Demon's Virtue
chapter-83

After everyone held their 'speech' about Jura, adding a shovel of dirt onto the casket each time, Eiro chose to finish up closing it on his own while the others went back inside.

There wasn't any specific reason why he wanted to do it alone, he just didn't want the children to have to do it, and Eiro slowly made his way inside after he was done, and just quietly slipped out of his shoes and took the old mask out of his storage, replacing it with the new one he had been wearing on his face, before he rubbed the bridge of his nose inbetween his eyes and stared at his satchel, slowly opening it up again.

There were other things inside of it beside Eiro's tools, after all, he just didn't take a look at them yet. It was a bit annoying to try and grab it from under the mannequin that the demon stuffed into the satchel, but he managed to get it out soon enough, and took a look at them one after another while the children gathered around him. These were things meant for them, after all.

First, there was the small, flat box that Eiro somehow noticed first, and he slowly opened it up and read the folded up note inside of it.

"To hide who she is." Eiro read out loud, and then looked at the two thin, translucent, rounded discs inside of the box. "What are these?" The Demon asked as he slowly turned toward Nelli, and the Spirit slowly pointed downward at Avalin, who was sitting on Sammy's lap trying to see what was in the box, "They're for her eyes. They will make them constantly gray, so that you can't notice they're changing." Nelli explained, and Eiro raised his brows in response as he slowly reached his hands out forward to grab the girl from Sammy's lap to sit her down on his own, and then attempted to press the tip of his finger against the outside of the first disc.

"Can you walk me through this?" Eiro asked as he turned toward Nelli, who nodded her head, before the Imp then slowly placed the discs onto Avalin's irises before they basically melted into them, as if there was nothing there while the color grayed out, just like Nelli said.

"And how do you take them out?" The Demon then asked, and Nelli just smiled, "Just put your finger on them to pull them out. Maybe save them for when Avalin can do it herself, though…" The Spirit suggested, so Eiro slowly nodded his head, as he slowly removed the lense from Avalin's eye again.

"What was that? Felt icky…" The young girl complained, before Eiro just lightly smiled at her and rubbed his hand through her hair. "It's something that makes it that we can go outside and meet other people together, you see?" He explained, before Avalin looked at him with a broad, big smile as she excitedly nodded her head. "Oooh! Yes please! Give me the icky!" She yelled out happily, and Eiro just shook his head.

"Not yet, I'll let you put them on again some other time, okay?"

"Awe…" Avalin replied quietly as he looked down onto the ground, while Eiro placed the box with the lenses to the side, while he looked at the other boxes and opened the next one, although that box simply held some pieces of paper.

"Weapons, Armor, and so on can be found here. He knows of you, so don't be afraid to reveal yourself. Until then, use these to make training weapons for them." The Imp read, and then took a closer look at the different sheets of paper, which had some impressively detailed sketches on them that definitely weren't made by Jura himself, while the children were even more curious about it now.

"A long, thin, one-edged, two-handed blade and a one-handed version, for Arc. Make them with Ovoya." The note said, this time it was Jura's handwriting again. The paper itself depicted a sword that Eiro had read about in a book before, a type of sword from the east. It was apparently based on speed, so Eiro figured that it was a pretty good fit for Arc, who could barely sit still. And so, Eiro handed the piece of paper to the boy in question so that he could take a look, before he looked at the next one. "A Longbow made of Avenos, with woven Forest-Spider Silk as the thread for Samantha. Tom has some of the Silk in the back." The Bow depicted on the paper itself wasn't really all that complex or complicated. It was just a training bow, after all, so it made sense.

With a smile, Eiro handed that piece of paper over toward Sammy, before he looked at the next piece of paper, that had a sketch of a large staff on it, the top of which was a sphere filled completely with water. "A Water-Magic based, body-high Spellcasting Staff for Clementine. Made with Acquen. Some ready to use at the bottom of the pond." The Imp read, and slowly handed the note to the girl in question, before Eiro looked at the next note, slightly glancing at Rudy, who seemed to be a bit jealous over the others getting weapons made by Eiro himself.

"A Large Damage-Focusing Shield. High In durability and reach, convertible into a small box. For Rudy. Made with Kavin." The Demon read loudly with a light smile on his face as he looked down onto the piece of paper, which showed a large square shield with a spider-web like pattern in the front of it. It sligthly seemed like the web was bending to give into the vortex-like hole in the center of the shield though. It seemed to cover a pretty large area, so it was probably the perfect item for the physically slow Rudy.

"Wait, there's something for me..?" Rudy asked surprised, and Eiro nodded his head with a smile on his face. "Seems so. You said it yourself, right? You wanted to be our shield… Jura apparently already knew that." Eiro smiled as he handed the piece of paper over to him, and then looked at the few other notes inside of the box. They weren't plans for different weapons anymore, but rather instructions directed to Eiro himself. Things that Jura had left unfinished, that he seemed to hope for Eiro to finish, and he slowly just placed them to the side, keeping the contents in his mind.

"If you wish to leave, wait another year and let each of the Ladies know one by one. A replacement for you will be found." Eiro read quietly to himself, unaudible for the others, before the Imp continued to look through the information, and that was some that Eiro was rather… surprised about. There was no need to worry about this just yet, so he would look through the paper later when he had the time, but first, he should keep looking at the other boxes. The largest of them was simply a collection of different ready-made prosthetic pieces that Eiro always had prepared, like replacement fingers, toes, joints, and so on. As Eiro wasn't able to fully replace the parts of Jura's special prosthetics himself, this was greatly appreciated.

Just in case Eiro ever came across someone that Jura had worked with before, he could care for them now.

And then, there was the last box, containing something that Eiro was rather confused with. They were simply a collection of bottles, each with not more than a gulp in them, although some did hold a bit more than the ohters. The smaller ones read 'L', and the bigger ones 'S'. And stuck inbetween the bottles was another note.

"For when their restraints break." The Imp said loudly, looking over toward Nelli with a frown, "What does this mean? What restraints? And whose?" Eiro asked, and the Naiad just slowly but surely turned toward Sammy, who was currently sitting there with Leon on her lap. "Theirs." She said clearly, and now everyone stopped looking at the pieces of paper in their hands and looked at Sammy and Leon confusedly.

"Wait, do you mean the Seals? The Skill Seals?" Arc asked surprised, and Nelli slowly nodded her head. "I do. Their bodies are constantly growing, and at some points the seals simply won't be able to handle the difference between the current and the original vessel they were placed on. It's not going to happen anytime soon, but within the next two years it should start…" Nelli admitted, and Eiro looked at the bottles again.

"And then what are these for?" Eiro asked, and Nelli slowly explained. "To prolong the process of them breaking." She explained, and Eiro looked at her confused. "Wait, isn't it a good thing if they break?" The Demon asked, but Nelli immediately shook her head. "If they break instead of being removed by someone who knows the craft, the thing that was sealed will… break with them." Nelli explained, before Eiro pushed the chair away and kept looking through the box, and then quickly found the note that he expected would be there, a map showing where exactly the person that could remove the seals could be found.

"Then let's go right now. We shouldn't risk anything…" Eiro said quietly, immediately thinking about what to do, but Nelli quickly stopped him. "Even by carriage, it's a two month trip… You won't be able to come back to see the next Lady if you go now. And there is a reason why Jura didn't bring them there yet, Eiro."

While grinding his teeth, Eiro looked at the Spirit annoyedly. "And what is that reason?" He asked, and Nelli slowly looked at the two children. "Their abilities are immensely powerful. A Single word from Samantha, and a mentally weak man will take their life. And Leon? He will cause chaos wherever he goes if he can't manage to somehow control his abilities."

"These abilities can be controlled?" Rudy asked suddenly, and Nelli looked back at him with a slight, albeit bitter, smile. "Sorry Rudy, yours are definite. 'Damage' is a clearly defined thing, so you will most likely not be able to do, or receive damage just by trying to influence your abilities… But surely, Samantha can learn to choose her words, or maybe change whether she wants something to take effect or not. And things such as 'Love' and 'Fear' are mere concepts. Both take numerous forms and shapes, and often are one and the same thing. And a concept can be taken advantage of." The Spirit explained clearly, so Eiro sighed deeply as he sat back down, laying his face into his palms. "Then that means we should wait until the next Autumn Equinox, so that I could meet each lady one more time, and then a replacement will come for us… In that time we need to somehow make it that Sammy is either more thoughtful of her words or can directly split up what she means and what she says… And Leon has to learn to turn Fear into Love… Or have them both cancel each other out instead of working at the same time?" Eiro asked with a deep sigh, basically just trying to figure out what the best approach would be.

"But he's just… six…" Sammy said quietly as she looked down at Leon, who was peacefully sleeping on her lap, and Eiro nodded his head in response. "He is… But I would like to see him again two years from now… So we have to do it, right?" Eiro asked quietly and pushed himself up with the help of the table before looking around himself.

"Although I think for now…" The Demon said quietly as he looked around the table, "We should eat." He suggested. It has been a tough and long day for everyone already, despite it barely being the afternoon. Eiro just wanted them to be able to calm down a bit. He would take care of everything else.