Demon's Virtue
chapter-235

"He's called 'Collector'? Really?" Eiro asked with a wry smile on his face underneath his mask, and the man in front of him slowly nodded his head with a bit of surprise, "Yes, have you heard of him before?"

"No, it's not that..." With a shake of his head, the Demon crossed his arms, "One of the classes I had before was called 'Collector', so it's weird to hear someone with a nickname like that."

"Ah..." The man replied, "Well, that's an unlucky coincidence, isn't it?"

Eiro nodded, "You can say that again. Anyway, in the end, it doesn't matter. He's going to be the 'former collector' soon anyway."

"I see, so you are dedicated to catching him as well!" With a bright smile on his face, the man looked at Eiro with an excited expression, but the Demon just shrugged, "Rather than 'catch', I just want to kill him."

With a slow nod, the man looked back, just slightly smiling, "I see... Would you coincidentally be interested in working together on this?" The man inquired. He was looking at Eiro with a serious, dedicated expression, and Eiro figured that there was no reason not to let him help. After all, his help might come in useful.

"Sure, having another card holder around could help a bit." Eiro said bluntly, and the man stared back at him and smirked slightly, "And I thought I was imagining it since you barely reacted. Indeed, I am a fellow card holder. I am glad that you're not thinking of hiding it."

"Not like it would work out anyway, right? Come, I think we might be able to speak a bit better about this outside." The Demon suggested, and the man in front of him just nodded his head and chose to follow Eiro outside of this building.

They made their way over toward an area where nobody was around, and Eiro proceeded to lean against the wall before staring at the man again, "Let's start with the basics for this. First, as you should know through the strength of the 'Vibe' you should get from me, I have more than one card. I will only reveal the one that I will make direct use of around you, the Three of Swords. I have five blades completely under control, and am bordering on getting the sixth. Second, my name is Eiro. It's my real name, don't question it. Third, I will not reveal any other sort of information about myself, including my reasons for hunting the 'Collector'. You don't need to tell me your card, your real name, or anything about you either, as long as you give me something to refer to you together with proper information about the killer."

It seemed like the man was alright with all of this, although really, in the end Eiro was already trying to figure out what exactly his card was. He didn't have the actual physical card on him, so it had to be in its item-form. Except if it was a card of the Pentacle-suit, of course. Then, it would just be an ability. Although there didn't seem to be anything too special about him as far as Eiro could tell, so maybe it wasn't an ability.

Well, that's what Eiro thought, until he was told otherwise, "I think I should at least tell you my card in exchange for you telling me your card. It will maybe help you trust my words a bit better as well. My card is the Knight of Pentacle. The-"

"Invastigator..." Eiro finished with a deep frown, "You know, it comes over a bit hard to believe that you have such a card, considering that you accepted help from a complete stranger and didn't question him in the slightest."

"Are you sure about that, Mister Demon?" The man replied, "I know quite a lot about you. You've been rushing around this area of town the whole day, speaking to different people not only about the killer, but also about themselves if they seemed like they required help. You seem quite kind, despite the fact that one of your spirits seems to be glaring at you constantly. I've seen you move your hands, and while your right hand seems at least a bit injured, you are incredibly skilled, and not only in the field of combat. Sure, you move around while barely making a sound, and most people don't become aware of you until you actively speak to them or stand in their way, but from the way you carry yourself, you probably prefer a more straight-forward style of combat if you can fight in that way." He summed up.

"I could also mention the fact that everything you carry with yourself, be it your apparel or your bag and the things attached to it, are of incredible quality and each hold special aspects. And I could also mention that you seem to be hiding parts of your body magically. There are a lot of things I already know about you."

Immediately, Eiro stretched his hand out toward the man and pulled his dagger out of his treasury as he was at it, holding the tip against the man's throat.

"How long have you been following me?" Eiro asked, "And most importantly, how did you hide yourself from me?"

With a bit of a laugh, the man just shook his head, "It is fact that the first time either of us became aware of the other's existence was a couple of minutes ago. But that is the power of my card. It allows me to make connections in my head instantly, recall knowledge for a moment to connect it to what I am trying to figure out, and much more. Face cards are quite amazing, are they not?"

Eiro stared back at the man while grinding his teeth together, and then slowly pulled his dagger away. This was really what the Knight of Pentacles was supposed to do, but he didn't expect to meet two people with face cards in such a short amount of time. Both Evelyn, using the Queen of Wands, and this man, using the Knight of Pentacles. While there wasn't a direct difference between the cards from Ace to ten, the face cards often were more versatile, albeit harder to control. They wouldn't make a card holder inherently stronger than any other random card holder, but the face cards did often have a bit of a unique twist to them sometimes.

But that wasn't really Eiro's main focus right now. Rather... the fact that he found out about all this was troublesome. He knew there were some that trusted even monsters, but-

"I can see that you're troubled. Don't worry, I don't base my judgement on things like your race, age, gender, or things like that which you simply do not have any influence over. I make my own judgements." With a bit of a wink, the man extended his hand forward, "Otherwise, I wouldn't have revealed that I know your true identity and have simply waited for a chance to run or ambush you, wouldn't I?"

"How did you even figure it out? Do you have 'Appraisal' abilities because of that card?" Eiro asked, but the man quickly shook his head, "I actually do not, although many think so. What the Suit of Pentacles in general does is simply enhance the abilities you already have. From ace to ten, they enhance the basic stats, the only one that can't be enhanced being willpower, whereas the face cards affect concepts. And in my case, it's the concept of investigation. I didn't have any appraisal abilities in the first place, so there was nothing to enhance there. Ah, but I did not have this card for long, so I may get an appraisal ability if I manage to get my unique class after I reach level 100 the next time." The man explained in a stream of words.

With a smile on his face, he continued, "Either way, I realized it in a quite simple way. The outlines of whatever you're trying to hide. I assume they're wings and a tail? Of course, immediately that meant that you couldn't be a person. There is a race of bird-like people with wings and something similar to tail, but the former is directly connected to their arms, while the latter is short and stubby. Your tail seemed to be wrapped around your waist, and your wings were not connected to your arms. So, you had to be a monster. Together with the fact that you seem to also be hinding some horns up there, you completely covered your skin so as to not reveal anything, you seem perfectly humanoid, besides those extra parts, and even chose to hide your eyes somehow. Your ears do also seem to be slightly pointy judging from the outline I can see there... As such, the conclusion was simple. A type of monster with a different skin-tone to any type of person, with potential for wings, horns, and tails, with eyes and ears that are different to that of people as well, and to top it off the potential of incredible intelligence and dexterity as you have already shown me. The first thing that popped into my mind was 'Demon'. So, I tried my luck."

Eiro looked back at the man before grumbling and sighing, feeling a bit overwhelmed by this type. He seemed to be the kind of person that continuously rambled on and on and on. Sure, Eiro had the tendency to do that as well, but the way that this guy was speaking was still at a whole other level.

"Fine, I'll believe that for now, because everything you've said is completely correct. I don't know if I can trust you that much, but for now, I definitely need your help and would prefer not to kill you to just get your card, since you have other information that I don't. I have a lot of other questions, but for now, just tell me what to call you, and let's get started on this damn investigation. Also, tell me why you couldn't figure this out on your own despite being able to deduce that I'm a demon from a two-minute interaction."

"Haha, wonderful! It is quite intriguing to be working with a being from another realm like you! You should be able to give me a whole other sort of input!" The man exclaimed, "But nevermind that, as you wish, you can simply call me Bahlsen."

"I'm not from hell, I spent my whole life in this realm. But nice to meet you, I guess, Bahlsen. For now, do you have any ideas where we should start looking?"

"Oh, of course, I do! Right here, actually!"