DEMON'S VIRTUE

Eiro looked back at the Naiad queen with a soft smile on his face, waiting for her to answer to his request. He didn't know that there was a spirit gateway in such a place, but now that he did end up finding it in such a way, it was too great a chance to pass up.

"You already hold a gateway within your body. I don't think such a thing would be good for you. The gateway would fuse with your soul... Having multiple of those stuffed in there might cause some irreversible damages." The former naiad queen told Eiro with a somewhat worried expression, but the Demon simply shook his head, "I'm sure I can take something like that. My soul needs to be reshaped soon anyway, so I can ask my friend to make sure the gateways didn't damage it in a major way."

"...You really are quite interesting, you know that? I gave you my blessing on a whim, but now I must say I do not regret it in the sligthest." She explained with a soft smile, while Eiro slightly turned his head toward the gateway, "So, does that mean that you'll give it to me?"

"I will. I have little use for it anyway. I can't make use of it myself anyway, having been banished from that realm a long time ago. I would rather someone with my blessing have it than those people that will simply use it for reckless destruction and superiority." The lonely naiad explained, and before Eiro was able to thank her, Nelli chose to speak through him, "Do you need us to help you be allowed back there? To get your throne back?"

The former naiad queen seemed surprised to hear that suggestion, but she soon shook her head, "I don't think that's going to be necessary, but I appreciate the thought. As my title says, I am quite lonely here, but I do not miss my position of 'Queen' either. It was similarly lonely for me then. Like this, I can at least watch the children of this town as they play together, even though it has become less in recent years."

"Are you sure you don't want to go back? To meet all those you left behind there? Your friends..?"

"I never had things like 'Friends', my child. When this world birthed me, I had already been chosen to be the queen. I was never treated the same as those beside me. I never had 'friends', only those that wished to be close to me due to my status." She explained, and Eiro could feel that Nelli felt rather sad after hearing these words from the one who she considered to be the 'true' queen.

"In the first place..." The naiad queen explained, "I don't believe the title of ruler to be a birth-right, but something that you have to earn through consistent struggle. There was no need for me to ever struggle in such a way. However, she who now replaces me did have to. She is much more deserving of that title than I."

"Is... is that so..?" Nelli muttered quietly, as Eiro slowly took control of his mouth back, "Of course, if you don't want to be the queen any longer, then there is no reason to force you into that position. But I do have to agree with my friend, that I do owe you something in return. Is there anything I could do for you?"

"...There is one thing that I could think of. But I'm not sure if you hold the power necessary for it." She replied in a quiet tone, "This country has been turned into what seems like a hell through the influence of the monster king and his royals. A town not too far away from here had been taken by the devil and is now in ruins, the capital on the horizon has been destroyed by the king's army, and my dear friend has been imprisoned by them as well."

"Your dear friend..?" Eiro asked, before realizing what she meant, "Are you talking about the Guardian of the Lake?"

"You know if them?" The former queen asked in a surprised tone, and Eiro quickly nodded his head, "Yeah... The first time I even came close to them, I became absolutely horrified. But well, it helped me out in the end, so it's not a big deal." Eiro explained, "And also, I think I have to admit that... I'm the one that caused that town taken by the devil to fall to ruins..."

"You are? I wouldn't think so, the devil came by and wiped it off all maps. You messed with the demons in that town, sure, but you are not the one that destroyed it. Be aware that I know much of what goes on around these parts, dear Eiro." The lonely naiad explained. And to Eiro, it did make quite a lot of sense for the devil to just get rid of everyone in that town, considering that it was nothing but a place for him to play around with. And after Eiro destroyed that plan, there was little reason to keep that place around anymore.

"So, what is it exactly that you want me to do?" Eiro asked the lonely naiad, who quickly explained her request, "I want you to save my friend from the oppression they are under. They are trapped within that lake. Set them free."

"...But isn't the Guardian of the Lake a huge monster? How are they supposed to get out of that lake?"

"By freeing the town above it. Don't worry, it has become nothing but a monster nest. There are a few noble monsters there, but none of them should be anything for you to worry about." The naiad explained to the Demon, who thought about it for a moment, "I mean, if that's all, then that's no issue. We can take a small detour on our way back from where we're headed right now."

"I see. Thank you, Eiro." The naiad said, and the Demon slowly nodded his head, "Then once I freed your friend, I'll come back to get the gateway from you."

"Of course. Again, I thank you." She replied to Eiro, who smiled lightly and nodded his head, "For now, I'm going to just return to my friends, then. I'll be back in at most a few days."

"I will be waiting here for you."

And so, Eiro swam back to the shore, with one more thing added onto the list of things he had to do. Not that he wasn't interested in doing that in the first place.

---

Eiro sat on a rock, looking at the sky, while waiting for the others to wake up. Sometime in the middle of the day, the side-effects had subsided, so they were taking exhausted naps. Meanwhile, Eiro was working on a plan of action.

He flew over to the capital earlier to take a look at the state of it, and now created a duplicate model here in the dirt so that he could show the others how exactly they should handle this plan. And also, it helped Eiro figure out something important. The exact location of Zaragon's shop. Sure, they could just try and wait for a door to appear in the right place, but it wouldn't be guaranteed that they would find one. Eiro could quickly get to wherever a door appeared at, but it was different for the others, and he didn't just want to run off and do his own thing. That wasn't why he was here.

The first to wake up was Krog. His body had properly filtered out the anesthetics, and he was able to fully move around again. And as Eiro expected, his overall strength and the control over his body that he now possessed was far, far higher than it had been before all of this training began.

When Jess woke up, Eiro wasn't really able to see any difference directly, since her changes were mostly mental and in her mana. Although, the spirits confirmed that her mana did increase over the past few hours, by quite a lot actually. To Eiro, Jess seemed a bit calmer, more collected. Like she was really taking everything that was going on around her in with absolute precision.

And the last to wake up was James. Eiro was surprised, though, since his breathing barely changed from what it was when he was sleeping. The same with his heartbeat. James' whole body was absolutely relaxed, even when he jumped up and walked over toward the others like he normally did. Clearly, he changed quite a bit.

Now, these three would certainly be good partners for him. Eiro wasn't sure if they were worthy of the 'S' rank at the guild yet, but they would certainly get there soon. Especially because they still had plenty of classes to go through to increase their strength further. From now on, they would just have to keep on hunting, growing stronger like that, increasing their abilities further and further.

Of course, since Eiro would keep growing stronger as well, it was doubtful whether or not they would really ever stand by his side, but at the very least, they weren't as weak as they used to be.

"Alright... Is that it? Can we go now?" James asked, eager to go and fight Zaragon to enact his revenge on that disgusting creature. Eiro as well couldn't wait to overcome that trauma that was still somewhat stuck within his mind. But first, the Demon needed to explain the plan to them.

"Well, first of all... Let's talk about how we can get to him in the first place.. How we can get into the royal castle, where Zaragon set up his shop."