DEMON'S VIRTUE

James and Eiro stopped once they reached a room where they could talk to each other in peace. While Eiro didn't really know what this was about, he knew that James was seriously worried about it. The Demon looked at the Light-Elf with his arms crossed.

"So... What is this about?" He asked, and James stared back with a deep glare, "You really don't remember?"

"I don't, sorry." Eiro said bluntly. James ground his teeth together as he started to explain, "When this whole thing started with us forgetting about you... You attacked a group of young adventurers and killed them, even eating them." He said, and Eiro looked at him with his brows raised.

"Wait, what do you mean? Why would I do that?"

"I don't fucking know, why would you do that?!" James replied angrily, and the Demon slowly thought about it. He tried to think back on the events that he did manage to not forget during that time, but he didn't know why he would ever do something like that.

Eiro didn't particularly like eating people. He used to, but that was back when he was more savage, still. The moment that he acknowledged the children as being his own was the moment where he completely rejected doing something like this. The only situation in which Eiro maybe would devolve to this was...

"Did... Did I go savage..?" Eiro asked with a shocked expression. He realized that in such a situation he was in, he would most likely try to not think about anything at all to prevent forgetting about things. And in such a case, his body would be led by nothing but instinct. If that was the case... Then Eiro most likely did what James just said.

"Did I... Really kill random kids..?" Eiro muttered quietly with shock on his face. While he didn't remember any particular details about them, Eiro still remembered his love for his children. And imaginig himself eating the kids of others for no reason just made him sick to his stomach.

Sure, if they were the ones to attack him, he would have at least been somewhat justified to kill them in his mind, but... Eating them was something else again. It was different for such garbage as the goons from the organization that Eiro fed to John, but innocent kids? There was no way that he would be able to justify that in any sort of situation at all.

"Is there... Is there anything I could do to make up for this..?" Eiro asked. He didn't want to lose this complicated friendship that he had with James, no matter how troubling it was.

"Tsk... Can you bring them back to life?" James asked as he turned around, ready to leave the building. But just then, something sparked in the Demon's mind.

"I... think maybe I can..." Eiro replied, and James stopped walking for a moment.

"What do you mean?" He asked, and Eiro slowly pulled something out of his treasury. It was a small, round, pitch black bead, "This is something that the Ghost dropped when I killed it... It's like a magic stone filled with a mass amount of Necromancy magic... Enough for a dozen, or more, regular magic stones..."

"Eiro, don't tell me that you're suggesting-"

"I am. What if I learn Necromancy and resurrect them with that? I know that there are some spells that undead can use to heal, so I could even repair their bodies..." The Demon pointed out.

"You want to turn those kids into Undead servants? Are you fucking with me? How's that supposed to be any better than killing and eating them?"

"Because I don't want to turn them into servants... I want to bring them back to life, by manipulating their death... If that makes sense." Eiro said, "I won't manipulate them... I know that souls can linger for a long time depending on the situation they died in, and in that situation... Their souls are surely still there."

"...With necromancy, you can speak to souls as well, right?"

"I think so, yes." Eiro replied.

"Then how about this... You learn necromancy. You speak to those souls and ask for forgiveness. If they forgive you, so will I. If they don't, I will leave the party officially. And if they want you to turn them into Undead, then... That's that."

"Thank you for giving me this chance." The Demon said with a light smile on his face, but James just glared back and then sighed, "It's not like I didn't know that you killed, and even ate people before... I was always well aware. I just didn't wanna think about it, you know?"

Eiro slowly nodded his head. Of course he understood. But he was also glad that James tried to look past Eiro's actions to an extent. However, this meant that Eiro now had two, or possibly three main objectives that he had to try and complete.

One, he had to get his memories back, through one way or another. Maybe he could ask Solomon about how it felt when he realized that he had forgotten things, it could help him a bit.

Two, get an Affinity for the Death Element to the extent where he was able to make use of Death Magic, so that he could converse with the spirits. It might be possible for him to speak to the spirits of the dead adventurers, not to be confused with Elemental Spirits of course, if he just tried to infuse his body with the death magic from the small magic-stone like bead that the Ghost dropped after dying, so that was something that seemed quite worth it to explore.

And three, the one that Eiro thought to be the least imminent... Completely flip the Organization upside down. They were already aware that Eiro killed a letter despite not being allowed to do so, hence the moment that he tried to interact with anyone there at all, he would most likely just end up being attacked by them.

But at this point, especially with his new deductive abilities that he received through the <Absolute Domain of Truth> from the Knight of Pentacles, there was no way that Eiro would end up having any troubles against anyone in the Organization.

If he had to, he would just kill anyone that he found in that blocked-off, small area of the slums. Hence, he didn't really worry too much about it right now.

"Just don't mess up again. Got it?" James told the Demon, who immediately nodded his head in response.

"I'll try my best. And if I do, I'll understand any anger you're going to feel toward me." Eiro replied. James slowly nodded his head, and the two of them made their way back to the room that the others were waiting in. But before they could both sit down, Solomon stood up.

"Eiro. If possible, could we speak about something as well?" The King inquired, and Eiro immediately nodded his head. They walked out of the room, and after a bit of walking, Solomon explained what he wanted to speak about.

"Did you remember everything after that skill's effect subsided?" He asked, and Eiro turned to him before shaking his head, "I didn't... Actually... I forgot a lot of things about the children, and even you, that I'm not proud to admit to."

"...I see." Solomon said, "And I assume you want to remember?"

"Of course I do. There's no way that I wouldn't. And I feel like there are some things I forgot that I need to really know, things that are incredibly important for me."

"Then I have a suggestion to make, but I don't know how much you're going to like it." Solomon pointed out, "Once classes at the Academy begin, there is a period of three weeks that it would be more than just benefitial for the children to board there. It is something like a basic training camp, to help everyone get to the same level and to build something of a community within the school. I already spoke to James, Jess and Krog about this, but they as well as Clark, your escort to the black market if you remember, can take care of Leon and Avalin during that period of time. As I tried to mention before, someone else is coming to visit from tomorrow on. Armodeus received my message, and in worry, chose to come here as quickly as he could."

Eiro looked at Solomon confused for a moment. Judging from what he was saying, there was only one real conclusion to come to, "You want me and Armodeus to head somewhere together during that three-week period? And I'm guessing it has to do with my lost memories..?" Eiro asked, although he already had a fair guess as to what the answer to that was.

"Indeed. I want you to visit the Dragon of Truth that I formed my pact with. He will be awaiting you then. He will be able to help you recover your memories. The only way for you to reach the place where he is waiting is to head through a town of Dwarves, which only Armodeus can help you access."

"I see. I figured something like that was the case." Eiro pointed out in thought, "It sounds like a good idea to me, then. When exactly does that three-week period start?"

"In about two weeks, once all the students properly settled in and even the late-comers all arrived." Solomon said, and Eiro slowly nodded his head, "That should be enough, then."

"Enough? Enough for what?" The King asked with a light frown, and Eiro just replied in a blunt tone, "Enough time to fulfill my part of the deal I just made with James, and to try and take over the organization, of course."

"...You're still going to work on that?" Solomon asked.

"Of course, why shouldn' I?"

"Because Clark told me that one of the people from the organization attacked you for breaking their rules. I thought you would try a different approach now." The King pointed out. Eiro immediately nodded his head, "Well, I am. I'll stop trying to rise to the top of the organization in the regular way. I'll just get rid of all of the letters and the people even above them, so that I can come in contact with those that are actually leading the organization. Those guys are just a branch of a large organization. Their rules don't make sense the way that they are now, so that's what I concluded. I think it's fair to assume that I'm right with this, by the way, considering my new abilities as of recent." The Demon said with a broad grin on his face.

"And then, I'll just take over that head-organization."