Chapter 78: Flexing the powers to Dad and Rosa

His mother was at the gate when he got off the bus. She saw him walking up the road and her hand went to her mouth then run to hug her son.

“Eren…”

He tried to dress normally. A small hoodie like cap pulled over his ears in this hot day was already too much but on the top of that, he also got his father’s jacket buttoned all the way up, the least conspicuous jeans he could fit into.

This was the end summer by the way, so Eren bet he looked weird. But there was no hiding the height or the ears or the way he moved now. Even walking felt different because every step was balanced and controlled in a way the clumsy kid she’d raised never managed.

She hugged him so tight it would’ve crushed the old Eren. He barely felt it physically but everywhere else it hit hard.

His father appeared in the doorway. He looked at his son for about three seconds and nodded.

“You got big.”

That was it. His father expressed emotions through short sentences and consistent presence. It was enough.

“And not mentally ill or covered in blood. We was expecting something like that.”

Ah. They expected him to be in the same dangerous place his granpa went.

“No, it was safe and fun actually. Don’t worry guys.” His voice was reassuring.

“Your ears…” His mother pulled back and reached for his beanie. He let her push it up and she saw the pointed tips and her face did something complicated. “What happened to you over there Eren?”

“Long story mom. Really long. Let’s go inside first, and why grandma swinging in that thing?”

His grandma or his parents bought that cheap balcony swings that break after just one year.

It was funny but she looked like having fun. They even put a television in front of it and she was watching a drama.

Eren went to her side, kissed her hand and cheeks then leave her for now. She looked like tired and sleepy.

Her wrinkled face was really tired..

I wonder if there is a skill or some magical thing to help her a little bit..?

He went back to tiny rock house, which was almost the same with Emily’s house but felt that way.

They sat in the kitchen. He told them parts of it but only the parts that wouldn’t scare them more than they already were.

A forest with a village in it. Friendly people who helped him. A system that made people stronger. He skipped the trolls and the dragon and the dungeon and especially skipped Emily and the baby because that conversation needed a lot more preparation.

His mother kept touching his arm like she was checking if it was real. His father asked practical questions. “Can you go back whenever you want?” and “Are you safe over there?” and “Do you need money?” which was the most fathery thing he’d ever heard because his father’s solution to every crisis was to offer whatever resources he had.

He had good intentions and Eren appreciated that.

He looked at his grandma from the window and she was more awake by now. Chilling on the swing in a cool back garden under a pine oak, it was nice.

She was smaller than he remembered, her hair completely white and her hands shaking more than last time he saw her months ago. But her eyes were sharp now that she was awake and clear when she looked up at him.

Grandma Sofie studied his face for a long time. Then she looked at his ears where the hoodie had shifted and showed them clearly.

“Your grandfather looked like you when he came back but his ears was tinier and bloody.” She picked up her tea with trembling fingers. “He was bigger, healthier and he had trouble controlling his eyes for weeks. Like someone had turned a light on behind them.” She said.

“What did he tell you about where he went grandma?”

“A forest with talking trees and creatures that glowed. He was gone for almost a year and came back covered in all blood. Some of it was dried but some was fresh. He couldn’t speak properly for three days.” She sipped her tea.

“Everyone said he went crazy. The doctors gave him pills and he took them until the day he died. But those pills didn’t fix anything. They just made him forget why he kept staring out the window at night with a knife in his hand!”

“Did he bring anything back?”

“Stones. Small blue ones that feels warm. I kept two in my jewelry box for fifty years and one in my pillow for warmth in the winter. They are bad in summer, don’t try it. Hihihi..” She sounded like the topic didn’t worry her too much. She was having fun.

Mana stones probably.. Grandpa brought mana stones back from Evon almost fifty years ago.

“Something told me I carry the blood of a forgotten monarch.” He said it more to himself than to her. “Was grandpa… different? Before he went?”

Sofie smiled. It was the kind of smile old people gave when they knew something they couldn’t fully explain. “He was always different. Stronger than the other men. Faster. Your great-grandmother used to say he had cursed blood as a joke.”

Eren stayed for two hours. He ate his grandmother’s food, his mother did them but grandma Sofie interfered too many times to her cooking so it was partially her food.

Sometimes he let his mother fuss over him and answered more half-truths that were getting harder to maintain. His grandmother fell asleep in her sofa around noon and his father walked him to the bus stop.

“Whatever you’re doing over there.” His father Can put his hand on Eren’s shoulder. “Be smart about it. Your grandfather wasn’t careful probably and it broke him.”

His father was the only outsider to the family and it’s weird shenanigans. But he was his father.

“I will be careful dad. Let me show you.” Eren sprinted around, jumped a few times, carried his father around to scare him on the roof.

“HAHAHA! You should see your face..”

His father was amused but mostly scared. Only thing he said was go before I kick your ass..which showed a healthy father-son relation.

..

The bus back was quieter. Eren sat in the same seat and watched the fields go by in the opposite direction but now his head was full of his grandfather.

He went to Evon. He came back broken. Why? Was it the Totem? The creatures are Verdant Tree Monsters or something else?

His phone buzzed with Rosa’s text.

“Where are you?”

He texted back. “On the bus. Meet me at that cafe behind the old school tomorrow morning alright?”

Eren went back to his home and slept in his own room and bed. It smelled like Rosa by the way.

She mostly used this bed while she was staying in this house.

..

Next morning the first thing he checked was the dungeon crystal. It still had 1000 mana but for some reason he was tense with bad possibilities.

After relaxing in his Earth toiled, he eat from the bread and some breakfast items Rosa bought in the last month. Fridge was a lot richer than when he was staying here.

Then he walked to the cafe to see Rosa.

He had to hurry and go back to the Evon.

The cafe was a small place they used to visit back when things were good between them. Two floors, quiet, with a balcony overlooking a small artificial lake that the municipality never bothered to clean properly. The lake was half empty this time of year which somehow made it look more interesting instead of less.

Rosa was already at the balcony table when he arrived. She had a Turkish coffee in front of her and she was stirring it without drinking. Her eyes were puffy and she looked like she’d slept about two hours.

“You look terrible.” He sat across from her.

“Shut up. You look like a superhero now and I look like shit. I know.” Even she didn’t realize she said that awkward sentence and Eren tried to hide his smile. He didn’t realize how big of a difference happened about his body and how important actually it was..

Rosa took a sip of coffee with a small sweet lokum and said “Talk.”

She demanded with one word and he opened his dam of mouth and started telling almost everything.

He didn’t trust her more than his family, but for some reason he felt like owing this to her.

I cheated!

He told her the portal, hoe actually it happened, the system, the levels and stats. How his body changed with every level up and how the world on the other side had magic and monsters and elves and a completely different set of rules.

Lastly, he explained what he felt in most of these scenarios to explain why he did what he did. But Rosa didn’t seem too impressed.

She listened with her arms crossed and didn’t interrupt. When he finished she uncrossed her arms, picked up her coffee, drained it and put the cup down.

“This is either the most creative lie in history or you actually lost your mind.” Her voice sounded just a bit amused and Eren captured that part.

“I can prove it.”

“How?”

Eren looked around the cafe. Nobody on the balcony except them. He picked up a decorative stone from the railing planter, about the size of his fist and pretty solid. It was one of many random things put here to seem nice.

Nobody would care if there was one less.

So he squeezed it. The stone cracked in his palm and crumbled into gravel and dust between his fingers with some escaping parts blowing away to plants. He opened his hand and poured the remains onto the table to make a dramatic effect.

Rosa stared at the pile of crushed rock on the table.

“That’s not-”

He gave a similar one to her hand and she inspected it. Then Eren destroyed it again.

“It must be a-”

“Come outside!” He pulled her outside after paying for their bill.

They walked down to the street behind the cafe. Eren looked up at the building next to them. Three floors, old apartment style with iron balcony railings on the second floor.

“Watch.” He jumped.

But it wasn’t a running in a marathonic way and jump, no, he did just a standing vertical leap. And his body went up about six meters. He grabbed the second floor railing with one hand and held his entire body there with no effort. His feet dangled in the air and he wasn’t even straining.

He hung there for about five seconds, then dropped back down and landed without a sound.

Rosa’s mouth was open, then she closed it, opened it again, and closed it once more.

It was the first time Eren saw that someone’s mouth was open wide and oval like this. He always found this expression absurd but was glad it was true and people could do that.

“Normal people can’t do that Rosa. Old me also couldn’t even carry you when we were trying that porn move, remember.” It was one of the most embarrassing moments of his life and didn’t want to remember it actually.

“No shit!” She was whispering but it came out like a shout. “What the HELL Eren. How are you… Six meters? You just… With ONE ARM?”

“Almost 50 points in every physical stat. Average humans have 5 to 8. Mostly 5. So I’m about eight times stronger than a normal person.”

She stood there on the sidewalk processing what she’d just seen and heard.

Her brain was fighting between what she knew was possible and what her eyes had just watched happen. Eren could see the exact moment when reality won.

“Show me the door.” Her voice had changed. The anger was still there but something else was driving her now.

Curiosity!

The same stubborn need to understand that made Rosa good at her job and terrible at letting things go.

They walked back to the apartment without talking. At the apartment she followed him inside and stood in the bedroom looking at the mountain of supplies on the floor.

“What is all that?”

“Salt, medicine, tools, food. Survival supplies for the village.”

“For the elf village.”

“Yes.”

“You’re bringing salt. To elves.”

“They don’t have access to salt over there. It changes everything about food preservation.” He looked at her and tried to read what was happening behind those tired eyes. “I’m going back a little bit later Rosa. Through the portal so you can watch me go. And next time I come back, you can come with me if you still don’t believe me. I will take my parents to there if I can make it safer.

There are still some dangers but I’m planning to end it completely.”

Rosa sat down on his couch and pulled her knees up to her chest. She looked at the pile of supplies, then at Eren, then at the bathroom door upstairs where apparently a gate to another universe existed.

“You actually got someone pregnant over there didn’t you.” Her voice was sad and it broke his hearth. It was the first real talk they did today actually.

And he had to answer truthfully. “Yes.”

“An elf.”

“..yeah.” He muttered with his eyes still on hers.

She buried her face in her knees to escape his gaze. Her voice was muffled. “I don’t know if I want to kill you or if I want to see this stupid other world more.”

“Both is fine.”

She looked up at him and for the first time since he’d been back, she almost smiled. It lasted about half a second before it disappeared.

“Show me the damn door.”

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