Van furrowed his eyebrows as he looked at the old woman in front of him. If she was already here earlier, then why didn't she even try to help them calm her grandson down?
She was even smiling at Van now as if expecting something from him. This kind of nonchalant attitude sort of reminded him of… Ms. Elton.
Come to think of it, based on Ms. Elton's words back then, they knew each other. Ms. Elton was able to follow his speed with her eyes. And Charlotte… well, she would probably be able to squash Van before he could even turn on his skill.
Are all top rankers… this free-spirited? Van thought as he stared at Charlotte.
"Why are you looking at me, little man?", Charlotte let out a tiny chuckle, "Are you interested in me or something?"
"...", Van could not help but squint his eyes.
"Do your thing", Charlotte then said as she lightly hit the makeshift cage that she made to keep the rampaging Edward in check.
Seeing the expectant look in Charlotte's eyes, Van could only let out a long and deep sigh before placing his attention towards Edward.
"Edward, you need to turn off your transformation skill", he said. But his words seem to be reaching deaf ears as Edward continued to slam his body towards the cage, relentlessly trying to free himself.
Van could not help but click his tongue in frustration. Maybe he shouldn't have asked Edward to open up his Status Window as it made him even more frenzied.
Van remembered the first time he woke up and there were suddenly scribbles floating in front of him. He remembered panicking and even screaming, thinking that he was going blind.
But after a few seconds, he realized that those unreadable words that popped up in front of him were proof that he was a System Holder, which immediately turned his panic into excitement.
But for Edward, it would surely be different.
Van let out another deep breath. He didn't want to resort to this, but it was probably the only thing he could think of that would make Edward calm down.
"...You want to mate, right?", Van whispered. And as soon as his words reached Edward's ears, he slowly stopped moving around and leaned in closer to Van.
"You see that girl over there?", Van pointed towards Beatrice. "Her name is Beatrice"
Beatrice could not help but twitch her eyes, did she just hear her name being mentioned through all the grunting noise the two were making, or was she just hallucinating?
"If you turn back into a human…", Van slowed down on his words, "...there might be a chance that you can mate with her"
"!!!", Edward's solid black eyes fidgeted as soon as he heard Van's words.
"But you need to turn human first", Van added, "And you need to talk to her and give her gifts"
"Human… me?", Edward breathed out, the fumes that were coming out from his nose started to subside.
"Yes"
"I… can be Human?", Edward tilted his head.
"You are human", Van quickly replied, "You just need to turn off… whatever that is"
Charlotte, who was trying to figure out what the two could be talking about, could not help but cross her arms as she let out a deep breath. She was trying her best to contain herself from feeling uneasy as she might cause earthquakes here if she started trembling due to her nerves.
"If you want to mate… you need to be human first", Van continued.
"Human…?"
"Yes, Human"
"...Human"
"You are Human"
The group could not help but furrow their eyebrows as they watched as the two exchanged grunts one after the other. But after a few more seconds, the group could not help but widen their eyes in shock.
"Hu… man"
"!!!"
Edward let out a voice. It was quiet, a whisper even. But all of them heard it.
Edward let out a voice, and they were able to understand him.
Charlotte could not help but cover her mouth, afraid of letting out a sound and drowning his grandson's voice that she longed to hear through all these years.
"Hu… man", Edward's raspy voice once again entered their ears.
And then, he started to become smaller. The sound of bones hitting each other, the flesh and muscles that compressed and sounded like two different types of meat being squished together entered Van's ears.
Van could not help but slightly shiver as he watched the whole process. He was almost thankful that he didn't awaken as an Evolution-type.
Edward continued to transform as his size became smaller and smaller. And slowly, the fur that covered his body and his face receded, the long snout extending from his face started to align.
His head was starting to resemble that of a human's and his extremely long and disheveled hair started to grow from his scalp.
The extra limbs that he had have also finally disappeared, his limbs were now totally that of a human's.
Charlotte could not help but let out a stuttered gasp as she saw her grandson for the very first time.
"Ed… ward", Charlotte let out a muffled moan as she bit her lip, trying to keep her emotions in check so as to not scare his grandson.
Victoria also stood up from the ground and slowly walked towards her brother, her steps slow but filled with joy.
"G… grand… mother?", Edward uttered as he turned his head towards Charlotte.
"S...si… sister?", he then said as he looked at Victoria.
"!!!"
"B… brother. Y… yes, it... It's me", the tears that Victoria had been holding back instantly burst as she heard her name being called by her brother. Finally, she thought. After all these years, she was also finally able to hear her brother's voice.
In truth, Victoria could care less what Edward looked like, she just wanted to hear him call her name, to call her his sister. And finally… it finally happened.
"Ah.. ku…", Edward mouthed before stumbling on the ground and hitting the makeshift cage. His sedated steps made it obvious that he was not able to walk properly.
Seeing his grandson grunting in pain, Charlotte quickly lifted the cage and casually threw it to the side, destroying trees along the way.
She wanted to run towards her grandson and help him up. She wanted to hug him. But she chose not to do so. She was afraid that she wouldn't be able to control her strength and hurt him.
And so, she just nodded to Victoria and let her do it.
"Brother!", Victoria quickly hugged her brother tight.
"Victo--"
Before Edward could even finish his words, his head arms lifeless dropped down and his head tilted to the side.
"Brother!?"
"He's alright", Charlotte quickly said as she closed her eyes, "His breaths are a bit unstable, but his heart is beating properly"
"You, golden boy", Charlotte then turned her head towards Harvey.
Harvey could not help but flinch from suddenly being called by Charlotte, "M… Me?", he stuttered.
"Can you carry him back to the mansion?"
"Y… yes!", for some reason, Harvey instinctively saluted towards Charlotte before gently lifting Edward from Victoria.
Beatrice quickly rushed towards Victoria, assisting her and asking her if she was okay. And with a smile, Victoria nodded her head without even a slight hesitation. She then turned her eyes towards Van.
"Thank you", she said as she bowed her head deeply.
Van only waved his hand in response, saying it was nothing.
"Albert, escort them to the mansion", Charlotte ordered.
"Yes, madame"
Van could not help but let out a deep breath. It was finally over, he thought. Even though everything happened in a short time, it felt like one of the longest situations that Van has ever been in.
He was about to join Beatrice and the group, but Charlotte stretched her arms and blocked his path.
"!!!"