DEMON'S VIRTUE

"Lad, what do you-" Armodeus started, confused and nearly shocked by the Demon's insinuation.

"You know that I was an artificial creation by the Monster King, right? Well, fact is, I have a soul. Without one, I couldn't exist. But how exactly do I have that soul? It's impossible to create souls out of nothing, and that rule should still apply to the Monster King. If he was powerful enough for that, then this world would already be doomed." Eiro said, and Armodeus slowly nodded his head as he understood the logic behind it.

"So... Yer sayin' that the Monster King took the souls of people to create artificial monsters?"

"Wouldn't it make sense if that's the case?"

"It certainly would explain some things, I guess... But what brought you to this conclusion all of a sudden. It didn't seem like this has been on yer mind for long." Armodeus pointed out. Eiro slowly looked to the side with a slight grimace, "I saw it. A while ago, I did. But I didn't want to believe it then, and while I lost my memories, this specific one was sealed away. Maybe it was just to protect this important info to make sure I could definitely recover it, but... Either way... I saw a boy... Seemingly just barely an adult, huddling in the corner of the 'room' inside of me."

Slowly, Eiro explained the exact situation to Armodeus. How <The Devil> had opened up his chest to take a part of him temporarily, and how Eiro saw that human child huddled up there.

Armodeus looked back at him surprised and in thought, "That means that you... Still have an aspect to you that's human?"

Immediately, the Demon nodded, "I think so. My guess is that it's the aspect that lets me control my Monstrosity so easily. The thing that makes me less of a Monster, simply put."

"That... That could very well be the case." Armodeus muttered, slowly nodding his head, "I think I know someone that could help you figure things out. Maybe even find the source of your soul... As in, where you lived in your... Well, 'Former' life."

"And who would that be?" Eiro asked, before Armodeus scratched the back of his head in thought with a complicated expression, "She's a real tough one to deal with, y'know? She has a... Well, I wouldn't call it disdain for life, rather, she simply feels nothing for it. It is as if life is merely a tool, or something to work with. Like steel would be for me."

"Are you-" Eiro asked, and the Elder Dwarf quickly nodded his head, "Yes, I'm talking about a Necromancer. A specific one, actually, you might have read stories about her. Eliza Katerina Magna Koperia. The Queen of Undeath."

"...You guys really know every great person in the world, don't you? Is there some kind of club that everyone with Master Grade skills is invited to..?" Eiro asked, and Armodeus looked back at Eiro for a few moments as he turned his head away and looked at another part of the room.

"You've got to be kidding right now... There's not some sort of 'League of extraordinary Gentlemen', right?" Eiro asked with a wry smile, but Armodeus didn't say anything to deny it, and was quite obviously overreacting as he tried to hide his answer.

And that was enough of an answer for Eiro, "Fine, I understand the situation. I guess I may or may not figure it out myself someday. If I get a Master Grade skill, that is. Anyway... Could you tell me where I can find that Eliza Katerina Mag-"

"She prefers to be called Koperia, actually. Don't mention the rest of her names under any circumstances... It's going to be rather dangerous for you."

"Right. I'll remember that." Eiro sighed with his arms crossed, before Armodeus quickly explained, "The issue is, I don't exactly know where she is. But she's always trying to find other Necromancers and steal their abilities and techniques. Basically, try to either use Solomon or that 'Organization' you infiltrated a while ago to find rumors about powerful necromancers, try to find them, and hope that Koperia heard about them as well."

Eiro listened to Armodeus' words and slowly raised his brows, before his lips formed a broad grin, "I don't actually think I'll have to do that." Eiro pointed out, "I have my ways of getting her to come to me."

"...What? How do you think you'll be able to do that?"

But in response, Eiro simply formed a broad grin on his face.

---

The Demon spread out his wings as he flew over the world below him. He looked at the snow-covered forest with a somewhat nostalgic expression. And then, he saw it in the distance. He saw the giant tree that didn't use to be here before. A giant tree, over fifty meters tall. Pale blue, nearly white bark. The leaves of this tree with its flowers blossoming in the middle of winter, glowing as if there were small candles scattered around it, making it look as if shards of ice were floating in the air, reflecting any light they came in contact with.

Slowly, Eiro landed on the ground in front of the tree, before Eiro heard Nelli's voice next to his ear, "This is your tree? This is... Wow... This is a rather... unexpected development." The naiad pointed out, while Eiro simply smiled broadly and placed his palm onto the bark of the tree, "Is it?" He asked with a quiet laugh before whistling and turning around.

Lugo was slowly catching up to him now. Eiro mostly travelled on his back, but when they got close to here, he got too excited not to fly and enjoy a view from above for once.

A few moments later, the Stag reached Eiro again, seeing the place where the two of them first met, now that it was so much different than before. Lugo looked around and approached the tree, slowly rubbing his antlers onto the bark.

With a quiet laugh, watching Lugo do what he used to do with this tree, Eiro turned toward those two that were looking at Eiro's own creation with wonder in their eyes, "This is a tree that you created just by pouring your mana into a seed..?" Sarius asked with wide open eyes, and Bavet also seemed more than impressed, "This is just incredible..."

"Indeed it is." Eiro replied bluntly, "But now, excuse me for a moment." The Demon said as he quickly let his body drop down to the ground before pushing himself up as quickly as he could.

As he jumped up into the air, he soon grabbed one of the branches of the tree and pulled himself up onto it. The tree gave off a cold air somehow. It was rather pleasant... Eiro wondered if it would be like this in winter as well.

Either way, for now, Eiro swiftly walked along this large branch and reached the thing that he wanted to look at. It was the fruit that was growing here. A winterblossom's fruit, technically created by Eiro.

He plucked it off of the tree and held the ice-like orb in his hand, before simply taking a bite out of it. To his surprise, while the outermost 'shell' was like ice, and he was able to slightly look through it, once the shell was broken, a steaming hot fruit could be found within it, one that wasn't translucent at all. It was sweet and savory, pleasant to chew and had all the tastes that Eiro appreciated in food. It was perfect for him.

It looked a bit weird, since this seemed to have a magical nature, but Eiro really didn't mind at all. It was rather interesting, really.

Thinking that he just had to show this to the children, Eiro plucked a few more of these fruits from along the tree, putting them into a bag that he brought with him. He really did prepare to bring quite a lot of things with him, because he didn't know what exactly he needed yet.

And so, after filling up one of the bags, Eiro quickly searched for a good part of the tree that he could take with himself. A nice branch that would allow Eiro to work with it with relative ease.

And as Eiro was looking around, it seemed as if the wood underneath his feet was moving. Convulsing. Pulsing. As if this tree was alive.

The leaves started to rustle and the light they reflected onto the branches created a path for Eiro to follow. And so he did. He climbed across the surface of the tree that was guiding him toward a certain spot, according to the Demon's will. A few moments later, Eiro saw exactly what was going on. The tree knew why Eiro was here, and it knew that Eiro would return for this exact reason someday. It prepared some wood for him that was just perfect to work with.

It was like a bit of power was concentrated here on this branch, and made it a better materials than others Eiro had seen so far.

With a smile on his face, the Demon pulled his saw out of his Treasury before placing it onto the wood, "Thank you, bud. I'll give you a small gift for that later." The Demon smiled as he started to cut through the branch. It was a rather large one, but it seemed weirdly weak in specific places right where Eiro chose to cut it up, as if to make it easier for him. On the other hand, it was stronger in other placed to make sure that the branch wouldn't snap off and injure the tree more than necessary.

Well, in the first place, Eiro pushed his tail underneath the branch to hold it up to stop this, but it was always possible for it to snap off unevenly anyway.

Eiro took a deep breath as he jumped off of the tree with this thick branch in his hands. Once on the ground, Eiro quickly cut it up into pieces that were easier to transport, and packed them away in a manner that would allow him to carry them easily later on.

And then, Eiro walked up to the tree, placing his palm onto the bark again, "Thank you, buddy. Here, let me feed you one more time."

The next moment, Eiro pushed a large amount of mana into this tree. Since it was basically a giant staff that Eiro could make use of if he wanted to, his mana was spread out through it evenly, and it allowed Eiro to pour an immense amount of mana into it all at once.

The leaves rustled for a moment before Eiro smiled at the tree in satisfaction. Now that he had visited this place, there were just two more stops before heading back again.