Within the bustling, festival-filled Kingdom of Luxury, a group of four was walking towards the majestic statue quite deep in the kingdom. As they walked along, there were multiple services, items, meals, clothes, and basically, everything that could be sold under the sun was visible.
From time to time, something caught Abel's eye, and bought it using the coins Adam gave them while Gabe was starting to look impatient. At the corner of his Gabe's eye, he saw something interesting and directly went to it.
Abel saw Gabe's impulsive move and had no choice but to follow him. Before he left he said a few parting words towards Zane.
"I guess I'll see you later, Zane. Don't get in too much trouble. Remember that we're here to have fun."
After seeing both of them leave, Eve suddenly got closer to Zane and stood directly by his side. Zane's expression didn't change.
"What are you trying to do?"
Eve slightly giggled, "Just doing my part."
Zane ignored Eve's actions and just let her be. Eve's acting could really be mistaken as what she was truly like but unlike Zane who fully understood what kind of girl Eve was, he wasn't falling for a fake personality so easily.
When Eve wrapped her arms within Zane's arms, Zane suddenly smelled something off, "What's that smell?"
Eve pouted and said, "Don't you like it? I was sure a little someone would've liked it."
Zane narrowed his eyes and noticed something off but decided to ignore it and just find something to do while he was here.
Continuing their journey, they finally reached the awe-inspiring statue, the only place that they could see that was guarded by soldiers. Zane went forward to strike up a conversation with a guard while Eve was still latched on his arm.
"What's this place all about?"
The guard looked down at Zane who had a girl in her arms and was slightly frustrated, "Haah, even kids nowadays can get so lovey-dovey."
Zane ignored that comment and continued asking, "What's the story about that statue? Why is it the only place that's guarded?"
The guard answered Zane in a practiced and experienced manner as if he had told this story a thousand times.
This statue was erected in the honor of one of the current leaders of the Louga Coalition, Louga Winstren when she united these five kingdoms under a common goal. This symbolized the massive feat of having everyone brought everyone together, thus depicting an almost impossible feat of slaying a dragon.
It was said that under her leadership and charisma, she had taken the kingdoms in the palm of her hand within a single year. From solving problems that have plagued them for years to forcibly making them comply with her own demands. With wits and strength, she had inspired fear and awe into the people under her banner.
While Zane was quietly listening to the story that the guard was telling, more precisely how much he adored Louga Winstren, he could feel Eve's grip ever so slightly get tighter. This made Zane feel that being was more trouble than its worth.
Zane noticed malice within Eve's eyes, such that made him wonder what could've happened.
While the guard kept on adoring the figure depicted in the statue, he couldn't help but wonder how these pieces fit together. All he knew was that there was a reason why there were here, it had something to do with Eve's past and there were Adam's own plans.
He couldn't help but think just how far Adam planned this or if he was acting accordingly as the situations arise. Now that he had gained strength to stand on his two feet, he now had to have the wits worthy of his power.
When the guard finally finished his story, Zane thanked him and went on his way. He then started to walk around even more even picking up a few things that caught his eye. He bought another sword but from how it was designed and the material it was made from, it was just decoration. He even bought some snacks on the side as he was sightseeing.
Eve also bought a few things that caught her eye, oddly enough with each purchase, she was extremely agitated before when she saw the item and then extremely happy when she bought it. She used each item on herself the moment she got the product. It had reached a point that her face was full of make-up and had quite an alluring scent.
Zane felt this was about to lead to something that might sate his curiosity so he just let Eve do what she wanted. As night started to descent, the stalls suddenly turned quite a bit grim. The previous open stores closed up with only a select few still up for business.
Zane noticed that the once merry people of this kingdom started to disappear slowly until there were a few oddballs that appeared around them. They didn't bother them so Zane just ignored them and ignored them.
These oddballs looked extremely out of place but at the same time, others looked like any other stranger on the street. Some started to go to tents while others started to scatter. Zane looked at Eve and noticed she was looking at a particular store and decided to go there.
As soon as Eve noticed that they were heading in that direction, she stood still and pulled Zane's arm preventing him from going forward. Before Zane could react, she pulled him into a side alley and talked to him.
"Aren't you a little too eager now? There's still time tomorrow so right now let's just find a place to stay."
Zane could obviously tell that Eve didn't want him getting any deeper in this kingdom but as far as Zane saw it, he barely scratched the surface. With how a nobody reached the status of having inspired this much within the people and Eve having some kind of personal history with her, everything was clouded within a veil of mystery that he wanted to unveil.
For now, though, he still had enough time until Adam started moving. He decided to give up to Eve's demands for the day but with one condition.
Zane leaned on the wall of the alley, "Sure, I'll give up for now but I want you to answer my question truthfully."
Eve nodded and waited for Zane to ask her.
"There's obviously a story here, what happened to you here? You can't lie your way out of here."
Zane's clear piercing gaze made Eve quite uncomfortable and offered something else, "What if we go back to the beginning? Quid pro quo, an answer for a question. I'll let you make up your mind after this."
Zane thought for a while and agreed to it, with how thin the walls are in this kingdom they decided to go to the woods and camp out.
Out in the middle of the woods, only illuminated by the campfire and starlight, a boy and a girl were sitting across from each other, only separated by the campfire.
Zane took a little scroll out of his storage ring and ripped it.
A man who was following them was silently listening to them. The signal on them was more than enough to mark them as a target. He was making the least amount of noise he could, essentially motionless to the point that his heart rate could be barely felt.
He was eavesdropping on them and saw the boy rip a scroll causing the surrounding noise to be null. Luckily he was ready for some kind of noise-suppressing magic that could've been in place during his missions.
He skillfully brought mana into the artifact earring he was wearing and let him eavesdrop on the boy and girl. Unfortunately, due to the small amount of mana he used he could only hear the boy talk.
The said, "So, tell me right now, what's the real story behind you?"
The spy waited for a bit and observed the boy expression that turned from curiosity to interest but then slowly turned to pure fury.
The red tint within the boy's eyes was extremely scary that it nearly made the spy make a noise, "They really did that?! Good thing I brought Abel and Gabe with me, it's going to be a slaughter."
The boy took a deep breath and calmed down, he then nodded at the girl's question and said, "I stand by what I think."
The boy then asked the girl, "What's with these people during the night?"
After receiving the answer, the boy stomped his feet on the ground that caused the earth to quake causing birds to fly away from the trees.
The boy was oozing such a murderous aura that it made the spy wonder if the boy was really human, "... No survivors..."
The pause during the boy's words made the spy quiver which crossed the line that the spy felt safe with. He decided to retreat at this moment but ironically the worst time that he could've chosen to make a move.
Due to Zane subconsciously gathering mana and reinforcing his body, his senses had reached a heightened state which allowed him to notice the spy. Without any hesitation, Zane held the spy by the neck forcefully slammed him face down in front of the fire, such a distance that any closer would've caused his face to burn.
The boy said, "This one of those Collectors?"
The girl just nodded and went closer to take a look at the Collector that Zane just had caught. She grabbed the man by the hair forcing him to raise his head. She opened his mouth and showed Zane the mark she just described.
The girl sweetly smiled, tilted her head, and innocently said, "Remember me?"
The Collector just opened his eyes when he saw the girl's face closer than he would've liked.
"I-I don't! Get off me! You don't know who you're messing with."
Eve brought out a dagger from her storage ring and slowly sliced a figure on the man's forehead with one hand while holding his hair on the other.
"Still don't remember? I even drew you a flower to help you remember."
The man then tried to stand up when an overwhelming force slammed his body back causing him to cough blood. This blood would've hit Eve's face full of makeup but a sheet of skin appeared preventing the blood to do so.
The spy noticed that a sudden sheet of skin appeared, he wondered where it came from but when he glanced at his arm he saw that the skin that appeared came from him. He then tried to scream but sadly Eve wasn't that keen on hearing the screeches that she would've normally enjoyed.
"You're too noisy. Here."
Eve shoved that sheet of skin into his mouth closed his mouth shut, she then closed his mouth shut with one hand and pinched his nose with the other forcing him into a very gruesome situation. He was starting to finally cry wondering what he did to ever deserve this.
As if the girl heard his question the girl said, "I hate people like you."
The man started breaking down crying while holding a piece of himself in his mouth. All the while the boy who was just standing on the man finally saw Eve's true personality, the one he met in Maghim. The Eve who had joy in doing what she thought was right.
At this point, the man couldn't take it anymore and swallowed. Even Zane couldn't take it anymore and decided to go into the woods to start thinking of what was the right thing to do. Perhaps even the thing that would help him the most in the long run.
This scene was even crueler than what he saw when the people he swore to protect died. In comparison, those people who she tortured in Maghim got off easy compared to what she was capable of right now.
As Zane started to really think about dark everything really is, a few minutes later, Eve walked behind him making her steps audible.
"Zane, are you still going to go through?"
Zane took a moment to pause and then decided to stare into the stars, "What they did and what you did are both unforgivable. That's to say even I'm wrong morally but there's one thing that made my choice clear."
"That is?"
Zane sighed and made a heartfelt declaration, "You're on my side, based on your story there's no clear moral winner nor was there a reason for any of that to happen. As long as you're on my side, I'll stand by you no matter what."