Re: Player

[Evelyn's POV]

It has been 14 days that we escaped that godforsaken place. And by us, it meant me and Oriel. As for Adam, there is still no news of him.

A sigh escapes my mouth as I change my dress in the guild's locker room and get ready for another day. While there had been many times that people I knew never returned from the adventures, this was still different.

He literally saved my life, even though he could have left me behind.

'Just like a certain someone,' an irritating face appeared in my mind as I moved out of the locker room and reached the reception desk. Once again, I began moving through the list of quests. I found another quest regarding the incident we went through.

"Well. They did ask everything that we went through." I recalled that I and Oriel had to report everything that happened on this quest. And since we told everyone about the Trials and stuff, they were quite panicked.

"Hey Evelyn," a familiar voice called me out from behind and, turning around, I saw Layla standing there with a smile on her face. I forced a smile back at her as I spoke.

"Hey Layla. Do you need anything?"

"Nothing… it's just that Oriel sent me here again. Do you really want to lose your connection with an S-Class adventurer? I know what happened, but still, if you think logically." Layla tried to manipulate me with words, but…

"Layla. He left me there to die without a single shred of hesitation. And another one got trapped to protect me. When I confronted him, you know what he said, right?" I spoke to her with a silent gaze, making her gulp a little.

"He was just too weak to live… "Layla spoke those words, making my blood boil again. I simply sighed before telling her," please go Layla. This matter is already done."

Though she stood there for a few moments before she spoke…

"Well. It's not done yet, though."

I gave her a side look, wondering if she was planning something, but her next words made me confused.

"The saintess is calling for you. Both you and Oriel," she spoke and then turned around before muttering," brace yourself. You might be shocked this time."

I wanted to ask her what she meant by that, but I then turned to find a priest coming towards me. He wore a creamish robe as those in the temple wear and had a grimoire in his arms.

"Are you Miss Evelyn?" He asked politely, and I nodded.

"The Saintess is expecting you," he said as he looked at me before adding," right now."

I looked around, wondering what I should do, but he said that I will be compensated for the hours lost in this. This matter was kind of a top priority and I must leave immediately.

I sighed as I nodded and began following him.

On the way, I asked him a lot of questions regarding what the meeting was all about, but surprisingly, even he didn't know about it. As a matter of fact, he knew extremely little about it.

This kind of made me confused. Was there something about that place that we missed? Or maybe it was the dark mage?

'I guess they want to know about that skeleton mage. I guess, it would make sense given how powerful he was,' I thought as I kept walking towards the temple.

Moving into the temple, I was guided by another priest to the central hall. And from there, I was taken into the corner room, where a bunch of people were present.

One of them, which I already had a hunch would be there, was Oriel. My entire mood turned sour as I looked at him, before I ignored him and focused on the other people in the room.

The Saintess was there as expected. She had light blond hair which looked like they were made out of silk, and she sat against the table on the chair, maintaining an angelic look. I could see the insane amount of light mana spirits around her.

Beside her stood the Royal Guard Lucas, maintaining the ever silent look. Observing him, it would be hard to tell that he had any emotions at all.

'But the surrounding spirits seemed happy,' a small smile appeared on my face before I turned to the last person that I was not expecting at all.

A man with a long white beard, as he stood there wearing a white robe. His hat, which was three times bigger than the head and the golden cross on the top, gave away the identity of the person.

"Pope?" I was truly surprised to see his face here. Wasn't he someone that came out only during emergencies and most of the time spent inside the prayer hall?

"You are finally here. Apologies for asking you to come here on such short notice. Please, have a seat," the saintess spoke as she looked at me and I bowed slightly before sitting on the chair against the table on the opposite side to her.

"You must be confused about it, so I will directly get to the point. Do you know this man?" she asked as she gave out a picture on the table and both Oriel and I looked at it.

"!!!!" I was a bit surprised when I looked at the picture. Obviously, I knew who it was. Although there were slight differences, he was Adam. But why does the saint have a picture of Adam?

"I know him. He was the third Adventurer who went with us into the Ghost World. But I haven't seen him after that Trial… Did something happen?" Oriel asked as he observed the saint.

The Saintess looked at me before turning back to Lucas, who spoke out," let's hear out first."

They then asked us about the entire story again, which we narrated without missing a single information.

"Seems like he was targeting the Ghost World this time. That explains his purpose of visit to the holy city," Saintess Alicia sighed and Lucas and the Pope seemed to agree to it.

"What are the odds that Goddess is involved in this, too? Especially since they didn't create any problems, the time we weren't here. The reports seemed to match," Lucas asked the Saintess, and she nodded,

"She must be testing in her own way. Well, that means that he didn't have any ill intentions towards this city, huh?" Alicia sighed in relief as she bent back to the chair. Lucas and Pope didn't show any expressions, though.

Though someone else got restless.

"But he was a weak guy… Why are you concerned about him?" Oriel asked, confused as he looked at them.

Though I wouldn't exactly call Adam weak, I guess I was confused, too. Why were they so much focused on him?

Those three looked at each other for a moment before Alicia looked at Oriel and spoke.

"Mr. Oriel. This 'weak' guy just happened to push back a Demigod back into the demon realm, kill a Dark Illusionist and a necromancer on his own, all the while saving 1204 lives out of 1204 lives within a single night."

"Huh? What do you mean by that?" Oriel was even more confused than before, but then something clicked in our mind together at the same time.

All that information, we have already heard it before. About a certain man from a certain city, two weeks ago.

"Phantom?" I questioned with my eyes still in disbelief as I looked at the poster of Adam.

"Huh? But he was…." Oriel wanted to reject their words but, looking at their serious gaze, he turned silent.

"It seems he can change his power level," Alicia spoke as she looked at me before asking," Miss Evelyn. Since you spent the most time with him, what do you think about him? If you were to say whether he was good or bad, which would you choose?"

"That would obviously be good," I spoke as I observed the saintess with a focused gaze. That guy saved my life even when he could have left me behind to die.

"But he can use Dark Magic too, you know?" Alicia added as she looked at me. My heart stopped for a moment before I shook my head as I recalled something.

"I don't know if he could suppress his dark mana or not, but when I first met him, I saw him through these mana eyes," I spoke as I pointed at my eyes before asking,

"Do you know how many light mana spirits he had?"

"How much?" she asked curiously as she looked at me with her eyes turning golden as well. Perhaps she was using a skill to check the authenticity of my words.

"That day, I saw more than twice the spirits around him that I see in this room combined by all four of you," I said as I looked at her with a confident look.

Although most of the spirits were around that girl, it wasn't a lie that the combined spirits were around the both of them. But I need not to mention that, do I?

Their eyes widened up as they heard my voice before I calmed my heart. After all, there was only one thing in my mind right now…

'He is Alive… There is no doubt about it.'