Adrian glanced at all the people sitting at the table. Elias was listening excitedly, his older sister seemed to be ignoring the conversation entirely as she quietly ate her food, and his mother seemed amused during the whole conversation.

Even now, she had an amused expression hidden behind her soft smile as she looked at the girl.

’What is she even doing? Her behavior is so strange.’

If he had to define the kind of person he thought his mother was, he would not use the word ’easygoing’ if nothing else. Yet she was so readily agreeing to all the demands made by the girl.

More than that, why did she invite the girl to the dining hall, anyway?

Just then, his younger brother raised both hands in the air excitedly.

"I want to go too! Take me with you!"

"No," his mother answered firmly. "El, you will get in their way if you go with them."

"But..."

The young boy’s expression turned pitiful, but he was unable to argue back after seeing his mother’s stern expression. She turned to Adrian.

"You have no problem with this arrangement, do you?"

He paused.

It was clear that he shouldn’t say no, since his mother had some kind of intention behind her actions, and going against it could have consequences. He had also heard her mention a test moments ago, so he needed to be careful.

More than that, this was also a good opportunity for him to figure out for sure if the girl before him was really a reincarnate.

He replied calmly.

"I find no problem with such an arrangement."

They all continued eating and soon finished. His mother asked him to change into less conspicuous clothes, and the girl was asked the same thing.

Soon, after changing, they stood in front of the large golden gate. Adrian had changed into a simple white shirt and white half pants. The girl in front of him had changed into a plain brown one-piece dress. Though he was unsure if that was enough for her not to stand out.

The guards pushed open the massive door, revealing the city beyond as a servant approached them.

"The knight who is supposed to protect you has been assigned and is nearby, hiding. You may go anywhere and spend as much time as you two wish, but the Duchess asks that you return after enough time."

That was a rather contradictory statement, but Adrian still nodded. The girl beside him also nodded lightly. Then they walked out as the large door closed behind them.

They stood there in awkward silence for a while, then the girl turned to him.

"So, um, you are Adrian, right? Is that what I should call you? Or should I call you, um, young master instead?"

He frowned.

"Are you, perhaps, trying to mock me?"

"No!" she hurriedly shook her head. "It’s just that I don’t have much experience talking to people, so I don’t know what’s rude or what isn’t. So I thought..."

’Is this an act to make me lower my guard against her?’

But after a brief pause, he simply shook away the thought.

He was acting paranoid, and it would hurt his own judgment. Being careful was fine, but being overly cautious when he barely had evidence for his doubts was simply foolish.

He sighed.

"You can call me by my name; it is not rude for you to do that."

The girl looked at him meekly, then a smile slowly appeared on her face as the tension in her body began to ease.

"I think calling you that feels, I don’t know, formal? Distant? Can’t we address each other more... Oh! I know! How about we use nicknames for each other?"

’What’s with the sudden attitude change?’

"No, I don’t think that’s necessary—"

"So, what should your nickname be?" She began pondering. "Your name is Adrian, so... Adri? No, that sounds like a girl’s name..." 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

Getting somewhat irritated from hearing her absent-minded murmurs, he raised his voice slightly, trying to catch her attention.

"I would prefer you simply call me Adrian. But if you still wish to call me by a nickname, then call me Adi. This is the nickname my mother uses during conversations."

After spending ten years hearing that nickname, he had gotten somewhat used to hearing it. Well, as much as he had gotten used to hearing his new name, that is.

The girl gave him a... thumbs-up? As she nodded.

"That’s perfect. My parents call me Evangel, so you should also use that when calling me, or I might feel awkward. Anyway, let’s go, Adi!"

She grabbed his arm and pulled him along as she began walking excitedly into the city. It felt as though that action was very natural to her.

Moving through the busy streets illuminated by the morning sun, she looked around curiously as her pinkish-purple hair fluttered lightly in the wind.

Adrian, too, decided to look around since this was his first time outside the mansion, if he were to ignore the time he had traveled to Caelis Research Society in a carriage.

After about half an hour of aimless wandering, the girl stopped near a relatively less crowded corner.

"This city is too big. I don’t even know where I’m going."

He thought for a bit.

"That place beyond the stone tower," he pointed at a tall stone tower in the distance. "To its left should be the relatively lawless district, with things like slave markets and illegal auctions being held there. Apparently, the crime rate is also highest in that part, so we should avoid going there."

He then turned to his left.

"If we go left, then we should arrive at the market district. You seem to like crowds and dense buildings, so that should be a good destination."

He then pointed behind him.

"The area beyond that building should be where the wealthy live. The markets and shops should also be targeted at wealthy customers. And although there is no apparent slum area, there must also be a location where the homeless and the poor live. Every territory has those—"

He paused as he saw the girl’s face. She was looking at him strangely.

"...What is it?"

"You," her expression turned even stranger. "How many times have you come here? I thought you... never left that castle—I mean, mansion."

He tilted his head.

"This is my first time outside the mansion, though."

That was true. He couldn’t count his visit to the research society since he was in a carriage, and it was getting dark at the time.

"Then," she made a puzzled expression. "How do you know so much?"

"Because I studied."

Since his reincarnation, Adrian had spent half his life in the library trying to collect information about this world. Specifically, he had collected information that could serve as proof that this world was the world of a story he was familiar with.

So one of the first things he had memorised was knowledge related to locations, and the knowledge related to the history of this world. Well, he had also memorised a lot of other things.

And since he was reincarnated within the Ravenshade family, he had reviewed the information related to this territory multiple times.

’Is it really strange for me to know all this? Well, if I think objectively, then it probably is.’

Maybe that was the reason why she was making that expression. As if she found his words incomprehensible.

"You... studied all this?" She sighed. "No, maybe we should discuss that later, for now, though, I think we should go to the market district."

He gave a light nod of agreement, and she began pulling him along after grabbing his wrist.

’Seriously, why does she have to drag me around like that. Does she not think it’s rude?’

She had been worried about offending him by calling him in the wrong manner, and now she had no problem dragging him around like a suitcase.

He sighed.

They moved through the streets, navigating towards their destination.

As he walked, Adrian’s mind wandered to the discussion between his mother and this girl, Evangeline. It was clear his mother was intending to get something out of this, or she wouldn’t have so easily agreed to let them go outside like that.

’Or am I overthinking it?’

No, he didn’t think he was. And it never hurts to be cautious.

Oh, there was also a knight supposed to be following them in secret.

He looked around, trying to detect the knight, but he couldn’t spot anyone. He even tried looking for a controlled presence that could belong to an individual on a high Phase.

The nature of one’s presence changes the higher one climbs the Phase Ladder, so it was easy to distinguish. But he couldn’t spot any unusual presence around them anywhere. He even checked nearby rooftops, too, just in case.

"Um, by the way," she suddenly spoke while walking. "I am trying to become stronger, and I heard you are very strong for our age, so I, um, wanted to ask you this: Do you know a way I can get stronger quickly? It would be better if it were easy."

She looked at him with a hopeful gaze.

’She is trying to get stronger? And wants an easy way?’

He could understand that somewhat. After all, he, too, had once wanted something similar, but all the methods he had tried had failed. The only one that worked was...

"Spell creation. It’s quite easy, too."

A bright smile stretched across the girl’s face.