Shades of the New World

As Evin was thinking about Kal's rule, he saw some words appearing on the communication device he was holding. Excitedly, he read the message inside.

[Eleven One allows Eleven Six to act in a manner he sees fit. If he is unable to find any relevant information through interrogation, he is to return tonight and report in a more detailed manner. He is warned to be careful of a trap, as similar baits and tricks are known to be used by teams, Paradra included.]

A very short message, written in the form of a report to the headquarters, but it got the point across to Evin as well. Evin decided to wait for the two to finish eating and then approach Khunichi as a member of the Paradra. But the warning in the end made him think a bit.

'A trap, huh? I can see how people might stage a similar act to lure unsuspecting mages to their demise. But I don't think it's possible for these two to be acting. After all, for that to happen, this whole entire tavern must be paid actors.'

With little thought, Evin could deduce the legitimacy of the situation pretty easily. After all, judging from how everyone acted, Evin could see that the owners were familiar with the two men, and the other patrons of the tavern were familiar with the owners. 

Sure, they could all be paid actors who played a role of visiting this tavern and talking about random stuff, but that meant that a certain part of the town's population belonged to the enemy entirely.

'I like conspiracy theories and though I know that some of them are actually true, but I like to think that I'm a logician first and foremost,' Evin thought and decided to trust the integrity of the situation.

Unsurprisingly, Evin spent some of his time as a spirit, debunking popular conspiracy theories on Earth. He'd spend much of his time inside heavily guarded military locations getting a free tour of the interiors of such places, so to speak. After all, nothing could be kept secret from a dead person, after all.

Probably the one thing that shocked him the most was that the top powers in the world didn't have aliens or alien technologies kept inside their bases. With all the sightings of UFOs and weird stories, Evin was sure that Earth would've gotten their hands on at least one extraterrestrial object during its long history. But aside from the latest technology and poisons, Evin didn't really see anything interesting in forbidden areas. 

However, Earth did have a very dedicated research team on anything extraterrestrial. Their main job was to make sense of all the UFO sightings in the world, and maybe try to replicate the feats that these UFOs performed.

'Wait! Are those UFOs just tricks that Four or someone like to pull on Earthlings?' Evin suddenly thought of an explanation. 

He heard that the Empress sometimes visited Earth on some occasions, and Four also told him about her room, which was partially connected to Earth as well. It really wouldn't be difficult for Four to create lightshows in the sky for the common people. And judging by her personality, she was definitely one of the people who would do such things.

There was also the woman who sent Evin to Alvox in the first place. Evin was pretty sure they would be able to pull off something similarly mysterious if she wanted to.

'Hmm…' Evin thought with interest.

Since his target was currently busy eating with his friend, Evin was free to spend his time thinking of random things.

[What are you thinking about, brother?] Runa interrupted and Evin started to explain his thought process to the other.

Time passed slowly, before finally, Khunichi and Khama finished their conversation. After saying their goodbyes, the two headed back to their respective homes.

Evin followed behind Khunichi, and ended up inside the man's house. A simple building that had a very distinct upper-middle class feel to it. It reminded him a lot of his own house, except it was seemed a lot more… used. Inside was Khunichi's spouse, who seemed to be about 7 months pregnant. A strikingly beautiful woman who harshly scolded her husband for being out too much, drinking around with random men. After venting out her frustrations, she herself decided to sleep in a different room, not wanting to be woken up due to Khunichi's loud snoring.

At this point, Evin was 100% convinced that there was no trap. Even though he'd decided that beforehand, it wasn't a bad idea to double check things. In Evin's mind, if he had to do something that concerned his life, the least he could do was to be prudent in his actions.

'But now that I've confirmed my safety, maybe I can act in a less serious manner…'

…

Khunichi sat down on his bed, removing his clothing one by one. He seemed to enjoy the process in a weirdly specific way, a smile on his face as he undressed. Perhaps he enjoyed the prospect of a long night's sleep after a harsh day's living; the process of undressing serving as a prelude to the upcoming act. 

The more he grew older, the more he learned to enjoy the act of sleeping. In his dreamland, he wouldn't have to suffer the naggings of his wife, he wouldn't have to live through the stares of his peers, and he would also still be possessing his blue horn. Many random thoughts swirled inside his head, but one subject kept reappearing time after time.

'It's a shame that Khama's uninterested in these things anymore… But I suppose I should forget about our youth all the same. We've had our fill of fun, playing detective in this small town, where he'd be the brains and I'd be the brawn, but like everything, things need to end.'

Khunichi sighed, once again reminded of his lost blue horn. Even after a year, Khunichi still missed the awe-inspiring power that it allowed him to possess. He knew that his small-time tricks weren't anything worth mentioning in front of actual mages, but it was still magic, nonetheless.

For them, who were surrounded only by normal people, it was exhilarating to be so much more special compared to others. Khunichi was like the son of the winter with his blue horn, easily solving any problem that involved water or ice. Khama, on the other hand, was like the smartest man alive, with his access to the exalted World of Thoughts. 

This was the reason why the two refused to move to Tribe ruled towns or cities. After all, deep down inside, the two knew very well how insignificant they were. The only people who would respect them would be the ignorant and the powerless. Khunichi was also sometimes afraid that the only reason he managed to marry such a beautiful wife was because of his horn, and not himself.

The fact became even more evident when his wife's attitude became more and more unbearable with each passing day. Sure, the two had their fair share of fights in the past, but Khunichi could definitely notice how the frequency of their fights increasing drastically after that dreaded incident. Even today, with the way she ranted and raved for so long because he went drinking for a couple hours with Khama.

'Before, she'd give me passionate kiss, despite the alcohol seeping from my mouth, and we'd do it right by the entrance to our house. But now, all I get is a thorough scolding and a lonely night to go along with it…' Khunichi sighed, feeling regretful that he didn't drink more in the tavern, 'If only I had my horns on my head once more.'

As he was reminiscing about the long forgotten past, he noticed something white fluttering in the air in front of him. Confused, and a bit startled, he jumped back at the sudden sight, before staring at the object that appeared out of nowhere.

"Is that a piece of paper?" he murmured, as his brain finally identified the object he was looking at. There was something written on it as well, but Khunichi couldn't really make sense of it from this distance.

He looked around the room, unsure of what exactly he was searching for. But, finding nothing out of the ordinary, his gaze fell on the slip of paper once more. With some hesitation, he picked it up and read its contents.

[If you wish for a chance to retrieve your horn, gently clap your hands once. If you wish to have nothing to do with all this, clap twice. Don't panic. I don't like much noise. And do hurry. I don't like much waiting.]

Khunichi's eyes narrowed down to a dot, as he felt his slightly tipsy head clear up in a matter of seconds. Holding the paper, he looked around the room once again, though he was oddly afraid of looking towards the window. Nothing.

"Who are you? And what do you want from me?" he asked in a whisper, for some reason trying to hide everything from his wife. 

Khunichi didn't know what kind of answer he expected or why he asked such a useless question in the first place, but he patiently waited for an answer regardless. Though sadly for him, no answer came.

'What the hell is happening?' he thought, reading the message one more time. 

Khunichi thought he'd jump at any chance to regain his horns without hesitation, but here he was, confused and afraid. In his heart he hoped this was the mysterious ally he'd been expecting all this time, but a deeper part of him said that this was once of those monsters playing a game with him again.