Chapter 516: The thing about the ladies

Eiro landed in an empty alleyway near the guild, and quickly pulled his wings into his back again. Once his skin closed up, the Demon swiftly stepped out of the alley and walked over toward the guild's entrance. It seemed like there were already a few people getting quite rowdy and loud inside, as one would expect from adventurers.

After pushing the door open, Eiro immediately made his way to the closed-off, private section to join the others. James, Jess and Krog were also already sitting around, talking to, surprisingly, Biril and Hijar. The warriors in particular seemed to be getting along quite well overall. As he walked through the crowd, Eiro quickly greeted everyone, before sitting down at the table with his party, as well as the two beastmen.

"Sorry I'm late, some things unexpectedly extended the meeting outward." Eiro explained, as Krog immediately pushed a large mug of beer in front of the Demon, "Eh, don't worry about it. We've been having fun without ya."

"I can see that." Eiro replied, as he slowly picked up the mug, placing it against his lips.

"It has been quite fun, yes. Your companions are incredibly interesting folk, Eiro." Biril explained, and Eiro slowly nodded his head as he poured the whole mug of beer down his throat in one go. He placed the empty mug onto the table in front of him again as he smiled at the others, "Yep, they really are. Did you know that the first time the four of us met, we actually fought against each other?"

"Huh? Wait, what? Why?" Hijar asked confused, "You seem like such good friends!"

"Well, we are, but Eiro is quite stuck-up sometimes." James pointed out, "Especially back then, he was weirdly religious."

"It's not a religion, James. I was a servant and guide to the four ladies, and you guys disrespected a place that was important to them and the town."

"I don't know, that sounds like a religion to me." James shrugged, and Eiro let out a deep sigh, as Krog chuckled slightly, "To be fair, while many others swear things upon the gods, you swear things upon the Lady of Winter."

"Yes, because I might as well go up in flames if I swear things to the gods." Eiro sighed deeply, as James rolled his eyes, "Says the guy that got a private audience with the Great God."

Immediately as James said this, Eiro's expression went blank, as he slowly turned his head to the side, "Could you... two ignore that?" He asked of Biril and Hijar, both of which were unable to properly follow along with the conversation.

"Wait, sorry, but... we are not particularly familiar with the gods, or know at all whatever those four women are, could you explain? What does an audience with the great god entail?" Biril asked curiously, and Eiro let out a deep sigh, "See? This is why you should think before you speak, James... You two, could you try and keep this a secret? Luckily nobody else really heard, it is quite loud here. And if you guys don't know much about the gods in the first place, then it doesn't really matter, right? I will, however, gladly talk to you about the four ladies. Except the lady of autumn, she's a bitch."

Hijar grinned broadly as he leaned back, "Honestly, I don't know why you people put so much importance in the gods anyway. What did they ever do for you? Those ladies, however, sound kinda fun, y'know?" Hijar pointed out, "They coming tonight? It'd be great to meet them."

Eiro chuckled as he immediately shook his head, "No, they're not. They're not what you think they are. You guys know about spirits, right? I mean, you saw them last night, at least."

"Yes, we do. Are those women spirits, then?" Biril asked.

"They are actually, yeah. In a way. You see, each magical element, in some way, shape or form, has spirits that belong to its domain. The most common ones being spirits of fire, earth, water and air. When it comes to other elements, they're simply... quite rare, or don't have the ability to travel outside their elemental planes. I think it has something to do with the power of the spirit kings and queens, but that's not really the point. Either way, back when the world formed and the first spirits had been birthed, and with that the first kings and queens, they were each given a domain to rule over. And that is the elements that they now represent. At the same time, though, there are some forces of nature that lay outside of the direct influence of elements." Eiro explained, "Earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes... Those seem like they would belong to the earth, water, and air domains respectively, but they actually don't. To an extent, sure, but they are the sort of powerful force that needs its own ruler. That's why there are smaller sub-groups of spirits that don't specifically rule over elements, but concepts of nature."

"Wait, what? I thought the ladies rule over advanced elements and stuff." James pointed out, and Eiro slowly shook his head, "Kind of, but not directly. The first lady of winter, for example, was an ice spirit before she was chosen to rule over winter itself."

"Alright, so these 'ladies' are spirits? And by the name lady of winter... they're the spirits of the seasons?"

"Yep, exactly right." Eiro replied to Biril, who curiously listened to what he had to say, "So, the four ladies, right along the solstices or equinoxes of their respective seasons, will come to this realm and initiate the seasons. My master, the man I consider my father, became the guide of these ladies by chance, and then later took me along to help him out. I quickly befriended the ladies." Eiro explained, "I lived in that forest for seven years, collected offerings for the ladies, and then helped them find their way to the city, where they would be given offerings by the people of the town, before truly starting their season. Then, they would go into a slumber in their spirit realm, while their husbands, the lords of the seasons, would supervise everything and make sure that the powers of the lords of winter would work properly." 

"So yer tellin' me that the reason we've been gettin' four seasons for the past seven years was you? That ain't how it works though..." Someone else pointed out. It seemed like while Eiro was so enthusiastically telling his story, other people had started listening in, and a small circle had formed around Eiro's table. The Demon laughed and nodded his head, "Of course not, I'm aware of that. With or without the ladies, the seasons would have happened. However, this world gives off magic through every single one of its pores, and during the different seasons, that magic can cause some issues. The seasons would run wild and cause uncontrollable damages. Certain places would freeze over completely for winter, and then turn into deserts a few months later. What the ladies do is bring order into this magic, so that nature can survive." Eiro explained, "Wild magic is much more dangerous than you might think."

A mage that was listening as well quickly squinted at Eiro as he finished speaking, "And what makes you an expert on this topic?" 

"Well, for one, it's that my curiosity brought me to ask any questions I had, and the ladies were kind enough to answer me. And also, I have been blessed by one of them." Eiro explained, and immediately, all those that had even the slightest idea what a spirit's blessing meant started to freak out, "You have a spirit's blessing?! Wait, but if you're an ice mage, how did you use all that other magic so well yesterday..?"

"Oh, it's because I'm not an ice mage. I'm an Elemental Mage. I have affinities for quite a few different elements, and I have awakened most of them as a skill already as well. And of course, the blessing of the Lady of Winter is not the only one I received. I have been blessed by the former Naiad Queen, who is now known as the 'lonely naiad', and the current Salamander King."

"Alright, now we know that you're fuckin' with us! How do we know that's even true?" Someone asked, and Eiro quickly snapped his fingers, summoning Nelli and Sarius.

"Oi, of course that's true! Why else would I form a contract with this guy?" Sarius asked with a grin, and Nelli let out a deep sigh, wanting to snuff out the salamander's face again, "To put it on record, I did not form a contract with Eiro because of his blessings, but because he is someone I trusted for seven years prior already." Nelli added.

With this revelation from two spirits themselves, it seemed like everyone immediately believed Eiro's words. It was incredible, and especially the mages had plenty of questions for him. Eiro happily answered them, albeit leaving a few details out. He no longer wanted to hide many of these things from others anymore. He wanted to spread his name as far as he could, to give him immense influence in different places. After all, there were many things that he needed to do that required such influence to be connected to his name. The fact that he was impressing so many of these people here even further than last night meant that many rumors would spread to the kings of their respective countries, so this whole situation was more than useful to him. But even so, the moment a particular person stepped into the guild, Eiro stopped answering some questions, and stood up to greet her.