The Author's POV

Not so far from where Ren and the Matriarch were, sitting on top of one of the rooftops of the houses in the distance, was a black humanoid figure.

"Kukuku...kukuku...oh...how interesting."

With his legs dangling off of the roof of the building, the demon's body trembled uncontrollably as he tried his best to contain his laughter. However, this did not last for long as he eventually laughed out loud and exclaimed.

"kukukuku..hahahaahahahaha...how fantastic!"

Clapping his hands, the demon looked as though he had just watched the most entertaining movie in his whole life. He just couldn't stop clapping his hands as he continuously shouted praises in the air.

-Clap! -Clap! -Clap!

"kukuku...what a fantastic twist to the story! Who would've expected such a twist? hahaha, fantastic! Brilliant! Bravo!"

After a while, pausing and placing his hand on his mouth, Everblood's smile deepened. Glancing at the black coffin beside him, Everblood slowly caressed it with his long and skinny black fingers.Â

"kuku...although I was supposed to be inside of the coffin recovering...my curiosity got the best of me, and eventually followed the Matriarch here..."

"...I just really wanted to see him you know?...you understand me right?"

Glancing back towards Ren's figure in the distance, with his elbow on his knee, propping his head with his hand, Everblood's smile twisted.

"...kuuuu, when I saw you I almost couldn't hold back my impulse and almost appear before you...I really wanted to appear right before you. I have so many questions to ask..."

"...How have you been since the last time I saw you? Do you remember me? Just how much have you grown since the last time I saw you?...just how much more can you entertain me before I can throw you away...?"

"The number of questions I have for you are so many that I can't even know where to begin with..."

Pausing slightly, Everblood covered his face with his large black hand. Thereafter, his body shook slightly.

"kukuku, what I saw was a lot more than I could've ever bargained for...kukuku, ahhh, to think that in such a short period of time you've grown up so splendidly...it was far beyond what I had expected..."

Holding onto his face with his long fingers, a look of insanity appeared in Everblood's eyes as he couldn't stop himself from salivating.

"...in fact, you've even made me, a baron ranked demon...slightly fear you...but isn't that great? With this my thrive to crush you increased even more...ahhhh, yes just imagining your future growth is motivating me to reach further heights!

Hugging his body tightly, Everblood shivered uncontrollably.

"Just the thought is sending shivers down my spine...oh Ren, thank you so much!"

After a while, Everblood stopped and stared at the gargoyle statue not so far from where he was.

Glancing back at the Matriarch that was on the ground with a large gaping hole on her forehead, Everblood's smiled.

"Although you've used some trickery to deal with her...it was still very impressive. I am impressed, Very impressed!"

"...such level of thought to detail and planning...you did not disappoint the expectations I had set for you..."

Staring at Ren extending his hand towards the Matriarch, Everblood stopped for a second. Soon after, as he saw Ren pierce her heart and swallow her core, Everblood's body started shaking uncontrollably.

"oh my? What's this? You're planning on taking Angelica under your control...kukukuk...hahahahah...this...this...this is just amazing!"

"To think you would do something like that...kukuku, hahahahah"

Laughing maniacally for the better part of a minute, Everblood eventually stopped. Thereafter, his face became serious.

"Fortunately, I had taken into account such a possibility beforehand...we wouldn't want our first meeting to be spoilt by something as insignificant as this now do we? No one likes spoilers after all"

Raising his right hand, Everblood snapped his fingers.

-Snap!

With a snap of his fingers, the Matriarch that was on the ground beneath Ren's feet opened her eyes wide for a split second. Thereafter, her eyes became white before quickly regaining their clarity.

It was so subtle that no one noticed her behavior. Not even Ren who under Monarch's indifference.

Staring at the Matriarch from above, Everblood nodded his head as a smile returned to his face.

"...with this, she should've forgotten everything about me."

During the last meeting with the Matriarch, Everblood had given her a demon fruit that she had shortly after ingested in order to recover from her injuries.

Having thought of the possibility of Ren possibly swallowing her demon core or interrogating her once he defeated her, Everblood decided to place a little something inside of the fruit...

Although he didn't poison it as that could've been easily discovered by her, he did add a little bit of a surprise for her.

...a little curse that made her forget about the encounter she had with him.

Many factors may have contributed to her not managing to find the curse, her unstable mental state, how well hidden the curse was...but out of all the reasons, the main one was the fact that the curse held no danger towards her.Â

Because it wasn't a potent and dangerous curse, the Matriarch was unable to sense the curse and thus swallowed the demon fruit without any wariness or apprehension.

...big mistake.

Staring at the Matriarch who was tilting her head in confusion, Everblood looked at Ren and smiled even more deeply.

"We can't be having you knowing of my existence just yet...Ren"

"Such an important moment will be saved for when our little game will come to an end...so hold on tightly till then. I will eventually come for you...and when I do, ahhhh...the heavens will rejoice"

-Fwap!

Extending his large bat-like wings, Everblood took the coffin of the cursed night with him and silently slipped away in the distance. Glancing towards Ren one more time, he smiled and said

"...I'll be seeing you in a while and when I do...next time...I'll let our game be even grander and more entertaining than ever before! kukukuku...ahahahahah!"

...

Saturday, Caïssa headquarters.

Sitting on my desk with my hands interlocked together, I seriously looked at Smallsnake who had his arms crossed and was glaring at me from above.

"Ren...care to explain what's going on?"

Hearing Smallsnake's flabbergasted and angry voice from the side, my mouth twitched.

"...Explain what?"

Raising his brow, Smallsnake retorted.

"Do I even need to point out what is wrong with the situation?"

"err...guess not"

...A week has passed since the incident in Rowa, and it was already Saturday. Thus taking the weekend off, I decided to head back to the headquarters of my mercenary group to meet Leopold whom Smallsnake had just recruited.

During the week I spent at the academy, nothing much happened apart from me regularly attending classes.

The only notable change was Kevin who seemed to be training even harder than before. Perhaps because of his loss against the Matriarch, or because he got his hands on a five-star sword manual, Kevin seemed to be putting everything he had into training.

Well, normally I would've been happy with this development as Kevin getting stronger was a good thing...but for the past week, my mind has been preoccupied with something else...

*Puff*

Not so far from where Smallsnake and I were, with his legs on the desk and puffing out a mouthful of smoke, Leopold stared at the ceiling of the room and joined in the conversation.

"I saw a lot of crazy stuff during my days in the Moonlight mercenary group...but this tops them all...if not for the fact that I knew this place was sketchy from the very beginning I would've long refused to come here..."

Briefly glancing at Leopold from the corner of my eyes, I looked back towards Smallsnake and seriously said

"Smallsnake...there may have been a little bit of a cock-up"

Raising his brow, Smallsnake pointed towards his right where a beautiful woman coldly sat with her arms and legs crossed.

"Oh? Prey do tell me if that has anything to do with the demon that is in our office, who apparently has been staying here for the past week without me knowing!"

Coughing in embarrassment, I stood up and walked towards Angelica. Glancing at both Leopold and Smallsnake I introduced her to everyone.

"...keummm...keummm...let me introduce you to our gest. Angelica von Doix, previous Matriarch of the charm tribe clan and a new member of our mercenary group"

"..."

"..."

As I finished introducing her to everyone, the room instantly became quiet as both Smallsnake and Leopold were at a loss for words.

With the cigarette still in his mouth, Leopold looked at Angelica who was coldly looking back at them.

...It looked as though she wanted to skin everyone in the room alive.

*Puff*

Removing the cigarette from his mouth and exhaling smoke in the air, Leopold couldn't help but say

"Well that's one hell of a cock-up"