The Clan Elders unreasonably berated him, stoking the flames of his already smouldering resentment towards Evan.
Despite his valiant efforts in racking up feats and increasing his popularity in the year that passed after the incident, Evan had already outmatched him in that department, so much that he could not hope to catch up anytime soon.
Now, he wanted to take this chance where he finally encountered Evan who was never in one place for too long, to defeat the young hero and prove that he was 'better'.
Verily, he was not the sole individual beset by such circumstances, where his feats were eclipsed by the exploits of Evan and his party in recent moons. Moreover, Evan was keenly cognizant of his identity.
'Geiziam. The Fernsnout Clan's child prodigy.
In the game, he exuded an air of haughtiness that was unmatched. But this proved to be his undoing as it led to his untimely demise in the end.'
One could surmise that such was inevitable, for he had been reared amidst ceaseless adulation.
Seeing his rapidly darkening expression, Evan chuckled slightly as he spoke.
"I'm kidding.
Even if I didn't know who you were, there's only one A-rank Fernsnout Clan member who's currently based in the Capital so I'd figured out your identity after hearing the Vice Guild Master's words."
Evan gestured to the golden Guild Card hanging from the man's neck as he spoke, before turning back to the Vice GM and continuing.
"Anyway, he seems to want to fight me for whatever reason, and I need an A-rank opponent for the promotion exam.
One stone, two birds.
What do you say?"
"Fine by me."
After getting the Vice GM's approval, Evan turned to Geiziam and asked.
"Is that okay with you?"
Geiziam clearly had a few misgivings, but the Vice GM's glare on him made him swallow his words and nod in affirmation.
"Great.
So, we'd meet here on Monday for the battle."
Right after saying that, Evan jumped off his seat and moved towards the quest board, pulling out a quest to gather materials from some aquatic monsters and taking it to the counter to get it approved.
Immediately after that, the guild hall doors opened once more and his blonde-haired companion walked in with a familiar black cat in her arms like always.
"My appointment is here, so I'd be taking my leave.
Till Monday."
After giving the Vice GM his farewells, he turned towards Eliza and activated blink, appearing right beside her and slinging his arm over her shoulder.
"Hey Liz, I saw this quest on the guild board that coincidentally happened to involve the same area that I wanted us to go.
How lucky is that?"
"I can't really say, given the fact that I don't know where we're supposed to be going though?"
"Come to think of it, I haven't really told you much, have I?"
"Yes, you haven't."
While chatting like that, the duo ignored the gazes on them and made their way out of the guild, their next destination being the Vesta Train Station where they boarded a train heading to the North Western part of the Empire.
◇ ◇ ◇
A dozen train stops later, the couple arrived in the Coastal Country of Duscon situated in the Northern parts of the Alpha Continent, in a journey that took a total of just three days.
"These trains are plenty convenient. Turned a three-week Carriage trip into a three-day one."
Eliza muttered as she stepped out of the train, with Evan trailing not too far behind her while flipping through some of the pamphlets he received during the trip.
"Still, Evan, you have not really told me where we're going…"
"Telling you beforehand defeats the point of it being a surprise.
But it's definitely a really fantastical place and the view is otherworldly…literally."
Evan spoke with a hint of excitement in his voice as their destination was one of the places in Aidos that he most definitely wanted to go to…if it could even be considered to be 'in' Aidos.
It was a special area that was available for a limited-time event in the game, and for the week it was available, the game's profits increased by a whopping 15% due to how many players made in-game purchases to boost their characters to the required level in order to go there.
He had confirmed from the Archive that the place really existed, but it did not have many of the mind-blowing rewards that made Aidos Online players go crazy during the game.
"A pity…"
"What's a pity?"
"That some of the items I want would not be there.
We'd only meet a few aquatic monsters that give double experience and a boss that'd give us the second general material needed to awaken our weapons."
"That so...?"
Eliza replied with a hint of disinterest in her tone as she alternated her gaze between the trio of restaurants in front of her, having a hard time deciding on which one to go to.
Noticing this, Evan sighed softly before offering a solution.
"How about we place an order for all three of them and have it delivered to our hotel?"
"Oh! Let's do that!"
Seeing the way Eliza happily nodded her head upon hearing his words, Evan gave a light chuckle before taking her hand and saying.
"But first…let's find a hotel."
"You didn't make a reservation?"
"This is my first time in Duscon. I wanted to see how things were in person before I made any decisions."
"Oh…Makes sense."
Eliza entwined her fingers around and moved forward with a skip in her step, part of her mind thinking about the food she was going to have later while she and Evan moved to search for a suitable hotel.
Duscon was a large country with a population of over 65 million inhabitants, bordered by four other smaller countries on its Eastern and Southern sides, a large Mountain Range to the north and the huge Dread Oceans to the West.
It was a country that had its economy mainly supported by tailoring, blacksmithing, and its massive Seafood industry.
The country's landscape is gorgeous; with its emerald forests and dramatic mountain views only being a sliver of what they had to offer.
Its citizens were also quite friendly to foreigners, making it a favoured tourist spot for vacations and travellers.
Duscon was one of the few countries on Aidos that operated with a full parliament democratic system of government, having State governors in place of nobility.
These governors held as much power as the High Nobles in Aristocratic Nations and were all part of different political parties, with the current Prime Minister's party having the most governors.
The Station City they were currently in; Lastham, was the capital city of one of such States, located not too far from the Dread Ocean's coasts.
While their real destination was the Coastal City of Shelde, they were planning to spend the night here in Lastham since it was already 6 pm and the duo did not have any plans of making a night trip.
Besides, the train they were on was the last train for the day.
Since the Advent of Trains last October, transportation to other countries became far easier for the people of Aidos, and the number of customers of the Continental Railroad Service spiked by nearly double by the end of December.
Starting at the Beginning of 1053, the Service increased the number of train days per week from three to five in order to accommodate their growing customer numbers.
Station cities had also become major business hubs, proving to be fierce competition for a few Trade Cities in some countries.
"Aidos' advancement is all over the place as always."
Evan muttered to himself as he and Eliza walked side by side, past the uniformed workers that dotted the crowd on both floors of the station's main promenade, looking at the brightly lit shops that lined the broad atrium.
Though the hour was getting late, the crowds showed no signs of thinning, in fact, they were even increasing.
Right out of the Station itself, the City's main plaza was lit with streetlights and bustling with people of various species and occupations, some rushing him from the day's work, others preparing for nightlife and some others being fellow travellers in search of a night's rest.
Dozens of Inns and Hotels lined the streets, each one having a unique style. Some were apartment-like while others seemed to promise palatial lodgings.
Thousands of people busily moved about the area filled with so many distinctive establishments standing side by side with each other.
The two began peeking at hotels that caught their eyes in search of perfect accommodations, especially since they were to be returning here after their business in Shelde the next day.
A lot of them were full, with signs out front that announced their lack of vacancies, while others were full of wine casks, with half-drunk men and women downing glass after glass of alcohol, hooting and hollering all the while.
'Certainly not a place I wanna be in.'
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