DEMON'S VIRTUE

"Who do you mean with 'her'?" Eiro asked, his instincts making him ask the Duke this question. However, Duke Melachine was worried about something else, "Are you joking? I just found out about what my son is like, and you want to ask me about a person that's completely unrelated to this situation?"

"Clearly, yes. We can have your son leave for a while if you want, I'll just heal him before he does."

"Of course not! I am not letting my son out of my sight while I am here!" Duke Melachine exclaimed, but Richard looked at his father perplexed, "What are you even saying, father? Do you truly believe these two? They teamed up to ruin us, isn't that clear?!"

"No, it is not 'clear', Richard. Now stop with your lies and own up to your mistakes already." The father said to his son. This was the first time that Eiro had noticed Richard's heartbeat speeding up. And it was clearly out of anger. With a slight sigh, Eiro snapped his finger and made Nelli appear. He proceeded to heal the wounds that Richard had inflicted upon himself for this meeting today, to make it clear to him that this was over for him.

"This is just ridiculous, how can you believe these two hoodlums over me?!" Richard angrily stood up before Eiro had finished fully healing him. He rushed toward the door and left the room. Duke Melachine jumped up as well, trying to go after his son, but the Demon swiftly stopped him by standing between the Duke and the door.

"There's no need for that. If he does anything stupid right now, I'll know. My perception is focused on him at the moment, so there's nowhere in this school that he can go where I won't notice him." Eiro explained. The Duke stared at Eiro as if he was insane, but Lognir simply grinned and said, "That's the truth."

"What? How is that even possible?" Duke Melachine asked, and Eiro smiled softly, "That's a secret. But more importantly, were you perchance speaking of Eliza Koperia when you said 'her'?"

The Duke's body became stiff as he took a step back, away from Eiro, "How do you know that? Do you know that wretched woman?"

Eiro felt an unbelievable bubble up inside of his chest as he stared back at Duke Melachine, "It was just a lucky guess. Just an unbelievably lucky guess." Eiro grinned at the Duke, "But I tend to be lucky anyway. Now tell me, where is she right now? You said you had to deal with her recently."

"..." The Duke silently looked back at Eiro, but didn't say anything. And then, Eiro pulled a certain brooch out of his treasury, "Don't worry, speak to me like you would to Solomon."

"How do you have that..? Wait, are you the man that my cousin sent me letters about? His personal candidate for the tournament to choose the hero's companion?" The Duke asked. Eiro nodded his head without hesitation, "That's me, yes. So? Will you tell me what the Queen of Undeath is up to already?"

Duke Melachine slowly tried to collect his thoughts as he took a deep breath, "Fine. She is currently on the way here. I had to deal with her when she was in my duchy's capital, to stop her from resurrection everyone in the graveyard."

"Ah... So she's that kind of person?" Eiro asked with a wry smile, and the Duke shook his head, "She didn't do so just out of boredom. She wanted to take the undead with her to get rid of 'Undead Hunters' that were also on the way here."

Eiro turned away with a wry smile on his face. Basically, the Duke was unknowingly saying that it was Eiro's fault she did that to the graveyard. The Demon let out a deep sigh, hoping that the Queen of Undeath wouldn't do any more damage on her way here. Luckily the Duke's duchy was in the opposite direction as the monster village where Eiro left Gobo, so he didn't need to worry about those guys at the very least.

"If she was on her way here even before you left, shouldn't she be here by now?" Eiro asked with a light frown. The Duke slowly nodded, "Yes, but she most likely found something else she was also interested in on the way. I knew that I had to come here as quickly as possible, so I wasn't side-tracked, but Eliza Koperia is quite different in that regard. She is easily distracted when she finds something interesting."

"Is that so?" Eiro asked, "But wait, how were you able to interact with her in that way? I thought she was opposed to interacting with the living."

"Usually so, yes, but my side of the family had some history with her already. My great grandfather was a great aide to her, it seems."

"Great grandfather? Isn't she a human?" Eiro asked, surprised of Koperia's apparent age.

"Of course she is, but she also is not. Due to her control over death, it is like death itself has rejected hert. Or so I heard. She stopped aging long ago." The Duke explained. Eiro lightly glanced at Lognir, who nodded to reassure Eiro that the Duke was saying the truth.

"Well, she does have Master grade death magic..." Eiro muttered. Surprised to hear the man in front of him say this, the Duke stared right at him, "Master grade? How do you know that?"

"I guess since you shared a bit of a secret of yours, I can share one of mine. My teacher, or father if you prefer, was one of the most wanted and despised men in this world, who once saved the Monster King." Erio smirked, and the Duke glared back at Eiro, "Are you speaking of that man, 'Jura'?"

"Of course. He was a master grade woodcarver." The demon pointed out bluntly. Without hesitation, Lognir nodded his head, "He's telling the truth."

"Jura taught me my craft. I may work as a teacher and adventurer right now, but you could say my true nature is that of a prosthetist." Eiro smiled back at the Duke, showing his wooden hand to him, "I made Charles' prosthetics after the incident at this academy. It's how I met Solomon."

Duke Melachine let his body slump a bit, quite suprised, "Interesting. Being a prosthetist is a rather noble profession... Someone that has the skill to make such limbs out of wood could work as an artist or woodworker, maybe make more money. Most of those that have lost their limbs did so out of disease or war... and ended up rather poor in consequence. So there wouldn't be much money in that, would there?"

Eiro lightly shrugged, "I guess. I mostly made prosthetics for animals before. But that's not the point." The Demon slightly sighed, "More importantly, when exactly did Koperia leave your duchy?"

"A week prior, if I remember correctly." Duke Melachine explained to the Demon, who slowly rubbed his chin, "Is that so? Then I assume she should be here soon as well."

"It's what you would assume, yes... It is another reason why I am here. I meant to just send my cousin a letter, but as I had to come due to my son's situation anyway, I wished to speak to him personally." The Duke quickly explained. Eiro slowly nodded his head in response, "Nelli. Can you go inform Solomon that his cousin will come see him later?" The Naiad looked at him with a wry smile, "What, that's what you want to use me for now?"

"Do you want me to send the incredibly slow Golem, or the foul-mouthed Salamander instead?" The Demon asked. In response, Nelli just groaned loudly as she floated out of the window. Roughly at the same time, Eiro stood up from the couch he was sitting on.

"I think we spoke about some of the more important things just now. But before anything else happens, you should probably start chasing after your son after all. He is trying to set a few horses in the stables loose, for whatever reason." Eiro pointed out, pulling the door open. The headmaster stood in front of it, surprised at the door suddenly opening altough no sound came from the other side the whole time.

Of course, Lognir's 'judgement' ability made sure that nobody outside the area of judgement could hear that which was said within it. The Demon smiled and stepped past the headmaster. The Guards were confused about what they were meant to do, but Duke Melachine quickly told them to stand down and look for his son instead.

"I deeply apologize for my son's behavior. I will make sure that it never happens again." Duke Melachine said, and Eiro just smirked a bit as he walked away, "Don't worry about it. Just get him some help."

Lognir swiftly rushed out of the room to follow Eiro as well, and looked at the Demon with a light smirk on his face, "So, what will you give me in return for helping you like this, child?"

"What do you mean? You already heard about what I'll give you just now. The chance to meet a Master grade necromancer and observe her abilities." The Demon pointed out bluntly. Lognir just laughed in response, "You're really a cheapskate, are you not? A bit of food would be in order now, would it not?"

"Fine, I'll buy you something later. Just don't expect anything grand." Eiro replied bluntly, and looked ahead through the hallway.. Part of his plans would finally continue moving soon.