Demon's Virtue

But as he still couldn"t be entirely sure how strong she was, Eiro couldn"t just "challenge" her. Enka was incredibly strong, far stronger than Eiro was at the time he fought him. But even Enka just had a replica, a "fake" card item. The feeling that Evelyn gave off was indisputable, however. She was the actual owner of a card.

It may just have to do with internal diplomacy, but it would make sense for Evelyn to be insurmountably strong compared to Enka. And Eiro wasn"t that much stronger right now than Enka was. He didn"t want to risk anything.

"You see something you like~?" Evelyn asked, holding her hand up to the amulet around her neck, although she was obviously insinuating that Eiro was looking at something a little bit lower than that.

With a low groan, Eiro turned back toward Solomon, "So, is there another reason why you wanted to introduce us?" The Demon inquired, and Solomon slowly nodded his head.

"Yes, there is, actually. You see, in just another two weeks, it"s time for the Winter Solstice. It"s an important festivity here. Since you two are the most talented Ice Elemental Mages I know, I thought it would be a good idea to have you two as representatives when Winter"s Daugther arrives here on the day of the Solstice."

"What?" Eiro asked immediately, walking up closer to the desk without hesitation, "A Daughter of Winter is coming here?" The Demon asked with a bright, excited smile underneath his mask, and Solomon slowly nodded his head, "Yes, although it is only the case during the Winter Solstice. The first King of Skyhart, my ancestor, received the blessing of the Lady of Winter. As such, as long as our family is ruling, we will be visited by one of her daughters."

"Is that so..?" Rather happy that he would be able to see at least a Daughter of Winter every year he was here, Eiro took a step back and turned toward Evelyn, "You can leave, if that"s the case. We only need me." Eiro said, feeling weirdly giddy about hearing these news. Solomon looked at Eiro rather confused after hearing him speak.

"Oh? I know you often speak of your strength, but I didn"t realize that you can look down on others in that way as well. Miss James comes from a family of some of the greatest Cryomancers in history. Would it be possible to lay it open to Eiro?" The King asked, and Evelyn lightly chuckled, "I think you already did, your Majesty. I"m sure Eiro already knows who I am after that little hint."

"I don"t." Eiro replied bluntly, "But I don"t really care either. There"s a reason why-"

"Oh? A commoner brat like you thinks that they"re better than me, I see?" Evelyn asked, and Eiro looked at her with a deep glare hidden under his mask, "What? I just don"t care about anyone that has no use to me. Again, there"s a reason why I"m saying we only need me-"

However, it seemed like Evelyn didn"t really care. Eiro weirdly couldn"t tell whether or not she was acting like it or if she was legitimately upset, but she soon voiced her complaints, "I will let you know that I am part of the Frosthearth family. The soon-to-be family head, even." 

Hearing that name, Eiro turned toward Evelyn actually rather curiously. That name sounded pretty... weird, "Frosthearth? Are you in any way related to the Stinehearth family?"

"Of course we are. Both the Frosthearth and Stinehearth families are those that split off the Heroic Eldhearth family. The one that the greatest hero of them all, the first great Hero Eiro was leading. Eiro Edwin Eldhearth." Evelyn explained, and Eiro slowly nodded his head, "Interesting. And in the Eldhearth family, was there someone also called Evelyn? Or someone with a similar name or p.r.o.nunciation?" The Demon inquired. This was too much of a coincidence to be unrelated.

Solomon took it on him to answer that, "Yes, it was the Hero Eiro"s child, Evelyn Eid Eldwin. She was a great mage that impressed with her feats even after her father"s death. It is quite... uncommon to see someone named Eiro, but many heads of the Hearth families tend to name their daughter a form of "Evelyn" or similarly, "Avalin" to hint at their own greatness." The King explained, although he was a little confused, "You named your child Avalin without knowing that? That seems like a weird coincidence."

"Something like that. I gave her the name of a Woman I owe to a lot. I wanted her to live on a bit. Well, anyway, thanks for that little history lesson, but we still don"t need you, even if you are part of the Frosthearth family. I don"t know why you go around calling yourself "James" if you"re from a n.o.ble house anyway. I don"t really care either, but it"s still weird. Anyway, we don"t need her, because-"

"Eiro." Solomon said, seemingly not in the mood to discuss any more than this, "I said that I want you two to act as representatives. As far as I"m concerned, you two may as well be the ones that are closest to receiving the Lady of Winter"s blessing in this generation. If you keep saying that we don"t need Evelyn, then you"re the one that can stay behind during the Solstice." The King said in a clear tone, but Eiro sighed deeply and replied in a way that neither Solomon or Evelyn seemed to have expected.

"That"s exactly why I"m saying we don"t need her, because I already received the Lady of Winter"s blessing long ago." The Demon explained. Solomon stayed silent for a while and then looked at the Demon confusedly, "Wh-What? But how?"

"The town I used to live in was the place where the four Ladies came during every Solstice and Equinox. My Teacher and I were their guides. The Lady of Winter took a liking to me and gave me her blessing." Eiro explained, "I would love to speak to the Daughter of Winter, but I don"t want someone that doesn"t know what they"re doing there with me." Eiro explained, slightly turning toward Evelyn as he was doing so.

"Something like you has the blessing of a nature G.o.ddess...? You"re getting more and more interesting, Imp..." Evelyn whispered, too quiet for Solomon to hear, but Eiro still understood her. He turned toward her, and tried to suppress his anger as he did so, while his heart was beating quicker and quicker. But for some reason, Evelyn also seemed to grow a little confused when she was looking at Eiro now.

"Ah, I get it. Your bloodstone lets you sense another being"s blood completely, is that it? Then how about this?" Eiro asked with a light smile as he completely turned toward Evelyn. Eiro influenced the flow of his blood to gather in his his chest a bit more than normal, and then specifically made it gather in different "lines" unnaturally to pain the picture of a middle finger using his own blood. 

"You little..." Evelyn growled under her breath, while Eiro just continued smiling. "This is fun", he thought to himself. Eiro turned back toward Solomon, who was still trying to process what Eiro said.

And since Eiro was still a little angry and just wanted to get rid of Evelyn as quickly as he could for now, the Demon tried to move on, "Well, you don"t have to believe me just yet. We can both be there to first greet the Daughter of Winter, but if she can confirm that I have the blessing, then Evelyn will leave and I get to have my private conversation with the Daughter of Winter."

"Wait..." Solomon muttered, "A private conversation? What do you mean?" 

"Hm? Like... Asking her how the Lady of Winter is doing, for example. There"s a few things that I need to ask the Daughter of Winter to tell the Lady as well, so speaking to her in private for a little while is pretty important. Where exactly does she appear every time? And who is guiding her?"

"Erm... Guiding? Why would we need to guide her?" Solomon asked, and Eiro looked at him with confusion, "Good manners?"

"Really? The guy that"s speaking to his Royal Majesty like he was some kid is speaking of good manners?" Evelyn asked with a scoff, and Eiro showed her the middle-finger again, just this time not in the form of his blood, but just by acively holding his hand toward her and flipping her off.

"Fine, I"ll take care of it. I just need to know where she appears then." Eiro explained, and Solomon didn"t have to think for too long, "Usually she appears in the forest to the north. But we need to be careful, there"s going to be a lot of people gathering the special herbs and flowers there that grow during the Solstice." 

"Ah, good, at least you"re giving her offerings, then." Eiro sighed in relief, although he noticed that Solomon just stayed silent for a while, "Wait, you"re not giving her offerings?" The Demon asked, and Solomon slowly shook his head, "We have never done so... But how should we know about that, the Daughter of Winter never speaks a word. She enters town, stands in the townsquare for an hour, and then disappears again. It is quite a beautiful sight, but... was she waiting for offerings?"

"Of course she was... I can"t believe this. You can call yourselves lucky that the daughter visiting you seems to be a good child, otherwise this town would have already been buried in snow and ice." Eiro sighed deeply.

"Alright, first things first, stop anyone and everyone from gathering those "special herbs and flowers", and only let a certain few people gather them to give them to the Daughter as an offering. I"ll help, don"t worry. And never touch any of the things that grow directly around the Daughter as she walks, ever. Like, ever. It"s more than just rude." Eiro explained, and tried his best to remember not to mention that he did exactly that and still got the Lady"s blessing, "I"m going to be there to greet the Daughter. If possible, you should come with me, Solomon. But alone, without any guards in sight. If I even sense one person there, you have to leave."