Capital City of Morduhn
Awhen
October 1st
Year 1053
After Eliza's Birthday in September, Evan embarked on a journey with the girl; their destination being her ho country of Vathax.
As they were on their way to the low-key Major World Power Nation, the two stopped over in every country they passed on the way, enjoying themselves for a few days before leaving.
During the ti they spent in the Dwarven-ruled Nation of Awhen, Eliza had made an appointnt with a Hair and Nail salon.
On the first day of October, she had gone to get her hair done and Evan who had zero desire to sit at the salon's waiting area, was busy exploring the Nation's capital.
He had two reasons for this.
One was to scour the city for all the variations of Strawberry Wine he could find.
The other was to lure out the person who had been tailing them ever since they entered Awhen.
Evan had noticed that soone had been watching them for the past 3 days, and when he brought this up with Eliza, the girl was shocked as she hadn't noticed anyone.
After pondering it, Evan realised that whoever this tail was, Eliza probably hadn't noticed them because they hadn't so much as glanced at her. This ant their focus was on Evan alone.
The thing was that Evan and Eliza had been inseparable since they got to Awhen, so he guessed that they were refraining from approaching him since Eliza was nearby.
As such, he decided to move around alone and see if he'd lure this person out.
He had only just gone to the second wine shop and was about to cross the road when the tail finally showed themselves.
"Hey, there."
Evan stopped in his tracks when he heard this, his expression stiffening for a split second.
'No way…right?'
Finally, he turned around and the person he laid eyes upon was the sa one he had just guessed was behind him.
It was a teenage girl a year older than he was, with pale skin and long silver-white hair styled in a long braid which she kept over her shoulder.
Like the last ti he saw her, she wore a one-piece dress that reached below her knees and a simple pair of white sandals.
She had zero accessories and no makeup on, but her natural beauty still had heads turning in her direction.
However, most raised brows in confusion when they saw the black blindfold that covered her eyes, with a single diamond in the centre of the fabric, right over her nose.
She had one hand behind her back and her other hand was held up, waving at him lightly.
"It's October now so…Happy Birthday in advance, I guess?"
There was an awkward air about her, almost as if she didn't know what to say to Evan and just picked the first thing that crossed her mind in an attempt to be friendly.
But contrary to her amiable deanour, Evan's eyes turned frosty and a tiny bit of hostility seeped through.
She quickly noticed this and raised both hands in surrender before speaking.
"Wait…I just want to talk!"
"…"
Evan regarded her with a silent gaze, but she could sense his tolerance of her presence wasn't increasing and it made her panic a bit.
"I-I heard about what happened during the war and everything... I was w-worried and wanted to check on you. I would have co sooner, but Abby was watching like a hawk, and then you just vanished, so I had to wait until now..."
Hearing her words, Evan remained silent for a mont, before sighing with exasperation. Turning around, he said.
"Follow ."
At first, Agnes stared at him dumbfoundedly, but then she snapped out of her daze and quickly rushed to catch up to him before he disappeared into the sea of people busily moving around.
Evan walked straight to a nearby restaurant and booked a private room that offered a nice view of the city around them before sitting down and placing an order.
Agnes who followed him wanted to speak up on nurous occasions but Evan's silent deanour scared her out of it.
"You wouldn't order?"
"…h-huh? I can?"
"You can choose not to."
He shrugged nonchalantly, not bothered about whether she'd regret not choosing to order when she saw what he was getting for himself.
Agnes on the other hand, was surprised at how tolerant Evan was of her, a stark contrast to the hostility he showed just minutes earlier.
She also didn't know what he was feeling at this mont since she was actively restraining herself from using her Unique Eyes on him.
The girl didn't trust herself to have a calm reaction when she saw what Evan's Soul looked like after the multiple evolutions it had gone through so she refrained from using it on him…in his presence, that is.
She picked up the nu, only to rember that she could not see the text written on it. Not too surprising, as she lacked conventional sight.
Her forgetting this detail revealed just how unsettled, and jittery she was around Evan.
"They have a Braille. Here."
Evan noticed her awkward situation and helped her out, passing over the nu created for the visually impaired people.
As for how she was able to navigate her way across the town earlier despite being blind, it was simple. Agnes had learnt a Spatial Perception skill so although she could not 'see', she could still know where people and objects were since they occupied 'space' in the third dinsion.
With that out of the way, they ordered their food and while they were waiting for their al, Agnes tried to make small talk, however, she couldn't think of any topic.
"A Homunculus again?"
Hearing Evan's question, she nodded repeatedly after a mont of silence before speaking.
"Although I didn't co here with hostile intent…I'm still affiliated with people you consider enemies so, I'd rather not put my real body within reach of you, Evan."
Pretty wise decision, as her real body getting killed ant 'Ga Over' for her and the current Evan was strong enough to do that in a single full-powered strike.
"Abby would be so pissed when she finds out I took this prototype Homunculus…"
She laughed lightly as she spoke while Evan just propped up his chin on his palm and stared at her without a word.
From his point of view, aside the fact that her power in this Homunculus was limited to the Peak of the Master Realm unlike the previous one which was a Grandmaster, there was no other difference between the two.
But he guessed there were so other internal issues he didn't know about.
'I wonder…just who is that person with Abigail that made her create Homunculi in the first place…'
While Evan was sinking into his thoughts, Agnes suddenly got up from her seat and bowed her head to him.
The boy blinked repeatedly with confusion etched on his face before finally asking.
"…what's this about?"
Agnes took a very deep breath, before speaking.
"First of all, I want to apologize."
"Apologize?"
"Yes…I may have gotten a bit in over my head last ti…"
Seeing her fidgeting as she spoke, Evan felt weirded out as her behaviour was starkly different from before. Still, he had so words to say regarding this 'Apology' of hers.
"You think it was just 'a bit'? Remind who it was that tried to subjugate my soul again?"
Agnes flinched when Evan ntioned this and she was scared he was still pissed. Contrary to her thoughts, Evan was actually thankful to her for this, as it was thanks to her that he was able to figure out so things about himself that he didn't know before.
A LOT of things that Artemisia and EOTD were hiding from him.
Information about his previous incarnation and the like.
So, the boy was genuinely grateful to her, but then he thought about things while excluding the benefits he gained and figured he had every right to be pissed.
'But being angry now is pointless.
Besides, I did want to have a word with her…'
"Apology accepted. But if you try sothing like that again, I can assure you, you won't even know how you died."
Despite the blatant threat, Agnes was all smiles with Evan, as if a heavy load had been taken off her chest.
But as if that beautiful smile of hers was all a lie, her expression hardened in the next mont and Evan nearly asked her if it was that ti of the month for her or sothing with all the mood swings she was having.
"Um…I ca to talk to you about sothing."
"I'm listening."
"…can…you promise you'd hear out first before you automatically shoot down."
Hearing her, Evan chuckled lightly and leaned back on his seat, retrieving a wine bottle from his inventory as he spoke.
"Of course, I'd hear you out. I'm a magnanimous person, after all."
Pouring a drink into his empty glass, he continued.
"Besides, it's not like you ca to tell to join the Demonic Hand or sothing."
"…"
When Evan said this, Agnes went silent, even until he finished pouring the wine into his glass. Setting the bottle down, he looked up at the girl before him and asked.
"No way…right?"
"…"
Agnes remained silent and that was enough of an affirmation for Evan.
"You're joking."
"…that's kind of why I ca to et you, Evan."
The girl took a deep breath and took off her blindfold, opening her eyes and looking at Evan with the most 'earnest' gaze she could muster as she asked a question that'd make anyone wonder if she was crazy.
"Evan, would you consider joining the 'Demonic Hand'?"
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