Demon's Virtue

"And why not?" Eiro asked with a deep frown. Jura sent him here, so obviously he had to have some way of meeting him.

And with an annoyed sigh, Felix just crossed his arms, "Alright, let me set this straight. You"re travelers, so it"s fine. But listen, this town has three layers for craftsmen. Armodeus has a place on each layer. The lowest layer is one that commoners can access. The second layer is only for n.o.bles, and the third layer is for Kings. Just try and buy whatever you need here, alright? It"s reasonably priced." Felix explained, slowly turning toward Sammy.

"They even have some amazing accessories here. Necklaces, bracelets... rings..." He pointed out, acting as if he was embarra.s.sed about it, obviously insinuating something annoying.

"So it"s really that hard to get up there?" Eiro asked as he turned around, trying to see if he could find the place, and Felix nodded his head irritatedly, "Yes, it is. Now come on."

"No thank you. Rudy, Arc, keep watch on those two. Don"t let them out of your sight. Clementine, please take care of the kids. And Nelli, make sure that Felix doesn"t try anything. Let me know immediately if he does." The Demon sighed, slightly cracking his knuckles and stretching as he was doing so before the Naiad appeared out of nowhere and smiled.

"Sure~." She replied, turning her sight over toward Felix who was more than just surprised at seeing a Spirit here. And he really wasn"t the only one.

"Is that a spirit?"

"Mommy, so pretty!"

"A Naiad!"

Some people started muttering from all around them, and Eiro scratched the back of his head as he turned toward Nelli with a wry smile, "Also, distract these guys for a little, alright?" He asked of her, and the Spirit slowly sighed as she shook her head in disappointment.

"Oh, what should I ever do with you...? Pus.h.i.+ng troublesome tasks like this on me..." She complained, but Eiro just turned toward her with a smirk, "Don"t pretend you don"t love the attention."

"I don"t know what you"re talking about~." Nelli replied with a wink, "Now leave, you"re stealing the show!"

With a slight chuckle, Eiro took a step to the side while everyone really was just distracted by Nelli, making his way into the closest Alleyway where he pulled out one of his three cards. The Ace of Cups. Obviously he didn"t just leave it lying around in his treasury these past couple years, he did try experimenting with it as much as he could since it was his most powerful tool at the moment. The repercussion was a bit too strong for him though, which was why he came up with another method of using it instead of drinking it.

He pushed his mana into the card and made the cup appear, before placing his palm over the rim of the cup. Eiro slowly started to concentrate on the liquid to pull just a bit of it out while using air magic to turn it into a light mist that he used to bit by bit cover his body and clothes.

[You have cloaked yourself using the Ace of Cup"s powers. You will be hidden from sight, but you will still create sound to a lesser degree and the evasion effect will not activate]

[This effect will last 1 Hour and can be canceled at any time]

With a slight smirk on his face, Eiro pulled the half-empty cup back into the card, before placing it back into his treasury.

This method of using the power of the card had both advantages and disadvantages. The obvious disadvantages were the comparatively low time-of-effect and the heavily decreased power of it. But then again, the advantages were that the cup filled back up within a day, and the effect could be canceled at any time.

Using the cup regularly would mean that Eiro would be forced to stay hidden and forgotten for the whole duration, and that really wasn"t useful in this situation. And now, Eiro started taking a look around. He really had to hurry.

He had been inspecting the area for a good path for a little while now, and already directly knew where he had to go.

Eiro wrapped his body in air magic and used it to help him jump as high as possible, and the moment he reached a light ledge he spotted before, pulled his whole body up and tried propelling him upward.

Since the rock-wall in front of him was still basically in its natural state starting from roughly five meters up instead of a brick-wall, Eiro could easily use earth magic to create small ledges. These could then be used to place his fingers and feet onto to continue climbing until he reached the lowest nearby roof.

From building to building, the Demon simply kept climbing, jumping, and running, before he reached the entrance area to the second layer.

As it didn"t have any walls, all that Eiro had to do was properly climb it up while avoiding the "sensors" that were seemingly placed on it. That really wasn"t hard with his strength of perception.

The spot he climbed up at had especially little guards because it was the gardens in the very front of the second layer. It was easy to see it from anywhere in town, so n.o.body would expect someone to try scaling the wall there anyway.

Inside of the Gardens, Eiro could already notice that the environment was heavily different from before. The few Guards that were around were better-equipped and -dressed than the ones in the lowest layer, and the magic items around here were basically scattered everywhere. They seemed to be used to even light the streets up, despite how rare and expensive they were.

If it was like this on the second layer, Eiro really couldn"t restrain his curiosity of the third layer.

There weren"t that many people around here on this second layer, but most of those that were obviously had a whole different vibe around them as well. They were more dignified, carried themselves more elegantly, and even spoke in a whole other manner. Eiro could actually learn a few things here how to act with etiquette.

That was his first impression at least. But once he actually tried to take a look at the crafting areas of this layer, n.o.body was working. The only place that had anyone doing anything was a store that sold accessories.

But then, Eiro noticed an area where quite a lot of business was, and it was a place that he honestly hadn"t expected encountering here. It was something like a mobile theater.

There were some children seated on lavender colored chairs that seemed more expensive than the average item on the lower layer. And the gold-decorated versions of their parents" seats weren"t anything to laugh at either.

The actual stage was rather expensive as well. It was made of a regular, hardwood base, but the decorations around it were made using a specially grown type of wood that was usually used to increase the effect of earth magic.

It seemed to be slightly scratched up, but not at a level that you would usually be able to see. But Eiro noticed that it was in a weird pattern, otherwise, he wouldn"t have paid attention to it. The part with the most scratches was a pillar set right next to where it went behind the curtains to the right. It was like the scratches were running from the outside to the inside of the stage.

At first, Eiro thought that maybe someone was continuously b.u.mping into it whenever they walked inside, but then he noticed that this really couldn"t be the case. The scratches went around nearly the whole circ.u.mference of that pillar. It was more like someone was purposefully making markings like that, or... someone was trying to hold onto the pillar while being pulled inside.

Thinking that this might be pretty interesting to watch, Eiro figured he would take the time he was looking for a route also watching the "show" that was going on, and soon noticed movement from behind that stage, before a well-dressed man stepped outside.

He was wearing a brightly colored suit, the kind that would be obnoxious seeing in any regular situation, but weirdly fit for this kind of performer. Together with his top-hat and decorated walking-cane, it gave him a rather cliché image of a stage director.

The man started speaking about a few random things that didn"t really interest Eiro, but then he waved his hand to the side and made a bouquet of flowers appear, all of them made of rock.

Rock that soon crumbled down and was carried by the wind, or so it seemed, higher into the air. In reality, the air basically stood still at that time. What this really was was simple earth magic, using rock created through that same type of magic.

And that this was an element created in such a manner could mean a couple of things. One, this person was actually one of the most skilled mages in this world that could create an element on their own without the help of complicated magic circles. Two, he had a unique skill that allowed him to have superior control over the earth element. Three, he had a card, although Eiro could confirm that this was not the case as the "vibe" he got from other card holders wasn"t there. And four, the most likely of these, he had a contract with an earth spirit that he used for boring party-tricks.

And as soon as Eiro thought this, he got his confirmation. It was the fourth of those options. Because after floating around a bit more, the rock kept gathering and turned into a body made completely of rough rock. A Gnome, a sort of earth spirit. This was what "Golems", regular earth spirits, were called before they fully matured.

It was obviously naturally skilled at what it was doing, since to it the control over the earth element was like breathing for people, but what surprised Eiro wasn"t that. Only mature spirits were capable of forming contracts, that much he was told by Nelli. At least, it was impossible to form two out of three types of contracts for it.

There was the "Privilege" contract type. The one that Spirits normally formed, where they had little to no disadvantages in the contract with a being.

Then there was the "Partners.h.i.+p" type, the type of contract that Nelli and Eiro formed. There, they were equal partners.

And third, the type that the Spirit couldn"t initiate. The "Submission" contract. This was usually only possible with immature spirits and gave them nothing but pain and suffering. Literally. They would get the bare minimum of mana they needed to even exist, and had to lay open all of their secrets, follow any one of the contractor"s commands, and would sometimes even take over some of the physical damage done to the contractor.

It was rather obvious that this was the case right now because it was undeniable that this was an immature spirit. Mature spirits had something similar to skin on some parts of their bodies, as well as often unique markings and accessories made of mana. On the other hand, immature spirits were simply their element turned into a roughly humanoid shape.

There were exceptions of course. For example, the Daughters of Winter were technically immature spirits as well, but since they were an incredibly special type of Ice Spirit, their immature form was quite advanced already.

But that didn"t matter much right now. This whole situation didn"t really matter much, not to Eiro. He had no reason to help this young spirit out. It was probably at least a dozen years older than him anyway, it should be able to fend for itself. Although then, Eiro heard a rather annoying noise in the form of a voice.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, here we have our prime attraction! Indulge in its beauty! The natural minerals contained within its body have properties that naturally strengthen you and your health! For just a small gold coin, you can take a bit of it with you!"

A noise that revealed that this man wasn"t a performer after all. He was a salesman.