Chapter 258: Perfect ally

"What... What do you want with me?" Joshua stammered, looking at Eva, his cheeks blushing as he felt anxious for a lot of different reasons. He wasn’t expecting a girl like her to suddenly come talk to him.

"Actually, I wanted to ask for your help," the queen said with a cute smile that made it impossible for the man to say no. "But first, let’s go inside your house, where no one will see us," she commented, looking around.

"Okay..." Joshua stammered.

Of course, he found all of that suspicious, but what could that girl really want with him? There was nothing in his house to be stolen, and he didn’t have any money or valuables.

Following that logic, he took the risk of letting Eva into his house.

"I’m sorry for visiting you out of nowhere like that," Eva commented with a kind tone once she got in.

Her beautiful blue eyes quickly scanned the place. The apartment was small, and Joshua didn’t keep it particularly clean, but it was not that bad.

The fact that the place was almost empty probably helped keep it organized. Eva could see a door leading to his bedroom, while the small kitchen only had a single-burner stove and a few basic utensils.

The apartment was bland and almost completely devoid of personality.

The only real hint of Joshua’s interests was a framed display containing preserved insects, carefully arranged and exposed behind glass.

Eva approached it with curiosity. "Where did this come from?" she asked.

Joshua immediately became flustered.

"I-I collected them myself," he explained, suddenly much more talkative than before. "They’re insects from the eighth floor. Some of them are endemic species. You can’t find them anywhere else in the tower."

As he began explaining the differences between the species, his nervousness seemed to disappear little by little.

Eva listened with genuine interest, occasionally asking small questions. It was important to let Joshua feel comfortable, so she could really understand his personality.

"I see that you really like insects," she finally said.

"Y-yes," the man immediately looked down. "You must think I’m really weird..."

"Well, I do think you are quite irresponsible for taking an unknown person into your house," Eva smiled and stepped closer, close enough that Joshua could smell her.

From his reaction — or rather, from his lack of reaction — she could tell he had no combat instinct. According to the information she had obtained, Joshua had been in the tower for three years, but apparently, he had not really been involved in any fights during that period.

"I... well..." Joshua blushed, thinking about her scent and how close her face was. "What... what is it that you want?"

Eva took one small step back and looked at him.

"Well, I’m looking for an ally."

"An ally?" Joshua blinked in shock. He couldn’t imagine a single reason why someone would choose him as a companion to do anything. "And you want me for that?" He pointed to himself in complete disbelief.

"Yes, I believe you are the perfect candidate," Eva replied directly.

"Why?" Joshua asked, looking down. "I... I don’t really have any useful skills."

"I don’t believe your skills are useless. And try not to be so harsh with yourself," Eva said with a genuinely sympathetic smile. "But aren’t you going to ask what my intentions are first? Don’t you want to know what I need you for?"

Joshua gulped, realizing he hadn’t even thought about that. Maybe he was too nervous with such a beautiful girl in his apartment, but his mind was all over the place.

Still, after thinking about her words for no more than thirty seconds, he had his answer.

"Honestly, I have no future," he said.

Joshua tried to delude himself into believing that hard work would eventually allow him to have a good life, but it was obvious that this wouldn’t help. He had met many miners who had been working in that place for decades, some of whom had even died from exhaustion and old age.

To begin with, miners didn’t live much past their fifties.

"I don’t believe I have any useful skills... It’s not just my System that is bad... I’m... well, I’m useless. But if you really think I could be useful... I... I..."

Eva let out a sigh and reached for him, cupping his face and forcing the man to stare her in the eyes.

"Don’t try to act like you don’t care about your own life. And I don’t want to push you into making a decision you will regret later, so listen to me carefully, and then please decide if you want to help or not."

Joshua nodded, then he sat on his sofa, staying in silence for quite some time, while his cheeks darkened with embarrassment.

Then he listened as Eva briefly explained what she was planning to do. She didn’t go into details, because the queen didn’t even have a clear plan yet.

But anyway, her objectives were frightening, so obviously, if anything went wrong with her plan, Joshua would end up dead. Actually, even if the plan worked, there was a good chance he would die in the end.

Truth be told, Eva’s beauty really had too much of an effect on him. For someone who saw his own life as worthless, the chance to simply jump in and help a beautiful girl sounded really tempting, even if she would just use him or something.

Especially because she had come specifically looking for him.

Joshua couldn’t remember the last time someone had seen him as useful.

The only thing he had received since arriving at the tower were looks of disdain. He wasn’t particularly strong, smart, or gifted with any useful skills.

"Can you tell me one thing?" Joshua finally spoke. "Do you really think I’m the person you need? What even makes me useful?"

"First, you have no friends. You’re almost invisible," she said bluntly. "People don’t see you as a threat, so they wouldn’t suspect you."

Eva could lie and make Joshua venerate her. His mind was clearly weak, so it wouldn’t be difficult.

But she didn’t want to do that. If possible, she wanted to make the lives of everyone who genuinely chose to follow her better.

Of course, deaths would happen. It was inevitable. But she had no intention of simply using people as pawns.

"Besides, I think your System has potential."

"Do... do you really think I could be useful?" he asked once again.

"Yes. I believe you could even be remembered in history as one of the main contributors to the Matra clan’s downfall." Eva smiled. "Or maybe you’ll just die. We’ll be doing dangerous things, after all. But if you want to follow me, please look up and carry yourself with pride."

Joshua nodded, even if deep down he still had a hard time believing he could be worth anything.

Still, for someone who had believed in an illusion for so long, why not risk falling into a delusion that could actually change something?

"I’ll do my best!" he finally said.

"Very well," Eva replied with a smile.