Chapter 541: Six of Wands

"We have a winner! Eiro Jura Daemonherz has been officially chosen as one of the Hero's Companions!" An announcement was called out throughout the arena and its surrounding areas through the use of magic, and the audience erupted into loud cheers. So for now, Eiro of course had to put on a bit of a show. He waved at the audience, and he held a small speech. This time, he didn't do anything to shock the audience, but rather tried to put on the act of a truly good-natured man that wanted to do nothing but put his life on the line to help kill the Monster King.

Meanwhile, the transmigrator was carried out of the center of the arena while everything was going on. Soon enough, after Eiro answered some questions, he stepped out of the arena, and soon saw a woman standing in front of him. She had dark skin with ash-grey tattoos covering her arms and legs, as well as a few smaller symbols placed around her eyes and mouth.

She slightly smiled as she looked at Eiro, "Baron Daemonherz. Could you please follow me for a moment?"

"Sure. I assume this is about the hero?" The Demon asked, and the woman quickly nodded her head, "Of course. My name is Silia, I come from the Baram Kingdom as a representative to make sure that the tournament follows the proper rules. Now that you have won, I would like to talk to you about what will happen next. But I would rather do so in a private space, where there is little chance to be listened in on."

Eiro crossed his arms for a moment, "Then how about... we meet at the royal castle later? I would like to speak to my latest opponent for a short while first." The Demon explained, and Silia quickly nodded her head, "Of course. Go ahead. As long as we discuss everything by the end of the day, we can postpone the discussion slightly."

And so, Silia turned around and made her way toward the royal castle alone, while Eiro started walking through the structure to meet with the transmigrator again. He was currently laying in a room where he was being healed, and Eiro stepped through the door and looked at the healer.

"Leave." Eiro said bluntly, and the healer looked at Eiro confused, "I said leave." The Demon repeated, this time exerting a bit more pressure through his voice. The healer flinched and stepped away from the transmigrator, and rushed out of the room, before Eiro spread the liquid of the ace of cups around the room so that he could talk to the transmigrator without being bothered.

He held his hand forward, and watched the wounds on the transmigrator's body disappear, before he slowly woke up.

"Urgh..." He groaned, jumping up immediately when he saw Eiro. But the Demon immediately moved closer toward him and pressed his dagger onto the man's throat.

"Don't even try, alright?" The Demon said with a growling voice, "I'm just here to talk."

"Really? I didn't know they talk by holding metal to another's throat in this world..." The man pointed out, and Eiro rolled his eyes as he pulled the dagger away, "Just explain to me. Why did you reverse Krog's personality."

"Krog? Who that?" The transmigrator asked, and Eiro stared back perplexed, "You fought him earlier today. You used that 'reversal' ability on him."

"Ah. That guy. Yeah, he was pretty strong, so I had to use it to overwhelm him properly without, like, killing him." 

"Just learn some restraint next time, and you won't have to do something that might permanently change a person." Eiro frowned, "You are clearly powerful enough to take Krog on without all that trickery, but you did."

"Well, it's just hard, y'know? I tried, but my body changed all of a sudden when I came here, and I can't really hold back. I learned how to fight instantly... how am I supposed to figure out how to hold back?" The transmigrator pointed out, speaking as if it wasn't really his problem, "It was a lot easier to just use my other powers."

"Speaking of. What are those powers? Where do they come from? Are they unique skills?" 

"Nah, it's called a 'blessing'. Like close to nobody has those apparently, so you maybe haven't heard of it." The transmigrator explained, and Eiro frowned deeply as he looked back at the man, "Is it a deity's blessing?"

The man quickly shrugged, "Something like that. At least it's called 'Goddess of Negativity's Blessing'."

"Goddess of Negativity? Is she the one that summoned you to this world?"

"I think so." The man replied, "Told me to go and kill the Monster King for her or something. Then I heard about this tournament, and figured I'd enter. It was an easy way to do it, right? The hero is supposed to kill the monster king, so it just made sense."

"...You have a point. But also, you won't be killing the Monster King. If I could beat you, you have no chance against him." Eiro pointed out, "But anyway, now that I know what your goal is, how did you get to this world?"

"Oh, I really didn't do anything. I was sitting in my room, playing games and stuff, and then suddenly this big fucking magic circle appears under me, and then poof, I'm here, a bunch of information flows into my head, and I just start walkin'." The transmigrator explained, and Eiro looked back at him a bit surprised, "Alright then. For now, stay in the capital. I will come to talk to you again in the future." Eiro said, pulling away the influence of the domain of truth mixed into his charisma, and immediately, the transmigrator looked at him confused.

"How did- Why did I just tell you all of that?" He asked, and Eiro smiled at him, "I have my ways to make people talk."

Eiro stepped out of the room, and made his way through the arena again. Now, he just had to meet with one more person before briefly meeting with his friends and family, and then heading to the royal castle for the meeting with the representative of the country the current Hero incarnated in.

It seemed like his next 'target' was tyring to get away as soon as possible though, something that Eiro really didn't appreciate too much. She was nervous, and was being dragged along by her furious father. And then, from one moment to another, Eiro appeared before them and brought the two to a more isolated place.

The father-daughter pair stared at Eiro, unsure what just happened. Evelyn ground her teeth together as she stared back at him, "Are you going to kill me now?"

"No, of course not. But I'll do something else." Eiro said as he leaned forward, stretching his hand out toward her chest. He grabbed the amulet hanging from her neck, and pulled it off of her with a single swift motion.

"N-No, anything but that! Please, don't take it from me!" She exclaimed, but Eiro just glared back at her as he rolled his eyes, "Just shut it." Eiro growled, as he pulled the bloodstone out of the amulet's socket. And then, the Demon just placed it into his mouth and bit down on it.

It was hard, much, much harder than metal, so Eiro figured he should just swallow it whole. It was a card, so it was near impossible to crush like that anyway. His unique stomach acids might be able to help him integrate it into his body, however. The large gemstone was forced down Eiro's throat, and soon landed in his stomach.

It didn't take long for a notification to appear in front of his eyes.

[You have integrated the {Six of Wands} into your body, and made it your own]

[1/14 Cards of the Suit of Wands acquired]

[5/56 Cards of the Minor Arcana acquired]

[Aptitude with the Fire Element increased]

"Great." Eiro said with a smile on his face. This artifact was now properly fused into his body, making a certain few things a lot easier for him. For one, it couldn't be stolen from him, and nobody would know that he even had it even when he used it freely.

Eiro took a deep breath as he looked at the two individuals in front of him. He could sense their blood in an intricate way now. It was different to how Eiro sensed it normally, through sound and scent, but it was like he had gotten another sense altogether just for figuring out where blood was.

"Interesting. Anyway, that's it. You can go back to your miserable little lives now." Eiro said as he walked away, while Evelyn started sobbing behind him. He didn't care, though. She was vile, she was a villain. She deserved death more than just this artifact being stolen from her. So she should be happy about that.

Eiro made his way back to the arena, playing around with his new abilities that came from the bloodstoen, while Bavet whispered into his ear, "This is all so stressful, man... I'm the only one that knows all the things you get up to, right?"

"Well yeah, but that just shows how much I trust you, right?"

"Either that, or it's just that you don't see me as enough of a threat, so you just treat me like a tool. And why would you bother whispering around a hammer, you know?" Bavet pointed out, and Eiro stayed silent for a few moments, before pointing out, "Armodeus trusts his hammer a lot, you know?"

"Alright, let's move on..."