'It's pointless as he's of a higher level. He'd just overpower me easily.'
Evan, on the other hand, let all the strength behind the knight captain's sword flow to the ground, a second before he used that momentum to fling him away.
He flipped and landed upright, before springing forward and swinging his sword multiple times with the speed of a raging whirlwind.
Evan retaliated without hesitation, blocking the man's strikes and striking back when possible, with the ground getting cut up by the force of their sword swings.
The boy calmly dodged a sword swing, before throwing a kick towards the knight captain's stomach, however, his foot was easily caught by the man who was only forced back lightly.
He then pushed Evan's leg back with force, temporarily keeping him off balance while he attacked.
Surprisingly, Evan regained his balance quickly and threw out another kick at a frightening speed, with the knight captain being able to just barely block it before his blade was knocked out of his hands by Evan's sword.
Before the sound of his weapon touching the ground could be heard, Evan already had the unforged at his neck, stopping him in his tracks and preventing him from going after his sword.
"My win."
"Indeed, it is."
The knight captain raised his arms in mock surrender as the sound of applause rang out from around them.
Evan rose an eyebrow in slight surprise, upon seeing as the crowd around them was more than he had expected, with his hands pulling the knight captain's blades towards his body.
However, right before the swords entered his palm, they stopped and slowly floated in the air.
"A skill?"
"Yeah. Weapon Control."
"I see…"
The man collected his swords and sheathed them while Evan tossed the unforged into his inventory while making a mental note to get the sword checked out and taken for maintenance.
"Guild Master Alok, Viscount Perhorn. Mind giving me a few moments to freshen up?"
"…No problem."
There was a delayed reply from the guild master while the Viscount remained silent, with Evan walking back into the mansion while slinging a face towel over his neck.
Seeing the back of the retreating boy, the Alok recalled his earlier battle with the knight captain and thought to himself.
'Seems that the boy's strength isn't in his large number of skills. He also seems like he's had his fair share of experience in battle too.'
As for the boy in question, he had made his way back to the assigned room he was given while yawning lightly, unlocking it and walking inside as he told the maid following him to prepare the bath.
"Morning, sleepy head."
He casually strolled over to the bedside and placed a kiss on the lips of the still-dazed Eliza who had just woken up.
She nodded in response to his greeting and opened her mouth to speak, only to tilt her head in confusion upon realising she wasn't in her room.
Evan watched as the confusion on her face, slowly turned into recognition, before transitioning into remembrance, realisation and finally embarrassment.
The young hero burst into laughter upon seeing her cute expressions, earning him a light glare from the battle priestess who was now fully awake.
Just then, the maid reported that she had prepared the bath and Evan dismissed her, before picking up the embarrassed girl's body from the bed and lifting her into his arms.
"Huhhh?? W-what are you doing?!"
"Going to bath? What else does it look like?"
"I know what it looks like! I'm asking why you're carrying me too?!"
"Why indeed?"
Evan asked with a knowing smile, while a faint blush crept up Eliza's cheeks as she remembered the happenings in the bath last night.
Just before she could make a protest, the door opened and Pride walked into the room, with two cats on her shoulders and a visibly confused miniaturized humanoid spirit sitting on her head.
"It's barely 8 am in the morning and you guys are at it already?"
Evan only shrugged his shoulder, while Eliza took advantage of his momentary pause to escape his arms and run behind Pride, as if using the high demon as a shield from Evan.
And it was indeed a very effective shield as the boy didn't make any attempt to pull her along with him, only mentioning a few things to Pride before taking his bath and moving over to where the Viscount and guild master were waiting.
Seeing the boy depart the room, Pride finally turned her attention to the blonde girl who had been hiding behind her all this while.
"Normally, this would be the part where I ask what happened between the two of you, but I don't have the patience to listen so Imma just leave Kayla and Kuro with you.
I'm going out to check out the bookshops."
"Huh? Just wait a bit, let me follow you!"
◇ ◇ ◇
While the battle priestess scurried to have her bath and catch up to the impatient high demon, Evan was finalizing a few matters with the Viscount and the Guild master in the Viscount's office.
"The possibility of other cities also coming under similar kinds of monster attacks, huh?"
"It's definitely there and it most likely happened, but there's nothing you guys can do about that given that none of the said cities is in Hobha."
"….
Just what are those two siblings and what did they do to get locked up in dungeons for centuries?"
"There are some things you are better off not knowing, Viscount Perhorn."
Evan replied to the viscount's words before taking a sip of the tea prepared for them. He then turned to the guild master and asked a few things concerning giving Greed an 'identity' with the adventurer's guild.
Afterwards, he pulled out an insignia from his inventory, one holding a crest that the two men in the room recognized.
'Kasteblum's coat of arms?'
Evan then took out his B rank guild card and typed some things inside before pouring his magic power into it and initiating a connection with another card.
"So, Greed would have to remain C rank, for now- is what you're saying?"