Reincarnated Hero System

Ignorant of her friend's thoughts, Agnes turned her gaze towards the servants who were at a loss on whether or not to enter the room.

When her greyish-white eyes fell upon them, they all felt exposed, like Agnes was peering into everything about them and they could do nothing to block her gaze.

She ignored their reactions and pointed at her messy hair; with the servants immediately getting the hint and rushing into the room.

One brought a basin of water for her to wash her face, another brought a warm towel, while a third retrieved a brush from a drawer and quickly tidied up her hair.

When they were done, a fourth servant came in with a tray, but the content was a single glass of reddish-brown liquid that caused Agnes to frown as she sensed the familiar magic emanating from it.

"Can I skip this thing?"

"Apologies, but we were instructed to make sure you take it everyday."

Agnes sighed in defeat but just before she could grab the glass, Abigail picked it up and peered into it, bringing it to her nose afterwards to sniff it.

"Blood medicine?"

"Yes. I lost a lot of blood lately and the doctor has been forcing me to take this bullshit every day."

"Why was I not made aware of this?"

"Because I told them not to inform you."

Agnes replied matter-of-factly as she collected the glass from Abigail and downed the contents, before returning it to the servants and dismissing them.

She then offered a light greeting to Zestari, after which she returned her gaze to Abigail who was looking at her with a dark expression.

"I see you have questions."

"I do. You look wrecked. Just what the hell happ—the fuck?!"

Like Evan, Abigail also possessed the full appraisal skill and it only took one look at Agnes' status to notice her condition.

'Soul Damaged.'

"What did you do to get your soul damaged?!"

Abigail knew just how dangerous soul wounds were, and she believed that Agnes—someone whose entire skillset concerned Souls—would understand this even more and avoid having her soul damaged.

'But clearly, that is not the case!'

In response to Abigail's question, Agnes pursed her lips and looked away, but the teenage Elf was not going to give up on getting an answer out of her.

"Don't tell me you were experimenting with Soul Magic again?"

"I definitely did NOT do that."

"Then what?!"

When Abigail screamed out her question, the door to the room opened and a hooded figure walked in.

The eyes of the three females turned towards the door and the person removed their hood, revealing a familiar face.

It was a tall female elf with pale white skin, red hair and similarly coloured eyes. She held up a small black bag and passed it over to Abigail as she spoke.

"You left too quickly. Your mother said to give you this."

"Thanks, Alisa. I ha-!"

Abigail's words cut off midway as a realisation dawned on her. She then turned her purple eyes towards Agnes who gazed back at her with a confused expression.

Even though Agnes could not see her face, she could see Abigail's emotions and from her Soul's metadata, generate a mental image of how Abigail looked at the moment.

The Elven Princess silently put the bag into her inventory, before climbing up onto the bed where Agnes sat.

"Huh? Abby?"

Abigail didn't say a word until she backed Agnes to the head of the bed, putting both her hands on either side of the other girl, effectively trapping her in place. She then pressed her right knee down on Agnes' left leg to prevent her from moving it.

"Um…Abby? What is going on?"

Agnes was as confused as could be, but Zestari and the red-haired elf, Alisa, were not.

It had only taken Zestari a glance at the other elf, who in truth, was a homunculus, to understand what Abigail had realised.

The question that Abigail asked Agnes a moment later, confirmed her thoughts.

"I want you to answer me honestly, Agnes.

Where is the Homunculus I gave you?"

"…"

"Answer me."

Agnes could not think up a lie on the spot that would convince Abigail to back off. Even if she did, it'd be quickly outed that it was a lie and she'd be back to square one, so she heaved a defeated sigh and replied.

"…It got…burnt."

It took Abigail a moment to process the answer she received, and even so, she still asked for confirmation.

"Burnt?"

"…yes."

"You're telling me that a Homunculus made with materials harvested from Level 500 monsters and the power of World Laws…got 'burnt'?"

Agnes nodded in affirmation and Abigail took a deep breath to calm herself before asking another question.

"Let me get a few things straight. You said you wanted to use it to go the Alpha Continent to check something out, and given that you requested to stay in my house while you did so, I can assume you put a portion of your soul into the Homunculus, right?"

"Yes."

"You found what you were looking for, and-"

"Well, it was a 'who' and not a 'what'."

Agnes interjected and Abigail nodded in affirmation before continuing her words.

"You found that person and completed the discussion you wanted to have, right?"

"Correct."

"After this, you did not bring the Homunculus back and have kept it on the Alpha Continent for the past year, why?"

"Because I found someone with an interesting soul and I was watching them."

Abigal once again nodded in affirmation when she heard Agnes' reply, as everything up to this point was what she was already aware of.

"So, you found someone with an interesting soul and you were stalking them."

"I watching them."

"Stalking, watching…same thing."

"I beg to differ."

"They're the same if the person in question doesn't know."

"…"

Hit with such a point, Agnes had no words to refuse Abigail's claim of her being a stalker.

"You never told me who this person was anyway."

"…"

Agnes' brow twitched lightly and Abigail who was paying close attention to the girl's expressions didn't miss this reaction. Her eyes narrowed as she pressured Agnes for an answer.

"Who is it?"

"…Evan…"

"Evan? Evan who?"

"…Eris."

"Evan Eris…? Oh! The dragon killer guy!"

The light of recognition flashed in Abigail's eyes as she remembered the news she received about his exploits in May. She had been keeping tabs on any new headlines involving him ever since the Cheverton Duchy incident last year.

"Wait…you were stalking him for over a year. Damn, girl…you're persistent."

Abigail's expression then changed into one of disappointment as she recalled the fact that Evan did have a significant other in the form of Eliza.

"You stalked a guy with a girlfriend for over a year, I don't remember raising you to be like this."

"You didn't 'raise' me Abby, we're the same age."

"I'm older than you by a day."

"That doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. Also, can you get off me now? My leg hurts."

The girl half-pushed Abigail off her, before rubbing her sore legs with her hands. As for Abigail, she just sat back down casually and looked at Agnes before returning to the main subject matter.

"Back to the main topic; you were stalking this guy for a year."

"His Soul was Unique! I couldn't miss a chance to study it! You'd understand it if you could see it yourself, It's even more Unique than yours.

Heck, even your father's looks lacklustre when compared to his. Everything from the structure of his soul to his skill capacity is one of a kind!

It's simply 'DIVINE'.

I had always assumed his Soul Strength was going to be ridiculously high as well, but after feeling it first-hand, I realised I had underestimated him greatly. It was simply…"

Abigail was slightly surprised as she saw the 'shine' in Agnes' eyes when she spoke about Evan's soul. Her fervent gaze was like that of a fan girl gushing over her favourite idol.

It was then that a line Agnes spoke resounded in her head and her expression turned dark.

"Hold up! Did you just say you felt his soul strength first-hand? You gave up stalking him and finally talked to him?"

"Ah!"

Agnes snapped back to reality and leaned back on the headboard, pursing her lips as she replied.

"Well…I did walk up to him and talk to him."

Seeing the way Agnes avoided her gaze as she replied, Abigail instantly understood there was a lot her friend was not telling.

"What's the full story, Agnes?"

The reply to that question came not from Agnes, but from Zestari who had been silently analysing Agnes for the past few minutes.

"I think you should have figured out the full story, haven't you, Abby."

Abigail's lips twisted into a frown when she heard Zestari's words, but she did not refute them.

She was the 'First' of the Seven Heroes: the 'Hero of Destruction'.

If she could not sense the Destruction Essence still eating at Agnes' soul at such close proximity, then she would not be worthy of that title.

The time when she had closed Agnes in on the headboard, it wasn't just because she wanted to stop the other girl from escaping, but because she wanted to use her Mystic Eyes and analyse Agnes' soul.

Taking a deep breath, she called in a servant from outside the room and asked them a question.

"How long has she been like this?"