Chapter 227
Evan D. Sherden, Robs the City. (2)
The very next day, Evan bid farewell to the rest of the family. This was because Roizen, the city of gambling, was not on the route they had taken for Pellati.
"That's too bad. I wanted to enjoy a trip with my son."
"I'll just go to Pellati after I'm done with some business, so join me there, Father."
"Yes, have fun."
When the latter finished speaking, he smiled gladly at Arisha, standing side by side, and Belois, who stood a little behind him.
"When Evan becomes the head of the Dungeon Knights, it will be hard to get out this freely. Have fun before that. Especially Belois, don't hesitate to act a little silly around Evan. You don't have to wait on Evan for this entire trip."
"Your Excellency, thank you very much for your kind words... but he always accepts me acting silly."
Belois said this with a faint smile on her mouth. Belois seemed to be sincere.
Well, then... for years, perhaps without his knowledge, things had changed.
The Marquis grinned at Evan, who had been playing innocent next to him.
"Huh, yeah?"
"Yes, of course. So thank you for your concern..."
"I hate her!"
Just then, Elizabeth, who had been holding the Marquis' pants, glared at Belois and shouted this. She then pointed the finger at Arisha, who was still next to Evan.
"I don't like her either! She's always interrupting when brother Evan is supposed to play with Liz! You're still leaving Liz! Bad!"
"Oh, no, my princess is very jealous. Then Father will play with you instead."
"I don't like you. I like brother Evan!"
"Gasp!"
The Marquis sank with this single sentence. Although it was something that every father in the world experienced one day, he suffered earlier because Elizabeth had been somewhat mature.
Miriam walked over because she couldn't see her husband feeling down and spoke, hugging her daughter, who stood up at Belois and Arisha.
"Liz, calm down. Liz can't marry Evan anyway."
"Why?!"
"I'm sorry to inform you of the cruel reality, baby.... but you can't marry your own brother."
"Whyyyyyyyy!?"
Holding Liz, the 4-year-old girl had a look on her face that seemed as if her entire world was collapsing. The second wife quickly retreated. However, she didn't forget to wink at Evan. Although there seemed to be a minor misunderstanding, Evan did not bother to correct it and just smiled.
"I'll see you at Pellati, then. Evan, you know how to escort a Lady, don't you?"
"Yes, Mother."
"Okay. Now, honey, we're going. Let's find a gift that will change Liz's mind."
The first wife, Redine, having made Evan firmly determined, headed for the primary carriage, soothing the Marquis, who was still feeling down. When Evan waved for his father's rapid rehabilitation, Belois suddenly spoke.
"Do you mind if I invite an outsider to join the party, Master?"
"Outsider? If Lua were to say so, I could do so. Is it someone close that I know?"
"Yes, she is Eloa von Sirpe from the Phoenix Guild."
Eloa von Sirpe. She was a wizard belonging to the Phoenix Guild who dealt with ice magic, and would become one of the strongest players in the dungeon city in the future. At the same time, she was Belois' magic debate friend.
Most of all, she was from a noble family in Manarod, Magic Kingdom. You could tell just by looking at her middle name 'von'. As many people left for Pellati from Sherden, she joined the party whilst intending to visit her hometown.
"Of course, if you're uncomfortable, you can refuse..."
"No, it's alright. I'm not doing anything I can't show others."
'I'm just doing something that others can't believe. Moreover, Eloa von Sirpe is an absolute ally of the dungeon city, and she seems to be close with Belois...... it'll be alright if I take this opportunity to take care of her a little.'
"All right, let's take her."
"Thank you, Master."
"Well... somehow, I feel bad about this."
When Arisha saw Belois going to get Eloa, she muttered so with a look of reluctance. However, there was no justification to stop her, so she just watched as Belois and Eloa came back together.
"Thank you for allowing me to accompany you...... Master Evan."
The two soon came back. She stood side by side with Belois and bowed her head to Evan as politely as possible, and Evan smiled in return.
"You can talk comfortably."
Unlike Belois, whose facial expressions become gentler when she was with Evan, Eloa, the Ice Witch, maintained a stern look wherever she went.
Unless you're a maniac, it would be uncomfortable even for Evan.
She was also a noble, and she did not incline to bother people with listening to the honorifics.
"Oh, thank God. I heard you're stopping by the city of Palman?"
"Yes. Oh, then."
When Evan exclaimed as if he had thought of something, Eloa immediately nodded and said yes.
"My parents are the landlords of Palman, so please give me a chance to treat you. I owe a lot to Master and Belois as well."
"It would be an honor for us if you would."
"Well, you guys better look forward to it."
That was right. The game didn't describe Eloa going back to her hometown, but in short, there was an expression of the Sirpe family, which governed the port city of Palman.
So, unless there were two Sirpe families in Manarrod, or Eloa had an alias, it was said that she would be the daughter of the noble Sirpe family. Frankly, it was just trivia that wasn't even mentioned in the main scenario.
"Whew, will you come out like that?"
"I don't know what you're talking about, my dear."
While Evan was feeling strange about the visit to his friend's family, Arisha and Belois were looking at each other while having a conversation.
Eloa smiled at such a sight. It was so much fun for her young friend to wear a face she had never seen before.
And thus, Eloa joined the group, and the group was driven in two carriages. Both carriages had the Young Master's seals on them, so if they didn't want to end their lives, no uninvited guests would appear to interfere with their journey.
The members of this trip were Evan, Arisha, Belois, Eloa, Dain, Horta, Bane, Paul, Ditto, Lin, and Lan.
In fact, Lin and Lan were so young that they first thought about leaving them to another party and joining the Pellati, but Paul said he would take care of all the other children, so he was willing to accompany them. Come to think of it, Paul was now a 12-year-old boy.
"First of all, we're going to Roizen. We'll have to go and check it out, but perhaps Roizen is now a huge treasure trove."
"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
"Treasure! I want treasure, too!"
On that evening, Evan, who had grabbed a big room in the hotel and gathered the whole party, explained this while holding his fist. While Lin and Lan were happy to hear that it was a treasure trove they were going to visit, Eloa, who already knew about the city, spoke with wide-open eyes.
"Those who use the term 'treasure' on their way to the gambling city usually come back with disgrace."
"That's because they're going into a dungeon looking for treasure, and they're not wearing protective gear. Well, I'll explain that later."
"Uh?"
It was quite plausible to describe the city of gambling as a dungeon. Eloa was a little surprised. Evan continued speaking with a grin.
"Roizen is a free city. Perhaps it's the only city in the world that doesn't belong to a particular country. Moreover, as a city that used gambling as its main source of income, it has no history of being invaded by any country even though it is a place where a huge amount of money is collected, and the city itself is extremely safe and secure. It's a good city to live in peace and pleasure if you have a lot of money."
So Evan once seriously thought about moving to the city. Still, if he couldn't stop the Demon King, the city would fly away with the wind, so he decided to reconsider the issue only if he retired from the Dungeon Knights on the contingency that the main character or Shine stopped the Demon King.
"How is that possible? Like he's got a lot of money, and he's been a mercenary? Or the nobles of many countries have implicitly agreed not to touch the city because they visit here. Or they're paying huge taxes to each country..."
"No, Paul, paying taxes doesn't mean staying in a free city at best. That's not the political or economic reason in the first place. Roizen is said to have been built by a great wizard who loves pleasure."
Paul, who had asked the question, was stunned by thought, and Horta and Bane, ordinary people who didn't know much about magic, were just blanking out.
"Oh, that's..."
"Oh, more so, if you do something too violent, you'll get kicked out. So, remember that violence other than self-defense is absolutely forbidden in this city."
"Well, it's a hell of a trick. As far as I know, it costs quite a lot of money to maintain the formula, but it is said that the money from the gambling house fully covered it..."
Eloa added an explanation. Well, that was probably the setting. However, it didn't really matter.
Roizen, the city of gambling, was like a bonus stage that the production team improvised out of the idea that there was so little to play in the game!
That was why they had created a city of entertainment that was not interfered with by any other country, but to integrate these settings into the game cohesively; they've set up the backstory involving the great wizard!
However, when the production team designed this place, it was inevitable that there was a considerable sense of incompatibility throughout the city because it referred to both Las Vegas and Macau's gambling scene.
'I've never been to a place like that in my previous life, so I can't compare it properly.'
On weekdays, he lived under the influence of study and work, and on holidays, he played the Yo-Ma Great War 3, so he had no time to enjoy such entertainment even if he had saved enough money.
Evan's workaholic temperament may have had an impact on his past life, other than his desire to survive.
"To match the name of the city of gambling, Roizen has countless gambling houses, what they call the exchange of prizes assigned to each playground and every playground."
"There's a lot of stuff that people who lost money at the gambling house have left as collateral and can't get it back. These are the things the Master calls 'treasure', right?"
"That's right. You must be familiar with it."
"....Because I lost a family treasure there. I'm a young woman with hot blood."
'Well, perhaps I know what she lost......but I was supposed to get that and give it to Belois. What should I do?'
Evan glanced at Belois with such agony, and Belois said, nodding her head before speaking in a small voice.
"I sometimes want to repay my friend. I'm going to rely entirely on your powers. Master, if you don't mind..."
"Yes, if Lua thinks so, then let's do it."
"But Evan, would you mind if I took these little kids to a place like that?"
Arisha had asked, pointing to the children.
"It's too stimulating for such young children. I heard that there are a lot of women dressed in skimpy clothes and men who talk and act lightly because the sex industry is also active."
"It certainly is, but... wouldn't it be better to adjust in advance? Someday they have to fight the Incubus or the Succubus."
"I'm telling you in case you don't know, but for now, all of you are minors."
Eloa said in a cool voice, but no one was listening.
After traveling in a carriage all day, the party arrived in Roizen's free city that very evening.