Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil

"I'm sure that the Derringers would have plenty of ways to make an Ace ranker submit his land to them."

Agatha said while eating with a worried expression on her face. Eren nodded at her to indicate that he agreed with her line of thoughts. But then he smirked before responding.

"That is indeed true. Our side is bound to appear weaker in negotiations with the big leagues if you and I lead the negotiations. But what if a high-ranked entity with a solid background does that for us?"

Eren said and started eating. Agatha had ordered his favourite kebabs for him skewered with what appeared to be mega toothpicks. The meat was prepared from an unranked mana beast.

So it didn't have any rank-strengthening properties. In ranker's terms, it was fast food. But that didn't stop Eren from having it. He liked fast food. He had lived almost all of his previous timeline's life on fast food after all.

Agatha had ordered herself a bunch of Novice ranked dishes. Eren wanted to tell her that buying stuff in small quantities only to have more of it in terms of varieties shouldn't be seen as maintaining a healthy diet. But he refrained from saying that and let her process what he said.

"You mean you have someone who can do that for us? Your aunt Nina?"

Eren shook his head in denial before answering her.

"I won't mind Nina representing the White Raven Guild as well. And she would happily do it since she is also here, in the Nightshade duchy. But we need someone who is not only a high-ranked entity but is also backed by a known and powerful organization. Only then can we successfully get into business with the Derringers.

Don't worry though. I have just the person in mind. I'll take care of it before the meeting with Derringer takes place."

Eren said and gobbled almost all of the kebab pieces from the food trolley. He then turned his attention to the escalope served with salsa. He started eating it piece by piece without using the utensils as he listened to Agatha's next question.

Agatha finished her breakfast and cast her spell again to clean her hands. Then she started massaging her forehead just above her eyebrows as if she had just started to understand the hectic workload lined up in front of her.

"Alright. I'll let you worry about it. It's not like you haven't done crazy things before. I'll leave now and start working on these things.

Sigh. You sure know how to make me work."

Agatha smiled nervously. She then took all the documents and scrolls Eren had given her into her storage and prepared to leave the room. But then she felt a light tug on her right wrist and before she knew it she was in Eren's embrace.

"How was our first time?"

Eren asked Agatha while caressing her hair and planting a kiss on her forehead. The latter was taken aback by the sudden development. But she welcomed it nonetheless and replied with a smile on her face.

"Couldn't have asked for anything better."

Eren smirked before responding.

"Look forward to the next time."

Eren released his embrace and let Agatha go. They had already worked on some of the finer details about their plan the rest they would figure out as per the situation.

Eren was laying the groundwork to enter the pool of sharks and carve out a piece of territory for himself with his grand-scale plan of establishing White Raven city. Land of Minerva's Utopia was going to be a guild asset, as well as a source of fortune and trouble for the guild.

However, he found the potential problems that would arise to be too mediocre. He would always compare those problems with Eliza in his mind and would laugh at himself for underestimating them. He knew his perception of danger had been changed forever ever since he met the first Sage in his life. And yet, he could do nothing about the way he processed his situation.

"The vultures are bound to appear when they see a juicy piece of unclaimed meat."

After some silence in the inn room, Eren spoke. He took a long drag out of his smoke before speaking to himself once again.

"Let them come then."

Eren said and walked out of the room, heading downstairs using the array-powered platform serving as the lift. Altashia had already told him that she had gotten fresh and was waiting for him at the inn's lobby.

'I'm surprised you didn't enslave Agatha with your Sins ability, Eren.'

Alephee asked Eren when he was heading downstairs. The lift had no doors or walls. It was just having a slow and steady descent through an open passage meant for its dedicated use. The scenery in front of the butcher kept on changing as he answered her question.

The target's perception of me changes because of that ability. I can't control that part of the ability yet. Why would I break my assistant's personality just to make her do the same stuff while looking at me with starry eyes?

Changing perceptions is dangerous. Women who are enslaved by me using that ability can never offer me any advice or object to anything I say. Because for them, everything I do and say is correct.

Although I take a lot of precautions when doing something, it's better to have an unfiltered second opinion. That's why I won't abuse that ability recklessly.'

Eren said as he stepped off the array-powered platform. He could see Al in the distance, sitting on the couch that was meant for the inn's guests. So he started approaching her.

But he was frozen in his steps just a few meters away from Altashia when he heard Alephee's next words.

'That makes sense. By the way, Eren. I didn't say this yesterday because you were busy with Agatha. And I guess she doesn't know it herself. Someone has also used masking magic on her.

But she's a real half-blood.

Maybe you should listen to her story when she tries to tell that to you the next time.'