Eve's POV
"Eve, I'm sorry. I think they found out my identity..."
Completely change Elsword's personality wasn't a good idea.
I gave a sword that consumes Dark El to him. At first, I was thinking about using him. I thought he would be consumed by Dark El, then I'd brainwash him and made him my obedient dog.
But... he has a strong will. He's physically affected by Dark El, but mentally... not really. This result should be impossible.
I don't mind with him talking all day about his nonsense... or just talk to himself with his puppets. He's too cheerful, so whenever he's sad, it really hurts me.
It actually hurts my emotion core.
"Don't worry about it. They're not going to kill you," I reply. I know this day would come eventually. Add and Aisha would kill, but their friends wouldn't. We could kill them first, but... will Add love me if I killed them?
"Thank you, Eve! I love you!" Elsword gets up and smile at me, although his smile is completely different from before. "Should I stop pretending?"
...What? Pretending? He's been pretending this whole even when we're alone? That's a bit extreme, I would say.
"Yes, you should," I answer him. Hm... I need to expect something insane. Will he go back to his old self? Is he actually insane? Is he one of those edgy teen? Or maybe he doesn't respect his master at all?
"I miss my friend," he said with distorted face. Tears start rolling down to his cheeks, then he cries like a kid.
Ironically, I'm just standing here right now. I'm so confused, my system doesn't reach a conclusion on what to do. Friend? What friend he's talking about?
I recall my memories. Elsword was Elesis' slave and... they had a thing. Elesis was friends with Aisha. Hm... who was Aisha's other friend? Ah, Ara... I told her to give a paper to the tavern. Ara's slave was Chung.
Okay, I get it now.
I hug Elsword tightly and pat his back. Honestly, he never told me anything. I heard Elesis died from an accident like I want and Ara got shot in the head when they went hiking. It must be hard to lose friend all of a sudden, especially when his master got shot and instantly died like that.
"You'll meet him again," I say to him.
"That won't happen..." he mutters and hugs me back. I wonder why, though. It's not as hard as finding Add.
Ah... right. I still need to kill Aisha.
"I'm sorry," Elsword sniffles as he wipes his tears. "Are we still chasing Aisha? Isn't Add going to die if we kill her?"
That's true. I need to find a way to kill her and have Add at the same time.
Or... I can just use other people to kill her. I need time to make sure Add will stay with me. "Yes, Elsword. We're killing her, but I need to go with a change of plan."
I casually walk to the tavern. As I expected, Rena and Raven are here. They're completely on guard when we arrive, but they're not attacking. Killing them would be a good bait to call Aisha out, but I didn't expect Rena to be actually good. She doesn't act like it, but her skills are far above average.
And Raven... I'd say Elsword could defeat him, but I'm not sure if swinging sword is all he can do or not. He's injured right now, we could kill them easily.
I approach them and take a seat even though they don't welcome us at all. Rena narrows her eyes at me as she drinks her orange juice. Raven doesn't seem to care about our presence at all. In fact, he doesn't even look like he cares about Rena.
"Should I bring Pophy and Pongy again?" Elsword asks with a straight face. I want to laugh, but this atmosphere isn't good.
"Oh, so you're actually Elsword," Rena pouts and stares at him now. I wouldn't be surprised if she's in a really bad mood.
Hm... this is a bad time, but I haven't seen Add and Aisha this morning. I need to convince her right now. It seems that we don't have much time and something big might happen real soon. "Rena, I can buy a house for you."
Elsword and Rena startled at my words, but it doesn't flinch Raven at all. I think despite this dead inside look, he has his guard up and ready to attack whenever. So far, my second plan is not going well.
I'm planning to distract them and let Elsword kill them. But if only one getting distracted, I wouldn't take the risk. My other plan is making them go to my side, so I can kill Aisha without problem.
But Raven is injured. Is it possible to kill Rena with this state?
"Why? What's wrong with you? Is there a bug in your system?" Rena asks me confusedly, but she seems skeptical about my offer. I wouldn't be surprised since I just attacked her hours ago.
"Money isn't a problem to me. I see you're struggling with no place to live," I answer honestly. Money is never a problem to me. I'm Queen of Nasods. I can produce many Nasod technology for human daily needs and sell them.
Rena pouts and smiled awkwardly. "Thank you, but I'll pass."
...Damn.
"Consider it as an apology for attacking you," I insist. I need to get her somehow!
"Eve, we're not dumb," Rena narrows her eyes at me. Ah, maybe it's too obvious?
"We want something more than a house if we kill Aisha," Raven says with straight face. Rena slams the table instantly in shock while Elsword gets speechless. Even I don't know how to react to this.
I activate one of my drones and check on him. Wait... he's not lying? "Say the word later. I have money for it," I reply. I don't really want to know right now. Hopefully it has something to do with money, though.
He nods, which means he agrees to it. I stand up with a good feeling for once. I quickly wave my hand for goodbye and leave the place with Elsword.
"Isn't that going too well?" Elsword asks with doubts. Normally he never doubt any of my actions, but this one is completely understandable. It's too shocking.
"It is, but my lie detector wasn't doing anything," I answer him. Now, if only I can find Add and Aisha, things will be much easier. I have them tracked on my drones, but they're completely gone right now. Where are they? Did Add go to time and space again and disappear? If so, where the hell is Aisha?
"Where should we go? Where are they right now?" Elsword asks with a smile. His smile is a bit concerning sometimes, but I did this. I should get used to it.
"Let's find Dark El. Your sword need them," I say as I lead the way to Feita. It's a nice village, but at the same time they have a lot of Dark Els.
Ah... I never explain about Elsword's situation. I gave him Conwell, a scabbard that consumes Dark El for power. In order to summon the unlimited amount of swords, the wielder has to consume Dark El as well. I would use it, but I'm a Nasod. My system naturally rejects the Dark El.
On the other side, Elsword is a human. He can make a contract with Conwell and use it properly. It's good, but also concerning.
We've been chasing Aisha for too long. He needs Dark El to keep the contract with Conwell. I wouldn't waste my time on this and put a mission on tavern instead, but since we can't find Add and Aisha anywhere, we can save the money for Raven's request.
"I heard Underground Chapel is a nice place! We should find it!" Elsword shouts with a smile.
Hm... that is a really good idea. I heard Underground Chapel has a legendary ring that makes you able to control people with less magical power. I should be able to control Add with it. I don't think I can control Aisha, though. She's a real deal.
Finding that place is hard. Rumors said it only appears on a specific time. Now is literal mid-day with bright sun. "Not now. We can't find that place at this hour."
"I'll find them myself! Don't you have something more important to do?" Elsword asks and stares at me. After he stopped "pretending", I can't read him at all. What is he trying to say with this stare? Back then his stare meant asking for help. After I corrupt him, he stared at me when he's begging for something. Now what?
"I don't know how to find Add. I have nothing to do," I answer him randomly. My system didn't manage to create a proper response for this one.
"I thought you're going to her house?"
Ah...
"Good idea. I'll see you later," I smile at him and walk away.
"You might need this," Elsword chases me to give a paper clip before letting me go. I've been thinking about too complicated plans on all this. Since they weren't here, I can "visit" Aisha's house and do something there. Why I didn't think of that?
It was only half an hour to get to her house. I hate this old fashioned door lock. I walk around the place to see for a way in, but everything is locked. Sometimes I hate the fact that my Nasod system can't interact with non-technology objects.
I look at the paper clip in my hand. I remember Elsword taught me to lock pick before. I recall the memories before attempting to lock pick this door.
Click!
Ah, that's easy. Knowing Add, there should be a censor on this house. I touch the wall and let my drones scanned the house. Turning off the alarm would alert them. It's better to make myself not detected as a stranger.
I open the door and walk inside. For a best magician, this house is small. Dining table is on the corner of the living room-and the living room itself is only filled with a couch and an old TV. Opposite of the dining table is a room to a small kitchen and next to it is the bathroom. The door near to dining table leads to her bedroom. This house has a weird setup, but I think this is Aisha's liking.
Weird. Normally people put a family photo in their house, but this house doesn't have a single photo. She's living alone this whole time?
I don't find anything interesting in all rooms, so let me see what she has on her bedroom.
First of all, I check her wardrobe. I'm not surprised she doesn't have that many clothes, but a certain dress interests me. It's the dress she wore on my birthday party. I heard Add chose it for her.
I want Add to choose my dress too... He'll make me feel like I get my kingdom back...
I shake my head and clear my head from my fantasies. I check under her bed. Apparently there's nothing in there and it disappoints me.
Okay... this drawer next to bed is the last thing I can check. I open the first drawer to see absolutely nothing. The second drawer is filled with books. I pick it up and read to see if I can get any new clue.
It's... cooking recipe. Maybe she's planning to be a chef on her spare time.
The last drawer... I find a single notebook that is used often. I open the book and see a list of names. They're all got a strikethrough except the last name on almost the last page.
Add.
Ah, so these are her slaves that she killed? Can she be crueler than this? I got a bit curious, so I turn to the previous pages and quick read all the names in here.
...
...
...
"Chung"?
Wait, she SUMMONED him once?! Chung wasn't Ara's one and only slave? What happened to her previous slave, though?
Huh... no wonder Aisha and Chung didn't talk much. Poor boy got killed and re-summoned by a psycho. Aisha didn't seem to be bothered with Chung, so I'd assume he didn't matter to her at all. I wonder what he did to make himself get killed, though.
Sigh... as much as I want to find a clue, there's nothing to see here. I walk back to the living room and go to reach the front door, but I noticed something weird on the wall near the TV.
She's using wallpaper, but this spot is kinda off. It looks like someone ripped off the wallpaper and glued it back. Even so, it's done really nicely, it doesn't look weird if people don't pay attention to it real close.
I don't want to end up with nothing, so I tear the wallpaper with my hand and see what's on the wall—
...
I won't even bother to put it back. I quickly take my leave and go to Feita to get Elsword. I can't get Add. So... Aisha needs to die. I'm not letting her have him.
If I can't have him, then nobody can.
just saying next chapter will be horrible
except i got another idea then adjdiowd
Thank you for reading!
Glomivi
Eve: Our author is just lazy
Elsword: She used to hate Chung a lot! Now she mained him!
Eve: ..Is that so? He's dead in here, though-
Elsword: Exactly
Eve: Ah..