Demon's Virtue

"Whether we want to or not? Who do you think you are?" The girl asked with a deep frown, and Eiro chuckled slightly, "Sorry, I think I should rephrase. I'm sure you will definitely want to work with me. For whatever reason, all of you that have been summoned want to kill the Monster King. I neither know, nor care about, said reason. At the end of the day, the fact that our goals align is undeniable."

"..." The three transmigrators silently looked at each other. This man in front of them certainly did have a point, "Fine. Clearly... you're quite strong. So what do you need our help with?" The boy asked quickly, and Eiro clapped his hands together with a broad smile.

"That is the correct question, kiddo. I mentioned it just earlier, right? The strongest monsters, following right behind the monster king, tend to be 'Royals'. I heard that these cards exist in your world as well. They should be called... Tarot cards."

"Huh? Tarot? What about it?" The young man asked with a wry smile, and Eiro quickly pulled out the Three of Swords in its card form.

"This is a card of the minor arcana, the three of swords. These cards are powerful artifacts, and just possessing them gives you immense power. Now, then there is the major arcana equivalent, for example the card 'The Devil', that one we spoke about earlier. When a monster takes possession of said card, they will immediately grow to be immensely powerful. I have already permanently gotten rid of two said royals, although usually, the card in question will be brought to the closest fitting monster when a royal dies. You all have been brought here, expected to kill the monster king. So, I would like your help in killing the royals first. Weaken the power of the monster king beforehand. Using my methods, I will get rid of the cards, which will make it so much easier to kill the monster king when the time comes." Eiro quickly explained. Of course, the cards that Eiro was talking about right now were 'The World', which he currently was himself, as well as 'Death', the card that he had locked up within him in his treasury.

"I... read about those." The boy explained, "But aren't we still too weak to be able to take out twenty of these 'royals'? They are supposed to be catastrophes."

"Oh, of course you're too weak. I'm at the level of power of a royal right now myself, but most of them have pesky special abilities, or are just going to be far too well-prepared. You know, 'Death', one of the two I killed, had the ability to turn itself into the perfect counter of whatever it was fighting. If you used a sword, its skin became resistant to cuts. If you used fire magic, it would no longer be affected by heat. And the guy that I have currently lined up as my next target is the kind that plans ahead. He knows I'm coming for him, and he will make sure to have anything he needs to kill me. As such, having some trump-cards like you three, with your obviously unique and unexpected abilities, is more than just useful. I mean, I doubt he even knows about the existence of earth, so how would he be able to guess that some individuals have been summoned from there?" Eiro chuckled slightly, and the girl slowly muttered, "If we say 'no'... will you kill us?"

"Hm, maybe. Not right now, though. I mean, they'd know it was one of the champions, and I don't wanna deal with all that. And it's not like this whole deal isn't beneficial to you either. You come from a peaceful world. This will give you experience in more sense than one. You will level up immensely, and you will gain actual combat experience. Not only that, you will grow in status upon assisting me in killing multiple royals, so your life in this world will be comfortable. Not that it won't be, now that you became companions to the hero." Eiro pointed out, "At the end of the day, as long as your 'no' doesn't mean that you'll oppose me... I'm not gonna do anything, I don't really want to bother. I don't really gain much from it right now anyway."

Eiro looked at the three people in front of him, as they all seemed to be deep in thought. It did seem like they were on the same page in one regard, though, "We'll need some time to think about it."

--- 

Eiro soon found himself back in the small town of huts, and looked around trying to find his friends and family. It seemed like the kids were at the beach right now, and the others were sitting at an open-air bar nearby said beach. For a few moments, the Demon wondered why they didn't just come here by ship, but then he realized that the whole area was far too shallow, and in the distance, it seemed to be mostly encased in some rocks that didn't make it possible. That protected this place from invaders quite well too, though.

The Demon made his way to said open-air bar, and sat down next to the others, "Did you guys have a good day so far?" Eiro asked, letting out a sigh of relaxation.

"Yo, more importantly, what the hell did you guys do? We... saw that huge thing from back here..." James pointed out with a wry smile, and Eiro raised his brows, "Oh, you did? Yeah, that was just me displaying my magic to them. Basically, we were introduced to the little hero, and then we were supposed to show off our prowess, and I concentrated on magic for now. And obviously, I had to trump the others somehow." The demon quickly explained, and everyone stared at him for a few moments.

"So it was you, after all... Also, was that your aura that you just let go wild a couple of times?" 

"Ah, that was me as well, yeah." 

"But why..?" Jess asked, and Eiro slightly turned his head, looking at the man that was currently approaching him. It was the Goliath warrior, and he stood right beside Eiro for a few moments, with his arms crossed, as if he was waiting for something.

"Can I help you?" The Demon asked, and the Goliath simply frowned, "So you really are a mage, small one?"

"I am a mage, sure, but not only. I'm quite confident that I could beat you in a fight that doesn't involve magic as well." Eiro replied bluntly, before the Goliath laughed out loud, "You're funny, small one! I like you!"

"Urgh... he's not joking, you know?" James pointed out, "He can definitely beat you up, and violently at that."

The Goliath looked at the people around Eiro confused, "And who're these weaklings?"

"They're not weaklings. Those three are my party members, James, Jess and Krog. This is Armodeus, the most skilled craftsman on the continent, or even the world. This is Koperia, an incredibly skilled mage, whose magical abilities are probably above mine when it comes to control and manipulation. And this is my lover, Ariella." Eiro swiftly explained, and the Goliath slightly frowned, but before he could say anything, Krog stood up with a broad smile.

"Wait, you're a Goliath! I'm a half-goliath. Right over there is Rudy, he's a-" Krog exclaimed excitedly, and slightly turned his head, before he felt something wet hit his face, "Disgusting. A halfling child bred from a traitor? I thought better of you, small one." The goliath warrior pointed out right after spitting at Krog, before Jess immediately jumped up. Eiro was getting quite angry as well.

"Who do you think you are?!" Jess yelled out, stepping in front of her lover without a moment's hesitation, as if trying to shield him.

"I'm someone that at least still knows the true values us Goliaths hold. That man is an abomination. The only Goliaths who breed outside the clan are those who have been banished. Even if he was born from two goliaths, that fact would make his blood filthy. But mixing it with the blood of another clan? Ridiculous." The warrior exclaimed. Eiro was slowly moving to get up, but before he could do so, the warrior was already thrown far out of the contains of this open-air bar.

Krog's arms were bulging, and the veins on his neck and forehead seemed like they were about to explode, "I will not allow you to speak of my father like that, you hear?!" Krog yelled out, as the goliath warrior slowly stood up again.

"What, the disgusting filth is violent as well? As expected!" He exclaimed, but before he was able to fully stand up, Krog had already thrown himself at him again. With kicks and punches, grapples and throws, Krog was attacking the champion of another country.

The people of Baram, as well as the other champions, were watching this all unfold in front of their eyes. But more surprising than that... the Goliath Champion... was being pushed back. Krog was absolutely overwhelming him.

The moment that he tried to defend himself, putting up some sort of guard, Krog shattered said guard with his fists. And while all of this was going on, Eiro saw something in Krog's eyes. A brief flash of a notification that disappeared as Krog punched his hand through it during this fight, not paying attention to what was written on it.

Said punch was enough to throw the Goliath Champion further away, while Krog was still absolutely furious. With a bloodied face and bruised body, the Champion stood up, furious on his own after being beat up in front of all the others, by someone who wasn't even a champion.

The two of them ran at each other, ready to hit the other with all that their body could muster. But since this was all going a bit too far, and due to the notification that Eiro got a brief glance of earlier, the Demon moved inbetween the two in an instant.

With his right hand, he stopped Krog's fist, and with his left, he stopped the Champion's. Blasts of air followed their attacks, creating a strong gust around the Demon's body that twirled up some dust.

"Let's stop this here before this goes any further, alright?" Eiro said with a smile, as he gathered some water in his hand. He filled it up with magic and threw it at the Goliath's face, using healing magic to help the recovery of the wounds that Krog had caused.

And so, Eiro pulled Krog away for now, leaving behind a startled and confused goliath that didn't know what just happened to him.