A natural alliance of enemies.
Escalon guild, Rehaal Renar, Demonmir's faction, House Slughorn, and House Remus had teamed up to get rid of Eren. The group had congregated for the common cause of removing him from White Raven's equation for their own reasons.
These forces sent their skilled rankers to the city of New Beginnings. The city of White Raven was Eren's stronghold. So disposing of the man here was their ideal choice.
Unaware of this recently formed alliance, Eren was having fun with Kirin. He had bid adieu to Levine a few hours ago. The potioner left the couple to their devices. She proceeded to sort her own affairs related to the joint venture between her faction and the White Raven guild.
Eren took Kirin on a sightseeing tour of the city. A couple's retreat.
The city of New Beginnings was a gigantic place to explore. So much so that it would take weeks for the couple to truly say that they have seen the city and all that it has to offer.
Eren and Kirin suppressed their ranking statuses and chose to act like mortals to avoid too much attention. Of course, they were sensed by high-ranking entities in the city all the same. Most of them, however, also wanted to keep a low profile as a couple. So there was a silent agreement between these rankers to let others be.
Kirin got to see some more of the way the outside world in Anfang behaved and did things. She would always draw comparisons between what she used in the Oni dungeon and her memories related to the continent of Echidna.
The half-elf had tried and tasted many cuisines during the exploration. She tasted many brews and shopped for a bunch of items and accessories.
Kirin explored a theme park with her husband that was run with the help of many arrays and array disks working in tandem. She embarked on a scary-themed boat ride for couples and pretended to get shocked by the spectral ghosts.
But her acting sucked and everybody could tell that she was not scared at all. The elf enjoyed the ride with Eren nonetheless.
The city's nightlife was equally active and exciting. Unlike the city of White Raven, almost all the shops and various establishments ran day and night in the city of New Beginnings. As such, the couple didn't need to stop their exploration.
The night passed in a blink of an eye, and the couple left one part of the city to enter another. This was a region filled with a myriad of clothing stores.
It was one of the most crowded areas of the city. It would be mostly populated by the mortal population of the city. But rarely would there be Novice and Ace-ranked adventurers and city guards coming here.
To change their outfits, the couple entered a clothing shop for mortals. Eren was now wearing an oversized white tunic to give him a relaxed look. It had green-colored palm tree prints that boded well with the pendant he was wearing.
Kirin was wearing a stylish dress in a shade of pink. It had a plunging neckline with a floral printed tiered skirt. The cuffed balloon sleeves added to the dress's elegance.
The half-monster girl had let her hair down for the first time in a long while. It had grown in waist length. The golden locks and her green earrings created a nice visual symphony with her pink dress.
Kirin had matched the light pink dress with strappy white heels and golden bracelets in both her hands. She really liked the ever-changing styles of mortals that kept practicality aside and just experimented with what looked nice.
Kirin stood out from the crowd more than anyone because of her already cute appearance. Her stylish outfit, however, allowed her presence to be magnified even more.
"How do I look?"
Kirin asked her husband casually– a light smile on her face. She really enjoyed the last few hours of city exploration with Eren.
The butcher smiled in reply. He held her arms in his and proceeded to walk out of the shop before replying to her in a playful tone.
"Hmm. It's no use."
Eren took a dramatic sigh and shook his head in disappointment. Kirin started to recognize Eren's mischievous behaviors by now. She decided to play along.
"What do you mean? Don't I look pretty?"
Eren looked at her from head to toe and shook his head once again. He looked at the sky before saying his words like he was talking to someone up there.
"Pretty is not the word I'd use, Kirin darling. It doesn't quite express your beauty. But no matter what I say, it wouldn't do justice to describing your charms anyway."
Kirin chuckled heartily when she heard Eren's words. Her cute laughter garnered her some more attention as the couple walked through the city's bustling crowd.
"That won't do. Please give your best shot, Lord Husband."
Kirin said, clinging tightly to Eren as they walked. The latter was being eyed by a lot of men after seeing such stunning beauty together with a seemingly ordinary man. But they never tried to look him in the eye for some reason.
It was as if they had subconsciously understood that dealing with the guy in any way was a terrible idea. Unknown to him, Eren's soul sense would also influence people around him. Particularly mortals who were extremely vulnerable to it.
Eren scratched below his ears and pursed his lips before replying in a disappointing tone.
"It's regrettable that I never took the effort to enhance my vocabulary when I was young. My linguistic skills are mediocre at best.
One can't blame me though. I had different priorities back then. I was trying to get into aunt Nina's pan… cough… cough… I mean I was trying to get into aunt Nina's head and learn the art of potioning from her.
That project took all the time I had, never allowing me time to focus on anything else. So bear in mind that my praise can be lacking. But as you said, I can always try."
Eren said and looked ahead. His destination was in his eyesight. A quaint restaurant in the district that was popular among mortals and rankers alike. The venue was supposed to have a pleasant ambiance with separate areas for the couples.
Eren cleared his throat and shook his head before coming up with a few lines for Kirin.
