Demon's Virtue

The caravan briefly came to a halt in front of the gate blocking off the tunnel. It was still well-hidden through magic, but it was absolutely nothing that Eiro couldn't see through. Not to mention, he was the one that had constructed this magic in the first place, so it was basically his own spell.

The monsters standing guard in front of the gate quickly bowed to the demon, who briefly nodded at them.

"Welcome back," the monsters said as Eiro rode past them. He couldn't help himself but smile a bit, at that. Once the last of the caravan's carriages entered the tunnel, the gate was closed again. When Eiro made his way through to the other side, he was immediately met with a massive surprise. The first stop, which basically acted as one of the main guard outposts in the town, as this would be the main point of entry for trade in the future, had been almost completely transformed.

You could barely recognize that these once were mines, which had now been fully depleted of both magic stones and ore. Instead, a large structure filled the space, and plenty of barracks and large training areas had been created. The monsters here were wearing quite high-quality armour as well. When Eiro left, only the high-ranking monsters were given things like this, but by now, everyone was wearing either metal, leather, or cloth armour, depending on where their talents and race boons laid.

The old roads branching off the main road, which once used to be trodden dirt paths, where now also properly cobbled. New buildings were being constructed along those branching roads; new houses, future inns, warehouses, and so on. Considering that this area was supposed to be as far as visitors could go for the first while that the town was revealed to the public, this was all amazing.
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Eiro had purposefully not peeked too much through the servants that he had placed here. For one, he dind't want his prior knowledge to influence his thoughts on the regular reports that he was given by Boju. And, frankly, he just wanted to be a bit surprised by the changes that happened here in the past three months. Monsters always adapted and changed fast when placed into a new environment, and he was incredibly curious to see just how all these monsters had changed.

According to Boju's last report a month ago, a few monsters had started to evolve into rare races that even Eiro hadn't heard of before. Races that were supposedly supposed to help them adapt to this sort of civilized life. And really... Eiro was pretty sure he was already spotting a few of them. A lot of the monsters that evolved in such a way were able to speak with the other monsters better. The shape of their tongues had changes, their teeth were more straight and their larynxes were able to cover a slightly different range of sounds to accommodate the ways that other species here communicated.

The monsters were adapting in a way to coexist with each other. Beyond that, there were plenty of monsters whose bodies had changed in this way too. This was the most obvious with the trolls. There were some that he recognized by scent who had shrunken down considerably. They had less fat on their bodies, so their appetite most likely decreased quite a lot as well. Their hands seemed to be more capable of intricate movements, even those that weren't craftsmen.

Frankly, what Eiro was seeing right now was nothing short of miraculous. Sure, he expected the monsters to change over time, but he didn't initially expect these sorts of rapid changes. It really just showed him that this wasn't just a pipe dream. It was possible for monsters and people to coexist. In just a few more months, when more of the monsters here evolved, there should be plenty of folk that could be selected to head out and interact with the people of the outside world. Though, before then, there were some other steps that needed to be completed, which was one of the reasons why Eiro was here. He was bringing some specialty equipment that couldn't be procured or produced in this area.

Once Eiro got to the outskirts of the main town, he stopped the carriages and had them line up along the side of the road. The monsters living here were quickly greeting him, and there was even a human to be spotted here and there. It seemed as though they were integrated very well in this extremely short time, which was almost more shocking than how much the monsters themselves had changed.

Eiro looked at the monsters that came rushing toward him, telling them to bring the items inside the carriages to the warehouse, and when they got started, he made his way through the town for a short stroll. Bavet went off to do his own thing for a while as well, since he was clearly not in the mood to deal with the town leadership's shenanigans.

So, Eiro was just left to walk around on his own for a bit. Of course, despite his evolution, Eiro didn't actually look all that different from how he used to right now. His third eye was closed, his tails intertwined, and his four extra arms and all his wings pulled into his body. However, even so, he wasn't actually noticed by anyone. All the monsters were just walking straight past him, making way without even noticing what was going on.

"The training with Shimour was certainly effective, huh?" Eiro smiled lightly as he spoke to himself. He looked around on his relaxed walk, observing how the architecture had changed over the past three months. Plenty of the buildings had been remodelled, repaired, or torn down to create space for something new. This town which had been basically completely in ruins when it was first dropped down here was now starting to look actually quite fine. Very unique, of course, which was obvious considering the citizens, but it all had its charm in the demon's opinion.

Once Eiro checked to make sure that the artificed array that was placed onto this entire town was still working as intended, the demon stepped into one of the alleys so that he could relax his stealth for a moment.

"Mislan," Eiro said, his body dyed in darkness through the buildings' shadows. And through those shadows, the servant Mislan appeared in front of the demon.

"My lord, I am elated to see that your evolution has come to such a wonderful conclusion," Mislan said, kneeling in front of Eiro. But the demon just smiled, looking him up and down. Mislan had changed a little bit as well. For the past three months, he had stayed here in this town, completely outside of Eiro's shadow. And that meant that, while Mislan used to be basically a thoughtless, emotionless puppet, he had developed his own personality by now.

He was rather mild-mannered, and carried the sort of calm, wise air that one would expect from a butler, which was exactly how Mislan presented himself to this day. Though this was a choice that Eiro had made for him in the beginning, that was never something the demon was going to force on Mislan. If he chose to change his appearance, he could go ahead. After all, he was made of shadows, and should be able to change his body basically freely as long as there wasn't too much light around.

"I'm also quite happy, yes. This town has developed wonderfully, has it not? What do you think, having been here for so long?" Eiro asked, and Mislan quickly stood up, briefly nodding his head.

"Indeed so. The town is lively, and so are the monsters and people within it. There have been some small disputes here and there, but overall, I believe you will be very happy to see how this town has developed."

"I believe so as well. From what I can see, it's pretty great already," Eiro smiled, slowly turning his head toward the part of town where the humans lived. Of course, he was really just looking at a brick wall, but he knew that Mislan was aware of where he was looking, "And how are the humans?"

"... If I can be so blunt, but I did not expect them to adapt as well as they have. Many of them fully expected to have been brought here as fodder, and nothing more. But as time went on, they have become true citizens of this town," Mislan explained, and Eiro let out a relieved breath.

"Perfect. Alright, then let me go and talk to the leaders. Let's hope things are just as good over there."