Chapter 18. Family reunification.

Two months later, most of the rune knights left the city, the rest continued to patrol, but they were rarely seen. Also on many stands on the street, as well as in the guild itself, a new task appeared, "to investigate a case in the Eastern Forest" and this A-rank mission with a reward of one million precious. When Eros saw this award, in the first second, he was tempted to surrender himself, but quickly threw this crazy idea out of his head.

***

Two months later, Eros finished the first stage of training and proceeded to the second. Gildarts gave him a rather strange silver bracelet, wearing which, he experienced a sharp outflow of magical power by 10%, as well as a constant outflow slightly exceeding the recovery rate, but the most unpleasant thing was due to the fact that all the magical power pumped out of Eros fell into the bracelet , and that, in turn, increased the weight of titanium by 15 kg. And for what Eros wanted to shake Gildarts' neck very tightly, it became a function that every week, the weight grew by 5 kg, and the magician left / fled on a mission and when he would return, it is not known, Eros could not take off the bracelet himself, due to a lack of knowledge in the fields artifacts and runes.

And in such conditions, Eros lived for almost four months, while the workouts that strengthen the physical condition of the body did not disappear anywhere, because Gildarts did not forget to leave a note on the door of the house with a regime for two months, as well as with a registration that if it did not happen after two months, then start all the exercises again.

Eros cursed Gildarts hundreds of times every day, and especially vehemently when he grabbed the lula from the Macaque and returned beaten. But even this had its advantages, Lily had practice every day, and also, he found an ally in the person of Makarov, who promised to help pile on Gildarts. And for the last four months, Eros lived with only one thought, it was to beat Gildarts, only this made him not give up and go forward.

***

And then came the day that Eros had been waiting for the last four months. Gildarts returns to the guild. The ringing of bells, for him, was the most pleasant sound that could only be heard, and when the earth trembled, the most terrible possible smile appeared on his lips, seeing which some magicians felt fear and wanted to be as far away from its owner as possible.

A couple of minutes later, a tall and muscular man appeared on the doorstep, with reddish-orange hair combed back and brutal stubble. A good-natured smile played on his lips.

- Hello, sun ... - but before he could finish the last word, something happened that made everyone freeze from shock. A giant fist flew out from the back of the guild mages and hit Gildarts straight, as a bullet flew out of the guild.

- Thank you, master! - shouted a grinning Eros and ran out of the guild at full speed.

- Give him the right amount! - Shouted pleased Makarov.

- YES!

Everyone in the guild looked at the guild master with fucking faces.

***

- So you meet your favorite mentor? - knocking the dust off his cloak, asked the magician, - Yes, even with the master conspired ... - dodging his fist, he continued, - Apparently you are offended at me ... - and again dodge and block, - Yes, let me finish speaking already.

- Oh, you old shit! Yes, I almost died because of your fucking bracelet, and you decided to joke around here, - with all his fury, Eros attacked the senior magician, but he only playfully blocked his every blow.

- You yourself wanted to become stronger as quickly as possible.

- Stronger! STRONGER! NOT WITH A CRAWLER!

- Well, you have become much stronger, because your speed with a weight of 100 kg is not inferior to the one that was without weight four months ago, - he said, blocking a blow to the jaw with his right hand, his left second blow to the stomach, and a third kick to the most intimate place - HEY! No need to beat there!

- You still don't need it anymore, - Eros exclaimed angrily, again trying to hit the same place, but was thrown by one slap in the face right into the nearest tree, knocking that one down.

- It's not up to you to decide, - with a chuckle, Gildarts went to the lying body and took off the bracelet from Eros's hand and the next moment, he blocked the titan's fist a centimeter from his face, - Your speed, something with something, but for now it's not enough to catch me off guard.

- Truth? - Eros's face became more serious when he looked into the eyes of the magician, - You know why I am really angry, and "teacher"?

Gildarts was very surprised, and was wary when he saw the boy's serious look.

- I'll tell you a story, - the magician was taken aback by this, but did not interrupt his student, - Eight years ago, two young people met, a girl of incredible beauty and a young magician, they fell in love. Their relationship developed very quickly and after a couple of months they got married. But the husband was so busy with his work that he did not find time to spend with his family. And one day, when the husband went to work again, the wife, having collected all the things, left him. Upon learning about this, he grieved for a long time, but did not try to return it, and in order to stifle this pain, he again went to work. Six years later, news came to him that his wife had died of an unknown illness.

- And why, you decided to tell me this story? - the voice was even, without any emotion.

- A beautiful story, huh? - with feigned amusement in his voice, he looked at the magician, - Tell the teacher, isn't this man scum? After all, he threw his family into the background and cared only about work, although, as I say, such people cannot be called men, do you agree with me? - Gildarts was silent, he just stared at the floor.

The next moment, he got up and walked in the opposite direction from the guild.

- Teacher, where are you going? - he did not pay attention to the words of Eros and wandered on, - After all, the story is not over yet, but how to hear the continuation or are you going to run away again, like eight years ago?

- Boy, do you like poking around in other people's wounds so much? - his voice, would make any person freeze with fear, but for Eros, it didn't mean anything, - I don't want to have such a student anymore.

- Truth? - sarcastically stretched the titan, - It's a pity, but I so wanted to tell a story about the fate of a poor woman, that in a situation I left home and for almost six years raised my daughter alone, but in the end, unable to bear it, she fell ill, not a single doctor was able to help her and before she died, telling who her real father was, she died - for a long time, Gildarts stood still and listened to every word of the boy, his heart beat in a wild rhythm, - The little girl, having lost her mother, left the house and went to the place where her father works and for two years now, every time she tries to gain strength, tell her father that she is his daughter ... - the next moment, Eros appeared right in front of the magician and hit him in the jaw, throwing him back tens of meters - You know, in this story, I am most sorry for this girl that every day she sees her father and can only watch him from afar, - Gildarts still lay on the ground and looked at Eros with disbelief.

- How can this be ...

- Even after you learned that Cornelia was dead, you did not try to find out how she lived all this time, what she had to go through! The titan exclaimed angrily.

Eros was very angry with Gildarts, because both people were very dear to him. During these six months, he became very attached to this cheerful little girl, that he even began to consider her his younger sister and did not notice her sad look when Gildarts came, he simply could not and, suspecting something was wrong, the titan asked Makarov for help. After picking up all the documents and even visiting where Cana came from, they learned this secret. Then Makarov most of all blamed himself for all this, because it was he who sent Gildarts on missions, because only he and Gildarts could carry out S-rank missions.

But one thing really pissed off the guild master, is that this idiot was silent about everything. Makarov did not even know that he was married. And for this, he really wanted to beat Gildarts well for educational purposes, but Eros managed to persuade him to have this conversation. And so, Eros stands in front of the senior magician.

- Right now, you will go to the guild and ask Cana for forgiveness for your stupidity! And just try to escape again, then the master himself will personally conduct the educational process, - he got up on tinting legs, wiping the blood from the edges of his lips, went towards the guild, Eros followed him.

With each step, the speed of Gildarts grew exponentially, because after a couple of seconds, both magicians were standing in front of the guild doors. The senior mage, with a trembling hand, opened the doors.

There was no one in the guild, the building was empty and only one little girl was sitting at the table drinking juice.

Cana did not understand where everyone had gone, because as soon as her father and brother left, everyone after a couple of minutes, they also began to leave the guild, on the orders of the master. She was also going to leave, but Makarov told her to stay in the guild, so she had no choice but to obey and sit down at the table. And after a couple of minutes, the guild door suddenly opened, at first Kana thought that the others were coming back, but when she saw who was standing at the door, she froze and looked at her father with fear. The glass in her hand fell to the ground and shattered, but no one paid attention to it.

Gildarts went in her direction, making her tremble, and when he was already a step away, the girl closed her eyes and in the next moment, Cana felt herself in a strong embrace. - Cana, forgive me ... - tears came from the eyes of the girl and she pressed tightly to him, - Forgive your stupid father that left and made you suffer for these eight years, - he pressed her closer to him, - I never again will you I will leave, I will always be with you ...

As soon as Gildarts saw Kana, the image of Cornelia immediately appeared in his head ... Her long brown hair, brown eyes, her neat nose ... How could he be so blind not to understand that she was his daughter.

- Please, give me the right to be called your father ... - tears came from the man's eyes when he hugged this fragile girl that had been suffering all these years ...

- Dad ...

Having closed the doors, Eros wiped away the rising tears and turned to Makarov, who was standing a meter away from him.

- Thank you, - the old man said quietly, looking at the guild building with a slight smile.

- He is still my teacher, and Kana is like a younger sister to me.

- No, - he shook his head, - If you had not noticed it, how much then Cana would have lived with this pain and this fool ...

- Enough already, master.

At that moment, the rest of the guild members approached the building.

- Master, what's going on?

- Then you will find out, but now, if at least someone tries to enter the guild, I will personally knock out all the nonsense! - A red threatening aura began to accumulate around Makarov, making everyone get goosebumps, - EVERYONE IS ALL CLEAR ?!

- YES!