"Welcome. You are Sir Eiro, I assume." A man in a black formal suit and slicked-back hair said with a light bow forward the moment that Eiro stepped off of Lugo's back. The Demon slowly nodded his head, "I am. I'm here to return the carriage and the two Aria to the King. And if possible, I'd also like to speak to him." He explained, and the man standing in front of Eiro simply kept smiling, "I am afraid that will be something quite hard to arrange. His Majesty is currently quite busy. If it's not of immediate importance, then I suggest waiting a few days and we will inform you when you can speak to him."
With a light grumble, Eiro stared back at the man, "I have a hint toward what happened to the prince as he was attacked. That of enough 'immediate importance' to you?" The Demon asked bluntly, and the man opened his eyes wide and immediately nodded his head.
"I would assume so, yes. Then please, come in. Those children in the carriage can come with you as well, although they will have to wait in another room." The man explained, and Eiro slowly nodded his head as he turned his head to look at the carriage.
And then, he let out a loud whistle out of his mouth, "Kids, come out. We're heading inside." Eiro told them, and the door of the carriage quickly opened up to reveal Sammy stepping outside first. Right behind her were Avalin and Leon, then Clementine, Rudy and Felix. Eiro was actually pretty surprised that Leon was this energetic. He did seem a bit more excited about basically everything ever since the seals were removed. Maybe they had a pretty bad effect on his body, then?
Either way, the only one that was really nervous here was Felix, who was turning his head to look at everything somewhat anxiously.
"N-Now, driver, please follow the stableboy there." The man instructed next. He seemed a bit surprised at how many children Eiro had with him, although Eiro stared at the man with a light glare. Of course, it was hidden behind Eiro's mask, but it seemed like the man still noticed it to an extent.
"That 'Driver' is my son. Have the stableboy drive the carriage himself, please. But don't enter the carriage, we're going to clear it out ourselves later."
"Excuse my insolence, Sir Eiro!" The man exclaimed immediately, but the Demon just lightly sighed, "Don't worry about it, just don't let it happen again." Eiro replied, and then started stepping up the stairs leading up to the actual entrance to the castle's interior.
When Eiro reached the top of the stairs, the large doors were opened up by some servants inside of the castle and the Demon just stepped through it without hesitation. Once in there, the man from outside followed as well and stepped in front of Eiro again.
"Now, if those children would please follow these maids. We will prepare some tea and pastries during their wait." He explained, and Eiro quickly nodded to the children to tell them it was okay, although he quickly waved Sammy over toward him.
"Lying isn't always bad." He whispered into her ear, and Sammy looked at him confusedly. It was the 'signal' that Eiro told Sammy before. Like this, he basically said that she should be careful and use her ability if she needs to. She was capable of easily calming a dangerous situation down, after all. Simply by telling an attacker 'You don't want to fight us', she could turn them into a pacifist. As such, Eiro chose to leave the protection of everyone to her for now.
"Alright..." She replied quietly, and then went with the others to follow the maids while Eiro was led up the stairs on the other side of this hall by the man that greeted them before.
"If I may ask, why did you tell that woman something like that?" He asked, and Eiro slightly sighed, "One of those guys isn't a kid of mine. The one with bright red hair and a hood. He's a rather 'close' friend of hers, Sammy, if you get what I mean with that. They got into a small fight, and I wanted to tell her that she shouldn't be too mad at him." Eiro told him, "Young love, huh?" He added to it, and the man slowly nodded his head.
"Ah... I see." He replied. But Eiro knew that it didn't really convince him. He was just as suspicious of Eiro as before.
A little while later, Eiro stood in front of a large door that was then pushed open by two royal guards. On the other side of the room sat Solomon Sigurd Skyhart, in full royal attire, smiling brightly when Eiro stepped into the room.
Thinking that this whole situation was completely ridiculous, Eiro stepped further into the room to stand properly in front of the man sitting on the throne.
"Yo." Eiro said, "Nice to meet ya." The Demon added, and Solomon slightly laughed, "Haha, Sir Eiro, what are you saying? It is nice to see you are just as well-humored as ever." He said, and Eiro stared at him with a glare.
"What are you talking about? We never met before." Eiro told him, and Solomon slowly stared down at Eiro, "What-"
"Hey, didn't I ask you guys to bring me to the King? It's nice that you showed me an illusionist, I was taking an interest in illusion magic lately anyway, but I don't like having my time wasted like this." Eiro pointed out, and the man from before, who Eiro assumed to be the head butler or something like that until now, quietly scoffed in response.
"Do you really expect us to bring the successor of one of the greatest traitors in this world's history to see the King of this country?" He asked, and at this point, Eiro realized how the other servants in this place were acting around him. And not only the servants, but also the knights, and even the fake king's attitude. This guy obviously had a quite high position in this place.
But Eiro didn't really care about that stuff, "So you don't want to hear the information about the attack on the King's son after all?"
"Of course we do. I had hoped you were simple-minded enough to be tricked like this, but it seems like that was a major miscalculation on my side. I wanted you to tell it to us without ever laying eyes on his Majesty. But well... I guess we have to do it this way now. I don't like this plan, but... you realize that we have your children confined now, don-"
"You don't." Eiro replied clearly, "And this situation will quickly be turned around anyway." The Demon told them and looked right toward the door that was currently opening up.
And into the room stepped the true Solomon, dressed in rather comfortable, even if not fancy, clothes while Nelli floated next to him.
"What is going on here?" He asked in an angry tone, and soon spotted Eiro standing there in the center of the room. Then, he saw the startled man looking at the door and the fake king on the other side of the room.
"What did I tell you, Jordan? No matter who he has connections with, that man is my benefactor! I will not let you disrespect him!" Solomon exclaimed and rushed through the room to get to Eiro, and immediately grasped his hand with his own, "I greet you here in my domain, Eiro, and I apologize for this treatment. Please, come with me to a more appropriate place where we can speak in peace."
"Nice to see you again, Solomon. Let's just wait a little bit longer, though. They should be here any moment now." Eiro replied and kept looking at the door, while the man from before, Jordan, took a chance to intervene.
"B-But your Majesty, you cannot trust that man! Can you not see how he is walking around? Not a single spot of his skin is openly visible! He-"
"Excuse our intrusion." A calm, quiet voice said, interrupting Jordan as he was speaking. It was one of the maids from before that led the children away. And now, they led them here.
"What are you doing here? I thought I told you to keep them locked up in that room!" Jordan exclaimed, and the maid looked at him with confusion, "But... wasn't I supposed to bring these children back to their father?" The Maid asked confusedly, and Jordan just stared back at her with a just as puzzled expression.
"Alright, now we can go." Eiro said to Solomon with a smile, all the whilst Avalin came running up to Eiro, "Daddy, they promised pastries but didn't give us any!" Avalin exclaimed, and Eiro looked down at her with a light chuckle and quickly picked her up, "Don't worry, we can get some of those another time."
"But..."
"You, please arrange something to eat for us and these children. Bring the food to my study, please." Solomon said in a commanding tone as he looked at the maid, and she quickly bowed forward and nodded her head before turning around and doing as she was told.
"Now follow me, Eiro." The King said, and Eiro quickly nodded his head and looked at the others. With a smile directed at Sammy, he said, "See? Like this, everything worked out without anyone getting hurt or troubled too much." Eiro told her, and Sammy slowly nodded her head.
She was still trying to stay as silent as possible whenever she could, but Eiro was still trying to teach her that depending on the situation, her using her ability was the best possible way to get out of such an unfavorable situation. She seemed hesitant to use it, though, probably because of her experience with the skill when she was a child.
Either way, the group followed the King through the castle and were led into his study by him. And to Eiro's joy, it was basically filled to the brim with numerous books. This place really seemed like a paradise to him, if he had to be honest.
"Please, take a seat, all of you." Solomon said with a smile as he pointed at one of the couches standing in the center of the room surrounding a small table, while Solomon himself sat down at his desk further back in the room, and offered Eiro the seat opposite to him.
The Demon let down Avalin and asked her to sit down on the couch next to Sammy and Clementine, and then sat down on the chair he was offered.
And without hesitation, the Demon explained the situation, "So, despite it not being the main reason for coming here, I do owe you for giving me that carriage and the Aria. Like that, we were able to complete the journey much, much quicker than I had ever anticipated. That's why I'm going to tell you the reason for why I know that the three of swords isn't the weapon used to injure your son." Eiro explained.
Surprised, the King nodded his head, "Please! I trust you, of course, but having proof may remove any doubt in my mind."
Slowly, Eiro stretched his hand forward and pulled out a small golden card out of his treasury, holding it forward so that Solomon could look at it, and before he could react, Eiro activated the card. Five rings appeared around Eiro's fingers and then formed floating blades connected to them through thin threads.
"The reason is that the three of swords has been in my possession for the past seven years." The Demon said in a clear tone, and Solomon opened his eyes wide in confusion.
"Then... then it really can't have been the three of swords... But there are not many divine cards that have such effects... Effects that make the user go mad like that." Solomon muttered, and Eiro just stared back and bluntly said, "Then what if that teacher didn't go mad, and simply wanted to create chaos?"
