Demon's Virtue

"Ah... that was a good meal..." Eiro muttered to himself as he sat down right in front of the half-eaten wolf-corpse, ready to return to his purely meditative state. However, it seemed like there was someone who thought that this wasn't a particularly good idea.

Lugo tried to force Eiro to stand up by scooping him up with his antlers, trying to get him to walk forward. But once more, Eiro just let everything happen to him, following the Stag's instructions as if they were the only thing that he really could do, as if he didn't have anything like a choice at all.

At some point, the Demon fell forward onto the ground and hit his head on a rock. The thing that really jolted him awake after that was just the fact that he couldn't breath with his face buried inside of all the snow.

"Where are we going..?" The Demon asked as he looked at Lugo right next to him, and the stag simple pointed his face into the direction of the center of town, "Why? Wouldn't it be bad if I went there? I might forget a lot of things, right?"

Immediately, Lugo shook his head and pulled his hoofs through the ground. In the snow, he drew a very rudimentary crown, although it was covered up by the heavy snowfall soon after anyway.

"Hm? King..? You want me to see... Solomon?" Eiro asked, and Lugo nodded his head immediately, before scooping Eiro up and throwing him onto his back. The Demon grabbed onto his back and just held onto him. And then, Lugo quickly pressed his face into a small pile of snow, covering it completely in it.

"Ah... my mask, right. Thanks." Eiro said with a smile on his face. Luckily he had used this ability so often that it was like breathing to him at this point, and Eiro just moved his hand to his face and placed his mask onto it without any issue, while at the same time dropping his cloak onto his body.

But since his wings and horns still weren't properly hidden, Lugo was continuosly trying to bring that to his attention, and luckily after a little while, he realized what the Stag was asking of him. After just a bit of thought, Eiro managed to figure out that he was supposed to hide them by infusing them with Shadow Magic, as the shadows were supplied by the cloak he just put on.

And then, Lugo started to run forward into the direction of town. He ran and ran through the thick snow until they reached the town gate not long after, and one of the guards stopped Eiro as he tried to enter the town.

Luckily, people were mainly checked when entering through the outermost wall's gates, so this one only checked people when they seemed suspicious or when times were tense. So, Eiro was let in without any issue.

And so, Lugo brought Eiro all the way over to the castle-gates, and he tried to enter through them like he usually did. But of course, he was stopped here at this point by the guards.

"Please step away from the gate, Sir! You should take shelter from the snow! I heard it will keep going for another few days!" One of them exclaimed, but Eiro just slowly jumped down Lugo's back and approached the guard that spoke to him and looked him deep into the eyes, although the guard himself wasn't able to see the Demon's due to his mask.

"Sir, please step away from the gate." But Eiro didn't really care, "I have to get inside and speak to Solomon. Move." 

Of course, seeing as how Eiro spoke about the King so casually, and in as threatening a tone as that, the guard immediately prepared for anything that might come by placing his hand right onto the handle of his sword that was sheathed at the side of his hip.

"This is the last time I will say this, Sir, but please step away from the gate." The Guard said in a threatening tone, and now that was something that Eiro didn't particularly appreciate. Good thing that in this heavy snow, even if there were any people around, they wouldn't be able to really see what exactly Eiro was doing. And so, before the guard could react, he grabbed the man's face and slammed it into the ground.

He didn't die, he was just knocked out cold. Eiro tried to hold back a bit in town, after all. He didn't want to deal with anything that would require him to think too much, just in case, so he did try to go for the brute route, though.

The moment that the man's head crashed into the ground, the other guard reacted as well, but was put out of commission just as quickly in a similar manner. And then, Eiro just opened the gate with a quick push and then made his way closer to the castle, with Lugo following behind him nervously.

Of course, when Eiro actually entered the castle, there were plenty of other guards that saw him. He didn't particularly try to hide himself either, so that was honestly to be expected.

Once more, Eiro just knocked the guards out one after another in any way possible so that he could proceed with finding Solomon. But before he could even start trying to figure out the King's position, Eiro was found instead.

"Isn't it common courtesy to at least knock the snow off your boots when you enter another's home?" Solomon asked in a blunt, cold tone, and Eiro slowly turned around toward the source of the voice. The King slowly stepped out of the room that he was just in, looking down at the carpet with wet spots on it due to the snow that had been sticking to Eiro and Lugo, "Not to mention that you would bring in a pet as big as that... It's obvious you're not an assassin, there's no way someone as dumb as that would be hired to-"

"Ah... I forgot to check the rooms as I was walking through here..." Eiro interrupted. That was really the only thing that he took out of all this right now, before he raised his head, "You're... Erm, Solomon, right?"

"That I am, but it is also quite rude to address the King by first name."

"Oh, you're the King? Congrats, I guess." Eiro said with a smile on his face as he stood there, in a state where he was barely even really thinking. With an annoyed bellowing, Lugo pressed his snout onto the middle of Eiro's neck and pushed his mana right into the Demon. Having external pure mana interact with your own pure mana inside of your body was a rather unpleasant, if not painful, experience, so it was enough to properly jolt Eiro awake at least to an extent.

The Demon ripped open his eyes and turned around toward Lugo, "Oi, the fuck was that for, you dumbass?" Eiro growled at the Stag in front of him, although he quickly realized who he was speaking to like that, "Ah... I didn't mean to snap at you... I forgot your name... Sorry." The Demon said with an apologetic expression as he rubbed his hand over Lugo's snout.

And then, Eiro turned around. He didn't have proper access to his memories, but he did have it to an extent, and with his mental processing speed, he was able to quickly figure out the situation and come up with a rough solution for this situation with the things that he could remember about Solomon right now. And for that, the Demon took off his mask.

"My name is Eiro, and you are a close friend of mine. I helped your son, by making him... by healing him, I think. You knew about me until yesterday, but a strong enemy used a spell and made everyone forget about me. And I... have amnesia... Or I'm slowly forgetting everything... And I need your help, because you have... Erm... It's something about a card, some... knight, and a truth domain... Please... You need to help me somehow..." Eiro said as he fell to his knees and let himself drop forward, pressing his forehead against the ground as he tried to basically beg Solomon for help.

The King was staring at Eiro with a deep frown and a confused expression. He slowly let his eyes wander over toward the Demon's pale blue, wooden hand before letting out a deep sigh.

"I hate that I can tell you're not lying... There's no way I can let this just pass." Solomon groaned as he turned back around and stepped into the room he was in before, "Come in. I'll deal with whatever you did to get in here later, first, tell me everything you can remember about the situation."

Eiro raised his head before jumping up. He folloed Solomon into the room, his study, before helping Lugo squeeze himself in through the large door as well, "And you really had to bring that deer with you? Is it your familiar?"

Eiro was staring at Solomon for a while before he turned back toward Lugo. He looked him deep into his eyes for a few moments before looking back, "I think so? I don't remember too well... but I know that he's the only one that remembers me, even my children don't. And my... contracted spirits, I think, also don't."

Soon, Eiro received a nod from Lugo that told him that the was right with his assumptions, and Solomon stared at the Demon with a frown, "A family of Demons? If I'm really friends with you, how come I don't remember them? Were they forgotten by everyone as well?" Solomon asked, but Eiro just shook his head.

"No... I don't think so at least. They're people, humans mostly. One of them's a goliath even, but one of them is a beastman child." Eiro explained without thought behind it, although he could feel this information already fading from his brain after mentioning it.

"Goliath... and a beastman? I knew it. That Stag's name is Lugo, isn't it? Are you trying to tell me that you are the foster-father to those children? You, a Demon?" Solomon inquired, and without hesitation, Eiro nodded his head while Lugo did the same.

Solomon rubbed the bridge of his nose and stood up from his seat before walking over toward the closet. He opened it up and grabbed a bottle and a glass that he filled with the alcohol inside of the bottle, before then taking a quick sip, "I had planned to stop drinking, but I think today's not the best day for that... Now, Demon.... Continue."