Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil

Shaai found herself compelled to provide answers when Eren pressed for information.

Overcoming her initial hesitation, she spilled the beans.

Eren learned that the Demon Prince of Lust, Asmodeus, had cautioned the upper-echelon members of the Darkmoon Fellowship about a potential infiltration threat.

While Asmodeus didn't reveal the identity or motives of the infiltrator, he advised them to take precautionary measures.

Despite the Darkmoon Fellowship's confidence in their recent recruitment of new talent, they heeded the suggestion from the Demon Prince and decided to proactively address the warning.

While the coven wasn't overly concerned about the lower-level Practitioners, they took special notice of individuals like Jolly Jalen, who was relatively new and possessed enough strength to pose a significant threat.

The coven, mindful of the potential challenges posed by the Hvergelmir Springs, aimed to expand its ranks rather than lose existing members. However, it also wanted its members to be loyal to its cause. Otherwise, the overdrive of recruitment would backfire.

Shaai was tasked with restraining Jolly by implanting mana-core-based restrictions, ensuring his allegiance to the coven. The goal was to dissuade potential spies or thieves by placing their mana core under scrutiny.

Of course, the organization didn't want to persecute Jolly without any good reason. The guy's track record was relatively clean and his identity was well-established. He also didn't give any reason for the coven to act against him.

Prosecuting Jolly for no apparent reason was bound to make their future recruitment of high-ranking entities harder. Considering the potential arrival of the Hvergelmir Springs in the near future, the coven only wanted to hire more people in its fold and not lose its existing members.

More importantly, Shaai was not instructed to retrograde Jolly's mana core by extracting his essence. This action was an impulsive decision on her part, driven by the allure of Jolly's vibrant vitality and rich Elemental Attainment.

Tempted by the nourishing quality of Jolly's essence for her own mana core and Elementalist Path, Shaai took unauthorized liberties in the process. She could always claim that her suspicion of Jolly was still not over and took some harsh measures against him.

Shaai also informed Eren that, following Asmodeus's advice, the coven had uncovered spies from foreign organizations. It was a shot in the dark that landed on the mark.

One group of spies belonged to the Helenbora Coven, a reputable entity with comparatively lesser strength than the Darkmoon Fellowship. The second group of spies was associated with a mysterious organization, rumored to be supported by a Saint-ranked archer elf.

***

"Interesting," Eren mused to himself upon hearing Shaai's explanation. He then regarded her with curiosity before posing the next question.

"What is the coven up to these days? What is it that you guys have that the other sides covet?" he inquired, concluding his most expensive drink in Labh Salem thus far.

"Beats me," Shaai replied with a nonchalant shrug. "The captured spies aren't opening their mouths even after the rounds of torture we put them through," she added in a helpless tone.

At this juncture, Shaai was convinced that the individual behind Jolly did not align with either group of spies. Otherwise, there wouldn't be surprise in his reaction to the news; he would even attempt to conceal it rather than express curiosity.

"Get me in the room with those spies. I will help you get some truths out of them," Eren declared bluntly, his chin receiving a thoughtful caress.

The butcher sensed an unusual convergence of the Helenbora coven, Saint Nira Nightshade, and the Darkmoon Fellowship, and he harbored a growing curiosity. If possible, Eren aimed to exploit the benefits that might arise as these three factions clashed.

"Haah! Do you think you have the clearance to interrogate the spies?"

Shaai snorted, eyeing Eren. "Not to mention, we have tried our own methods of torture on them. I don't think you'd get something out of them when even our S-Ranked entities failed," she added, expressing a touch of indignation.

"Let me worry about what I can or can't get out of them. You worry about how to get me into the same room with those spies," Eren asserted, gazing out the windows. At this point, he recognized the necessity of spending time within the Darkmoon Fellowship to unravel the depths of this mystery.

Eren's deceased pseudo-avatar had faced an attack by Nira Nightshade and her subordinates when he sought information on a mysterious treasure mentioned in the memories of a Helenbora witch.

As the butcher discerned, Nira's force and the Helenbora coven were both pursuing the same objective, and the clues or key to the treasure resided within the Darkmoon Fellowship.

Such circumstances clarified the infiltration of spies by the two factions. The members of the Darkmoon Fellowship coven, however, remained oblivious to the treasure land or Nira Nightshade's interests.

As such, Eren guessed that the captured spies had not been interrogated with the right questions.

The Osan Woods' Butcher, confident in his own methods of torture, merely needed some alone time with these spies to extract the information he sought.

"Well, you can earn contribution points by completing missions assigned by the coven and then ask—" Shaai was interrupted by Eren before she could even complete her sentence.

"Nope. I don't want to play that game for years on end. I don't have that much time. What's next?" Eren asked while rejecting the first option suggested by Shaai.

"Um… you can try to break into the S-Rank and become a Kaiser," Shaai said after pondering for a while. "I– I guess I can recommend you as one of the grand elders in the co–" Before Shaai could complete her response she was interrupted again.

"Nope. I will not achieve a breakthrough into the S-Rank. At least not anytime soon," Eren shook his head. "What else?" he asked casually.

By this point, Shaai was internally fuming. She would have puffed her cheeks in indignation if she didn't want to act maturely in front of this mysterious man.

However, under the threat of survival, she had to come up with the quickest way to meet Eren's needs. And she eventually did.