The butcher could not grant Renar and Viper the mini-vacation they wanted. But he knew just the person who could cheer them up and make them work even more.
"Sorry, boys. No rest for the wicked.
We are about to enter the pool of sharks now. We can't afford to slack off.
Oh, there she is. Renar. Viper. Meet our Miss manager."
Renar and Viper turned their gazes to where Eren was looking and saw a beautiful girl approaching them. Agatha had worn her signature adventurer outfit– hit boots, cargo pants, and a simple-looking top hidden under her sleeveless leather jacket. Even though she was the manager, she liked to stick to her roots.
Agatha looked confident in her stride. As a ranker, her presence was mild yet subtly dangerous. As if she was a sheathed sword that only looked harmless because it was sheathed.
With such responsibilities came a sense of confidence. Agatha hadn't paid attention to grooming anything about herself physically or mentally. She just kept working on the assignments given to her by the butcher steadfastly, one step at a time. And that work had changed her, making a competent ranker and an exceptional manager out of her.
Renar widened his eyes when he saw Agatha's changed look. She was the same girl he knew way back when they were in the Beast Bloods. A girl who was set on doing anything she was assigned to with utmost dedication. This was so that she could get more ranking resources and achieve the fastest breakthroughs.
At that time, Renar was her senior. It was he who led Agatha, Viper, and Belar into attacking Eren's squad at that time. Later on, when they had been caught, he had asked Eren to spare the girl because it was her first job related to assassinating people. He had told them that Agatha was the most innocent among them all.
Eren had come to clean Renar and Viper after he burned off his Ronny identity. This was when he had met them a few days ago in the same city while waiting for Agatha's arrival. At first, Renar was shocked before wanting to kill Eren on the spot, even though he knew the guy could beat him up just fine. But after receiving several backlashes because of his contract with Eren, he had to drop the idea.
The butcher then treated Renar and Viper to a hearty dinner and booze as a form of consolation. This was the least he could do for putting Renar through such a horrible torture method.
It took a lot of booze and a lot of bullshittry from Eren's end to make Renar come to terms with his current condition. Viper eventually found it funny when he heard what Eren had put Renar through in the past. Eren didn't have to do much after that. Because Renar's anger was shifted to Viper instead of him.
Eren then also told the duo about Agatha, and that she would be coming to meet them in the city after she gets done with her work.
Renar couldn't believe that Eren had listened to his request of keeping Agatha out of harm's way in his own unique way by keeping her with him. Although Renar knew the butcher had a selfish motive, he didn't overlook the fact that his act had guided the naive girl in the right direction.
What surprised Renar, even more, was the fact that Agatha had broken into the Ace rank. This was despite the difficulty he knew she had faced in finding the right technique for herself.
The Beast Bloods had asked her to collect a significant amount of contribution points for a therianthrope technique that would barely work for her. This was the reason she had decided to start participating in assassination and ambush missions given to Beast Bloods members. Alas, she met Eren on her very first mission that was about to give her a significant amount of contribution points.
But at this point, she had achieved a breakthrough without the cultist organization's support. That meant she was equipped with a technique that was suitable for her.
Acquiring the Ace rank enhanced Agatha's beauty and feminine charms. Her presence was more lively and she seemed more rooted in reality than thinking about some distant revenge. Her mana signatures also seemed more attuned to everything around her to Renar. In short, she was doing well.
Renar had to admit that Eren had treated her well.
Renar had treated the young rankers given to him to lead as his younger siblings. So he was really happy seeing Agatha's progress.
Agatha was glad to see Renar and Viper too. Especially Renar because he had shown care for her. She hugged Renar and Viper with a smile on her face and started talking to them for quite some time while Eren stood there on his own.
It was a while before Agatha chuckled and asked her ex-senior. As if she wanted to ask him that question for a long time.
"Big bro Renar, this is something I have been meaning to ask you for a long time. Your name always intrigued me. Are you perhaps…"
What Agatha intended to say wasn't completely impossible. A lot of royal members were rumored to have sired royal bastards. Renar chuckled depressingly before shaking his head in denial before speaking up.
"You still focus on the tiniest things, Agatha. Haha! No. It's not what you think.
That was just my parents getting fascinated by royal names.
This world is filled with a lot of parents who just get inspired by the weirdest of characters. And then keep their child's name to their liking. Without thinking about what impact the child would have grown up with abnormal names."
Renar said and laughed. Agatha was also relieved that she wasn't dealing with any remote royalty. She couldn't help making a jab at Eren after thinking of something.
"Hehehe! And here I was thinking Eren has managed to rope in a royal for a guild that he has just started. No matter how much money we have.
We are still as poor as poor can be when it comes to running a guild. Which legitimate royal would even pay attention to someone like us?
We are basically starting from zero here."
Eren chuckled as well when he heard Agatha's remark. But he also felt that Agatha was excited about the project as well, no matter how much work she complained she had put in.
As a result, she now views the guild as her goal. So Eren listened to Agatha's complaints about how they had nothing and just smiled. And instead started talking to Renar as they made their way outside the inn. Their next destination was a carriage hiring service.
"How are things between Beast Bloods and Illuminati? Last I heard, there was some talk about two cultist organizations at war with each other. Was it them?"
Eren asked as he took out the Stellar Sativa stick from his storage and lit it up. He listened to Renar's response while feeling the relaxing effects of his smoke.
"You bet it was them. Hahaha! We fuc…"
Renar was about to cuss. But then he decided he shouldn't say offensive words in front of Agatha. In his mind, he was still treating her like a kid.
"Cough! We screwed them pretty badly, haven't we? They are still at each other's throats over the loss of their Adept rankers. Their skirmishes are common in the Lionheart duchy these days. Things are just looking to escalate between them at this point."
Renar said while getting excited.
