The Rebirth of Evelyn Knox

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Evelyn and Cecilia naturally noticed that someone was following them the moment they left the inn's door, but that was only to be expected when considering the strange situation inside.

Since the person trailing them was just a single, ill-intentioned mortal, neither of them took the threat seriously. The only real 'issue' he could bring would be if he managed to find out something he shouldn't, but Evelyn would naturally never give him such a chance.

This was as good an opportunity as any to find out exactly what was going on, and Evelyn wasn't one to keep herself in the dark if she could help it.

After all, although the threat level of this town was overall quite low under normal circumstances, she still couldn't afford to expose her whereabouts due to a moment of carelessness.

Cloud's bearded companion sneakily followed the two girls all the way to their carriage. Seeing them get inside, he hesitated for a few moments, looked around to confirm there was no threat, and slowly crept up from behind the carriage to see if he could listen in on their conversation.

Usually, he was quite cautious and never got this close to the 'target' before they really struck, but this time his 'boss' had assured him that if they succeed, the compensation he would be handing out would be twice as much as usual, and there might even be additional benefits! It was well worth the risk.

Of course, even if the targets tried to flee, it would only be a little more troublesome to catch them than it would be if they had been caught off guard. After all, the City Lord's mansion had already agreed to turn a blind eye to them thanks to their employer.

As long as they didn't create too much of a scene, that is.

Although it looked quite normal from the outside, the man realized that the quality of the carriage wasn't bad at all. At least, the sound isolation was quite good, and it was impossible to hear what the occupants inside were talking about unless they started shouting.

Placing his ear against the back of the carriage, all he managed to make out was the giggle and gaggle of young girls, at least four or five in number, and the bearded man couldn't help but have his eyes light up.

According to Cloud, two of the girls were already fit commodities for their employer given the light stone's reaction, and any 'witnesses' that came along with them to the town would naturally have to be 'silenced'.

That is to say, all the people inside were not only 'icing on the cake', but could also be considered their personal 'bonus' for the job! Even if none of the other girls inside reacted to the stone of light, the bearded man knew that Cloud would be able to arrange their sale in the town's premium brothel.

Just thinking about all the money rolling in had the man's heart beating wildly, and he could already count how many days he would be able to party and play around with this haul.

Unfortunately, his happiness came to an abrupt end as he heard the carriage door creak open, and the man swiftly ducked underneath it in an attempt to hide.

With the continuous clacking of heels on stone, six pairs of girly shoes entered his sight one after another, and the man couldn't help but gulp. 'J-Jackpot! We've hit the jackpot!'

Not only was there no man around to protect them, but there wasn't even an adult woman around! Going by the size of their shoes, perhaps the oldest one was still a young girl that could barely be considered 'marriageable'.

How could he not be delighted to see so much of his weakest and most rewarding prey bunched up together? For a moment, he even had the impulse to go out and take control of them all by himself so he could increase his contribution and demand a bigger share, but he quickly calmed himself down.

If one of the customer's real targets managed to run away because of him, he would be skinned alive!

Thankfully, the girls who came out didn't act out of the norm, and he inwardly heaved a sigh of relief as he saw them walk away, stuck the 'bug' under the carriage, and slowly sneaked away back to the Riham's inn.

At least, that is what he believed was happening.

For Evelyn and her friends, however, what actually happened was that the man climbed out from under the carriage, a blank look in his eyes.

Evelyn hadn't yet had the chance to use her 'Soul Dominion' properly, since she rarely had to deal with individuals with greatly inferior soul strength, but this was as good an opportunity as any.

The pink-haired girl first probed the man's status, and after confirming that he was just a moderately strong mortal at level sixteen, she frowned. "What did you plan to do with us?"

The man continued staring blankly ahead, but answered honestly. "Sell to the customer."

Evelyn pursed her lips in thought. "Who is the 'customer'?"

"Big man from the temple, very rich, very strong."

Her eyes chilled. If the matter involved the Temple of Shinra… she would really have to decide if it was better to just cancel everything and run away before things could spiral out of control. "How strong is your strongest companion? Tell me everything you know about him. And also when and how you planned to strike."

Although she had been quite prudent in the inn and hadn't thrown her probe around recklessly, she had already confirmed that the old lady innkeeper was just level twenty-nine, while the boisterous man who had tried to provoke her was level forty-five.

This was already exceptional for mortals in a border town, but Evelyn's couldn't rule out the possibility that there were stronger opponents hiding and keeping an eye out on her from afar, even with her 'eternal ripple'. As long as they acted normal, looking for them would be like searching for a needle in a haystack.

Thankfully, the man's subsequent words quickly calmed some of her panic.

"Boss Cloud is the strongest among us, and can even beat official rangers all by himself. Now that he even has a mysterious artifact, he is like a dragon soaring into the sky, and his true strength is unfathomable!"

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━