Not long after moving out, Vale realized that he could not even afford a small apartment in the capital city, not with his current power at least. You see, contrary to popular belief, demons don’t have an endless supply of money they can bribe mortals with. The money and other items they can “poof” into existence are still based on the amount of power they received from the the BOSS. It’s very similar to how humans are in the corporate world, the amount of power given to a certain demon depends on their position, achievements, productivity and how good they suck up to their superiors. Considering Vale’s current status, his wages were pretty shitty, he had no choice but to move to the countryside.

----

In a small bungalow in the outskirts of a certain town, a little girl had just been born. Good thing the nearest neighbor was 2 miles away or else they would be bothered by her incessant bawling.

“What do you want to name her, dear?” asked the husband as he wiped the beads of sweat on his wife’s neck

“I’m not sure,” she said as she stared at the baby’s face in awe.“Do you think she’ll take after you?”

“Oh no. She definitely takes after you, she’s got your eyes, lips even the curly head of hair. Really pretty, just like her Mama.” the man said lovingly.

“No dear, not like that. I mean, will she take after your kind?” she had a smile on her face, still, it couldn’t mask the worry and guilt in her eyes.

The man pursed his lips, as if trying to find the right words to say to his wife and then sighed. “I don’t know. We won’t know until she grows up.”

“I see…”

There was a moment of silence. The woman continued caressing and kissing her daughter while her husband silently washed the used sheets on the far end of the room.

“Franky,” the woman said, breaking the silence. “We’ll name her Franky.”

“Welcome to the world, Franky” the man whispered.

-----

Vale lived a simple life in Clarcton, a small coast town far away from the city. Parts of his daily routine includes making school teachers accept bribes, making employees take home the stationery that are supposed to be for office use only, making kids steal candy while the store owner is on toilet break, and all those small stuff. He had gotten by with this for 32 years, and before he knew it, it was already 2018.

But of course, Vale was not stupid. You could strip a demon of his riches and status but not of his talents. Amidst all this, Vale was working on something. He’d been planning for his great come back. It’s been more than three decades in the making, and it’s finally almost time for it

Vale’s line of reasoning went like this:

Jabez told him not to get involved with politicians, these were the people who had high positions in the government, obviously. But did he say anything about meddling with people who could POTENTIALLY be involved in politics in the future? Nothing of the sort! Right? A gleam of hope ensued.

Let’s take a kid as an example. To be more specific, a kid Vale met the first time he moved to the countryside. Coincidentally, he found out that the child’s father was planning to run for Mayor. Vale had predicted that the child’s father would win the elections, he had political expertise after all. Just as Vale expected, the child’s father won the Mayoral position a few months later, and after a few years, had become the Governor.

Of course, Vale didn’t touch the Governor for it was obviously against the Jabez’s orders. Instead, he had posed as an 8 year old boy and befriended the child who was 5 at that time, it was impossible for a 5 year old boy to be part of politics, right? He still wouldn’t be breaking the rules. As the family's involvement with politics grew over the years, so did Vale’s relationship with the child, he became like a big brother, a best friend and a trusted confidante to the child.

The said child was now 35 years old and was soon to run for the Senate, his name was Lorenzo Guevarra. Valentin (who had not meddled with Lorenzo politically but is with him because he is his best friend. Hah! Thanks for for asking Jabez. You can get lost now!) was now the boy’s personal aide. He was confident that Lorenzo was his ticket back to power.