Demon's Virtue

Chapter 781 Beo

781 Beo

Eiro stepped down into the manor's basement, approaching the door to Armodeus' workshop. To his surprise, though, it was open. Usually, Armodeus kept it closed so that nobody would come and bother him.

"I'm tellin' ya, I ain't doing it," the dwarf said with a loud groan, "I'm happy here, so why'd I ever leave?"

Eiro raised his brow. Armodeus' workshop was usually one of the 'blackout zones' that Eiro stopped himself from peeking into, but when he was this close, it was literally impossible for him to not hear the conversation. Since it seemed like a sensitive conversation, Eiro was about to turn around, when he heard Shimour's voice.

"Listen, I get that things weren't great there, but don't you think you owe it to him to go back? To at least give it all a shot? He asked you to take care of the town, but you just left," Shimour pointed out, "And I'm not in the business of telling others what to do, so if you say you don't want to do it, then don't. But Beo was my friend as well. I just don't want you to regret not doing the last thing he asked of you. That's just not like you."

Armodeus was silent, clearly thinking. Eiro was a bit taken aback, though. Beo? Who was that? If it was someone important to Armodeus, how has he never heard about him?

"I won't. End of discussion. Now leave, and shut the door behind you," the elder dwarf's voice sounded rougher than usual, though an unusual quivering laid underneath it. Shimour came outside with heavy footsteps, closing the heavy door behind him. As he turned around, he noticed Eiro standing there at the end of the hallway.

Shimour sighed loudly and started walking toward the stairs, "I'm guessing you heard that, huh? Just ignore it."

Eiro was about to do as he asked, since really, it was none of his business, but maybe his curiosity got the better of him in the end, "... Who was Beo?"

"Ask Armodeus if you want to know, I don't have the right to tell you," Shimour replied, and Eiro looked over toward him.

"Will he really tell me if I ask?"

"... You've got a convincing side to you, so I'm sure you can figure something out," the master shrugged, walking up the stairs. Hesitant, and trying to consider what exactly he should do, Eiro looked over at the door. Either way, he came down here to talk to Armodeus, whether it was about potentially making bone weapons for Krog, or about this 'Beo' person.

As he approached, Eiro used magic to pull the door open, and Armodeus immediately snapped his head away from his workbench and over toward him, "I said to- Oh... it's you, I'm sorry, lad, I thought you were..." the dwarf let out a long sigh, trying to act like he wasn't still upset, "What can I do ya for?"

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A cabin's door was kicked open. Treading in the snow from the outside, a tall man stepped inside. He almost scraped the doorframe with his head as he came in. His entire body was covered in a torn-up cloak. He stepped up to the counter on the other side of the room, "I'm looking for someone. A dwarf. Craftsman."

"Huh. That's an unusual combo. Ain't gonna be easy to find one of those," the other man across the counter said, scruffing his beard while suppressing a slight laugh.

The wanderer glanced over the counter, taking a closer look at the man behind it, "Are you him?"

"Who's 'him'? Gonna have ta be a bit more specific."

"... Armodeus. The craftsman."

With a grin on his face, the dwarf nodded his head, leaning forward on his stool, "Aye, the one and only. What can I do ya for?"

"I heard you're the best around here. That the weapons you make are capable of slaying anything," the wandered pointed out, and the young Armodeus grinned lightly.

"I do like flattery, but I'll have ya know that it ain't the weapon that does that. If ya want to slay, say, a dragon, you have to be able to slay a dragon. The weapon ain't gonna do it for ya," he replied, seeing the wanderer's slightly annoyed expression from under his hood before leaning forward, "But I promise ya, I can make a weapon that will stay by your side even after a dozen slain dragons."

"... That should do," the wandered said, seemingly a bit relieved. He grabbed the weapon from his back. It was an old sword, basically just a shaped iron pillar that was so dull that you couldn't even cut an apple with it. The moment Armodeus saw it, he jumped up from his stool and walked in front of the counter to get a closer look.

"You- How long have ya had this for, a thousand years?! How could ye do this to this beautiful child?" he said, snatching the weapon from the wanderer's hand. The weapon was longer than Armodeus was tall, but he still handled it as if it were made of paper, "The hell've you been fighting with this?"

The wandered looked down at Armodeus, huffing slightly, "Dragons."