“Good day, miss… err… Adapt Marla. Looking as stunning as ever, I might add. I’m here to enter the forest for my missions.”
In front of Eren stood an Amazonian lady with jet black hair, olive skin, and light brown eyes. She was holding the reins of her ferocious-looking stallion while standing near the beast. Behind her were her subordinates and other academy staff managing the check-post.
Usually, the matters related to the students’ entrance and exit to and from the sanctuary were handled by the academy staff and Marla’s subordinates. But Eren acted like he didn’t know about these things.
Eren greeted Marla who was appointed at the check-post as an apt representative of both sides, the Amazons and the academy. He made a fist out of his right hand and placed it over his right peck, just above the heart while he bowed a little in front of her.
This was a formal way of greeting the superiors in the customs of Amazons. Eren had come to the sanctuary many times in the past timeline after he had started walking on the path of a berserker. Therefore, he had interacted with a lot of Amazons.
************
Amazons respected everyone even when they were a matriarchal society. The male members in their ranks were treated as respectfully as their female counterparts. It’s just that they didn’t have any claim in family inheritance or any other important place in society. There were other small restrictions and rules placed on the males, but they weren’t too demeaning or something difficult to follow.
The Amazonian females had special rights. They would serve as the family heads of their respective families. The leader of any hunter or adventurer party would almost always be a female unless there’s some special situation.
Plus, the Amazonian women were free to have intimate relationships with almost anyone as long as consent was involved. The concept of marriage existed in them. But it wasn’t forced upon.
So usually, the females would go through the pregnancy without marrying the father of the child. The couple could choose to stick together to be there for their child or could get separated while ensuring that the child is adequately looked after.
But great powers came with great responsibilities. The females were more responsible for taking care of their families and parties. They would be trained harder than their male peers from a very young age. And they would be the ones serving in the front lines in case of any conflict.
The Amazon had their own ranking techniques especially suitable for females. These ranking techniques allowed the females in their ranks to assert dominance over their male peers despite the innate physical prowess advantage of the latter side.
The Amazons were very particular about not letting these ranking techniques get out of their folds at any cost. The rankless entities had to sign an extremely restrictive contract to get access to these Amazonian ranking techniques.
But any Amazonian girl would gladly sign the binding contract after observing the effects it had on the practising female rankers. Overwhelming power was the way with which the Amazonians would make their presence known in society.
The rule of the strong gaining more benefits was observed in almost every society.
But it was observed more thoroughly by the Amazons, with advantages tilted towards the females.
**************
Coming back to Eren’s current situation. Marla was surprised a little by the kid’s way of greeting her. The Amazonian greeting wasn’t exactly a secret. But she didn’t expect a first-year LA student to perform it with the right posture and apt bow while maintaining eye contact.
The greeting was extended to the senior members of the Amazons by their juniors. So Marla didn’t have to perform the same greeting. She just patted her stallion to calm it down and nodded her head at Eren with a smile on her face before replying:
“Hmm! Kid, it’s good that you know the way of the Amazons. Therefore, I’ll allow you to call me Miss Marla. You don’t have to sweet-talk me into anything you know. I’ll let you enter the forest as long as you have missions under your name and a clearance from Besanc.”
“Aah! You got it wrong Miss Marla. I’m merely stating facts about your beauty. I’m sure you must have been told the same thing by hundreds of people if not thousands.
I know a novice like me shouldn’t talk to an Adapt like you without due prudence but I couldn’t help praising you a little after looking at you.
Isn’t there a saying in the Amazons?
‘The feminine deserves all the good things that come it’s way.’
Maybe my little praise was already heading your way before I said it out loud.”
“Hehehehe! Kid, did you date an Amazon girl before coming here to LA? How can you know so many little things about our society?
I can see that you are good at flattering the ladies. But I don’t dislike it. Anyway, usually this procedure would be handled by the academy staff you see behind me. But I’ll make an exception today. Show me your mission details.”
***************
Eren did not praise Marla without any reason. She was an excellent close combat expert. In the past timeline, she had taken Ken as her apprentice after seeing his potential. But in this timeline, he was bedridden. This was a perfect chance for the butcher to make Marla take HIM as her apprentice after displaying his potential.
Ken didn’t know that someone was screwing him over and over behind his back. He wasn’t sure about taking Marla’s offer yet. But the same offer was already eyed on by a vile evil he wasn’t even aware of.
Eren wasn’t delusional enough to think that these praises would be enough to make him replace Ken. The interaction was only supposed to make Marla see him in a better light. He still needed to prove that his calibre as an F-Rank novice was as good as Ken’s if not more.
****************
Eren’s spectral screen had a new prompt after Marla asked him to show his mission details. The prompt was asking permission to allow Marla to see the missions and the details he had taken under his name. The butcher allowed her to read the contents without any delay.
“So your name is Eren Idril. Let’s see. BTP of 14! Not bad. Recently registered with Besanc. Hmm? So many missions in one go! Are you trying to break a record or something?
Eren, the missions you’ve taken are all low-levelled but they increase in difficulty if you look at them collectively. Are you sure you can complete them all by staying three days in the forest? You might lose more Merps than you would gain in the tally if you take on unnecessary risks.”
“I’m sure Miss Marla. I’m planning to finish all the missions in two days, in fact.”
“Hehe! I like your confidence. Let’s see if you can complete all the missions in two days then. I’ll give you a three-star weapon if you can do that.”
“Hmm! Let’s talk about a different reward after I’m done finishing everything served on my platter first. I’m sure a magnanimous Amazonian like you would grant me this simple request of mine.”
“You want something else? Your ambitions seem higher than what I gave them credit for. Alright, let’s see your worth as a novice. Then, I’ll see what I can do about your request.”
Saying that Marla accessed her spectral screen and created a giant opening in the energy shield. Eren could pass through the shield now to enter the sanctuary.
The butcher bowed to Marla again before taking his leave. Marla’s subordinates and the academy staff were shocked by the kid’s confidence in talking to an Adapt ranker directly without even flinching.
Somebody higher enough in the administrative ladder used his credentials to pull up Eren’s record and found out that he had a C-Rank healer listed as his guardian in his records. Only that allowed the onlookers to make sense out of the kid’s bold behaviour. He was used to interacting with a C-Rank entity. No wonder he could hold himself talking to a D-rank one.
“Lady Marla, you want me to follow the kid? Maybe he’ll cheat to finish all his missions within two days to gain favour from you.”
One assistant professor from Marla’s panel asked her. She thought the kid was a little impudent talking to Marla so casually like that. The excuse of watching over him was just that, an excuse. She wanted to reprimand the scoundrel so that he wouldn’t make the same mistake again.
All of Marla’s panel was made of women. They were Amazonians too, just like Marla. But they were young and newly appointed by the settlement to serve under her. They hadn’t yet mixed with the outside society much. So they couldn’t think about a junior like Eren approaching a senior like Marla even in their imaginations.
“Almera, how many times have I told you? This is not our settlement. The academy and the society outside our forested heaven have their own customs. You don’t want to watch over him but teach him some form of lesson, don’t you?
Leave the boy to his devices. The test is to see if Eren could complete the missions in two days or not. It is not about how he does it.
And I’ll ask him in detail about how he managed to achieve his feat if he achieves it, that is. If I find out that what Eren did wasn’t impressive enough or if he is lying, I’ll just flat out reject him giving anything in return.”
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Author’s Note: Hello. VEH managed to secure a bronze trophy in WPC#218. Cheers! ?