DEMON'S VIRTUE

The young hero's father simply scoffed upon seeing Eiro's armor, instead of being surprised like the demon expected, "You think that would impress me? I have travelled through the continent, and I've seen stage actors change their appearance in a more impressive way than that. Not to mention that this ridiculous armor is not a good fit for you. White with a golden shimmer? What do you think you are, a holy paladin?"

"Hm, true, these colors are quite similar to that of holy energy..." Eiro muttered, looking down at his armor, "But actually, this armor was made with the scales of a Dragon of Truth."

"And you expect me to believe that?"

"I expected nothing in particular, truthfully. But it is true that I did not expect you to be so critical of everything I say or do."

"Oh, are you sad about that? I'm sorry, I thought I was talking to a man."

"That sort of mindset is blatantly sexist, so I would love if you refrained from saying these sort of things." Eiro replied, and the man in front of him let out a deep sigh, "I apologize. But you must understand that I find your claims hard to believe. How could you have possibly come across the scales of a dragon?"

"He gave them to me. He's actually a friend of mine."

"Do you have prove for such claims?" The man asked, and Eiro gently smiled, locking eyes with him, "I have nothing but my word at this time. But if we go and just doubt every word of another person without proof, then would we be able to really go anywhere at all?"

"You have a point. Alright, then please take a seat. We do have a few things to talk about." The man said with a slight smirk, as Eiro nodded his head, taking a seat at the table, before the other three also soon sat down.

The head warrior quickly initiated the actual discussion, "For now, we wanted to speak about the possibilities for the hero's education. In order to protect him from those that wish to use him for their own means, as was often the case with past incarnations of the hero, we had decided for him to undergo his education exclusively in Baram."

"Right, but you said you were convinced by my words? Treating his education in a different way would be useful for not only the boy, but for all of us." Eiro said, slightly glancing at the young hero, who was trying his best to follow along with the conversation thus far. The boy's father quickly spoke up, though, "I'm against it. We made our decision for a reason. There are too many people that want to use my son selfishly. The moment that word comes out he is travelling the continent, those people will use any chance to meet him."

Eiro leaned back and crossed his legs, "Then it's quite simple, really. We just won't tell anyone that he's travelling. The boy's appearance hasn't been made public, so we should be able to quite easily pass him off as a regular boy who has come to study at the academy. We have a few Baram students at the academy. Rather, we have students from not only this continent, but from the whole world, although those from outside the continent are truly rare."

"That... is a quite good idea." The head warrior pointed out, "There would be very little threat to the hero if we do this."

The boy's father glanced at his son and then looked back at Eiro, "I heard that the academy is not as safe as it used to be. Just last year, there was a targeted attack, wasn't there?"

"...Right, that is true. One of our lecturers turned out to be working for the Monster King. But don't worry, I will be there at the academy every single day as a lecturer myself, and over the past few months I have personally worked on improving the defensive capabilities of the academy's barrier, so such things repeating is practically impossible."

"For all I know, you could be planning on using my son yourself."

"Why would I? I don't care for the hero directly, I'm only here because my goal is to kill the monster king, and part of that process is raising a hero capable of such a feat." Eiro said bluntly, "Truly, you have to show a little bit of trust, at least. If I wanted to use the hero for myself, there would be much easier ways."

"And what would that be?"

"Eradicate everything and everyone this half of the island, say that it was a royal that came to take the hero out as soon as possible, and that I managed to save the hero."

For a while, Eiro and the hero's father locked eyes, before the man in front of the demon simply started to laugh loudly, "How funny! As if you would be able of slaying every champion gathered here on your own! I didn't take you for the joking sort!" He exclaimed, but Eiro's expression didn't change. Seeing this, the man turned his head to look at the head warrior, whose face went pale at just the idea.

"You... you don't think that he could do it, could you..?" The man asked, and the head warrior nervously replied, "If anyone can, then it is probably him... He is realms above anyone else here, and I doubt he has shown us the full extent of his power yet."

"You would be correct in that assumption." Eiro said bluntly, and the hero's father ground his teeth, "So it was not a joke, but a threat?"

Eiro rolled his eyes and sighed, "No, it was not a threat. Obviously I don't want to do that. In the first place, I don't have an interest in using the boy for anything like that in the first place. All I'm trying to do is give him a proper environment in which he can be taught. When I get back home, I can also just announce that I managed to convince some of the other champions to become guest lecturers at the academy for a few months at a time, giving them a way to teach the boy too."

"...That might not be too bad of an idea. Having his peers be taught by the champions should make for other powerful future forces as well."

"I would prefer if you didn't refer to my students as 'other powerful forces', but you are correct. It would be a win in every way. Of course, we will have to arrange ways to compensate the other champions, since their actions will most likely end up improving the standing of the academy, and as such Skyhart. It would be an unfair gain. But we have plenty of time to think about it anyway." Eiro pointed out, "The course for the youngest students can only be entered once the individual turns 10. At that point, I will also be enrolling my youngest son and daughter, so they will be in the same grade."

The hero's father raised his brows, "You have children yourself?"

"Yes, I do. They didn't tell you about that? I have six kids, four of them 16, the other two just eight, the same age as the boy." Eiro explained quickly, and the man slightly smiled, "If that's the case, I somehow feel like I can trust you more. As fellow fathers, we should be able to get along quite well. I do, however, still have a question."

Eiro nodded, "Go ahead."

"Why should we do what you ask? Sure, enrolling him in the academy might be useful, but we have the best teachers right here, ready to instruct him at any point. What benefit does the academy have that we can't have here?"

"Simple. Here, he's the hero. There, he will be just another boy, albeit one with talent for learning. Listen, the way things are going now, the boy is going to turn into an unsufferable brat that will give up the moment he learns there are people stronger than him out there. In the academy, he will find plenty of people who are better than him at many things. He's going to learn to get along with other people of all social classes, and he's going to learn actual responsibility. He will be treated as any other student will, and that is with absolutely no amount of bias in his favor. And in the first place... those people out there? They're strong, sure, but most of them don't have the makings of a teacher. The people at the academy, however, are experts in their fields, that might as well have more knowledge than the people here. They just don't have the ability to express that knowledge perfectly, and instead teach it to the next generation. All in all, I think bringing him to the academy only has upsides, in the long run." Eiro pointed out, leaving out the most important upside of them all. It meant that he wouldn't have to stay in Baram for months at a time, and could instead keep living his life in Skyhart with his children as he had been.

"I see... Well, please, could you tell us some more information about how the academy does things, and who your fellow instructors are? We need as much information as possible to make the right choice." The head warrior pointed out, and Eiro immediately proceeded to tell them everything that they wanted to know.