"Hmm…let's hope so. I don't want to deal with those guys at all."
The severe lack of context in their conversation, along with the fact that they both ignored everyone else who called out to them during it left the others in the room with various questions after they were done speaking.
And right after that, Laurene changed the topic to something else entirely, indirectly stating she was not gonna answer anything they asked.
"Anyway, the guys behind the Fake Hero project, they're the 'First Division' right?"
"That much was obvious, was it not?
The 'Demonic Hand', a ten-division organization currently having the goal of "Saving Aidos" using pretty extreme means-"
"Wait up! Their goal is to 'Save' Aidos?"
"Ah…weird, you weren't supposed to hear that. Scratch that info."
"Oh no, we ain't scratching nothing. You're gonna explain to me exactly what you mean by that."
Laurene wasn't about to let Evan wave off his words as from her knowledge, the Demonic Hand was an organization of 'Demon Worshippers', and they didn't have any grand goal like 'Saving Aidos'.
"I would NOT be telling you anything. I can't risk losing even a single level in my current state.
Anyway!! The people who attacked you should have had 'this' brooch on their clothes."
He held up one of the First Division Brooches he picked up from his attackers as he spoke.
"A 'Hand' holding up the 'World', that's their symbol, and the number on the back of the hand denotes their division.
The Eighth Division guys had theirs but they didn't wear it because of Dominik."
Tossing it back into his inventory, he continued.
"They planned to kill us real Heroes to open up the Hero slots for the Fake Heroes…but sadly, Abigail was with Zestari, Sir Luke was with Laurene, and I had help from a certain someone Sir Luke and I are both familiar with."
"Huh? Someone I'm familiar with?"
"Yeah.
Spiky blue hair, golden slit eyes and pupils…ring a bell?"
"…you actually met 'that guy'?"
"I'm a Hero, and knowing what he is, don't you think it'd be stranger if he didn't sense me in the area."
"Good point."
Luke nodded, completely understanding how and why Evan and Hydran 'met' each other.
Evan then went on to explain the goal behind the Fake Hero project, taking care not to specify the number of Hero slots so as to prevent Laurene's skill from triggering, leaving them to all automatically assume there were only seven.
"The plan is going to fail unless they can kill one of the current Heroes and take their place."
"Why so confident?"
"Because there would not be any space for the Fake Hero to occupy.
After all, as of 7/12/1051, all of the current Seven Heroes had awakened their powers."
The date Evan gave was that of the Mass burial that happened in Geto in lieu of Xakon's attack more than a year ago.
"The fact that we don't know who they are even after a year means they're actively hiding themselves."
"Of course, they are. I would not want people to know I was a Hero too, but the Dullahan Attack didn't exactly permit me the luxury of hiding it so I had to change my plans."
Evan shrugged while replying to Rudeus' words, but the Emperor had a feeling the young hero wasn't entirely being sincere.
"Eliza told me you guys had a talk with someone called 'Uno' who's most likely an executive. My guess is that he was-"
"The First Finger, I know."
"Huh? Then why did you act like you didn't?"
In response to Laurene's question, Evan leaned back in his seat and sighed before replying.
"Not all executives of the Demonic Hand are international Criminals like Dominik.
The Senior Members and executives of the organization have their identities hidden for a reason, because of the 'other faces' they have in public, the positions of power and influence they possess and whatnot.
Take the now-deceased Tenth Finger for example, she was a publicly acknowledge S rank Adventurer that was fairly famous, hence the reason why she could be as bold as she was in Cheart until she encountered Rathal.
The same applies to the Ninth Finger. And even the Tenth Finger's replacement is going to be someone of fairly high repute in the GEE.
Finding out their identities would make you know about their public personas and that'd be bad because, for some of them, these personas are useful in helping the Demonic Hand because of the power and influence they hold there.
Like the 'Fourth Finger' now; That person's a 'Living Legend' that everyone in this room definitely knows about."
His last statement caught more of their attention than everything he said before that. The fact that one of the World's publicly acknowledged 'Living Legends' was secretly a Demonic Hand executive was no small matter.
"Which one?!"
"Trust me, Laurene. I would tell you if I could.
Anyway, I acted like I didn't know 'Uno' was the 'First Finger' because each of the Ten Fingers has a second identity that they don't want people finding out about, and I did not want them to think I knew more than they thought I did.
That and the fact that I was trying to make him suspicious of his organization's members.
'Uno' was a nickname Dominik called him, and he only did so in the presence of the organization's members. In the context of my talk with him, I made it so he would get suspicious of his members due to the fact that I, a non-Demonic Hand member, knew that nickname."
The details of his actions that she heard from Eliza now made a lot more sense after hearing his explanations, but that also gave rise to a different question Jenson asked before she could.
"So, you know the identities of all the Organization's executives?"
"That much should be obvious by now, no?"
Evan replied to Jenson's question before the light of remembrance flashed through his eyes as he turned to Laurene and spoke.
"I'm going to need your help against the 'Fifth Finger' Laurene. And please brush up on your spatial magic, and focus more on negating them.
Get Jenson's help if possible."
"So, the Fifth Finger knows spatial magic, huh?"
"I did not say anything of the sort."
The boy skirted around Laurene's leading question before Luke asked about the race of the Fourth Finger, intending to have a search run on the Living Legends based on racial criteria.
"Yes, it sounds plausible but I can't say anything. Telling you their race is very, very vital information. Even my lessened restrictions can't help me out.
I could only tell you about Seith and Kethryllia due to special circumstances."
"So, you can't tell us anything about the Fourth? Third? Second?"
"Hold your horses right there, Sir Luke.
Even if I could tell you who the 'Second Finger' is, I would NOT. I don't want anyone of you here meeting an early grave if you went snooping around and about that person."
The boy held his hands up in a cross in front of his chest as he spoke, only to reverse his words when asked about the First Finger who was in charge of the Fake Hero Project.
"If I could tell you who the First Finger was, I would NOT hesitate to do so.
Sadly, I cannot, and neither can the Senior Member who you captured, there are naturally measures in place to prevent them from leaking information.
And to prevent information from being leaked from our end, it's best to kill the Fake Hero you captured as soon as possible; the First Finger can use him as eyes and ears, after all."
He stretched his legs and arms after talking, internally thinking that he had dropped enough hints for them today and decided to bring the conversation to an end.
"But anyway, I believe this talk has gone on for far too long and I think it's high time we brought it to a close."
Evan spoke while getting up from his seat and turning to Luke before asking.
"Mind accompanying me to explore the remnants of an ancient Mountain Kingdom that collapsed 700 years ago?
I'd compensate you of course, with something I'm sure you need.
A little hint: it has to do with souls."
His last statement had the Sword Saint's eyes narrowing lightly, very curious about how Evan knew he was looking for artifacts with such features.
"Give me a call at the Oak Avenue Manor when you're done thinking it over.
I'm going to bed now, gotta prepare for my rank-up exam tomorrow."
Yawning lightly, he turned around and made his way to the door, but right before it, he stopped and turned around to ask.
"Can I borrow the Royal Family's blacksmith? My sword kind of got bad while I was fighting against the Demonic Fused Craitid."
Emperor Rudeus silently nodded before tossing over a badge with his seal which Evan caught and thanked the man for.
He heard them beginning to decide what to do with the captured Senior Member as he closed the door behind him but didn't bother as he began making his way over to the outskirts of the Capital city, to the Lumina Steel Mine where a certain Living Legend Dwarf resided.
With the materials he had gotten from Silverwing's nest, along with the bird's bones, and some other Phase 2 Materials he had, the boy had the dwarf repair the unforged and run maintenance on his other weapons.
◇ ◇ ◇
The next day, he went to place orders for more custom-made Grandmaster Level Arachne thread woven clothes, for both himself, Eliza and the rest of his group, something that cost him close to a fifty thousand gold coins.
He paid it without blinking while thinking that he'd soon need to go and fight against the Spider Nemesis in Geto soon, probably after he's done in Lacertilia.
Such were his thoughts as he made his way over to the Guild building F where the Vice GM and a certain Fernsnout clan member awaited him.
Naturally, the current Evan who had Beginner S rank level strength easily beat the living daylights out of the poor Fernsnout dude and became an official A ranker smoothly.
The 𝘮ost uptodat𝑒 novels are pub𝙡ished on fre(e)webno(v)el.𝒸𝑜𝘮