DEMON'S VIRTUE

"What a wonderful piece of armor you have, Lord Daemonherz." A Lady told Eiro, clearly with the intention of simply starting a conversation with him based on the few things she could actively see on this newly born nobleman. She obviously never held anything heavier than a few pounds in her delicate hands, and she clearly thought that this armor was purely decorative as well. But Eiro sadly had to be nice to other nobles for now, as long as they weren't rude to Eiro themselves.

"Thank you. It was personally made by my dear friend using the best materials available." Eiro explained, "If you hold an interest in these items, I could introduce you to Armodeus."

"A-Ah, no, there is no need." The noblewoman replied. Eiro remembered that she was widowed, her husband having died from a bothersome disease.

The Demon smiled back at her, "Then if you will excuse me, I think my daughter needs a bit of fresh air." He pointed out, and the lady in front of Eiro smiled broadly, "Oh, if that is so, then let us head onto the balcony. The view is wonderful at this time of the night."

"No!" Avalin exclaimed, hearing that the woman wanted to come along with them. It seemed like Avalin also realized what this woman wanted to do, "You can't have daddy! He's mine! Go!" She exclaimed, and the lady looked back at her, "E-Excuse me? What do you mean, little lady?"

"Go! Leave daddy alone!" Avalin replied immediately, and the lady looked back awkwardly. She turned around nervously, "S-Seems like I forgot I had something else to do..."

Once the lady left, Eiro turned around with a smile on his face, "Thank you, sweetheart. You'll get extra dessert tomorrow."

"Yay~!" Avalin said with a broad grin, while Leon looked up at his father and grumbled to himself, "And what about me..?"

"Don't worry, I think Avalin's work might have given a little bit more to you as well." Eiro winked after speaking so that only Leon could hear his voice, before they then walked out onto the balcony. For now, the Demon let go of their hands, "Don't wander off, stay out here." He said.

Like this, he could calm his mind down a little bit. He didn't enjoy this sort of loud noise. Screams of pain and horror were fine for some reason, but he couldn't handle random chatter filled with fake glee and smiles. It was bothersome.

And just as Eiro was thinking that, someone else stepped out onto the balcony. One of the few people that Eiro didn't mind talking to right now.

"I understand that you may want to leave already, but this event was specially planned for you." Ariella said, "And if I have to be here, then you have to stay at least twice as long."

"Hah, good one. You know you didn't have to come. Or stay, even. You can leave whenever you want, but I have to stay here for most of the night." Eiro replied to her, and Ariella leaned against the balcony's banister as she locked eyes with Eiro, "What, you make it sound like I want to be here." She laughed slightly.

Eiro sighed a bit, "Ariella, I know that since I killed the Death, you're expecting that we will be able to easily kill the Devil as well, but I need you to be aware that-"

"I know, Eiro. That's not the reason why I'm in a good mood. Of course, the fact that we're clearly closer to it than we used to be helps quite a bit. But I'm just kind of happy for you as well. It seems like you were happy, so I'm happy as well." Ariella explained. Eiro looked back at her with his brows raised, "Thank you. I'm glad to hear that." Eiro replied to her. For a few moments, the two of them just stood there and were looking at each other, enjoying each other's company in silence.

That was until one of the windows above the balcony opened up, and a young man jumped out of them. Eiro immediately compressed air to catch that young man's fall, before groaning loudly, "Arc, what did I tell you about jumping out of windows like that?"

"Eh... Don't?"

"Exactly. So why are you still doing it?" Eiro asked with a deep groan, and Arc quickly turned around and pointed at the window he jumped out of. There were a few girls standing around it, looking down at them in confusion, "I wanted to get away from them. They're kind of a bother, you know?"

"Didn't you tell me that you wanted to meet girls at school? Those ones up there seem around your age, so where's the issue?" The Demon asked his son, who looked back with a wry smile, "Dad, I'm looking for someone to slowly get to know, and not someone to marry! Like, most of them were sent to me by their parents anyway, and that's just... weird."

"Then just tell them you're not interested. You don't usually care for what others think if something bothers you." Eiro pointed out, and Arc looked back with a wry smile, "That's what I've been doing... For real, it feels like my skill's about to gain another level..."

"It would be best if it didn't. I mean, you can leave whenever you want, or just sit down at one of the tables with the others and have something to eat."

"Eh, sure. The food is actually pretty good, I tried a bit of it earlier."

"This is the royal castle, of course the food is good, Arc." Eiro pointed out, before all of a sudden, a mouth appeared on his cheek, "Oi, brat, bring me something to eat as well! I'm kinda hungry."

"Bavet, you're not going to eat right now. Do you know how uncomfortable that feels? And it looks like I just have lumps growing all over my body."

"So? I'm hungry, and this takes up a lot of energy... We don't stay like this all that long, normally!" The slime complained, and Eiro quietly grumbled, "If you don't stop complaining, I'll do you the favor of never fusing with you again. Although at that point, my uses for you will reduce by one."

"Hah! Good one!" Bavet exclaimed, "You still try and treat me like a pet, but at this point I know you well enough to realize that you'd never get rid of me!"

"I don't have to get rid of you. I can just drop you off at the monster village forever. And give you the task of teaching all the new, dumbass monsters I find." Eiro grinned lightly, and the Demon could immediately feel his whole body shiver. And that shiver didn't come from himself, but from the slime that fused with the outer layer of Eiro's body.

"Actually... I heard you speak of that place a few times before, but I'm still not sure what you mean exactly. What is the 'monster village'?" Ariella asked, rather curious about what Eiro might mean. Arc smirked a bit, speaking for his father.

"You see, dad is not only super strong, intelligent, and capable of casting more magic than literally anyone at the academy, but he's also a born leader. By his own hands, he created a village filled with monsters built around a magic stone mine. There's Goblins, Kobolds, and even Orcs there." Arc explained with his arms crossed in front of his chest smugly, while Ariella turned her head toward Eiro.

"Wait, really? A village filled with monsters? Isn't that kind of... dangerous?" She asked, and Eiro quickly shook his head.

"Not really. In the first place, the Orcs never had any major monstrosity to begin with. And I sealed the monstrosity of the Goblins and Kobolds away while we train them to be civilized. When we remove the seal, they'll mostly be able to control themselves. They're set up in a ravine right now, and they can't really get out of there that easily. The Hobgoblin that currently takes care of the village was directly trained by me, and depending on how things go in the future, I was hoping to turn him into a royal monster as well." Eiro swiftly explained. Ariella was immediately taken aback, not having expected this sort of reply.

"Wait, really? Why would you turn a goblin of all creatures into a royal monster? They're like... the lowest type of monster there is, right? They're at the same level as... for your kind, Imps, I guess?" Ariella said, and both Eiro and Arc froze up. Bavet was shaking as if he was holding back laughter, while Eiro rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Ariella. You know that I'm an Imp, right?" He pointed out, and the Nephilim stared back at him, "Wh-What?"

"Yeah, I started out as a Lesser Imp that didn't even have any stats. I was literally the weakest imp amongst all the others in that horde. The only reason why I'm like this now and not dead and turned into fertilizer is because I was too stupid to realize that the system's notifications weren't some other creatures following me around." Eiro explained, "Since then, I've gathered four cards of the minor arcana, two cards of the major arcana, accumulated a total of two and a half thousand stat points, formed contracts with three spirits, gained three blessings from a spirit king and two spirit queens, and even received a Legendary skill." Eiro pointed out with a soft smile, "If someone like me can go from absolute zero to where I'm at now, I can turn a Goblin into a royal."