Eren could only laugh in his head after listening to Nina's warnings.
He had been nothing but prudent in handling these matters. That's because he had no choice. The situation was grimmer than Nina thought it to be because of his artificial half-blood status. He wouldn't even be welcomed by the cultists if the exact details about him were known to them.
Nina also felt that the side effects the butcher received from using such an otherworldly Ability were too shallow to qualify as side effects. It was as if these Abilities were made for him in the first place and not granted to him through some ritual.
Eren released a lungful of smoke through his mouth while looking at the morning sky. He caressed Nina's back to assure her that there was nothing to worry about.
To relieve Nina of her concerns, Eren started kneading Nina's buns once again while they stood on the deck. This time, there was no lust-induced epiphany involved. There was no point in proving anything anymore. Both rankers were in complete control of themselves and no elemental manifestations appeared around them.
After a few minutes of stimulation, Eren entered Nina by making her place her left leg on the deck's ledge. A slow and intimate fuck took place as the couple welcomed a new day.
Eren and Nina continued their sessions throughout the week while taking intermittent breaks. The former stopped using the Sin Series Ability on the latter after she stopped progressing further in her ranking journey. Meanwhile, he also learned to use his Ability better by recalibrating its effects on a B-rank entity. He had started to quantify the feelings he had earlier before applying the Ability this way.
Nina's gains were significant because they were obtained in such a short time without her doing anything strenuous or ground-breaking. She thought that spending time with Eren was the easiest form of progress she could have asked for.
Eren managed to break even with Nina after obtaining her Ability. One could say that he had "cleaned his pipe" for good after the week was over.
He also understood the Ability's limitations after using it extensively for over a week. This was a crucial time for Eren to make the claimed Ability his own.
The region surrounding Nina's house in the Corvo Bianco vineyards remained inaccessible to rankers and monsters alike during this week. Visitors looking for Eren and Nina were told to wait outside the valley and sent away by Majordomo Seraf.
Nina and Eren would have enjoyed each other's company more in isolation. There was, however, a person who appeared in the Resanstour valley one day, whom Seraf couldn't send away with any tactics.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
When Eren and Nina were having brunch together while talking about random things, their front door was knocked on. Nina stopped laughing and frowned, looking at the door. She didn't like that Seraf had failed to give her the sought-after privacy she wanted with Eren.
Eren sighed, knowing the affairs of the rest of the world had caught up to him once again. Still, he couldn't complain because he got an entire week to himself without any training or life-and-death events. He operated the array and opened the rune-enforced large doors, allowing the person waiting outside to come in.
Levine de Montmorency had come to meet Eren.
"You are a tough man to find these days, my student. I would have been sure of your abduction if I hadn't found you here."
Levine greeted Nina with a light smile before sitting beside him. She had decided to join the couple at their table without an invitation. She picked up the table knife the butcher had just put down before fixing herself a plate on the table. The B-rank potioneer began having brunch with Eren and Nina as if she were someone they had been waiting for.
Nina didn't like that Levine made fun of Eren's precarious position by talking about the possibility of abduction lightly. The smile the potioneer gave to her also seemed fake to her for some reason. However, she knew that Levine had helped Eren a lot in constructing his city. So she kept quiet and let Eren handle the matter himself.
"Haha. Good morning, teacher Levine. I was just…"
Eren was only wearing his pants when he received Levine, which was the most amount of clothes he had worn in a while. The latter observed the topless individual briefly before interrupting him.
"It's afternoon, silly. When was the last time you got out of this house? It reeks of…"
Levine looked at Nina and forced another smile before continuing.
"Anyway. Master Jiana Jihang contacted us. She is ready to take you up on your offer. She couldn't reach you or Nina so she got hold of me.
She asked me to tell you that you need to finalize the guild takeover as soon as you can. That's because she wants to participate in the rank-up program meant for high-ranking entities as well."
After taking a bite of the lamb chops on her plate, Levine said. Eren was surprised by how quickly Jiana had agreed to assimilate her guild into his.
He quickly thought of a possibility that would influence her to take this decision.
"Did… did anything happen to Midnight Moon?"
Levine didn't know about the connection the two separate incidents shared because she wasn't present when the discussion between Eren and Jiana took place. However, that didn't stop her from confirming Eren's conjecture.
"Um… yes. Midnight Moon was attacked in both Edinburgh and Layos at the same time. Moreover, a distant branch of the royal family in Layos was assassinated the next day after the attack.
A day after the royal assassination, various prominent cities in Layos were targeted and bombed by unknown cultists. The kingdom of Layos had issued several warnings to Edinburgh because it claimed that Edinburgh had a hand to play in the turmoil within its borders.
All of this happened this week while you were in... let's say... seclusion with Master Nina."
Eren couldn't help but smirk as he listened to the brief report provided by Levine. He could only think of one topic at this point.
'I guess I need to pay Sirius some serious money as a bonus for a job well done.'
Eren thought to himself and chuckled. He knew that the investment he was making in Jiana Jihang was going to be worth it if she was this decisive about her direction.
