"Sure!" Ren agreed without thinking twice.

A happy smile spread across her face as Elara lowered her head slightly.

’He agreed right away.’

Her heart throbbed with happiness because this meant he was serious with his words.

He was serious when he said he would never harm her, he would protect her, and he wanted them to achieve their dream together.

Not only her, but Aveline’s face also blossomed into a smile.

Even though she had guessed this, hearing it directly from his mouth still made her happy because it was proof that the promise he had made to her was not empty words.

’We’ve found a great man, Elara!’

Her smile grew wider as her gaze was fixed on him.

Unlike Aveline and Elara, Hayden widened his eyes in surprise.

He was startled because normally, awakeners would think carefully when it was related to the blood oath.

And what surprised him most was that Ren agreed instantly, as if it were a trivial matter.

"Great!" Darian stated. "Let’s make the blood oath in the village square tomorrow, so the other villagers can witness it."

Hayden and the others nodded in agreement.

Shortly after that, they left.

Aveline, Ren, and Elara chatted for another twenty minutes before they finally entered the house to take a bath.

Like usual, they relaxed in the front yard after dinner.

Once Elara had fallen asleep, Aveline headed to his room to share an intimate moment with him.

"Are you going to visit my room every night from today onwards?" he asked abruptly.

Ren and Aveline were currently on his bed, naked. He was lying on his back while she was resting in his arms, facing him.

After chatting for about five minutes, she suddenly did adult things to him, so they ended up having sex again.

"Yes. I will make you unable to forget me before you return to Delvia Town." She always felt sad whenever she remembered he would go home soon because she had already gotten used to having him by her side.

But she could not ask him to remain in her village because he had a dream he wanted to achieve.

For this reason, she had made up her mind to have sex and lovey-dovey with him every single night because she would not be able to feel his warm embrace and hear his voice once he left.

"Then, I will wait for you every night." He also felt the same, so he was happy with her decision.

"Pervert!" She stated.

"Doesn’t that make us a perfect couple?" he asked with a smile. "After all, you are also a naughty lady!"

"Hehe." She didn’t deny it and only giggled softly.

The duo chatted until 1:00 am before they finally slept.

----

The following morning, the villagers went to the village square to witness the blood oath.

They were shocked when they heard that Elara would be following Ren to Delvia Town, but none of them went to Aveline to voice their disagreement because she had already agreed.

While the village folk murmured among themselves in shock and disbelief, Aveline drew a circle on the ground and added many symbols inside it.

The symbols were instructions for the mana to be used in a certain way. Every symbol was extremely important because it would determine whether the oath would succeed or not.

Once she was done, Aveline rose to her feet and told Ren to stand in the middle of the formation.

All the villagers instantly shifted their attention to him. Some people still chatted in a low voice, while the rest stared at him without saying a single word.

After he was in the center, Ren took out a small knife and made a light cut on his right index finger.

*Chime...

The moment his blood fell to the ground, the magic circle glowed red.

"I, Ren Starfall, vow to protect Elara and never harm her forever." Ren’s voice filled the air. "I also swear to help the Shadowleaf Village whenever it is in trouble and to treat its people as my own family."

The villagers were stunned by his second oath.

They thought he would only swear to protect Elara and never harm her, but they were wrong because he also made a vow to help them when they were in need and treat them like his family.

Aveline’s lips curled up into a smile while Elara murmured his name in happiness. Alaric and Hayden nodded in satisfaction while Darian grinned widely.

All of them were pleasantly surprised because they never expected him to include them in his oath.

"If I break my vow, may my blood dry up and lightning strike me to death." As soon as he finished his oath, the magic circle that had been glowing slowly faded and stopped shining.

"Haha! Everyone, we have one more family member now!"

"Welcome, Ren! You are fully one of us now!"

"Ren, how about we have a small party at my place tonight? The liquor I brewed last month will be ready this afternoon."

"Ren, I may not be a powerful awakener, but I know quite a lot about magical herbs. If you want to learn, come and find me."

They rushed to him and surrounded him.

Their behavior was much friendlier than before because they had already regarded him as one of them.

Ren was stunned when they instantly gathered around him. They even didn’t give him a chance to speak because they kept talking to him non-stop.

The moment Aveline saw his troubled expression, she decided to help him. She told her people to stop bothering him because she needed to say something to him.

Once they were in the gazebo, Ren could finally breathe again.

"You got me there, Ren!" Darian laughed as he slapped Ren on the back.

"You shocked me too, you know," Alaric added. "I thought you would only be our guest. Never did it cross my mind that you would become one of us! Haha."

"Elara, you are a lucky girl!" Sofia said as she smiled at Elara softly.

Elara didn’t say anything, but she looked at him shyly.

"Village head, doesn’t this mean he is one of your people now?" Darian joked around.

Aveline’s lips curled up into a playful smile. "That’s right. Ren, you are officially part of Shadowleaf Village now. So if you have trouble, you can come to me and share it with me. You can also cry on my shoulder if you want. Fufu."

"Haha!" Darian and the others laughed after hearing her teasing.

The corner of Ren’s lips twitched.

’Bad lady! Just you wait, I will punish you tonight!’

He could only smile awkwardly because they could not reveal their relationship yet.

After chatting for more than three hours, they finally left.

Time went by quickly and without realizing it, it had been four days since Ren had made a blood oath.

At this moment, Ren was strolling around the village alone. He decided to skip training because he would return home tomorrow.

’I will miss this lively place later.’

His lips curled up into a smile as he saw some children playing together happily.

While his heart was filled with sadness, Darian approached him and wrapped his hand around his neck.

"Why are you alone here?" Darian asked.

"Instructor Darian?" Ren was startled by his appearance.

"You will leave tomorrow, right? How about we enjoy this place together?" Darian inquired.

"Sure." Ren agreed instantly.

Then, they strolled around the village together.