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nEvan D. Sherden, Learning (4)

n“Master, I’ve brought the children I mentioned before.”

n“….Oh, hello. I’m Paul.”

n“Please call me Marie.”

nThe head of the slave trade had brought two kids with him. It was already known who these new children were without having to ask the slave trader.

n“….But these children have black hair.”

n“….If someone has black hair, is it supposed to mean that they are a Rookie? However, these are not Rookies.”

nEvan heard all the whispers of Belois and Shine behind him.

n‘They think that all Rookies are black-haired. Although these children have this characteristic, this is not the case….’ Evan smiled bitterly and accepted the children, which were presented to him by the slave trader. Both had shiny black hair, one being a boy with brown eyes and thin lines all over his face, giving the impression that he was weak (which Evan found even interesting). The other was a girl with milk-white skin and blue eyes. ‘They both will become extraordinarily beautiful and handsome once they grow up.’

n‘Paul and Marie. But I have never heard of their names, even in Yo-Ma Great War 4, where people from many new races are introduced. Maybe they were in the DLC of Yo-Ma Great War 4 (DLC means Downloadable Content, which usually adds additional content to the game).‘ But the probability of that happening was slim. This was because the new races introduced in the DLC didn’t survive very long. ‘Even for being extras in the game, both are remarkably good looking. This damn world has a strange quality. The more important the characters are, the prettier or handsome they are in appearance.’

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nOf course, just because a character looked good didn’t necessarily mean that they always had to play an important role. That point could very well be understood by just looking at Evan.

nEvan decided to withhold his judgment regarding this fact for the time being and approached the two children. He had different ways of dealing with children under him, whether they were simply extras or not. They both were seven years old, one year younger than Belois.

n“Good to meet you. I’m Evan D. Sherden.”

n“Pleased to meet you, Master.”

nPaul was submissive in his speech, posture, and attitude. It may have been because of being treated harshly, which may have had negative effects on his small body. “Your health will improve a lot while in this house, seeing as you have to enter the dungeon later.”

n“Thank you for your help, Master. I’ll do whatever you ask me to do.”

n“There is no need to over-exert yourself already. Now is the time to do the best to take care of yourself.”

nOn the other hand, Marie was quite confident, despite having just have arrived. However, Evan felt a little uneasy about her excitement, so he just smiled sourly.

n“You two may be exhausted. Go rest for some time. We’ll talk later. We have a lot to do in the future… Maybell.”

n“Yes, Master.”

nThe moment Evan called Maybell’s name, Maybell had already appeared. Shine and Belois were now accustomed to her sudden appearance, but everyone else was startled. Shine seriously speculated that her extremely stealthy maneuvers were some kind of superpowers.

n“Wash these kids and guide them to their rooms. I have already told my father about them, so there wouldn’t be any problems.”

n“Finally, we are creating an army of servants that only serve you!”

n“No, it’s not like that. Carry on with your work.”

n“Paul, Marie, follow this way. I’m Maybell, Master’s exclusive chief maid!”

n“Don’t believe her because it’s a lie.”

nMaybell wasn’t showing any improvement in her maturity and personality, even when she was 14 years old. Evan stared at the back of Maybell’s head, who was leading the children out of the room, with cold eyes. Soon he returned his gaze to the head of the slave market.

n“These children are good enough. I know it wasn’t easy. Thank you for your efforts.”

n“It was my duty, Master. By the way, if those kids grow up later, will they pretend not to know me?”

n“Yes, that’s true.”

nEvan’s relation with the slave trader had improved a lot. Through Evan, he had become in charge of some of the projects the Marquis was running in which he made good use of his abilities and achieved excellent results. So how could he not serve Evan! By now, he had become loyal to Evan and told him everything without worrying about his age.

n“Also, thank you for increasing the amount of money, Master. It has become increasingly easy to carry out the work you order. In the future, I’m hopeful about bringing in more children.”

n“….Thank you.” Evan fell into a strange series of thoughts while talking to the slave trader.

nThe players of Yo-Ma Great War 3 and 4 used to talk a lot about what it would have been like if the situation would have been different. What would have happened if they were able to command and control like Evan was doing right now? ‘What if they were successful in gathering all the different races and provided them with facilities and education so that their value was recognized from the beginning? This would not have led to massacres, and most of them dying in vain. Didn’t Yo-Ma Great War 4 almost not come out because of this?”

nBut it was impossible. This was because, in the beginnings of Yo-Ma Great War 3 and 4, the treatment and handling of the new races were already barbaric at the humans’ hands.

nAmong the Rookies, many of them turned against humans, including enemies like Blood Witch Belois. Some of the fortunate cases included Rookies such as Silent Night Shine, who were more hostile towards the monsters than the humans. Of course, the majority of them died before they became strong enough to defend themselves.

n‘But now, all of this depends on my actions. Originally I was just trying to find some bodyguards to protect me, but…’ Of course, he couldn’t change it completely. There was no way he would be able to unite all of the races in this world, and even then, not all of them would follow Evan.

nHowever, if he could find ten or more Rookies like Shine and Belois, who would share their will with Evan, then wouldn’t it be great? It would not only increase Evan’s protection, but also there would be a lot more benefits.

n‘At this stage, it’s just a hypothesis.’ Moreover, not all the new races were outstanding, as the Rookies. The God Laws were a race whose beings received twice the artifacts and skills when their dungeon level rose when compared to ordinary people. Moreover, they had a fatal drawback of not being able to increase their existence level.

nEven if they could raise it, they couldn’t effectively utilize that double strength and therefore remained only a little better than ordinary people. Among the countless new races, Shine and Belois were highly valuable.

n‘And also, the protagonist of Yo-Ma Great War 4.’ As Evan was lost in his thoughts, the slave trader handed out a document to him as if he knew what he was thinking.

n“And this is a record of information, collected from the investigation about the people you ordered, Master. I could only find one or two. There are a few clues about the others….”

nOn the documents were the names of the major figures of the Yo-Ma Great War series, as classified by Evan, whom he had written about in the past. After Evan had unexpectedly met Bernard Garcia, who was also among the prominent characters of the series, Evan remembered some other characters and their appearances.

nHe had given this information to the slave trader and asked him to investigate as much as possible.

n“I’m sorry for not having a clear outcome, Master.”

n“Don’t worry. I already knew about this before I asked you to find information about them. You don’t need to put too much attention on this task. I just want you to keep their existence in your mind.”

n“I understand, Master.” The slave trader nodded solemnly. He already knew how Shine and Belois had remarkably grown (which was even more surprising, knowing that they were only in the early stages). He also had a rough idea of how Bernard Garcia had successfully developed the Brotherhood Pharmacy. All of this was because of Evan’s extraordinary ability to see and find the right people. Even if he asked a local beggar he had met to invest for him, the beggar would do it without hesitation. It seemed almost unreal to him.

nOn the other hand, Evan was looking at the documents rather darkly. He had expected it would not have been enough, but he still had some hopes.

nThe slave trader had found out the two people were notorious villains in the previous games. But, Evan was not in a position right now where he could use his authority to capture them without revealing his true identity. Moreover, the villains were not relatively active enough to cause an uproar, which could land them in trouble.

n‘I still haven’t traced the whereabouts of the protagonists of Yo-Ma Great War 3 and 4.’

nIt was something he hadn’t given some serious thought to, while he was enjoying the game in his previous life. But in the Yo-Ma Great War series, the protagonists didn’t have default names! The players named the character themselves.

nAs was the case with games where you could choose your own character’s name, the protagonists in Yo-Ma Great War series also had unusual names. Among them, Yeo Banmin gave the name ‘I have to save’ to his character. He didn’t even need to specify who he had to save…

n‘Yo-Ma Great War 3 starts when the protagonist is 18 years old with an unknown past until he enters the dungeon. I know his appearance, but he can’t be found only with that… And Yo-Ma Great War 4 starts when the main character wakes up inside the dungeon.’ Evan had given both of their appearance information to the slave trader, but it was impossible to find them. Their location was also never specified at the beginning of the main story, so Evan had no idea where they were or what appearances they had in this world. There was no way he could find them.

n“Then I’ll take my leave, Master.”

n“Haha, I’m sorry about that. I should have said that earlier.” Evan replied to the slave trader, coming out of his trance.

nThe slave trader left. Shine and Belois were watching Evan. His face was dark, and he seemed worried. Only a year had passed, but they now usually knew about what worried him or made him happy.

n‘Then I have to do what needs to be done… ‘

n“Are you okay, Master?”

n“Yes,” Evan replied briefly. Then he added,

n“It would’ve been nice if I could help the protagonists in advance. This can only happen if I find them. So after preparing beforehand and finding them, I would have to help them whenever possible. Because these will be the guys who will get rid of all the bad guys in this world.”

n“Aren’t you the protagonist, Master?”

n“Who? Me?”

n“Yes, Master.” Shine nodded without hesitation. For them, Evan was already the most important person in the world. Evan felt absurd.

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n“I’m an extra. Besides, I’ll die if I get hooked up with these guys. So, I’ll be watching them from behind, as far as possible, as hidden as possible. When the time comes, I’ll help them with the appropriate item or assistance… “

n“But will it really go as you say, Master?”

n“Hey, don’t push me to go with them. I’ll die. I really will.” Only Evan was unaware that he was already living a life far from an extra and was a much more important character of the game than he thought. Shine tilted his head at Evan. Belois exhaled a faint breath, as usual, and said calmly.

n“It’s time for your class, Master.”

n“Ahhhh! I forgot about it!”

n“I’ll help you.”

nAlthough the search for the important characters of the Yo-Ma Great War series was sluggish, Evan himself was growing both physically and mentally. He was also evolving his existence level through slime training.

nAs the Knight Commander had pointed out, he was growing rapidly every day. Evan was only considering the changes that would result from the unity of all the new races, but he wasn’t even aware of the fact that he was the biggest variable.

nAnother month passed, and the Knight Commander returned from the dungeon. It was summer. The backflow had been controlled with slight effects.

nEverything around Evan was changing very fast.

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