Reincarnated Hero System

“You don’t seem very fond of my boss. And it’s strange. You’ve never even met him, as far as I know.”

“Yeah, that’s a bit of a bummer,” Evan replied, taking a bite of his strawberry shortcake. “He and I would never get along. My friends don’t like him either.”

He twirled his fork in the air, a pensive expression on his face as he asked, “What’s his end goal anyway?”

“You don’t think he’d tell me now, do you?” Rosaline shot back with a side glance, then returned her attention to the cakes. “My company’s C.E.O is rather paranoid. I only work for him because of my parents’ debt, so he’s not going to entrust me with that level of company secrets.”

“Sad. And here I thought I might get some inside information from you.”

Evan’s remark made Rosaline chuckle, though she still had nothing noteworthy about her current employer to share.

“I’d tell you anything I knew, and he’s aware of that, so he doesn’t tell me anything beyond what I need to do. And you probably already know everything he’s told me.”

“Can’t say so for sure,” Evan replied, stabbing his fork into the strawberry atop the cake.

“Any new company projects I should know about? I’m planning to expand my area of activity starting next January, so it’d be useful to know what my competitors are up to.”

Rosaline shook her head at the question, and as she scraped icing off one of the cakes, she replied, “Nothing new. The last project I was involved in was when he wanted me to use the little one for a hostile takeover.”

“Ah! The little one! I almost forgot to ask about them,” Evan said, a genuine look of recollection on his face. “Where are they?”

“He’s with Vee. She’s taking care of him,” Rosaline responded, her choice of pronouns making Evan blink in surprise.

“He? The little one’s a boy?”

“Yeah. You didn’t know?”

Evan shook his head and replied, “My sources of information aren’t as precise as you might think.”

He stabbed his fork into the last cake on his plate, lifting it as he asked, “Where’s Vee, then?”

“First, she’s not fond of anyone but me calling her that, so I’d advise you not to start. Second, she’s on vacation. A paid leave, I suppose.”

Rosaline’s response made Evan chuckle, and as he took a sip of his wine, he asked, “Since we’ve both agreed we could get along well, would you consider switching employers anytime soon? As I said, I plan to expand my range of activity next year, and I’ll need more experienced hands on deck.”

At this, Rosaline blinked in surprise, her hand holding the fork frozen halfway to her open mouth.

“You for real?”

“For real. For real.”

Silence followed, and Rosaline, still frozen, stared at him with her glassy eyes, wordless, as though searching for his true intentions.

It was only after nearly a full minute that she moved her hand, placing the cake slice in her mouth and wiping the edge of her lips with a serviette.

Then she finally spoke.

“Unfortunately, I’m currently employed because of my parents’ debt, so I can’t accept your offer.”

“I know. What I’m asking is if I could clear that debt for you. Would you consider it then?”

Evan didn’t relent even after her refusal, and Rosaline lightly tapped her fork on her plate before shaking her head.

“I’ll think about it when the debt is taken care of,” she said, earning a disappointed look from Evan.

“Bummer. I suppose I’ll make the offer again once the debt is cleared.”

He took the empty plate from her and called a passing servant to handle it, and as he did, Rosaline glanced at the time on her smartphone, her eyes widening slightly.

“Oh wow. Can’t believe we’ve already spent so much time talking.”

She stood after speaking, turning to Evan, who then asked,

“You’re leaving now?”

“Yes,” she replied. “It was nice talking with you, and I’d love for us to speak again, but I’m afraid we might not have that chance. I might have a few tasks sent my way by my boss.”

Evan rose as well, his disappointment clear on his face as he shook his head.

“That’s unfortunate to hear.”

“Indeed,” she agreed, extending her hand toward him.

Evan took her hand, escorting her toward the garden’s entrance and exit, the two of them commenting on the outfits of other guests they passed, complimenting some and quietly making fun of others, laughing as they walked.

When they reached the exit and a chauffeur, already waiting, stepped down to open her carriage door, Evan spoke.

“I suppose this is farewell until the little wolf comes out to play.”

Rosaline chuckled, turning around to take the chauffeur’s hand as she entered the carriage, then responded as she sat down.

“When he comes out to play, he won’t be so little anymore, you know? But I suppose I am looking forward to that.”

The chauffeur closed the door just after she spoke, and from the carriage window, she waved at Evan, who returned the gesture as the horses began pulling the carriage away.

As soon as her carriage rolled out of the palace, the smile on Evan’s face slowly faded, and he turned to see Eliza standing behind him, her sapphire eyes briefly glancing toward the departing carriage before returning to him.

“You spent quite a bit of time talking to her,” Eliza said, a faint trace of displeasure in her voice.

Evan had indeed spent more than quite a bit of time speaking with Rosaline. The main party was already drawing to a close, after all.

Noticing her tone, Evan’s smile returned, a small chuckle escaping him as he teased,

“You jealous?”

“Evan, really?”

Eliza deadpanned, which only seemed to amuse him more as he started walking back toward the garden, muttering something about his ‘possessive Eliza’ returning.

She rolled her eyes and followed him, the two reaching the end of the arch where Kolvar waited just as Eliza asked the question not only she, but several others who had noticed Evan speaking with Rosaline, had wondered.

“Who was she?”

“Hmm? The woman I was talking to? She’s the ‘Thorn Rose’. A retired adventurer.”

Evan’s answer made Kolvar raise an eyebrow in mild surprise.

He was familiar with the legendary ‘Thorn Rose’ who had disappeared after a year of record-breaking feats, but he hadn’t expected to encounter her here.

Kolvar didn’t doubt for a second that she was genuine, as he could barely sense any magic power from her, showing just how well she controlled her energies, able to restrict their flow enough to make a Transcendent do a double-take.

That wasn’t the only reason for his curiosity, though.

His Instinct skill had only activated and warned him that she was a formidable existence the moment he laid eyes on her, and if he even shifted his gaze away a little bit, it went completely silent, surprising him since it had never behaved like that in over three centuries.

“The ‘Thorn Rose’, huh? I tried to contact her when she was still active, but I was never able to get a hold of her.”

Evan chuckled and shook his head at his words.

“Of course, you couldn’t. She’s not the kind of person you can get a hold of just because you want to.”

Just as he spoke, Laurene arrived with David, and she immediately asked the same question Eliza had asked.

“Who was that? My Mystic Eyes couldn’t read her at all!”

Laurene had only noticed Rosaline when Evan appeared to talk to her, and she was barely able to hide her shock when she tried to use her Mystic Eyes of Truth on the woman Evan was speaking to and found that her Mystic Eyes simply didn’t work.

She couldn’t glean even the slightest bit of information about the woman’s existence, as if she were a black hole in the sea of underlying information of reality that her Mystic Eyes allowed her to perceive.

David was surprised to hear that Laurene’s Mystic Eyes couldn’t read her, and he looked toward Evan for an explanation about the woman’s identity.

“She’s the ‘Thorn Rose’. The record-breaking adventurer who scaled all the ranks in less than a year.”

“Huh?! For real!?”

“For real. For real,” Evan said, answering Laurene the same way he’d answered Rosaline earlier.

Right after, he glanced down at his watch to see the time, a small chuckle escaping his lips.

“I figured we’d get along, and we really did. Spent so much time talking with Rosaline that I didn’t realise it had gotten this late.”

Eliza’s eyes flicked down to Evan’s watch, then back up to his face, an eyebrow raised as she asked,

“Rosaline? Is that her name?”

“Yeah,” Evan nodded. “Rosaline Keasatra.”

With that, he started walking off, leaving the group of four standing next to the arched garden exit.

Eliza was about to follow him when she froze, her expression turning strange.

‘Huh? Where have I heard that name before?’

Barely a second after the thought crossed her mind, realisation dawned on her, and at the same time, both David and Laurene’s eyes widened, their gazes immediately snapping to Evan.

“Wait, isn’t that—?!”

“The Second Finger of the Demonic Hand?” Evan said, cutting off Eliza just as she had spoken, answering his own question moments later. “Yeah.”

Without giving any of them, not even Kolvar, a chance to speak, he continued.

“And guess what? She’s become a fucking Transcendent.”