Demon's Virtue

Chapter 75 - Venison Bandits

"Now then, if you'll excuse me, I have things to take care of. Come, Lugo." The Imp said in a clear voice, making his way along the plaza toward the first shop he needed to buy things from. The General Store, where he usually bought all the spices they needed as well as things like flour and vegetables or fruit that were hard to plant yourself. After that he would need to get to the Tailor and then the Cobbler to pick up the orders Eiro placed with them last time he was here.

And there was also that one-

"Where do you think you're going?!" The Woman of the three, Jess, yelled out after Eiro as she worked on melting the ice around her companion's face, although the third of them, the masked and disfigured one, didn't really react all that much. "Guards, finally!" She then yelled out, and Eiro turned his head to see two armed men standing by the street, the small insignia on their chest showing that they were part of the Village Militia.

Although, one of them was a Farmer that produced a lot of the wheat the young Demon bought, and the other was the son of the local Blacksmith. At peak-times he would be helping his father out to make horseshoes or tools for the people of the village, but as his help wasn't really needed, he used his free-time to get make sure the town was safe.

"Please, arrest that man! He attacked our companion!" Jess yelled out as she pointed her staff toward Eiro, and the two men looked over toward him.

"Erm, what exactly happened here?" The older of the two, the Farmer, asked as he stepped up to the Demon, who just sighed and explained the situation. Once he was done, the two men looked over at the three travlers and shook their heads.

"Hmm, then thank you, Eiro. But could you at least melt the ice? If he dies or ends up crippled, we'll really have to arrest you." The Farmer said with a sigh, and Eiro turned around annoyedly, slowly lifting his wooden hand up before letting his mana flow inside of it. The wood this hand was made of was a special one that was used to make staffs and wands, after all, so it was quite useful for such things.

And soon, the ice started to give off steam and soon simply broke into pieces on Krog's face.

"Now, can I finally get going?" Eiro asked, so the Farmer slowly nodded his head. "Sure you can, just don't cause any more trouble, got it?" He replied and then turned over toward the three travelers, "And as for you-"

"You're just going to let him go?!" Jess aksed confused, practically baffled, and the Blacksmith's Son just stared at them angrily. "Yes we are. And you should be greatful to him. After all, what you just did goes against the law in this town. Maybe he shouldn't have done that to your friend, but we know him well enough to know he wouldn't permanently hurt anyone.

True, the Imp thought, if they're dead they can't be hurt, right? Well, over the past few years, he had built up a reputation as being trustworthy here in this town, after all. After a total of six years, it would be weird if he wasn't known around here.

Either way, for now, Eiro just left the plaza behind to finally get on with what he had to do. Luckily, the places he had to go to were right next to each other, so he was able to finish everything up pretty quickly.

With the bags he had now properly filled up and strapped onto Lugo's back, Eiro was finally able to make his way back home.

He did see the travlers again on his way out of town, and Jess and Krog were just glaring at him as he was going. "How bothersome." Eiro muttered as he rolled his eyes underneath his mask, and then quickly climbed onto Lugo's back, making the Stag groan loudly in response.

"No, I'm not fat either, you're just lazy." The Imp sighed, "Just get going already." He added, and Lugo just looked forward and finally started walking, all the whilst Eiro turned his eyes to the side and pushed his hand forward right next to him, making the same motions that he would as if he was pulling something out of a shelf, before a small book appeared right there in his hand as if he used magic to make it appear.

And technically, that was what it was. A Sort of Magic. At least, it took a bit of Eiro's mana to make it happen, so he figured that was it.

This was Eiro's racial Ability. <The Collector's Treasury>. It allowed him to store one of anything he wanted in something like a subspace. That was where he pulled his mask out of before as well. Luckily, books were often seen as seperate things depending on their topic or genre, so Eiro currently had around half a dozen books he hadn't read yet stored in there. And once he finished them, he would just place them into his 'Library' and get the next book.

Beside the Mask and books, he had the Ice-Flower, his two cards, and his dagger stored in there. He could store any trophy he took from monsters or animals he beat in the past, although that would mean he could only store one piece off of any specific monster. So for example, there was this beast-type monster called 'Horned Wolf', which had three different quite interesting things. Its claws, fangs, and its horn.

If he chose to store the Horn, he couldn't store the claw or fang. Sadly he couldn't just store the whole horned-wolf either, because the space he could store things in was pretty much limited to his own physical volume... Apparently, he wasn't really entirely sure. It was tough to test, really. It didn't seem like he would be able to store a whole thing like that anyway.

Either way, this ability came in quite useful for the most part, because it made his everyday life easier to be able to hide his weapon and 'treasures', meaning the cards and ice-flower, very easily.

It also made work very easy, because most of his tools were seen as their seperate thing as well. So he could have things like a hammer, chisel, and knife all stored away, but not each their different variations that he needed.

However, depending on how well he used this ability, he could move things from one hand to another instantly, so for the most part he had his array of tools just next to him and would just touch the place where the one he needed right now was, to be able to switch them out nearly instantaneously!

Well, Jura's work was still far quicker and more detailed than his own, though... And he still had trouble properly making things like his own right hand that the animals he treated were able to use without worry.

"Hmm... Lugo, stop here for a moment." The Imp said with a slight sigh, placing the book he was nearly finished with back into his 'Treasury', slowly climbing off of the Stag's back. "Stop moving around, gotta tie this in place more tightly." Eiro said as he got out some extra rope and fastened the different bags more tightly on Lugo's back, before climbing back onto him and wrapping his own lower body in rope as well, before tightly grasping at Lugo's antlers.

While the Stag himself just bellowed, Eiro just sighed. "Lugo, don't freak out, but I think we're being followed right now. It should be the... Venison Bandits." The Imp said in a serious tone, and Lugo immediately turned his head around toward him and groaned loudly.

"What, you haven't heard of them? The Venison Bandits, Lugo! They have made it their task to hunt each and every Deer they can find... and then cut off their limbs one by one, to let them watch how they're eaten." He explained, and the Stag's eyes just circled around as he bellowed again, although his voice this time around sounded nearly like cackling.

"Lugo, you're a deer." The Imp sighed, and once more, Lugo's head instantly turned around to stare at Eiro in shock, who just nodded his head in confirmation, before the Stag immediately started sprinting forward at immense speeds, all the whilst Eiro was just quietly muttering to himself. "I live in a Forest filled with numerous creatures, animals, some spirits and even four Nature Goddesses each year... And I had to choose an idiot as my Familiar..." The Demon sighed, as he slowly turned around, quickly confirming that the three travelers were now finally left behind.

One thing, Eiro had to admit, Lugo was the fastest animal he's ever seen. So he doubted that two humans and an elf would be able to actually follow them.

For now, they just had to get home, and then Jura would be able to tell if they ended up being able to follow, so Eiro could just go out and face them in the forest at that point. He didn't want to do it in the middle of town, but he didn't mind killing them in the forest where nobody was looking.

Well, although, technically they were just looking for help for the Elf... So maybe he shouldn't kill them after all? Not even the people in town knew exactly where they lived, so Eiro didn't actually want them to follow, because it might turn out troublesome for the kids...

That was an issue to think about later, right now they just had to get home. It was a bit annoying that Eiro couldn't read anymore because of how bumpy and fast this ride was, but that was fine if they managed to get home earlier in return.

Just a couple of hours later, they managed to reach the hut built into a tree at the top of the small hill, and Eiro calmed Lugo down a little once they started ascending it. The exhausted Stag was of course also quite glad to get home, although Eiro was pretty sure he had forgotten about why they were rushing by now.

"Come on." Eiro said as they were finally back in front of the hut, and the Imp opened the door to the storage-hut/Study, swiftly carrying the different things inside and placing them down on the ground. He would sort them out later, but for now he just had to clean up Lugo's legs. They were completely mud-covered, after all.

"Eiro!" A young woman exclaimed with a bright smile, her shoulder-length blonde hair bound into a ponytail. She was wearing high, mud-covered boots as well as the simple, beige-tan colored clothes she usually wore when working out here. "Hey there, Clem."

"Hehe, you bring me anything from town?" She asked with a slight smirk, and the Demon raised his brows with a slight smirk as he took off his mask.

"Beside Food, Clothes and Shoes? No, sorry." He laughed slightly, and Clementine just slightly pouted in response. "Awe man! I'll clean Lugo up, Arc's still milking the cows anyway." She said with a slight sigh, so Eiro looked at her with a smile.

"Thanks." The Demon said as he stood up, finally pulling his hood off as well, swiftly going in to give Clementine a quick hug before going around the house toward the small farmhouse that was built to keep the other animals in, where he swiftly knocked on the door as he entered.

"Arc? You in here?" Eiro asked, and the boy he was looking for slowly raised his head over the back of the cow he had been standing behind, although just barely. "Oh, you're back!" He exclaimed, and Eiro just nodded his head in response.

"Looks like it."

"Anything happen in town?"

"Nope."

"You got me anything?"

"Nope"

"Can I finally become an Adventurer?"

"Nope."

"You sure?"

"Yep."

"Dammit!" Arc exclaimed bitterly, but Eiro just laughed slightly. "You'll be fifteen in another month. How about I just take you along to town then? We'll speak to Sam and get you signed up." The Imp suggested, making the boy smile at him brightly in response.

"Wait, really?!" He asked surprised, and Eiro smiled back at him.

"Mhm. There's really only requests for gathering plants, but I guess it's better than nothing, hm?" The Imp pointed out, but Arc just shook his head. "That's fine! Thanks!" The boy.... or rather, young man replied, and Eiro simply smiled.