Demon's Virtue

Eiro explained everything that happened over the last little while to Armodeus, albeit only roughly. The Demon didn't really remember enough to go deeply into detail in the first place. Telling Armodeus about the rough happenings was enough, though.

Enough to make the Elder Dwarf completely freeze up in disbelief. After Eiro looked at him for a few more seconds and actually started to become a little concerned, Armodeus slowly opened his mouth.

"A Demon... With four cards of the Minor Arcana... One card of the Major Arcana... Three Spirits, soon to be four, three blessings, a legendary skill, and a fuckin' Spirit Gateway that he absorbed...? Oi, I think yer crazy..." Armodeus said with a wry smile on his face, as if it had suddenly become stuck like that.

"If you say it like that, everything sounds ridiculous. A Dwarf with a card of the minor arcana, that rose to the top of craftsmanship and lived much longer than the lifespan of a regular Dwarf would allow, allowing the oh so rare racial evolution of people to come into fruition, turning him into an Elder. Crowned King of all Craftsmen so that he may even rival the power of true emperors. Rumored to have even made weapons for heroes before, weapons that are so great that not even they were able to truly master them." Eiro said in a slightly emotionless tone as he pushed himself off of the chair he was sitting on, "How is that any more logical than my existence?" Eiro asked bluntly, and Armodeus couldn't help but looked back at the Demon slightly surprised.

"If ya say it like that..." The Elder Dwarf replied, scratching his cheek a bit, "Also, it ain't an evolution, ya know? It's like-"

"Your body increased in size, your physical capabilities improved manifold, and your natural lifespan increased similarly. Tell me, how is that different to evolution?" Eiro asked bluntly, and Armodeus slowly squinted his eyes as he looked down at his hands.

"Ye're right... It ain't that much different..." The Dwarf pointed out, although just then, Arc had something to say about that as well, "Aight, ignoring all that, as usual, ridiculous shit that our father just revealed to us, the fuck is this about evolution? You mean that your actual race advanced somehow?"

"Hm? Aye, yes it did." Armodeus nodded bluntly, "Ah, but it really ain't anythin' that most people can really make happen. One in a million, maybe. Ya need to be acknowledged by a higher being for that."

Eiro raised his brow and crossed his arms as he looked at the Elder Dwarf, who just glared back, "Yeah, yeah, I get it already."

"The lowest condition for it is to have a Master-Grade skill, something that's rare enough as is. But beside that, you need to prove yourself in random ways as well... In my case, it was..." Armodeus started, before realizing how ridiculous the statement he was about to put out actually sounded, and his voice slowly became more quiet, "...that a higher being took a liking to somethin' I made, and in return for giving it to him, he sponsored my... 'Evolution'..." The Elder Dwarf explained, and Arc slowly turned his head to look at his Katana and Wakizashi just laying on the table on top of each other.

"How in the heavenly fuck did we ever get our hands on weapons made by you..?" The young man asked with a wry smile, "Wouldn't a Master-Grade weapon be a national treasure or something..?"

"Yup. But those ain't Master-Grade weapons. If I had made them usin' Dragon-bones maybe, or materials from Supreme Monsters... The piece that got me to this point was a warhammer made from a chunk of shell of one of the last Mountain Tortoises."

"Mountain Tortoises? That's so cool!" Arc exclaimed.

"You've heard of 'em?"

"Nope!" The young man replied bluntly, but let me guess, they're huge, mountain-sized Tortoises, right?"

"...Basically."

"See? That's really cool! Eiro, do you think we can ever see one of those?"

Eiro looked back at Arc and slightly shrugged, "Probably. I've heard that these 'Supreme Monsters' that Armodeus mentioned are usually something like protectors for certain special places at this point. Like that lake-monster and the flying island..." Eiro pointed out, "What was that one called? The Lake God, I think? I don't know if I remember correctly."

"Ah..." Solomon replied surpised, "Did you ever get the chance to see that place? I only managed to travel through there briefly before the incident."

"Incident? What incident?" Sammy asked a bit surprised, and Eiro looked at her while scratching the back of his head. He wasn't completely sure, but he could connect the dots with what he still knew and the different books he read over the past few days.

"Well, a certain monster horde controlled by the Monster King attacked the town on the floating island, and a few years ago it's officially been designated one of the Monster King's Strongholds. Actually, I think <The Sun> leads it these days."

"Mhm." James said with a light stare at Eiro, who looked back at him with a frown, "Hey, don't look at me like that. You know I wasn't part of that attack. Also, even though it's tough to remember that time, I do seem to remember that you were the one that suggested we should keep on moving instead of going back to help."

The Light-Elf sighed in response, "Yeah, because we saw that huge flame from <The Sun> above the town, ready to obliterate it. What did you expect me to do?"

"Then what was that look for just now? I'm pretty sure I wasn't even level 10 back then. A one-digit leveled lesser-imp, and my highest-leveled skill by far was 'Language-Comprehension'. I literally only barely started to be able to read at that point." Eiro replied bluntly.

"I know, you would've died even quicker than I would've. But in retrospect, it does make me wonder why you had to be forced to enter the island because of the Lake God, but all those monsters just entered without any issue."

"What are you trying to say?"

"That maybe it was a bit convenient that they were travelling the same way we were."

"That was because they had the same destination as us." Eiro nearly growled, his anger slightly growing within him. James simply glared back, "A destination they reached only a few hours after us, somehow."

"By Lady Winter, are you trying to insinuate that I created some fucking portal for them to travel through, when I nearly died a few days later just by circulating my own mana?"

Hearing that this fight between the two of them was getting a lot more heated than either of them seemed to want deep down, Solomon chose to intervene, "Both of you, stop this immediately! How unsightly of you to fight like that in front of children!" He exclaimed, "I understand that it must have been a traumatic experience for both of you, but there is no use in fighting about it."

Eiro and James glared at each other for a few more moments, before Armodeus spoke up, "T-To think that you were part of that particular monster horde... What a coincidence..."

As if that word was something like a cue, both Rudy and Clementine opened their mouths to speak at the same time. They looked at each other awkwardly for a moment, before Clementine chose to give Rudy the chance to speak first.

"Speaking of coincidence... Is it really just a coincidence that those Monsters are called 'Supreme Monsters', and Eiro has the Legendary Skill <Supreme Demon>?"

"Ah, that's what I thought as well!" Clementine exclaimed, "I thought it was a bit weird..."

Immediately, everyone stared at Eiro, before the Demon sighed out deeply, "You only just realized that..? Yeah, that's the same thing. Those aren't just Unique Monsters, those are Legendary Monsters, also called 'Supreme Monsters'. But don't worry, I'm already preparing for some precautions for when that happens. Bavet is teaching me more about Sealing Arts so that I can seal off my aura after I evolve."

"Wouldn't that mean you have to get tattoos like Leon and I had?" Sammy asked, but Eiro shook his head, "Of course not. That was necessary to seal a skill like that. The Aura that one gives off can be sealed with a few arrays. It might weaken me, but I think at that point, that will be an issue... When it comes to the point where I would have to fight with my Aura unsealed, I think there'll be other issues than just some animals and monsters running away."

"How can you speak of this so casually..?" Armodeus asked, and Eiro turned his head toward him, "Do you really want to start this again?"

"Let's not..." The Elder Dwarf replied immediately. For a few moments after that, it became a bit silent, as if nobody else had anything to say all of a sudden. There were definitely a lot of things that should be said, but these sorts of conversations were always so overwhelmingly stuffy."

Thinking that this was a good enough time as any, Eiro slowly started to walk toward the door again, "Armodeus, come with me for a while. I think we should speak one-on-one about... you know what. And there are a few things that I want to show you anyway." The Demon pointed out, and Armodeus let out a deep sigh, "Lad, I just arrived, and after this sort of conversation-"

"What a shame, so you don't want to see the stuffed Grandour we have in the library." The Demon said as he kept walking, and immediately, he heard some cluttering from behind him as the chairs were pushed to the side and heavy steps approached Eiro from behind.

"G-Grandour, you say? Truly? The real thing?"

"Not alive, obviously. Taxidermied, and kept in peak condition through magic. It's like it died just a few weeks ago." The Demon pointed out, and Armodeus looked back at him, unable to really hold himself back.

"Lad, ya drive a hard bargain... Aye, I'm comin' with ya. Let's talk." Armodeus said, and the two of them slowly chose to make their way through the hallways, leaving behind that stuffy atmosphere.

After a few moments, the Elder Dwarf said that which was just obvious, "You and that Elf have quite the history, aye?"

"You could say that. He's one of the ones that enslaved me back when I was still a lesser Imp, and while his friend and the girl he loved died, and he himself lost his arm up to his shoulder and was physically disfigured, I left with the girl's dagger and lived a happy life while his loathing and hatred at himself continuously grew."

"Lad... A simple 'yes' would've sufficed..."

"Oh.... Then, 'Yes'."

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