DEMON'S VIRTUE

Eiro left the Warden's body behind at the manor, since he really didn't want to deal with it anymore. He was somehow too disgusted to really touch him even more, now that he was dead. But for some reason, while the Demon thought doing this would make his fury subside, it didn't. Eiro still felt angry, and he didn't know why.

He didn't want to fight it anymore and risk turning mad again because of it, so instead, Eiro chose to just follow his anger for now and guide it into the directions that he wanted to avoid that anything bad could happen if he wasn't careful.

For now, the Demon just grabbed the heart that had been turned into a clock, <The Death>'s phylactery, and then started to fly back toward the Capital. It was rather late at this point, but Eiro really didn't care all that much anymore. As long as he would be there to greet his children in the morning, he was fine being out all night.

Eiro made his way toward the castle and landed in an area that was currently unobserved by anyone, simply disguising himself with his regular mask and cloak before making his way to the castle through the main gate.

The Guards were a bit hesitant to let him go inside at this time, but after Eiro told them that this was an emergency that he had to discuss with the King right now, they let him through at his own risk. But of course, Eiro didn't give a shit about any sort of 'risk' related to any of this. He knew that Solomon wouldn't end up having him beheaded just because his sleep had been a little disturbed.

Eiro made his way into the castle and then soon reached Solomon's private study, where the King was still sitting at this time of day, something that Eiro actually didn't expect. Mainly because Solomon just seemed rather carefree most of the time that Eiro interacted with him, but that was probably just because the contrast compared to that first meeting in Argberg was so immense.

The Demon slowly knocked on the door out of courtesy, and then soon heard Solomon call him in from the other side. Eiro pushed the door open and slowly stepped inside, removing his mask when he was in the room after making sure that nobody else was around.

The dim lights that Solomon was using to give him enough light so that he would be able to read the important documents on the table were just bright enough to reveal Eiro's blood-red eyes. The King jumped up from his chair and walked around the table the moment that he saw his friend in this state.

"Eiro! Is everything alright? Are you injured?" He asked with complete worry, but Eiro immediately shook his head, "No, I'm fine. I'm angry, or rather, furious. But it's nothing beyond that."

"Furi- Do you mean it's that mark of yours acting up again?" Solomon asked with a concerned frown, before Eiro slowly opened the satchel at the side of his body up, "Something like that, I guess. It's not really acting up, I have it under pretty well control this time. Although, I did end up killing that Prison's Warden just an hour ago."

Solomon stared at Eiro for a moment while trying to process the Demon's words, before turning around with an angry expression himself, "You did what?! Eiro, do you even know what you did? Sure, when I told you about the issues with that place, I said I disliked him, but we can't do something like that without knowing what exactly is going on at that place! All the guards signed a magical contract that makes it impossible for them to reveal any information, and the prisoners are forced into similar situations. We were-"

Before Solomon finished speaking, Eiro pulled out the cylinder of glass containing the Phylactery, "Solomon, that guy gave his own child up to <The Death>, who took over that kid's body and turned his heart into this item that the Warden was proudly displaying on his own desk. <The Death> is currently imprisoned in the bottom of that prison, but it seems like they don't fully have him under control. A Zombie created by <The Death> was trying to bring the heart to its master so that it can regain its full power, most likely."

The King turned his head toward the glowing, beating heart that had cogs and clock-hands imbedded in it, before he slowly dropped down onto his knees while staring at it, "You're... you're saying that man did that to his own child?"

"Yes. The kid's been turned into a Lich, Solomon. The Warden treated this phylactery as a sick memento." Eiro said bluntly, and Solomon's face completely paled.

"D-Do you think you can kill <The Death>? Having that thing here is... horrifying." The King pointed out, and Eiro slowly looked at the Phylactery, "Considering that I have that with me, I think I might be able to somehow. But we need to consider what might be next. You see, if someone incompatible with a card of the Major Arcana kills a Royal, the card just disappears and re-appears in a random location in the world. So, that's why people were never able to get their hands on them. But on top of that, if a royal kills another royal, usually the same thing happens. I'm hoping that it won't be the case since I'm only a candidate, but we'll have to be prepared for the possibility that the card could simply disappear when I kill <The Death>."

"...It's worth the risk, I think. If the card disappears, in the worst case scenario, it will instantly find its way to a fitting owner and create a new royal. But a new royal is weak compared to the current <The Death>. And on the other hand, if the card doesn't disappear... I trust that it will be safe in your hands. Like that, we will have taken the force of two incredible forces from the side of the monster king."

"If you say it like that, then sure. Let's go ahead and try." Eiro replied bluntly, although Solomon sighed deeply after he heard the Demon's tone.

"Don't act like you didn't plan on this all along anyway." Solomon said as he slowly pushed himself up again, his eyes still focused on the phylactery without a single break. Seeing this, Eiro was actually kind of worried. It didn't seem to be a natural behavior for Solomon, so the Demon picked the glass cylinder up and packed it into his satchel again.

"Sorry, I'll try to hide it better next time." The Demon suggested, before the King in front of him just laughed awkwardly, "Sure, do that. But for now, just go and prepare for your fight against <The Death> and don't worry about anything else. As long as you didn't leave him in the middle of the streets, I'll be able to handle the situation with the Warden somehow."

While slowly turning around, Eiro just stayed silent, since he wasn't particularly sure how he was supposed to react. And it seemed like Solomon actually picked up on this to an extent.

"Eiro, where did you leave the Warden's body?" The King asked with a deep frown, before Eiro placed his mask back onto his face and pulled the door open again, getting ready to step outside, "Not on the streets, don't worry."

And with that, something that technically wasn't a lie, Eiro left Solomon's study and slowly made his way out of the castle so that he could return to his own manor.

---

"So, what are you going to do now? It doesn't seem like you'll stop being angry anytime soon." Nelli pointed out, and Eiro slowly nodded his head as he placed the phylactery into a safe location, an extra protective safe created with spatial magic inside of the hidden library in the manor, "I know. I guess I should just cool down or something while I think a bit." Eiro suggested, but Bavet, who had just combined with his slime again and turned himself into a humanoid form again looked at Eiro with a slight frown.

"I think she was asking about how exactly you'll cool down, man." Bavet pointed out, and Eiro stared at the slime with a frown himself, since he was practically unable to make any other expression right now, "I know, dumbass. That was my answer. I'm going to 'cool down'." Eiro replied as he made his way out of the library.

He climbed through one of the hidden passages until he reached the hidden room placed into the very top of the manor's tower. It seemed to be something like a place to research magic, specifically the elements.

Eiro hadn't been able to figure out what exactly this place was for for the longest time, until he tried analyzing the magic circles carved into the walls and realized that they weren't meant for the spatial distortions inside of the manor that were creating the hidden rooms, but instead something that was a whole lot different.

The Demon climbed up the magically hidden stairwell that soon closed behind him and sat down in the center of the room. The space was completely empty, which made Eiro confused over what it was for even more, but it had a good reason, at least.

Eiro had completely unclothed for this, since he didn't want to ruin his outfit, and let his wings and tail just loosely hang behind him. For this, not Bavet, nor Nelli and Gondos joined Eiro since it was simply a bit too dangerous for those three.

But as Eiro stood there in the room, he took a few deep breaths before he pushed mana out into the magic circles and runes carved everywhere in this room and caused the whole place to start glowing in a white light. And that white light soon turned into a pale blue as Eiro started using Ice Magic specifically. Or so he tried, so the nature of his mana itself changed, amplified by the carvings all over the room.

Immediately, the temperature inside of this room dropped to temperatures that would kill any normal being instantly, but Eiro still felt it somewhat comfortable.

Slowly, as the temperature reached the point that Eiro wanted and he could feel his physical functions slow down due to the low temperature, he laid down on the ground and enjoyed the cold as he felt his fury slowly fade due to the fact that he was physically incapable of becoming riled up right now.

And so, the Demon just enjoyed the cold for a little while as he let different thoughts drift through him.