Demon's Virtue

Eiro stepped out of Boju's office, making his way down the hall. There, at the end, was the door leading to Gobo's office. The doors were larger and seemed more fancy, and the space beyond it had a lot more decoration as well. Though, Boju's space was larger and actually held a lot more actually important things, since the Highland Orc was the one that did the most important work and spent a large amount of his time actually in his office. But Gobo, even if he didn't do a lot of work until now, was still the town's lord. He needed to have a space that outwardly represented this.

The demon pushed open the door, and the hobgoblin sitting at his desk didn't even look up, "Who is it? Don't you bastards even know how to knock?"

Eiro smiled lightly, placing his hands behind his back as he casually approached the desk. Gobo groaned loudly, rubbing the bridge of his nose. He tried to move his hair out of his face, but pushed his hands against his horns. It seemed like even after three months he hadn't quite gotten used to them yet. But that wasn't really all that important, anyway, "I asked who it-"

When Gobo looked up from his work, he soon realized that it was Eiro. The demon smiled, "Finally growing up, huh? I'm glad that becoming my servant at least had some positive effects on you."

"M-My lord, I-" Gobo jumped up from his seat, immediately kneeling down on the ground in front of the demon, "I didn't know it was you- I didn't even know you already arrived, I-"

"Calm down, it's fine. I hid myself with stealth on purpose," Eiro laughed, "I've already spoken to Boju. I'll catch you up on some of the things we spoke about, but first I want to hear a little bit from you. How did things go from where you stand?"

Gobo slowly nodded, nervous. He stood up and cleared his throat. Looking at him more closely, Eiro noticed some more new changes of the hobgoblin's body. His frame shrank down slightly, though his weight had gone up plenty. Similar to Eiro's own, Gobo's muscles simple became denser. The hobgoblin's skin became thicker and harder, becoming covered in a thin layer of flexible chitin even thinner than hair, but stronger than many types of hardened leather. His eyes were clearer. Not just in colour, but he was much more focused than he was before.

Eiro remembered that Gobo's eyes would always dart around the room, as though he was afraid to truly make eye-contact with the demon. Of course, this often led to him simply bowing his head to try and hide that fear or discomfort, though Eiro could always tell. But now, somehow, Gobo no longer did that. Eiro was glad to see this.

"I... well, what do you want to know exactly? A lot has happened over the past three months, as I'm sure you have heard from Boju," he explained, and Eiro nodded.

"Of course. But I don't want to hear those sorts of things. I don't want you to repeat the data of how well the town developed. I want to hear your opinion and thoughts. Your worries and hopes as the town's lord," Eiro walked around the room, taking a closer look at some of the things that Gobo decided to decorate his office with. It was plenty of fur, magic stones, and even carved bones from different powerful monsters from the area. As he was doing so, Gobo was thinking about what to best say, and how to best explain these thoughts of his.

"Well... I believe that things are good. I hope you don't take this personally, as it is not meant as an insult in any way, but... I always sort of doubted this plan of yours to some degree. I mean... sure, you could teach us language and civility, take away our monstrosity and give us ways to live beyond that which our instincts commanded us to, but..." Gobo glanced out of the window, "Only when you brought the humans did I understand that this wasn't just a pipe-dream. That coexistence was possible. Not that I was happy about it. You know my thoughts about... people."

"That I do. But I've heard that you've grown a bit closer to the people. To Marius, in particular."

"... I wouldn't say I'm close to them, but I've come to more than merely tolerate them. They're not as vile and disgusting as I thought initially, at least."

That was progress. It still wasn't what Eiro was hoping for, obviously, but considering Gobo's past and his traumas and hatred toward people, this was already an amazing improvement. As long as he could change and learn over time, Eiro was sure that Gobo would soon come to appreciate people in the same way that he appreciated other monsters.

"I see... And do you see any hope to forming a true friendship with them?"

Gobo hesitated, though he knew that this was a question he had to answer, "... I don't know, my lord. But that isn't just because they're people... I don't know if I would call my relations to even the other leaders friendship. They're companions, compatriots, and individuals that I know to trust to some degree, but... calling them friends feels like a lie."

"Hm... well, that's fine. You don't need to make friends, really. As long as you have that trust and respect for them, that's all that matters at the end of the day. Though, I do hope that you can find someone to call a true friend," Eiro said, though he could tell that Gobo was pretty uncomfortable with that idea. He wouldn't force it on him, of course, so he figured that moving on wouldn't be a bad idea, "Anyway... I see you've grown more accustomed to your position. Do you think handling this work on your own would be possible for a while?"

Gobo thought about it for just a moment, though the answer came pretty easily, "I would prefer not to find out. Is Boju okay? I did feel that something was off with him for a while, but he assured me that he would be fine to continue working."

With a smile, Eiro nodded, "He's okay, though I would like him to take a break for a while. I want to take him on a trip."

"Okay... well, how long would this trip be?"

"A few weeks. A month or two at most," Eiro explained.

"And Boju will return to work after?"

"... That is up to him."

Gobo hesitated to speak up, clearly not happy to hear this, "Well, do you think he will?"

Of course, Eiro had his guesses. Ones he was quite confident about. But he didn't want to spend too much time thinking about this. If Eiro wanted to, he could probably predict most things. Most ways that individuals around him acted. But whenever Eiro did, he found himself subconsciously acting in ways that would actively manipulate them into doing what he wanted them to do. And that, of course, didn't always feel great, especially when he actually cared for those individuals. That's why Eiro tried to avoid it.

"Maybe. I hope he comes back, but he may not. And if he doesn't, that's okay. Boju is a great young man, one that I would hate to lose, but if he decides not to come back, I don't plan on stopping him," Eiro said bluntly. Gobo looked back at Eiro with a slight frown.

"I'm sorry, but, if I may... why do you give him so much more freedom than you gave us?" he asked. Of course, Eiro knew that Gobo wasn't rebelling or upset, it was truly a sense of curiosity. So, Eiro answered that curiosity as honestly as he could.

"Because Boju has never tried to kill me. Has never tried to attack or bring me to ruin. And has never killed men, and women, and children," Eiro said bluntly. He tried to answer it without emotion, though some slipped through, and Gobo flinched slightly, "And don't get me wrong, I do think I'm treating you fairly here. It is, after all, how I'm treating myself. Anything horrible that you have done, Ive done a dozen times over. I am as restricted as you are, probably even more so, to follow this life that I have decided on."

Eiro stepped up closer to Gobo, who was frozen in front of him, "And, most importantly... You are mine, and always will be. That was decided the moment I met you. I hope you never forget that."