Chapter 416: Center of attention

Eiro swiftly turned around, "Sorry, I just saw someone else that I wanted to talk to for a bit." He said to Duke Melachine, who immediately nodded his head, "Of course! Go ahead, don't let me keep you here!"

And so, Eiro looked forward, locking eyes with Evelyn James. She was standing there, acting as calm as she could, but her heart showed that she was incredibly nervous. The Demon slowly walked toward her, and she didn't move a step away. Eiro didn't know if it was because she didn't want to, or because she was too nervous too. He didn't really care much either.

"It's nice to see you again." Eiro said. The woman in front of him held her own arms, "What do you want? You tricked your way into the mind of the King already, so you have what you wanted."

Eiro groaned and rubbed the bridge of his nose, "I have not done that. Can't you finally understand that I'm not a regular monster?"

"Hah, right. You're not. If you really killed 'the Death', you're going to be a royal pretty soon." Evelyn replied, but Eiro was pretty annoyed, "That was already the case long ago, since I also killed 'the World'. I'm not a royal yet, by the way, meaning that in another fifteen levels, you really won't have a chance against me anymore at all."

"I truly despise you. You make me sick to my stomach. Beings like you shouldn't exist, you know that?" With a deep glare, Evelyn locked eyes with Eiro, before another voice intervened.

"Oi, you dumb fucking bitch, who'd you think you are? Eiro's the dude that the great me formed a contract with! So shut the fuck up, will you?" Sarius swore at Evelyn, who turned her head surprised. She wasn't particularly impressed, however, "So what? You're just some second-rate fire spirit anyway!"

"Eh? Who'd you call second-rate, you dumb cunt? I'm set to be the King in the future! And by the way, the current Salamander King blessed him, so get off your high horse and kneel in front of this literal legend behind me, bitch!" His voice getting louder and louder, Sarius soon yelled at Evelyn directly, causing some people to stare in this direction, while Evelyn was just chuckling to herself.

"Heh, right, good joke. Why would the Salamander King bless a De-"

"Just be quiet now, Evelyn. You know the reason why I didn't kill you yet. But after that time is over and I crushed you in front of everyone in this city, I won't have that reason anymore. So be careful who you antagonize from now on." Eiro said bluntly, and quickly turned around. But what was in front of him wasn't a straight path so that he could go meet other nobles, but a young man stood behind him.

"What did you do..? What did you do to cheat your way here?!" He yelled, and Eiro just rolled his eyes, "I think you're being a bit disrespectful to one of your teachers, especially during this occasion, Richard."

"Oh, who gives a shit about disrespect! I'm a Duke's son, you're just a fucking baron anyway! So just-" Richard's voice reverberated through the room, before someone pulled on his shoulder. Richard was interrupted as he turned around, "Who the fuck do you think you are, touching me like thi-"

This time, Richard was interrupted by the loud sound of a slap created by this person's hand hitting his own face, "No, who do you think you are?" Charles asked, "Eiro is a benefactor to our family. He's the man that saved me and my father from despair. The man set to becoming one of the hero's companions, and is probably the most powerful person here in this city. And you, a mere child of a noble who barely achieved the status of student representative for the physical combat division thinks less of this man? He who worked for the a position you were born into?"

Richard glared back at Charles, but couldn't say anything. Richard's hands turned into fists, and Eiro let out a deep sigh, "I'm thankful that you're defending me, Charles. But there's no need to do this in front of everyone here, is there?"

Charles looked around himself, not seeing much of a problem in front of all these nobles, "Well, he's the one that insulted you here, so I took care of this here as well."

"Do not dare defend me, you-"

"Richard. Shut up." Eiro said with a deep glare, and the young man flinched, "You're already an adult, and even though you are a student, you are in no position to be treated like a child. I try my best to treat you with respect, but I also have my limits."

Richard turned his head toward Duke Melachine, "Father! Will you allow him to speak to me like that?!"

Eiro rubbed the bridge of his nose annoyed, watching as this whole thing escalated beyond what Eiro wanted to deal with right here, right now.

And before Duke Melachine could say anything, Eiro grabbed Richard's shoulder and applied direct pressure to him as he momentarily stopped time for himself and Richard, "Two hours ago, I was in the midst of a battle in which I could have very well lost my life, with one of the most powerful monstrosities in this world. A being that adapted to every single one of my attacks until it was nearly impossible for me to even do a single point of damage to it. And even then, you are much more of a pain to deal with. Grow up, and stop being a brat that can do nothing but rely on your father."

"Wh-What do you-"

"No, stop. As I just said, I tried to respect you, but you have now made it utterly impossible for me to do that. Just let me make it clear. Every single person you hire to attack me will die from my hands starting now. If you even think about once more antagonizing me or my family, you will have to face the man that killed a royal. I thought I made it clear when I literally stabbed you alredy. Leave. Me. Alone." Eiro told Charles, his voice becoming angrier and angrier as he spoke, while Richard just stood there, staring back.

"I'm not afraid of you!" Richard replied, "You are nothing but a vile man!"

"I know you're not scared of me. But I know what you are scared of. You are scared of being a nobody. Of being powerless yourself. Of being unable to control the situation you're in." Eiro explained, and for the first time, Richard's heart beat stronger out of fear instead of anger, "You see, being a prosthetist, I know a lot of the human body. I know which parts are necessary, and which parts can be... disposed of. And being an adventurer, I know where to strike someone to be lethal, and where one can survive an attack rather easily, even despite the pain that comes with it."

"Are you threatening that you'll kill me?"

"No, I won't kill you. For someone like you, death is not the right punishment. And that's because you're not scared of death. Instead, I will make sure you will never be able to rise to the position you want. You will never be acknowledged by anyone. I will take your power and control, turning your body into a lifeless mass, with your mind stuck inside of it. And I will do it in a way where nobody can ever hope to heal you, but can only prolong your life. Whether you live or die will no longer be up to you." Eiro's hand slid away from Richard's shoulder, and he instead touched his fingers against the young man's neck, pressing right onto his spine, "It will be up to everyone else."

And just like that, Eiro made time proceed again. Time runs out twice as fast when two people are using the ring, so this just cost Eiro quite a bit of time on it. But it was rather effective. Richard's whole body froze up as Eiro left, "Please just stop this, Richard. For everyone's sake." The Demon said, and turned back around.

Duke Melachine proceeded to pull on his son's arm, dragging him out of the room angrily. In the distance, Eiro could soon hear both of them yelling, while Eiro finally had the chance to move on. And finally, some of the nobles chose to speak to Eiro. They were actually rather respectful, complimenting Eiro on this achievement and his new title. Most of them were actually rather sincere, which surprised Eiro even more. There were still those that just said it without actually meaning it, but amongst those that came up to Eiro on their own, most were good-natured.

They seemed to actively respect Eiro due to his achievements. It would be rather weird of nobody respected him, actually, considering his achievement.

Some of the nobles already invited Eiro to some other parties or simply to dinner. Others were attempting to just do smalltalk with him. Anything to get on his good side, really. If Eiro was really going to be the hero's companion, which many people here assumed now, then it was perfect to be on good terms with him.

Of course not everyone had such intentions in getting close to him, but there were certainly quite few. At the end of the day, Eiro figured that something like this was going to happen. This party wasn't just for pure enjoyment for the nobles either, it was largely so that they could network with each other. There weren't only just nobles here after all, but also powerful merchants that could be useful for the nobles to get to know.

But since Eiro didn't care about the networking part, and simply wanted people to not completely be against him, he didn't really try to actively talk to someone. Not that he had to. He was the center of attention now, and nearly everyone wanted to get a chance to speak to him.