08. Unexpected encounter (1)

Translated by: ???????

The day after coming up to the capital, Eve summoned Taylor to the mansion so she could take her measurements.

She then spent the day choosing designs and fabrics for the tailcoat with Alberic.

His face was deadly serious as he studied the bunch of fabrics Taylor had brought with her, he then gave her a grim look of disapproval everytime.

The figure of Alberic looked very lively, as he identified the fabric, color, and collar shapes of the shirt that suited her faster than Eve could.

He then instructed Taylor to do this and that.

‘Anyway, I really like to dress up, and decorate.’

For the first time that day, Eve realized that she actually looked better in a semi-open or classic collar than a fully-open one, and also, a curved collar seemed better suited for her than a regular straight one.

Not only that, but she also found out that she looked better in darker color tones than lighter ones.

With Alberic’s initiative, her suit quickly took shape and was included in Taylor’s design book.

She matched seven pantsuits in addition to a tailcoat.

It was almost like Alberic was the one shopping, not her.

After changing into the sample outfits and getting all dolled-up all day, Eve finally made it back to her room after Taylor had left.

She could hear Mary giggling beside her, commenting on how well a gentleman’s suit looked on her, but after a full day of tossing, Eve finally sprawled out on the bed, making the kind of gurgling sounds you hear in zombie movies, then at dusk, she barely managed to sit up.

“Anna, will you call a carriage over for me, I have some business in town and will be gone for a while.”

“Miss, Isn’t it a little late…?”

“It’s okay, I’m bringing a sword, so I’ll be fine.”

Anna, who was unfamiliar with Eve’s skills, showed signs of concern, but soon went downstairs to hail a carriage.

It was chilly after the sunset because it was still a long way before the day was warmed.

Eve opened her own closet and pulled out a well-worn navy blue jacket.

She slipped it on, and grabbed her scabbard and sword.

Eve, dressed in a thin shirt, cotton pants, and jacket, looked like a middle-class commoner.

She left a message for Alberic telling him that she would be out in the Central City for a while.

She then took the family carriage into the city, alighted on a busy street near the station, then wandered around to hail a small hackney carriage.

The coachman, who thought the person he had picked up was a man, heard Eve’s voice and looked puzzled for a moment, but when he saw the long sword on her waist, he didn’t say anything, and they soon headed for the workshop district east of the river.

After stepping off the driveway into the workshop district, Eve paid him money and set off at a brisk pace.

It was hard at first, but once she familiarized her way around, she didn’t get lost.

She rushed to Octavia’s dilapidated magic shop, then pushed open the door that threatened to fall off if she tried to force it open, and the familiar scent of the place finally assaulted her nostrils.

Eve closed the door behind her, looked around at the cluttered interior of the shop, which showed no signs of being in business.

“Octavia, I’m here!”

Eve called out loudly once, then waited at the counter for a moment.

There was a rumbling noise from the floor behind the counter, and soon the floor door burst open and Octavia burst out. She then called out in a happy tonr,

“Miss, what are you doing here?”

“I heard you were about to finish the Great Callisto Mana-Control Magic Tool?”

“Uh, yes, but… the capacity of the magic stones seemed a bit off, so I think I’ll have to test it a bit more. Instead, I’ve got ‘That‘… That’s in the final stages of completion right now… Would you like to take a look?”

Eve’s eyes sparkled at the word ‘That.’

Octavia’s adult toys were pretty good.

She could honestly say it was much better than those cheap Chinese ones.

At best, Eve had thought about a cheap way to attach the toy to her belt, but around this time last year, Octavia herself had suggested another idea.

‘What if we didn’t just attach it to your waist, but attached it directly to your skin and connected to your senses?’

‘That’s sick! Octavia, do you think that’s possible?’

‘It’s just a theory, but I think it could work…!’

‘If you succeed, you’ll get an incentive! Let’s go!’

Eve urged Octavia to finish ‘That‘ final product immediately by adding an ‘Incentive‘ Tag on it.

“Hurry, Hurry, Hurry!”

Her hot-tempered spirit made her anxious even more.

After hearing Eve’s incessant urging, Octavia finally went down to the basement and hurried back up.

She was holding a fleshy toy of majestic size and realistic shape in her hands.

“We can change its appearance once the structure is completed, but I made it this size for now.”

“This is… This is… Will definitely go all the way into your colon…?”

“What?”

“Mm-hmm, big… Oh It’s nothing, but have you experimented with this thing?”

“Well, I’ve connected it to my skin once, but since you’re the one who’s going to be using it, I need to fine-tune it specifically for your own use, so why don’t you try it on now and see how it fits?”

“Good! Totally good! Yes! Yes.”

Eve was so excited that she started unbuckling her pants.

Octavia handed the thing over to the eager Eve and explained,

“Just stick it where you want it to go, press it firmly against your skin, and then press the little switch that sticks out at the very tip of the root here, and it will connect your senses. If you want to release it, just press and hold the switch for at least three seconds while it’s attached.”

“Oh my god, oh my god. This works!”

“Ha… This is the work of my life. I’ve done so much cadaver dissection with this thing. I think I’ve seen enough male bodies to the point of making me sick of it.”

“What?”

“Uh, uh… No, nothing.”

Eve thought she heard something strange, but she was probably mistaken, and Octavia’s words fell on deaf ears, since she was still preoccupied with ‘That’ on her lower abdomen.

She pressed the button as instructed, and as the embedded magic stone began to activate, Eve could soon feel a tactile connection to the tool.

She had a strong feeling that if she commercialized this, she could definitely rake in a lot of magic money from perverts.

Eve then cautiously, and gently squeezed the toy in her hand and then released it.

Sure enough, a mild pressure traveled through the skin of her lower abdomen.

Octavia tinkered with the formula, adjusting the tool’s neural connections to Eve’s as she watched.

“Unfortunately, I haven’t connected it to your erogenous zones yet, but I can feel the temperature, pressure, and friction.”

“No, no, no. This feels like I got something that I shouldn’t have down there.”

“I’m still working on the circuitry for the final version, which will be completely lifelike. The erogenous zones are a bit tricky, but I’ve managed to connect the nerves, so it shouldn’t take too long.”

“This is crazy. Octavia, you’re a genius, I’ve never met anyone as smart as you, you’re the best…!”

“Hehehehe!”

“Hahahaha!”

Eve removed the toy and began to praise Octavia incessantly while she tidied up her clothes.

The two then spun around in circles, hand in hand, giggling with glee.

The development of ‘That’ was definitely a great success.

After a while, the excitement finally subsided, and the two women began exchanging large sums of money and talking about other topics.

She was curious about the progress of the magic tool development, but she still had another purpose for coming today.

“So, what’s going on in the neighborhood these days?”

“What? What do you mean?”

“Well, I heard that a maid who works at my mansion went missing after coming to the workshop district a while ago. I was wondering if you’d heard anything.”

“Hmm… That kind of thing happens a often… A maid working for a nobleman’s mansion, she must be healthy and not too bad looking, right?”

“That… Hmm, yes, I suppose she was.”

“Well, then it could be human trafficking. Gangs are running rampant these days. I heard there’s a new upstart one in town, but since they were new, I heard that a lot of turf battles had been issued due to the fact that they’ve been trying to gain territories that had already been claimed by others. If they’re going rake in money, then drugs, weapons, and women will be the main things they would buy and sell.”

“That’s true…. Um. You didn’t hear about any, uh, deaths in the neighborhood, did you?”

“Nope. I haven’t heard any rumors of bodies being found.”

“You’ve been interacting with the merchants around here, though, haven’t you?”

Octavia scratched the back of her head and smiled shyly at Eve’s question.

“No, that’s… I’m bugging everything around here for the shop’s security purposes.”

“What…?”

“Hehehe.”

“That… It’s not a crime. Right?”

“Of course! I’m not using it for anything bad.”

After giving Octavia a thorough warning, Eve tucked the well-wrapped ‘That’ into a subspace pouch, which was an internal extension pocket strapped around her waist, then stepped outside.

‘A gang huh…’

‘Come to think of it, one of the secondary male leads was the head of an underworld organization in the back alleys, what’s his name again… I can’t remember his full name, though, because he’s got such a shitty personality, I just call him Baregi¹Baregi: ??? meaning someone too much, excessive or extreme, in jeju language which. Closest word I got in English is the word Abnormal, or freak. It’s also a word play with that man’s other nickname. (Freak).’

His personality was so broken that he proudly took the top spot of the scum ranking in ?For Eve?.

His attitude towards Eve was just as problematic as his cruel and unruly personality.

If it falls into a bad ending, both of Eve’s limbs will be cut off and become his plaything for life, and even if she manages to win his love, she will still be forced to be addicted to drugs and become a wreck.

In terms of cruelty, he was even worse than that of the crown prince.

She might as well have him killed neatly.

Despite his handsome appearance, There’s a behind-the-scenes story that showed how the developers decided to remove him from the main cast at the last minute and switched with Callisto due to his abrasive personality.

Baregi, who had trust issues with women, was satisfied that he had Eve completely under his control, just because he had her addicted to drugs and reduced to a crippled state, and clinging to him for her medication.

Aside from the ending, his selfish and cruel temperament that flares up during the game almost made me throw the console away several times throughout the gameplay.

He had contributed a lot into turning this game into an absolute waste, with him being an absolute piece of shit, and character wrecker, in name and reality.

“Oh, what’s his name? Bar……. Bar……. Not Bari.. Ge…. No not that.”

Eve shifted her feet, while racking her brains to come up with a name.

There are many ways to get information from the back alleys, but one of the classic ones is to eavesdrop on the drunkards at the bars where people gather.

Eve wandered through the alleyways, imagining the bustling pubs and drunken men she’d seen in the media.

She eventually saw a street of smaller pubs, not far away.

The ones on the inside of the alleys, outside the boulevards, were mostly older establishments that catered to migrant workers and natives, where laborers would often stop for a drink after a hard day’s work.

Eve pulled on the taupe flat cap she’d packed earlier, grabbed the ends of her hair that fell below her shoulders, twisted it up into a bun, then finally tucking it tightly into the cap.

With her back and shoulders stretched and an old cap pressing down her head, Eve looked like a knight with a sword, and by no means a woman in her twenties.

Eve chose a crowded tavern and quietly pushed open the door and stepped inside.

With a door between them, the loud chatter from inside burst forth in an instant, gradually assaulting her ears.

Men dressed in shabby clothes were sitting together around a fire, while talking in loud voices.

The traditional accent unique only to the working class, and could only be heard on the eastern side of the river drifted in from all directions.

(T/N: Hello should we retain the name Baregi or use the word freak or abnormal as a nickname?)

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  Baregi: ??? meaning someone too much, excessive or extreme, in jeju language which. Closest word I got in English is the word Abnormal, or freak. It’s also a word play with that man’s other nickname.