Marla and Almera settled on a spot in the audience zone.
There were no standard seating arrangements in the Edinnica Arena. The rankers in the audience zone either came up with their own setup or just sat on the ground.
The array mechanisms in the arena will allow viewers to view the event seamlessly from any part of the audience zone. To avoid drawing more attention to themselves than they already had, Marla and Almera settled a bit away from the participants' zone.
Hansen Lehan was seen busy talking with the rankers' panel that had come out with Rufus. Rufus and the rest had been made to stand up. But they still kept their heads down in Sage's presence. They would answer whatever questions Hansen asked them. And nothing they said could be heard by any of the participants and rankers in the audience.
Thanks to the light-element array, Marla could see Eren clearly if she tried to focus her gaze on him. Every individual in the audience could choose their own views and viewing angles to focus on in fact.
'This vengeful demon…. He got me back for that Frostfoam prank.'
Marla cursed Eren under her breath when she realized why Eren had set her up. The Expert ranker had spiked the elven ale she had given him before he left LA for his on-field assignment in the past. She could only conclude that Eren wanted to set his record straight with her for trying something like that on him.
Eren definitely wanted to get back to Marla for her silly trick with him. But in his defense, he could have never imagined that she would let the flying vehicle get out of control to that extent. He had considered it a harmless prank, just like what Marla had thought at that time.
"Hmm? What is this?"
Marla mumbled to herself as a spectral display popped up in front of her. It was a notification she had received from the city administration regarding the recent vehicle incident.
"THIS FUCKI…!"
Almera was spooked when she heard Marla curse so loudly. She quickly pressed her palm against her mouth to make her shut up. She also looked at Marla annoyingly as if saying "what is wrong with you?" with her gaze alone.
Marla tapped Almera's hand but the latter wouldn't release her. So she made her spectral screen visible to her and pointed at it to make Almera see the reason for her curses.
Even Almera was shocked by what she read in the notification. It basically said that the city administration was charging 320k Extols as compensation for totaling a flying vehicle. This was the amount after Sage Hansen Lehan spoke in their favor.
Almera couldn't help laughing mirthlessly at the whole aftermath. She looked at Marla with a bit of pity in her eyes and reminded her to not lose her cool before releasing her mouth.
"Fucking… sweet baby balls! It's not even my fault, damn it. Did you see the amount they are charging me for? It's like they know exactly how much money I have in my storage. Because that number is basically all of it."
Marla looked at Eren and cursed him some more. The rented flying vehicle would only record the last driver's mana signature before any unfortunate incident. So Eren made Marla a scapegoat for the aftermath of his stunt. The one who could pay the penalty for his rash driving was the one who had secured himself from the penalty.
"Um… Hehe. Look on the bright side, big sis Marla. At least you didn't have to pay 350k Extols to that vixen. You got them for free. So 320k Extols could still be seen as a saving grace for us.'
Almera tried to pacify Marla using logic. But the latter felt even angrier.
"This is unacceptable! That bastard… I can't believe he would not be able to take a joke. And he did that to someone who he had apprenticed under, for fuck's sake.
That's it! I'll wring him dry for all his worth when I join his guild."
Marla snorted her nose in anger before taking out a bottle of Frostform from her storage. She spoke first before Almera could stop her from indulging in her vice.
"No! I need this. I need this to calm myself down, Almera."
Marla held onto her ale firmly before uncorking it. She and Almera were supposed to join the security detail of the arena because of being associated with LA. But they decided to do that later after the event officially began.
***
Eren saw Hansen Lehan discussing things with Rufus and others on the platform. He could feel Marla's piercing gaze on him. But he decided to ignore her and started taking notice of the White Raven Crew members' progress instead.
'Hm? Eren, there's something different about Steve.'
Alephee also scanned Eren's teammates and informed him of her observations. The butcher didn't have to ask any further as the homunculus spoke further after a brief pause herself.
'Hmm. It seems he has stopped becoming a traditional ranker.'
Eren was particularly interested in Steve's development as well. Steve was indeed taken on by the butcher owing to his immense growth potential. Steve, however, exceeded his expectations by becoming an Expert ranker in such a short amount of time. His growth was certainly eye-catching even by Royal Renar standards.
Of course, ranking status wasn't a complete representation of one's potential as a ranker or the possibility to keep on moving forward on their journey. Certain talented rankers progressed slowly in their ranks and could still compete against those higher in ranking status than them. And they faced almost no bottlenecks even after becoming Master rankers.
Altashia was one such example. She was slower than her Royal Ren peers when it came to ranking progress. But nobody from Royal Ren would call her weak or incompetent. And this was when she was used to battling influential rankers like Rodrick Renar.
Altashia had beaten many royal scions like Rodrick into submission despite her lower-ranking status than them. Thus, many participants from Royal Ren were glad that the stone-cold beauty wouldn't be able to attend the event as a participant. Nobody wanted to see a dreadful history repeat itself.
Still, Steve's progress was more than Eren could bargain for. He had to assume that there was an external factor attached to it.
'Steve… I need to ask you something. Answer me honestly if you can…'
Eren decided to ask Steve directly about the path he was treading on.
AN: Marla pranks Eren with spiked Frostfoam in chapter 389. ;)
