DEMON'S VIRTUE

The next day, it was once more time for class, and it was the first time that Eiro was leaving the monsters at the manor without his supervision. It was a bit nerve-wracking, but at the end of the day, since Krog, Jess and James were there as well, they would be able to take care of anything that happened. They were certainly far stronger than any of the monster-servants at this point, after all.

Once they reached the academy, Eiro and the kids stepped out of the carriage and swiftly made their way inside. Of course, they split up soon after so that everyone could get to their respective classes. And Eiro didn't even have anything to do for now, since his first class didn't start for another two hours. The reason why he came so early was in order to get a lesson himself during that time, instead of teaching.

The Demon swiftly made his way to Merlin's office. He knocked on the door rather excitedly. Beyond the door, Eiro heard some movement, and the next moment Merlin replied, "Come in."

Eiro pushed the door open and stepped inside, "Good morning." He said, looking at Merlin and the student that had been speaking to him until now. The old man smiled at her, "You are excused. We can continue this conversation sometime later."

The girl immediately nodded her head and rushed out of the room. Eiro knew her as well, she was one of his students as well. She was mostly quite average, but she was studious and dedicated. She just had a tough time catching up to her more directly talented classmates.

But something was off. The girl rushed out of the room with her heart beating rapidly. The scent she gave off showed a hint of adrenaline, and her pupils were clearly dilated. She seemed almost scared as she ran out of the room, closing the door behind her without a word.

"Did something happen?" Eiro asked concerned, and Merlin slowly nodded his head, "Yes, but it is a private matter in her life. I can't divulge such information freely. But do not worry, I am handling it." The old man explained. Eiro was a bit concerned for the girl, but since Merlin was speaking with clear sincerity, he didn't worry too much for now. He could always try and help in the future.

"Now, why are you here? Do you require a bit more assistance in your studies for the Ancient Language?" Merlin asked, but Eiro swiftly shook his head, "No, not directly. I got the skill and brought it to beginner level 18 over the weekend. It's really a tough skill to level up, huh?" He said with a slight laugh.

Merlin jumped up from his chair and stared back at Eiro, "What did you just say? You reached level 18 over the weekend..?"

"Ah, yeah. You see, some time ago, I found this tome written in the Ancient Language that was decently well-preserved. I simply chose to analyze the language a bit to figure out the true meanings of the words in there. I even started transcribing a dictionary for all the words in here, as a way of practicing. And after I figured out that it was faster to level the skill up by creating your own spells and chants, my leveling speed for the skill shot up. Compared to other languages, at least."

"..." Merlin didn't know what to say. Eiro had reached such a level within just a weekend?

"Hah, that is why I am jealous of those with superior talent like you." The old man sighed, but Eiro immediately explained something, "Actually, I don't have any talents. I think it might be because I was artificially created, but during any sort of talent-measuring procedures, I get no results in the slightest."

"...No results?" Merlin asked, "But you usually get at least miniscule positive results in the different solutions and liquids involved."

"Of course, usually. Except if you don't have a talent at all. As in... If 'talent' had a value, then my talent would be zero for everything. Usually, there are some reactions at least, since it's close to impossible to have a natural 'zero' in such values." Eiro explained simply, and Merlin was unsure what to say. He simply stared down at his desk.

That meant that even Merlin had higher talent for learning about magic and the ancient language, but Eiro was able to learn all that so easily anyway? That seemed rather unfair to him.

"Now, why exactly are you here then?" Merlin asked, not letting his thoughts be shown to the Demon in front of him any further, and Eiro quickly smiled, "Well, I would like to ask you about how I could get a grasp of the concept of Arcana for now. If you have the time, that is."

Merlin crossed his arms as he leaned backward in his chair, "Sure. I finished collecting the notebooks with Arcana theory for now. You can read those for now. Understanding the actual theory of the concept first is quite important."

"Hm, my guess is that the Ancient Language has an extremely high importance for this, also considering that the 'affinity' measuring showed it as an orb made of Ancient Runes. Let's say... Does it work by using magic without an element as an intermediate and instead just relying on the Ancient Language, which in itself seems to have magical properties, far heavier in the element's stead?" Eiro asked. Merlin looked back at the Demon silently, unsure what to say.

"...That is exactly correct. Seems like you will rather easily figure out the specifics." Merlin sighed, somewhat annoyed, as he stood up and walked over to the bookshelf near him. He grabbed some books out of it and handed them to Eiro, who quickly flipped them open. Eiro glanced at the pages and took the raw information in one after another, not really thinking about it. The total of five books were devoured by the Demon near to instantly.

"Come back to me when you have read them all, then we can start." Merlin explained, and Eiro placed the last book down onto the small pile in front of him and nodded his head, "I assume you have time after class ends for the day again, right?"

"Of course, every day I leave time to speak to my students." The old man replied, and Eiro smiled, "Perfect. Then I'll be back later after analyzing everything." He turned around and left for the door, "This gives me some time to read a few more books at the library as well."

"Speaking of books..." Merlin sighed, "You forgot my notebooks."

"Hm? Oh, no, I just already remembered everything about them, don't worry. I just haven't had the chance to think about the content yet." Eiro explained in a smug voice, and left the perplexed Merlin in his office behind. And without further ado, Eiro made his way toward the library. He still had a few hours left until his first class was going to start, so until then, he would simply use the chance to read up on some more things related to the Arcane that he could find here.

The collection of books within the library was more than just impressive, and it was even enough for Eiro to figure out things about memory-manipulating magic while all of his memories were disappearing bit by bit.

"Actually, isn't there already magic that's just mana? Magic like that manipulation stuff?" Sarius asked when the Demon spoke about this fact to the spirits, and Eiro thought about it for a moment, "Well, it seems to be a bit different with arcane magic. With things like memory-manipulation, you still infuse your mana with something, and that is the raw intent with which you carry the mana. It isn't 'pure mana' anymore. And with arcane magic, it seems like you really are using mana in its purest state, and then shape it into something else using the Ancient Language without infusing things like intent into it. It's fundamentally different."

"Well, in the first place, using magic without an element is fucking weird." Sarius pointed out, turning toward Gondos and Nelli, "Right?"

Gondos was the first to reply, "It certainly feels unusual, but it is not as if we are capable of it in the first place."

"Yeah, we don't have 'mana', we only have pure elemental magic flowing within us. So we couldn't do this even if we tried." Nelli added, and Eiro stopped for a moment as he was looking through the library, "That makes me wonder, if 'Arcana' is technically an element, even capable of being picked up by affinity-measuring, does that mean that there are Arcane spirits that have pure mana flowing within them?"

"Maybe, but what shape would they even take? Not like mana has a form to it..." Nelli replied, and Eiro thought about that as well, "That is true... Maybe it's going to make more sense when we figure out what Arcane Magic even looks like." The Demon suggested, "You know what, I think I saw some books about non-elemental magic around here, speaking about it in theory. Maybe those are going to help with that. And some books about spirits were around here as well..."

"Heh, you seriously want to listen to books instead of the spirits in those books?" Sarius asked with a grin, and Eiro looked back at him with a wry smile, "Well, yeah. I especially won't listen to a spirit that spent its whole life in the primal plane of fire until very recently. But either way, it's not like any of you know much about other spirits besides yourself in the first place."

"He has a point." Nelli said as she looked at Sarius, who just crossed his arms annoyed, "Right, right."

With a light smile on his face, listening to the spirits' arguing, Eiro began to read some more books.