Evan POV:

I’m a flippen goner.

Helputt dropped a bombshell on me and I have no idea how it happened. Did I act too out of character against whatever the Reid guy did that they figured something out? Do they already know that I’m an imposter? I do not know how much they’ve figured out and I can’t do anything about it. To make matters worse, there’s a lie-detector standing behind the counter so I can’t even lie without facing repercussions. I am completely surrounded from all directions and a single mistake could destroy a whole family.

And that’s not even the worst part! The worst part is that I don’t feel any kind of impatience or fear of the situation due to Pain-Immunity!

Okay, let’s just face this problem the way I face most problems. You even prepared a fail-safe just in case something similar to this happens. The only thing left is to activate it. 

Alright, I can do this. Time to initiate fail-safe ‘I’ve been found!’

I thought up of a fail-safe soon after I met Luna for the first time and the steps to activate it is simple.

Step 1) Remain calm and keep a straight face.

Step 2) Make sure that you’ve actually been found out and it’s not a misunderstanding.

Step 3) If it is a misunderstanding then everything is fine. If it’s not then start cooking up a BS story and fast.

Step 4) If BS story doesn’t work then run away or face the consequences like a man, or pray for a miracle.

Step 1 is already done, thanks to Pain-Immunity. Step 3 can’t be done because of Liza the anti-BS who was staring at us curiously. So, I guess the next obvious move is to do step 2 and pray to God that it’s a misunderstanding. I should also mention that about 2 seconds had passed from the time Helputt asked me if I had really forgotten my memories or not.

I tried to look as confused as I could before saying, “What are you talking about? What makes you think I don’t have amnesia” I chose my words carefully, I know Liza would say something if I just flat-out say that I don’t have amnesia, which is why I needed to be tactful.

I looked towards both Luna and Mia but neither wanted to look at me, almost as if they had no faith in me anymore, Helputt sighed deeply before he looked at me and said, “How are you able to teach miss Lucy about alchemy and also magic with amnesia?”

DAMN IT LUCY! WHAT ELSE DID YOU TELL THEM!?

Looks like I have found the perpetrator. The reason why I’m stuck in this predicament. And it’s because of those two little shits again. I need to either sever my ties with them or keep them on a leash otherwise who knows what will happen next… Or maybe, what’s happening now is because they’re angry at me since I haven’t taught them any alchemy yet. 

Okay, screw this operation that I cooked up on the fly, it sucks anyway. I’m doing everything my style now. And it starts with getting away from Liza who is my natural enemy. But before that, I need to make my family sympathize with me, and for that I need to show emotions which are hidden under the disguise.

Firstly, I looked down to hide my face from them, I quickly exchanged the aviators I was wearing to the transparent goggles that I used to wear, if I just removed the aviators then the silver helmet that I’m wearing in my helmet slot would have appeared and I can’t have that. once that was done. I pulled down the hoodie that was hiding my hair and looked forward. They looked confused by my actions but I didn’t care, now that my face is in full view, anything I say will have added persuasive effects. I think. So, I started the battle of words by making a grim face. “Do you really want to know what happened in that forest?”

They were all shocked by my sudden serious expression. Luna and Mia who were too scared to even look me in the eye were staring at me, Nezha looked determined while Helputt kept the same resolute face since the beginning. Nobody said a word but Helputt nodded.

“Alright, I understand, I will tell you everything that happened, but before that, I have to show you something.” 

That something is my house. As long as I have an excuse to get away from Liza, I’ll be in my home turf and able to whip out the most mind-numbing BS story I can to save myself.

“Follow me.” I said as I moved passed them and exited the Adventurers guild. There was just one problem left. I had forgotten the reason why I had put up a disguise in the first place.

“Isn’t that Evan? The guy which out Queen is looking for?” A random passer-by said. “It’s him!” said another.

It seems like I was so swept up by trying to save myself that I had forgotten that there was more than one reason why I was trapped inside the guild.

“W-What’s going on? Evan, are you a fugitive?” Helputt said confused by the situation I was facing. I looked back to try and explain what’s going on until I realized that we needed more than one horse if I wanted to bring them back home.

“Stop right there!” A voice said from the streets, when I paid attention I realized it was one of the guards.

Oh, come on! How come the guards are already here!? I only stepped outside like 5 seconds ago!

This is the first time in my life that I felt like a fish on the cutting board. I literally have no way to get out of this situation. Am I receiving some form of punishment from God for my past deeds? I mean, it’s understandable BUT WHY NOW!? GOD! WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME! WHYYYYYY!!!

“Get back!” I heard a familiar voice from above that snapped me back to reality. I looked up and I saw Tifa standing up on the roof of the guild like she’s some kind of ninja. The guards seems surprised by the new sudden intruder but they were still focused on me more. Only until Tifa did something that surprised even me. She removed her cape and showed everyone her long ears. It was surprising because She told me before how all Elves had to work discretely and how showing your identity was akin to dying.

“Tifa!” I tried talk some sense into her. “What the hell are you doing!?”

No matter how loud I screamed, she ignored me. “Evan here is protected by our beloved queen and all of the Elven kingdom! If anyone wants to hurt him then he’ll have to go through the entire Elven army first!” After declaring what she wanted to, she jumped down from the roof and landed in front of me like a weightless feather before brandishing her silver swords towards the guards coming here.

Holy shit, she’s actually serious.

Needless to say, all the guards had stopped moving as they looked at each other for help. Nobody wanted to move, everyone, including me, was in a stalemate. It seems like Tifa understood that which was why she started threatening the guardsman “Open a path for us or I will attack!”

Complete silence. But there was one thing Tifa didn’t account for which was we would lose no matter what happened. I walked up to her and started whispering.

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“Hey Tifa?”

“Not now Evan, I got this.”

“Yea that’s very admirable of you, but we’re screwed unless we get another horse.”

Tifa looked back at me confused, “What?” I responded by pointing behind me at Helputt who could barely stand. What this means is that, we would not be able to move fast without a horse, meaning they could easily group up and separate us. If they got a hold of any one else, I won’t be able to do anything beside resigning myself to fate.

Tifa started whispering back at me. “Umm, What do we do then?”

I DON’T FLIPPEN KNOW! 

IF IT WAS JUST ME AND THEN I WOULD GONE TO THE SHADOW REALMS BY NOW! BUT WITH PEOPLE?! I CAN’T DO A DAMN THING!

Both our enemies and us were at our wits end, none of us could do anything and we were all hanging on the edge of our rope. But, just then, there was a loud clap from behind me that brought everyone’s attention towards it. I looked behind and the noise came from inside the adventurer’s guild.

“Alright everyone, stay where you are” Liza started talking as passed by my family who were blocking the door. Surprisingly, there was another girl beside Liza.

The girl beside Liza had long but messy dark-purple hair, she looked mature and beautiful but also a bit tired. The most eye-catching thing, Pun included, was her eyes, red like rubies with a vertical slit like cat eyes. Her hair was down till her shoulders and she was taller than Liza, which means she’s bigger than me by a small margin. She was wearing a silky black cape whose edges were adorned with golden coloured fabric and I could see her wearing a black tight shirt and pants with golden buttons underneath the cape. Her clothes alone would tell anyone that she’s a really important person.

It was this woman who started talking now, “Evan is not only protected by the elven kingdom, but he’s also protected by me. If you all value your life, then go back to your duties.”

I had no clue who this person was but it didn’t matter, All the guards looked like they saw a ghost as they immediately saluted and ran away as if their lives depended on it.

Oh my god. My saviour. 

“Mr. Evan.” She said as she walked up to me with Liza following behind her a step away. “What a pleasure to finally meet you.”

She held her hand out to me, which I responded by shaking her hand and saying, “Ah, Miss I-don’t-know-who-you-are. The pleasure is all mine.”

She started chuckling by my strange greeting before letting go of my hand. Moments after she let go of my hand, I heard a tiny bleep noise. I’m all too familiar with that noise since it’s the noise to remind you that your mana has fully regenerated, but I didn’t use anything that cost mana? Maybe I’m hearing things?

Regardless of my confusion, the woman started talking. “I'm the adventurer’s guild master and a close aide of our Queen, Evangeline Born-a-hart, please call me Born-a-hart.”

 “Born-a-Hart?” I said confused.

“It was my great grandfather’s name. Which is why I would prefer it if you call me by that name.”

I can’t be bothered by what history you have, I’m never going to be able to remember that name, and I’m still mentally exhausted by the hurdle I just crossed which still hasn’t been resolved.

“Nah, too hard to remember, I’m just calling you Ruby instead.”

She seemed confused by my sudden nickname, “Um? Why?” She asked almost as if she could not understand why I would do such a thing.

“I will be honest, Born-a-hart is too hard of a name to remember, so I’m just calling you Ruby because it’s easier.”

It seems like she didn’t mind it but she still asked again, “Okay, I understand some people have a problem with my name, but why Ruby?”

“It’s because of your eyes.” As soon as I said that, she was taken a back. “Your beautiful eyes remind me of rubies.” She started blushing and acting all bashful all of a sudden.

At first I didn’t understand why but once my two brain cells started working again, I realized I started flirting accidentally. While I did like doing that, someone didn’t, who also started kicking my leg from behind.

I looked back and saw Luna pouting and continuing on by kicking me in the leg with small force.

“Here we are worried about you and you’re flirting right in front of us.” Luna said in a quiet voice only I could hear.

I started feeling bad but then, another saviour arrives with three horses. Tifa! Honestly, I was pretty sure she was right here next to me but meh, I’m using her as an excuse to run away,

“Okay Miss Ruby. Nice chat but I got some very important thing to do. So, I’ll see you some other time.” Before anyone else could stop me, I got on behind Tifa and told the others to get on the horses. Ruby looked like she wanted to stop me but she shook her head, I’m guessing she knows we’re gonna meet some other time anyway so it’s better to get on my good side now.

Once everyone was ready, I waved goodbye to both Liza and Ruby before we went our merry way.

Evangeline POV:

The meeting with Evan was short but fulfilling. I could see why Queen Daisy wants him. I went back into my guild and licked the residual mana off my fingers when no one was near me.

I had absorbed some of Evan's mana during our handshake. Just enough so he won't notice.

As soon as my tongue licked the mana off my fingers, My mind blanked with pleasure. This pure mana was good. Too good. I only tasted a residual amount and it tastes better than any mana I’ve absorbed for years.

Evan… I truly look forward to our next encounter… Hehehe…

Evan POV:

It was a good thing that I rode with Tifa otherwise I don’t think I’ll be able to bear the silence from my other family members right now. We’ve been traveling for hours and nobody had said a word. But that doesn’t mean I was slacking, oh no no no, I’ve been considering and simulating all kinds of scenarios on how I should deal with the doubts of my new family and I can safely say that the best scenario I created is one where I get the help of my NPCs’ to convince my family. Honestly I was too worried about my fate that I honestly could not focus on pretty much anything else.

We reached my house moments later and I looked back to see the surprise face of the rest of my family. I’ll admit, I started to feel cocky after seeing that.

“Evan.” Tifa suddenly started talking, “Are we at the right place?”

It seems like Tifa could not believe that the small shack had turned into a giant mansion. “Of course, we’re at the right place. I just made some adjustments to my old house.”

“SOME ADJUSTMENTS!?” Tifa looked back at while holding the horse reins, “You just built something equal to a castle!”

Thank you for the compliment.

I just winked at her before pointing towards the small NPC’s house that was hidden under the brilliance of giant mansion. “Our destination is that house.” Tifa nodded as she guided the horse to go there and others followed suit.

Once we reached there, everyone got off the horse and handed all the horse reins to Tifa. They were all looking at me with expectant eyes but I know deep down they were worried. “Hey Tifa,” I called her out, “Could you give us some alone time? It’s… personal.”

Tifa looked at everyone before nodding and walking away with the horses, after I made sure she was far away, I looked at my family. I knew these four people had gone through a lot, which was why I didn’t want to hurt them anymore. More importantly, I was currently in the body of someone who they hold near and dear. No matter what happens, I can’t fuck this up.

I looked at the worried faces of my family, “I know what you guys are worried about. But first, I want you all to meet someone.” I turned towards the NPCs’ house and started yelling, “HEY JEFF! COME ON OUT HERE!”

They seemed a bit sceptical, while I was worried that Jeff might screw it over for me. Moments later, the door to the NPCs’ house opened up and Jeff walked out, “Evan.” He called out with the usual business smile that he always seems to have, “How can I help you today?”

I nodded to his words before turning towards my family. “Everyone, meet Jeff, he is umm… my advisor.” Everyone looked at Jeff sceptically but Jeff responded by bowing down slightly.

“I know that all of you think I might by lying about my amnesia, but the truth is that I really don’t have any memories before I ended up in that forest. There was… an incident.”

Reid somehow died and I came to take his place.

“Evan…” Luna said worriedly.

I shook my head towards Luna, “Something big happened there, I don’t know what the past me thought of or even why he did it. But whatever happened, turned me into… a hero. A hero of skill to be more specific.”

I’ve already thought of almost every scenario on our ride here, this is the best scenario I could come up with especially since Jeff would probably help me here too. If I can get him to convince them then that means that none of them will doubt my existence from here on out.

Everyone was confused, nobody had an inkling of what I was trying to say, which was why it was time to use my backup. “Jeff, how about you explain to them what happened?” Jeff looked at me and I winked at him discreetly.

Hopefully, he sees my wink and comes to my side. And it seemed like it worked since Jeff nodded at me. 

“It is just as Evan says.” Jeff said as he made a resolute face. “In that forest, Reid… died.”

At first, I thought Jeff was just being dramatic, but… he just stopped explaining. Everyone was looking flabbergasted and I was slowly getting worried again.

“Uhh Jeff?” I looked over to him and he was smiling and looking at me.

OI! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING!?!