Dungeon City Osto guild master Alok Virlamin was inwardly cursing as he had a lot of people, mainly other guild masters, contacting him in regards to Evan and Greed's adventurer rank promotion issues, along with the new talk of Evan doing something 'Big' in Osto.
However, the main focus of the adventurer's conversations, was the word going around that Evan was the one responsible for the presence of the Church of Artemisia's forces along with the Mages of Kasteblum who had a not-so-low-profile entrance just this morning.
"How has this become a sensation when it all only happened yesterday afternoon? Heck, I just met the mages this morning!"
Evan exclaimed as he rode in the carriage that was headed towards the church of Artemisia in Bultom, along with Bishop Amelie and her cousin, Sir Heinr.
"I'm happy I'm getting more famous, but this is all happening faster than I planned.
Also, you didn't tell me that your cousin was this much of a big shot in the church. Half of the reason why the news spread so fast was that his name came up."
He turned to Amelie and spoke with an expression that the Bishop could only describe as 'Fake Displeasure', prompting her to reply with a sigh.
"Although I somewhat expected it, my expectations were exceeded."
She locked eyes with her cousin who was seating opposite her, a tall, black-haired and golden-eyed young-looking man who was actually in his late forties.
Whenever she and her cousin usually moved together, people often mistook them for siblings due to their similar facial features and hair colour.
Amelie herself held a high sway in the Church, but this cousin of hers was even more powerful as even some Cardinals of the Church didn't dare offend him.
He was also very popular, being one of the known figures of the Church of Artemisia in the Great Western Empire with the best public images.
As such, when he left the Church's headquarters in Gerfast, heads had already started turning. Upon showing up in Bultom Dungeon City and being received by Evan in public, people had already started deliberating what relation the two had.
Then as if all planned beforehand, an adventurer who heard Evan's words in the guild building on the day before saw it best to spread said words in an attempt to answer the questions of the people.
"Look on the bright side Lord Evan, at least you got the publicity you were looking for."
He spoke while shrugging his shoulders, with the young hero having no choice but to admit that he was right.
'There's no internet or social media in this world, but even so, the information still spreads pretty fast.
I guess it's expected considering that they have been able to send signals magically the same way it was done electronically in my world.
They even have radios and stuff so all this isn't too weird. I'm just waiting for when they finally decide to start making television se-'
"-ARE THOSE TRAIN TRACKS?!!"
The boy's thoughts were interrupted when he noticed a familiar set of tracks at one part of the city, slightly startling the bishop with his sudden shout.
"…Why are you so surprised? Trains have been in the works for years."
Heinr asked with a confused expression while Evan just sorted through the memories of the original Evan and compared them with the memories of the game he possessed.
'Trains became a thing in the game from the latter half of the year 1053 to Year 1054.
And we're currently in Year 1052 so I guess it kind of makes sense that they'd already started building tracks.
Wait…so we're gonna have teleportation waypoints so-Oh, we've arrived.'
Evan decided to put the talk about trains and teleportation at the back of his mind as he got down from the carriage and walked towards the church building in front of him.
'Now then…let's finalize the church's issue first.
That way, I would be ready to meet the 'Second Sword'.'
◇ ◇ ◇
Adventurer's Guild Building
Bultom Dungeon City
Cheverton Duchy
April 22nd
Year 1052
"Okay…so please do your best to gather the A-ranked adventurers here and correspond with the ones in the other cities close to our target points.
We'd move on the 24th.
He has most likely noticed the binding contract on out 'information source' is broken and is probably already moving to take action in response to the possibility of leaked information."
"Worry not. I've already begun discussing it with the A rankers and other guild leaders since yesterday."
"Really? That's good.
Anyway, thank you for your time, Miss Dasyra. We shall meet again this evening to discuss with the rest of the involved parties."
"The pleasure is mind, Lord Eris. Until then."
Such as the final interaction of the day between Evan and the guild master of Bultom City's adventurer's guild as the two ended their discussions for the morning.
"Hmm? Fancy seeing you here, Pride."
"Oh, Evan.
Greed dragged me over to help him out with the quest he and Eliza accepted. We just returned."
"I see."
Evan glanced over at the Demon of Greed who was flirting with the adventurer's guild receptionist and sighed before turning back to Pride who had fished out a book from somewhere and was reading it.
Glancing around, he caught sight of Eliza chatting with some B and A-ranked adventurers, deciding to let her be as he moved to sit down.
'I feel so mentally exhausted having to deal with all this logistics and stuff.
Is this how much work the higher-ups of armies have to deal with every time there's a war? Heck, I'm not even doing much compared to the actual army officer rank holders.'
He took a seat beside the high demon while thinking about all the matters he's had to deal with in just one day, starting from receiving the mages in the morning to the discussions in the Church and then the issue with Marquis Antebellum's cousin.
'So, the Marquis actually discovered evidence that his cousin was related to the simultaneous attacks that the Eighth Finger launched, but spent weeks torn over whether to report one of his closest relatives or not.
In the end, he finally made the decision to report him to the Duke first, hoping to use the Duke as an intermediary to the Royal Family.
Mehn…Laurene's not gonna like it when she hears this, not to talk of her brother.'
The boy was slowly sinking into his thoughts when he caught sight of a familiar head of red hair from the corner of his eyes.
"…huh?"
He looked up hurriedly and spotted the red-haired figure shuffle through a bunch of adventurers at the guild building doors with his eyes widening in shock.
"No fucking way it is her…"
Pride who heard his words was about to ask him what he was talking about, only for the young hero to shoot up from his seat and rush towards the exit of the guild.
"Huh? Where are you going?"
The young hero didn't even notice that Eliza had come over to where he was and called out to him, leaving the young battle priestess momentarily shocked.
While Pride was debating if she should follow him, Evan was moving through a crowd of people, trying to find that red-haired figure who he just caught a glimpse of.
'It could literally be another redhead, I mean, she's not the only one on the planet.
So why do I feel so strongly that it's her.'