DEMON'S VIRTUE

Eiro looked back at the man in front of him, trying to figure out what to say. And then, the first question he could ever ask popped up in his mind, "How did you... How did you become the Arcane Dealer? Will my son become someone like you as well?"

The Arcane Dealer started walking around Eiro with a smile on his face, "I became like this through a number of fortunate coincidences. I was born in this world anew, and died through the influence of higher powers. Due to the level of strength I had amassed, I was able to resist death, and became like this using that which was left inside me."

"...The splinters?"

"Exactly so. I had amassed quite a number of them. And when I gained this new power after death, I learned how to forge them into something else." The Arcane Dealer explained, and Eiro was confused, "And why did you do this? Why did you create the cards? Why would you create monstrosities like the royals? For fun?"

"Oh... Well, there was quite an imbalance. There were quite intelligent, wonderful monsters, but all of them were being slaughtered by people without break. So, as I created the minor arcana as per some concepts I remembered from my former world, I created the major arcana in the same way. I manipulated already existing forces and turned those with cards of the major arcana into pawns of the monsters' hero equivalent, the Monster King. That did create quite a balance, didn't it?"

"Balance? All you've done is create more chaos, more... death. What's wrong with you?" Eiro asked with a deep glare, before one of the other beings behind the Arcane Dealer began to laugh. The elven mage.

"Hah, I'm starting to like this child." He said, and the Arcane Dealer turned around and smiled at him, "Right? He's pretty interesting."

Slowly, the Arcane Dealer turned back toward Eiro, "Well, anyway, the rest of this topic will be based on opinions, so let us move on. To your second questions. No, your son will not turn into the same kind of beings we are. I was born in another time. A time where the gods still walked the surface of this world. Where people were nothing but their mindless servants. A time where these 'splinters' were still objects of power that the gods were wielding. During a war between two such gods, the one that my family was serving died. And I managed to get my hands on that god's weapon of choice. Since then, the gods retreated to their realms, and nearly all of their objects of power have been destroyed and distributed amongst the people in the form of the system. As long as your son doesn't get his hands on one of the few objects of power that are left, there is no need for you to worry." After the Arcane Dealer's explanation, Eiro was a bit relieved, before he looked past the man at the other three beings.

"So none of you are gods?" Eiro asked.

The Rhida hunter quickly shook his head, "Not in the literal sense, no. But there is little difference these days. We hold power comparable to some of the gods, after all."

"All of us are beings of Arcane nature. Gods are beings of Divine nature." The faceless warrior said, "Just like his title is 'Arcane Dealer', ours respectively are Arcane Warrior, Arcane Mage, and Arcane Hunter."

"Arcane beings... Just as there is holy energy belonging to the 'divine' category, is there something similar for you?" Eiro asked, and the four beings looked at each other for a moment. The Arcane Mage then took on the task of replying and explaining.

"Pure mana is of arcane nature, I would say. There is no other sort of arcane energy in that sense." He stated, and Eiro nodded his head, "I see... So-"

"I will have to interrupt you. You are not the only one that wishes to ask some questions." The Dealer said, and Eiro looked back at him, "Of course. Go ahead."

"Now, who wants to go first?" The Dealer asked, looking at the other three, and the mage quickly took the initiative once more, "In that case, I would like to. Amongst the disciplines of magic, and the ways to use it, yours is one of the more interesting I have seen. But why do you only rely on using magic from within your own self, instead of the ambient mana to cast it?"

"I also have a similar question." The Warrior said, "Why do you waste time when fighting your opponents so often? Your mind and senses are powerful, can you not directly sense their intent?"

"...What?" Eiro asked, and the Arcane Dealer also had a question, "Yeah, and why the hell aren't you searching for other cards more actively. I mean, I obviously made them with the intent of something awesome happening when all the cards of a suit are collected. Why else would I tell you how many you have, and how many you still need when you get one?"

"I..." Eiro muttered. But the next time he blinked, the three beings in front of him had already disappeared. The Demon was pulled out of this dream. He looked to his sides, noticing two young children laying there. Avalin and Leon, currently snuggling up to their father, waking him up in the process. Mostly it was the effect of Avalin's Holy Energy on Eiro's body, though.

Eiro let out a groan, annoyed that he was pulled out of the conversation with those guys. It seemed like he was about to get some insane information, but he lost out on it. Hopefully he can end up speaking to them again.

But for now, Eiro figured he should just keep sleeping for the rest of the night... not much else he could do with two of his children basically laying on top of him.

---

In the morning, once the children were awake, Eiro stood up as well, bringing them downstairs, "So, will you tell me why you came to my bed last night?"

Leon looked up at Eiro and quickly explained, "You looked like you were in pain..."

"In pain?" Eiro asked, and Nelli floated up next to him, "You were breathing heavily, and constantly gasping for air... and grasping your sheets. You nearly ripped them apart in your sleep. So yeah, it definitely seemed like you were in pain. The two of them couldn't sleep so they came to you, and then saw the state you were in."

Eiro let out a deep sigh. Maybe contact with those beings wasn't good for him after all... but his body felt perfectly fine, so there was no lasting damage done to him, at least. Who knows if that would still be true if he stayed there any longer, though.

With a smile, Eiro placed his hands onto the heads of his kids, "Then thanks for being there for me, you two."

Eiro sat down in the sitting room, still quite exhausted from last night, and had the spiders bring him some tea again, "All of you, start clearing out some of the servants' rooms. They're completely cluttered right now." He commanded the spiders, and they immediately went off to do just that.

"Servants?" Armodeus tiredly asked as he entered the room, and Eiro turned toward him, "Yeah, I'm going to head out to the monster village sometime soon to pick out some of them to bring here. Ah, right, we need a bunch more of the artificial artifacts copied from Ariella's artifact."

"...Couldn't you have told me about that last night? I would have started to make some preparations the-" Armodeus said, although he suddenly stopped, realizing the situation he was in.

"Hey, lad... when'd I turn into yer private craftsman? And why'd I practically abandon my workshop back home?" Armodeus asked with a wry smile, and Eiro shrugged in response, "I'm not keeping you here. Sure, it'd be great if you stayed, but you can leave whenever you want."

Armodeus quietly grumbled to himself, before locking eyes with Eiro, "Ya know exactly I can't leave with the state yer life is in. You're practically one of my best friends' son, I kinda have to take care of ya."

Eiro smiled a bit as he poured himself a cup of tea, "Thanks. That's nice of you to say. But really, if you ever want to head back to Argberg, just let me know. I'll fly you there myself if I have to."

"I appreciate it, lad. I might take you up on that sometime, I really got to check on how things are going there."

"I'm sure you do. I was surprised when you just left there without a second thought in the first place."

"I got an emergency letter saying that everybody in this city forgot about you, that you yourself were forgetting everything you ever knew, and that it might be irreversible... What did ya expect me to do, lad? Just sit back and watch?"

Eiro laughed, "Fair enough. Still, thanks. I really appreciate your help." The Demon said, before something else popped up in his mind, "But there's something else I might need your help with. Do you know anyone with an 'Arcane' type job? Or someone that deals with Arcane Magic?"

"Arcane?" Armodeus asked, "I know a kid that researched anything arcane some time ago, but I haven't seen him in a couple of decades."

"Huh.... Do you know where he is right now?"