Jack exclaimed internally in surprise as he saw the card the boy was now wearing, and perhaps seeing his surprise reflected in his expression the boy chuckled lightly.
"His circumstances are so similar to mine, and he even has an Appraisal skill too. The only difference is he didn't punch the person who attacked him while I did."
The boy removed the mask on his face and tossed it into the black opening in the air along with the D rank card he held while saying words that caught Jack's attention.
'I have an Appraisal skill 'too'? Meaning he has one himself?'
Jack had appraised the boy the instant he was spoken to and he did not see anything of the sort, but when he appraised the boy again after he said that, what he saw shocked him shitless.
'Level…299? Age 14?! We're the same age!! And his Existence level is Undefined? What does that even mean?!'
"...just who are you?"
Jack could not help but mutter out that question, to which the boy scratched his head lightly before replying.
"My name's Evan, but you should have been able to see that with your skill, right?"
It was then that Jack focused on the other parts of the boy's status and saw his name, his titles and his stats, all things that made his jaw drop in shock.
"Seriously Evan, you do the strangest things."
"Oh, you're making me feel shy."
"That wasn't a compliment!"
"Hahahaha!!"
Such a ridiculous chatter went on why Jack was too busy being surprised that the same Evan Eris he had been seeing in his father's newspapers was the person standing right in front of him.
"Evan, you do realise we'd be three days late if we miss this train, right?"
"Oh, shit. You're right!"
Evan quickly ran up to the counter to complete the quest turning-in process he was handling before this little fiasco.
While he was doing so, he was doing so, he chatted with the receptionist who had pulled out the adventurer registration forms for Jack—the same person who handled his registration in Merdin two years ago.
"You're leaving Merdin today? That's sudden."
"Not just Merdin. We're leaving the GWE."
"Again?"
"Again indeed. We venture into other territories again."
Another adventurer he was friends with and was also at a nearby counter overheard their conversation and asked their destination.
"The Country we have set course for is the home of one of the members of the f-"
"Stop being unnecessarily dramatic."
Eliza cut him off mid-speech before turning to the other adventurer and replying.
"We're going to the Beast Kingdom."
"Oh… I see."
"Yes! I received a calling from Delyan's Dungeons!"
Evan carried on with his overly dramatic reply while giving a location that was on the opposite half of the part of the Beast Kingdom they were going to.
"All done. See you guys next time I'm in the GWE. Try not to die in the Graveyard."
"That's number two on my list of worst farewell greetings I've ever heard!"
"Huh? But I wanted to be number one!"
Eliza dragged the boy out of the Guild while he kept up the silly banter with some other random adventurer.
"Anyway, bye Miss Martha. Bye, the rest of you nameless mobs."
"Did he just call us mobs?!"
"Yes, I di-"
Evan did not get a chance to complete his words as Eliza had closed the guild hall doors, cutting him off in the process.
Anyway, the young hero stopped messing around and boarded their already waiting carriage, heading to the train station where Pride, Greed and the spirits were already waiting.
He walked in on the scene of Greed flirting with one of the waitresses in the station restaurant they were waiting in, inadvertently putting an end to his actions as he had to leave for his train.
It most certainly wasn't because he was scared Pride would use her ability to 'delete' his mouth from his face.
They checked in with their First-Class tickets, arranging them in the order they would need them as they were going to be needing a different ticket for each station they stopped at.
[Train M-C04191 on the Merdin-Cheart Route will soon arrive. All waiting passengers, please stand behind the yellow line.]
The announcement came just as they were done checking in and the party made their way over to the platform to join the remaining waiting passengers.
Looking at the platform, Evan could not help but shake his head with a wry smile on his face. No matter how many times he saw it, it still looked amazing.
'And to think all this construction was finished in just 3 months…'
An arched roof rose high above the canyon created by the cracks while the yellow line mentioned in the earlier announcement stood out in contrast with the dull silver-coloured steel floors.
A steam whistle suddenly rang out, preceding the appearance of the massive locomotive-like machine, ushered in by sounds of grinding metal.
It was quite enormous, and the wind stirred by its passing buffeted everyone on the platform, whipping quite a lot of ladies and a few men's hairs in the breeze.
Eventually, it stopped right in front of the First-Class platform, with exceedingly tall almost oppressive black painted cars.
Going by size alone, the train looked like someone had put wheels on a two-storey building, or they reworked a triple-decker bus and made it run on tracks.
[This is a Boarding Announcement for Train M-C04191 to Cheart. All checked-in passengers are to proceed to the Train for boarding.]
With the announcement as a cue, the party entered onto the train and passed their tickets to the attendants who guided them to their Cabins.
They had chosen to stay on the right side of the train, which commanded a lovely view of the horizon across the plains between the Merdin-Cheart Rail route.
The train's interior was quite luxurious, with tasteful marble stairs and unblemished white walls that let the intricate lamps positioned at regular intervals light the car brilliantly.
A plush red carpet spread over the floor, and the doorways had fine woodwork along the edges of their frames.
The attendant gave them their opened the cabin and gave them the key card, informing them about the dining hall and other facilities on the upper floor before leaving.
[This one's cooler than the one in the capital!]
Kayla remarked happily as she flew over to the panoramic window that offered an elevated view of the platform, and Evan was sure the view would be unreal when the train moved.
Leather couches and side tables set along the windows furnished the room, and they could also see the doors that led to the bedrooms nearby.
"This is basically a house…"
Eliza muttered as she took a glance into the rooms, her words being something that the other concurred with.
"When these new trains are circulated more and begin full service, the price is gonna spike! I wonder if I can buy some stocks in the company."
Greed made a statement that was very much like him whilst Pride was already at the small tabletop bookshelf, looking through the novels there to see if there was anyone she had not read.
Several bottled beverages were lined up on the shelf, each sold separately. Unsurprisingly, they were all quite expensive.
Apart from the drinks, there were also price lists, route maps, railroad-related documents, famous stories, and holy books on the shelves, but Pride had colonised all the famous stories there.
As for Evan, the boy was picking one of the strawberry-flavoured non-alcoholic wines and pouring a glass for himself while he relaxed on the window couch.
[This is a Final Boarding Announcement for Train M-C04191 to Cheart. Departure would commence in ten minutes.]
A bit of time had passed as they toured their cabin, and it was getting close to departure time.
That time eventually passed and the departure announcement rang out, along with a little warning about items shifting due to the sudden movement and advice for passengers to grab the nearest handrails if necessary.
"It truly is the most delicious when you're looking at moving scenery."
Evan who had already ordered a full meal during his wait spoke as he listened to the increasing tempo of the train that was moving at a speed uncharacteristic of something as large as it was.
'It's magic…'
The boy chalked it up to that as he saw nearby objects pass so swiftly that he could not even get a good look at them before speeding past.
Within a few minutes, Merdin had been left behind and the train sped into the Inter-Province routes. While the rails themselves were well-maintained by work crews, anything outside the railbed was the territory of animals and monsters, though the size and sound of the vehicle helped startle wayward animals off the tracks.
Pouring more wine into his glass, Evan raised a toast to himself as he revelled in the joy of travelling.
And so began the Anomalies' eventful trip to the Beast Kingdom, where two Executives of the Demonic Hand and a certain weakened Giant Lizard Lay in wait.
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