Chapter 466: Off to Sloklens
"Rachel’s New Uniform!"
"Huh?"
Arthur ignored the gazes they gave him and took pictures of the tag and the tattoo on the woman’s hand; the symbol he had seen on the uniform Rachel wore the day they reunited at the Mercenary Guild building.
’It’s related to the Starlight Fortress she was posted to.’
"Hey, Evan. We’re going to the North."
"North? Isn’t that the Aramisian territory?"
Evan questioned and the Inspector, as well as the other Demons who just returned from canvassing the area also looked towards Arthur with questioning gazes, wanting to know the reason for his sudden desire to enter enemy territory.
"I didn’t spend time in Duskhand doing nothing, you know?
I know someone who might be able to help us find who this woman is."
Arthur looked at the Inspector and told the man to inform Alvey that he was going to Sloklens, a major region in North Eastern Gledea.
He pulled out his contacts from his subspace and put them on to conceal his heterochromatic eyes. Turning towards Evan, he said.
"Let’s go."
With that, Arthur cast teleportation magic, enveloping them in swirling cosmic energy intermingled with spatial law power, and they vanished in a flash of silver light.
◇ ◇ ◇
Main City Street
Sloklens Region
April 3rd
531st Divine Year
"To think you can teleport across such a long distance..."
"Hmm? Why so surprised? It’s just the ’Greater Teleportation’ Spell. I don’t have much range with it."
Arthur responded to Evan’s mutter as they navigated the busy city streets. The teenage Rogue Hero looked up at Arthur with an indescribable look in his eyes, before sighing softly.
"I’ve seen a Transcendent use a Spatial Gate and cover less distance."
"Wait, what?"
Evan’s statement nearly had Arthur dropping the snack he just bought from a roadside stall. With his ’Greater Teleportation’, Arthur had covered a distance of nearly 700 kilometres in one teleportation.
Yet, he was just told that someone covered less than that with a Tier 6 Spell. It should be noted that Greater Teleportation was a Tier 4 Spell.
"Whoever that Transcendent is, they should abandon the law of space. Their affinity for it is abysmal."
That was the best advice Arthur had for such a person who had 50 kilometres as their maximum distance with a Spatial Gate.
"Poor Kolvar..."
Evan muttered a name under his breath, probably the name of the Transcendent in question as he looked at the cityscape around him.
"This sure as hell doesn’t look like a city in a warring continent..."
"What did you expect? The people living in fear?
They should be used to living under constant threat of war by now, and they know that they have no choice but to carry on like normal."
Hearing Arthur’s reply, the Rogue Hero nodded in affirmation. He had also been involved in a war in the past, and he had seen that despite the crisis, the people of that nation had gone on about their daily lives as normal.
’Or rather, like Arthur says...they have no choice but to.’
Suddenly, he noticed a small surge of Divinity and turned towards Arthur with widened eyes as the energy had come from the boy.
"Aren’t you supposed to be a godslayer? How the heck do you have Divinity?!"
Evan was shocked to see the energy the progenitor was emanating, while Arthur just looked at him with a raised brow, a moment before he recalled he hadn’t shown Evan this yet.
"My dad’s a god. It makes perfect sense for me to have Divinity."
"Wait, your dad’s a god?! And you’re a godslayer??"
Arthur was thankful he was using magic to isolate the sound of his and Evan’s conversation, otherwise, his loud voice would have surely attracted the attention of everyone on the bustling street.
"Yes, he is. The cosmos was playing a practical joke on the god race, making the Progenitor of their slayer be a kid of one of them."
As he responded, Arthur walked into a compound, offering a friendly wave to the security guards as he made his way up the stairs of one of the apartment buildings with familiarity in his movements.
Evan followed him silently, his mind a mess from the bombshells in the form of Arthur’s family dynamics he just found out.
"Mind if I ask what race your mother is?"
"Leviathan Devil."
"...I don’t even know what that is..."
Therefore, the Rogue Hero chose to set aside any attempts to rationalize how Arthur became a godslayer and simply trailed behind him, ascending to the fifth floor of the building.
He proceeded directly to the door of the apartment, pressing the doorbell repeatedly in quick succession.
*DING! DING!! DING!!! DING!!!!
"I think they should have heard you the first time..."
"Nahh. She’s probably sleeping by this time so I need to ring it more so she can wake up."
He continued pressing it as he spoke, suddenly ducking half a second before the door opened up and a fist punched the empty air where his head was a moment ago.
Arthur then stood back up and grabbed the outstretched hand, pulling its owner out of the apartment, drawing them close as his right arm encircled their waist.
"Hello, Rachel. It’s nice to see me, isn’t it?"
The brown-haired teenager’s brows twitched repeatedly as she saw the smile on Arthur’s face. Taking a deep breath to steady herself, she then proceeded to headbutt him.
"Ouch!"
"Serves you right for disturbing my sleep. Why on Aramis did I tell you my off days?"
She sighed once more, silently regretting her decision while Arthur who had taken 0 damage from her headbutt laughed as he swung his hand over her shoulder and replied.
"Because you wanted me to come visit you, isn’t that why?"
"..."
Arthur had expected her to snap back at him, but seeing her remain silent, the boy realised that his attempt at a joke had actually hit the nail on the head.
"Oh my, someone’s been missing me so much! Don’t worry, I’ll visit more often."
"Don’t push it, Arthur."
Rachel retorted with a glare, before her gaze moved to Evan who was wondering why Arthur’s power level had suddenly reduced to the Grandmaster Realm.
"Who’s this?"
"Ah, Rachel, meet Evan. He’s a Dragonkin who got yeeted through space by someone on Gozon’s side, separating him from his companions so he’s staying with me for a while till he can get back."
"Oh..."
It took Evan’s all to conceal the surprised expression that nearly appeared on his face when he heard Arthur’s words.
The reason being, not a single thing the Progenitor said had been a lie!
Once again, Arthur’s casual statement had hit the nail on the head, only that this time, the boy didn’t even know it.
"Sorry about that. I hope you get back safely."
"...thank you."
Rachel nodded before pulling Arthur into the apartment along with her. Evan followed them, turning to close the door behind him only for it to shut itself, and in that instant, he noticed three layers of magic seals activating.
’Well...security’s very tight.’
"You got that plushie we saw last time!"
Arthur’s sudden exclamation turned Evan’s attention away from the seals on the door to the sight of the silver-haired teen holding up a giant penguin plushie.
"Yeah, it went on discount like a week after you left for Zefesh."
Rachel responded as she returned to the living room with a tray containing strawberry drinks. The sight of the drinks made Evan’s eyes light up and he fast-walked his way over.
"Thank you."
"You’re welcome. I hope this silver idiot isn’t giving you a hard time..."
Evan chuckled lightly as he heard how Rachel referred to Arthur, glancing at him to see that Arthur didn’t seem to mind as he made his way into her kitchen.
"He’s not, I think?"
"You think? That sounds like he definitely is."
The girl shook her head with a sigh, before saying a line that surprised Evan.
"He’s been like this since the army. Becoming a Mercenary has only made him even worse..."
"Army? He was in the Army?"
Evan had appraised Rachel and he saw her title that clearly stated ’Master Sergeant of the Aramisian Coalition Army’, so the only army she could possibly be referring to was obvious.
Arthur entered just then, and Evan seized the opportunity to ask him about it, his question carrying a dual meaning.
"You’re Ex-Military?"
"Hmm? That sounds like a grand title for someone who only spent less than two weeks in the Aramisian Army."
The boy replied while raising his finger in front of his mouth, stylishly telling Evan to ’shush’.
"Rachel and I were in Duskhand together until the place went boom."
Rachel’s expression visibly darkened when Arthur said that, and she glared at him lightly.
"I actually thought you’d died, you know?"
"That makes two of us. What were the odds that the Inner City would get destroyed on the Day I left?"
Watching Arthur’s casual conversation with Rachel, Evan’s mouth behind his mask widened in surprise.
"That damned ’Silver Summoner’...he took advantage of General Duskhand’s absence."
"General Duskhand was still recuperating from the wounds he sustained against the ’Demon of Light’, after all."
Evan noticed a murderous glint flash in Rachel’s eyes when Arthur called Alvey’s title, and it was enough for the boy to know the girl had a personal vendetta against Alvey.
"The ’Demon of Light’ and the ’Silver Summoner’..."
Rachel clenched her fist so tightly that her nails bit into her palm as she spoke, barely being able to conceal the hatred in her tone.
Hearing her, Evan blinked in confusion, recalling the title he had seen on Arthur’s status earlier in the morning.
’Arthur IS the "Silver Summoner", isn’t he? He’s the one who destroyed Duskhand! And here he is acting like it’s someone else!’
Evan tried to appraise Arthur once more, but to his surprise, he didn’t see the boy’s normal status but the status of a Superior Grandmaster Realm S Tier Mercenary.
"Alright, enough talking about those two. Just hearing those titles ruins my mood."
Rachel ended the talk right there before getting up and heading to the kitchen to wash the little blood off her hands.
At that moment, Evan cast magic to isolate sound before looking at Arthur and asking.
"She doesn’t know you’re with the Demons?!"
"Does she look like she does?"
"..."
True, Rachel certainly didn’t appear to know Arthur was the same ’Silver Summoner’ she hated for ’killing’ Ger.
"Dude..."
Evan didn’t even know how to react to this situation. He put the pieces together and realised that Rachel must have met Arthur when he snuck into Duskhand City to blow the place up.
Looking at her, it was obvious that Rachel and Arthur were close, and he actually felt a twinge of pity towards her for her ignorance.
Nevertheless, he wasn’t about to spill the beans. That was guaranteed to piss Arthur off and Evan sure as hell did NOT want a pissed-off progenitor after him.
