Demon's Virtue

645 Partax Evergreen – Part Eiro looked at Lognir and shrugged, “I didn’t tell you to come here. I understand why, but complain to Solomon instead of me.”

“I have complained to Solomon, trust my word,” Lognir sighed, before turning to Partax, “This man... can he be trusted? That Shimour nearly slaid you, and this one invaded the Academy. Neither seem as though they should stay.”

“Is that a command from Solomon, or just your own opinion?” Eiro questioned, and Lognir replied quickly, “It is my opinion. But please answer. If you can promise that these people will not cause problems, then they shall stay. Otherwise, I will suggest to Solomon to forbid them from coming here.”

Hearing what Lognir was saying, Armodeus quickly stepped forward, “That won’t be necessary. As for the ones that will still come, they are indeed a bit unique in their personalities, but they won’t cause you any problems...”

Both Lognir and Eiro could tell that Armodeus was stretching the trust that he had in those words, but it was more than clear he at least wanted them to be the truth, “I see. But nonetheless...” Lognir turned to Partax, who was simply enthralled by the figure that he was seeing in front of him. It was a reaction that Lognir had seen more than just a couple of times when interacting with different people, so he didn’t pay it any mind, “If you do step into the Academy, or even near its gates, one more time, then you shall suffer the consequences by my own hands. That is, if Eiro doesn’t get to you first.”

The Dragon turned around and his body quickly transformed back into his draconic form, not even waiting for Partax’s response. And then, Eiro saw a dragon shiver for the first time.

A large number of small metallic bugs were starting to cover Lognir’s body, duplicating themselves by the second, as they crawled over and under his scales, “What is the meaning of this?!” Lognir exclaimed, feeling the skittering bugs all over, as they grew more and more in number.

Meanwhile, Partax was simply rubbing his hand, “A dragon! A true, live dragon! Nobody told me about this, this is incredible! The hardness of the scales despite their natural flexibility, the toughness of the muscle, and just the mere amount of magic overflowing from its body! Magnificent, truly!”

Lognir turned his large body around, grinding his jaw and fletching his teeth. From inbetween them, a dim light could be seen, but Eiro quickly stepped in front of him, “Do not use your Dragon Breath while facing my home!”

.....

“Then make this stop already!” Lognir tried to shake his body, managing to fling a few of the bugs off of him, but most simply managed to stick to his scales like glue. Eiro quickly looked at Partax, who was simply taken by what was going on in front of him. The Halfling didn’t even seem to care that he was bothering a literal dragon, and was just a few moments away from being incinerated by this legendary creature.

“Partax, just-”

“I know, I know, I’m done already, anyway!” Partax interrupted Eiro, and within just a moment, all the metal bugs seemed to fuse back together into one, before the singular, tiny bug crawled back over to Partax and disappeared in one of the tubes hanging off of the Halfling’s belt. The elderly man raised his hand into the air excitedly, and the spider-like legs that still carried him around everywhere quickly brought him toward the Manor, “Brother! I will borrow your workshop!”

“Wait, what? No you’re not, I’m in the middle of working on something!”

“Hah, so what?! I’m right in front of the breakthrough to a monumental invention! Your knife or sword or shield can wait!” Partax exclaimed, quickly disappearing in the manor and making his way through the building as if he already knew the layout by heart. Of course, that was only the case because of the constant pulses of mana that he was shooting through the walls, giving him a complete understanding of the layout. Trying to reel in Partax’s chaos, Armodeus ran after him without another word, his face simply having turned pale. And Eiro and Lognir were left standing outside silently.

“I am infinitely sorry,” Eiro finally broke the silence, and Lognir shook his head, “Do not speak of this anymore, I just feel... dirty. Don’t let that thing come near me again, you understand?”

“I’ll try my best. But just to warn you, if Partax got here, the others will probably be coming soon as well,” the Demon explained, and Lognir let out a deep, annoyed sigh, “Fine, but please keep them in line... Masters aer just always so hard to deal with... Armodeus is the only sane one I know of... At least they’re just people...”

Eiro raised a brow, listening to the tone in Lognir’s voice, “That sounds like you know of a Master that isn’t a person.”

Lognir looked at Eiro hesitantly, unsure if he should really say, before making up his mind, “That... well, there are a few beings in this world that transcend common sense in multiple ways... I know of a Fire Dragon who fully Mastered his magic. There’s a Goblin whose Swordsmanship has reached its peak... And for reference, as far as my knowledge goes, the Primordial Demon, the king of your kind, has mastered multiple skills, though I do not know which.”

“Multiple... Interesting... I’ve been curious about that guy for a while anyway, so I might try to pay him a visit when I find the way to hell,” Eiro said with a smirk, but Lognir was simply taken aback, “Do not! That is like suicide, you simply cannot!”

Eiro chuckled, “Fine, fine, I’ll reconsider it, I guess. But how about that Fire Dragon? Any idea where I can find him?”

Lognir hesitated, “He shouldn’t be on this continent, as far as I’m aware...”

With a click of his tongue, Eiro crossed his arms, “Figures,” he sighed, before looking up at Lognir with a raised brow, “But speaking of, what about other dragons? Are there any that you feel... the world could live without?”

Slowly, Lognir’s hesitation turned into curiosity, “Are you suggesting what I think you are, young Eiro?”

“Probably. After I finish receiving my training from the Masters, I think I’ll try to prepare for the war with the Devil by killing a Dragon.”

—

Eiro sat on a chair in the corner of Armodeus’ workshop in the basement. Partax had practically moved everything that could be moved to make the space like he wanted to have it, which bothered Armodeus not only slightly. He calmed down again after Eiro assured him that he would move everything back exactly how it was after Partax was done, but he was still annoyed that the Halfling simply took over the space.

“Partax,” Eiro said, getting bored at just waiting for him to finish. Currently, Partax was shaping metal, albeit in a completely different way to how Armodeus would. He was heating the metal to where it nearly melted, and then stenciled it into the shapes he needed using one of his gadgets. He used the exact same one, but all the pieces were shaped differently somehow. The gadget itself was just a hollow box, so Eiro was more than just curious at how it actually worked, but he wasn’t able to see through it just from overr here. The Halfling was speedily creating these parts, and Eiro quickly realized that he was trying to build a miniature model of a dragon.

Figuring that this could wait, he spoke up, “Shouldn’t we talk about you teaching me some things? That’s why you’re here, right?”

“Yes, yes, later! First, I need to finish this!” Partax replied, his hands busily moving together with the many metal limbs moving about around him.

“Right... Well, I guess Shimour exaggerated when he said you wanted to hear about the Tower of Books,” Eiro replied, immediately noticing Partax freezing up. He didn’t move in the slightest, and then slowly turned toward the Demon, “What... did you just say?”

Surprised, Eiro raised a brow, “Shimour didn’t tell you?”

“What do you mean? Tell me about what?!” Partax moved closer to Eiro, having completely abandoned his project for now. The Demon smirked, leaning onto one of his arms, “The Tower is real. And I’m inside of it right now.”