#24 Misunderstanding
"Ren?! Wh- why are you here?" Esdeath asked in a very confused yet excited voice.
"Huh? Didn't you guys hire me in the first place?" Ren canceled his combination with Shadow and was confused by Esdeath's question.
"Wait, you are Ryu?" Esdeath asked
"Of course, well I use that name only in the guild but it's not really secret, for example, Night Raid already knows about me." Ren explained patiently and even tried to smile since he had to be on good terms with her if he wants her to spar with him.
When Esdeath saw Ren's attempt to smile her heart started to beat even faster than at the time when she saw him for the first time.
"...I see. I am sorry for this kind of greeting. How about I make it up for you?" Esdeath actually apologized and blushed a little.
Ren was pretty surprised to see her apologize since he thought that he knew her personality already, but it seems that yet another thing changed. He already started to form his own view on this world and characters rather than view formed by anime.
"Make it up? Well, I didn't really mind playing here so there is no need to do that. Of course, if it will make you feel better we could spend some time together" Ren said without even knowing what kind of reaction will his words create.
'HAHAHAHA, I am actually crying, you said those lovely words so casually.' Shell started to laugh a lot, fortunately, it was in their minds.
'What do you mean? What's so wrong about asking for spar casually?' Ren asked in a confused voice.
'You are normally smart Ren, but this time you are really idiot' Both Shadow and Hawke said.
'What the hell?' Ren was really confused since he didn't know that people would misunderstand his words.
Meanwhile, Esdeath who heard Ren's words immediately became excited and even her eyes started to shine a bit.
"Gladly!" Esdeath said aloud with a wide sweet smile.
"EEH?!" Everyone was totally confused by this situation and their leader's attitude.
'Nice, I knew that woman wouldn't refuse a chance to spar with strong people.' Ren thought how everything was easy.
"Anyway, I am here so what kind of task you have for me, just to make sure you know that Empire didn't hire me for a long time right?" Ren asked Esdeath who was still too excited to talk normally, but when she heard Ren's words her mood dropped down.
'He won't be here for a long time, I need to make sure that we will make some progress in our relationship!' Esdeath thought while clenching her fist.
"Today we were supposed to just introduced ourselves and then go meet Emperor" Esdeath explained to everyone.
Ren narrowed his eyes when he heard "Emperor" and said in a cold voice: "Don't expect me to go with you to meet Emperor"
"huh? why?" Esdeath asked and Kurome got interested too because it sounded like Ren has a grudge with Emperor.
"I know how you greet the Emperor. I KNEEL TO NO ONE" Ren said and the second part could be heard by probably entire Palace but it wasn't that Ren screamed it out but his absolute will did it for him.
Everyone was shocked by this and as expected, commotion happened in the palace and guards immediately came to the room to see what happened.
"Get out!!!" Esdeath screamed loudly at guards which scared them a lot and they instantly left the room.
'As expected...He is a real man!!!' Esdeath thought while kindly smiling towards Ren. But not everyone thought the same...for example Seryu, she didn't trust Ren and even thought of him as a potential enemy of Empire and with the sentence he just said, it got confirmed for her.
Kurome didn't know what to think, just a while ago she hugged him and now he might become her enemy like her sister. She doesn't want that to happen, because she feels some kind of connection to him.
"Ok, shall we introduce ourselves?" Wave tried to break awkward atmosphere
After some time everyone introduced themselves and Esdeath had to take them to Emperor now. Ren who didn't want to meet Emperor just wanted to go back to the forest where he absorbed life energy this morning but he before he could go, he heard Esdeath's voice: "Where are you staying? If you wouldn't mind you could stay in the room that is right next to mine."
Ren considered for a while and said: "Thanks for the offer but I like nature more than a city"
Of course, it was just an excuse because life energy here in the city is in a very low number because every human being unconsciously absorbs a small portion of life energy.
"Alright, I understand but when do you plan to spend some time together? I am free almost all the time" Esdeath said in an excited voice.
"We can do it tomorrow in the morning." Ren said and exited the room but he still could hear Esdeath's voice: "I will be waiting in my room!"
After Ren left, everyone said their opinion about Ren and Esdeath explained their purpose and named their group "Jaegers" after that everyone went to meet Emperor and then they returned to the conference room and sat near the table, getting ready to eat dinner since meeting with Emperor took more time than they thought.
"General, what is your ultimate goal?" Seryu asked Esdeath.
"Well, previously my main goal was to eliminate Night Raid while trying to experience love" Esdeath answered
"Love?!" Both Seryu and Kurome said aloud, surprised.
"Now that I recall when I first came into this room you were hugging Ren, weren't you Kurome?" Esdeath asked patiently with a smile.
"...." Kurome didn't know what to say but she certainly didn't think of that smile as a friendly one.
"Are you in love with him? What's your relationship with him?" Esdeath wasn't bothered by her silence and questioned further.
"What?! No...we met just recently, as for that time...I don't know why I did that." Kurome hastily answered when she heard Esdeath's words about love but she herself didn't know why she hugged him.
"I see..." Esdeath said and happily smiled.
They got through that awkward dinner and Esdeath asked them if anyone had any experience in love which was only Bols. Despite his grizzly appearance, Esdeath asked him for some tips.
"What should I wear on our first date and where should we go?" Esdeath asked
"Date? General, you mean that thing with Ren guy?" Bols asked in a confused voice
"Yes...what else would I mean" Esdeath answered without any hesitation.
"Well...you see I have some experience in this but I don't think it sounded like an invitation to date. Although I know him only a few hours I am pretty sure that kind of guy wouldn't ask for a date like that."
"What?!" Esdeath could only hope that grizzly wasn't right. All she could do was to wait for tomorrow.
------Outside of the Capital------
"Ren, I hope you are all ready for your first date!" Shell said while giggling.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Ren asked.
Hearing Ren's words, Hawke and Shadow could only look at each other and shake their heads.