Demon's Virtue

Eiro landed on one of his manor's balconies and quickly stepped inside with a loud yawn. He was starting to get a bit tired at this point. The Demon walked to his study and looked through the papers on his desk. Grabbing the right one, he quickly started to write a brief message on it, before he simply burnt it to a crisp with fire magic.

Out of the paper's ashes, a small paper bird rose up, and flew out of the window as Eiro sent a message to Koperia. It shouldn't take too long for her to come here once she receives the message, but for now, Eiro could just relax a little bit. Once he was done with the message, Eiro made his way to Armodeus' room, where the Elder Dwarf was currently sketching out a few more ideas for items.

"Hey, Armodeus." Eiro said with a smile, and the dwarf quickly turned around, "Oh! Yer back!"

"Yeah, just got here a few minutes ago." He replied, "I reached level 100, so I'll start my evolution within the next few days."

"Finally reached that point, eh?" Armodeus chuckled, and Eiro slowly nodded his head.

"I did, yeah."

"...Lad, is something wrong?"

Eiro scratched the back of his head as he sat down on one of the chairs at a table, "Nothing is wrong, I was just thinking about somet things while I was flying. I had the time to, after all."

"...Should I be nervous?" Armodeus asked, placing down his pen as he looked back at the Demon, "Are ya askin' me to leave? If I intruded, then I'm absolutely sorry, I-"

"No, no, I'm not asking you to leave, I'm asking whether or not you really want to stay." Eiro explained, "You've been here for a while now, much longer than I had thought. And don't get me wrong, I love having you here, you're a part of this family by now. I'm just worried about how you somehow ended up abandoning your position in Argberg."

Armodeus let out a deep sigh as he shook his head, "I was never there for the title, lad. I was there because I was able to work as much as I wanted to, with any material that I wanted to. But that is something I can do here as well. If you would like me to leave, then I will, but I feel quite at home here at this point as well."

"...Then how about we have all your things from Argberg delivered here? Actually have you move to this country? Solomon will gladly accept you as an official citizen, and with your status and reknown all around the world, you should even be able to get a noble title if you wanted one." Eiro explained, "You could have your own manor where you don't have to bother with all the things and people I end up dragging in here all the time."

Armodeus softly smiled and shook his head, "I've got not the slightest interest in being a noble. Not even in Argberg, even though I clearly could have been one. I was regarded similarly to a high noble in some regards while being a commoner." The dwarf explained, "But now, I just want to keep on workin'. And if you'll have me, I'll happily become your personal craftsman."

"As I said, you're already family, Armodeus. Of course, you'll always be welcome here. So, what do you say? Should we get your things brought over here?"

"I think that might be a good idea. I might have to head off for a while to arrange for things in Argberg, but that should not trouble you too much, right?"

"I don't think so, no..." Eiro replied as he thought for a bit, "Ah, wait, I brought a few materials with me. Some claws and fangs." The Demon explained, as he pushed his hand into his satchel, grabbing rather large chunks that were wrapped in cloth. He placed them down on the table, "They've been freshly harvested from a wyvern." Eiro smiled.

Armodeus slowly grabbed one of the chunks, and unwrapped it. He held the claw in his hand, and it was so sharp that it could already be turned into a weapon just from this. With a slight laugh, Armodeus placed it back onto the table, "This is exactly what I'm speaking about, lad. Not every day does someone bring me parts from wyverns as if they're souvenirs from a vacation."

"Hah, don't worry, that won't be the last great materials you'll be given. And well... I actually have a few other things with me that might interest you, you know?" Eiro explained with a wry smile, "I have about half a dozen wyvern eggs that I brought with me as well... I'll bring the actual wyverns to the monster village after they hatch, so that I can make sure they're trained well-enough, and then you can have things like the eggshells if you want. It looked like they were covered in something like thick rock that had an impressive amount of metal within it."

"...Aye, I think I've made the right choice..."

---

"Seriously? A status window that you could actually, legitimately touch? What would happen if you touched it with me on you..?" Bavet whispered into Eiro's ear as they were flying toward the royal castle, and Eiro raised his brows curiously, "Well, in general, you kind of hinder my sense of touch in the first place, so I can only barely feel regular system windows, so we're not really 'fully' fused, if you get what I mean? So I think the part that is 'you' will just pass through it, and then my actual skin will be able to touch it." Eiro suggested, and the slime seemed weirdly disappointed at this fact.

Eiro rolled his eyes with a sigh, "Don't worry, it seems to be related to my Legendary Skill, so I might have access to that sort of system window permanently from now on. You might have the chance to see it someday."

"...That would be pretty cool..." Bavet muttered, and Eiro slightly smirked, "Right? Anyway, just be quiet now, we're here." Eiro explained as he landed in an alley near the royal castle's gate. The Demon walked up to it, and he smiled at the guards standing in front.

"Hey Rob, Henry, how's your guys' day going?" He asked, and the two guards quickly smiled back at Eiro, "It's a slow one. You know how it is." Henry, the older of the two guards explained, and Robert also quickly engaged in the conversation.

"Are you here to pick up your children, Lord Daemonherz?"

"That I am. I hope they weren't too much trouble." Eiro chuckled, before Robert and Henry looked at each other with wry smiles, "Your children are fine, m'Lord, but... your familiar on the other hand..."

Immediately, Eiro's heart seemed to skip a beat, "Lugo? Wait, what happened to Lugo?"

"...He somehow got into the castle's treasury, and proceeded to try and eat many of the magic stones that could be found in there."

"Well, he didn't really try, he did... About a third of them all are gone now." Henry explained, and Eiro stared at the two guards in front of him, before he slowly closed his eyes, "That little fucking-"

"Don't worry, m'Lord, your eldest son said that he would take care of your familiar to make sure he would throw up the magic stones again."

"...Thanks for the information..." Eiro grumbled in response, rubbing the bridge of his nose, "You two should really come by for dinner sometime... I have a feeling we'll have venison soon." The Demon said as he stepped through the gate, annoyed that this was one of the first things he found out about now that he came back.

Eiro immediately looked around to figure out where Lugo was right now, and pressed his foot into the ground. The pathway leading up to the royal castle shattered into pieces due to the created pressure, but Gondos stayed behind for a moment to repair it for Eiro.

A moment later, the Demon had made his way all the way to where Lugo was currently. He was in the royal castle's gardens, laying in the sun with Arc just leaning up against him, taking a nap. Eiro stood in front of the two of them and crossed his arms.

"A third of the royal castle's magic stones? Seriously?" Eiro asked with a deep frown, and both Lugo and Arc flinched as they opened their eyes.

"Ah, dad, you're back already? How did it go?"

"It went great, but that's beside the point." Eiro grumbled as he opened Lugo's status.

[Name – Lugo][Race – Forest Deer][Level – 97]

Eiro rubbed the bridge of his nose and squatted down, "Level 97? You ate enough to get to level 97?" The demon muttered, "Why would you-"

Eiro began to speak, when he looked at Arc. Immediately, he understood, "Arc? How did you get into the treasury..?"

"Huh? I don't know what you're talking about..."

Eiro sighed as he closed his eyes, "You realize that it's impossible to lie to me without me noticing, right?"

"...Alright, fine... It was supposed to be a surprise! We wanted have Lugo level up to the point where he reached level 100 as well, since you... you know, you were curious about what might happen." Arc explained, and Eiro let out a deep sigh.

"Sure, I was curious, but that doesn't mean you should have Lugo eat the royal castle's magic stones! How did you even get him to do that, he refuses to eat anything but Nature Magic Stones when I ask him to..."

"Just a simple mixture of love, threats, and a lost bet." Arc shrugged, "But that's not the important part right now! He's just three levels away... what if he evolves as well?"

"Magic Beasts don't evolve, they just get magical abilities." Eiro pointed out, "But even so, that wouldn't be the important part... the important part is that the next time I go to the monster village, you'll come with me and work a day in the magic stone mines."

"Eh...?"