DEMON'S VIRTUE

"Okay, so we're just going to look into it and keep quiet about it with the others for now?" Nelli asked, just to confirm and sum up the conversation they held over the past few hours since they had drifted off a fair bit. They were rather close to home again, so she wanted to make sure she really understood what she could and couldn't talk about with the kids.

In response, Eiro just nodded his head, "Yes, I would suggest so. I don't think I have found anything related to the topic in the bookstore in town, so we might have to wait until we start travelling in a year… Even though at that point, that shouldn't be our main focus." Eiro pointed out, and with those words, something was triggered in his head and he sighed deeply.

"Great, I completely forgot to look around town and remember the scent of different people." Eiro sighed, and Nelli raised her brows surprised, "Right! I forgot about it too, sorry… But can't you try to remember how they smelled?" Nelli suggested, and Eiro thought about it for a moment before inevitably nodding.

"Well, that's a better idea than turning around…" The Demon muttered, slowly closing his eyes before trying to access the memory from before in its 'Perfect' state.

That's what Eiro called it when he directly dove into Memories and experienced as if he was there at that very moment again. Usually, he could also just access the raw information like you normally would in a memory, simply far more detailed than regular.

And there Eiro was, back in the town, waiting for Tom to open the Guild up, and instead of focusing on what was going on inside the Guild, the Imp focused on the other people slowly beginning their day, especially on those that Eiro spoke to a few times already and whose specific race he knew.

This would be far, far easier if he could just ask Rudy and Leon for their racial information on their status, but people apparently only saw a 'Class' field in that spot. There were ways to somehow add another field of information like that apparently, but the methods were rather complicated and Eiro couldn't do it himself since it required a specific skill.

Either way, for now, Eiro just started to try and focus on the scent of the different people, and after a while, he got a 'match', or at least the closest to one. It was the man that owned the most livestock in town, basically supplying all the milk, eggs, and most of the meat that was needed here so that they didn't need to go out and hunt all the time.

And as far as Eiro could remember, he wasn't one of those with monster blood, but still part of a race prosecuted in some countries around the world. He was a Beastman, an 'Angus Bull' to be exact. It wasn't a perfect match, but there was a part of it that overlapped with the 'racial scent' that Leon gave off.

Thinking that it was a good lead, Eiro concentrated on trying to smell the few Beastmen in this town, and soon managed to narrow one thing down when it came to Leon. He must be a beastman… But it didn't show at least. Most beastmen that Eiro saw and met so far had rather minor details on their bodies, like different ears, some had horns, split tongues, or tails. It seemed like there were some other cases where a Beastman looked basically like the bipedal version of the beast whose clan they belong to, but those were really rare.

But at least Eiro did manage to get a clue out of it! They just had to start and take a look if Leon had anything different about him, just some smaller details. Although, if that was the case, then shouldn't Sammy have noticed it by now? She was the one with Leon and Avalin the most, after all.

Either way, now that Eiro had a little bit of a clue toward what Leon might be, he went back to the start of the memory to specifically keep searching for a smell like Rudy's. But sadly, he couldn't really find anything at all. None of them smelled much like Rudy when it came to their 'Race Scent', and the Demon just left the 'Perfect Memory' state and looked at Nelli who was already watching him rather curiously.

"I think I have an idea what Leon might be, a Beastman, but I still don't know anything about Rudy…" Eiro explained, and Nelli opened her eyes wide in surprise. "Leon, a Beastman? Really?" Nelli asked, before cupping her chin in response, "Hmm, true, those kinds of things often only set in during puberty for Beastmen, so it could be…"

"Is that so?" Eiro asked, although he was still mostly focused on what might be the case with Rudy. He was an orphan, so he really didn't know what his parents were like, or who they even were, so they couldn't just ask Rudy either. But who knows, maybe he did have some clues at least.

Thinking just that, Eiro started to smell something, the rather strong smell of the treatment solutions that the wood he left behind was sitting in right now, and when Eiro stretched his body to look a bit through the thick-grown forest, he could also soon see the house. The sun had already gone down again by now, but luckily they managed to finally arrive, so the Demon relaxed a bit. They hadn't been pursued by anyone either, different to what Eiro had initially expected considering how easily Rumia agreed toward the end, but it all worked out in his favor, so it was fine.

Soon, Lugo started climbing the hill, and Eiro got off of him and let the Stag make his way to his bed to let him sleep, and the Demon then first made his way into the hut to check on everything. There was still a fair amount of time left until the first things had to be taken out, roughly another 12 hours, so he should be able to just go to bed if everything was in good condition.

Once he looked at the few different tubs and checked on the wood a little, Eiro sighed in relief and made his way back out of the hut and into the main part of the house, where he heard the voices of the four older kids speak while Leon and Avalin were asleep. Just when he wanted to enter the house, however, he heard something surprising.

"And for how long have you felt that way?" Rudy asked with concern in his voice, and in response, Sammy spoke up, her heart beating so loud that Eiro could hear it do so, "Maybe a couple of months, I guess? And now that Jura is dead, shouldn't we finally step up a bit more?" Sammy asked the others, and with a quiet grumble, Arc leaned back in his chair, making it creak just so slightly.

"'Step up' in what way exactly? I know that we've always had a rather leisure lifestyle here, but it's not like we were just lazing around all the time. We all had our tasks." He pointed out, and Sammy replied again.

"Of course we did! But isn't Eiro the only one who is out all day every day? Gathering plants, hunting animals… The only time that I've seen him not do that was during special, or hard, times… Like now… And in the end, we should do our best to practice with the weapons that Eiro is making for us, right?" She pointed out, and Arc sighed deeply. "Obviously, none of us were planning on slacking off." He explained, and Clementine immediately tuned in herself.

"Exactly! We all want to help as much as possible, but… Can we really be that much help to Eiro?" She asked quietly, and Sammy slowly responded, "That's exactly my point… A year from now, for my and Leon's sake, we're going to leave our home, and I don't want the task of protecting us to be only up to Eiro… But just like you said, how can we ever really help Eiro out like we're now?" Sammy pointed out, and everyone in the round became quiet, before the Demon swung the door open, making all four of them look at him surprised and startled.

"E-Eiro, you-"

"Sammy, be quiet for a bit, alright? Just let me speak." Eiro said with a deep sigh, and then quickly stepped up behind the one of the four closest to him. "I don't know much about combat in practice yet, since I actually didn't have many chances to fight with people, but I know a lot about the theory behind it. And especially the theory behind growth of people when it comes to combat." He pointed out, and placed his hands on Rudy's shoulders.

"Here we have Rudy. A Kind-Natured boy, he likes to cook and sew, and even knits like a champion. Despite his physique, he seems rather timid, doesn't he?" Eiro started, and the boy looked up at him with a wry smile, "Is there a 'But' after that?" He asked, so Eiro chuckled a bit.

"Of course there is… But, even though that may be the case, and even though I don't particularly enjoy thinking about it, Rudy is perfect when it comes to defense. Second to none, really. He is a protective person, and if he can manage to get a bit quicker on his feet, nobody here will even have to fight because no enemy can get through him. And outside of combat, we won't need to worry about freezing or starving either." Eiro explained, and then went along toward Clementine.

"Then, there's the girl that can heal close to every type of injury that exists, with an unbelieveable talent for Healing magic. On top of that, her body is incredibly receptive to healing. I don't particularly enjoy the healing-methods that can be used through that combo, but nonetheless, with her, we won't have to worry about dying because of injury." He pointed out, and then moved on to Arc.

"And Arc here is an incredible schemer. Thinking about it makes me uncomfortable, but since he doesn't feel pain and his mind always stays cool, his reaction ability in combat will be many times above what it usually is for people."

Then, Eiro stepped up behind Sammy and placed his hands onto the top of her head. "And then you, Sammy. You are just purely kind, and with just your voice, once you master your skill, you will be able to completely influence combat with other people. We might be able to just tell them to turn around and leave that way… I don't want to just leave a burden like that on you, but still…" The Imp sighed, and then slowly turned around and looked at the sleeping Leon and Avalin.

"Those two are luckily years away from joining a fight, but Leon might be able to completely influence the tide of battle with monsters, while with Avalin, we definitely won't need to worry about Undead and Demons ever." Eiro explained to them, and then sat down at the table with the others, just placing the thread that he got at town onto the table and kept looking at the others.

"Don't worry about your worth to me. All of you are invaluable. Even if you just sit back and never move a finger, that won't change. Well, I might give you a bit of a knock on the head, but you get what I mean." The Demon said, and then placed his hand on the Forest-Spider Thread. "Tomorrow morning, I will get started on everything. By the end of the week, it should be done, and we'll get to practicing.. Alright?" Eiro suggested, and with bright smiles, the four of them simply agreed.