Chapter 282 Prelude To The First I

The boy also gained money from his 'sightseeing' into spots that he had wanted to go to from the game, and also happened to have hidden pieces and artifacts that although held great value, didn't fit his play style or were useless to someone like him.

Such things were sold off to collectors of artifact and antiques, merchants, mages, and other adventurers, for high sums.

Gradually, the boy accumulated a fair amount of riches.

Coupled with the amount of power he possessed as a Level 200 existence with his identity as the son of a major world power's Prime minister and the other connections he had built up, the boy was on the path of becoming a Rich, Powerful and Influential existence in Aidos.

Breaking out of his thoughts about this, Evan noticed that Eliza had gone silent, however, he could tell that she was still awake, just petting Kuro's head while staring blankly.

He waved a hand in front of her but she did not respond, prompting him to do it again while speaking this time.

"Aidos to Eliza."

"…Huh?

His voice shocked her out of her daze, with the girl turning towards him while letting out a surprised voice. Evan just chuckled and poked her cheek, however, he noticed the girl was still staring at him dumbfoundedly.

"What?"

"…you called me by my actual name."

"Hmm? What's wrong with that?"

"…n-nothing. Just that I had gotten so used to you calling me 'Liz' that hearing you call me by the actual name felt weird."

Realization flashed in his eyes as it dawned on him that he had inadvertently called her by her actual name, before giving her a reply in the next moment.

"Now that you say it, I actually did. And it feels weird for me too.

Guess, I'd stick with just Liz.

Rolls of the tongue better."

He shrugged as he spoke, before deciding to ask the reason for her earlier listless look.

"I was just thinking about today. The call with Laurene."

"Oh. The stuff we found out about the attack, huh?"

"No, not that. I couldn't really give a fuck about the undead right now."

An expression of surprise coloured the face of the young hero as he stared at the battle priestess who was leaning on his shoulder.

"What with that gaze? Even I have those times okay?

Besides, I have my mind filled with other things, so right now, thinking about undead creatures is at the bottom of my list of priorities, if it even makes the list."

Evan nodded as he tossed everything on the floor back into his inventory tilting his body slightly to the left and asking.

"So, what are these other things that are filling your mind?"

"I was just thinking about what you said to Laurene…About us."

"What I said?

Oh! You mean the part where I told her I was after you?"

"Why on Aidos did you phrase it like that?"

The girl's cheeks flushed red as she lightly hit Evan's shoulder and spoke, with Evan chuckling a reply.

"What's weird about the phrasing? It is a fact that I am after you and I did tell Laurene that."

"But the way you say it makes it sound weird for some reason."

Evan shrugged his shoulders in response, combing his hand through her hair like she did to the fur of the cat on her lap and asked.

"What exactly about it is bugging you?"

"I don't know, that's why it's bugging me even more."

The girl sighed in exasperation as she spoke, with her lips curling into a pout right after, an expression Evan found cute but chose not to comment on.

"Hey, Evan.

How did you feel when you asked me out for the first time?

Did you feel nervous?"

"Now this is certainly one way to turn the mood awkward in one go.

Anyway, I wasn't nervous.

I was fairly confident of getting a positive reply before I took action."

"Huh? Why?"

Hearing the girl's question, Evan placed both hands at the sides of her face and tilted her head to make it so he was looking right into her eyes.

It was a bit of a strange position, given that his head was currently upside down in her field of view but it was enough for her to see the emotions in his eyes as he spoke.

"Are you really asking me this?

Why else would I be confident besides how blatantly obvious it is, that the both of us have feelings for each other?

To anyone else besides Pride, Laurene, and whoever was listening in on my conversation with her, we're already dating.

It's just that you seem to want to delay making it official for some reason.

Heck, I even admire how patient I've been in these past few months."

Hearing his words, her sapphire eyes widened in silence for a moment, before she forcefully turned her gaze away, but not fast enough for Evan to miss the tinge of red appearing on her cheeks.

"Why's it so hot in here all of a sudden?

What happened to that early spring breeze that was blowing like a few seconds ago?"

"And there you go, casually changing the topic."

"No, It's not that. I actually am feeling hot.

Which is weird considering that there's a standing fan in here."

"Wh-!"

Evan was about to shoot a question at her, only to realize that at some point in time that he hadn't noticed, Eliza had allowed the thin silk robe she was wearing to fall off her shoulders.

Although she hadn't completely removed it, the robe's absence meant that her fair shoulders were now exposed, along with him now being given a clear view of the valley in between the two mounds of flesh that the jacket had been covering.

Her thin, almost see-through negligee didn't make things any better, allowing the boy to realize that she actually wasn't wearing anything underneath it, at least on her upper body.

"What did you want to say?"

It was at this time that Eliza asked about his earlier cut-off words, while leaning her head backwards and staring at him with an upturned gaze. One of her hands was making a small fanning motion while the other was tugging at the open collar of her gown.

Despite the fact that she was asking him a question, the young hero's full attention had been drawn to her cleavage and the fact that he could almost see her nipples from his position.

"Are you doing this on purpose?"

"Doing what?"