Their food came not too long after and the two of them were about to dig in when they suddenly froze simultaneously.
"Did you sense that?"
"Yep. They're here."
For a short fraction of a second, their grandmaster-level senses had picked up on a powerful wave of energy suddenly sweeping across Egraiby. Most importantly, the energy they had sensed was ice-attributed.
Evan dropped his cutlery and picked up a small walkie-talkie from his inventory, pressing a button on the side and speaking into it.
"Watch the last arriving train, they should be there."
[Okay, Mr Eris.]
He tossed it back into his inventory and picked up his cutlery, before cutting out a piece of the steak in front of him and bringing it up to Eliza's lips.
"Say 'Ahh'."
"...seriously?"
Though she said that, the teenage blonde didn't reject his offer to feed her, and the way her expression changed the instant she tasted the steak brought a smile to Evan's face.
◇ ◇ ◇
While Evan and Eliza were busy flirting with their food, two men walked out of the train that had just arrived at Egraiby's Station.
One was a tall man with a short head of black hair covered by a black hat and brown eyes, framed by arched eyebrows and adorned in a meticulously tailored black coat which was decorated with silver embroidery.
A silver medallion, suspended from a chain, glimmered against the dark fabric, hinting at his noble lineage.
The other was a tall and well-built man, with shoulder-length deep blue hair which he tied into a low ponytail, with a long bang that reached the middle of his cheek and was split in the middle.
He had vibrant blue eyes and a fair complexion which served as a canvas for the mesmerizing contrast of his eye-catching features. However, he put on a pair of black shaded glasses to conceal those features, while buttoning the sleeves of his coat.
Like the person beside him, he wore a long black overcoat over his suit, with a touch of blue silver embroidery on the chest pocket.
"So, how are we going to find this kid here? There are far too many A rankers in this city so we can't use an aura sweep."
The black-haired man, Duke Beluar Sarxina, spoke up as he sent a cursory glance around.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"Hmm?"
He noticed a chauffeur coming up to them, and when he sent a questioning glance in the man's direction, he stopped and greeted them.
"Good morning Sirs. May I please ask if you are Sir Kieran and Sir Beluar?"
"…and what if we are?"
"Well, I was assigned to help you with your luggage—if any—as well as carry you to the location where a 'Sir Bourne' is awaiting you."
Both Kieran and Beluar glanced at each other for a moment, before shrugging and turning back to the chauffeur.
"Lead the way, then."
"Um, I'd like to see your passes. For both verification and recording, please."
They gave the man their passes and he glanced at them before writing down something on the clipboard he was carrying.
"This way please, the carriage is parked nearby."
He led them to the reserved parking and submitted his clipboard at the counter before showing them to their carriage.
The carriage ride didn't last up to five minutes, and they arrived at the State Restaurant closest to the Station.
The moment they got down, there was a waiter standing outside to receive them, and after confirming their identities with the chauffeur, he led them upstairs.
"Mr Bourne is waiting for you here."
They arrived at the gallery of the restaurant which was empty, save for the two teenagers who were seated in the middle, having a very random conversation.
"This Strawberry Milkshake somehow has less sugar than the Strawberry Margarita.""How can you even tell that? They both taste the same to me."
"I'm a Strawberry connoisseur. Such things cannot escape my sight…or taste, in this case."
Evan confidently declared as he raised the glass up to his lips, but his hand hit the edge of the milkshake glass and caused some of the content to spill towards him.
Before it could stain his shirt, however, the liquid froze up midway and fell onto his lap harmlessly.
"Damn, I nearly stained my new outfit."
Such was his remark as he picked up the frozen milkshake drops and tossed them into his mouth.
Today, Evan was dressed a bit formally, sporting a black dress shirt atop a pair of black trousers and white sneakers.
He had a jacket to match, but that was currently draped on his chair behind him.
Eliza inverted his colour combination, wearing a white short- sleeved one-piece dress, with black shoes to match.
Her colour choice was quite questionable, considering they were going somewhere where a lot of blood was bound to spill, but she had her ways of making sure it remained white.
For Evan, however, the white colour only served to remind him of one of his dreaded opponents.
'I can beat them in a direct fight, but when their skill comes into play, the fight isn't 'Direct' anymore.'
He heaved a light sigh and put down his drink before turning to the two men nearby and speaking.
"Welcome, have a seat. I ordered the Chef's special for you two."
Evan wasn't too surprised that Kieran was present as well, despite the fact that he requested Beluar's presence, having expected this scenario to a certain extent.
"It's been a year since we last spoke, glad to see you're in even better Health."
The boy's greeting to Kieran was greatly influenced by the man's new level which he saw after appraising him the instant he entered.
Kieran had surpassed the Level 500 mark and joined the ranks of Epic Level existences, and this made Evan happy as the stronger his allies were, the better their chances during Tarse's Disaster.
"I could say the same about you."
The Duke took his seat, just in time for the waiters to arrive with his and Beluar's meal. As he scanned the food with his eyes, Evan did a proper introduction to the other Duke present, while also checking the man's level.
'Damn, Ralphie would wipe the floor with this guy…very easily at that.'
While he didn't express those thoughts through his words or demeanour, Eliza somehow guessed what he was thinking and kicked his leg under the table.
"But why?"
"You know why. Stop comparing people like that."
Fortunately, or Unfortunately, the two men did not understand what the teenagers were talking about, and it didn't seem too important so they ignored it.
"You guys arrived earlier than I expected."
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"Would it not be better to get this over with quickly?"
"When you put it like that, I can't help but agree with you."
Evan replied to Kieran's words with a shrug, before tapping his hand on the table and creating hologram maps in front of them.
"Getting down to business, our target is in Croville. I chose here as a meeting point so as not to make them suspicious and on guard."
Kieran looked at the small map that Evan showed him, and upon seeing the 'X' marked spot, he couldn't help but remember the newspaper he had seen the day before.
"They're in a forest?"
"Indeed. When I was in the area, my tracker was directing me to go below, so I'm assuming their base is also underground as well."
As he spoke, the boy displayed the description of the 'Track Down' skill for the two men to see, whilst simultaneously checking the archive to see if there was a map of the base.
'I had explored it in the game, so I should have a map here, right?'
He found the map he was looking for pretty quickly and using it, he quickly formulated a plan for him and his party to storm the base.
"There are at least a few hundred, possibly a thousand of Demonic Hand members there so you're going to have your work cut out for you, Sir Beluar."
Evan took a bite from his meal before questioning Kieran.
"You can mobilize the military in Croville, right? I'd like you to do that so we'd have more hands on us.
Not too many soldiers though, a single Company of Elites would do."
"I thought you planned to handle it all alone?"
"I did and still can, but I'm considering the possibility of my combat efficiency being reduced after dealing with one of our main targets."
Although Evan was confident in his power, he didn't want to take any chances, especially with the Tenth Finger's replacement.
"The Actual attack would commence once I've taken out the two main targets—the Executives.
That's when the sweep to wipe out the Base would begin, but until then, everyone is to remain outside their detection radius."
Evan edited the maps he showed them and added a ring around the base area to show how wide the enemy detection radius was.
They spent the next few minutes finalizing the details of their plan, and when they were done, Evan called the rest of his party and together with the two Dukes, they boarded a train headed for Croville all while suppressing their auras.
With the Train's speed, the trip barely took an hour, and right after disembarking, Kieran went over to the military barracks in the city to get some soldiers while Evan and the rest moved towards the forest.