Demon's Virtue

784  Introspection

Eiro walked back up the stairs from the basement, noticing Shimour standing nearby, waiting.

"Is everything okay? Did you need me for something? Our training was scheduled for 2pm, correct?" the demon asked, looking down at the watch on his wrist to make sure that he didn't accidentally get lost in the conversation.

"Yes, our training is later. I just wanted to ask... how did the talk with Armodeus go?" he asked, but Eiro just shrugged in response.

"It went alright, I would say. He told me about Beowulf, and he said he would go back to that town they lived in together," Eiro explained, walking past the master, who stood there clearly surprised.

"Hold on, you managed to convince him?"

"It wasn't really 'convincing', or at least that wasn't my goal. Armodeus is a friend, one of my closest, and I want him to be alright. So I listened to his feelings, and I heard his words, and I asked him what he wanted to do. And in the end, he decided that he would, for a little while, go back, help out with whatever needs help, and then come back," the Demon explained, "Though, he hadn't mentioned what exactly he was supposed to go back for. You asked him to go, so I'm guessing you know."

Shimour was quiet for a few moments, silently staring at Eiro while trying to figure out what he was supposed to say. He had been trying to convince Armodeus for a few days now, and Eiro just did it in a couple of hours? But when Eiro looked at him, waiting for his response, Shimour cleared his throat and nodded, "Right, yeah. Basically, while Armodeus and Beowulf lived there, they ended up taking up sort of... mayoral positions. It wasn't anything official, but they were basically in charge of it all. They were powerful, you know? Armodeus' support boosted the livelihood of almost everyone living there, while Beowulf protected the town from any outside attacks. But these days, now that they're both gone, the town is suffering more than ever," Shimour explained, letting out a long sigh, "And don't get me wrong, it's not like Armodeus is totally at fault here, but the two of them came in and made themselves a massively important part of the town for literal decades without even being asked for help, and then both disappeared at the same time. That sort of thing can mess up a lot."

Eiro slowly nodded his head, "Right, I understand. That's the reason why I'm trying to make sure the monsters' town is self-sufficient and can exist without my help. But didn't you and the other masters live in this town for a while? That was why the two of them moved there in the first place, correct?"

"Well, we were there for a while. There was some interesting stuff a bit off the coast that we wanted to check out. Some kind of sunken city or whatever, so some of us stayed there for a little while."

"... Sunken city?"

"Yeah, but it wasn't anything special. Had a few treasures, some artifacts, but nothing unique. There were some pretty tough monsters though, so it was a good place to train for a bit," Shimour explained, and this time, Eiro was the one that was left standing there, confused. From Armodeus' story, it sounded like they were all already masters at the time, so how the hell was there a 'tough monster' down there? Did they fight some royals?

"Huh..." the demon let out. Though he was curious, that was something he could ask about later if he felt like it. For now, it was more important to finish this conversation, "But I guess either way, you just stayed out of the town's business?"

Shimour quickly explained, "Basically. I was actually the first to hear about it, and then let the others know. I bought a house there, we lived in it for a while, bought a ship, and headed out a few times a week. It was almost like a vacation, really," Shimour really sounded like he didn't have much of an attachment to the town up until this point, though his expression slightly changed as he continued, "And then, Armodeus and Beowulf joined. It had been a few years since any of us had seen Armodeus at that point, and we were a little sad that he hadn't managed to become a Master yet, so we all tried to help him out a bit. That's why we spent a bit more time with those two, and at the house in general, and then... you know, we settled down a bit. But when we had fully explored the sunken city, we had little reason to stay there. It was nice, but not nice enough to jeopardize our own lives and goals. So we left, and the two of them stayed behind. And that's when they got more involved in the town." n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

"I see... But if that's the case, are you all helping out? With your assistance, Armodeus should have a much easier time getting the town to a place where they can strive on their own," Eiro pointed out, and Shimour scoffed.

"Because we didn't meddle in their business."

"Of course you did," the demon said bluntly. Shimour looked at him and raised his brow.

"Excuse me? How did we meddle?"

Eiro sighed, "Alright, who exactly was it that was there with you all?"

Shimour thought about it for a moment, "Basically all of us that are here right now, and Jura came by every once in a while and would stay for a couple weeks or months before heading out again."

"Okay, so, come follow me for a second," the demon turned around the corner, leading a confused Shimour toward a room in the corner of the building. Eiro pushed open the door, and the two could see that the whole room had been turned into an extensive laboratory. In its center, Partax stood over some kind of magic item that was giving off a bright glow, sparking with every touch of a tool that the halfling put to it.

"He has been making magic items and playing around with them every single day without a break since he came. Sometimes they blow up, other times they nearly injure the people of the capital and I have to catch his inventions before they run wild. Oh, and did I mention that he broke into the academy the day he arrived, basically threatening traumatised kids?" Eiro asked, quickly pulling the door shut again, while Shimour was left a bit stunned.

After closing the door, Eiro led Shimour to the garden, where the corpse of a massive boar was currently being taken apart by Orion with a knife, while Kassandra was sitting on the ground, leaning against the carcass while enjoying thin strips of freshly butchered meat.

"That right there is the corpse of a rare species of monster that has roamed the mountains for centuries. There are about three or four at a time. They used to be worshipped as nature gods around these parts. I have told those two about a dozen times not to go and hunt it, but just earlier, they slammed it down onto the ground. And want to know why they did it? Because they heard it packed a punch," the demon explained, looking up at Shimour, "I'm sorry, but every single Master that I've met severely lacks any sense of self awareness, with the exception of Armodeus. You are great at talking smack to each other, but you never realize the actual faults in some of your own actions. You say that you were there for a few years, not doing anything, but I can imagine that your sheer presence had a massive effect on that town, which might be why Armodeus had to step in in the first place."

Shimour shook his head, scoffing at the idea, "What would we have done? Really, we were just living in a house alone, doing nothing most of the time."

"Doing nothing? All of you? Okay, let me give you a rundown of what I think happened. You arrived, and when it was just you, people probably didn't even know you were there, right? When Partax arrived, he just brought chaos with him as usual. Maybe tried to restructure some systems in town, got bored halfway through, and abandoned them half-working. Then, the combatants Orio and Kassandra arrived. Because they were bored whenever you guys weren't out at sea, they probably went out trying to look for people to fight. Maybe they injured some skilled fighters, weakening the local militia, or they destroyed some bandit camps, causing a power vacuum in the surrounding factions. Or, worse even, they killed nearby strong monsters to extinction, leaving their territory open while creating chaos as other powerful monsters try to move into the open, abundant hunting spot," Eiro guessed, and though Shimour frowned, trying to refute what he just said, when he thought about it for a few moments, he realized that he couldn't.

"I... Well..."

"And then there's the reason you were all there in the first place. Shimour, how did you find out about the sunken city?"

The master thought about it for a moment, "I... met a researcher in some city that was going there because he heard about it, so I thought it'd be fun."

"Alright, so basically, you monopolized a potentially thriving industry in that town. Whether it was people that were building up research groups trying to explore the town. Plus, some types of powerful underwater monsters often bring fortune with them for fishermen. Their mana attracts wildlife, maybe mutates some smaller fish into monsters and makes them grow, while having them be weak enough to catch and make a much better living off of. With the monster gone, the mutations stopped, creating an imbalance in the existing wildlife. New fish would be so small that the monsters wouldn't be able to sustain themselves, causing a decline in the overall fish population due to the monsters' overeating. Then, the monsters died, and the fishermen had nothing left to catch."

Shimour stood there for a few moments, thinking about what to say. Frankly, he had never thought about that perpective before, but of course he hadn't. Eiro knew that. All these Masters were so high up their own asses that they couldn't realize their own faults at times, since they only focused on a single thing. Even Jura was like that a lot of the time. But Armodeus was stuck in his progress, making him more introspective as he tried to figure out what was wrong while comparing himself to his friends, probably to an excessive degree, so now that he did become a Master, that was a trait that he hadn't lost.

Shimour let out a long sigh, "... We have to join him, don't we?"

"That might not be a bad idea."