Elliot forced down the thoughts surging through his mind and turned his gaze back to Evan, who stood quietly nearby.
"Thank you for your hard work, Evan."
He nodded, maintaining just the right degree of distance and indifference in his tone.
At the Old Butler's signal, Evan withdrew silently. His loose robe covered those intricate mechanical structures once more, turning him back into that taciturn technician.
Seeing that Elliot showed no obvious resistance or impatience, Conrad relaxed a little. "Young master, next I will briefly outline the situation in the Imperial Capital for you-"
Listening to the Old Butler's explanation, Elliot sighed inwardly.
Replacing flesh and blood with machinery to deal with aging was indeed a solution.
But it could not be used on Vanessa.
He could hardly bring her straight here and have Evan modify her body, could he?
It seemed Vanessa's situation would require more long-term planning.
But speaking of which, which branch of the Difference Engine's tree diagram corresponded to these Machine Priests' powers?
He had never seen any icons of gears or the like. Could the only similar one be-the pistol icon?
It seemed he would need to study this in depth sometime.
As for now-
He cast an unobtrusive glance at Holly at the other end of the passenger cabin.
The female knight still sat as straight as a javelin, looking neither left nor right, as though she did not know what fatigue was.
"What would the Third Prince want with me?" he asked quietly.
The Old Butler looked over with a complicated expression. "The Third Prince is too close to Parliament, and his behavior is eccentric. He is always making unrealistic remarks-most of the Seven Holy Bloodlines keep him at arm's length. He is probably in desperate need of allies."
"And in his eyes,