Reincarnated Hero System

Evan shook hands with the Viscount, a small natural smile gracing his face.

“I’ll send you all the details I have later.

Take your time, Viscount. Don’t rush and gather enough evidence without alerting the Count.

The Countess would be back from her ‘vacation’ in Two Months so you can start acting after that.”

After concluding his talk with the Viscount, Evan walked away while humming a tune to himself.

Suddenly, the ambient temperature rapidly dropped and he felt a small weight pressing down on his shoulder. Glancing to his side, he saw a familiar pale-skinned and blue-haired young girl standing beside him, her hand holding his shoulder.

As he turned to look into her ice-blue eyes, she spoke.

[Master, you’re evil.]

“Wha? Even the Law of Karma calls me ‘Good’. How can you say I’m Evil?”

Evan replied to Milena with a ‘hurt’ expression and the Water Spirit rolled her eyes as she glanced at the Viscount who was already concocting a plan of action.

[Sure about that? Because it looks to me that just after threatening that guy with his family situation, you went on to spill it to someone who has the power and connections to ruin him.

And you just so happen to specify a certain number of months while talking to the Viscount…a number I couldn’t help but find awfully similar to the amount of time it’d take your ‘friends down south’ to import their goods.]

“Well, whatever do you mean, Milena?”

‘I mean you’re using that guy then ruining him right after, that’s what!’

Of course, Milena kept her thoughts to herself and didn’t say anything. She did give Evan a knowing glance and the boy just laughed it off as they walked.

[I came over because I was bored of watching Nadarus scam people.

He’s just using one trick today.

Roselia ended up joining him since some guy with a ‘Rare Book Collection’ came over and it turned into a poker game with Books as the stakes.

I wanted to see what was going on here, but besides the roses, nothing here interests me.]

Just as Milena spoke, Evan paused and looked at her current appearance which wasn’t her adult form—her real form—but one that resembled Kayla’s early teen form.

“Milena, do you fancy being pampered by older ladies and played with like a dress-up doll?”

[…what? Why would I like that?]

“I advise you to leave soon or you’d join Kayla in that fate.”

[Join Lady Kay-?!]

[Master! Milly! Help!!]

Kayla suddenly appeared beside her and grabbed her hands, with Milena being shocked out of her skin by the sudden contact.

She was quick to notice that Kayla’s dress was very different from the one she left the Oak Avenue Manor with, and immediately, Evan’s words about ‘dress-up dolls’ crossed her mind.

In that same split second, a group of older Noble Ladies. Veteran Countesses, Marchionesses, and even the Duchess of Cheverton surrounded Evan and the two spirits, their folding fans barely concealing the smiles on their faces at the sight of the two girls.

“Oh My.”

“Good evening, Count Bourne.”

“I wasn’t aware you had another cute Contracted spirit here.”

Hearing these words, Milena felt a shiver run down her spine and she tried to dematerialize her body. However, Kayla was still holding her and the Higher-Ranked spirit’s touch made it impossible for her to dematerialize.

Meanwhile, the conversation with Evan and the noble ladies was already concluding.

“Mind if we borrow their time for a bit?”

To Duchess Cheverton’s request, Evan replied.

“Feel free.”

[[MASTER?!]]

The two spirits were shocked at this ‘betrayal’ and faster than they could run, they had already been swiped up in the arms of the Duchess whose superhuman grip was not something they could break out of without hurting her.

If they did that, however, they’d be faced with a whole new problem entirely.

‘Sorry guys, but I need the house empty tonight.’

[But there are other waysssss!!!!]

Kayla cried out as she was dragged back to the waiting rooms where trolleys of goth Lolita dresses awaited her, with tears in her eyes.

Evan gave a silent prayer for the two spirits with beautiful doll like appearances that tickled the fancy of the older ladies who loved to over-pamper them.

With the two of them taken to dress hell, Evan shrugged and turned towards Eliza who was walking up to him.

“That was cruel of you, Evan.”

Evan, however, did not answer her and instead glanced at her shadow to see if a certain cat was present.

“Kuro’s not here, huh? Tsk. Wanted to toss him along with them”

On the other side of the city, a certain young boy with cat ears and tail who was buying a bottle of milk felt a shiver run down his spine and the hairs on his tail stood on end.

He nearly dropped the bottle of milk, his gaze turning in the direction of the Castle In the distance.

‘What’s the foreboding feeling?!’

Back in the Palace, a thought Eliza prayed would reach him crossed her mind.

‘Kuro, if you know what’s good for you, then don’t come back here.’

Thankfully, Kuro’s cat instincts warned him of the ‘danger’ so he redirected himself to where Amy and Roselia were enjoying the fruits of their labour (Books won from gambling.)

With the party ongoing, Evan and Eliza engaged in small talk with a few other nobles, with one particularly flashy lady coming up to Evan

Eliza took note of this one not because of her dress or her beauty, but because when speaking with her, Evan used magic to mute the sound so she could not hear the contents of their conversation.

This was the first time Evan was doing this tonight, so she was naturally curious. But that only lasted a second as she turned her gaze towards Laurene and Myra who were coming over.

Which was why she missed the exchange that happened next.

“Have you got it?”

“Polished to their finest.”

Countess Sofia replied as she handed Evan a small box and he opened it, checking its contents and seeing they were as expected, he nodded in satisfaction.

“Good job.”

“Thank you for your patronage, Count Bourne.”

Evan tossed the box into his inventory and the two shook hands, separating a moment after as Evan joined the conversation of the three ladies nearby while Countess Sofia (aka the ‘Jeweller’) left to speak with other business partners.

After a little chat, Richard and Arnold came to take their partners for a dance while Evan and Eliza retreated to one of the nearby verandas.

With the sound of the Hall’s music muted out behind them, the two gazed at the stars in silence while Evan slowly pulled Eliza into his arms and kissed her cheek.

“Liz…”

“Hmm?”

“I love you.”

“I know.”

Eliza wasn’t flustered any more by these random confessions of love, and she had begun to even anticipate receiving them these days.

She wouldn’t dare let Evan know that, of course.

The young woman intertwined her fingers with Evan’s, leaning into his chest and slowly closing her eyes in his embrace.

As he watched his girlfriend make herself comfortable in his arms, Evan smiled, before glancing up at the starry sky.

“Time really flies fast, huh?”

“It does. When I met Laurene she was still 12. Now she’s 16.

To think four years passed in a flash.”

Eliza spoke, her mind pulling up memories of her first meeting with a certain Princess inside a dungeon in Merdin.

As for Evan, his thoughts were pulled in a separate direction.

‘It’s been four years since I came to Aidos already, huh? Oh, how time flies…’

The sight of the two of them embracing under the shiny band of light in the sky, stars of different colours and sizes which were thousands of lightyears away from them made for a picturesque scene and Laurene could not resist taking a picture of it as she entered with Arnold.

“Heya. Came to show you how the pictures from earlier turned out.”

“Ah, great. Come over here, Laurene.”

Evan let go of Eliza and called Laurene’s attention to him. When she came over, he pointed at the band of light in the sky and spoke.

“Use your mystic eyes and zoom as far as possible into that cluster of stars and tell me if you’d see a Supermassive Black Hole at the end.”

“A Supermassive what?!”

“Black Hole.”

“…

…what?!”

Once again, the girl was left perplexed by Evan’s strange requests, and the boy only looked at her with confusion.

“You don’t know what a black hole is?”

“I know what it is, but you make it sound scarier by adding ‘Supermassive’ in front of it.

Also, even if I Zoomed to the limit with my eyes, there’s no way I’d be able to see beyond those stars that are billions of kilometres away!

Just what do you take me for? A Human telescope?”

“Too bad.”

Evan seemed downcast when he realised that she couldn’t confirm the existence of a black hole at the centre of the galaxy.

‘Oh well, I’d ask Artemisia later.’

For a moment, when he thought about wanting to ‘see a black hole’, his body felt strange and somewhere in the deepest recesses of his mind, a voice screamed out to him.

‘DON’T! DON’T LOOK!!’

‘…what was that?’

Evan’s expression changed, and he paused, his thoughts now unsettled. The voice felt so real, so urgent, that it sent a chill down his spine.

His heart pounded as he tried to make sense of the warning. Why shouldn’t he look? What could be so dangerous about it? He just wanted to take a look from a ridiculously far distance.

‘To begin with…what was the source of that warning?’

This was the main question that Evan could not figure an answer to. Eliza noticed his change in demeanour instantly and she asked him what was wrong.

However, before he could answer, the veranda doors burst open and a very worried Kayla charged in.

[Master?!]

“Huh? Kayla?”

[Ah…you were with others…]

The Lightning Spirit recognized the other presences nearby and her panic cooled down before she quickly switched up and began pleading with him.

[Master, please help rescue Milly! So many dresses! She got drowned in the sea of dresses!!]

“Pfftt!!”

Evan couldn’t hold his laughter when he heard her words, while Eliza poked him in the side and told him to go get the poor spirit out of her predicament.

“Fine, I’d go.”

He ‘reluctantly’ agreed, heading back into the hall as he spoke, however, a thought crossed his mind as he glanced at Kayla.

‘She knows something.’

He had certainly not missed the worried expression on Kayla’s face when she barged in through the doors.

What’s more, how could Kayla of all people miss the presences of Eliza, Laurene and Arnold?

However, her worry was so much that Evan was the only thing on her mind, with her only registering other existences when she saw them with her eyes.

‘That Warning and her suddenly appearing at the same time.

There’s a link…’

Something didn’t want Evan seeing any ‘black holes’ and Kayla also seemed to have sensed that warning.

Just when Evan thought he had figured out all he could for now, a new mystery presented itself before him and he needed to unravel it soon.