Demon's Virtue

651 The suspicious Cube

A suspicious cube stood in the center of the hallway. Arc was in the middle of putting on the blazer of the academy’s uniform, but stopped when he saw it just eerily sitting there on the carpeted floor. Sammy also came out of her room a few moments later, personally not paying much mind to the foreign object.

“What are you doing? We’re going to be late,” Sammy told her brother with a half-scowl. But Arc was still practically frozen in place, only slowly starting to move in slow-motion to finish getting dressed, “But... it’s a random cube.”

“So? It’s probably just another one of Dad’s tests,” she replied, and Arc immediately nodded, “Yeah, exactly. So why did he put it here, right in front of my room...? He wanted me to test it, right?”

“...” Sammy looked at Arc for a few moments, before already giving up any attempts she would have made at dissuading him from touching the cube. From his own room at the end of the hallway, Felix came trotting out, already nervous about being late for class.

He saw Sammy and Arc just standing there, and slightly tilted his head, “What’s going on?” he asked in a whispering voice, accompanying his unsure speech with sign language. Sammy rolled her eyes. She signed her response so that Arc wouldn’t hear, keeping her body in the way so that he couldn’t see her sign either, “Arc is being an idot again.”

“You’re the idiot,” Arc scoffed, and Sammy turned around with a frown, “How did you-”

“Aha! So you did call me an idiot!” her brother replied with a smirk, before he leaned over and looked at Felix. As he squatted down he started to sign, speaking as he did so, “Dad put this thing here, and I’m kind of curious...”

Felix silently approached, his feet practically gliding over the ground. For a deaf man, he was extremely aware of how much noise he made. More so than everyone else in the house, actually, maybe exactly because he didn’t know how much noise he was actually creating. At the end of the day, he was still a guest in this family, so he felt as though he should act the part as well and make sure not to cause anyone any trouble.

He squatted down next to the cube as well, taking a closer look at it. It wasn’t particularly large. You could probably hold it in one hand without any particular discomfort. But the problem was the numerous inscriptions placed onto the mirror-like brass surface, glowing in a dim light that was practically pulsating, like one’s heartbeat. Felix curiously moved his hand forward, until he came close to touching his fingertips to the cool metal. And ‘cool’ was probably an understatement. It was so cold that it seemed like it was wrapped in a slight mist that the magical lights had to shine through first.

.....

However, before Felix could actually touch it, Sammy grabbed his arm and pulled it away. Felix quickly looked at the girl’s face. If she was this serious then she probably thought it was something dangerous; maybe it wasn’t actually something made by Eiro? Or at least, that was the first thought that crossed his mind. No, even if she was worried, seemingly she wasn’t worried enough to overcome her own curiosity that she was trying to clumsily hide.

“Let Arc do it,” she signed, and Felix was a bit taken aback. He replied in a whisper, “You want the guy who walked around with a broken toe for a full day because he couldn’t feel the pain... to touch the suspicious cube in the center of the hallway?”

“Yeah,” Sammy responded with a quic nod, and Arc quickly agreed, “Right? If anyone should do it, then me. Not like Dad would do anything dangerous anyway, so there shouldn’t be any pain to feel in the first place,” Arc grinned, and before either of the others could say any more, he had pressed his palm onto the surface of the cube.

Immediately, a stream of white poured out of the cube, a thick mist caused by the sudden cold that was created in the cube’s center. It wrapped itself around Arc’s hand and climbed up his arm, and before long, his whole body was enveloped and he disappeared in the white cloud. Both Sammy and Felix stepped back so as to avoid the magical frost.

It took a few moments for the mist to subside, but when it did, what appeared there in its stead was not what either Arc, nor Sammy or Felix had expected. It was a cage of ice, just large enough for Arc to sit in comfortably. And comfortably he did sit. As soon as he realized he was trapped, instead of growing nervous like other people, Arc just leaned back, “Huh,” he let out, unimpressed, “I thought it would be something more... interesting.”

Sammy looked at her brother with a wry smile, “Well, it’s a useful trap... I guess?” she let out, and Arc shrugged, “I guess so. Though if this thing doesn’t melt anytime soon, it looks like I’ll be missing class,” Arc pointed out, grinning as he said it. He leaned back against the glassy ice bars in a relaxed manner, “Enjoy learning valuable life lessons, suckers. I’ll be here, taking a nap.”

Just as he said so, thinking that he got out of attending class for the day, the cage started to shake. It tilted forward slightly, and wobbled as it balanced itself again, rising up slightly into the air. Arc was seated on a thick ice platform, so he was fully encased and had no way to escape. Even when the ice cage sprouted spider-like legs and started walking down the hallway.

“Wait, what?” Arc let out with a confused expression, “Where is this thing taking me?”

Sammy smirked, “Where do you think? I guess now we know why the cube was right in front of your room.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Arc asked nervously, and Sammy shrugged, “Who knows? Don’t you think Dad found out that you started skipping class?”

Arc’s eyes widened, “What? How would he have found out about that?”

“You’re asking how our father, who can literally smell what the King is eating for breakfast in his castle right now, figured out that you’re skipping class?”

“...I only skip when I know that it won’t even matter! I’m at the top of all my classes, so what does it matter if I skip the tenth practical class in a row?” Arc asked, growing more and more nervous, “You’ve got to help me, everyone’s going to see me like this!”

Sammy sighed, “We both know you don’t actually care about that.”

“Oh, you’re right,” as if he had only just realized it himself, Arc’s nervousness disappeared, stopping the act, “At least I don’t have to walk to class myself. I can still nap all I want to. And it’s not even uncomfortable to me,” he pointed out with a grin, as the ice cage was carried down the stairs. It was quickly brought toward the main entrance. Eiro was stood there, straightening his tie, before flicking his wrist. The large door of the main entrance opened up, and Arc waved at the Demon with a smile, “See you at school!”

“Get there well, Arc. Oh, and just so you know, but the cage will carry you around all day, and will only let you out during practical classes. If you try to run, it will catch you again,” Eiro explained without even looking at his son, who just leaned back more and smirked, “Neat. Bye, bye!”

And so, Arc was carried out the door as Sammy and Felix came trotting down the stairs, “Why is this family so... this?” Sammy asked with a wry smile, and Eiro looked at his daughter with a shrug, “If it works, it works. Also, thanks for stopping Felix. I didn’t bother to have it make sure it really got Arc... we nearly had Felix carried into all of Arc’s classes.”

“It would’ve been funny, at least,” Sammy pointed out, smirking as she looked at Felix who simply glanced back confused. He felt that they had spoken about him, but of course couldn’t confirm this for certain.

Eiro smiled, and watched as Sammy and Felix made their way out the door themselves to head to the carriage waiting outside to bring them to the academy. He looked at his daughter’s back happily, just as Partax entered the space, “Wait, did I miss it? Did the cage already come by?” he asked, before seeing Eiro’s smile, “Ah, judging from your expression, it did, and it worked, eh?” the halfling said excitedly, but Eiro just stayed quiet, letting Partax believe that this was his reason for smiling.

No, he was happy for a whole other reason. Until just recently, Sammy had practically refused to speak in fear of activating her skill against her will, but now, she was chatting naturally just like she used to. Hearing her voice fill their home again; that was why he was smiling.