Demon's Virtue

The water flowed around him. The open window was bringing in a breeze, as Eiro was seated on a chair. Two of his hands were busily carving away at some of this realm's wood, or the equivalent at least, while his two other hands were holding a book that he was casually flipping through.

It was a book that he pulled into existence through Anura's knowledge magic; the memory of one of the other books that he read in the past.

It was about a pretty interesting topic, and he didn't really have anything else to do right now anyway, so Eiro figured he would take the time to 'analyze' some of the books that he glanced over in the tower, like the mental duplicates were doing within the mental library.

Plenty of books had some hidden aspects to them, things that Eiro may not have consciously picked up, but still remembered through his subconscious senses. Things like specific patterns of mana imbued into some of the pages, certain letters having printing mistakes to them in specific, irregular patterns that seemed to give a sort of secret message.

Of course, that wasn't always the case, rather, it only happened quite rarely. But within the upper floors of the tower of books, it certainly was a lot more likely to find some books that had some secrets like this placed into them. Though, even after decyphering dozens of these secret messages, most of them were quite inconsequential in the end.

Things like secret messages for the author's lover, or a hint given from a spy to their lord. Messages that were written centuries ago and didn't matter at all. Sure, Eiro managed to fill in some gaps in history here and there, but it was usually only turning what was the most likely possibility anyway into a fact.

Still, it was a fun little thing to pass the time, and you never knew if there might not be some useful information hidden in there somewhere. Plus, Eiro didn't want to just leave such obvious things disguised in his memories.

And again, it was a good way to pass the time while he couldn't do much else. After all, Eiro refused to leave Nelly's bedside. The naiad was still asleep, though she was already looking a lot better. The integrity and fullness of her body had increased considerably, and she even started moving around a bit, tossing and turning in the bed. But even so, she was still asleep.

It was to the point where Eiro was growing somewhat anxious, but he knew that there was no real need for him to worry. Nelly would pull through. He knew she would.

That was when there was a knock on the door.

"Come in, your majesty," the demon said, not moving his sight away from the book. The door opened up and the Naiad Queen swam into the room. This was no longer her bedroom, as the Naiad Queen had let Eiro move Nelly to a smaller, more private room. Though, even if it was smaller, it was still large enough for the queen at her quite massive size to come in without issue.

The demon slowly looked over at her, "How are you this morning?"

The queen smiled in response, "I am rather well... How are you? And she?"

Eiro closed the book, as it disappeared from his hands, fading away into nothingness again. Eiro placed down the carving knife and the unfinished wooden figurine onto the bedside table, looking at Nelly with a smile, "I'm fine. And Nelly seems to still be improving. I'm convinced she will wake up with a little more time."

"Let us hope so," the queen replied with a nod, but Eiro slightly laughed.

"I'm not one for useless hope. I know she will wake up," the demon pointed out, "It is only a matter of when, not if."

With a somber expression, the queen looked at the demon, "I see..."

Realizing that she wasn't just here for a quick, fun conversation, Eiro sat up, swimming up to the queen, "Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Not... Not help, but..." she responded hesitantly, "My husband has returned to this castle, and would like to speak with you."

Eiro raised his brows, quickly nodding, "Of course, right away."

He didn't mind meeting the Naiad King; rather, he would love to get the chance to meet him. Connecting with the spirit kings and queens was never a bad thing for Eiro. The demon checked on Nelly one more time, and then quickly followed the queen out of the room.

"By the way, I would like to thank you again for hosting us while Nelly is out of commission like that."

"No, don't even mention it. Nellissa is an important individual to me as well, so there is no way that I would simply abandon her in her time of need," the queen responded. Eiro quickly smiled. Truthfully, he had expected her to be a lot more villainous.

The first time Eiro had heard of the current Naiad Queen was through the former queen, the 'Lonely Naiad', who had retained a portion of her powers and authority after stepping down from her position to allow the current queen and king to be together. For some reason, Eiro had expected the Naiad Queen to be a lot more...

intense than she actually turned out to be, but she actually had a quite mellow personality. Though of course, she did have her more intense moments, as Eiro had learned when the two first met.

Eiro was led to something akin to a throne room, though instead of having classic thrones, what stood on the other side of the room was a single massive shell with cushions and blankets at its base. Within it, the Naiad King was laying, his upper body upright, soon to be joined by the queen who laid down beside him.

The Naiad King appeared quite young at first glance, but as Eiro took a closer look, he could spot the folds and wrinkles all around his face. So while he wasn't old in any sense of the word, time was certainly showing its effects on him already. His tail reminded Eiro of a shark's, and as the King slowly opened his mouth, his sharp teeth seemed to paint the same picture.

"So you are this 'Eiro' that I have heard so much about. I see that you are quite familar with the former queen," he said with a suspicious stare, narrowing his gaze. Of course, Eiro understood where that came from.

Though the former naiad queen seemed more than content with the current situation, many of her supporters didn't quite think the same. It was to the extent that something akin to a civil war nearly broke out in the past, and even now there are many that don't accept the validity of the current queen.

"I've actually only met her twice, but each time, she has done me favours worth a lifetime," Eiro explained, smiling lightly, "The first time, she saved my life and gave me her blessing. The second time, she made me the guardian of the spirit gateway."

"And why would she do something like that for a total stranger?"

"... She has been given the title of the 'Lonely Naiad'. I was an imp, dying all alone in a lake of the holy empire. What else could be more lonely than that?" He pointed out, "And for the gateway, I had proven my power to her, showing that I was worthy of protecting the gateway."

The king narrowed his gaze, "And now, that gateway is the core of your being. Have you replaced your core with it, to live in this world instead of your original one?"

Eiro immediately shook his head, "Of course not. It is a somewhat complicated situation, but I currently exist in three realms at once. This one, the elemental plane of fire, as well as the central material plane. I formed new bodies around the spirit gateways from the central material plane, and share my consciousness with all versions of myself across the realms."

The king frowned deeply, not sure what to think of that, "Excuse me? What is that supposed to mean?"

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Eiro hesitated. He closed his eyes for a few moments, quickly making a decision, "Since you have all shown us the greatest hospitality, I will happily explain things further to you. But as I said, it is a complicated situation, and a very long story."

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