Around 7 PM.
House Carren's estate in White Raven's residential district.
Lensa was amazed to see the guy she wanted to see for so long at this point.
She was left alone in the grand hall with him. He was sitting in front of her on a plush sofa, looking at her with a subtle smile on his face.
She was amazed by the difference in appearance and presence Eren had with his past self. As an elf who had experienced a peculiar state of epiphany, she was more attuned to her surroundings than the humans. She could sense that Eren's presence had taken a drastic change, even more so than his physical appearance.
The glass chandelier was exuding a faint natural light in the grand hall, providing its occupants with optimal illumination. Eren looked at his reflection on one of the reflective surfaces of one of the gems the chandelier had as its component.
Eren adjusted his hair in that reflection before speaking up.
"Um… it's a pleasure to see you again, Lensa. Heard you left a message with Agatha and checked up on my well-being. So I came to meet you in person."
Eren said while weaving the fingers of his hands together in front of him. He then arched forward before adding up.
"I hope you don't mind the late hour. I was busy doing Agatha… Err… Agatha's pending work that needed to be done from my end."
Lensa smiled in response before commenting.
"It's fine, Adept Eren. I'm glad to see you too. You… you have changed a lot. For better, I would say. Hehe. Look at how fast you've changed since we met. It seems like we met so long ago.
You have already achieved the rank of Adept. What's even more astonishing is the fact that you have established a city for yourself. Imagine my surprise when I learned that the founder of the city was the same boy I had met up in the city of Silvermoon."
Eren chuckled when he heard Lensa's subtle compliments. He adjusted his gaze on Lensa too with a hint of nostalgia in his eyes, comparing the current her with what he remembered about her.
***
Lensa was sporting shoulder-length golden brown hair at this point. Her green eyes had become more mesmerizing than before. Her facial features had gotten even more attractive than before while still retaining the cuteness she had.
Eren could feel that Lensa was even more attuned to her elemental attainment than her Ace rank dictated. She didn't feel any rank suppression from him even though she was a rank lower than him.
Lensa had gotten more ladylike, leaving her girlhood behind. Her graceful presence was only complemented by her mild and friendly nature.
Eren remembered his night of passion for Lensa as he kept on staring at her pretty face. The butcher did not feel any regret even after facing the repercussions of binding with Reen. He did not feel any regret about meeting with Eliza and losing his shit in front of her.
However, at this point, after meeting Lensa, he felt a bit regretful for treating her as some disposable pawn just to settle a score with Ken. Especially when she remembered him after all this time, even reaching out to Agatha and asking about his well-being.
As a way of strengthening her friendship with Eren, Lensa offered her clan's support to the city of White Raven. Agatha couldn't contact the butcher at the time so she had requested the House Carren to wait till Eren got back.
The half-blood manager of Eren made sure to tell him about Lensa's visit. So he had come here to meet up with Lensa.
When Eren used Lensa to get back at Ken, he was a different animal. He was still bitter about everything because he was living in his past timeline.
The butcher was also afraid of the future he had envisioned for himself. Knowing about the future had become a source of worry for him since he could feel that time was slipping from his hand.
Stuck between a bitter past and a worrisome future, Eren had developed tunnel vision as a way to cope with all that he was feeling. He couldn't see past the goals he had set for himself. He also wanted to make his bitter past less painful for him by getting back at people who had hurt him.
Eren hadn't become a completely reformed person from what he was back then. The darkness he carried in his heart was still there. But he stopped having the same tunnel vision anymore.
Therefore Eren did not hesitate to admit to himself that what he had done with Lensa was uncalled for. It didn't need to be said out loud for him. He didn't need to offer any reparations. It was just a feeling he had at this point for himself.
***
The talks between Eren and Lensa continued for hours on end. Both the rankers were surprised they had so much to talk about despite having no apparent common ground.
The conversation they had was seamless. The topics they discussed would pop up naturally as if they had planned their talk from the get-go.
Lensa felt like she knew more about Eren than she had initially thought. She could feel an unexplainable resonance with him. However, she tried to hide that feeling from him, lest he thinks she is imposing on him.
Eren told Lensa how he had come to establish the city. In recounting previous events, he downplayed a lot of his achievements.
However, Lensa could tell the guy was humble. Either that or it wasn't in his nature to hog all the glory for himself. At least not without gaining anything equally worthy in return.
When Lensa was about to address Eren formally once again, the latter made a stop sign with his hand before commenting.
"Hey! Drop the formality, Lensa. You can call me Eren."
Eren spoke with fake anger on his face before breaking into laughter. After looking at her cute nose for a while, he added more.
"It seems you are not that far behind either. You might break into Adept rank at any point."
Eren said with a look that said 'I'm impressed.' She was somewhat expected to advance in her ranking journey with such speed due to her elf lineage and the enlightenment she had received.
However, Eren could tell that the elf girl had invested an equal amount of effort to make her natural blessings even more fruitful for her.
