The Coconut Sands
Sushye Coastal City
Alpha Continental Nation of Wechil
Prime World Aidos
November 3rd
Year 1054
"It's finally here, isn't it?"
Such were the words that escaped the lips of a young girl with long chestnut-coloured hair tied up in a messy ponytail around the base of her neck.
She had an angular face with a pair of blue eyes that mirrored the ocean she gazed at.
Appearance-wise, she dressed perfectly suited for her location—a beach. Clad in a bikini top adorned with black floral patterns, snugly accentuating her figure, and paired with shorts, she completed the ensemble with a half-transparent black pareo cinched around her waist.
She wasn't the only pretty girl around, but she sure caught the attention of almost everyone who glanced in her general direction; on purpose or by accident.
A great many teenagers on the beach desired to speak with her, mostly the guys who wanted to talk with such a beautiful girl.
However, none of them dared to come up to her for two reasons.
The first was the fact that they recognized this girl to be someone of high status whom they couldn't just talk to as they pleased.
The second was the cold gazes any guy who got within a certain range of her got from the two boys seated on both her sides.
To her left sat a handsome teenager, his black hair streaked with a few white highlights, and his striking grey eyes reflecting the serene beauty of the beach. Embracing the beach vibe, he wore black trunks and casually draped a grey button-up rash guard over his shoulders.
Her right side had a young adult still in his late teens, with red-brown eyes. He too had on a swimming trunk, with his toned body on full display.
A straw hat adorned his head, concealing a pair of animal ears nestled within his red-brown hair. From his lower back, a tail of the same hue emerged, its tip adorned with a bushy tuft.
Together, the three of them sat on a trio of hanging rope chairs placed side by side, under the nice shade of the trees behind them.
Anyone who had seen a television at least once within the past year would be able to tell at least one, if not all of their identities.
From Left to Right, they were Evan Eris, Laurene Hayes and David Thancreed.
The Second, Fourth and Fifth of the Seven Heroes respectively.
They were also High Nobility/Royalty in their respective countries of origin, both of which were Major World Powers on Planet Aidos.
And today, they all appeared to have gone on a relaxing beach trip together.
"Why are you wearing that rash guard anyway, Evan? The Sun's got nothing on you."
"Well, Liz and I went to the beach during summer and midway she bought it and told me to always put it on at a beach.
Personally, I could do without it."
'Not with that six-pack you should!'
Such a retort crossed Laurene's mind and she barely held herself back from voicing it out as she glanced around and saw the gazes some of the other female beachgoers nearby were giving Evan.
When she looked back at the boy, however, she saw he was looking at the clouds and busy trying to figure out what they were shaped like.
'Their looks are going over his head!'
Laurene knew that it wasn't because Evan did not notice them, but the part of his brain that computed 'love, romance and other related subjects' was filled with a certain blonde so there wasn't any space left for any other girls.
As such, his default setting was to ignore such looks even if he received them.'It's not like I'm any different though…'
That thought crossed her mind as she recalled that quite a few people had come to talk to her when she was alone earlier, and some more probably intended to.
lightsnοvεl However, she did not have the mental space to think about other guys, and then Evan and David who were acting like overprotective older brothers didn't even let any guy get close to her.
'They're even worse than my actual brother.'
She chuckled lightly when she remembered the expression on her poor Richard's face when he saw Evan and David excelling more at the older brother role than he did
Evan never had a younger sibling while David was the last born who was doted on by his elder sisters and always desired a younger one to dote on as well.
Laurene, being the youngest of the trio (not by much) just so happened to fit the bill perfectly for both of them.
This also showed just how much closer the three of them had grown over the past year.
'Well, I can't say I don't like this…'
Laurene was never going to let the both of them know that though. Evan was going to tease her from now till infinity if he ever found out.
'Seriously, Evan's such a piece of work.'
A light chuckle escaped her lips as she remembered a scene from some months ago when Evan dropped in on one of her little tea times with Arnold.
She wasn't exactly hiding how she felt about Evan's brother, and in situations like this, it was usually the younger brother who was supposed to be at odds with the girl and questioning if she was good enough for his elder brother.
But with Evan, it was the exact opposite. Evan was the one questioning if Arnold was good enough for her and the older Eris sibling was at a loss for words at this.lightsnovel
It was funny because Evan was only around 5 weeks older than she was, and yet he treated her like she was five years younger.
If only she knew she was really five years younger than he was.
Technically, Evan was the oldest of the three if one added the time he had lived on Earth V.
Of course, he didn't act like it.
As they sat on the hanging chairs chatting, the topic of conversation shifted to one of their numerous trips to the Regal Void Expanse and the time Laurene finally lost it and jumped Evan after he led them into another Sovereign Monster Nest while shouting it was for a 'Side Quest'.
Unfortunately, Laurene was Level 450 at the time and Evan was Level 520. It went without saying that Evan easily escaped her clutches.
As it stood now, a year after the events of the Cavern of Trials where Evan became an Epic Level Existence, he was currently relaxing at Level 564.
He was still an Inferior Stage Epic even though a year had gone by and showed just how much harder it was to level up after Level 500.
The difference in power between Existence Level Stages within the Epic Level was even wider than the difference in power gap between a Grandmaster and an Epic, so it was much harder to get stronger than before.
And this was with him levelling up 4 times faster than average. He did need more EXP than normal since his power capacity per level was higher than most people.
As for David, the boy was an Inferior Epic at Level 526. He was strong for his level, capable of dealing with people even 30 levels higher than he was.
Besides Evan though.
Lastly, Laurene was Level 490.The girl was baffled—scared even, at the fact that Evan had done well on his promise and made her go from Level 300 to 490 in a year!
He had said he was going to make her an Epic before Year 1055, and that was only two months away now.
With the Upcoming Sim Attack they had planned, she'd get those 10 levels in no time.
This meant Evan would also win the bet with her father who vehemently denied Evan being able to achieve this.
Like with Kolvar, his reward was a blank cheque with the GWE Emperor's name signed on it.
'Completely dad's fault. He should have known how much of an anomaly Evan is.'
Laurene sighed and shook her head, wishing her father the best before she redirected her focus to David who had half covered his face with his hat as she asked.
"Hey, Dave.
I've been meaning to ask this, but…do you have anyone in mind?"
"Anyone in mind for?"
David had question marks hovering over his head when she asked this and Laurene sighed once more as she explained.
"Partner, lover, crush…"
"Oh, that!"
Realisation flashed through David's eyes, after which he shook his head and responded.
"Nope. Given my position, that's not something I can take lightly."
As a Prince of THE Beast Kingdom, any girl David fancied was going to deal with a LOT of pressure, both socially and politically.
He felt averse to putting someone's daughter under all of that stress without thinking it through.
Upon hearing his response, Evan let out a surprised voice and raised a brow in question.
"I could have sworn I saw you on a date with Selah's daughter."
"Margravine Herrera's daughter? Lady Aiko and I are not like that. About that incident, she needed something, I encountered her on the way and since we happened to have the same destination, we headed there together.
We're quite amicable and her mother is my elder sister's guard, so we're fairly close. Somehow, the tale got spun around into us being on a date.
Clearing up the aftermath was so annoying."
David's brows furrowed at the last part of his statement, and Laurene used her fingers to smooth his frown as she advised.
"Take your time with this. If you hastily get into a relationship and it doesn't work well, it'd be bad for both you and the girl."
"It'd be worse for her.
She'd now have the stigma of the 'Girl the Beast Prince dumped'. With David's public image as the 'Saviour Prince', people would be averse to speaking with anyone even he couldn't handle."
Evan chipped in while shaking his head and Laurene rolled her eyes and responded.
"I know right, so very annoying. Stupid nobles be spreading silly rumours and talking bullshit everywhere."
Hearing Laurene's grumbling, David and Evan shared a glance before looking at her and asking.
"Why do I feel like…"
"…you're speaking from Experience?"
"Because I am, duh?"
The girl did not hesitate to affirm their conjecture.