Demon's Virtue

Eiro was sorting through all these amazing objects and treasures that Zaragon had stored in these adjacent chambers.

"You can say much about that... thing, but it certainly had a good taste for powerful items." Jess pointed out, seeing all these objects laying in front of her. Eiro quickly nodded his head as well as he went through everything, "Certainly so... Although, while that is the case, there aren't the items that I was hoping for."

"And what was it you were hoping for?" James asked, and Eiro looked at him with a light grin, "Something utterly wasted on a measly imp like me."

Surprised, James raised his brows, "You're looking for those spellbooks? Ones with skill-growth boost spells?"

"Mhm, exactly. There are other spellbooks here, and many of them are filled with Arcane spells, actually. So I think it would be fair to assume that skill-growth boost was also an Arcane spell of sorts. It's just that I wasn't able to see the page at all back then, so I have no way of remembering it, and it doesn't seem like the type of spell I can very easily recreate myself at the moment." Eiro explained to them, "So I was hoping I would be able to find another one here, but sadly that isn't the case. Not that these others aren't useful, though... They definitely are."

"You can say that again... This one is a spell for strength-enhancement, right?" Jess said, curiously looking at one of the pages of a spellbook.

"Mhm, and there's even a temporary polymorph spell over here." Eiro pointed out, "They will definitely be incredibly useful."

"Wait, polymorph? Does that mean you won't need me now anymore, since you can transform yourself?" Bavet asked with a wry smile, having come out of hiding now that the battle was over. Eiro turned over toward him and shook his head, "Don't worry, I can't really use this spell yet. I can probably use a lesser version of them, and maybe I can figure them out after studying different sorts of similar spells, but these... Seem to be the 'effect' of a spell, and not the spell itself. My assumption is that whoever, or whatever, created these books had a surreal amount of power and mana." The Demon pointed out, "An amount that I doubt I can compare to anytime soon."

"...What could possibly have that much mana, then?" James asked with a wry smile, as Bavet wrapped himself around Eiro's arm nervously, and the Demon thought about it for a moment.

"Dragons, maybe. I know that Lognir has an absolutely surreal amount of mana, so it doesn't seem like too much of a stretch. If there was a dragon interested in magic, considering the amount of time they would have to study that magic... Then it would be possible. Or well, it could possibly be any sort of Magic Beast, really, not just Dragons. They're just a good example." Eiro explained, as he tied a pile of the books together to make sure they could be transported more easily.

And that was exactly when someone knocked on the door. He swung his hand to the side, formulating an arcane spell's magic circle. A hand of arcane magic appeared there, and it moved over to the other side of the room and opened up the door, since Eiro was too bothered to move away from this pile of items right now.

The door opened up and Krog stepped inside, "I've got our carriage, and I asked them all to prepare some more carriages for us, like you asked. But the issue is... Who's gonna drive 'em?"

"We have plenty of people that can drive carriages, Krog. We've got at least five accounted for right now." The Demon pointed out, "Well, four, maybe, I'm not sure if I want to split off from Lugo for this."

"Hm? Split off, what do you mean?" James asked, and Eiro looked over at his party, "I was asked to help the dear friend of someone I owe a lot to. Which is why I would like to ask you all to head back to Skyhart ahead of me, while I take care of that."

"...Is it something where we really can't help you?" James asked bluntly, and Eiro shrugged.

"I'm not sure. I'm going to be eradicating every single being in a monster nest, after all. But at the same time, we need someone to take care of all these things."

"Then can't we just have someone else deliver all this stuff for us, and we can come with you?" Krog asked. Eiro really wasn't sure what he was supposed to do now. Having their help would definitely be amazing, but he couldn't let all these items just lay around here, and they definitely wouldn't just fit into one carriage.

"Then maybe..." Eiro muttered quietly to himself, trying to think about a decent solution for this dilemma. And that was when the perfect plan popped into Eiro's mind. A plan that would not only be incredibly useful to Eiro right now, but also in the long run.

"Do you guys remember the laws that all the countries on this continent unanimously agreed to? The ones in regard to Monster Nests?" Eiro asked with a grin on his face, and Jess thought about it for a moment. She just recently read something about that.

"Erm... There's only one that I think you may be referring to... 'Once a plot of land has been designated as an official monster nest by the country it resides in, it is no longer part of that country, and instead seen as property of the Monster King'." Jess recited, and Eiro immediately nodded his head, "Exactly."

"Wait, what? That's a fucking nonsensical law, why would any country ever do that then?" Krog asked with a deep frown, before Eiro quickly explained.

"It's simple. There is another law that the countries of this continent agreed to unanimously. 'Any country shall be allowed to dispatch an armed force into another, as long as their destination is a property of the Monster King'. This refers to, not only, countries being allowed to send armed forces through another without being stopped if the force's goal is to strike back against the monster king in another country, but it also allows any country to dispatch a force to take over a monster nest. It is a threat not only to the country it resides in, after all. Monsters are seen as enemies of all people, so if a country may not have the power to get rid of a monster nest themselves, another country may do so instead."

"...And what does that help us? Do you want to just get some people from Skyhart to come and get rid of it instead of you?" James asked with a frown, and Jess slowly shook her head, "I think he's referring to what comes after that? You see, if a Monster Nest is freed by a country other than the original owner of that land, they are given possession of that plot of land for up to a full month. They're allowed to take any ressources from that plot of land they want to in exchange for their service."

James let out a deep sigh, "I still don't get it. How exactly does that help us?"

Eiro walked up to James with a grin on his face, and squatted down in front of his resting friend, "Try to remember, James. Which Monster Nest from around here do you know of?"

That was when he caught up to it. He was shocked at first, but then he couldn't help himself but grin himself.

"You're not planning on... Don't tell me you're actually... You're insane, Eiro." James said with a growing smile, just because of how ridiculous this idea was. Krog and Jess were still somewhat confused though, since they didn't know much about this area at all.

"Bavet, you're staying here. Turn into Zaragon and pretend to be him in case someone from the Empire tries to talk to you. Just bullshit around however you want. Zaragon was the one in power in this place, so not even the Pope or Emperor will be able to talk back to you. We'll come back briefly when we're done, and then we'll bring everything to the monster nest we'll have just taken over."

"Ah, I get it! You want to bring everything there, and since Skyhart will own that place for a month, we can have people come pick it up?"

"Nah, nothing like that." Eiro said with a smile on his face, "Well, that in itself would have been a better alternative than having to split up like that, but I feel like there's a way for us to go above and beyond. Quite literally."

"...Dude, can't you see that Jess and I have no fuckin' clue what you're talkin' about? Just tell us already!" Krog groaned out annoyed, and Eiro looked back at them with a smile.

"The Monster Nest that we'll be freeing is a special one. Around here is a huge lake, with a floating island above it, a large town built upon it, that has been taken over by Monsters. That island is only kept in place by some chains." The Demon explained with a smile on his face, and slowly, the others understood what Eiro's plan was a well.

Eiro walked up to his friends, seeing their confused expressions turn into those of shock, as he continued, "So what else should we be doing, given this chance, but steal a whole Town from the Holy Empire?"

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