Demon's Virtue

"Who do you think you are?" Duke Melachine asked as he stared at Eiro, who just caught this man's hand before it was able to slap him. The Demon quickly proceeded to let go of his hand, and then kneeled down in front of him, "My name is Eiro, your highness. I apologize for so rudely touching you, but as a fighter, such are my instincts."

The Duke glared down at Eiro, "I see. So you are a fighter, not an educator. And that is why you beat my child beyond reason?" 

"I sadly have to say that I don't know what you are talking about, your highness." Eiro replied bluntly, and the Duke, Marcus Xavier Melachine, simply stared back at the Demon.

"You don't know what I'm talking about? Just take a look at my son, he's completely-"

"Of course, he's utterly bruised and injured. But that wasn't me, I would never lay my hands on a student in such a manner." Eiro said, interrupting Melachine. The Duke was about to say something again, but Eiro was already too annoyed to keep talking so formally, "I hope you don't mind if I stand and speak comfortably. And I will only say it once more, but I didn't give your son those injuries." 

Melachine stared back at Eiro, "Are you saying that my son is a liar?"

"I thought that was obvious. Yes, I am. I must say, as a Duke, I thought you were used to people attempting to trick you. That you are not able to see through a child's lies is quite surprising to me." Eiro said in a blunt voice, as he approached the desk where Richard was currently sitting. Of course, he fake-flinched and the guards lifted their weapons to make sure that Eiro wouldn't approach him anymore.

"Don't be ridiculous now." Eiro sighed, as he continued to walk up to Richard. He was shaking in fear in front of Eiro. Of course just outwardly. His heartbeat was as calm as it could be, as if Richard was just taking a nap.

"Please take a step back from the child, Eiro." The headmaster said with a light glare directed at Eiro. Obviously he was on the Duke's side, there was no other way.

"I won't be doing that, Sir, and both of us know that Richard is simply lying. I assume that you didn't send the letter I wanted you to send to his highness, now have you?" Eiro asked, and the headmaster flinched in response, "Wh-What, what letter are you talking about?" 

It seemed like the letter wasn't anywhere around here. The headmaster most likely threw it away, or simply burnt it right away.

"Well, not that it matters. I guess I can just inform you like this now. Your highness, both of your children are rather troubling individuals. Your daughter seems to understand that what she is doing is wrong, at least, but your son Richard here seems to feel no regret for greatly injuring a young man and horrendously bullying him." Eiro explained, and Duke Melachine walked up to Eiro with a deep stare.

"What are you talking about, my children would never do such things!" He exclaimed, but Eiro quickly shrugged, "Sorry, but it's what they did. Now, I hope you will still be here after school for a short parent-teacher conference. I think it would be a good idea to get your son some psychological help. I do want to see him turn out better, and make some friends here at school instead of just enemies. But for now, I do have to head off to my next class, if you'll excuse me."

The Duke looked at Eiro rather confused, "We are in the middle of a conversation, you cannot just leave!"

"Sorry, but actually, I can. By his Majesty's decree, the faculty of this university is directly protected and freed from the necessity of following common laws of aristocracy, to protect them from students, and their parents, taking advantage of their societal position. As such, I literally don't have to do anything you say while I'm working here." Eiro said without hesitation, and quickly made his way toward the door, leaving without letting anyone say anything else.

As he made his way to his next class, Nelli appeared right next to him, "Do you really think that was a good idea?" She asked, but Sarius just scoffed, "I'd be more worried about why everyone that Eiro meets is a complete and utter moron like that dude." 

"He's not a 'Moron', Sarius. Duke Melachine is an incredibly intelligent man and scholar. He published many popular research papers, and he's a skilled General in the army. However, he's also a very loving parent." Eiro explained bluntly, "And at the same time, Richard is a skilled trickster and liar. To Duke Melachine, he's a good child, and someone whose word he trusts. If I didn't have my abilities to see through lies so easily, I would trust my child in such a situation unconditionally as well. Especially if the offender was a brute adventurer with a reputation of being incredibly ruthless like me."

Sarius and Nelli looked at each other for a moment, "Well, if you say it that way..."

"Yep, he doesn't sound like just some idiot anymore, right? Those guards, on the other hand, were incredibly stupid." Eiro sighed, "Now, I'm just going to speak to him after class today, like I just told him I would."

--- 

Eiro quickly knocked on the door to the headmaster's office. It was now shortly after class ended, and this was the place where they would have the parent-teacher conference. Instead of someone answering for him, one of the guards inside opened the door.

The Demon swiftly stepped inside, followed by another man by his side.

"Eiro, who is that person?" The Headmaster asked confused. He was lightly dressed and looked like just some hoodlum. As if Eiro brought someone to threaten the people here.

"Ah, this is-" Eiro started, but before he did, Duke Melachine jumped up, deeply staring at the man, "L-Lognir? But why are you here?"

"Oh? You two know each other?" Eiro asked surprised, "Well, you are his Majesty's family, so it's not that ridiculous, I guess."

"Why are you here? Is my cousin coming as well?" Duke Melachine asked, but Lognir quickly shook his head, "Not that I know. This child asked my to come, so I came. As a neutral party."

"Neutral... party?" 

"Of course." Eiro replied to the duke, "Even though it is indeed a fact that you cannot do anything to me while I'm a teacher here, I'm only a teacher for this one semester. And not only that, but your son would get off scot-free, and without receiving the help he so obviously requires. That's why Lognir is here. He will make sure that none of us will lie." The Demon explained with a grin on his face. And of course, being aware of Lognir's identity and abilities, didn't have any need to worry about this.

He wanted to find out the truth as well, so he agreed without a moment's hesitation.

"Everyone, please leave." Duke Melachine said, "It will only be us four in this room during this conversation."

While they were indeed quite hesitant at first, the guards still left the room according to the Duke's command. Just the headmaster didn't seem to understand that he was also meant to leave at first. But soon, there were only four people left here. Richard, Duke Melachine, Eiro, and Lognir. Richard still seemed quite confident, since he clearly wasn't aware who or what Lognir was, but Eiro knew that he didn't have to worry about any sort of consequence with this.

"Let the Judgement begin." Lognir said with a broad grin on his face. The next moment, a wave of cold air flooded the room. The Duke's and Richard's hairs stood up on their skin as Lognir's influence filled the room.

"All of you, ask your questions. I will confirm whether the other party is saying the truth, or whether they are lying." Lognir explained, and the Duke quickly nodded his head. 

"Were you the one that injured my son in this way?" He asked without hesitation. He probably already experienced this kind of thing before.

"No, I was not. However, the other day, I did discipline him by making him work out until he was completely exhausted. And I am also expecting an essay from him explaining his wrongdoings while apologizing for them." Eiro explained bluntly. Immediately, the Duke's head snapped toward Lognir, who quickly smiled.

"He is telling the truth." He explained. Duke Melachine's gaze moved from Lognir to his son, "Richard, what does this mean? You said that this teacher was the one that injured you like this." 

"What? Of course it was him!" Richard exclaimed, but Lognir began to grin the next moment, "That's a lie."

Richard turned toward Lognir, "What are you talking about, you buffoon? You're the one that's lying!" 

"Haha, that's a good one. I don't lie, child." Lognir grinned, "I only tell the truth."

"Richard. What's going on here?" Duke Melachine asked, in a strict tone, "Why did you lie about this?"

"Because this guy is a total psycho! I want him gone! He's ruining everything! And by the way, he stabbed a knife through my hand the other day!" Richard yelled, now that he realized he wouldn't be getting out of this using his current lies. Lognir turned his head toward Eiro, "That's... the truth."

Duke Melachine jumped up and looked at Eiro, before grabbing his son's hand and inspecting it closely. Eiro let out a deep sigh, "Well, that's true. I did do that. However, you need to be aware of the context. Your son threatened me with a situation similar to this before. He held a knife to his hand, and proceeded to stab himself with it. When he realized that I wouldn't budge, he threatened to kill my children. You should also be aware that I am the person with the greatest perception in at least this country, and I have similar abilities to Lognir that allow me to see through truths and lies. And your son was saying the full truth at that moment, he genuinely wished to have my children killed. I met literal bandits and killers that wouldn't actually do such things. However, your son would." Eiro said. Lognir proceeded to hold his hand in front of his mouth with a light smile.

"All of that is the genuine truth." He said, unable to hide his clear interest in this situation. Shocked to hear this, Duke Melachine dropped back onto the couch.

"First I have to deal with 'her', and now my son..? What a year this already is...." The Duke muttered, and Eiro immediately became rather interested who the Duke meant with 'her', basically already having put this situation behind him.