Demon's Virtue

"You do remember that I am probably a hundred times older than you, don't you, child?" Lognir asked as he looked at the Demon in front of him. Eiro slightly shrugged in response.

"Hey, if you don't want to help me out, then that's fine. But it's better to ask and be denied than not asking although you would have helped." Eiro pointed out bluntly.

Lognir crossed his arms with a slow nod, "That is indeed true. I am going to help you, but I would like to know the reason behind it. Why do you want me to spread rumors about a powerful Necromancer that's trapped here?"

Eiro looked back at the Dragon and smirked, "Because I want to lure another Necromancer here." 

"But it would not only lure a Necromancer here, but those of holy nature as well. Clerics of the domain of life are the Necromancer's natural enemy." Lognir pointed out, "And it's not so just coincidentally."

"I know that. But it's not like any second-rate Cleric is going to be able to do anything against the Queen of Undeath." Eiro explained, and Lognir furrowed his brows, "You wish to call that child here? Do you have a death-wish?"

"Not particularly. I just need her help with something, that's all. And she's a friend of Armodeus and my late Master, so I think I'll be able to speak to her a bit. But I'm surprised. Do you know her personally?"

"Not personally, but that child has created quite some trouble for me in the past that I had to deal with." Lognir explained, "But as you wish. I'm going to help you out this time, but in return, you really do owe me some favors. Return them when you've become the Monster King." 

Eiro laughed slightly and nodded his head, "Of course, I'll do anything you want. But still, thank you for your help, Lognir. I really appreciaet it."

"Don't be so emotional now, child. I already said I would help you." And with that, Lognir's body transformed back into his original form, and lifted off the ground while creating strong winds around himself, "I will return after I spread the rumors throughout some nearby towns. Please assist Solomon while I am gone."

"Of course, that was the plan anyway." The Demon waved at Lognir and watched him disappear in the distance, and then quickly turned around to take care of Jess for now. They had figured out what kinds of things Jess needed to learn about. So now, it was time to teach her instead.

--- 

A couple of days later, surprisingly, James, Jess and Krog already made quite some progress. The ones where it was most visible were James and Jess. James' raw physical constitution increased just so slightly, and the Light Elf's health was raised by nearly 30 points.

And as Jess' raw wisdom increased, her mana was also raised by roughly a dozen points as well. Overall, it was a small number, but there was a clear progress to be seen.

Now that the three of them had gotten used to this new training, Eiro could leave them alone for this practice, so that he could deal with some other things. And that was necessary. After all, it was the first day of real class for the children.

"You two, make sure you listen to the nice lady, alright?" Eiro asked with a smile on his face, speaking to Leon and Avalin. With Bavet's help, he already transformed into his human version so that he could properly speak to the maid that Eiro hired through Solomon's help.

She was the one already taking care of these two while they had been living at the castle for a week before, so they already knew her, and Eiro could leave them in her care without any issues. Of course, if anything happened, Jess, James and Krog were also there to intervene.

"Dad, come on." Arc groaned loudly as the children stood by the door, and the Demon turned his head toward him and nodded his head.

"Just a second." Eiro replied, and quickly hugged his two youngest children, before making his way to the door. The carriage that they would be taking was already prepared in front of the manor, and as Eiro and the others sat down in there, the Demon waved at Leon and Avalin one more time as they stood by the door, sad that Eiro was leaving for the day.

But the trip itself was quite normal. Eiro would have preferred to fly over there, but since it was the first day of class, there would be a lot more focus on how people presented themselves than there would be later in the semester. So for now, Eiro had to present himself in the ways that the onlooking Nobles would like, pretending to be a noble himself.

"What's the first class you're going to teach?" Sammy asked curiously. Eiro thought for a moment to remember his schedule, and then said, "Today, I'm not going to teach any classes yet, only tomorrow. For now, I'm supposed to tag along for some classes that other teachers teach. I heard that today, beginner, intermediate, and advanced classes are mixed."

"Right, I heard that as well. So that the beginners and intermediates can learn from the advanced students." Rudy added, and Eiro slowly nodded his head, "Right. I'll try to come by your guys' classes a well, but I'm technically only responsible for Arc and Clementine's." 

Rudy, Sammy and Felix understood the situation, of course. Especially Rudy and Sammy were a bit jealous, but they were going to be fine at the end of the day.

Soon enough, the six of them arrived at the castle, and their door was opened by one of the schools faculty. Not a teacher, of course, just one of the people taking care of the building itself.

Eiro let the children get out first, and then stepped out as well. Currently, he was wearing a formal suit that Solomon prepared for him. It was his first time wearing something like this, but it was certainly quite unusual for him.

"Didn't you tell Solomon that I could just change your armor to look like a suit? Why did you really have to wear it?" Bavet asked, whispering into Eiro's ear. The Demon looked ahead and telepathically spoke to Nelli so that she could reply for him. There were too many people looking at him right now to speak out loud himself.

"It's simple." The Naiad said, "Because Solomon already had the suit made at that point. And of course, because there are some specail functions added into the suit itself, apparently."

Bavet was grumbling to himself, which was a rather weird feeling for Eiro now. But the Demon was able to simply ignore it as he continued on. They stepped through the large doors to enter the school, and then immediately had to split up.

"All of you, immediately head to your classes. I have to meet with the first teacher I'll follow in the Teacher's Lounge." Eiro told them, and the children of course did as told. Just Felix had to follow Eiro.

Since Felix was deaf, he would be given private classes by a special faculty member, which he would have to meet at the Teacher's Lounge for today as well.

Eiro turned his head toward the young man and started to speak to him, of course using sign language for it, "Are you nervous?"

"Nervous? A little..." Felix replied with a wry smile, "I mean, I never went to a school like this before. And I'm going to stick out like a sore thumb, won't I?"

Eiro slowly looked around, noticing some of the female students eyeing the young man next to him curiously, "I think so too, although probably for a different reason than you think." The Demon laughed.

"Don't worry, you'll be able to meet with the others during breaks. And I'll make sure nobody bullies you." Eiro smiled, "After all, you're basically family. Like another kid. Or a son-in-law, to be more specific."

Felix stopped walking and stared at Eiro with his eyes wide open. As he replied, his hands were shaking nervously, "I don't know what you're talking about..."

"Sure you don't. Don't worry, I trust you know. I know you'll take care of Sammy. Just... You know, keep your hands off her until she's ready."

"C-Could we not have this conversation in public?"

"Oh, because so many people here would know sign language?" Eiro laughed, as he and Felix stepped into the Teacher's Lounge together. The teachers that were already gathered there started staring at the two of them, since they were unfamiliar with either.

However, since Felix already met his private teacher before, he could swiftly approach and greet him.

"And you are Eiro, I assume?" Someone walked up to Eiro from beside him, and the Demon slowly turned toward him with a nod. This man was wearing a formal suit as well, but he also had a pin on the collar in the same colors as the physical combat division of this school.

"And you would be Kristoph Garlings, then?" Eiro asked, and the man in front of him quickly nodded his head surprised, "Indeed I am. Please, just go ahead and call me Kristoph."

"Don't mind if I take you up on that." 

With a smile, Kristoph waved his hand toward the door, "I think it would be a good idea to show you around a bit before classes start. I'll just show you the combat division's area for now. We don't have enough time for the full tour, after all."

"Thank you, that would be quite appreciated." Eiro replied, and quickly followed Kristoph out of the room. He was glad that this man was so open to Eiro. The Demon couldn't sense anything off about him either, so he was seemingly just genuinely a nice man. Some of the others in that lounge wouldn't have been so nice, clearly.

"First, what is your own preferred style of combat?" Kristoph inquired, and Eiro quickly replied, "I have a bit of a 'rogue' style, I guess you could say. My main combat style is swift combat with two daggers, but I use anything I can in a fight. Magic, the environment, trickery, basically anything. I'm afraid I don't know the specific name of my style of dagger combat, however. And neither do I know what my hand-to-hand combat style is called. My teacher was rather secretive about this, somehow." Eiro explained quickly, and Kristoph raised his brows curiously.

"Oh, you do not know the names, huh? Well, that makes me even more curious.. Would you mind a quick spar in front of the students, later? It's a bit of a tradition to show such things off on the first day of class."