"No, I still have my ideals."
Ryan earnestly declined Evelyn's offer to keep him.
A true man stands between heaven and earth — how could he languish forever beneath another?
He was a young man of ideals and ambition; until he'd found a hundred different beast-eared girls, he absolutely would not stop.
"Fine, I won't press you, then. Come find me downstairs if you need anything." Evelyn turned to leave.
Seeing this, Ryan hurriedly called her back.
Evelyn raised a brow. "What? Changed your mind?"
"No, I just wanted to ask you — are we friends?"
For the sake of the Codex bonus, Ryan was really going all out.
At those words Evelyn fell silent, stumped by Ryan's question.
She turned back, looking down at Ryan, seemingly considering how to answer.
After a moment she countered, "What do you think?"
"I'm asking you — why are you tossing the question back to me?" Ryan was a little exasperated.
Evelyn shrugged, looking rather nonchalant. "Your answer is the answer."
"Friends, I'd say — at least I consider you one." Ryan nodded along.
Evelyn's eyes narrowed slightly, a half-smile on her lips. "Then we're friends."
She normally looked so prim, yet that expression now was like a wicked woman's.
"That look of yours..."
Evelyn didn't reply; she let out a breath and turned to leave.
The instant the door closed, the System's voice sounded in Ryan's ear.
[Name: Evelyn Amelia Verrells
Current Affection: Level 2
Become acquainted with Evelyn (Achieved)
Become friends with Evelyn (Achieved)
Become close friends with Evelyn (Not yet achieved)
Develop a healthy romantic relationship with Evelyn (Not yet achieved)
Current Codex reward: Strength, Endurance, and Agility each increased by 30%]
Ryan clenched his fist and gave it a casual swing, then suddenly noticed Ellie gazing at him intently.
"You fell asleep just now, didn't you?"
Ellie nodded, then struggled up out of Ryan's hold to sit. "I slept a little. I feel much clearer now."
That was what she said, but Ryan still found her bleary.
If Evelyn had come back later, she might have slept a while longer.
"It's only noon. Rest a bit more after lunch."
Ellie shook her head. "It's enough already."
Ryan really wanted to test the bonus the Codex had given him.
He held out a hand to Ellie, wanting to use her to test his strength.
Slender-limbed as she looked, by her own earlier account her strength far exceeded an ordinary person's — she could even crush bone outright.
Those men yesterday were proof: Ryan had had Ellie subdue them, and she'd crushed all their hands.
"What is it?" Ellie didn't catch his meaning, a trace of confusion in her eyes.
"Test my grip strength."
Ellie nodded, gently took Ryan's hand, and gradually applied force.
At first it was fine; Ryan felt his grip could just about match hers, but soon his hand grew tighter and tighter, until a sharp pain shot through it...
"Stop!"
Ellie quickly let go. "A bit stronger than an ordinary person."
Ryan's hand had been squeezed red, and he shook it against the pain.
A thirty-percent boost to strength, and he was still only a bit stronger than an ordinary person.
"About how strong are you?"
"In short, I can kill with my bare hands — grab a neck and one squeeze does it, or just drive my fingers through the throat." Ellie said it expressionlessly, and seeing Ryan's odd look, she added, "I'll demonstrate next time."
Ryan fell into thought.
A grown man's grip strength was around forty or fifty kilograms, while crushing a vertebra took roughly five hundred kilograms of force.
What did that mean? Her grip could rival the bite force of a tiger, a lion, or a hyena — this was already beyond the human realm.
He suddenly grew a little worried: what if, during a future back massage, Ellie got too excited and snapped it clean off?
Ellie seemed to read Ryan's worry and added, "I can control my strength precisely. I won't hurt you by accident."
"That's good, then..."
Ryan suddenly felt he didn't understand Ellie at all.
Not only was her strength far beyond a normal person's, she could apparently fly too.
"I saw you fly yesterday. You can fly, right?"
Ellie's eyes shone. "Yes, I can fly for a short while. The magic uses a lot of mana."
"Could you show me?"
Ellie stood, lifted off her feet, and flew straight up, both hands touching the wooden ceiling.
"Amazing. Can I learn this?"
After all, who wouldn't want to throw themselves into learning flight magic and go zipping through the sky whenever they had the chance?
"You can." Ellie nodded, then added, "But you've got no foundation. Magic has to be learned from a very young age — it might take a long time to practice..."
Before she could finish, a childish voice cut in.
"You guys want to learn magic?"
Ryan turned to look and found Mira already awake.
She sat on the bed rubbing her bleary eyes and mumbled, "My mom's been making me learn magic lately too. It's so hard to learn... way harder than arithmetic..."
"Is that so?"
Mira yawned, then hugged Ryan around the waist from behind. "Really. You want to learn? I can take you to my mom's study to look at the magic books — she's got everything in there."
"I'll ask your mom about it later."
Entering someone's study without permission seemed impolite, so Ryan asked Evelyn about it when he went down for lunch.
She agreed to let them in, as long as they didn't make a mess of the study.
Maeve skipped along behind Ryan, especially energetic after lunch. "I'm definitely going to learn an amazing spell and make you all see me in a new light!"
Mira, cradling a bowl of fine stew, mumbled, "It's not that easy. Magic is hard..."
Maeve's attention was hooked by that bowl of stew, and she sidled up to Mira, half-coaxing and half-conning. "Your stew looks different from what we ate! Can I have a taste? Just one bite."
Mira hugged the bowl and shied away.
Ryan yanked the shameless Maeve away. "Didn't you just eat your fill? You won't even spare a kid's food?"
"I want a taste — the meat chunks in her stew are so big."
"No." Ryan flatly rejected her request.
The study was directly across from the tavern maids' room, visible the moment you came up the stairs.
Mira handed the bowl to Ryan, then produced a small ring of keys from somewhere and, on tiptoe, unlocked the study door.
The instant the door opened, a faint scent of almond and vanilla wafted out.
The room had no windows; three walls were packed full of bookshelves, with what looked like several hundred books.
Books were expensive in this era, and ordinary people couldn't afford so many; Evelyn's financial means were truly extraordinary.
Mira looked back at Ryan. "Big brother Ryan, what magic do you want to learn?"
Maeve cut in first. "Is there any magic that conjures food? My stomach's always hungry, heh-heh-heh..."