Demon's Virtue

Eiro let some more beer flow down his throat, before placing the cup back down on the table in front of him. Most of the people that had been questioning him all night finally chose to leave him alone for a while, so Eiro could actually enjoy the night a little more.

Jess was sitting opposite to Eiro again, so the Demon naturally ended up locking eyes with her a few times throughout the night, "Everything alright?" He asked, seeing her expression. Jess looked back at Eiro with a wry smile.

"I'm pretty sure we're the ones who should ask you that... Because we know that your explanation is just a lie." Jess pointed out, and Eiro shrugged in response, "I'll explain it to you guys tomorrow, I would just like to enjoy the night. I need to really figure out what is going on right now anyway."

"Well, there is one other thing that is going on that we can talk about instead." Krog added, figuring it was better to change the topic altogether if Eiro didn't want to talk about that stuff, and looked at the Demon with a light smirk, before turning his head toward Ariella, "So you two're a thing now, eh?"

"Huh?" Eiro let out confused, as he turned his head toward the nephilim next to him, who was just as surprised about hearing Krog say this, so Eiro figured that he quite knew the source of this information.

"Bavet, I will boil your liquid away when we get home." The Demon said, before goosebumps appeared all over his skin. Of course, they weren't caused by himself, but rather Bavet, who could sense that Eiro was rather serious in this situation.

Ariella, her face flushed in red, quickly replied, "It was just a kiss, alright? We didn't have much of a chance to really talk about all of this afterward, if you remember..."

"Wait, wait, so that was your guys' first kiss? Like, ever?" Jess asked surprised, although she couldn't help herself but grin from ear to ear, and Eiro slowly nodded his head, "Yes, it was. But spare us the questions, will you? As Ariella said, even we don't-" The Demon stated, but quickly stopped speaking as he turned his head to the side, noticing someone approaching the entrance to the guild that he didn't expect to be coming today.

The door opened up, and Koperia stepped inside, looking around the room before she found the people that she was looking for. She quickly approached the table that Eiro and the others were sitting at, catching the eye of quite a few of the people here, before she stood in front of the table.

"I decided to come after all. I hope you do not mind." She said bluntly, and Eiro immediately shook his head, "No, of course not. Come, sit down. It's getting a bit... cozy at this table, but that's fine, I think."

"Urgh... I can just pull up a chair and like three more people would fit onto the bench, I think." Krog pointed out, but Koperia quickly shook her head, pulling up a chair herself, "It is fine, I will just sit here."

As she sat down, the group was silent for a few moments, before James hit the table, "Alright, where were we? Right, tell us more about that... kiss." He pointed out with a light smirk, and Koperia quickly looked around the table confused before seeing Eiro and Ariella look at each other somewhat awkwardly.

She quickly caught on, obviously knowing about the nature of Eiro's feelings for the nephilim, "Oh..! When did this happen?"

"Like a minute after Eiro finished throwing up all hell, apparently. Which is kind of a weird choice..."

"Krog, please. You and Jess have done things that are objectively much weirder." Eiro replied immediately, and Krog simply laughed out loud while Jess awkwardly averted her gaze, "You've got a point, man. Although... didn't you say you wouldn't peek?"

"It's not called peeking when Clementine wakes up in the middle of the night and nervously comes to my room to inform me that she can feel a lot of unique pain from your room." The Demon said bluntly, making even Krog stop laughing while Jess' face turned a deep red as she tried to hide it behind her hands. Meanwhile, now it was James' turn to start laughing at this situation, while there were three rather confused people at the table. Hannah, who simply didn't understand the references, and Biril and Hijar who were lacking an important part of the puzzle. Eiro turned his head to the side with a smile.

"Those two are in a relationship." Eiro explained, and Hijar tilted his head to the side, "Huh? Then what- Ohhh...." He replied, suddenly understanding what Eiro was talking about now, while Biril just nervously continued drinking his beer.

"M-More importantly, I don't think we have been introduced yet. My name is Biril, I am one of the Kiratil Kingdom's chosen warriors for our tournament." Biril turned toward Koperia with a smile on his face, wanting to leave that conversation from just now behind. Koperia turned his head toward him and just stared at him for a few seconds. Some moments later, she simply sighed, "My name is Eliza, but I am usually called by Koperia, my family name."

"...Eliza Koperia? That somehow sounds familiar..." Biril muttered, and Koperia quickly shrugged with her arms crossed, "I better does, I am one of the most famous-"

"Koperia, we're inside of an adventurer's guild."

"So? None of these children could harm me even if they all came at me at the same time."

"I know, that's the point. I don't want everyone in here to die." Eiro replied, and Biril raised his brows curiously, "Oh? If you are that powerful, are you taking part in a tournament to be the hero's companion as well?"

"Huh? Why would I want that? I don't care about any of those matters. I am only in the area to help Eiro out with his training." She explained. Overhearing this, Hijar turned his head toward Koperia excitedly, "You help with his training? How so?"

"Hm, well, how much do you know about souls?" Koperia asked, and Hijar silently tilted his head to the side. With a deep sigh, Koperia rolled her eyes, "Fine. The soul is the container for all magic. Of course it does more, but that doesn't matter right now. Anyway, that being the case, if the soul is out of tune with one's physical body, it will weaken one's magic and decrease the amount of mana that one would usually possess. In Eiro's past, something happened that caused Eiro's soul to be slightly out of tune with his physical body, so I am here to fix that."

"Wait, you are manipulating his soul? Isn't that-"

"Excruciatingly painful? Yes indeed it would be." Koperia replied to Biril, who turned his head toward Eiro, "I am sorry to hear that you have to go through such things. Is the disarray of your soul the reason why you said you have not been feeling well?"

"Huh? Oh, no, not at all, actually. I mean, my soul being played around with by Koperia every day somewhat plays into that, but it's other matters. I'm just doing this to increase my mana, basically." The Demon quickly replied. Biril wasn't sure what exactly to reply, so James slightly leaned over, "Their conversations are at a whole other level sometimes, just smile and nod if you don't understand them. Their explanations aren't going to help."

"A-Ah... I see..."

Toward the end of the night, when most people had already left, it was only Eiro's group still sitting around. Biril had drunken quite a bit, trying to match up to what Eiro was drinking, and ended up basically blacking out for a while, so Hijar chose to end the night there and bring his brother to the inn that they were staying at.

"Alright, so. Since we're all here... you wanna use the ace of cups to close us off and tell us about what happened earlier?" James asked, and Eiro slowly looked at the table. He figured that technically it was 'tomorrow' by now, and it was as good a chance as any. And everyone being at least slightly tipsy might help them not freak out as much, hopefully.

Eiro pulled the card out of his treasury, and quickly spread the liquid around in a soft mist so that nobody would hear or try to disturb them.

And then, Eiro told them what happened. He told them that the Monster King himself had descended upon this place and had done this to Eiro. And he showed off his pure essence to the others, explaining that the sludge and his new horn, which was now visible in the form of a black streak of hair, were created by the impurities that were in Eiro's essence before.

Once Eiro's explanation was over, the table became rather silent. They didn't know what they were supposed to say, or whether they were supposed to freak out or be relieved that nothing happened. But at the end of the day, everyone was just as confused as Eiro was. After all, why would the true enemy to all people in this world come here and help Eiro, the being that seems like the greatest threat to him at the moment, out by purifying his essence?

It simply didn't seem to make sense. Once the conversation was over, Eiro removed the mist and waved at the barkeep, "It seems like everyone could use another round, huh?"