What Evah truly cared about wasn't the Church of Evernight's stance but the attitude of the Evernight Goddess behind it. In fact, his bold appearance as Lucifer this time was partly a deliberate probe to gauge the Goddess's view of him.
He wasn't sure if the other Orthodox Gods had noticed him, but Evah doubted the Evernight Goddess would overlook a sudden new player like him on the board. She was probably watching him silently, much like a certain Adam who blended into the air.
"Though I can probably guess what her stance might be…" Evah chuckled, picking up the ancient tome on the table to resume his interrupted study. Before being pulled into the Tarot Club, he'd been engrossed in his daily occult studies.
He was always diligent in this regard.
By the time he finished, dusk had settled outside. Evah tidied the table, grabbed dinner at a nearby restaurant, and changed into a disguise at another safehouse before using his Travel ability to arrive in Backlund.
His destination was none other than the Bravehearts Bar. A few days ago, through Mr. A's intel, he'd confirmed a key development: the Rose School of Thought's internal strife had erupted.
The Temperance Faction, led by Miss Four Coconut Head Tree—aka Reinette Tinekerr—had been defeated by the Indulgence Faction, backed by the Primordial Moon. Reinette Tinekerr was presumed dead, likely surviving as a Spirit World creature, while the rest of the Temperance Faction faced a purge. Sharron, Reinette's student, was believed to have fled to Backlund.
Mr. A hadn't dug up specifics on Sharron, but Evah had been keeping tabs on the Bravehearts Bar. Two days ago, he noticed a new card-playing patron whose appearance matched the novel's description of Maric.
Navigating the Bravehearts Bar with ease, Evah scanned the crowd. His gaze soon locked onto a man at a bar counter, dressed in a white shirt and black vest. Pale-faced, around twenty-seven or twenty-eight, the man exuded a subtle mix of madness and danger, though he was visibly restraining it.
Clearly, this was Maric, Sharron's trusted partner, the other half of the Sharron-Maric duo.
And if Maric was here, Sharron was likely nearby, probably lurking in her wraith form.
Perhaps because Evah's stare was too blatant—he hadn't bothered hiding it—Maric, sipping his drink, looked up. His expression froze, then shifted to wariness.
Evah's current attire didn't scream "bar patron." For someone out of place to show up and zero in on him so obviously was cause for alarm.
"Relax, Actor. I'm not here to cause trouble. I just have a favor to ask," Evah said, flashing to Maric's side in an instant and lightly pressing a hand on his shoulder.
Maric, about to pull back, froze as if hit with a binding spell. Evah glanced at Sharron's location—her wraith's physical invisibility worked well on most, but against a Ferryman, it was a bit lacking.
Before entering the bar, Evah had, as a precaution, borrowed Mr. Azik's power.
"Your Excellency, I trust you mean no harm. Could you release Maric?" Sharron materialized from the air, her expression tinged with tension. She could sense the danger radiating from this mysterious figure—at least a Saint.
"Of course. I was just worried this Actor might overreact and do something impulsive. That wouldn't end well," Evah said, withdrawing his hand from Maric's shoulder.
Maric stumbled back, limbs stiff, looking utterly rattled.
Their exchange naturally drew attention from the bar's patrons. Evah smiled at the wary Sharron-Maric duo. "This isn't the place for serious talk. Shall we move somewhere else?"
Sharron and Maric had little choice but to agree. They knew escaping from a suspected Saint at such close range was impossible, and their conscience wouldn't let them use the surrounding civilians as leverage against this mysterious man.
The trio soon left the bar, stepping into a deserted alley nearby.
"Your Excellency, what exactly is your purpose?" Sharron asked bluntly.
"I'd like to meet your teacher, Reinette Tinekerr, and invite Her to join a fascinating performance," Evah said, smiling at Sharron with unhurried calm.
Sharron froze, her expression dimming. "Then you may be disappointed, Your Excellency. My teacher… has fallen."
Maric's face also carried deep sorrow. Reinette Tinekerr's fall was a devastating blow to the entire Temperance Faction.
"But fate tells me Reinette Tinekerr hasn't fallen. She's merely transformed her state of existence, which doesn't stop Her from starring in my performance," Evah said with a smile, casually dropping a bombshell.
"What?" Sharron's face lit up with shock, her doll-like composure cracking. Joy and doubt flickered across her features. After a few seconds, she seemed to process it, looking at Evah. "Even if what you say is true, Your Excellency, I have no way to contact my teacher now."
"No matter. This might disappoint you, but you two Actors have no further roles in my performance. Serving as key props is enough," Evah said, spouting words that left Sharron and Maric baffled. Then, he reached into the air and pulled, conjuring a figure.
The figure had four heads and wore an ornate courtly robe—none other than Sharron's teacher, the Temperance Faction's pillar, the future messenger of Mr. Fool, affectionately dubbed Miss Four Coconut Head Tree by readers: Reinette Tinekerr.
Using Sharron as a medium, Evah had summoned Reinette Tinekerr from one second ago.
"Teacher, you're really alive? No, how are you here?" Sharron's face glowed with joy, though confusion lingered. She genuinely couldn't fathom Evah's maneuver.
Forget Sharron—even Reinette Tinekerr, the summoned, was dumbfounded. She glanced at her student, then at Evah, her multiple heads speaking in turn:
"Who…" "Are you…" "What's…" "This about?"
(End of Chapter)