The high noble trio walked out of the castle and boarded carriages that took them towards the gate of the estate, arriving just in time for the church's carriages to reach.
The boy properly put on his coat before getting down from the carriage, with the badge holding the Eris Dukedom's crest pinned to his chest pocket beside a symbol of the Eris Family's coat of arms that he was given by Ralphie.
Since they weren't within the City Lord's estate and were instead outside the gates, they could be seen by the general public (commoners, civilians, adventurers etc.) who had come out to watch the church's procession.
"Hmm...seems like they were serious about this."
Evan sensed multiple powerful auras that should belong to Superior stage master level existences, appraising the three paladins he saw come out and noting that the weakest among them was a level 250.
'And these guys are only lower-ranking paladins.
The church sure is powerful to have level 250s as low-ranked paladins.'
As the young hero studied their appearances and levels, the paladins also did the same to him, with their eyes widening slightly when they noticed something about him.
Of course, the boy's strength that didn't match his age surprised them, but what stunned them more was the fact that they could feel a bit of divinity on him.
However, they didn't have the chance to ask as after the young hero gave them perfunctory greetings, he turned his attention towards the person he had wanted to see.
"Bishop Amelie, it has been a while.
Good to see you."
The black-haired and golden-eyed young woman who was in the process of getting down from the carriage paused momentarily in surprise upon hearing Evan's voice.
"Oh my.
It has indeed been a while, Lord Evan.
Good to see you too."
She accepted his assistance to come down from the carriage before speaking, turning her attention over to the Duke and curtsying as she offered her official greetings.
"Bishop Harris of the Church greets the Duke of Cheverton."
After the Duke acknowledged her, she paid her respects to the count before turning her attention back to Evan.
"Her Ladyship's divinity on you seems to have grown weaker than the last time."
"That so? Well…it's not like I could use it either way."
Evan shrugged upon hearing Amelie's words, ignoring the expressions on the paladins' faces as he continued.
"Still…I would very much like to thank you for coming here at my request."
"It's nothing much, Lord Evan."
The boy nodded, and rose his hand in the air, flicking away the invisible ball of light that was buzzing around his head much to Amelie's surprise.
"I didn't know that the light ones were so talkative…"
While Evan chatted with Amelie, another carriage in the procession pulled up to the estate's gate, with the boy's eyes slightly widening when he saw the crest on the carriage.
"This is too much of a coincidence, don't you think so, Duke?"
"It is indeed a great coincidence, Lord Evan."
Duke Cheverton spoke as he watched the carriage of Marquis Antebellum pull up in front of the gate while wondering why he could sense a familiar aura inside it.
"I'd leave him to you, Duke.
The Bishop here and I have a few important things to discuss."
Evan took his leave after those words as he led Amelie to the other carriage prepared to take her to the castle building while her three guard paladins sat in another one.
He sensed a gaze on him and turned back towards the gate to see who it was, but all he could see was the figure of Marquis Antebellum bowing towards the Duke.
'Weird…felt like someone was glaring at me.'
"Lord Evan?"
"Hmm? Ah, sorry for the delay."
He got on the carriage and sat opposite Amelie, heaving a sigh of slight exhaustion before asking the Bishop a question.
"My final request that I had the goddess tell you when we last met in Bonas, you fulfilled it, right?"
"Oh, you mean to heal those two in Geto?
Worry not, I made sure they were as good as new."
Evan nodded with a look of relief flashing through his eyes. He was about to speak once more when his shadow wriggled and a black cat popped his head out of it.
"Kuro?"
[I sensed Light spirits nearby, I came over to see why.]
"Oh…those guys."
Evan remarked as he looked up to the balls of light floating around the crown of Amile's head as if trying to give her a halo, chuckling lightly when one of the spirits beside him made a silly remark.
Despite meeting her for the first time, the shadow spirit and the young Bishop instantly hit off with each other, much to the displeasure of the light spirits surrounding her.
'Is this elemental discrimination?
That don't like Kuro because he's a shadow spirit? Or is it because he's getting close to Amelie?'
Evan asked himself those questions internally as the carriage made its way back to the Lord's Castle.
◇ ◇ ◇
"Hey, Pride. Where's Liz?"
"Adventurer's guild, she went to take on a few quests."
"Oh…she's the only one among us who's actually serious about adventuring."
"Greed's with her."
"Is the quest they're taking related to a gold mine or something?"
"You guessed right. They're taking out the zombies and ghouls in a nearby gold mine."
"Thought so."
Such was the short conversation between Evan and his contracted demon right before he downed the glass of juice in his hands and turned to leave the room.
"If the Duke asks where I am, then tell him I'm with Faerora.
Also, tell him I took one of his maps."
After saying his piece, the boy left the room and walked down the hallway, going towards the room at the end where four high-level knights stood guard in front.
They saluted him as he passed by, with him acknowledging them with a nod and entering the room.
Inside the room, were four people; a maid, Amelie, one of the paladin guards, and the captive senior demonic hand member.
'She doesn't look like much of a captive though.'
The maid had just served a meal for Faerora on the table, moving over to set down plates for Evan and Amelie.
"We're about to do a lot of talking, it wouldn't be nice to do all that on an empty stomach now, would it?"
Evan spoke as he took a seat on the small table, before dismissing the maid and turning to Amelie.
"Your guard is gonna have to go.
I'm going to be saying a lot of things that he's not allowed to know and it's gonna be troublesome for me if he's present."
Due to Artemisia's influence, Amelie had a vague idea of Evan's identity as a Hero and the restrictions regarding the things he could say that were even more than the other heroes, so she understood her concerns and dismissed the paladin much to his displeasure.
"You can just stay outside the door with the knights there.
If you sense anything unusual, you can come in."
After Amelie succeeded in getting him to leave, Evan turned towards Faerora who was staring at him in silence while tilting his head to the side.
"Is there a problem?"
"…Where's Lensa?"
"Dead. Shouldn't you be able to tell?"
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