Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil

There was no despair or shame in Eren's voice that Roody was expecting. It sounded like he was just saying the usual things. Like two plus two equals four. And in this case, it was.

But that didn't stop Roody from being dumbfounded by Eren's nonchalant expression.

"You… are you serious?"

Eren nodded before replying

"I am. I would have accepted my loss right now if it was allowed to."

Roody didn't reply after that. For some reason, Eren's rational words made all the irritation Roody had accumulated in his heart vanish into thin air. So he sighed and proceeded forward to have his inter-year ranking match.

Just as Eren had said, White Raven had lost against Roody's Wreckers. Eren and his team had improved tremendously over these three months. But without the battle passes, they couldn't fill the gap of power and experience they had with their opponents who were equally hard-working as them if not more.

Eren didn't put much of his efforts into the match either. That's because he wanted to pacify the second-year students with his loss. The butcher thought one huge win was enough for the time. He didn't mind losing some Merps in favour of second-year students leaving him alone. He couldn't say he liked losing his Merps, but he had made peace with it.

"Guys like you are rare, Eren Idril. Glad to have met you, even when it was not on the best of terms. Let's grab a few drinks sometime."

Roody brought his hand forward for a handshake with Eren and the latter accepted his gesture. The former smiled lightly before starting retiring from the battle with his entire team.

"Eren, why did you tell us not to give our best efforts in winning the match? We had a fighting chance, you know."

Becky complained like always. Eren smiled like he didn't mean it before replying:

"No, WE didn't. You all are too green to think that you could win against second-year students without the battle passes.

I had a fighting chance if I were to fight only two of them, excluding Roody. I could have taken care of them using Renita the way I did last time.

Of course, they would have been prepared for my moves, so it would have been a lot more difficult. So I would have been taken out as well as soon as I got rid of their tank and fog-element guy.

I certainly couldn't have stood a chance against Roody."

Jake heard Eren's statement and agreed with him fully. But he added his own thoughts as well:

"I think Eren didn't want us to conflict with the second year. Sometimes taking a step back can help you go a long way."

Eren looked at Jake and patted his shoulder before commenting

"Spoken like a true businessman in the making. I have high hopes for you, Jakey. My White Raven shop isn't going to run by itself.

By the way, you guys should worry about the upcoming Besanc missions. I'm sure you must have started attending the live demos already."

Everyone affirmed what Eren was asking them. The Besanc was going to open for most first-year students who had sufficient prowess and battle experience to participate in Besanc missions now.

Eren had been preparing his teammates for these missions for a long while now. The Besanc team missions were lucrative in terms of money and resources. But why were they equally dangerous as well.

Most of the first-year parties would have their teammates heavily injured or killed in the Besanc missions. That would result in parties being dispersed and new parties getting formed as a result.

The butcher didn't want to put his efforts into recruiting members he couldn't completely trust because of the danger level of these missions. Neither would he shy away from those missions.

That's why he had invested so much time, effort, and resources into his teammates. It was almost time to receive dividends on that investment.

But before that, Eren needed to meet with a certain person using one of his aliases for one last time. That was because he had received an interesting message from that person.

**********************

"You sure took your time getting here, Ronny. I hope everything's alright. Perhaps you have new followers now? Hehe!"

Julie Ekheart commented right after she saw Ronny AKA Ron Damien come to the place they had met and drunk before. She had used Eren's anonymous contact method that he had shared with her to contact him.

Eren had decided to burn his Ronny aliases for good. And he wouldn't have come here even for this bodacious beauty. But the offer she had presented him with was tempting.

Ronny had worn a face mask like every other participant in the auction event. Furthermore, he hadn't been captured by the recording device. So his face was still a mystery. The bounties announced on him only contained him with his mask on.

So nobody would have suspected Ronny to be the same person who was currently one of the most-wanted criminals. But Jules was different. Because she had come in contact with him before this kingdom-shaking event took place.

Julie had connected the dots between the Ronny she met and Ron Damien that was currently being talked about throughout the kingdom. That was because of Ronny's talk with her.

Ronny had said to Julie that he was serving as a middle man between his employer and his customers in the underground market. And Ron Damien in the news was said to have conducted an auction event of a few peculiar ranking items.

So Julie contacted Ronny and asked him to come to meet her. She wanted him to be a part of her organization. An organization with which she couldn't allow her association made public.

Just like Eren, Julie had another facet to her. She was a cultist too!

AN: Thanks Waakaranai for your gift. Hope you catch up with the latest storyline soon. You are way too behind lol.