"You are not going?"
Levine asked Eren while tucking her locks behind her ears. All the White Raven members had been teleported to the isolated site of the elemental pool. Only Eren and Levine were present at the scene.
She and the high-ranking entities from her faction had come to talk with Eren's guild personally upon his invitation. And they were equally interested in participating in the updated program. It was just that Eren had calibrated the array for rankers up to the rank of Adept. So they would have to wait until the White Ravens are done.
Eren smiled at Levine and greeted the company she was with. The two were left alone once Eren started talking to Levine personally.
"Waiting for the right time makes more sense in my case, teacher Levine. I have just completed the solid stage of the Adept rank. I won't receive any significant gains if I use the program at this point.
Even if I manage to break into the Expert rank using the elemental array, my progress would halt there. And since my foundations are not that strong, I'd have to face a bottleneck for some time right after entering the next rank.
So I'll wait until I achieve Expert rank on my own. Only then can I maximize my gains through this one-time-use method."
Alephee had provided this suggestion to Eren right after he had gained access to the elemental array. The butcher wanted to use the pool immediately. But Alephee's suggestion made sense to him and he decided to wait. It wouldn't be long before he became an Expert ranker anyway.
Levine looked Eren in the eyes before sharing her doubts with him.
"Hmm. It looks like you're trying to wrap things up. It can only mean you are about to disappear from the city once again."
Eren chuckled before nodding at her. He bowed a bit and led her toward the exit before speaking up.
"Hehe. No rest for the wicked, teacher Levine.
You must be aware that my graduation test event will be held in Edinburgh's capital in about a month. Then there's a project waiting for me once I finish my graduation. So I want to be done with a bunch of tasks before the ceremony."
Eren laid out his schedule for Levine. White Raven City considered her one of its key figures. So she needed to know some of his plans beforehand. Levine had a stress line on her forehead when she heard about visiting the capital.
"Yeah. I am being invited by LA to attend the test event in the capacity of an ex-professor. Let's visit the capital together, shall we? Call me up once you are done with your tasks and we'll head there together."
Eren didn't mind traveling to the capital with Levine. But he felt like there was another reason for Levine to suggest they travel together other than seeking company.
"Are you worried that Demonmir might strike at me again with a newly formed team?"
Eren was already aware that Demonmir– Ottoman de Montmorency and Paladin of Pain– Reva Rain were at the capitol. As one of Edinburgh's most well-known figures and title holders, they were invited by the Royal Ren to attend the graduation event as well.
Levine nodded at Eren's question. She hadn't asked him about it yet but she was made aware that Eren's exit mission in the army had been sabotaged. She didn't know many details about it since on paper, the mission was completed and over with. It resulted in two army officers' casualties. And still, someone like Eren had miraculously survived.
What she didn't know was the fact that Eren was jumped on even before his exit mission. The details about that ambush were still not known to almost anybody.
Still, it was clear that the forces opposing Eren's rise were determined to keep on targeting him again and again until they succeeded. She could still manage things and protect Eren from obvious and forthcoming traps while he was in the core of the Nightshade duchy. But her safety net would start to thin out when he traveled to the capital.
Eren knew what Levine was thinking. He chuckled before clearing a few things up for her.
"I don't mind traveling with you, teacher Levine. But rest assured, I will not be attacked anymore. Until I reach the capital, at least. Not because my enemies suddenly stopped targeting me. However, Demonmir would want to meet me now that I've survived this long.
Heh! I haven't met the guy yet. But something tells me he would want to meet me at the capitol at the time of the test event."
Eren shrugged his shoulders as he said this. It was as if he did not feel any pressure when meeting Demonmir.
Eren had learned a lot from the memories he had of Oslo before Alephee converted him into a human doll. He was especially interested in memories related to Demonmir. From Oslo's memories, he got to know a bit about Demonmir and a few of his personality traits.
Eren then tried memory extraction on Nico Chain's corpse which Alephee had killed along with his demon beast. His Ability didn't work that well on the corpses but he was still able to gather some more information about Ottoman.
Levine raised her eyebrows at Eren when he talked about Demonmir. She didn't know about the pre-exit ambush he had to go through. But something told her that it was exactly like Demonmir to look his enemy in the eyes. Especially when his enemy was a ranker like Eren.
Levine sighed looking at Eren. She didn't want to say this out loud but Eren was exactly like the young Demonmir in her eyes.
Talented and hardworking. Cunning and bold. Vicious and heartless when it comes to spilling their enemies' blood. Someone who wants to stand above others. Someone who would go to any length to achieve their goals. Someone passionate about the path they had chosen and would walk steadfastly on it, come hell or high water.
Eren and Demonmir could both be defined in the same way.
