Chapter 103 - Lady of Winter

Eiro pushed his feet into his boots and pulled his cloak over his body like usual, and then grabbed the different plants and other materials he had gathered for the Lady of Winter, before then once more turning around to look at the children.

"Better stay inside most of the day tomorrow, the snow on the Solstice is always really strong. And again, if anything happens, just have the Puppet defend you, alright?" Eiro asked of them all, and they swiftly nodded their heads, "Of course, of course, now get going or you'll be too late!" Sammy exclaimed, and the Demon just lightly chuckled before nodding his head.

"Fine, fine. I'll be back tomorrow night. And don't stay up too late, alright? You can look at the Auroras if you want, but if the sun comes up-"

"We get it! Now go!" Arc interrupted the Imp, who just stared back at the boy with a light frown, "You don't have to get so mean about it... Anyway, see you all tomorrow." Eiro said with a light sigh before stepping out of the door right into the deep snow that had already gathered in front of him, although Eiro had no issue just pushing it away with his Ice Magic.

Like this, with Lugo right behind him helping him carry some of the materials to the place where they would meet the Lady of Winter and her daughters, the Demon, the Spirit, and the Stag made their way to the place that the ladies appeared every single time.

It was a small open space hidden inbetween thick trees, and it was hard to look into the clearing from the outside even in winter, where most plants were simply dead. But even if that was the case usually, now on the day before the day of the Solstice, numerous unique plants that were not a thing usually were growing.

And in this plane of Winter-blossoms, Eiro kneeled down and waited for the arrival of the Lady of winter. Just a couple of hours later, he already noticed exactly this happening. The snow started falling more quickly and more intense, to the level of a dense snowstorm, and just as quickly as it appeared it disappeared as well, leaving behind the large figure of the Lady of Winter that was towering over the Demon.

With a smile on his face, Eiro extended his arms forward to give the first offer to the Lady, which one of the Daughters of Winter swiftly took, before Eiro took the next and then the next, giving each offering to another one of the daughters, with the exception of the youngest of these. Over the years, the Daughters actually seemed to age a bit as well, and grew taller and more mature, although they were still just children in Eiro's eyes.

"It has been a while, young Demon." The Lady of Winter said once all of the gifts had been given out, and Eiro himself swiftly raised his head, "Indeed so, my Lady." He replied, and soon, the Lady of Winter looked around confusedly, "Is Sir Jura not accompanying you this year?" She asked, and Eiro simply started to look down onto the ground with a bitter expression.

"Jura, he passed two months ago..." Eiro explained, and once he noticed that the Lady seemed rather surprised and even borderline shocked at this, the Demon started to tell her about what exactly happened since then. About how he inherited Jura's card, about how he had to leave in a year, and about how there were men in town that wanted to speak to the ladies.

"I see..." The Lady muttered quietly after she heard Eiro speak of this all, and then looked down at him, "I understand that you wish to leave for the sake of those children. However, I hope that this shall not be the last time I get to meet you. If you promise me such, then I do not mind setting you free of your role. My Sisters should feel the same." The Lady of Winter explained, and then her expression was twisted into one that bordered on anger and disgust, "However, those men you spoke of... They seem quite conceited, do they not?"

With a swift nod, Eiro nodded his head in response, "First, thank you for being so kind, my Lady. As for those men, yes, I would also say they are rather conceited. But no matter how conceited you are, I do have a favor that I would like to ask you in relation to them." Eiro explained, and the Lady of Winter looked down onto him curiously, with her mouth hidden by her arm and the robes that were hanging down from it.

"What kind of favor would that be? You don't wish to ask me to actually help them, do you?" Lady Winter asked, and Eiro just immediately shook his head.

"Oh, no, don't worry, it's not that in the slightest. Well, kind of, now that I think about it..." Eiro started, making the Lady of Winter even more curious about what this Demon was planning, so he himself just grinned a bit and held his hands behind his back, "The Favor I would like to ask of you is rather simple. I want you to pretend to help them, but only after they got the three other Ladies to agree as well, or at least in a similar fashion to you. I don't mean to say that I know what you four are like, but I am sure that all of you would appreciate a little something to entertain you every once in a while, wouldn't you?" The Demon pointed out, and the Lady of Winter swiftly started to chuckle in a low voice.

"Interesting, interesting... And what would the goal of this be?" The Lady of Winter asked, and Eiro explained it quite quickly, "Well, I want them to believe that I can actually help them so that they won't end up bothering me too much while I'm still here. And of course, I want them to believe that everything is going as planned, so that they won't end up calling for reinforcements. Because if they do, it will be much, much harder to kill them all a year from now." Eiro explained with a grin, and the Lady of Winter looked down at him with an amused expression still hidden behind her garments and her arm.

"Interesting... I knew it was worth it to give you my blessing, young Demon... I will play along, it should not be too hard to fool men like that if they truly are as simple as you say they are." She pointed out, and then looked down onto him, "Since this 'favor' is one that seems to work out in both of our favors, for your victory a year from now and for my amus.e.m.e.nt, let me give my blessed one another small gift. One to say farewell, while at the same time being a promise to meet again." The Lady said, and then extended her arm forward toward him, holding her palm upward as if waiting for something to be placed down on it.

"Give me that flower that you received as a gift then." Lady Winter said, and curiously, the Demon nodded his head and grabbed it from his Treasury before placing it down onto the Lady's palm.

She then pulled her arm back a bit and looked at the Demon with a light smile as she enclosed the Flower of ice in both her hands. A cold energy encased her body as this was happening, being pulled into the center of her hands into the flower, as Eiro could now tell with his new senses, and then, the Lady extended her hand back forward.

The flower had now changed a fair bit... And with a 'Fair Bit', Eiro meant that it wasn't a flower anymore. Well, at least it wasn't a flower yet? It had returned to the stage of a bud, one larger than the actual flower had been beforehand, even.

"What is this?" Eiro asked as he took the bud of ice into both of his hands, and the Lady of Winter swiftly spoke, "Once you are ready, and one of my daughters matured enough to be given such a task, it will bloom once more and a new Spirit will be born into this world made from the essence of that daughter. A Spirit that, much like the Naiad currently accompanying you, will hopefully become a dear companion to you." The Lady explained, and Eiro raised his brows in surprise.

At some point, a Spirit that he could contract would be born from this? And that Spirit would technically be one of the Lady's daughters? That seemed like an amazing thing, but even then...

"Thank you, my Lady, but I do not know if I can accept this. I am grateful that you would allow me to contract one of your Daughters, but I don't think that is a choice you yourself should make, but the Daughter that would be chosen to become that Spirit." Eiro explained, and with a light laugh, the Lady of Winter nodded her head.

"Of course, dear Eiro. I would not have given you this if there was not one of my daughters that already wished to become your companion." The Lady explained, looking down to her side onto the youngest of the Daughters.

When Eiro first met the Lady of Winter, he had given her this very Ice-Flower and was then given it as a gift at the end. It seemed like she really took a liking to Eiro since then. "Is that so?" The Demon asked, "If one of your daughters truly wants to become my companion, I will gladly accept this gift from you, my Lady." Eiro explained, and the Lady could not help herself but laugh a slight bit in response to what the Demon just said.

"It truly puzzles me..." She said quietly, "In one breath, you speak of the murder of men, and in the next you are so compassionate to another being." The Lady of Winter pointed out, and Eiro simply looked up at her with a light smile on his face.

"Well of course. There is no reason to treat you or these children in any manner other than with compassion. Those men, however, don't deserve anything but my disgust." The Demon explained, and the Lady of Winter slowly nodded her head.

"Then let me see those men now. Shall we go?" The Lady suggested, and Eiro swiftly nodded his head and turned around toward Lugo to tell him to stand up again since they would start walking, and then, they swiftly got started on making their way to town.

On their way, while usually with most others that were appointed as Guides, the Lady of Winter would be close to silent on her way there, but with Eiro it seemed like she couldn't help herself but speak about numerous different things.

And in this case, these things were Eiro's children, Sammy and Leon's seals, and of course Jura. When it came to that old man, it was really mostly the Lady speaking about him, since she had known him much, much longer than Eiro did, despite technically spending less time with him overall, since they had only seen each other once a year. But it seemed like nonetheless, the Lady of Winter had a few interesting stories to speak of when it came to Jura, which the Demon listened to with curiosity, all the way until they reached the Town, at which point both Eiro and the Lady quieted down and said their proper farewells to each other, since this would be the last time for them to meet until Eiro came back here a few years from now, as he promised in return for receiving the Bud of Ice.

And then, after that, Eiro placed his mask onto his face to hide the fact he was a Demon from Rumia and the Soldiers, and then followed the Lady of Winter into town toward the market, where the man in question was already waiting, in the one place that just showed his pure conceit and ignorance to the Lady of Winter right off the bat.

In the center of the four statues.