'I wonder how much destruction I would cause if I were to go all out? Oh well, I have a lot of chances to test that out.'
He ruffled the pouting spirit's hair as he thought about how much more difficult it was becoming to level up, and how much more it'd be in the coming days.
'If its this hard for me, who levels up 4 times faster, then I wonder how it'd be for normal people who don't have levelling boosts.
Then again, due to the nature of my contract with Pride, levelling up is a lot faster when we're fighting together.'
While having thoughts like that, he left the dungeon together with the young spirit, moving over to the adventurer's guild to turn in the Troll materials he had picked up.
Naturally, the adventurers who were drinking and celebrating their day's success, couldn't help but be stunned when Evan entered the building with Kayla in tow.
This was expected, after all, Evan and his companions were very popular now, so his appearance with Kayla who they hadn't seen before due to the fact that she mostly remained in spiritual form, was bound to cause a few heads to turn.
And as usual, Evan ignored the gazes he was receiving and dropped the things needed at the guild counter while focusing on coaxing the pouting spirit.
In the eyes of those watching, it looked like an older brother trying to pacify his younger sister who was angry at him.
◇ ◇ ◇
Evan just barely managed to make the girl stop being angry at him by the time they arrived at the Viscount's mansion and returned to their assigned rooms.
Pride showed mild surprise upon seeing Kayla's appearance, as even in her normal state, the young spirit only looked like a seven-year-old at best.
However, the current Kayla looked like she had grown a few years in a few hours, with her height being a whole 50cm higher than normal.
No matter how you looked at her, the current Kayla looked like a twelve-year-old in every aspect, from her face to her height and the rest of her body.
"…. how?"
"Hmm? Oh, it's her skill.
Come to think of it, she hardly uses it.
I've also stopped using it for a while too."
Evan replied to the high demon before turning his gaze to the blonde priestess who was very obviously avoiding meeting his eyes.
'She's still embarrassed?'
Pride noticed this small interaction and tilted her head to the side in question before asking bluntly.
"Did you guys fuck last night or something?"
"NO!"
"We were close."
Eliza and Evan's replied respectively, with the high demon giving Eliza a strange gaze, before going to pat Evan's shoulder and speak.
"Must be hard, huh?
You guys are free to do what you want but don't make things awkward for the rest of us."
While Eliza was muttering something incomprehensible to herself as she hugged a certain cat spirit tightly, Greed walked into the room, yawning while holding a bottle of wine in one hand.
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It was at this point that a weird questioning thought found its way into Evan's mind and he decided to voice it out.
"Hey, Greed.
Is there anyone she's crushing on?"
Naturally, the 'she' in question was the high demon who had gone back to her book, only to be pointed out by Evan who asked her brother that strange question.
As for Greed's reply, the man looked at Evan strangely before asking.
"You really think it's possible for her to bring herself to like someone 'that' way?"
"…Good point."
Evan couldn't help but agree with that answer, attempting to drop the matter only for a second weird question to pop into his head.
"What about you, Greed?"
The high demon noticeably flinched upon hearing that question, slowly placing down the bottle of wine in his hand and turning around with the intention of giving a nonchalant reply, if only his sister hadn't beat him to it.
"He has a girlfriend. Or rather, he 'had' a girlfriend."
"Had? They broke up?"
"Nahh…She's probably dead."
"Wut?" "Hey!"
Evan let out a strange voice while Greed cried out in protest, however, Pride only flipped the pages of her book casually while speaking.
"You know how paranoid Alvey's son is. Do you think he would leave someone that closely connected with you alive after what he did with us?"
Pride's question made Greed swallow his words, with the mood suddenly turning heavy as an awkward silence descended upon them.
'It's better he accepts it now, so it won't affect him much later when he finds out whatever happened.
Though it'd be good if she's okay. Having someone who understood my taste in reading wasn't bad at all.'
Those were the thoughts of the high demon as she stared at her younger brother who had various emotions conflicting in his eyes.
The two remained in silence until Evan unceremoniously broke it with his words.
"Wait up! Did you just say, Alvey?
The previous demon king's name was Alvey?"
"Yes, his name is Alvey. What about it?"
Evan was about to speak when Greed suddenly burst out in laughter, holding his hands over his face and gazing at Pride through the gaps in his fingers.
"I see what you're trying to do, sister, and honestly, I appreciate it.
But don't you think you should work on yourself first before me?"
Pride's face initially showed confusion, however, when she thought about her last statement, realization flashed through her eyes and she clicked her tongue in obvious displeasure.
"Well…. seems like this topic isn't exactly the best."
Evan made another offhanded comment before pulling out a few things from his inventory and tossing them on the table.
He then blatantly changed the topic, bringing up their plans for leaving Osto and going to the Great Western Empire.
It was slightly awkward at first, but eventually, they all forgot about the previous conversation and even Eliza who was avoiding Evan somehow ended up right next to him when they were arguing about their travel plans.
They barely managed to come to an agreement on how to proceed when it was close to 1 am, with them going to bed right after, with Evan casually kidnapping Eliza into his room.
Two days later, on the 24th of March, the septet of humans, demons, and spirits set out from Osto with a carriage prepared for them by the Viscount.
Their destination; Bultom City of the Great Western Empire's Cheverton Duchy.