State Hotel
Zest Station City
Gross
April 25th
Year 1053
Eliza woke up to find herself wrapped in Evan's arms. Her still drowsy gaze moved over to the wall clock and saw it was just 7 a.m. in the morning, a time that filled her with the temptation to shut her eyes once more.
But upon remembering that they were supposed to catch a train in a few hours, the girl's desire to sleep quickly escaped her body.
For the time being, she had to break free from Evan's embrace, but even as she tried twisting her body to do so, the boy's arms only tightened around hers.
She was so close to him that she could hear his heart beating, his body being a long line of heat against hers.
Eventually, she gave up and slapped the boy's arms to wake him up.
"Evan, wake up already."
Finally, the boy slowly roused and peeled open his eyes, looking around him for a moment before turning his gaze to the girl in his arms.
"Huh?...Liz?"
Evan's voice, still husky with sleep, was one Eliza found to still be exuding an entirely egregious amount of sex appeal.
But those thoughts flew out of her head when the boy suddenly tightened his hold on her even further—the exact opposite of the reason she woke him up.
"Let go of me."
"Okay…"
Despite his reply, he didn't show any signs of loosening his hold on her even by the slightest bit.
"Evan…."
"Five more minutes. Hugging you feels good."
Eliza felt her face grow hot after hearing Evan's words and for a moment, she felt it would be okay to let him have his fill.
"Enough already. Get off me…"
At last, Evan loosened his hold on her, enough to allow her to wriggle free herself. She was just about to do that when something warm pressed against her cheek.
"Huh?"
Turning to look at Evan with slight surprise, she met with the boy's drowsy gaze that had a bit of displeasure in them.
"You turned your face away too fast."
Just as her brain computed that he had intended to kiss her elsewhere, Evan's palms held the sides of her face and pulled her in closer for another kiss, one much deeper than he originally intended.
"Good morning."
Satisfied with his not-so-sneaky attack, he then casually offered his morning greetings and got up from the bed, yawning lightly as he walked out of the bedroom.
The scene he met upon exiting the bedroom and entering the suite's living room, was that of Pride in the exact same position he had left her the previous night.
She sat on the floor, her back rested on the couch in the midst of a sprawling heap of books. Though she looked a bit dishevelled, that in itself gave her a different kind of allure when coupled with her overall beauty.
Her blood-red eyes, standing out vividly against her dark hair, darted from one end of the book In her hands to another, an action that repeated as many times as there were lines on a page.
*SNAP!
Evan who had learnt from experience not to disturb the High Demon whenever she got like that, was busy making his strawberry-flavoured tea when heard the sound of a book snapping shut.
He turned around to see Pride drop the book in her hands atop the pile of books on her right side before picking up one from the pile on her left.
"You sure you're gonna be able to finish that on time? Our Train's by 11 am."
Pride raised a brow upon hearing his words, turning her gaze to the wall clock and seeing it at a few minutes past seven.
"More than enough time."
Leaving that one line, she opened the book—the last installation in the series she had been binging since the previous night and started reading, Evan's cue to stop talking as she certainly wasn't gonna be listening.
He went back to his tea making, also setting out a cup for Eliza with normal milk tea in it which the girl silently picked up as she entered the Living room a few minutes later.
"Where's Greed?"
"Can't sense him in his room.
He probably spent the night at the Casino again."
Evan made a frighteningly accurate guess of the High Demon's location, saying a silent prayer to all those whom he had scammed over the night.
The Casino Manager included.
'Even if the game is rigged for him to lose, he still wins. Scary shit.'
After their morning tea, the group took their baths and freshened up before going down to the hotel-casino to pull Greed out of there, an action that had the Casino Manager thanking them with tears in his eyes.
It made Evan wonder for a moment just how much money the high demon made them lose in a single night.
They then moved over to the game room where the Spirits were, spending some time there whilst Greed sat in a corner to count all his winnings from the previous few night's agenda.
The group might as well have stayed in the hotel for free as the amount of money Greed won from the Casino was nearly five times the fees they paid, and considering they booked multiple suites…one could only imagine how much it was.
Next on their agenda was breakfast, and this was a service that came tacked on with their rooms, and surprisingly, Pride was already at the dining hall, all freshened up when they arrived.
After the breakfast session, they all decided to spend the rest of their time in the dining hall, awaiting their train's boarding call since it wasn't estimated to be too far off.
As for why the train station's announcements were made at the hotel dining, that was because this hotel was also owned by the Continental Railroad Service and was built solely to accommodate tourists travelling by train.
Evan could sense a variety of auras in the dining hall, those that seemed as weak as that of a baby's and those that he'd be hard-pressed to think weren't from Sovereign Level existences.
He got to his feet to have a quick look at the features he hadn't really focused on in the past two days, passing by multiple booths with guests of various races and ages.
As he was passing by one of such booths, he overheard a little conversation with some women who were at a loss on how to use the new drink fountain machine that was installed at the edge of the booth.
Since it was something he had little to no problems with, Evan decided to pitch in and offer some help.
But the instant he took a step towards the booth in question, he felt a strange wave of energy wash over him, and he felt like he had just passed some kind of barrier.
His danger sense skill activated and rang alarms in his head, telling him to 'Get the fuck outta there' as fast as he could.
At that same moment, one of the women on the table turned in his direction, her eyes widening slightly upon seeing Evan.
"You noticed it? You have sharp senses."
Evan also had his eyes widen in surprise, for a variety of reasons, ranging from the fact that he recognized this beast woman to the level of power and authority she held.
Ignoring the half-dozen other gazes that bore into his body from the moment he passed that 'barrier', he calmly walked up to the table and showed them how to use the drink fountain like he originally intended to.
"Oh, so that's how it works."
"The magi-technology level advances quite fast these days."
Upon hearing the second voice that spoke up, one that evoked a strange sense of nostalgia within him, Evan turned towards the speaker with his eyes widening in surprise once more.
"Grandmother?!"
The word escaped his lips inadvertently and the woman turned towards Evan, an expression of surprise colouring her face, which then blossomed into a smile as she reached out for Evan and spoke.
"Oh my, it's Little Evan.
How are you?"
This was the first time Evan was meeting the former duchess since he came to Aidos, but perhaps because of Evansen's memories, he didn't feel strange at all.
Perhaps it was because he never knew his grandparents on Earth V, the woman's welcoming demeanour, or perhaps a mix of both, but Evan didn't have any qualms calling her 'Grandmother', contrary to how he refrained from addressing Duke Roger as 'Father'.
"I am fine, Grandmother.
And seeing as you're still of the habit of calling your descendants: 'Little', I'm glad to see you're still the same as ever."
Evan replied as the woman pulled him to sit down, their little conversation attracting the attention of the others at the table.
"Huh? He's your grandson, Penelope?"
"Hoh…to think young Roger's little boy is all grown up now."
'Why do they always have to tack on the prefix of 'little'.'
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