Day 29: A mountainous region close to the fourth and final testing ground for Sage Legacy.
The sky was painted in shades of orange and yellow even though there was no sun to be seen, indicating that it was evening time. The winds created howling sounds as they carved their way through green valleys. Even then, the world felt completely silent because of the absence of wildlife in the region.
A group of rankers was gathered on the cliff of a 3000 meters tall mountain. A nearby mountain served as its perfect companion. The adjacent mountain had a ramp-like long cliff as well. The two cliffs were only a few meters apart, making them look like part of a broken bridge.
The group needed to reach the cliff on the other side to get to the final Sage Legacy. It was the fastest way for them to get there. Of course, the rankers had to come here after taking so many detours. Due to the siege, they separated from each other and went in different directions.
The group of rankers used this place as a rendezvous point to gather and discuss a few things. They needed to talk before they moved on to claim the last Sage Legacy.
The talk reeked of unspoken heaviness. It was because one of their teammates had died in the process of breaking the siege.
The gathered rankers had gloomy expressions on their faces. The group's healer had bloodshot eyes and her cheeks were still wet even after wiping the tears. Everyone needed some kind of closure.
"How… how did she die?"
Steve asked Eren while lost in his own thoughts. Just like Renita and Jake, he refused to believe that Becky had died at first. It took a while for Eren to convince them that she was one of the casualties in the Sansara World.
Eren told his teammates that he intercepted Becky's fight after he had dealt with his share of enemies. He had run away from his enemies after killing three rankers and found Becky's battlefield on the way, which was a half-truth.
The butcher told them that he had already taken care of her killers and had also provided her with last rites. This was so that Steve and the rest wouldn't get distracted by feelings of revenge at the time of claiming the last Sage Legacy.
The butcher knew how the human mind worked. Nobody alive and logically sound could be completely devoid of emotions. He wasn't an exception to this rule either.
However, not everybody channels their anger and hatred in the right way. It is not possible for everybody to turn negative emotions into a driving force for success. Instead, their emotions would blind them and make them unable to do what was in front of them.
The butcher guessed that Steve, Jake, and Renita would eventually come around to make peace with his deed even if they knew what he had done. However, he reckoned that the rest of the members wouldn't be able to digest his actions. They would subconsciously start putting themselves in Becky's shoes and feel terrified by the butcher's coldness.
Most rankers liked the idea of camaraderie even if it came across as impractical in certain situations. The butcher was not there to change people's mindsets about that idea.
It was better to provide these rankers with limited information for their own good. It was better to make them wear metaphorical blinkers, which would allow them to focus on the current tasks at hand.
Eren's actions post-Becky's death could be seen as the necessary evil that held his team together. He didn't mind using tactics based on untold facts and half-truths if they helped him retain them.
Just like Edinburgh's founding Sages in the shadows, Eren was a master in the art of perspective management. It was not to say that he liked manipulating his teammates. But it was a task he would do nonetheless if it could bring him desirable results.
After all, a Sage Legacy was at stake. It was crucial that everyone was on board and motivated for the same goal.
After killing them, Eren had come to know that there were three elven infiltrators in the group who had fought with Becky. She could be said to be the victim of the political power play that was taking place between the two kingdoms.
However, it didn't matter which side killed Becky. The fact that she was killed was unchanged. So that's what Eren focused on while addressing his team.
"Well… Looking at the scene… I can say that Becky killed two rankers from a team of 8 and critically injured another two. But the remaining four managed to overpower her before I intercepted the fight.
Of course, I killed the remaining four rankers. I take no credit for killing them. They were easy to deal with because of their situation. Still, I am glad that I was there and finished what my team's mage had left incomplete."
Another short period of silence was observed by the team. It was Renita who broke the silence by asking her question.
"Eren, couldn't you have approached the fight sooner?"
The butcher smiled mirthlessly at Renita. He didn't want to lie to his teammates no matter how expertly he could pull something like that off. However, he also knew that his teammates weren't capable of understanding his point of view. There was a difference between his reality of life and theirs. So he chose to take the middle way.
"What do you think?"
Eren walked up to the edge of the cliff and stopped just before his next step dropped him down the mountain. He held his hands behind his back before speaking in a clear and steady voice.
"I know what some of you may be thinking. That I saw Becky as an eyesore. That I might have let her die because I didn't approve of her constant objections to my decisions. I am here to tell you that couldn't be further from the truth."
