DEMON'S VIRTUE

The creation of magic circles was something that one had to master in order to advance as a user of Magic, no matter what their focus was. At some point, it was just a basic necessity. Of course, it was obviously possible to make use of different elements in their raw state with just your body, but this required a comparatively immense amount of mana as well as incredible control, with minimal return when compared to Magic Circles.

While they required you to be static during their creation, except if you had specifically practiced the creation of Magic Circles while mobile, which was something that took even more control. There were different ways to create Magic Circles as well, out of which two methods were the most widespread.

One, there was the image-based creation. While it was one of the fastest ways, it was also a quite inreliable one, since it meant you would need to imagine the whole Magic Circle in its completion before creating it, and especially when it came to the use of mana, your mind tired easily so it was quite easy to make mistakes even for those that were adept with their mental imagery.

Then, there was the draw-based creation, where you were literally drawing the magic circle into the air. It was one of the slowest ways to create magic circles out there, but it was the one that gave you most control over what you were doing, since it made it easier to create rather complicated magic circles.

And then there was a way that combined both of these, where you would mentally 'link' a certain type of pattern to your staff to speed the process up a bit more while losing as little of the control as possible. But many people weren't quite capable of this method, since it required you to be able to both immediately switch to another specific part of the magic circle while remembering the whole thing in its entirety, while also managing the actual drawing of the magic circle as well as the mana flow that needed to be manipulated to give out more or less depending on the specific part in the magic circle.

However, Eiro himself had an uncanny talent for magic as well as memory that was second to none, so he was able to actually make use of that tactic, which was just supported even more due to the fact that he had five small wands in the form of the fingers on his Prosthetic.

While just staring at the ice that he used to create the current magic circle he was working on, Eiro did his best to switch the mental connection of his fingers out properly. His little finger and thumb were both there for basic lines, while his ring and index finger were supposed to create different runic patterns, and his middle finger was just supposed to fill in for whatever rest was needed.

"He… He's creating a Magic Circle with his body…" One of the mages that were part of Rumia's troupe muttered quietly. It made sense that he was confused, since the method of creating Prosthetics like Eiro's wasn't far spread. Even the fact that you could manipulate your Life Force at all was something that little to no part of the populace was aware of, no matter their position.

According to Jura, even most of the high-ranking adventurers and military officers hadn't even heard of the term 'Life Force' in this context. Of course there were some amongst those that did, but they usually didn't make use of it due to the repercussions that came with Life Force manipulation such as the pain that followed it or the risk that came with it.

"Who cares about that?! Attack him, right now! It's just one man!" Rumia commanded as he pointed his sword toward Eiro, but just when the first soldiers ran forward to do just that, the Demon started to grin broadly underneath his mask as the magic circle of ice started to spin around itself while glowing in a faint light, while the Demon started to let some of the water that Nelli was producing flow into his left hand and over his body, on top of the cloak, led it to his right hand right into the Magic Circle.

The reason he was doing this for was rather simple. It allowed him to utilize as much mana as possible when heating the water up. And as the liquid started to release some steam it entered the magic circle that was made to shoot the water forward and spread it out while making it freeze around the men that were there.

And that had one major reason. All of the soldiers were wearing full metallic armor, but there were always open spaces covered only in cloth or leather around their joints. So, Eiro wanted the water to specifically spread around the men while seeking out those weak points, although that was only possible through Eiro and Nelli's joint manipulation over the water that was already pushed through the magic circle.

Of course, this wouldn't have been possible without the magic circle either, which acted as the central piece to allow the fine control of such a large amount of water at such a distance.

And once the hot water spread around the joints of the soldiers and even sometimes spread underneath their armor, it immediately froze and made it practically impossible for them to move on their own, creating what seemed like a number of statues. Some of the soldiers fell down due to their momentum, and others were just stuck in place, although they all had one thing in common. They couldn't fight anymore.

Of course, Rumia and the Mages, neither of which had such weak points because Rumia's armor covered even the joints, and the mages weren't wearing armor in the first place and were just covered in cloth robes.

"Hmm, what were you saying?" Eiro asked as he extended his arm to the side, where Nelli quickly appeared through droplets of water gathering there, showing her just sitting on his arm in a dignified manner with her legs crossed before she continued for the Demon. "One man that was chosen and blessed by a Goddess of Nature and one of the Greatest Spirits there ever were alike, as well as his good friend, an all-powerful Naiad~!" She exclaimed, "And you think you can face us with just a dozen men?" Nelli asked with a bit of a chuckle, while the Villagers started to mumble amongst themselves, although especially the Village Head realized who this spirit that was accompanying Eiro truly was.

"Eiro, is that… Nelli? What happened to him? How is Jura?" He asked nervously, already feeling as if he knew the answer, and the Demon slowly turned toward him. "I had hoped to be able to tell you in another way, but… Jura passed a week ago. I'm now the sole Guide to… The Ladies…" Eiro explained, although he was rather surprised when he ended up seeing something he had never expected to see.

He looked at one of the men laying on the ground, one of the few that had actually injured themselves, and could see something red in his eyes. But somehow, it wasn't just the mere color like it usually was. Instead, Eiro could see a full reflection. A complete mirrored representation of the notification currently floating in front of the soldier.

[-67 Health]

It said, and in response to that, Eiro couldn't help himself but smirk broadly, and then started to laugh loudly. "Actually, you know what, now that I think about it, it does seem rather troublesome." The Demon said, unable to get rid of his grin, although that wasn't visible to the outside. Only Nelli seemed to be able to tell what he was actually feeling.

"I was dragged around by that old man every single time, and now I'm stuck in such a boring little nutshell of a village? Right…" Eiro sighed as he shook his head, and then turned back toward Rumia, "So you want to free me of that task?" Eiro asked, and with a broad smile, Rumia immediately nodded his head.

"Of course, of course! In return for the position of Guide, I might even consider killing you painlessly!" Rumia explained, as if this was some sort of benevolent action, and with a laugh, Eiro just nodded his head, "Hey, that's an offer I can't fight with." Eiro replied, and then snapped his fingers all the whilst manipulating the air around him to cause a strong, cold wind to blow toward Rumia, even manipulating some of the water droplets caught on his cloak to create tiny shards of ice that were carried with the wind to create something like a glitter to make it seem even more magical.

"Alright, you should have it now. It's like a blessing, so it should be at the bottom of your status right now." Eiro explained. It was obvious to anyone with a single braincell that this was nothing but a ruse, and even Rumia figured that out the moment that Eiro pretended to change his mind. But that wasn't what Eiro needed at all. He just needed that small moment of doubt, the single thought of 'What if he is telling the truth'. And it seemed like Rumia had exactly that thought stuck in his mind, and with a quick thought seemed to silently open his status just to make sure and then clicked his tongue annoyedly.

"Heh, you'd think I'd fall for that? Right, I-"

"What the hell, you're at that position and only have Apprentice Swordsmanship at 76? I mean, at least you have a Group Tactic skill that's intermediate, so maybe it's not too far-fetched… And what's this, you have an Intermediate Dance skill? And at Level 53 as well… I sure would love to see a man of your… grace, make use of that sometime." Eiro interrupted with loud laugh, and for a moment, nobody understood what he was speaking about until they saw Rumia's face turn a dark red.

"H-How do you know about that?! You're not an appraiser, are you?!" Rumia asked with a loud scream, and Eiro just smirked slightly, and the Demon just took a step forward with his hands behind his back, and just smiled at Rumia, "Oh, who knows what I am. I certainly don't. But what I am certain of is that I'm far smarter than you. Hell, even my kids have a higher intelligence stat than you, and none of them are even fifteen yet. To be fair, your constitution and resistance are rather impressive. But what else would you expect from a coward." Eiro pointed out, purposefully trying to provoke him a bit. "Coward…? Coward, you say..?" Rumia asked, and bluntly, Eiro just nodded his head in response, "That's right." He replied quite clearly, and immediately, Rumia started rushing toward Eiro with his sword in hand. As far as Rumia was concerned, Eiro was just a mage, so the obvious solution would be to attack him in close quarters.

But since that really wasn't the case… Rumia was rather surprised when he stopped his body and felt the tip of a dagger pressed against his throat.

"H-How did you..?" Rumia asked quietly. He could have sworn that Eiro was trying to punch him, he didn't have anything in his hand at all. But this situation reached this point in a single second, and Rumia didn't have high agility, so he couldn't really do much about this situation on his own. He was in a complete bind.

"Now then, buddy. Let me explain something to you. And pay attention, I will only say it once, although it's the second time you've heard it, but you so rudely ignored the one that told you before." Eiro pointed his eyes as he slowly looked at the Village Head, and then turned back toward Rumia himself, just slightly pushing the tip of his dagger further into his skin. "The only ones that can choose the guides of the ladies are the ladies themselves. And you know the reason why they need guides, right? Somehow, no matter how often they come, they can't find their way here, and when they spend too much time in this realm will just go mad and destroy everything. What do you think a god like that will do to someone that intrudes on them so rudely?" The Demon explained, and then added, "Let's just say you would be lucky to be killed here by me. I have a personal situation going on, so I will be away in a year. If you leave the town be except during the Spring and Autumn Equinoxes, as well as the Summer and Winter Solstices, then I will do you a favor of mediating between you and such wrathful goddesses. Understood?"

With a deep glare, Eiro stared Rumia right into his eyes, and he just silently stared back, so Eiro repeated himself.

"Understood?"