Reincarnated Hero System

Chapter 1271: Blindness that Sees Everything

The Empress of the Elven Empire, Siora Lowe, was the daughter of Duke Zoana, who ruled over the Jine-Alora Province of the empire. This was why all of her children with Zaos had various private residences spread across the vast duchy.

The 17th Princess, Abigail, was no different in that regard, as she had many residences which she used for things like summer retreats, as well as to house her array of artifacts, her workshops, and laboratories that she had constructed for all the disciplines she had dabbled in over the years.

One of these residences didn’t just house her alchemy workshop, but also housed a friend of hers who found more comfort in the Elven Empire than in her home country.

Abigail’s best friend, Agnes.

A young woman born blind, but in return for her inability to see the physical, she gained the ability to see the spiritual.

Agnes possessed special eyes that allowed her to see souls. These eyes were the root of her immense soul manipulation abilities, which were undisputedly the current best on the planet.

Her ability to perceive souls went far beyond merely seeing their outline, as she could read the metadata of souls, which let her discern a person’s magical attributes, determine the number of skills they possessed by counting the skill runes on their soul, and even perceive skill activations before the existence released any hint of energy.

Reading the metadata of souls also allowed her to essentially appraise targets, and she could go even further by reading an individual’s surface emotions based on the light their souls emitted.

It went without saying that with such power, Agnes went through a rather harsh childhood, as there were those who sought to exploit her ability for themselves and others who feared that ability being used against them.

Because of this, despite having risen to the position of Priestess of the Lusos Tribe, the second most influential person in the tribe after its chief, Agnes spent most of her time outside her home country. And if she was ever seen there, then it was almost certainly not her real body, but a soul fragment of hers within a homunculus created by her best friend, Abigail.

Once again today, Agnes was in one of Abigail’s houses in Jine-Alora, seated in the middle of the back garden beneath a gazebo, her eyes closed and covered by a black blindfold with a single shining gem at its centre, a special blindfold etched with numerous magic runes that restricted her soul sight ability.

Her skin was so pale that one might think even a moment under the sun might harm her, and her hair, white as snow, was styled in a simple half ponytail, with a few strands falling across her face as she stirred the tea in her cup in a slow, repetitive motion while tapping the braille on the table again and again.

Agnes exhaled softly and raised her head, and when she did, she froze, her eyes behind the blindfold opening wide in shock.

Immediately after, she spoke, her words directed at the elven maids standing at the edges of the gazebo.

"Leave. Now."

"?" "Huh? Lady—"

"Don’t make me repeat myself."

The maid who had been about to protest fell silent, and the two quickly bowed their heads before rushing out as fast as they could, returning to the main building and leaving Agnes alone in the garden.

Just as they left, the space in front of her shimmered for a moment, and someone materialised out of thin air, gradually walking toward the gazebo as he spoke. "You know, even Transcendents can’t see through this skill of mine."

"Well, those Transcendents are incapable of seeing souls," Agnes replied, a small smile appearing on her face.

Everyone believed that when she wore her blindfold, she was unable to perceive souls, unaware that she had long since mastered her ability and could control the soul power flowing from her soul into her eyes, allowing her to perceive the spiritual even through the blindfold and even with her eyes closed.

This was how she had noticed someone standing before her, even though her presence detection skills and the conventional sight of others could not detect him.

"It’s been quite some time, Evan. Abby mentioned that you were in the empire yesterday, but she most certainly didn’t mention that you would be coming here."

"Of course she didn’t," Evan replied, casually walking into the gazebo and taking a seat across from Agnes before continuing, "She doesn’t know I’m here."

At that, Agnes reached into her hair and unhooked the buckle of her blindfold as she spoke. "So this is a secret visit? I suppose that checks out, considering how you arrived."

"I’ve seen a few Heroes, but certainly none who trespass into private property," she added, removing the blindfold and placing it on the table beside her.

Evan simply scoffed and replied, "Haven’t you heard? It’s all the rage these days."

Agnes chuckled lightly at his response, then opened her eyelids, revealing her grey, pupil-less eyes.

"So, to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?" she asked.

"We’ll get to that in a bit," Evan replied. "But first, would you mind telling the security to let my companions in? They’re in a carriage at the front gate."

Hearing him mention ’companions’, Agnes turned her gaze toward the mansion, her vision peering through the walls to the souls within, then extending further across the lawn and beyond the front gates, her eyes widening slightly at what she saw.

"Oh my, she wasn’t this strong the last time I saw her."

"A lot has happened since then," Evan replied.

Agnes exhaled softly, then shook her head at the difference in Eliza’s soul from the last time she had seen her in the GEE nearly two years ago and now. She raised her hand and picked up a bell on the table, ringing it twice before placing it back down.

Despite her action, no sound could be heard, as it was a magical bell that only the maids with its paired receivers could perceive.

A few moments later, one of the maids she had dismissed earlier rushed into the garden, her eyes widening in shock upon seeing Evan seated opposite Agnes.

Without turning to look at her, Agnes spoke.

"Have security let the carriage at the gates inside and bring the guests inside here. Prepare refreshments for them, and for him as well," she finished, gesturing toward Evan.

The maid quickly regained her composure, bowed, then turned and hurried back toward the mansion, glancing over her shoulder once more to confirm that the person she had just seen was indeed who she thought it was.

"You’ve become very popular these days, enough that your face can be recognised so easily," Agnes said, seemingly noticing this action.

Evan nodded silently at this statement, and she continued, "I thought you would conceal yourself again before the maid arrived. Wasn’t this meant to be a secret visit?"

At that, Evan shook his head and replied, "It’s pointless. They’re going to report to Abigail that Liz and Laurene were here. It doesn’t matter if the report doesn’t include me. She’d know they were here because of me anyway."

Evan spoke with a shrug, and Agnes, accepting that explanation, returned her attention to the braille in front of her.

’With the way she moves and interacts with her surroundings and responds to people, it’s very easy to forget that she’s conventionally blind,’ Evan thought to himself.

Agnes could tell there were people around her because she could see their souls. She could tell what those people looked like because she could read the metadata of their souls, and within that metadata was information about the appearance and characteristics of the physical body each soul inhabited.

Her ability to perceive emotional fluctuations also allowed her to understand what people were feeling, even that which they didn’t show on their faces.

With all of that combined, Agnes could put on shades and walk through the streets without a single person suspecting that she was blind.

And she did do that often.

Evan silently exchanged texts with Kayla on his phone, responding to all the pictures she was sending him from the Aelum Kingdom, where she was searching for someone for him, while Agnes continued reading her braille until the maids brought Eliza and Laurene into the garden along with trays carrying small cakes, tea, and juice.

After setting everything down, Agnes waved her hand to dismiss the maids, who hurried back to the mansion, most likely to report to Abigail that Evan, Eliza, and Laurene were present.

As for Laurene, the moment she saw Agnes, she paused and stared at her without speaking until the maids left.

Sensing the gaze on her, Agnes lifted her head from her braille and turned toward Laurene. Upon meeting her eyes, Laurene tilted her head slightly.

"You can’t see? No, wait. You can see."

Laurene blinked, and her Mystic Eyes of Truth activated, then she muttered, "Spiritual bodies? No, souls. You see souls."

"Oh my," Agnes said. "You’re the first person who’s able to identify my ability at first glance without using Appraisal. Is that the ability of your Mystic Eyes?"

Laurene narrowed her eyes slightly at the question, about to speak when Agnes continued, "Huh? You seem suspicious?

Ah, you’re probably wondering how I knew you used Mystic Eyes, right? And here I thought Evan would’ve told you a lot more about my ability."

She looked towards Evan, but he didn’t raise his gaze, only continuing to text Kayla in silence. Seeing his disinterest, Agnes turned back to Laurene and explained, "I see not just your soul, but also what’s contained within it.

In other words, the runes of the skills you possess. I can see those runes, and I can see when they glow with the infusion of magic power during activation.

The Mystic Eye rune on your soul glowed right before you identified my ability to see souls."

"And how do you know what the Mystic Eye rune looks like? I doubt your ability has convenient labels placed over each rune," Laurene asked.

Hearing her question, Agnes chuckled softly and shook her head. "Of course not, there are no convenient labels over skill runes. However, I’m friends with one of your fellow Heroes, and I’ve met others as well, so I’ve seen Mystic Eye runes before.

Even though each person’s rune differs slightly, the fundamentals are the same, so I can identify them."

"I see, so you can see that much detail," Laurene muttered.

The emphasis Laurene placed on the word ’can’ made Agnes blink, and then her eyes widened slightly as realisation dawned on her. "Did you really ask that just to get me to explain the mechanics of my skill myself?"

"Yes, I did," Laurene replied calmly as she took a seat to Evan’s left.