The next day. Around 6.45 AM.
Green Household.
“Moooooooooom, Eren broke into official rank. Wooo!”
Reece shouted at the top of her voice while greeting Eren with a bear hug. He had just come home and was standing by the door when Reece hugged him. He smiled and patted her back while using his mana sense to scan the house.
His mana sense was immediately overwhelmed by a different mana sense that was more powerful than him and overwhelmed his sense.
“Hehe. Young man, congratulations. I’m glad that you finally became a ranker.”
Rumi said as she walked toward where Eren and Reece were with a smile on her face. She looked at him thoughtfully before adding further.
“Don’t misuse your mana sense, however. Especially when there are lady rankers in the vicinity. They won’t like your rude way of checking up on them.”
Rumi Green chuckled as she spoke after coming out of her room. It was her that had intercepted Eren’s mana sense.
Reece’s yell had surprised her. She was surprised further by the fact that Eren had broken into official rank. She had to come out and look at the young man herself.
Eren was in different clothes than before. It looked like he had already taken a shower somewhere. The white Tee and blue jeans must have been picked up from a cheap shop since they looked nothing special.
Yet, Eren looked in his element even with these simple clothes. At least he knew what to pick up at a thrift store that suited him.
“Thanks, Aunt Rumi, Reece.”
Eren said before admitting his mistake.
“Um…. Sorry about that, Aunt Rumi. I didn’t have mana sense, so I just used it without worrying about it. It won’t happen again.”
Eren said while smiling mirthlessly and scratching his eyebrows. Neither the blood from last night nor his killer vibes were visible on him. It was as if he had just taken a walk outside and came back after becoming a Rank 1 entity.
Yet he couldn’t completely hide his stirred mental state from a ranker like Rumi who had started to pay close attention to him and his fluctuating mana signature.
“Reece, you crazy girl, let him in first and close the door behind. Go fix us breakfast. I’ll talk with Eren.”
“Rumi said and pulled her daughter away from Eren’s frame like a koala embracing a tree trunk. She would have treated this as sibling energy. But she knew Reece’s feelings towards Eren and couldn’t help having stress lines on her forehead because of her.
“Oh… um. Sure. We need to celebrate your breakthrough, Eren. Maybe we can order something. What would you like to have?”
Reece said after she was forced to break her hug.
Rumi’s stress increased when Reece opted to order something instead of cooking it herself. But she let the matter drop when she saw Eren’s smiling face that was hiding something deep.
Eren didn’t feel like eating after he had killed three people and seen blood and gore. He still had the jitters from last night.
It wasn’t that he was upset or anything. But seeing the blood and organs spilled had pretty much killed his appetite and shaken his mindset.
Only now did he understand what the creator of the Easter eggs had meant when he had said those things to him.
‘Walk the rankers’ path with unwavering grit. Be willing to shed blood, whether it’s yours or your enemies.’
Eren remembered the creator’s message and decided to follow up on it. He took a long breath before answering.
“A pizza of your choice will do, Reece. I’d also like it if there was a mana-infused drink to pair with it.”
Eren said casually. Reece replied immediately and rushed inside the house to place an order.
Rumi gestured to Eren to follow her to the backyard. There was an open dining table and chairs. She sat on one side and waited for Eren to sit on the other.
“What happened?”
Rumi asked seriously. Eren smiled when he heard Rumi’s question. He couldn’t hide anything from the senses of an Awakened ranker like her.
If he couldn’t hide things completely, he just needed to reveal enough and take Rumi onboard. He knew he couldn’t do everything alone. Especially with his caliber. So he decided to trust Aunt Rumi who had taken care of him all these years.
“I killed three people.”
Eren said with stoic expressions. He had decided to come clean about some stuff. That way, Aunt Rumi could guide him in the right direction while his core secrets stayed with him.
The guy was surprised that Aunt Rumi didn’t look that surprised.
“Your breakthrough is related to those killings?”
Rumi asked while placing her chin on a cradle made of her palms with her folded arms. Eren raised his eyebrows and replied to her question with a question of his own.
“You don’t find it odd that I killed three people last night?”
Rumi chuckled before answering.
“I don’t see you committing something like that without a valid reason. I have seen you grow, Eren. I trust you. Why would I let a maniac live under my roof with my daughter otherwise?”
Rumi smiled before taking Eren’s hands in his and pressing them firmly. She looked him in the eyes and continued.
“And it seems like you trust me enough to confide your life-changing event in me. I’ll do my best to keep you safe.
Tell me what happened. Every detail. I’ll handle things from my end after that.”
Rumi’s caring gesture assured Eren. He kept the things about his infinite mana core and his digested memories out. And told her the rest. He had lowered Stan and the rest’s battle potential compared to what they had displayed, making them seem like country clowns.
Yet, he couldn’t prevent Rumi from being surprised by his feat.
“I… I thought you killed mortals or non-rankers.”
Rumi said in a low voice before looking at Eren with a newfound surprise.
“You mean to say you took care of three official rankers after you just broke through?”
Rumi didn’t ask the third question. Her baffled face cried out anyway- How?
Eren smiled mirthlessly but didn’t say anything. All rankers had secrets to keep. And Rumi understood that Eren was no exception to that rule either.
“What did you do with the bodies?”
“Buried,” Eren replied quickly.
“Not enough,” Rumi said and sighed. She pondered a bit before speaking up.
“Don’t worry. Leave it to me. Just tell me the place where it all happened and I’ll manage things from there.”
Rumi said with a serious expression. In the next moment, her expression changed into a motherly frown as she saw her daughter coming towards where they were.
“Reece, I hope you didn’t order shrimp pizza for us. I’ll smack your bums if you do that again.”
Reece froze in her tracks when she heard Rumi’s warnings. She smiled awkwardly before retracing the steps she had come from.
“Umm… I’ll… I’ll just make a quick holo-call,” she said before disappearing from the spot using her movement spell.
Rumi smiled before looking at Vik. She knew what he was thinking and asking with that curious gaze of his. Therefore, she shook her head in denial before commenting.
“No. Don’t tell her. Reece is way too naive to understand this.” She looked in the direction her daughter had taken while saying further.
“Let her maintain her innocence for as long as she can.”
Eren respected Rumi’s way to handle her daughter’s life and nodded. Next, the trio had a simple celebration to commemorate Eren’s breakthrough into official rank.
Things were only going to get more interesting for Eren Elijah Idril.
