Demon's Virtue

"Alright, so... where are we going first?" Sammy asked curiously, leaning out of the carriage's window to talk to her dad. The demon smiled. She knew that she didn't have to do that, since he could hear her from inside the carriage either way, but it was still pretty cute.

"First, we're going to the Monster Town to pick up Boju. And there's someone that I wanted Arc to meet," Eiro explained, and Arc, who had overheard his name, looked up from his book.

"What? You want me to meet someone? Why, what are they like?" he asked with a broad, excited grin on his face, but Eiro just turned around and smiled. He wanted it to be a surprise, so he hadn't told Arc about that girl from the same world as him yet. Eiro knew by now just how much Arc wanted to have someone to talk to about things from back there, but otherworlders simply weren't a common sight. Not that they tended to just openly reveal themselves. Even Arc's siblings didn't know that he was an otherworlder.

"Just sit down and wait, we should arrive fairly soon. The entrance isn't that far away. I'm sure you guys will be shocked when you see what it's like now."

The kids and even Ariella seemed to be extremely curious about what Eiro meant, and who he was planning on introducing Arc to. Covering her mouth with her hand, she quietly whispered, "Is this anything I already know about? Should I know about this?"

The demon kept looking forward and used wind magic to make his voice audible only to his lover, "Don't worry, it's nothing too major. It's just someone that I think Arc can become friends with. Someone who would understand a part of his issues."

Ariella seemed a little relieved.

"... Is this something I know about?" Bavet asked speaking directly into his ear. While he didn't hear what Avalin said, since he was attached to his face, he was able to read what Eiro said without being able to actually hear it. Of course, since the demon was sitting at the front of the carriage, he needed to be in disguise, at least here. But Eiro quietly shook his head, whispering to the slime.

"No, it's nothing for you to worry about either. Seriously, it's nothing big."

"Is it a girl? Are you trying to set Arc up with someone?" the slime sounded actually quite excited at the idea. Eiro did laugh a bit at that.

"It's a girl, but I'm not setting Arc up with anyone."

"Hm..."

Letting Bavet continue grumbling out of curiosity, Eiro focused back on the drive. It really didn't take a long time to get to their first stop. After all, with the speed of Lugo as well as the two steeds pulling the other carriage, they could go at a pace that really saved them a good bit of time. Plus, Eiro knew a few shortcuts around the area by now, and could create some paths that weren't there before with earth magic.

Soon, they reached the front of the town, hidden through illusion magics and further obscured through 'stealth' that was infused into the gate. They just had to drive straight through the wall at this point to make it into the tunnel. Basically the moment they were there, Bavet split off of Eiro and went on his way, "Call me when you need me."

Eiro raised a brow, watching as the slime flew through the rest of the tunnel in his eagle form.

"What's that about?" Ariella asked. On the way, she had come to join Eiro in the front.

"He's been going off on his own every time we're here. I thought it was just so he can take a nap somewhere or something, but I'm actually not totally sure. I think he's not even staying in town while we're here," Eiro shrugged, "But it doesn't really matter. I asked him if everything's alright the last time we were here, and he assured me everything was fine. I think he also just wants some peace and quiet or something."

"Hm... as long as he doesn't run away. You'd be a little screwed without him, right?"

"I mean... at this point, I could get by with illusion magic, but the transformations done through Bavet change my actual outward-facing form. He literally reconstitutes my horns into hair. It's just a higher quality of transformation that I can't duplicate."

"That reminds me, your evolutions have been pretty 'monstrous' recently. Not that I really care or mind, don't worry, but I would have thought you'd have less monster-like aspects about you now, not more."

Eiro thought about it for a moment, "I guess you're right. It's probably because looking human was alwas just a necessity for me. I'm part of society as a person would be, but I do so in my own way. These sorts of evolutions tend to give the user what they actually need, and since I never thought I needed to look more like a person, it only gave me the necessities. You know, being able to turn my six arms into two, the ability to merge my tails together and flatten and wrap the whole thing against my waist. Pulling my wings into my back. And even my horns are less conspicuous, even if just a tiny bit. I was worried they'd be something like... well, antlers by now," Eiro glanced at Lugo, "Maybe even because of his influence on me. Familiars tend to affect the contractor as much as the other way around. And since Lugo is clearly affected by me... I thought I'd see something of it by this point."

He was actually a little bit sad that he hadn't seen any such changes yet, but it wasn't anything he was too bothered by.

Soon, they entered through into what used to be the old goblin village and mine. Just this was so much different to what the kids knew. Plus, all the monsters that were walking around looked far different than they would 'in the wild'. Not only were they calm and kind, talking to each other casually, but they were wearing armour and clothes that were made for them, instead of old, torn fabrics that they just threw over their bodies somehow.

Seeing Eiro, the many monsters waved and slightly bowed, though they quickly continued on with their day-to-day. And when the kids saw what had become of the main part of the town, they could barely keep jaws from hitting the ground.

"Holy- This is what the town looks like now? This is awesome!" Arc exclaimed, and Sammy, who was looking out one of the other windows, quickly agreed.

"This is actually so beautiful, I never expected that it would turn out like this..."

The others also quickly went to take a look. And though she still didn't speak much despite the artificial voice-box that Eiro had given her, even Hannah let out a small 'wow'.

Felix, who was trying to see what the hustle and bustle was all about, also tried to take a closer look. Though he was slightly more focused on the two ethereal hands that were floating in front of him. For this trip, since it was always hard for Felix in groups when everyone was talking about different things, Eiro had created a pair of semi-permanent mage hands for him that would continue signing things to him. He was actually working on another small item that could help him with these moments, but it was still taking a while. Eiro hoped to finish it during this trip to help him out a bit.

For now, though, everyone just looked out and watched the town come closer and closer. Eiro parked the carriages by some stables near the entrance to the town.

"Alright, you guys can go take a look around if you want, I'll pick you up when we're headed back out. But, Sammy, please make sure you stick to Felix. Some of the monsters can get a little annoyed when they think you're ignoring them, and I don't think that Felix can read the lips of some of them, at least not yet," Eiro explained, "And Ariella, are you sticking with Avalin, Leon, and Hannah?"

"Of course, don't worry."

"Noo! I want to be with daddy!" Avalin complained, quickly clinging to Eiro's leg. Seeing his sister do this, Leon rubbed his tired eyes and trodded over to Eiro's other leg, doing the same without a word.

"Kids, come on... It'll just be a minute, I'm only picking up Boju, okay?"

Avalin and Leon looked up at Eiro, staring at him with those eyes that he had a hard time saying no to. He sighed, looking at Ariella, who just laughed a bit, "I'm not taking it personally, don't worry. I'll just take a moment with Hannah."

The skeletal girl with the wooden body slowly nodded, the corners of her mouth pointing upward.

"What about you guys? What are you going to do?" the demon looked at the other kids. They were looking at each other, chatting and contemplating.

"We might just walk around together, with the five of us. Is that cool?" Rudy asked, looking at Avalin and Eiro, who were both of course more than happy with that arrangement. Having all five of them together actually put Eiro at ease quite a bit.

"Great. Arc, I'll come pick you up first in a bit after I went to see Boju, and then we'll go meet that person I'm introducing you to," Eiro said, "Oh, and to everyone. There are some humans here now, as a reminder. If they ask who you are, or anyone does at all, you tell them you're here with me, okay?"

With that, they all split up into three smaller groups, each going their own way for an hour or two.