"An existence below the master level, is not worthy to be the 'Incarnation of Pride'."
Pride went silent after saying this, causing Evan to narrow his eyes at her.
"Is this restriction an actual restriction of the skill?
Or is it self imposed?"
"What do you think?"
Pride replied to Evan's question with a question of her own, making the young hero to click his tongue in annoyance.
"You really left out such a powerful skill because of your pride? It thought you said you had curbed it?"
"I was counting on your boosted life force, and it did not let me down.
"Boosted Bull shit!"
Evan was about to stand up from the bed as he screamed at Pride, however, Eliza who had at a time he did not realize, carried a scissors and began trimming his hair forced him back down instantly with strength he did not expect from her slender arms.
"Huh? When did yo-"
**KNOCK!! KNOCK!!
Evan's question was interrupted by a sudden knock on the door.
"Come in."
After giving permission, the door opened up and the appearance of the person on the other side was revealed.
"Guild master?"
It was the Geto city's adventurer's guild master who had warned Evan about the city lord, Baron Geto, who had later turned out to be a demon named Xakon in disguise.
"Is there a problem?"
The guild master turned his gaze towards the red eyed woman on one end of the room, then towards the blonde-haired girl who was humming a tune while trimming Evan's hair before heaving a sigh.
"The leader of the Royal knights told me to call you over to inspect the 'unidentified creature's' 'corpse.
'Unidentified Creature'
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtThat was what the people of Geto were calling the humanoid monster that had attacked their city's adventurer's guild and had killed hundreds a month ago.
It was only natural as they had never seen or heard of demons before in their entire lifetimes.
The guild master could have never imagined that the red eyed woman in the same room with him was of the same race as this 'unidentified creature'.
Evan nodded as Eliza finished up his haircut, nodding to herself in satisfaction as she pulled out a mirror from a small pouch on her waist and showed Evan her handiwork.
If Evan had looked like a hoodlum when he had just randomly cut out parts of his abnormally long hair, he now looked like a high school student on his way to his first part time job interview.
"That's nice."
He commented offhandedly before standing up from the bed and realising something.
"I think I may have grown a bit too tall, my clothes no longer fit."
◇ ◇ ◇
After about an hour of Evan going through what was left of the clothing industry in Geto city, he finally discovered clothes his size that also fit his taste.
He was now outfitted in a pair of black trousers with a normal white short sleeved T-shirt on his upper body. Atop his shirt, was a gray cardigan he wore because of the cold.
Pride had also taken her time to change her appearance, making Evan realise that women everywhere were the same, even if they were from the demon race.
"You think I'm generalizing? That's your problem!"
Evan turned his attention back to the demon after ranting towards the readers for a bit.
She was dressed in a white turtleneck shirt, with black trousers tucked into her knee height boots. A large red overcoat hung from her shoulders as she adjusted her black gloves before turning to Evan.
"Shall we?"
"You guys look like you're going for a fashion show, not to inspect a corpse."
Eliza couldn't help but comment as she saw the two of them walk together, nevertheless, she was not much different as she was now dressed differently from before.
She wore a turtleneck shirt like Pride but unlike the high demon's, hers was black in colour. She wore this with a black skirt and long black stockings under brown leather flats.
Now properly dressed and outfitted in new clothes, the trio made their way over to a part of the forest on the outskirts of Geto that was familiar to both Evan and Pride.
"This was where the bandit's base was in. What did they call themselves again?"
"Mountain Bandits."
"Yeah, that. Such a cringey name."
Evan made small talk with the high demon as the scene of the six royal knights and the guild master staring at a corpse on the floor came into view.
Upon seeing the demon who drove him to the brink of death, Evan only shook his head before turning his gaze to the only 'Master' among the knights present.
"So, what did you call us here for?"
"To decide what to do with 'This'."
By 'this', he naturally meant Xakon's corpse that was in front of them. Although he felt that Evan looked a lot different from before, the knight ignored it and decided to address the more important matter.
"Sir...?"
"Walsh."
"Walsh? As in, Marquis Walsh?"
"Yes. I am the fourth child of the current Marquis."
Evan nodded as he instantly discerned the family that the knight leader belonged to before continuing.
"So, Sir Walsh. I'm going to need you to send this corpse to the Princess."
"Huh?"
His words surprised not only the guild master, but also the five other knights who were present. Evan, however, did not give them time to collect themselves as he continued speaking.
"When you see Laurene, tell her that I said she should begin looking towards the 'Beast Kingdom'. And that one of 'us' is supposed to be there.
Also, tell her to use this corpse as proof of what's incoming and urge her father to begin preparations."
He spoke all of that in one breath before squatting to the ground and poking Xakon's corpse.
"You do not seem to have any intention of hiding your identity again, do you?"
Pride remarked as she saw the narrowed eyes of Sir Walsh who was taking glances at Evan while explaining to the other knights and the guild master who Evan was and how he had the gall to call the country's princess by her first name.
"Nahh. That's pointless now.
I've already attracted way too much attention with this.
Besides, any moves I make from now on require me to use my actual identity. I have to start building my influence so that when the time comes, I would be able to grab the attention of both continents with even the smallest actions."
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmEvan remembered one of the reasons he left the duke's mansion in the capital; to gain the strength necessary for preventing the 'Eight Disasters'.
The Dulhan Attack,
The Lizard Lord's Outbreak,
The Seven Deadly Sins Massacre,
The Wolf of the End,
Fall of the Desert Country,
The Basilisk's Stone Festival,
The Barbarian King's uprising, and lastly, the worst of them all;
The Ancient Demonic Dragon's Resurrection.
So far, he had only stopped the 'Seven deadly Sins massacre' by contracting with Pride and preventing the scenario of the 'Demonic Hand' from using her hatred against the demon king to further their own goals.
'The next one is the 'Dullahan Attack'.
According to the game's timeline, I have about six months before the undead start running wild, a month after that, the flesh golem would spawn, taking the attention of the one person who could prevent the Dullahans from rampaging.
In the game, the Dullahan attack was something that occurred in a territory situated in the northern parts of the Great Western empire.
It was ruled by the one know as the 'Northern Sword Duke', the sixth of the Great Western Empire's 'Ten great swordsmen'.
One had to work with the Northern Sword Duke in order to subjugate the Dullahans that had spread out to many parts of the vast territory and were reaping thousands of lives on a daily basis.
'With so much pain and suffering accumulated by the Dullahans' actions, its only natural that the 'Demonic Hand' acquired a lot of 'fuel' for their spell.
He thought of how the dimensional rift was destroyed in the game and shook his head before standing upright and speaking to Pride.
"We would be going to the north after this is dealt with."
**BEEEEEEEEEPPPPPPPPP!!!!!
The high demon nodded and was about to reply when a loud beeping sound attracted the attention of all those present.
"Hmmm?"
The guild master frowned as he pulled out the source of the sound from his pocket and opened it up. After a few moments, he heaved a sigh and announced his departure.
"It seems that there is a problem that requires someone of my authority present. I would be leaving this to you all then."
After speaking the guild master turned in the direction of Geto and kicked off the ground, blitzing into the sea of trees at a speed that none of the others left behind could catch.