Demon's Virtue

"The enemy cast a spell just before doing, and turned into dust instead of leaving behind a corpse." Solomon repeated to Eiro once more, and the Demon slowly nodded his head as he sat there on the couch in the King's study.

"Right... Erm... What happened to the dust again? Did it mix in with the storm outside?" Eiro asked the man next to him, who quickly nodded his head with his eyes slightly widened, "Yes, exactly! That's what you said happened! Do you have an idea what that might mean?" The King asked, excited that they finally seemed to be making some progress.

But in the end, Eiro wasn't entirely sure just yet, "I think... the enemy might have cast a spell that mixed into the storm? Can we verify if others outside of this direct storm forgot about me?" The Demon asked as he looked at Solomon, while he already forgot about the conclusion that he himself just got to.

The King, already expecting that this would happen, wrote Eiro's guess down on a piece of paper so that it really wouldn't be forgotten. And then, Solomon grabbed a small box out of his shelf that he quickly opened up.

He grabbed the red feather that was in there and dunked it into the royal blue ink, before writing the recipient, the sender, and a message onto the parchment that was also inside of the box. Solomon quickly stepped over toward the window and opened it up, before he ripped the parchment in half. It created a large flame that shot out into the storm outside, slowly taking the form of an eagle.

"This is one of the few of these I have left, but if it is as important to know of this as I assume, then I cannot be scared to waste such items." The King explained. He looked back over to Eiro, who was sitting on the couch while looking down at all the notes that Solomon already laid out in front of him.

"Let's go with the... with this idea some more... If he affected the storm itself, then... How long is the storm supposed to last again?" The Demon inquired into the room, although he was actually weirdly startled by the fact that Solomon spoke up, as if he had forgotten that he wasn't alone here somehow.

"I heard it is supposed to last another six days. At first, the meteorologists I am in contact with told me it should be over within the next day or so, but they suddenly informed us that it will last much longer than it was supposed to this morning." Solomon explained to Eiro, who slowly closed his eyes so that he could properly concentrate.

It was hard to use this new ability of his while constantly forgetting all the information that he uncovered in his mind, especially because a lot of it was hard to put into words. And while Eiro would try and put it into words so that Solomon could remember it for him, he would have already forgotten about the information and would need to uncover it from the beginning again.

"The storm was maybe... enhanced by the spell? Maybe the enemy... is using it to cause the effect?" The Demon started, but Solomon thought that something was weird about that.

"But it already took effect, didn't it? Why would it be necessary for the storm to be dragged out like that?" The King inquired, and then came to a realization himself, "Unless the effect isn-"

"Unless it's not permanent..?" Eiro asked, and looked down at the pieces of paper on the table in front of him. Luckily, he had all the information there that he needed to come to his next conclusion based off of this one, "But at the same time, the storm isn't there to make sure that the spell keeps its effect up during the storm... Otherwise you would have forgotten about me again as well, as it's still raging outside." Eiro said as he slowly turned his head toward Solomon, trying to connect the name that he saw to be written on the piece of paper with an actual person.

"So instead, the storm is there to make the effect permanent in the end?" With that conclusion that Solomon suggested, Eiro pushed himself off the couch and nodded his head, "I think so. That is the only thing that makes sense... right? Or did I... forget another solution to this issue already?" Eiro asked, but luckily, Solomon quickly shook his head.

"No, this is the first real conclusion you came to. Does it feel right to you? Does it feel like the 'truth' of this situation?" The King asked, and Eiro looked down at the pieces of paper in front of him as Solomon handed him one that had the actual conclusion he came to written down on it, and the Demon nodded his head without hesitation.

"It does. It does feel right. That is the true form of this storm... It's here to make this effect truly permanent. That means until then, I need to stop the storm somehow, so that I won't be forgotten forever?"

"Yes, that's what it seems like. But how could something like this be dispelled?"

Eiro closed his eyes for a moment and tried to figure it out as quickly as he could, and then let out a deep sigh in the end, "Three possible ways, I think. One, fuse a counterspell with the storm. Two, cause the storm to simply stop existing. Three... Move everyone that matters out of the range of the storm until it's over. Right?"

"But does that not sound a bit too easy? Would a spell with immense strength such as this truly be able to be stopped that easily? Simply moving out of its range seems possible, but-"

"I was thinking the same thing... I need spellbooks related to any and all memory-manipulating spells as you can give me. This doesn't feel right, it feels too easy..." Eiro replied to Solomon, who slowly nodded his head, "I figured so. The greatest library of this country is within the academy, and it is heavily protected there. But of course, as King, I have access to everything that we will need. Come, let us hurry."

Solomon grabbed the pieces of paper that were laying in front of Eiro while remembering to grab any sort of writing material that he could so that they could make sure to write any sort of information they uncovered down.

Of course, Solomon had to remind Eiro what they were supposed to do now relatively quickly, and that he was supposed to wear his mask and cloak, while hiding his wings and horns with magic, but once they were outside, Eiro could just sit on Lugo's back and have the stag take the lead for now.

"But your majesty, I cannot allow you to accompany such a strange man by yourself just after he broke into this castle!" One of the Guard Captains exclaimed as Solomon climbed onto Lugo's back right behind Eiro, but the King just looked at that Guard with a deep frown.

"I care little for what you do and do not allow me to do. Have guards follow behind, if you will, but it is of utmost importance that we reach the library at the fastest speed possible. This Stag here is faster than even the Aria, it seems, and much more intelligent at that." The King explained immediately. Lugo slightly turned his head with a smug expression, although he realized that it wasn't a good time to feel happy about being called 'much more intelligent' than some random magic beasts.

Meanwhile, Eiro was just looking around himself. He had declined to a state where he wasn't really thinking again, but before then, he managed to instruct Solomon on how to jolt him awake with a pulse of mana right into the center of his neck. This way, Eiro hoped to lose as little of his memories as possible while still making it possible to use his intelligence and new ability to the highest extent currently possible.

After a bit more discussion, Solomon made the final decision and simply told Lugo to start running. The Guards obviously couldn't do anything, in the end. They couldn't restrain or injure their King, so they basically had to go along with his decision.

As per Solomon's instructions, Lugo ran toward the Academy, which took up a bit more than just half of the centermost part of Skyhart's capital, while the rest of that center-part was taken up by the royal castle.

They rode through the gates, and although the guards wanted to stop them, the moment that Solomon showed his royal authority to them, they stepped aside and basically escorted Solomon further into the academy.

Lugo stopped right in front of the large building that led into the Library, and Solomon took the lead as he brought Eiro and the stag inside.

"Y-Your Majesty, what a pleasant surprise!" The head-librarian said with a deep bow, although it was obvious that he was a bit confused by the large deer and the completely cloaked man that were standing behind him instead of guards as you would usually expect, "Bring us to the part of the library that holds the spellbooks on memory-manipulation at once." The King demanded immediately, and the librarian stared back at him confusedly.

"M-Memory manipulation? Right away, your Majesty!" The man exclaimed somewhat nervously, and quickly took the lead. He brought Solomon, Eiro and Lugo, as well as a few of the guards that finally managed to catch up to them, to the back of the library where more guards were stationed to protect this area of the library.

In the rest of this place, the parts that were more open and where you wouldn't be directly obstructed by guards or special doors, many students seemed to be sitting and reading, whether it was for their studies or simply for pleasure.

But of course, now that the King was stepping through these halls, everyone jumped up and kneeled down in the direction where Solomon was walking. Eiro was a bit confused by what was happening, until he looked down at one of the pieces of paper in his hands that explained that Solomon was the King.

With that information, this situation made at least a little sense.

Eiro followed behind Solomon, staring at some of the different parts of this library out of simple curiosity, before the man walking in front of him turned toward the Guards, "Do not enter this space under any circumstances, unless I command otherwise. Anyone that dares defy this shall be punished accordingly. That is all."

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