On the morning of the 3rd of April, Evan sat comfortably in his assigned room, one of Arthur's portable consoles cradled in his hands.
The screen flickered with the dusty, sepia-toned world of a game and his fingers deftly manoeuvred the character through a rugged landscape, galloping across the open plains on horseback.
Evan's focus sharpened as he entered a small, desolate town, and immediately, a bunch of outlaws burst out and ambushed him.
He reacted instantly, drawing his revolver and in a flash, three gunmen were down before they even had a chance to aim. Quickly switching to his rifle, he used the cover of a nearby wagon to steady his aim.
With precision, he picked off the remaining enemies one by one, each shot landing with deadly accuracy. After he ended the last outlaw, he holstered his weapon and guided his character to loot the bodies, collecting supplies with the same efficient skill he had shown in the firefight.
It had been a long time since Evan had played any games, so seeing that Arthur had a bunch of portable consoles in his subspace, Evan did not hesitate to borrow a few.
Just as he finished looting, his door burst open and Arthur barged in with a mischievous grin plastered across his face.
"Wake the fuck up, Evan! Today, we're gonna be detectives!"
"…what?"
Evan turned his gaze towards Arthur with question marks floating all over his head, and Arthur's reply to his confusion left him even more confused.
"I'd be Sherlock Homes and you'd be Watson. Today, we'd investigate a Serial Killer who's been on the loose for over four months! They've been killing Demons across the Southern Part of the continent and they've struck again today."
Despite discussing a recent murder, Arthur's tone sounded oddly 'excited'. Evan couldn't help but appraise him once more, wondering if Arthur possessed any titles associated with being a 'Crazy Detective'.
Yesterday, when he was talking with Arthur after Sigesi's little lesson, the boy had mentioned something about a Serial Killer.
However, he had not been expecting Arthur to want him to tag along in dealing with it though.
"I wanted to complete that game, you know?"
"Oh, Dead Red, huh? I get your feeling. That game's pretty nice, I used to play it a lot."
Arthur replied, stowing the console in his subspace and leaving Evan no choice but to follow him out, a touch of nostalgia in his eyes as he muttered under his breath.
"I did have something similar in my home world."
Arthur, noticing the hint of nostalgia, raised a curious eyebrow.
"You're getting me a lot more curious about your home world."
The Rogue Hero chuckled lightly before quickening his pace to catch up with Arthur, posing a question.
"Hey, Arthur. Don't you think we're a bit similar?"
"Are you just now realising this?"
Arthur reminded Evan that he mentioned this two days ago, having since noticed the fact that they had similarities.
"Well, I noticed it earlier. Got this strange feeling that was a bit similar to Series Skill Resonance.
But what was resonating wasn't a Series Skill but our 'Irregular' Titles…
A bit weird considering Alvey also had the same title but there was no resonance."
Evan still had no way to explain this 'Resonance' he got around Arthur except by saying they were 'similar'. He was sure it wasn't because they were 'Irregulars', and neither did they have any Unique Skills of the same Series.
But besides those two, he had no logical explanation for this.
Arthur raised a brow, clearly unfamiliar with 'Series Skill Resonance', but he grasped the gist of what Evan was trying to say.
Deciding not to bother too much with it, Evan shrugged nonchalantly and then spoke.
"I doubt there'd be too many problems if I said this. Ever heard of Planet Earth?"
A moment after he asked that, he remembered that Arthur had come from a different Universe.
"That's right, you probably wouldn't know it since you're not from here..."
To his surprise, Arthur didn't dismiss the question. Instead, he asked something unexpected.
"Earth? Does your planet's name happen to have a Romersk Numeral tacked on to it?"
"I don't know about 'Romersk', but we do have a 'Roman' numeral…"
"Ah, Romersk, Roman…it's just the same thing but in different languages."
Arthur clarified, waving at a pair of passing female demons who squealed with delight before turning back to Evan and awaiting his answer.
'Someone's popular…'
Evan had that thought while watching Arthur's interaction before responding to the original question.
"My home world does have a Numeral in its name; 'V'."
"So, Earth V, huh? Guess it was too much to expect it to be the original."
The word 'Original' caught Evan's attention, and he leaned forward, curiosity piqued.
"Original? What does that mean?
Come to think of it, I spoke with someone a while ago and they called Earth V a 'Replica'. Do you know why?"
Evan could not forget the words that 'Aidos' had used when he first spoke with 'her'. Quoting 'her' exactly:
[Oh please, I've grown far more advanced than the Replica you come from, I know a lot more about games than you ever would.]
Now, Arthur's words implied that there was an 'Original' Planet Earth out there so Evan bombarded him with questions regarding it.
Arthur gently pushed Evan back a bit before answering.
"Because that's what Earth V is—a Replica.
Planet Earth is one of the most powerful Apex Worlds in all of Existence. It's also the smallest one of them, but its size is not the issue here."
The levels of Worlds in order of ascendance were Low>Mid>High>Prime>Apex. Apex worlds, also called Ancient Worlds, were literally the 'Apex Point' that any Planet could ever reach. Their ambient energy concentration, gravity and average power level would put even some Prime Worlds to shame.
Arthur continued his words, retrieving the portable console Evan had been playing earlier from his subspace.
"These things were originally invented by the humans of the Planet Earth."
He gestured towards some electronic boards displaying information around them and repeated his previous statement.
"They were able to achieve interstellar travel and reach different parts of the Cosmos and ZERO magic.
To them, magic, aura, the 'Supernatural'—it was all nothing more than fiction.
Just as we consider magic to be 'common,' that's how they consider technology. They had tech so advanced it looked like magic, but it wasn't.
It was pure science."
Arthur went on to explain how Earth's humans exchanged their high-tech inventions for magic from other parts of the cosmos, integrating it into their technology and advancing by leaps and bounds.
"It would NOT be an exaggeration to say the most magi-technologically advanced place in the Cosmos, is the Planet Earth
But here's the thing, no one knows where Planet Earth is."
Evan blinked, surprised by the last statement. He was sure his home world's location was known, so this 'Earth' Arthur spoke of had to be different.
"The Planet's location is a secret to everyone but those from the planet itself. But such people are scarce.
Wars have been fought over information about the planet's location and humans from that planet—even if the information was false in the end.
Sensing this, the people of the 'Original Earth', did something to throw people off their trails.
They found Planets of similar sizes to theirs in other Universes and terraformed these planets, turning them into 'Replica' Earths.
They manipulated these planets behind the scenes for centuries, shaping their histories similarly, before leaving them to develop on their own.
It took a while before people realised this trick of theirs, but by then, they had completely covered their tracks.
To prevent everyone from searching the same place again, whenever an 'Earth' is found and confirmed to be a 'Replica', it is then assigned a number.
Most use Romersk Numerals, or 'Roman', as you call it. It's basically a warning to everyone saying; 'Don't Touch This Planet'."
As Arthur concluded his explanation, Evan thought about the numeral attached to his home world's name.
"So 'Earth V'…"
"It's the Fifth Replica Earth in this Universe."
Evan was stunned, completely floored by the revelation. He never imagined there was such lore behind the numeral in his home world's name.
"If I knew where the location was, then I'd like to go there."
Arthur admitted, handing Evan the console as they walked through the 'Waypoint Hall', where they'd be teleported to the city where the crime site was reported.
"People believe the Progenitor Human may know where the Planet is, but there's a higher chance for the sun in the sky to go supernova this instant than for you to even find where the man is.
You also have to consider IF he'd even answer you if you eventually find him…"
"The Progenitor Human? How old would such a person be? Is he even still alive?"
Evan was intrigued about the Progenitor of the most populous race in existence and Arthur's reply was a tad surprising.
"He is. If a Progenitor dies, no new member of their race can be born again, even if a man and a woman do it a billion times."
Evan resisted the urge to laugh at Arthur's analogy at the end, instead pondering the implications of the first part of his statement.
Humans were born every day on countless worlds—enough proof that the Progenitor Human was still alive and kicking.
'By that logic, if Arthur dies then there'd be no more godslayers. Damn, a whole race's survival hinges on one person's vital status.'
"In that case," Evan continued aloud, "all you—the Progenitor godslayer—have to do is kill the Progenitor god, and you'd have fulfilled the very purpose your slayer race was created for."
Hearing Evan's words, Arthur halted mid-step, turning to Evan with wide eyes.
"It's hilarious how you came up with something that gods, with all their supposed infinite wisdom and hundreds of thousands of years of existence, couldn't figure out."
Arthur's tone dripped with sarcasm as he said 'infinite wisdom' making it clear he wasn't impressed by the divine intellect that had supposedly failed to see what was, to him, an obvious solution.
"Lemme guess, gods tried to kill you because you're a slayer?"
"Yeah, they do. My uncles and cousins want me dead, too."
"Tough life."
Because of the manner in which Arthur replied, Evan thought that the Uncles and Cousins Arthur was talking about were from a separate race—despite this not being the case.
The two boys walked into the 'Waypoint Hall', and Arthur spoke with the individuals in charge, informing them of his purpose.
Within a minute, a waypoint was prepared and the two boys were sent through space to another city within South-Eastern Gledea.
Upon arrival, they exited the Waypoint Hall, where military police officers were already waiting for Arthur and led the way.
Despite Arthur looking significantly younger than 80% of the soldiers they encountered, they all stopped to either salute him or bow wherever he went. Evan needed only a glance at the two stars on Arthur's clothes to understand why.
'I think that was Major General…'
Evan remembered Beatrix's words to him the previous night, that Arthur's rank was granted to him by the Demon Kings directly.
This was why he had such a rank, despite it being something Level 850s and above should have.
Initially, Arthur and Evan were meant to be led to the office of the Military Police Chief Inspector of the City they'd just warped into for a briefing on the case (Which Evan really needed).
However, Arthur decided to change the plan and suggested heading straight to the crime scene. When they got there some minutes later, they found that the Chief Inspector was already present.
"General Vaughn."
"Just go with Arthur."
Arthur replied casually as he moved past the yellow tape and stepped into the perimeter, and this exchange drew the attention of all nearby demons who turned towards him and saluted.
Evan glanced at the Chief Inspector, and since the man wasn't hiding his energy, Evan quickly gauged him to be a Transcendent without needing to appraise him.
Just then, the Chief Inspector turned towards him, a brow raised as he asked.
"Who's this Dragonkin?"