Chapter 659 Meanwhile, at the ‘X’.
State Restaurant
Egraiby Station City
GEE
June 12th
Year 1053
"My craftsmanship is impeccable."
"Remind me, Evan, why exactly did you sneak out of bed last night to do…that?"
Eliza questioned her boyfriend, the Hero of Mimicry; Evan, with a very obvious pout on her lips when she saw him looking at the gigantic 'X' he had created the night before.
"Hmm? It was so I could get the GEE to know where I was. Didn't I tell you I needed the Seventh Star General to lock down the space to prevent Maude from escaping again?"
"You did…you most certainly did."
'Ah…she's pissed. Why?'
Evan was perceptive enough to realise that Eliza was annoyed, but the boy could not figure out the reason why.
He didn't think that the fact that Eliza woke up at midnight and didn't see him beside her like usual was what ticked her off, Even more so when she saw the giant icicles emerging from the ground under the moonlight and quickly discerned the cause to be him.
Though he didn't really understand why she was miffed, he did have to placate her somehow otherwise it'd be hard for them to hold a proper conversation, so he picked up his fork and cut out a slice of the cake in front of them before raising it up in front of her lips.
"Here, say 'Ahh'."
"…"
"Say 'Ahh'."
"…ahh."
Even as she ate the cake, her lips were still pouty, but rather than showing that she was still a bit miffed, it only made her appear cute in Evan's eyes.
"so cute…"
And he ended up voicing those thoughts, much to Eliza's embarrassment.
Since the reason why she was even annoyed in the first place wasn't anything big, added to the fact that Evan fed her some cake, Eliza's annoyance evaporated pretty quickly and Evan returned the conversation back to its original topic.
The boy wasn't worried about the battles that were about to ensue; given he could already wipe the floor with Maude when he was still a Master.
Now he was even more powerful, so unless Maude went through some strange power-up in the past month, it was impossible for the Soul Damaged woman to best him in battle.
His main concern wasn't actually Maude but the person who was going to be with her.
'Turned out I already knew about this base, but I didn't know it was also where Maude was…'
In the game, their target location was where one particularly annoying character resided—the person who was to replace the Tenth Finger of the Demonic Hand that Rathal killed.
'Her backstory stated that they were here as at the Year 1053…'
The boy sighed softly as he thought about this, and for once, he wished he had not given Luke the Soul Guard belt yet.
"This isn't the city you said she was in, right?"
"yep."
The Anomalies had stopped Egraiby Station City before Evan had even figured out Maude's location, and after lodging in a Hotel, he and Eliza went out to find the Demonic Hand Executive.
Evan wanted to go alone, but Eliza insisted on following him and together, they were able to pinpoint Maude's location to be near the city of Croville, which was actually some few hundred kilometres from Egraiby.
On the Map, it was three states away.
They then returned to Egraiby and that was where Evan did the whole 'X Mark' thingy, citing that Maude would definitely be suspicious and on guard if something strange suddenly happened in Croville where she was recuperating.
So, while they waited for Beluar to arrive, they decided to take their sweet time enjoying what the city had to offer.
Roselia was somewhere inside one of the Train Stations Bookstore areas with Amy, Nadarus was in a Casino in the Red-light district, while the Spirit Trio of Kayla, Kuro and Milena were at a horse racing event Kayla had dragged them to.
Evening fell and all except Nadarus returned to their hotel, with the High Demon spending the night at the Casino, playing rounds upon rounds of poker with the Manager who eventually ended up begging him to leave.
On the next day, they once again dispersed to their various engagements, the only change being Milena went to check on Nadarus while Amy was grabbed by Kayla to the horse race.
Evan and Eliza once again went to that same restaurant they went to the previous day, where the boy suddenly brought out a black choker and put it on her.
"What's this for?"
The girl could sense strange magic power coming from the accessory, so she knew it clearly wasn't normal.
"Soul Protection."
It was one of the Artifacts he had picked up on their way to GEE from Tarse after dropping Leviah off.
Most of the artifacts were types that protected the Soul, and though not as powerful as the Soul Guard belt he gave Luke, they were plenty strong.
"Your Child of Life protects your soul already, but a little extra protection could not hurt."
"Is that so…?"
Knowing Evan, his suddenly bringing this up meant that they were going to deal with an enemy with a Soul Related power soon.
"So where's your own protection?"
Evan held up both hands after hearing Eliza's question and listed out the multiple artifacts he had on.
"I got the Doubler on my right hand and the Recharger on my left. Most of the artifacts I have are bracelet types, so there's no space…"
"Show me all the artifacts you have first."
"Um, Liz. I need to rent out a Warehouse to do that…"
The sheer number of artifacts that Evan carried in his inventory at all times was enough to crash the artifact market if he was to sell them all at once.
"I meant all the Soul-related ones."
"Oh, that's doable."
He pulled out one of his boxes of artifacts from his inventory, taking care to use his concealment skill on it so no one nearby noticed even the slightest energy fluctuation.
"You're a hoarder, Evan."
"I'm not Hoarding, I'm just keeping them to make deals with powerful people later on. Like the 'Ink Series' skill users for example.
I don't know why but all of them need to protect their souls from being 'Stained by the Ink of whatever attribute their skill is'; so, if I give them what they want, they'd do favours for me in return."
"So you're an artifact trader now?"
"Yes, call me the 'Soul Merchant'."
Eliza looked through the box and pulled out a few random ones, before eventually selecting one that could be used as a Bracelet and Armband.
She fixed it on his upper right arm and it resized to fit his arm.
"This is quite weird…"
"Weirdness is secondary, protection comes first."
The priestess shot down his little concern with her logical argument, and Evan was left without a means to refute her.
It was then that a waiter came close and asked to take their order, but the instant the man got within a metre of their table, he felt chills down his spine.
'The fuck?!'
He had come close enough that Evan's concealment wasn't effective anymore, hence, he was now able to sense the terrifying aura exuded by the box of artifacts on the table.
"Oh, yeah. We do have to order."
Evan pulled out the menu from under the table and let the box fall back into his inventory, before flipping through the menu and beginning his order.
"For starters, give me every single variation of Strawberry Drinks you possess."
"No, you are NOT going to drink all that, Evan.
Just give him one wine and one fruit juice."
Eliza countered his order and the waiter was genuinely confused about who he was supposed to listen to in the situation, especially as Evan didn't say anything and kept on looking through the menu.
"Okay, give me items 5,6,7,13. And then get Items 1,3, 8, 10 for her."
Knowing Eliza's preferences, he ordered something he knew she would like, down to the drinks before handing the man back the menu.
"Um…about your drinks?"
"Huh? Didn't I say to get me everything 'Strawberry' you had?"
"You're not gonna be able to finish all that Evan."
Eliza stated once more as she returned the menu to the waiter, and Evan gave a quite unorthodox reply.
"Clearly not. Though I like strawberries a lot, my stomach has physical constraints, so there's a limit to how much I can consume at once.
That's why I have a fridge in my inventory, so I can take them later."
"…"
Both Eliza and the Waiter gave him incredulous looks, with Eliza breaking the silence and saying.
"It's your money, do whatever you want."
"I was planning to. Now get me every strawberry drink on the menu."
The Waiter nodded and left their table, while internally planning how he was going to get someone else to handle their food delivery.
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