'It could literally be another redhead, I mean, she's not the only one on the planet.
So why do I feel so strongly that it's her.'
A few people on the road recognised Evan and started a light commotion but the young hero slipped into a dark alley and activated his concealment skill before slipping back out through the crowd of people.
Luckily for him, his target had momentarily stopped to get something at a roadside stall, so by the time he came back out after avoiding the people who noticed him, he was still within range.
Eventually, the person turned into an alley, with Evan dashing after them rapidly and entering the alley right after them, only to not see anyone in the alley.
"Huh?"
"Don't move."
Hearing that familiar voice and seeing the all too familiar magic catalyst floating in front of him with the glow of magic power made the young hero stop in his tracks.
'This is definitely the 'Atlas of Memories'. There's no doubt, it's her.'
The young hero slowly turned around to face the person who had a dagger up at his back, with her eyes widening when the person in question saw his face.
"This is one hell of a reunion, don't you think?"
It was the red-haired and-eyed mage with who he braved the Spider Nest Dungeon together.
The Flamebourne Mage, Merle.
◇ ◇ ◇
The red-haired mage was lost for words upon setting locking eyes with the person who she sensed was tailing her.
Those iconic pair of grey pupils and that strange golden crest were two things she wasn't sure she could ever forget.
"Evan…"
"Long time no see."
"…yes.
It has been a while."
Merle replied as she lowered the dagger in her hand, slowly putting it back into the sheath on her waist before asking.
"How've…you been?"
"Fine…been a bit busy for a while now."
"Cool.
Though that much was obvious, given all the rumours going around recently."
"True…haha."
The young hero spoke with a wry smile on his face, actually not knowing what else to say as while he chased after the red-eyed woman, he never thought about what would happen after he found her.
In fact, the moment he saw her, this strange sense of guilt started welling up inside him, telling him that it was his fault that the red-haired mage and her sister suffered life-threatening injuries due to Xakon's actions and that it was his fault that their companion, Nodin, died.
"You and…your sister.
You guys have been doing okay, right?"
"Yeah, we have.
I heard from the Bishop who came by, that you were the one who told her to heal us. Thank you."
"Oh…that. I did make that request.
Don't worry about that, it was kinda…"
"Kinda?"
"Never mind."
Her words brought light to one of Evan's last requests before he left Bonas that faithful day, and what he had asked Amelie about when he met her yesterday.
But besides that, the redhead naturally noticed something was off about the way that the boy was acting. From what she could infer from the few days they interacted, he wasn't one to act the way he was right now, it felt different, very much so.
She could also notice traces of guilt in his expression but could not seem to understand the reason why. Just as she wanted to ask something, another person 'barged' into the alley where the two were, with this new entrant's emerald eyes winding upon seeing Evan.
"You…"
"Hey.
Long-time no see."
It was the timid-looking black-haired half-elf younger sister of Merle's, the shielder Iolana."
"Yeah.
It's been a while."
She repeated the exact same words her sister had said earlier, right before an awkward silence descended on the area.
Just as Evan was thinking of what to say, a familiar high demon showed up at the entrance of the alley, holding up a communication device that Evan recognized.
"Sorry to spoil your little reunion, but Evan, we gotta go."
Evan noticed the blinking light on the device and inferred that the Duke was most likely contacting him about the 'Second Sword, nodding in agreement as he bid his farewells to the two sisters.
"Once again…glad to see you guys are okay.
I'd be heading out now, if you guys face any trouble, you can contact me using the guild card system.
You still have me registered, right?"
"Yeah…"
"Okay. See you."
He then walked towards Pride and collected the communication device from her hands, accepting the incoming transmission before speaking into it.
"What's up Duke."
[The Second Sword is here.]
Meanwhile, the high demon who was left behind with the two sisters turned and gave them a momentary glance in silence.
Merle also did the same, noticing the familiar sword that was hanging from Pride's waist as she had remembered Evan having that weapon when they were in Geto.
Even more so was the mark on the back of the demon's palm that was exactly the same as the one that Evan had.
The high demon on the other hand, just stared at them in silence, before sighing and turning away, walking towards Evan who was getting surrounded by a crowd of people on the street.
And thus, ended the awkward reunion between Evan and the two adventurer sisters.
On a side note, both of them were still C rankers.
◇ ◇ ◇
Cabinet Meeting Room, Lord's Castle.
Bultom Dungeon City
Cheverton Duchy
April 22nd
Year 1052
As the evening sun cast its long shadows on the ground, with the slanting rays of the setting star giving a warm orange tinge to the sky, the day workers of the Great Western Empire began rounding up their activities while the night workers began preparations to start their job hours.
At this exact same time, the cabinet meeting room in the Bultom Lord's castle was occupied by multiple people, with eight of them seated around the large round table in the middle while the others stood a few metres behind them.
Some of them were lightly chatting with each other when the two double doors of the room slammed open to reveal the appearance of a young black-haired teenager about five feet five inches in height.
"Hello Everybody, wonderful weather we've had today, don't you think?
It's almost perfect for us to discuss how we're going to deal with a certain necromancer who happens to be hell-bent on wiping out every living thing in this Duchy."
The boy closed the doors behind him and walked up to the one free seat at the table, placing his hands atop it and taking a look at the faces of all those in the room.
From his right, the people seated were:
Duke Charles,
Bultom's Lord,
Fourth Sword Ralphie,
Second Sword Luke,
Bishop Amelie,
Sir Heinr,
Guild Master Dasyra, and
Grand Magus Czac.
Standing behind them were their 'attendants' who were basically high-ranked Knights or their soldier and adventurer equivalents.
'This guy over here's an S-rank Adventurer, huh? Guild Master Dasyra didn't disappoint at all.'
Those were Evan's thoughts as he momentarily glanced at the platinum adventurer tag hanging from the neck of the man standing behind Guild Master Dasyra before speaking.
"There seem to be quite a few faces I don't recognize so I'd just do a little self-introduction for the sake of those looking at me with confused gazes.
For starters, I'm Evan Bourne Eris.
Also…don't ask why I'm using 'Bourne' and not 'Del', I have my reasons."
Evan pulled out his seat and took off his jacket, draping it over the chair before taking a seat and pulling out a few memory gems from his inventory.
"Now, that's out of the way. Let's get down to business, shall we?"
He began placing the memory gems into the magic projector on the table as he continued speaking.
"I'm sure that most of you have been briefed, but once again, for the sake of those joining us for the first time, I'm gonna make a quick rundown on events.
The Cheverton Duchy has seen a drastic rise in undead-related incidents within the past month, and the reason is because of a certain group of individuals you've all been told about.
They're called the Demonic Hand.
Their goal here is to wipe out every living being in the Duchy, turning them all into Undead which would then go on to mess up the rest of the Great Western Empire.
As for why they are doing this, don't bother asking, I'm not allowed to tell you that."
He dropped the magic projector back on the table before turning towards Heinr who looked like he had a question and speaking.
"Hold on, let me finish.
I'd take questions later.
Now then:
I'm not here to give you guys a detailed background study of the Demonic Hand, just whatever information about them which concerns this current crisis.
Starting from the identity of the Demonic Hand Executive that's responsible for all these undead."
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