DEMON'S VIRTUE

Eiro flew forward to get near the lake. They had camped out really quite close to where Eiro had first met the children back then. He smiled lightly as he spotted a particularly familiar spot. It had changed completely in the past eight years, of course, but it simply felt so familiar that Eiro would always be able to recognize it, even if a house had been built over it.

He stood in the middle of the clearing, which had overgrown completely since then. But even so, the three was still there. The one that Eiro was leaning against while holding Avalin and her basket. And then, in a place where a thick bush now stood, he saw Arc for the first time. He was still incredibly scared there, and Eiro probably caused his unique skill to level up a couple of times at that point.

The Demon held his hand forward and made the bush wither away. It was like he was able to see it. Right over there stood the carriage. That young priest tried to attack Eiro not too far away from where he was standing right now.

Eiro pushed his mana into the ground and searched for the hole that he buried everything in. The objects that Eiro was looking for were soon pushed above the ground. Surprisingly, the bag kept together rather well. It couldn't really be used properly anymore, but it was surprising that it didn't rot away somehow in the first place.

The demon pulled the bag open and grabbed the objects that were inside of it, "Hm... Is this is?" He muttered, noticing a small note-book. Eiro flipped it open, and although it was rather hard to see the content written onto the pages, being covered in quite a bit of blood, the Demon was able to figure out a few things.

While this wasn't exactly what Eiro was hoping for, it was similar. This was a notebook kept by that priest, most likely. He didn't write down the exact details Eiro wanted to find, but Eiro might still be able to find some information in this thing. There were a few things written about the kids rather early on. There were notes about how Leon's abilities had been sealed away, but nothing about the specifics of his race.

Well, he did find that there were notes about him being a beastman, but sadly, there wasn't anything more specific than that. Nothing about which clan Leon belonged to.

"Dammit." Eiro sighed as he threw the book to the side, "Fucking useless." The Demon grumbled, as he swiftly made his way down an overgrown path right next to here. It was kind of bothersome that he wasn't able to easily find out Leon's clan like this, but the most important details were already figured out by Eiro at that point. For example, that Leon was from a carnivorous clan. He was able to find it out through his sharp canines that grew in rather quickly after pushing his old ones out. It was actually kind of bothersome, since Leon was in absolute pain for a couple of days. He barely stopped clinging to Eiro, and would keep waking up in the middle of the night before coming to Eiro's room while in tears.

This early maturity was something really annoying... and maddening. Seeing Leon like that drove Eiro crazy as well. But luckily he was mostly fine after that, and proudly showed his siblings his new, super sharp teeth.

As Eiro finished that thought, he finally reached the side of the lake, "I guess I should head inside here now then." The Demon muttered, looking at his spirits, "Nelli, come on. And you two, stay up here, this is most likely still the domain of the former Naiad Queen. She might be scared off seeing you two." Eiro pointed out, and the two of them quickly understood.

Eiro placed his cloak to the side as Nelli flowed into his chest. The two of them fused together, as Eiro manipulated his armor to go along with it, supporting this change. Eiro found that his elemental fusion ability kept on being upgraded, and along with that, he got even more abilities from the spirits when fused with them. For example, when fused with Nelli, Eiro was able to breathe underwater. The shape of his tail and his feet changed to allow him to swim more quickly, the same being the case with his wings. Basically, when fused with Nelli, Eiro could live underwater if he wanted to.

And with a light smile on his face, Eiro walked right into the lake. Eiro made sure to use earth magic to clear the dust and dirt out of the water to give him a clear sight throughout this lake. And deeper within it, at its deepest part, Eiro and Nelli soon spotted a large concentrated mass of magic.

"Wait, that..." Eiro muttered, his voice being carried through the water as if it was air. It seemed like a somewhat familiar sight, although Eiro really wasn't sure yet. He flapped his wings and started to shoot through the water at high speed. It didn't take Eiro long to reach the vicinity of the mass of magic.

And that was when Eiro had been able to confirm it. It was a deep rift that had pure water magic flowing out of it. It was a gateway leading to the elemental plane of water. But surprisingly, there were no naiads around it at all, although you would think that those would be close to such a place.

Although, maybe it made sense. This place was supposed to be the home of the 'Lonely Naiad', after all. She wouldn't be so lonely if she had a bunch of other Naiads around her, after all. And since the name of Eiro's blessing didn't change, he figured that her state should be roughly the same right now as it was back then.

Eiro looked around, trying to find the Naiad, before he suddenly heard an irregular flow to his right. He turned his body around immediately, and there he was able to see a glowing form. She was short, the height of a child, a colorful mermaid's tail on her lower body. The former Naiad Queen approached Eiro with a soft smile on her face.

"It has been a while. I am glad you were able to survive that wound, and even strived so much afterward." She told Eiro with a soft smile, and the Demon looked back with a smile on his own, "The only reason I was able to survive was because you healed me. And of course, because you gave me your blessing."

"Of course, you seemed quite interesting. An irregular being like you was rather deserving of my blessing, I thought."

"And I thank you for that." Eiro replied with a genuine smile. The lonely naiad came closer to Eiro and placed her hand onto his chest, "It seems as if you received a blessing from my dear friend as well. What a coincidence that you happened to come across her."

"I know, right? I've really been quite lucky. And... there's one more thing I need to thank you for." Eiro started, "Thank you for making me want to not be alone." He told her, and the lonely naiad turned her head to the side.

"What may you be speaking of?"

"You know what I mean. Your blessing not only gave me an increase in my affinity with the water element, but it also made me avoid 'loneliness'. You're the reason why I managed to get closer to my children." Eiro explained to her, and with a light chuckle, the lonely naiad nodded her head, "I see. I'm glad that you were able to follow along with that wish of mine so well."

"Of course. I did want it myself in the end, after all." Eiro explained. With a smile on her face, the lonely naiad kept swimming around Eiro, "And I see that... you were also blessed by another old friend of mine. And he even gave you another interesting gift on your way."

"Do you mean the spirit gateway?" The Demon asked, and the naiad nodded her head, "Indeed so. I am surprised that you are capable of holding it within you."

"Ah... Well, yeah, I know that it's not particularly normal. But, speaking of spirit gateways, would you-"

"Let you take in the gateway here as well?" She interrupted Eiro, who slowly nodded his head, "Yeah, exactly that."

"And why should I do that? Do you not understand that this gateway is the reason why the Holy Capital was built here? This place has been in quite some trouble in recent years, do you wish to bring it to ruin even further?" The naiad asked Eiro, who looked back at the former queen with an emotionless expression, "I'm certainly not here to help this place out. I don't care what happens to this country. And if you were to ask me if I think whether it should continue to stand just like this, or be replaced with something new from the ashes of this current country, my answer will certainly be the latter." Eiro explained to the Naiad.

"Then what do you wish to do with the gateway?"

"Simple. I'm going to use it to make myself stronger." Eiro said in a blunt tone of voice, as it echoed through the waters of this lake.. The lonely naiad looked back at the Demon with a soft smile on her face, while Eiro was awaiting her answer.