Shades of the New World

Chapter 141: Weird Evin

"Well, Bardom ran to me and said that you were going to kill a kid because of me. What was I supposed to do? And looking at the situation, I can say that you almost managed to accomplish it," Evin laughed and brought out some sort of potion from his storage ring.

"He should be fine after some rest, don't waste your potion," Koya said.

"Oh, no, I wanted to try its effects. Apparently, it's pretty effective at waking up someone who's unconscious. Don't mind me," Evin said and had Ellar drink the potion.

Arza could see the surrounding people and children assuming scorning expressions at the boy's remark, but the boy-in-question's mind did not seem to register these hostile glares. The potion took effect almost immediately, as Ellar's clouded eyes cleared up immediately and he began to cough and gag violently. 

"What did you feed me?" Ellar managed to utter and began vomitting the contents of the flask on the ground. Everyone took a step back from the nauseating scene, as a riling stench came from the liquid on the ground.

"Well, that's one way to wake someone up, though I'm not sure if I want to consume that by my own free will," Evin made a disgusted face and covered his nose with his sleeve and took on a slightly transparent hue and the smell disappeared immediately.

"Tsk, that damn old Cobfolk scammed me. If I wanted to clear my head like this, I would rather keep a Chameleon skin ready"

[What's his problem, today?] Karan said suddenly. 

Arza also felt like Evin was acting a bit differently than usual, but he couldn't quite tell why.

"So, what happened?" Evin asked Arza.

"He called you a murderer, and we got into a fight. I got a bit excited in the process and punched him a bit too hard," Arza explained, slightly guiltily.

"Well, you should know I don't want you to beat up someone over calling me a murderer. Especially since the boy's right," Evin shrugged.

"He also told me to cut off all relations with you and declare it to everyone I know as well"

"Just politely refuse"

"I did, but he took the task upon himself and made up some story in my name, so I had to beat him up," Arza shrugged. Evin laughed loudly at that and then commented.

"Well, at that point he was just begging to get beat. I suddenly don't feel so bad about giving him that potion"

The boy in question glared at Evin viciously and groaned out in a guttural voice:

"You goddamn murderer! Don't pretend like you can feel bad for others!" 

Arza looked at Evin to see how he reacted, but instead of looking like he was accused of being a murderer, Evin just looked like some said the weather was nice.

"That was a complete accident. I had just finished a life and death battle the previous day and might've expected too much from a kindergarten teacher. Though, if you were associated with him in some way or another, I do apologize," Evin answered. His apology in the end sounded sincere, but one couldn't help but distinguish the forced emotions that was added into the mix.

"If you want to say you're sorry, then at least pretend to be so!" 

Evin sighed lightly at these words.

"Although I do feel sorry, it doesn't mean that I should act like I truly care about the man every moment of the day. That's just insulting to instructor Zakhlo, since it wasn't like we knew each other that deeply, anyway. You can't expect me to care about a stranger as much as I would about my close ones. I understand that you want to see me get punished, but circumstances dictated that I was more important free, rather than locked up in some place where they keep child criminals? What kind of place would that be?" Evin muttered out the last part under his breath and his mind seemed to go off on a tangent.

Arza heard these words and was reminded of when Evin was talking to him about social justice. About how rich or influential people should be punished the same way as a normal person and that anyone exempt from it should just die. But thinking about the situation that unfolded, how Evin committed a crime and was left untouched because of his association with Kena, Arza couldn't help but think that Evin declared his own death sentence.

'But what happened really was an accident' Arza then thought confusedly. 

"Anyway, please don't slander my name," Evin concluded after thinking for some time.

'I thought you didn't mind getting called a murderer,' Arza pondered about how Evin came to a different decision so suddenly. Arza's mind raced and he unknowingly found himself in the World of Thoughts again.

'Always saying one thing and doing the other. Or saying something and then immediately going back on his words' Arza mumbled in his head.

'Why did I call him my hero? So embarrassing. What's his problem, anyway?'

After another session of pondering, Arza concluded that Evin simply didn't care about it at all. The words of others didn't sway his thoughts at all, especially the words of a group of children. They could call him any name they wanted to and it would just bounce off his skin like it was made of rubber.

Arza sighed and exited the World. Watching as the silhouettes becoming more featured and detailed, he subtly glanced at Evin. To his surprise, he found the boy staring right back at him.

"How much time do you spend inside the World in a day?" Evin asked.

"I don't know, maybe one or two hours?" Arza answered softly. 

"Is that so? Hmm. You're quite a terrible liar, you know that, right?" Evin said with a smirk.

"What are you talking about? I don't lie," Arza answered in a passive aggressive way. Arza felt that it was wrong for Evin to get involved into his matters. Especially since the latter usually advocated a non-inclusive approach to anything that concerned himself.

"Why are you getting so defensive? I'm just worried about you. One or two hours is fine, but more than that, you'll end up even more of an idiot in the main world. And weren't you always so proud about never lying, like three months ago? What made you change your mind so suddenly?" Evin snorted. Something about Evin's words riled Arza up greatly.

"What right do you have to say that?!" Arza snapped. He felt it was laughable that Evin even had the idea about lecturing him about lying.

"Heh, why do I need a right to say anything?" Evin replied shamelessly and shook his head.

Arza couldn't believe the other's gall and when he looked around at everyone, the rest seemed to agree as well. Now that he took a good look, literally everyone seemed at odds with the boy. Feeling confident, Arza declared:

"I want to spar with you"

Evin smirked evilly.

"Why bother? We both know you won't win"

"We haven't fought since we came here and I've become much stronger than before," Arza said, slightly smug.

Evin sighed in an exaggerated way, and shook his head, like he was thinking: 'What am I supposed to do with you?'

"Fine, we can go for a round or two. I just created a somewhat special spell anyway," Evin agreed. 

The crowd of children around Arza began to cheer for him, and encouraged him to beat up Evin black and blue. Only Koya, Rantza and Bardom had a worried expression. 

In a few minutes, the crowd cleared the ice riddled arena and it looked ready for use. The barrier that was almost smashed down by Arza also looked spotless and sturdy.

Evin stood on one side of the arena, dutifully warming his body up.