DEMON'S VIRTUE

The elderly Orc told Eiro, Bavet and Armodeus all that he knew about the Monster King. There wasn't much, to be honest. But Eiro didn't expect that much either. He just figured that he would know more than Eiro himself.

Eiro was created to be a mindless drone, a pure meat-shield that probably wouldn't be able to hope to even kill a child when going all out.

This Orc, on the other hand, was created in order to be a leader. To conserve knowledge that was meant to bring the village to the point where the Monster King wanted it to be. Hence, he must have been born with a lot of intelligence, enough to catch on to certain details that even Eiro was unable to figure out using his 'Memory of a Scholar'.

Most of it was information related to what kind of being that Monster King truly was. Its apparent race, and of course its personality when in front of its subordinates. These things didn't matter too much, considering that the Monster King in question died a couple hundred years ago. At the very least, though, it allowed Eiro to combine this hands-on experience with the things that he was able to read in the journals of the past heroes, books that have been published as popular books for the masses to enjoy.

It helped Eiro figure out what was exaggerated, and what was true, to an extent at least. But the most important knowledge that Eiro gained through the eldery Orc's information was at least a handful of abilities that most Monster Kings seemed to have, and how they showed themselves in different instances.

For one, it was obvious that the ability to create artificial monsters like Eiro was something that every Monster King possessed to an extent. However, it was only the current Monster King, the one that created Eiro, that was able to do it in such extensive, ridiculous masses. If every Monster King had been able to do that, the one that created this elderly Orc would have created the whole village all at once instead of making it grow naturally.

Sure, there were probably some other reasons to it, but this seemed rather apparent considering the different stories Eiro had read about the wars against the former Kings.

Beside this ability, it was logical that a Monster King would have an ability to increase the pressure it gave off. A <King's Aura> of sorts. It was an ability that even the 'King' class had.

Solomon demonstrated it to Eiro once before, it was basically an ability that heavily boosted one's Charisma in regard to leadership, and it was most likely the thing that allowed the Monster King to keep the royals under control on top of its superior power, of course.

And at last, its third ability was something of a wild-card. It was an effect that appeared in every Monster King according to different stories. But Eiro wasn't sure if it was something that was just related to boosting the base monster's unique qualities to a certain direction, or if it was a separate ability that was given to every Monster King, that was simply applied differently each time.

Since it seemed probably for it to be a mixture of both, an ability given to each Monster King that took on certain properties depending on unique qualities of the base monster, Eiro chose to dub this ability <Monster King's Domain>.

Each Monster King could turn any certain area of their choice into their domain, and that domain would turn out to have the perfect living-qualities for that King. Whether it was a life-filled forest, a blazing desert, or a freezing tundra. It could be anything.

There seemed to be more things connected to this specific ability, but Eiro couldn't figure out every single detail of it with the little to none information that he had right now.

Eiro was sitting on a rock-slab, deep in thought after hearing all the information that the elderly Orc could give him. If he wanted to beat the Monster King, Eiro had to be prepared for multiple things then.

One, to be capable of facing numerous specialized monsters that were created only for the sake of defending the castle.

Two, to build up higher mental resistance to be able to ward off the King's Aura.

Three, to become nearly unnafected by different sorts of extreme terrain, or at least the specific sort that the current Monster King's domain took after.

Seemingly able to see Eiro's thoughts on his face, Bavet stared at him annoyedly, "There's plenty of time. Focus on getting all your memories back first." Bavet complained. Eiro raised his head and looked at the slime's current humanoid form before nodding his head, "Yeah, you're right. I have to become a proper royal first. I think after my next evolution, it should be fine..."

"Speaking of..." Nelli started as she appeared right next to Eiro, "You didn't try to 'update' your connection with your card in a while, did you?"

"..." Eiro silently stared at the Naiad and then turned his head away again, "I've had other stuff to worry about, leave me be. The probability should be at more than 15 percent right now. I'll just deal with this later."

"Mhm, sure." Nelli rolled her eyes, as Eiro stood up from the slab that he was sitting on before walking over to the elderly Orc, "You two, could I have a bit of time alone with him?" Eiro asked, and Bavet and Armodeus quickly stepped out of the cave so that Eiro could talk to the elderly Orc about a few other things that he wanted to know, but didn't feel like sharing with those two.

Nelli, Gondos and Sarius spent all their time with Eiro, so they would end up seeing this side of him anyway, but Eiro wanted to try and hide it from others for a bit longer. He felt pathetic when others saw him like that, after all.

"Are you feeling alright?" Eiro asked as he looked at the old man. He could already tell that the Orc's internal organs were slowly going to fail not too far from now. It was a wonder that they even managed to hold on for this long in the first place.

???As good as you can when on the verge of death." The Orc laughed quietly, before looking deep into Eiro's eyes, "Could I ask you something too, after all that I revealed to you?"

"Of course you can. It would be unfair if not." The Demon said bluntly. With a deep breath, the Orc tried to bring out enough energy for this conversation, "Why did you... lie to them for me?"

Eiro of course immediately knew what the Orc was talking about. This was in regards to the fact that he didn't tell the others that this Orc was the one that killed those in the village. The Demon thought for a little while, but he didn't really know why he did this in the first place. Even he could only guess.

"Maybe... It's just because I have a soft spot for old men and children?" Eiro suggested, "You kind of remind me of the man that practically raised me into the being that I am now. Although... That sounds rather cold, doesn't it?"

With an awkward laugh, Eiro scratched the back of his head, "In other words, you remind me of my father. He's one of the people that I forgot basically everything about, but I still know things here and there. The way that he would look out the window from his chair every morning and evening, as if something was written on the lines of the horizon. The way he spoke, although you seem to insult me a whole lot less than he used to. And of course, the way that you're secretive, and have more than the eye can see to you. My father wanted a peaceful death, and he certainly didn't want me to resent him after his passing. I figured giving that to you might be a good idea."

The elderly Orc looked at Eiro with a somewhat surprised expression, as he didn't expect this sort of sentiment from a monster, a demon much less, "I remind you of your father, I see..."

"But at the same time, while I do feel those things for you... At the same time, I'm disgusted by you." Eiro explained. The Orc didn't seem very surprised by this fact. The Demon continued to speak with his fist formed into a ball, "You simply gave up. You were 'forced' to kill those of your clan? Don't fuck with me. If you think there's something shackling you to do something like that, I'd rather find any possible way to die rather than harm even a hair on the bodies of my loved ones. And I know you said that you couldn't kill yourself, but we both know that there must have been ways. There are always clear loopholes in things like this that can be explooited somehow. But you? You just let it happen."

Eiro, conflicted by his emotions, rubbed his fingers against his eyes. He didn't know why, maybe because that short time disconnected him from everything, as if resetting him to an extent, but he was feeling certain emotions much stronger now than he ever did before. Or maybe this was just brought out by the 'Ultimate Domain of Truth'. Maybe this was Eiro's true self. Someone that was way too whiny and emotional for their own good.

He was good at hiding it, of course, but the mix of sadness when thinking of Jura and the anger when thinking of this Orc's actions were affecting Eiro in a way that he couldn't explain to even himself.

"Thank you for being there for my last moments..." The Orc muttered quietly, "After seeing all my comrades die, I thought I had overcome the fear of death... I know I may not deserve sympathy, but it is still quite scary, you see?" The Orc laughed quietly, but Eiro chose to just stay silent.

The Orc was right. He didn't deserve any sympathy. But it wasn't like Eiro was in any position to truthfully hate the Orc, given what the Demon had done in the past himself, and what he would continue to do without a moment's hesitation.

And after the waves of death-notifications flowed past the elderly Orc's eyes, Eiro stared down at this corpse in front of him silently. He did feel hatred for the Orc, even now. But he hated himself too, so maybe it was alright.

Eiro stood there and watched the Orc slowly sink into himself, as this being that just lived seconds ago was now dead all of a sudden.

And for the first time that Eiro could vividly remember, tears flowed down this Demon's cheeks as he remembered the death of his father.