DEMON'S VIRTUE

Eiro stepped back into the room. He had to clean up some of the damage that he just caused here, while the guards were already heading off to go talk to Solomon.

"Wh-What... What just happened..." Gabria asked as she stared at Eiro confused, and the Demon turned his head toward her, "It's simple. Merlin was a goon of the Monster King all along, but you probably already knew that, he destroyed your village not accidentally but on purpose because he hated that you most likely all had monster blood, and yeah, that's basically all you need to know right now." Eiro explained in a blunt voice.

The elven woman stared back at him and then looked down at the ground, "Ah... I see... So that's what happened..." She looked at her hands with teary eyes, "You know, I-I didn't want to become 'the person that made the barrier', but... Merlin asked me to..."

"He might have tried to push the responsibility onto you in case things had gone wrong. He can't be held accountable for the barrier failing if he was never the one that created the barrier in the first place." Eiro pointed out, "But well, what are you going to do now? Will you keep going with that act? Return to your home country?"

"I don't know... I will have to ask the others..." Gabria said, "We managed to establish ourselves here now... I don't want to rip them away from that..."

"Then don't. Solomon is reasonable. I'll talk to him, so you can figure something out. Especially if you cooperate with us, and tell us everything you know. But you have to be aware that you might not get away without a full punishment. Did the other survivors from your village help Merlin in some ways as well?" Eiro asked Gabria, but she quickly shook her head, "No, none of them did... Most of them are children, after all, so..."

"We're still going to need to talk to them, to make sure they really don't know anything. But don't worry, especially those kids are going to be just fine."

"B-But how do you know that it's going to be fine..? We're Elves, but we're from a special clan... For centuries, we... served a monster we thought to be a god, simply due to the exorbitant amount of powers he had... But that was really just a 'Royal' that thought it would be fun to be treated like a god despite being..." Gabria said, and Eiro raised his brows surprised. A royal? Eiro approached Gabria and analysed her scent in more detail.

Since he didn't really care what kind of monster was in her blood, as it was unimportant, she didn't pay it any attention. However, one thing became rather clear when Eiro analysed the scent. It was that of a Demon. It didn't seem like the Demon blood in Gabria was showing at all, but that didn't matter right now either.

While he wasn't the only 'Demon' royal that existed throughout the past few hundred years, the fact that this sounded exactly like something that he would do... made Eiro only thing of one being. 'The Devil', and the one that currently existed, at that.

"You're a descendant of the Devil?" Eiro asked, and Gabria looked back, seemingly unsure, "I-I don't know, maybe? I have no idea which royal it was, but... one of them is my great grandparent." Gabria explained.

"I see..." Eiro replied as he finished cleaning up some of the mess that he caused in here, while Gabria looked at him confused, "How are you not startled by this at all..?"

Eiro looked at her as if she was stupid, while Bavet peeled away from Eiro's head, "I'm a fucking Demon myself, what do you mean by 'not startled'?"

"Y-Yeah, but we're talking about a royal..."

"I became a noble by killing a royal, why do you think I would be startled in the slightest?"

"...You really did that..? That wasn't just some lie told so that the King had an excuse to turn you into a noble?" Gabria asked, and the Demon groaned loudly while Bavet once more transformed his head back to his human form.

"Of course it's not just a lie, I did actually kill 'Death', got that? Good, then just shut it and come with me, we've got some things to explain to Solomon." Eiro said while rolling his eyes. On his way to Solomon's study, Nelli returned back to him. The Demon looked at her with a light frown, "Where'd he go?"

"He was moving away from town, further up north... He disappeared at some point, but I made sure to remember what his mana felt like." Nelli told Eiro, who looked at the Naiad he contracted with a smile, "Thank you. Seems like he's trying to flee completely." Eiro figured, as he pushed open the door to Solomon's study, even without knocking this time. He didn't even pay the guards in front of the door any heed, and simply stepped inside.

Beside Solomon, there were the guards that Eiro sent here to tell Solomon about what happened in here, and his adviser was apparently also quickly called and was rushing to get to this side of the building.

"Eiro! What happened in there?! Merlin is-" Solomon exclaimed, and Eiro immediately nodded his head, "Merlin ran away. He's on the side of the Monster King, and worked together with 'The Magician' to steal something that was most likely supposed to be hidden within the Academy's library. His goal was to grow in strength further, having developed jealousy of former companions of his that reached the stages of masters while he reached his limit." Eiro explained immediately, answering any questions that he figured Solomon would have for now.

"And where is-"

"He escaped north, and I assume that he won't be returning anytime soon. I would still station some more guards around the watch-towers and have them report anything unusual that's going on around the perimiter of the outer wall." Eiro said, when the adviser finally arrived in the room. Before he was even able to talk, Eiro turned toward him.

"You, immediately gather all permanent faculty members of the Academy for questioning. That mostly means teachers, head guards, and those working in the library." Eiro said, "And just in case, create an 'Event Quest' at the Adventurer's guild to give an incentive for those roaming around the outside of the wall to report everything unusual or suspicious."

The adviser looked at Eiro confused, "What, why should I do any of that?!"

"Because adventurers usually have a more specialized skillset than guards and are able to gather information more effectively and precisely. They know the outside of the walls better than the guards, and will be able to tell when something is amiss. And most importantly, because I told you to." Eiro replied immediately. Instead of fighting Eiro about this more, the adviser looked at Solomon who quickly nodded his head.

"Do exactly what Eiro told you to." Solomon said, and the adviser ground his teeth as he quickly turned around again, "Ah, before you leave. Also call the owner of the bookstore at this address here." Eiro added while writing the address down onto a small piece of paper and handing it to the adviser.

Quickly they turned around and left, before Eiro turned back around. He looked at the guards that he sent here earlier.

"You can leave. Or rather, you should leave. Gabria and I have to speak to Solomon in private." The Demon said immediately, before the guards left without further discussion of the manner. Eiro looked at the King, and immediately started to explain the whole situation to Eiro. He didn't hide anything about Merlin, his own relation to him, or the fact that Gabria was 'The Devil's direct descendant.

Solomon was in shock, in complete and utter disbelief, "B-But how did... Why did Merlin...?"

"As I said, he despises 'People'. I don't know exactly why, but I know who I can ask, so I'm going to do that and I'll keep you up to date. Now, I already asked Gabria some of the things that I wanted to ask her, so you can ask whatever you want as well. I'm pretty sure she genuinely wants to help out with this situation, since she didn't want to do this all in the first place. Her situation simply forced her to."

"...I see. But she still committed treason. I can't just leave her without punishment for that." Solomon pointed out, and Eiro immediately nodded his head, "Of course. But I still ask you to come up with a punishment that takes her situation, and those of the other survivors of her village, into account."

"Hmm... I will come up with something. Until then, you are under arrest, and we will secure the others from your village as well. But do not worry, as long as they didn't collude with you or Merlin, no harm will be done to them. This is something to protect them." Solomon told Gabria in a genuine tone, and the elven woman looked back at these two men completely confused. They were the first ones that didn't seem to mind what she was in the slightest.

A monster and a human, standing side by side, working together in order to achieve their common goal. Or rather, they were friends. Gabria didn't know how something like that was possible, but it was.. She felt like, maybe, there was a tiny possibility that she and her friends were able to find peace here in this country.