Reincarnated Hero System

Chapter 1272: Dead Woman Walking

With Laurene taking a seat, there was only one seat left at the four-sided table, however, Eliza didn’t head there immediately and instead took her time observing the variety of plants in the garden.

The garden had a maze-like layout, but since the tallest plants and flowers only reached about two and a half feet, no one could get lost in it. There was a leaf wall at the end of the garden, with an arched flower doorway at its centre, serving as the back exit that led to the mansion’s rear gate.

Eliza moved her gaze away from the garden and finally looked toward Agnes, and at that moment, Agnes spoke.

"You don’t seem to like me very much."

Slowly walking towards the table, Eliza responded, "Why do you say that like it’s supposed to be surprising?"

Agnes smiled faintly, recalling her first encounter with Evan, then she chuckled. "True, I suppose it’s not surprising that you’re not fond of me."

The way she spoke carried a trace of detachment, as though she truly didn’t care whether Eliza liked her or not, much like how someone in the Elven Empire wouldn’t care about the weather in the distant Beast Kingdom.

She turned her attention away from Eliza and looked back at Evan, who was still scrolling through his phone, then she asked, "Your friends are here now, so I’ll ask again. To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit, Evan?"

Evan finally locked his phone screen and put it face down, looking up to Agnes before speaking.

"A couple of things. But first, I wanted to ask. Are you still misguided?"

"Misguided?" Agnes asked, her brows furrowed lightly.

"Yes," Evan replied. "Between our last meeting and now, I found out a lot more information regarding that whole story about the ’Forbidden Cosmic Source’ you told me."

Agnes finally understood that Evan was talking about the last time they’d talked in the GEE, shortly after the war with Wolfen ended, way back in Year 1053. (Chapters 774-780)

"I wouldn’t say it was totally wrong, but it’s been twisted, embellished, and many details have been changed."

"Details, changed?"

Agnes leaned forward across the table as she asked this, and Evan nodded once.

"Yes. For example, the thing you called the FCS doesn’t exist."

Agnes frowned and was about to speak, but Evan held out a hand in front of her lips to stop her and then continued.

"But the part where you said there was something tied to Artemisia that would draw the attention of thousands of Deities to this world. That’s correct."

Laurene and Eliza didn’t know the details of Evan’s last conversation with Agnes, so they couldn’t follow it, but what was being mentioned was already enough for them to understand that things were dangerous.

Eliza, who knew Agnes was connected to the Demonic Hand, was even more suspicious, but she chose to stay silent for now.

"So, what is that thing?" Agnes asked, ignoring the reactions of the other two young women.

"I can’t say," Evan replied. "That would do Aidos more harm than good."

Evan wasn’t about to start blabbing to everyone that Artemisia’s reliant immortality was linked to Aidos, especially not to Agnes.

"But what I can tell you is that the person who told you the story of the FCS, the other goddess you met, might be a mutual friend of Artemisia and me."

Agnes was about to respond, but she paused, thinking back to her conversation with Evan nearly 3 years ago, before narrowing her eyes.

"I never told you it was a goddess," she said.

"You don’t need to. Didn’t I say she was a mutual friend?" Evan asked in return.

He tapped the table once, then continued, "In December of 1054, she interfered in my battle with the FCDs of the Alpha Continent and sent me back in time by several thousand years."

"!"

"Evan?!"

Eliza and Laurene were stunned at how casually Evan revealed this, but Evan didn’t take his eyes off Agnes for even a second.

Noticing their reactions, Agnes could tell Evan wasn’t lying, and that this was meant to be a secret.

’Which means...’

"It wasn’t that you were recovering from the strain of summoning a goddess. You simply weren’t in this time period anymore," she muttered, earning a nod from Evan.

"That explains why your soul is much more...fascinating," she added, her voice carrying a hint of excitement, and this time she earned an immediate glare from Eliza.

Agnes ignored it, almost leaning forward across the table, but Eliza reached out, grabbed her shoulder, and forced her back into her seat without a word.

"Do you have a death wish?" Evan asked with a light laugh. "If you don’t, then I suggest you control yourself."

Agnes sighed and pushed Eliza’s hand off her shoulder, closing her eyes for a moment before reopening them and speaking.

"Is that why your soul now has the same qualities as those of the gods, yet somehow limited to mortal capacity?"

"...wait, what?!" Laurene exclaimed, her eyes snapping towards Evan, demanding an explanation.

"It’s a long story, Laurene. So long, even Liz doesn’t know all of it," Evan said without taking his eyes off Agnes.

"And you, Agnes. Don’t say anything further. That’s forbidden territory."

Evan’s voice was as casual as ever, but there was a threatening undertone to it that Agnes instantly noticed.

She raised her hands in surrender, not wanting to piss Evan off, and understanding her intent, Evan continued.

"I only told you about my misadventures through time to explain why I know the one who told you that distorted story about the FCS."

Agnes nodded silently, and Evan went on, finally reaching the reason he came here.

"I wanted to ask you something."

"Which is?"

Just as Agnes asked that, someone opened the garden’s back exit, a phone held to their ear as they spoke into it.

"Where am I? I just got to your house. The one where Agnes is."

The sound of the voice drew the attention of all four at the table, and each of them reacted differently.

For Evan, it was recognition. This figure dressed entirely in black, their jeans tucked into leather boots beneath a black hooded leather jacket pulled over their head to conceal their hair, and a full face mask with only one eyehole on the right, was one of the most mysterious characters Evan knew from Aidos Online, one whose identity had never been revealed, even at the end.

For Agnes, it was a mix of recognition and alarm. She knew the face and the person behind the hood, and she knew that the reaction Evan and Laurene would have upon discovering any of these details wouldn’t be good.

For Eliza, it was confusion. She could sense that the person who had just walked in was a living being, but their life signal felt...artificial. It was as though she was looking at an affront to ’life,’ something that shouldn’t exist morally, but was undeniably alive before her.

And finally, for Laurene, it was confusion at first, then recognition, which immediately turned into shock, so intense that she abruptly turned and rose from her seat with her eyes wide open.

At that same moment, the newcomer also noticed Laurene, their expression behind the mask distorting at the sight of her fully active Mystic Eyes, and just then, the voice from the other end of the phone rang out.

[No! Get out of there! Fourth is there!]

That kind of warning could only come from someone familiar enough with Aidos’ Seven Heroes to know that Laurene was the ’Fourth’, but it was already too late.

Laurene’s Mystic Eyes of Truth saw through the mask, the recognition inhibition magic cast on it, and clearly saw the true face and identity of the soul within the body standing before her.

And since that person was supposed to be dead as far as Laurene knew, it was only natural that she couldn’t hold back the shocked exclamation that left her lips.

"How are you alive!?"

"Hmm? What’s wrong, Laurene?" Evan asked, turning to her with a worried gaze, and at the same time, magic power had already left his body, rushing toward the hooded figure to restrain them, a reaction based on the understanding that Laurene wouldn’t react like that if it wasn’t something serious.

Her next words rewarded the trust he had placed in her.

"That’s Alisa!"

The moment Evan heard that name, the world around him seemed to slow to a crawl as Time Difference activated, expanding a single second of thought.

’Alisa? The only Alisa that Laurene and I know is ’Alisa Reeva’, but she’s supposed to be dead.

However, Laurene’s Mystic Eyes are active, and with her current Level, there’s no way she’d mistake Alisa of all people. In that case...’

He didn’t finish the thought, Time Difference deactivating as he warped through space, appearing in front of the hooded figure who was about to use magic and grabbing them by the neck, lifting their body off the ground with ease.

Evan’s left hand reached out and grabbed their mask, pulling it off their face while also pulling back their hood.

However, there was a hazy veil in front of their face, like a fog clouding his mind when he looked at them, and with a frown, Evan released a pulse of magic power through his right hand that shattered that veil, allowing him to see the face of the red-eyed elf clearly.

"Well, well, well," Evan said with a cold smile. "Call the doctors, and call the priests. We’ve got a dead woman walking the streets."