Demon's Virtue

Eiro and Lugo came to a halt in front of the manor. The demon quickly jumped off and removed the harness that attached Lugo to the cart behind him, and then quickly had of the manor's workers bring the carriage back to the shed where they kept them.

"Are you alright, bud? Do you need something to drink?" Eiro asked, rubbing the side of Lugo's snout. He huffed slightly and nodded, so the demon quickly guided the stag to the well. Pulling up some water with magic, Eiro held it in front of him, and Lugo quickly gulped down as much water as he could.

"Sorry, I should remember to bring more with me, huh? It's a shame that you can't drink magic water," the demon sighed loudly. Magic water, for multiple reasons, wasn't a viable thing to drink. For one, the water that Eiro could summon from the elemental plane was made of magic and disappeared almost immediately once Eiro let go control of it. So even if one could wet their lips with it, they would dry out after just a few moments.

And then there was the aspect of it simply being so highly concentrated with magic that it acted as poisonous for most living things. Most creatures' livers weren't made to handle so much magic at once. Eiro could probably deal with it, but again, even if he did, it wouldn't do much for him.

After giving Lugo a drink and then getting something for him to eat, Eiro let Lugo rest in his barn, where he quickly went to sleep. Lugo really did sleep a lot, though he deserved a break at this point, anyway.

And then, Eiro went into the gardens, where he, as usual, saw Krog and James training.

"Oh, you're back?" James said with some heavy breaths, placing his daggers into their sheaths, "How's the town looking?"

"Pretty good. The human villagers that I took in are doing really well now, actually. They've already gotten used to that place incredibly well. To be honest, I'm pretty sure I've already seen a few of them... well, cozying up with the monsters," Eiro explained, and Krog almost dropped his weights as he heard that.

"Seriously? After three months, already? Well, damn... wait, by the way, how does all of that even work? What kind of system will half-monsters get?" Krog wondered, and Eiro just shrugged lightly.

"It depends. It's like the colour of your hair. If one parent has black hair, the other blonde... one child might have black hair, and then the second child could have blonde. It's sort of like that. At least right now, the systems of monsters, people, and magic beasts are somewhat strictly split up," the demon explained, "Though... on the elemental planes, the people there have a mixture of the systems of people and magic beasts."

"Huh? Why is that?" James asked, clearly confused. But Eiro could only speculate as well.

"I assume that it's because... the gods imposed rules on monsters and people. People were blessed in exchange for the curse of monstrosity placed on monsters, so they had to ensure that those couldn't mix. Magic beasts are outside of that," he explained, cupping his chin in thought, "And then... ah, I think I know. Once something akin to 'people' emerged in the elemental planes, they did get the system, but the gods weren't able to impose their blessings and rules on them. In the elemental planes, the elemental kings and queens have the most power, and even gods can't just scurry past that. So the people there didn't have the blessing, and so they were able to mix with some of the more intelligent magic beasts, and after thousands of years, they ended up with the system they have now."

"Uhh... people mixing with beasts? Isn't that kind of..." Krog asked, glancing at James. They were clearly thinking the same thing.

"Well, 'Magic Beast' is just a title. Dragons are magic beasts, and there's a myriad of myths and legends about dragons having children with people. They are often vastly intelligent, and at times, can transform to become more humanoid."

Thinking about it like that, clearly Krog and James' initial apprehension disappeared, "So... let's say that split isn't there anymore, would half-monsters get new systems?"

"... Maybe? Different system functions might be mixed and matched. They could be physically more like monsters, but have the ability to get classes, or might be more like people, and have the ability to evolve. Or, who knows, maybe both? Technically, some people have evolved in the past. What Armodeus went through when he became an Elder Dwarf was also technically an evolution."

"Huh, I guess you're right," James shrugged, "Do you think that kind of stuff is going to happen when you 'free monsters of monstrosity'? That was your goal, right?"

"Right. Somewhat. If I can attain it, I will, but it's not my highest priority," Eiro pointed out, "For the time being, my goal is just to become stronger."

"... even stronger? Seriously?"

"Mhm. I'm powerful, but I don't believe I can take on the Monster King just yet. Maybe I could have taken down the last few kings, but this one? Even the Devil wouldn't have been able to go against him in a full-on battle."

Krog finally put down his weights, stretching lightly to loosen up his muscles a bit, "So why hasn't he killed you yet? You said he's paying attention to you, right?"

"... I don't know. Maybe he can't just come here and kill me, or maybe he doesn't think I'm a threat to him. Whichever the case, it's good for me," Eiro walked up to the steps, "I have a lot I still need to do. I need to develop the monster town, I need to figure out what to do with my domain in hell, and if possible I'd like to get the Ladies of the Seasons to come to etiher the monster town or the capital here instead of... where they are right now. That town doesn't know how to treat them properly at all. They don't deserve to be their guides."

"Huh."

"What?" Eiro looked over at James.

"I just mean... it always surprises me every time you talk about those guys. The 'Ladies'. You even have that thing you always say, 'by Lady Winter'."

"... What about it?"

Krog laughed a bit, "It's nothing, man, James isn't saying it to be rude. But it's like what other people would say about their gods. And you've just never seemed like the kind of person that would be so subservient to anyone. Like... frankly, you're like the kind of fella that'd spit in a god's face if you found them annoying."

"... I guess that's not wrong. I don't know, I've just always felt comforted by the presence of the Lady of Winter. She gave me her blessing, she guided me throughout the years, and she entrusted her child to me."

"... Say what now?" James asked, tilting his head to the side. Realizing that he might never have mentioned it, Eiro pulled out the bud of the ice flower out of his treasury.

It had grown over the years, but the ice spirit wasn't ready to be born just yet, "Here. This is part of the lifecycle of ice spirits. When going from their immature to their mature form, they trap themselves in a flower of ice. As time goes on, the bud will bloom, and the ice spirit is born. This little one is still a few months away. By the end of this winter, I assume that she's going to be ready to join us."

Carefully, Eiro placed her back inside of his treasury, where she was safe. Just as he treated his own children preciously, he wanted to treat others' children preciously too, especially those of his benefactors.

"That's crazy... she just gave you a spirit? Is that how it works?"

"Well, not usually, no. The spirits of the seasons are just a bit special. When they were given domain of the seasons, they connected more to nature, and their 'rules' sort of just changed a bit. That's why they're not Kings and Queens, but Lords and Ladies. The Lords are the conduit for the power of the seasons. You could say that they themselves are winter. And the Ladies are their guides, the one that help them settle into place when the season actually comes to be," Eiro explained, "The lords are basically sleeping for three months out of the year. So while that happens, the ladies actually care for the season and make sure that everything is fine. Does that make sense?"

"Right, yes, I think so," James slowly nodded, but Krog just shrugged.

"To me, not really, but if you say so it's probably right. You said you're going to visit her this year, right? And you're going to go on a big trip with Ariella and the kids?"

"Yeah. Once the academy goes on break in a couple of weeks, we'll start heading out," the demon said, smiling lightly. He was really quite excited to go on another journey with the children, "Make sure to take care of things here while we're gone, alright?"