The Devil Of Probability-Chapter 59: Roro

The date is now November third, a day after Simon’s birthday. As mentioned before, it was now Silas’s birthday, but there were more important things at hand.

Simon, along with his teammates, had celebrated Silas’s birthday at Ezra’s house in the morning, giving them time in the afternoon to prepare. This preparation time was used to set up everything they would need for their Hollow World expedition.

Simon didn’t need much, but this was mostly thanks to Alina. The night before, she had given him many gifts, but they were all actually one. Each package was more delicate than the last, creating a midnight black raven.

There wasn’t anything unusual about it, aside from its iron-colored eyes. The beauty of it came from its storage unit. The raven, which was able to do anything that Simon would need to do if he were alone in the Hollow World.

This involved storage, scouting, attacking, and defense. Anything the raven swallowed could be stored, and it was connected to Simon’s brain, allowing him to scout the upcoming areas.

As for offense and defense, the birds’ claws were no sharper than Simon’s daggers, and shared the same defensive ritual Simon’s had on his gloves.

It was no wonder the project took $500K to build. In fact, this was rather impressive considering the quality. Nevertheless, Simon had tried to feel displeased by this gift, but how could he?

It was everything he could ever ask for in one package. The only thing that put him off center was a thought that plagued his mind.

(This would take more than a month to build, so how long has she been preparing this for me?)

He tried his best not to let this thought plague his mind, but that was a difficult task. Logically, it would take from the day he joined the bureau until now to build the raven.

However, this was Alina we were thinking about; she was more effective than others. In her case, it would take half the time, which was still quite a while.

Simon somehow managed to push these thoughts aside. At least, that is what he told himself. In truth, his thoughts were cut off by Evelyn. He was currently sitting next to her in the backseat of their squad car.

"Hey, Si. Have you decided on a name for the crow yet?"

"I haven’t given it much thought, so no."

Evelyn turned her head at his words before gently pressing a finger against the animal. Her index finger rubbed from the bottom of its beak to its stomach, and a bright smile lit her face.

"What about Roro?"

"Isn’t that a bit childish?"

"What? It’s cute!"

Simon paused. For some reason, it felt like an insult even though it clearly wasn’t.

"How?... What does Roro even mean?"

"Wrona, Roro. Same thing!"

"Huh?"

Simon copied Evelyn’s earlier gesture of turning her head, looking between her and the bird. He didn’t bother fighting back; he couldn’t be bothered to name it anyway.

Shaking his head, he said:

"Roro, it is then."

Simon looked at the car behind them, which was a large, white van. Although unsuspicious, it was the van that Alina and her team were in. This way, they would not have to leave the Hollow World to receive treatment.

It gave them more time to search for the Root of Beginnings, and Simon more time to search the depths of the Earth Scale Eel Cave.

In hindsight, this was the best choice for them. However, Simon was indifferent to it. This method made it harder to sneak away to search the Earth Scale Eel Cave, and he now had enemies closer to him.

Kiyoharu and Elliot were both threats, and as for Alina... she held a looming presence, but she was most likely an accomplice.

That aside, Simon already had a plan for the first day. Inside the Neil, an airplane was waiting for them. It would take a while to carry it in, as Ezra would have to disassemble it to get it inside.

Other than this, flight transportation would allow them to search at least three states in one day. This didn’t include the inside of buildings, nor caves. But it was the best chance they had at getting anything done effectively.

When they got into the replica world, the process was rather swift compared to what Simon expected. He didn’t focus on Ezra, who was currently building the plane again, and walked away from the group.

He had two plans for this crow device. The first was to search for a safe area they could turn into their base, and the second was to see if they could find anything on Project Icarus, or anything useful.

Alina noticed this and whispered to him:

"It cannot communicate verbally. Slightly mentally, if you increase your connection with it. I would suggest you give it a name."

"Evelyn already named it."

Alina seemed rather shocked at this answer, and something else Simon couldn’t describe. It seemed to be anger, maybe sadness, but it wasn’t quite it.

"What did she name it?"

"Roro."

"Ah. That is a cute name."

"...It’s childish."

Simon shook his head before sending the bird out. By this time, the airplane was ready for them to fly. It expanded out from a suitcase Ezra was carrying, its white outer lining making it seem more like a fighter jet.

Their first destination is Vermont.

(We would clear all of the states inside the northeast. This way, it’s easier to track which states we’ve already cleared.)

Simon got onto the airplane along with the rest of the group. He had nothing else to do on this flight other than to wait, so that’s what he did. He would occasionally look through the bird’s eyes, seeing if anything had changed in the world.

From where he stayed last, he noticed a few changes had occurred. The supermarket had been raided, rendering it vulnerable. Multiple Project Icarus markers had been set up, but most importantly — his message.

The first ever message he had left for the group was a simple "Hello." He noticed the message Saber had left behind and turned his head.

(Who could’ve possibly written that?)