Demon's Virtue

Eiro led these people into the manor. If anyone else disrespected him and his children like that, they would be dead right now, but this situation was incredibly… weird and complicated. Not only were these people nobles of another country, meaning that others probably knew about where they currently were, but they were, at the end of the day, the birth-parents of two of his children.

He knew that they loved him, and that they hated their parents for what they did to them… but that didn't mean that they would be alright with Eiro just straight-up killing them. Eiro would never do something that could potentially hurt them. The Demon watched these two pairs of horrible parents sit down on the couches in front of Eiro, while Arc sat down behind the Demon.

"Sammy will be here any moment now." Eiro explained, but Loid immediately glared at him, "Samantha. Her name is Samantha." He practically growled, but Eiro couldn't help himself but roll his eyes.

"Oh, shut the fuck up, I'll call my daughter whatever I want. Listen, all of us know that you four are not here for anything but self-gain. You two bastards saw Arc in the newspapers, figured that he finally had some worth to you beside the money you got for selling him to the Holy Empire, and asked Loid for help to figure out if it really was your son. At the same time, Loid found out about Sammy, and learned more about her and her reputation within the Academy as well. Now that she can control her powers, you 'diplomats' would of course want her back as well. But I will tell you one thing, if any of you think I will let you touch even a hair on any of my children, you will not walk out of this place alive." Eiro said in a very clear, and very clearly angry, tone of voice, as he watched the expressions of the people in front of him change. It was clear that he was spot-on, and that this was probably exactly what happened and what ended up leading them here.

Around that time, before Loid was able to refute what Eiro said, Sammy actually stepped into the room, with Felix standing right behind her. Further down the hallway, Rudy and Clementine were standing with Leon and Avalin.

Sammy stood there, absolutely stunned by what she was seeing in front of her right now. Eiro slowly walked over toward her, and placed his hand onto her shoulder, "Are you alright? You don't have to do this."

"I... I don't know... I..." Sammy muttered, tears gathering in her eyes as she looked over at Eiro, "But- You... you'll be here still, r-right?" She asked nervously, and the Demon slowly nodded his head.

"I always will be. Come. Felix can join as well, if you want him to. I know you two are..."

"Dad, please... n-not now... but yeah... I want him to come..." Sammy confirmed, so Eiro slowly called Felix in with some hand-motions, telling him that he's going to try and translate everything for Felix as much as he could so that he would understand what's going on.

"Are you casting a spell?! I knew it, you are manipulating them!" Aaron yelled out, but before his voice even really quieted down after he spoke, a figure suddenly appeared right behind him, practically dropping right out of the ceiling. It was one of Eiro's monster servants, more specifically, a butler. He was a kobold very adapt at moving around any space, whether it was by swimming, climbing, or running, so he very quickly became Eiro's head-butler, since he could very quickly move throughout the house's hidden passages. Of course, currently, he was disguised as a person like all the other monsters in the house.

"Please do not raise your voice, there are children in this manor." He explained. Luckily, Kitsue had already taught some of her more skilled kobolds how to speak common to an extent, so Eiro had a great basis when he continued teaching them.

"How did-" Aaron yelped, as the guards that had of course accompanied them once more placed their hands on their weapons, ready to react if necessary.

"Don't worry, that's just one of my men. Please, could you get us some tea? Something... relaxing, if possible." Eiro suggested, and the kobold butler quickly nodded his head, "As you wish, my lord."

He pushed his foot into the ground and jumped back through one of the hidden passages, which quickly closed up behind him again. And then, Eiro turned to Aaron, "Just to make it clear, I was not casting a spell, I was merely speaking to this young man, Felix. He's deaf, so I was communicating with sign language.

"What? Deaf? He doesn't look the part!" Aaron exclaimed, as if in disbelief, while Eiro just rolled his eyes. Even Loid seemed to start being rather annoyed by him at this point.

"Please, we were told so once already. Lower your voice, Aaron." Loid told him off, and the nobleman slowly did as told. Loid seemed to be of a higher title than Aaron, so there was a rather clear-cut power-dynamic between the two of them, even though they were supposedly friends. Was this what a friendship between nobles was supposed to be like? If so, then his friendship with Solomon must seem like the weirdest thing ever to others.

Either way, soon, everyone took a seat, and the Kobold returned with everything that was needed for tea. There was of course a selection of teas that they could pick from, like normal. However, Loid looked at the multiple kettles and lightly smirked, "I think your servant made a slight mistake. That is cold water."

"No, that's just how tea is served here in this house, at least when I'm around." He explained, and with a wave of his hand, he started to heat up the water in the kettles, and they soon started to whistle as steam escaped them.

Once everyone had been served their tea, the conversations could begin. It was hard to hold back, but Eiro was trying to make this whole situation seem as normal as possible to Sammy and Arc. Even though it was clearly impossible for it to be totally normal, he didn't want to sway any of their thoughts or emotions because of who and what he was or because of what he did.

"W-Why are you... Why are you here..?" Sammy finally asked, and Loid quickly replied for the whole group, "We are here to take you back, my daughter."

"I'm... I'm not going with you two... you are- aren't my.. you two aren't my parents. You n-never were..." Sammy pointed out, in disbelief over what this man had just told her. She had gone through all of that, she had found a new parent that actually dearly loved her and that she loved, just to be told that the ones who abandoned her wanted to 'take her back'?

Loid stared at Sammy as a tear slowly appeared in his eye, and a shiver traveled all over Eiro's body at the very same time, "Please, my child... I know you must be scared to say you wish to come with us in front of him... This man must have mistreated you throughout the years he has kept you locked up in here... I mean, look at you! Your clothes are absolutely filthy!"

Loid was speaking, and meanwhile, was using a special skill that seemed to be very similar in principle to Felix's bloodline skill. Loid was using some kind of skill that was supposed to sway the opinions of others. Slowly, it was starting to make sense... Both of Sammy's parents had something special about them, something that in particular related to their voice.

Loid could use his voice to manipulate others, while Sammy's mother clearly had some sort of misgrowth in her vocal cords. It was like they were completely fused together, something that made it impossible for her to ever speak. Eiro kind of wished for this trait to be transferred over to Aaron. But somehow, Sammy's mother seemed the most calm out of everyone. She was the one that reacted the least out of everyone when Eiro spoke about why they were actually here earlier as well. It was as if she cared the least out of the whole group of four.

Either way, before Eiro had been able to say anything about what they said, Sammy did so instead, "Don't... don't lie to me." She said, as Loid immediately looked back at her shocked, "Samantha, you-"

"Calm down, she didn't use her skill, you nimwit." The Demon explained, "Not even able to realize that..." He mumbled, as Sammy continued.

"If that was the truth... then why did you try to 'manipulate' me just now?" She asked, slowly calming down as she stopped to stutter, "My clothes are dirty... because I was outside planting flowers with my siblings. I have never been locked up here, my father, and with that I mean Eiro, always gave us anything in the world... The whole world itself, even. Meanwhile, all you did was take from me... you took my childhood from me, something that my father worked hard at to recover for me... Meanwhile, you clearly fear me... Did you know, that Eiro can resist when I tell him to do something?" Sammy asked, "Through sheer determination, he chose to not let me manipulate him. He didn't let me... But all you did was have my skill sealed before throwing me away...."