Gambit Of The Living Weapon - Chapter 232 Job opportunity II

“My name is Hana… And I need to talk to you…” replied the lady who looked just like the painting of the goddess of the east hanging in front of them inside the entrance hallway of the temple of the fire mages.

Evlin just finished talking with Marcus a couple of seconds ago and was in a really good mood for the first time in a while, but right now, finding out that the originator of magic herself was right there next to her was enough to send her to a breaking point once again.

She then slapped her own face with both hands and began to groan, “Uuuuuuughhhh… Of course you are… And of course you do…”

“Uuh…” Hana flinched a little from Evlin’s reaction, “something wrong…?”

“What? Pfft!! No, no, of course not…” Evlin replied while waving her hand and trying to force a smile while being on the verge of tearing up, “It’s just that I assumed that after I lost my family, lost my city, and lost my body, I would finally, FINALLY, get a small break to catch my breath and stuff… You know… Enjoy a little party, hang out with my friends and my niece, have a good night of sleep later for the first time in God knows how long…

But that’s stuff for losers, right?? Who needs to rest when you can just have the universe throw another good old dose of nonsense and stress in your lap right when you just manage to get your life back…?? That would be stupid!! Hahahaha!!”

Hana began to worry about the black-haired lady in front of her who seemed like she was having a mental breakdown.

“Do- Do you need a minute…?”

“No… No… I’m fine, really, just… Sigh… Let’s just get this over with… What do you want…?”

Hana started to wonder if it really would be ok to talk to Evlin right now but she really needed her help and was running out of options.

“Do you still take jobs as an adventurer?”

“Jobs…? You… You wanna hire me?”

“Yes, please! I would very much like to do so!”

Evlin began to feel like she was daydreaming, “You said your name was Hana, right?”

“That’s right!”

“Hana, the one that planted that berry tree that gave birth to the three types of energy that cover this world and that used to hang out with a girl made of fire? That Hana?”

The woman started to look down, “so you know about me…”

“The same woman that turned into the first cursed energy being and started a war to gain control over the other types of energy? A war that almost destroyed the world? That Hana??”

“T- That’s right…?”

“And you also happen to be the new goddess of the east… A goddess?? These guys that just say things like ‘Do what I say because I said so!!’ when they want people to obey then?”

“Uuhh…”

“Is that… Not how you usually ask for favors…?”

“I’m sorry… This is a lot to take in and I kinda have been having a long… day? Week? Month? Man, how long have I been in the white void…?”

“Miss Evlin!!”

“Ah!” Evlin was about to lose herself in her own thoughts and almost forgot about the goddess right in front of her, “sorry, sorry… please, proceed…”

Hana started to rub her forehead as if this conversation was proving to be more draining than she expected, “I need to hire you to kill a dragon for me!”

“A dragon…” Evlin raised an eyebrow.

“Yes! It’s very important that this creature be gone, and I require you to do it! He is very, very dangerous!”

Evlin started to think about how convenient it was that she just heard not too long ago about a very dangerous dragon herself, “This dragon wouldn’t happen to be called Knucker, would he?”

Hana widened her eyes, “He does like to call himself that, yes… You know of him?”

“More or less…”

“Then you know how important it is to get rid of him!!” Hana shouted while leaning over and bringing her face closer to Evlin’s.

“Eeehh… ” Evlin honestly didn’t know much about Knucker. She knew he was responsible for giving Mia some bit of false hope which led to her becoming a full demon and completely losing herself, but when it was all said and done, she never actually met the guy, “You could say I don’t like him… But right now, if anything, I’m more curious about what his deal is…”

Hana’s face began to change, looking she was in pain with her eyes frowning and gritting her teeth, “Please… Please… I need him gone…”

Evlin recognized that face, it was the same face Daren used to show when he talked about Detra, and the face Evlin herself used to show when she looked in the mirror and thought about Mia harming her family.

“This is about revenge, isn’t it?” Evlin assumed.

Hana remained silent and looked away.

“I see…” Evlin said while holding her shoulders, “look, I’m sure it must be really painful, whatever it is that happened to you… But I’m sorry… I’m done getting involved in these kinds of things… I just want to let go of this life and move on… If I help you now, I get the feeling I will never be free ever again…”

Hana glared at Evlin, “He killed my best friend…”

Evlin shook her head, “And now you wanna kill him… And then, someone that cares about him will come after you to try and kill you too… I heard this song before, it will never stop… Maybe someone can help you, but I’m not that someone… I’m sorry…”

Hana began to shiver while looking down and shaking her fists. Her face looked like she was trying to hold a loud scream.

“I wish you luck with your situation… I’m sorry about your friend…” Evlin finished saying while walking away from the goddess.

Hana then softly whispered, “If you won’t help me… I’ll just ask your kids instead…”

Evlin froze in the middle of her walk and started to talk without turning around, “… what…?”

“Your kids… Marcus, Elaine, and Mia… If you won’t do it, I’ll just ask them instead…”

Evlin turned around trying to control her emotions, “Why…?”

“A dragon can only be killed by terminal energy… You and your kids are the only ones that have access to this energy…”

“… You will ask them to go after a dragon that can only be killed with the strongest form of energy in the world, right after they just got out of a war?”

“I will…”

Evlin glared at the goddess, “And if they say no?”

Hana glared back, “I will force them…”

Evlin felt something snapping inside of her, “Force them… How…?”

“I’m a silver energy user, and a former red energy user…” Hana replied with a cold tone, “I have my ways…”

“… I see…” Evlin replied, followed by rubbing the back of her head and taking a deep breath for a couple of seconds, “could you excuse me for a moment?”

She then walked towards the staircase, climbed up to the hallway, and returned to the room where the victory party was taking place.

Most of the guests were gone already but a couple of mages from Ashley’s guild could be spotted whispering while looking at her. She noticed that one had a staff with him and asked if she could borrow it for a bit.

She took the staff and changed it into a crossbow, which made the mages whisper even louder but Evlin didn’t hear what they were saying, her mind was elsewhere.

If there was one thing Evlin cared about in this world, it was about protecting those who could not protect themselves.

Because she wasn’t strong enough or smart enough, Ellie ended up having to go into a fight with Mia and lost her own hand as a result. Her niece, her own niece, got hurt because she wasn’t good enough to protect her.

Not only that, but Mia was also someone who needed help, someone who was lost and confused in the wrong path, and once again, Evlin failed to help her, which ended with the girl being erased from existence.

The only one who seemed to be slightly ok was Marcus, who was finally starting to recover from a life of self-guilt and regret.

And now, this woman appeared out of nowhere and declared that she was going to force them to embark on another dangerous quest whether they liked it or not.

For Evlin, this was something she simply could not just let go of.

She finally returned to where Hana was waiting for her and the two exchanged glances.

“I’ll ask you again… If they reject your offer as well… Please accept their answer…” Evlin offered.

“I can’t do that… This dragon needs to die, and the four of you are the only ones who have any chance of taking him down… I can’t force you… But I’m sure I can force them…” Hana replied, “If that makes you unhappy, then accept my offer yourself!”

Evlin then glared at the pale woman and raised her crossbow, “Leave… Now!”

Hana started to glare as well, “You wanna kick me out of a temple dedicated to worshipping me?”

Evlin began to charge raw magic energy on the tip of her crossbow, “LEAVE! NOW!”

“You don’t wanna do this…”

“I’m not going to let you drag these kids into your problem and risk getting them killed…”

“You mean just like how you dragged them into your own problems and almost got them all killed in an attempt to save you?”

A massive diamond stone began to form itself in front of Evlin’s crossbow while being engulfed in raw energy. The ground started to shake the whole temple and books began to fall from the shelves.

Evlin decided to stop talking and just released her magic bullet towards the goddess, which resulted in a huge explosion that destroyed the entire entrance of the building.

All of those present in the party room became alarmed and rushed over to see Evlin standing in front of a pile of dust that revealed a Hana glaring at her without a single scratch on her body while standing over the destruction.

Hana then whispered to her, “Fine… Let’s do this the hard way…”