only conclusion he could come to was: 'It's probably some kind of magic or something...'

Yes, magic seemed to be the most logical explanation. Nothing else made sense, especially since he hadn't actually learned the language himself.

Upon coming to terms with the fact that he could perfectly communicate with the people around him without the problem of language barrier, Seir began to wonder, 'Can this Automatic mental language translation also work on the reading and writing aspects?'

Reading and writing a language are entirely different skills from understanding and speaking it. To speak and comprehend a language, all that's needed is the ability to grasp its meaning and speak out similar words. However, reading and writing take it a step further by linking spoken words and sounds to specific symbols or characters on a page.

Without knowing which character or symbol represents what particular sound, word, or consonant, it becomes impossible to read or write the language effectively.

Speaking from a logical perspective, Seir—being completely unfamiliar with the different languages of the people around him—shouldn't be able to read anything written in it. However, given the bizarre nature of his circumstances and the fact that magic often defies conventional logic, Seir decided to test the boundaries of this strange phenomenon. He was curious to see if his automatic mental language translation ability extended to reading an unfamiliar language as well.

To satisfy his curiosity, all he needed to do was attempt to read some text written in an unfamiliar language and see if he could understand it.

So, he gave it a try—and the result?

Failure.

Yes, he completely failed to read even a single character.

Despite his seemingly magical ability to communicate with the people around him from birth, Seir found himself unable to decipher their texts. The characters on the page made no sense to him. He obviously couldn't comprehend them as it is, nor did those characters appear to him in the language he is familiar with, as was the case when spoken. To him, they appeared as nothing more than intricate squiggles, and the mere sight of them left him with a throbbing headache and a growing sense of anxiety.

Since Seir couldn't magically read or write the language of this world, he decided to learn it the traditional way—manually.

He figured that, eventually, he would need to know how to read and write as he grew older, so why not start now? Being a baby with nothing better to do except get bored, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to get a head start.

Besides, how hard could it be, right?

Well… before Seir could even figure out how difficult actually learning the language might be, another problem—or rather two problems—stood in his way.

'Sigh, why can't these two just get along for once?' thought Seir, glancing up to see Agni and Sheetal bickering like cats ready to claw each other.

"I said… I'll do it!" Agni snapped.

"Shut it, you stupid bimbo!" Sheetal shot back, arms crossed and scowling. "There's no way your pea-sized brain can handle helping Lord Seir in this matter! All you've got going for you are those oversized breasts and your idiotic bimboness! You obviously don't have the brains for the job. Can you even read and write this script? Someone better suited for this task is obviously me. Got it? So, get lost already!"

"No, you're not!" Agni retorted, glaring furiously. "And yes, I can read them just fine… I mean, I get it that I am not particularly fluent, and I have to think a lot to recognize the characters, but who cares? Lord Seir is a baby; he won't be going that far ahead anyway at the start. So, I don't care what you say! I'm the one to whom Lord Seir asked for help, and I am the one who brought over these books, so it's my job, you cold-hearted bitch!"

"Haah… what did you just call me, you cow?" Sheetal growled, her voice icy.

"Exactly what you heard, you flatboard!" snapped Agni, her tone brimming with defiance.

Yes, the two main obstacles standing in the way of Seir's efforts to learn how to read and write are none other than the twin maids, Sheetal and Agni.

In his attempt to get some help with his learning, Seir had asked Agni and Sheetal to assist him.

After all, he needed someone to teach him. Only after someone helps him associate each character with a word or sound would he be able to learn how to read and write the language spoken by the people around him. Since Agni and Sheetal were around him most of the time, he had decided to enlist their help.

However, all they were doing was bickering with each other, driving him insane.

'These two are useless… It might be better to go out and find someone else who can actually help,' Seir thought to himself. With that, he picked up the two books lying on the bed and decided to walk out of the room.

Yes, as surprising as it may seem, despite being only seven months old, Seir had enough physical strength to effortlessly lift books much bigger than him. But then again, given all the feats Seir had already accomplished, it wasn't entirely surprising that he could do this as well.

Anyway, with the books in hand, Seir unfurled his bat wings and soared out of the room, determined to find someone more helpful.

Naturally, Seir leaving the room with books in hand didn't go unnoticed by the two maids.

"Lord Seir... ah... he's going out with the books..."

Seeing him leave, Agni and Sheetal stopped bickering and quickly chased after him.

"Wait, Lord Seir..."

"Lord Seir, don't go..."

"Annoying..." Seir muttered coldly, speeding up and refusing to stop as he exited the room.

.

.

Seir flew through the corridors, searching for someone who could help him, but the twin maids were still hot on his heels.

'Ugh... why won't they just give up?' Seir thought, feeling annoyed as he sensed them closing in. He quickly hid behind a suit of armor.

Agni and Sheetal, not noticing his hiding spot, continued their chase, calling out for him.

"Lord Seir... where did you go?"

"Lord Seir..."

"This is all your fault. If you hadn't interfered, Lord Seir wouldn't have gotten annoyed and left the room..."

"Haah... you want to blame me? Did you forget it was all because of you?"

After the twin maids passed by the armor without noticing him, Seir emerged from his hiding spot and watched them with a helpless expression. 'Even now, they're still fighting... these two are really useless.'

While he understood that they were competing for his attention and trying to prove who could be more helpful, it was incredibly annoying to deal with their constant bickering.

'Well, who cares? I'll probably find someone else to be my personal maid in the future,' Seir thought to himself. 'For now, I'll just forget about them and focus on finding someone who can actually help me…' With that in mind, he turned around and decided to look for someone more capable, like Cecily or Élise… or even better, his mother, Sephie.

'Now, where could they be…' He wondered as he absentmindedly flew down the corridor. When he reached a turn, he didn't notice someone coming around the corner from the opposite direction and ended up colliding headfirst into a pair of breasts, surprising both the woman and the maid walking behind her.

The books in his hands slipped from his grip, hitting the floor with a dull thud.

"Ugh… mmffsshhs…" Seir tried to speak, but with his head buried in her cleavage, his words came out muffled and incoherent.

"Hm? Seir? What are you doing here?" A familiar voice reached his ears as the woman helped lift him out of her cleavage, holding him gently with both hands.

Seir looked up and realized that the hands holding him belonged to none other than the cherry-blossom-haired princess, who also had a pair of horns on her head.

She smiled warmly at him and teasingly asked, "Did you miss your older sister so much that you came flying into my embrace as soon as you sensed me? Hmm? Seir?"

"Roygun?" Seir mumbled, taking a deep breath. Yes, it was his older sister, Roygun.

At that moment, the maid who was accompanying Roygun bent down to pick up the books Seir had dropped when he collided headfirst into Roygun's funbags. She flipped through them and said, "Mistress, the young master dropped these a moment ago."

"Oh? Books?" Roygun said, raising an eyebrow in surprise before turning to Seir and questioning, "What were you doing here with these books?"

"Read…" answered Seir lightly.

"Read?" not only Roygun but the maid was also surprised. Roygun asked, "Seir, are you already capable of reading??" Considering how incredibly talented Seir is, Roygun wouldn't even be surprised if he could already read. Though she would feel proud of him, she would also feel a tinge of sadness for having missed yet another important moment in her little brother's life.

Yes, Roygun felt deeply regretful for not being there when Seir first used magic, sprouted his wings for his first flight, or spoke his first words.

So, when she posed the question to her little brother, she secretly hoped he hadn't already learned how to read.

Unaware of Roygun's little thoughts, Seir shook his head, "No… can't. Need help."

"I see…" nodded Roygun, understanding what Seir was saying. Internally, she felt a deep sense of happiness and relief for not missing this important moment in her little brother's life and asked him, "So I take it that you wanted to read these books, but since you can't, you were searching for someone to help you out?"

"Yes," nodded Seir.

Upon hearing Seir's response, the maid couldn't help but muse to herself, 'Isn't the young master a bit too young to be learning how to read? Or could it be that he just wants someone to read him stories?' She glanced at the books again and frowned. 'No… these books are clearly meant for teaching a baby how to read. If that's truly the case, and the young master actually wants to learn to read… this is incredible. The young master is already capable of speaking fluently at just seven months old, and he can even consciously use magic, and now he wants to read. This isn't just remarkable—it's a whole other level of genius. I can't imagine anyone in the Underworld attempting to learn how to read at such a young age. Perhaps the current Beelzebub? Yes, if it's him, it's possible… but anyone else? I highly doubt it.'

In her view, not even the current Maou Lucifer could match Seir's level of genius. While it's true that Lucifer is as powerful as Maou Beelzebub—perhaps even stronger—his strength lies primarily in his raw destructive power. When it comes to intelligence, Lucifer pales in comparison to Beelzebub, who is renowned for his unparalleled intelligence. The brilliance and intellect Seir is demonstrating at such a young age could possibly rival, if not surpass, the genius of Beelzebub. In fact, she believed that in the entire history of their race, only the current Maou Beelzebub might compare to the exceptional intellect Seir displayed!

"As I thought…" mumbled Roygun thoughtfully. Her thoughts were quite similar to that of her maid. Though she was confused over something and asked him, "But… what about the maids that attend to you? Did you not ask them? If you had told them of your intentions, I am certain they would have…"

Seir sighed, "Agni, Sheetal, fighting…" and added with a pout, "Annoying… Need quiet…"

As soon as Seir responded to Roygun, the bickering twin sisters who had passed by earlier returned.

"Ah, Lord Seir! We've been searching for you everywhere!" one exclaimed.

"Thank Maou, we finally found you," the other chimed in, relieved. Then, noticing Roygun, they quickly added, "Ah… Lady Belphegor, good evening!" "Good evening, Lady Belphegor," they said in unison, bowing slightly.

Roygun nodded gracefully in acknowledgment, replying, "Good evening to you both."

The two maids then turned their attention to Roygun's companion. "Good evening, Miss Lucia," they said politely.

The maid Lucia gave a subtle nod in acknowledgment, remaining silent.

Agni and Sheetal quickly shifted their focus back to Seir, their competitive nature reigniting.

"Lord Seir, shall we return to your room and start your lessons? I'll help you and teach you everything you need to know," Sheetal offered eagerly.

"Hey! What are you saying? I'm the one who's going to teach Lord Seir!" Agni interrupted, her voice filled with indignation.

"What are you talking about?" Sheetal snapped. "With that pea brain of yours, all you'll teach Lord Seir is how to be a bimbo, and nobody wants that!"

"The hell did you just say?!" Agni shot back, her frustration boiling over.

Seir let out a deep sigh, his expression showing clear exasperation. "Sigh… started again…"

Roygun glanced at him and nodded in understanding. "I see what you mean…" she murmured, fully grasping the source of his irritation.

Lucia, standing beside Roygun, also understood the situation. Without hesitation, she stepped forward and addressed the two maids in a sharp, cold tone. "Silence, both of you! Do you not see that your incessant arguing is troubling the young master, and both of you are being highly disrespectful towards my Mistress?"

Agni and Sheetal froze, startled by Lucia's harsh reprimand. "Dis… Disrespecting Lady Belphegor?" stammered Agni.

"Troubling Lord Seir?" added Sheetal, looking genuinely confused.

They turned their eyes to Seir, hoping he would deny the accusation, but he simply snorted and looked away. "Humph, annoying!" he muttered, leaving no room for doubt.

The two maids paled, their expressions filled with guilt and fear.

At this point, Roygun addressed Lucia calmly. "I'll leave these two in your hands."

Lucia gave a firm nod. "Of course, Mistress. I'll make sure they learn proper manners before they're allowed to serve anyone again," she replied, her piercing gaze returning to the chastened maids, commanding them, "You two, follow me," and walked away.

With downcast and apologetic expressions, Sheetal and Agni quietly followed behind her.

Watching them leave, Seir couldn't help but ask, "Are they going to be okay?" Despite finding the twin sisters incredibly annoying, he didn't want anything bad to happen to them.

Roygun smiled gently, reassuring him. "Don't worry. Lucia is the head maid of the House of Belphegor. She's skilled at handling these situations appropriately."

Seir tilted his head in confusion. "Head maid? Isn't that Cecily?"

Roygun chuckled softly at his puzzled expression. "Cecily is the head maid of this castle, where Father, Mother, and, of course, you reside. The House of Belphegor has multiple castles and a variety of responsibilities to manage. Lucia assists me in overseeing the entire house, which makes her the Head Maid of the House of Belphegor since I am the Head of the House of Belphegor. There are dozens of maids like Cecily working under Lucia."

"I see..." murmured Seir thoughtfully.

'Just this one castle is already massive, and my family owns dozens more? And there are other responsibilities to manage as well? Hmm… I might have underestimated my family,' he mused internally.

After clarifying things for Seir, Roygun shifted the conversation. "Anyway, since you wanted someone's help with reading these books… how about I help you?"

"Really? Roygun, you'll help me?" Seir's eyes lit up with excitement.

"Of course! My cute little brother wants to learn how to read. As a responsible elder sister, it's my duty to help my adorable little brother, right?" she replied with a warm smile. 'With this, I won't miss some of the important moments in Seir's life.'

Seir's face brightened further, and he eagerly nodded. "Okay! Roygun, please help me!"

"Well then, let's head back to your room and start learning," said Roygun.

"Mm!" Seir agreed enthusiastically.

Carrying Seir in her arms, Roygun telekinetically made the books float alongside her as she took him back to his room.