After healing the exhausted and bruised body of Vanessa with his Hatsu, Auren leaves her cabin, not wanting to disturb her rest. Yet he is unable to smile at her satisfied face, as she sleeps.
She is kinda cute when she is like that.
On the other hand, when she wakes up, my peace and quiet will be over. Let's hope she sleeps for a couple of... weeks.
Sitting next to Eren, he exchanges a few stories with him.
"So what did you do recently? Always flying between Heaven's Arena and the mountain city?" Auren asks.
"Yes, it's rather comfortable. I've also accepted a few other missions and even helped out in the East of the Yorbian Continent. The beasts there are still crazy dangerous. The settlement is exploding in size, with more and more towns being constructed. I can't believe it hasn't been discovered yet," Eren says.
"It probably has been," Auren guesses. "But with Pariston... and Rakshala's... surprises she planted in the world, I guess they'll just let her act. After all, she is not harming anyone, at least for now. It won't be long until a new country will be officially announced; you can be sure about that. The Prince has also provided Hollow Blade with a lot of resources, using Ura as an intermediary. As long as you and your siblings are fine, I'm glad."
"Couldn't be better," he says, smiling meekly, before awkwardly staring at him. "What about you... and your training? What did you do all that time?"
"All I did was train... and it paid off. Really, nothing else happened... well, aside from getting a surprise visitor...." Auren remembers. "It was around 8 months ago or so. I have to say, the man is quite... imposing. Let's just say, I might have found someone who could help me on my journey. That man... is incredible."
"That man... who are you referring to?" Eren wonders. "It's rare for you to praise someone like that."
"I'll tell you later... but ultimately it changes nothing. My own path won't be affected," Auren states.
"So what do we do now?" Eren wonders. "As much as I've enjoyed it... I'd still love to follow you, Auren. The time you went missing felt... boring."
"Don't turn into an adrenaline junkie like someone else," Auren says.
"Don't worry about that," Eren instantly retorts, raising his hands. "She has tried so many things... she trained the entire day, and afterward she did modeling, TV and movie appearances, golfing, kickboxing, the only thing she actually stuck with, and countless more things. Also, the way she fights... I've been watching the news. Battle Olympia is popular, but mostly for martial arts fans. She literally blew up the entire Arena. Surprisingly, we only have a couple of injured people. Regardless, that's the story."
"Watching the news?" Auren wonders.
Eren smiles, grabs a remote, and turns on a clunky television with a large antenna reaching all the way to the ceiling of the airship.
Eren turns on the television, flips through the channels, and indeed, footage of Auren's fight with Vanessa is being shown.
"They're calling it fake..." Auren mutters.
Special effects...
Dangerous stunt...
Local laws criticized...
V5's lack of reaction...
Identities explained...
Hunter Association heavily criticized...
Deceiving the audience...
It's all garbage. They do not even believe what happened. Did the Association and V5 spread this to hide the blatant use of Nen? Are people really believing the 'special effects' excuse?
"It's good that Vanessa is asleep, or she might rain down another wave of meteors on the offending TV stations," Eren jokes.
An hour later, Auren has seen enough, and Eren turns it off again.
"What about the others?" Auren asks. "Anything of note happened? I heard nothing that interests me even a little. Just reading the financial statements of my ever-growing empire. I'm at well over half a trillion Jenny now. It feels great, so do I, and I keep getting richer and richer. The only bad thing is that I've received the last payment from Battera, so that source of income has dried up now, but Pariston surely has lined up more work for me."
"... You... you... don't know?" Eren asks, now appearing outright nervous.
"... don't know what?" Auren asks.
"... perhaps you should check your messages, it only happened a week ago," Eren mutters. "You really didn't read the messages yet... I thought you knew."
Auren grabs his phone and despairs at the colossal amount of unread messages.
"Where do I start?" he asks Eren.
Eren thinks for a moment before replying softly, "If you want to hear it directly from the source... the twins."
"... let me see, Joanne is meek and shy, and it usually takes a long time to get a straight answer," Auren reasons, reading Jean's messages instead.
He quickly speeds through them and can't help but be gobsmacked.
"Nothing but pride. She said the second entity, the one created by Joanne, showed up again, and it sold them another mystery box," Auren reads, before remembering about them. "That mysterious second merchant sold quite a few mysterious boxes already, and as far as I could tell, it always had something interesting in them. Unpolished gems, ores, rare wood, unknown plants... stuff you couldn't find in the world without extreme luck. Some of them were completely unknown, so they were quite the discovery. I heard Leira is doing some experiments with a small army of experts and scientists. Anything worthwhile is being applied to our settlements. Also, they always cost less than 100 million."
"Uhn... you may want to continue reading," Eren mutters."
He reads on, but her messages suddenly end with a single one. "Slightly more expensive than I imagined, but you all predicted this, right? That's why you sent us to Lady Rakshala, right? This is all within expectations. No need to come back too soon, enjoy your training and tournament, surely there are important things for you to do."
"... is she twelve?" Auren asks. "She couldn't be more obvious. Slightly more expensive? So it was quite expensive, I guess."
"I believe she's 20," Eren replies honestly.
He then reads Joanne's messages, which consist of nervous replies without any real meaning, before finally reading the single message Rakshala left.
"I'm hoping to see you very soon, hopefully with another title under your belt. Though not too relevant, the latest expenditure for twins' the mystery merchant was quite significant... I've stepped in and provided the money you were lacking."
Auren checks his account balance next, which shows a glaring 0.
"Are you fucking kidding me?!?!" he yells, standing up, his face growing red.
That means I lost my entire funds... no, worse. I am in debt?!
Though not obsessed with it, Auren feels his entire mind shaking at the thought of losing his entire fortune.
His thoughts racing wildly, a dull and heavy feeling in his stomach, Auren quickly uses Zetsu and composes himself.
"I can... always earn more money. The only problem is that I can't pay people like Zepile, Ura, Oron, and Leira... along with Jolt and Marsha," Auren reasons.
"Forget about that, they'd work for free, Auren. You know them quite badly if you think money's the only reason they're still there," Eren says, trying to calm him down.
"In fact, I have savings of over four hundred million, and I can help you out!" Eren says, looking a little guilty.
Marsha and Jolt, upon hearing Auren's earlier yell, also approach. "Don't worry about our payments ever... in fact... we are so sorry for what our daughters did... they confessed to us as well and are quite panicked," Marsha says, while Jolt just looks worried.
"No..." Auren reasons, "First of all, I told them to do just that... I even went to Rakshala in case such a thing happened. While it sucks that my money's gone, I can earn more... the more important question is what the merchant brought us. As far as I know, we never received something that was worthless. It was always priced fairly or even came with a nice discount. Sure, some items were hard to sell, so they could be viewed as a small loss... but over half a trillion Jenny. I should have gotten something good, right?"
"Uhm, we haven't been told," Jolt immediately says, denying any knowledge.
Eren also shakes his head.
"Well... I'll guess we'll find out later..." Auren mutters.
I wonder what that merchant picked up... on his lone travels. I'm getting a little excited.
"In any case, everyone will be heading back to the mountain city," Auren says. "Ura, Oron, Zepile, and Goreinu, who are travelling to acquire more items... by now, they should have gathered a ton of things."
"Yes," Eren says, "Goreinu brags from time to time, though he's mostly just tagging along and enjoying wherever they're going."
"Then there's Leira, she is still in the East? It's time she returns to proper civilization," Auren continues. "She seems obsessed."
"By now it's quite similar to large cities, with smaller towns and countless mountains, forests, and farming villages around them," Eren clarifies. "There are way over a million of our people there. I don't even know the exact number, but it's grown so large that it's no longer the expedition you think of. Honestly speaking, she does not need to leave... ever. She'll be just fine there, but since we're all gathering up, she'll join us as well."
"Well, hopefully Hollow Blade's funds haven't run dry yet, or that... country won't last any longer." Auren comments. "Then there's Neffi and Konrad, who are returning as well. You, along with the sleeping 'superstar' in the back, complete the group."
"Konrad has taken over his father's corporation," Eren points out.
"Yeah, he wrote me that," Auren nods. "I wonder why... so much work for what payoff? I just don't see the appeal."
"He's enjoying it," Eren replies, "especially since his sister was very busy over the last two years and left him alone. He once told me that running an international business empire is way less stressful than being subjected to her."
"What about the kids? Are your siblings still getting along with Killi and Ella?" Auren wonders.
"Yes, though as far as I know, while they're keeping up with Nen practice, they're focused on school. I think all of them want to become scientists and continue their studies. They're probably leaving the mountain city shortly and joining the new schools and then the universities in the East. With all the scientists and experienced teachers among them, they're allowing everyone free schooling, university, or, in the alternative, trade school or military school instead."
"Military school..." Auren repeats.
"It's nothing bad," Eren says. "We need a military, not only against beasts, but also to protect ourselves."
"I disagree," Auren replies. "It's wasted resources. The roses of Rakshala make larger conflicts in the settlements impossible. While I agree that we need some soldiers, officers, and security personnel, I don't see the reason for a large military... quite yet. Well, I'll ask her later."
Could it be for the upcoming mission?
Half a day later, Vanessa wakes up, and Auren's peace ends in an abrupt and violent manner, or at least he thinks so at first.
"Good morning," she says, looking a little embarrassed, almost shy.
Despite asking him questions for hours, she isn't quite as forceful as she used to be. She does not brag about her objectively more than just a little impressive accomplishments, and instead asks him for tips about Nen and invites him to train or even spar together.
What is wrong with her? Not that I'm complaining... she seems way more mature, but at her age, that shouldn't even be growth as she's a good 10 years older than me, so she was fully matured... even two years ago. Whatever.
Spending a surprisingly fun and relaxed week on the airship, training, enjoying Marsha's cooking, and talking to his two friends and, by now, former students, Auren finally arrives at the mountain fortress, a strong feeling of anticipation growing inside of him.
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