"Still, Sage Eliza, I can say for sure that there might have been a lot of discrepancies in declaring Ivor as the OWB. How did they look past them?"
Eliza chuckled while playing with the green flame dancing over her index finger and said:
"People see what they want to see, Eren. There were indeed a lot of discrepancies, and Arthur shared them with me. He ignored them after considering one person in his mind.
That little eel's grandfather. What was his name again, hm? Yeah… Isen Osan. Arthur guessed that Isen was manipulative enough to create those discrepancies and throw him off.
Do you know what's funny though? Arthur had decided to ask for help from the person he didn't fully trust. And when Isen supposedly backstabbed him, he blamed the guy for being too devious. I guess he has a love-and-hate relationship with Isen.
Arthur believes Ivor is the Osan Woods butcher and Isen is his backer and protector. That's because it makes complete sense for him. That along with most of the evidence pointing at Ivor sealed the deal for the little eel here.
Arthur tells me Isen ran away along with his whole family the moment he sensed the danger coming for him. So all he needed to do was drop the guy here and wait for my confirmation.
Fufufufu! Now you tell me. What should I tell him?"
Eliza asked innocently but that made Eren frown. Ivor Osan had to be the unluckiest person apart from him. And he never technically hurt him.
That didn't mean Eren cared for him or tried to play the hero– telling Eliza to tell Arthur the truth. Eliza's question had a deeper meaning that didn't escape his mind.
If I tell her Ivor is the butcher of the Osan Woods, then the bull's eye behind my back would haunt Ivor instead. But that would mean Eliza would have the means to control me.
Haha! Now I understand what she meant by not needing a contract. Even if I leave the kingdom and try to reach the farthest corners of this continent, a bunch of high-ranked entities would keep on hunting me unless I become dead or get captured.
And it's not like she had to declare that I'm the Osan Woods Butcher to make Arthur hunt me in the first place. I'm sure Arthur won't think twice about anybody like me even without bothering to ask who I was or what I did.'
Eren caressed his forehead. He felt like he was going to have a killer headache. Too many shocks had been suffered by his psyche. For the time being, he was trying not to think about them to function. But new problems didn't seem to stop popping up.
"Al… alright, Sage Eliza. Please tell him it was Ivor Osan and that you got the beast. Are you planning to keep your end of the deal to him?"
Eliza flashed a bright smile at Eren when he agreed to her unwritten and unsaid blackmail. She knew he would get around. In a way, cautious and intelligent men were easy to predict for her.
"Hehehe. Since he didn't fulfil his end of the deal, I don't have to. But to keep the facade intact, I might have to offer him a piece of the pie he is trying to gobble up."
Ivor who was quietly listening and processing every word that had been said with keen and stoic expressions suddenly yelled out with an agitated voice:
"Wait. Eren, you can't do this with me. What have I ever done to you? My dreams. I wanted to be the most prominent ranker of my generation. You declaring me as the Osan Woods Butcher might…"
Eren's headache seemed to have been increasing. He pressed his temples and spoke up– interrupting the fake butcher:
"Listen here, Ivor. We don't even know if you'd survive past today. What future are you talking about then?"
Ivor was about to argue some more. But after listening to Eren's remark, it looked like a netherworld ice element had been used on him. The guy looked like a frozen statue.
"You want me to kill him?"
Eliza asked casually while raising her index finger again. The green flame she was playing with was still dancing over her finger. Eren knew that small flame would be all it would take for Ivor's body to pass through instant combustion.
Eren looked at Ivor and observed him for a while. The butcher could see it in the latter's eyes that he was struggling to come to terms with his eventual death. The butcher thought for a while before coming up with a plan:
"No. I don't like to leave loose ends. But…"
After saying until here, Eren stopped. Then he sat in front of Ivor who was already on his knees and said out loud:
"I won't say I sympathize with you, Ivor. Sure, I didn't plan this to happen. But am I glad that you have taken a huge boulder off of my shoulders? Absolutely yes.
Will your family suffer because of this? Yes.
But your family has already left you and is probably safe by now. You and I both know Isen Osan is not someone who'd get captured or interrogated by Edinburgh's forces. He must have been on a safe route out of the kingdom. If he is not already out of the kingdom that is.
Will your reputation get plummeted? Yes. But to a ranker, reputation is nothing but a passing cloud. When you break enough ranks, the reputation will follow.
What's so fun about breaking ranks with legal resources? If your reputation has already turned to shit, you might as well plunder all you want for yourself."
Ivor listened to Eren's statements and snorted his nose before saying:
"If being on the run is so liberating, why don't you do it?"
In response to Ivor's question, Eren just looked into Ivor's eyes and said flatly:
"Because, first, I don't want to. And second, I can avoid being on the run. You can't.
Simple as that."
