“You’d be surprised after hearing this Sienna. Ken’s luck is too awesome, to say the least. My man now has a beautiful elf fiance. Hehe!”
Said Eren and planted a punch at Ken’s stomach lightly. Then he saw Sienna’s reaction with the corner of his eyes. And he wasn’t disappointed with what he saw.
The rosy tint on Sienna’s face was replaced with pale countenance before the redness came back again. But this new shade of red wasn’t an indication of her charm. But rather than of the anger that was bubbling inside her.
“Ken, what does this guy mean?”
Sienna asked Ken loudly. Ken made a weird face at her reaction but then he shrugged it off and told her everything. Of course, Eren spiced things up than what was necessary and thoroughly enjoyed another pay-per-view he was craving to see.
Sienna left abruptly. Ken wanted to follow her but Eren held him back, saying they had border patrol to finish. The guy couldn’t help leaving Sienna to her devices on the advice of someone who was the mastermind behind his misfortune turned into a fortune.
Eren wanted to burn the bitch up on a stake for what she did to him in the previous timeline. But he knew now was not the time. And death would be an easy release. He wanted her to keep on living in anger, agony and everything in between, the same way he had lived in his past life.
But his plans on the bitch had to be put on a halt. He had too many things to do in his hands these days.
The duo soon completed their task and was back at the check post in the early evening. They were only required to patrol a limited area after all. Someone was waiting on Eren and Ken when they were about to part ways.
“Good job, boys. Open up your ID stone interfaces. I’ll update your daily routine on Adept Marla’s behalf.”
Eren and Ken looked at each other weirdly but they followed Almera’s orders. But not without Eren asking the latter about the D-Ranker’s whereabouts.
“*Sigh. She OD’d on the Froastfoam and now shivering inside her room. That’s why I had to take special privileges from her to update your routine.”
Eren had beads of sweat after looking at the updated daily routine. He was just beginning to get comfortable with his current schedule. But this progressive overload of exercise along with newly added stance practices made things difficult for him again.
Ken wasn’t in better condition either. But Eren knew the white knight’s chiselled body was capable of handling any exercise Marla could throw his way.
“That is enough for the day. You can leave it there’s nothing else. And don’t slack off. We might need to go on a few missions sooner than you think.”
Ken nodded at Almera, patted Eren back and left on his own. But the butcher stayed behind. He wanted to try his luck and request something from Almera.
“What is it, Eren?”
“Oh, it’s nothing Ace Almera. I was just wondering if you can teach the in and outs or ranger to one of my friends.”
Eren was talking about Renita Diabreo of course. The girl needed serious training in her class that wasn’t limited to combat abilities. He wanted her to be proficient in the non-combat expertise of a ranger and there was only one way to do it.
Make her learn from a good ranger. A ranger like Almera. Eren had seen her ranger capabilities when they were on their first mission together. He was very satisfied with the way the ranger performed.
Renita used mana guns while Almera used crossbows. So there wasn’t much the former could pick up from the latter. But Eren felt that his ranger’s battle capabilities were up to par for her as of now and they didn’t need much refining.
But Renita could use some help from someone like Almera when it comes to non-combat skills.
“Hm? Do you want me to teach one of your party members about the path of a ranger? But Eren…”
Almera tried to get out of the additional responsibility heading her way. But Eren used his glib tongue again and influenced her to take Renita as her unofficial apprentice.
This was not without a cost. Almera asked Eren for a hefty amount of Merps as a one-time payment. Which the latter did begrudgingly from the outside. But he was laughing on the inside from experiencing how cheap it was.
Of course, Eren wasn’t doing this to help his teammate but himself. He knew the importance of having a good ranger in the team. So he was investing in his future so he doesn’t end up with the same fate Isaac’s party had to face.
The second reason Eren did that was to get Renita off his back. The girl had lowered her persistence to learn from him. But she would follow and keep track of his movements nonetheless whenever he was around. That bothered Eren a bit.
Almera told Eren that he should ask Renita to meet her. They’ll decide on their schedule separately. And since it wasn’t approved by LA, they’ll have to use their personal time to do so without benefits from the academy supporting them.
********************************
“So you’ll have to meet up with Ace Almera and she’ll help you polish your ranger skills.”
Eren held a meeting of his team the next day. The inter-year battle was soon going to be upon them. They needed thorough preparations just to not lose pathetically. At least almost all the first-year students were seeing it this way.
Eren’s party members were no different. They were also tense about the upcoming event. Because the second-year students had become active these days. This ranking war was going to be a treat for them.
Second-year students would never be happy with the minimum betting amount. So they would approach their junior opponents as soon as the battle was established. They would then demand a sky-high betting amount.
This was a protection tax the second-year students called it. If the first-year students agreed, they’ll not be beaten up as badly as they might be if they didn’t pay the protection tax.
But that was not all. The first-year students would then be targeted by the second-year students that fought them overtly or covertly just so that they would have a rematch. And the rematch condition was the same as the previous condition: sky-high betting amount.
That’s why Eren had said that it was better for his party members if they get apprenticed under an Adept. The bullying would decrease a lot if you had someone standing behind you, even if only in name.