Will Evaan appeared at the scene of the battle using a space-element array.
He was accompanied by Renar, Viper, and Seref. Seref was a D-Rank plant monster Will, Renar, and Viper had trained. Under their guidance and with the right resources, Seref had transformed himself into a functional member of the rankers' society.
Eren had already left the place with Alephee, Argo, and Sienna. He had given Will's team all the instructions they needed to create a royal conspiracy. He had left the living undead Meera on the battlefield. Krista's team was supposed to be killed by her hand.
Meera had worn a mask to cover her face. Alephee had cast her own magic on her that wouldn't make her come across as a living undead. Will was instructed to deliver Krista, Lambert, and Ruper to her and she would take care of them using instructions imprinted on her consciousness by Eren.
Will saw Meera and nodded at her. The living undead nodded back. Will then proceeded to observe the battlefield and see what Eren had left for them to clean.
Will was a mini giant with a 12-foot stature. He could see things from an elevated point of view from Renar. He looked at Eren's battlefield with a serious look on his face before commenting.
"Your boss has left no stone unturned in making our job difficult. We ended up becoming his clean-up crew."
Renar could also see the signs of death and destruction still present in the surroundings. He nodded to Will's words and responded.
"True. He should have at least given us a heads-up a month before. We have so much work back at home and now this. I'll demand extra pay from him for all of us."
Seref nodded affirmatively before uncorking a vial of Potion of Innocence. He drank the vial and let it get processed by his system before commenting.
"Seref needs some more water and sunlight exposure. Seref doesn't want to stay in the underground facility anymore."
Seref could synthesize potions in his system and mirror their effects in his wood-element creation spells. As such, he was an ideal choice for Eren to clear his residual signature from the crime scene more thoroughly and precisely.
Seref could also communicate with Eren's woodland creatures in a limited capacity. Upon Eren's instructions, they would listen to Seref and help the team keep the three hostages alive and handicapped.
Viper's eyes twinkled when he heard about extra pay from Renar. He also made his demands clear.
"I… I need some bonus and paid vacation to spend some time with my girl."
Will looked at Renar and the company and shook his head. He sighed before getting to work. They were indeed Eren's clean-up crew, who summoned her to muddy the waters for him and create a royal conspiracy.
Behind the group were the limbless Krista, Rupen, and Lambert. They still had a woodland creature stuck to their bodies, which was siphoning their life essence at a steady pace.
Will and his team got to work while Meera approached the three rankers.
Will saw the number of bodies Eren had left behind for them and had stress lines on his forehead. Whoever the butcher killed was in particularly terrible condition. And when he found Nico Chains' dead body along with his dead demon beast, he knew how critical his task was.
'Master Levine had picked up a dangerous student for herself. They say that Demonmir was like a death storm for his enemies in his early years. This guy is no different from him. I wonder what would happen if they met face to face after this mess gets known to Demonmir.'
Will sighed once again before disintegrating the bodies with his spell. Eren reminded him of Demonmir. Except, Demonmir had the protection and resources of his clan backing him.
Eren, on the other hand, was a self-made man. And after observing the carnage he had unleashed on the battlefield, one could argue that he was even more of a demon than Demonmir himself.
Keeping Will and the team on the scene crafting a royal conspiracy, Eren ensured that neither the White Raven guild nor his city would get into trouble. It didn't assure him of his safety one bit. But that was something he couldn't help with anyway.
***
Sienna Slughorn opened her eyes and her vision slowly returned to her.
"Re... Regan. Where…"
Sienna remembered that she was in the midst of a battle with the ambush target before she was forcefully put into slumber. She tried to channel her mana through her body to get rid of the drowsiness and fatigue she was feeling.
A binding rune, however, had cut off her access to her mana core. A woodland creature held Sienna in her embrace, siphoning her life essence and making her too weak to do anything but remain awake.
"You! Eren Idril!"
Sienna opened her eyes wide in shock when she started to look around. That's because she found a black-haired green-eyed man staring at her with a blank face.
"Eren, release me this instant. You do know which House I belong to, right? You are already in trouble with all the wrong people. Don't dare to…"
Sienna was about to continue what she was about to say when Eren looked away from her. Only now did Sienna realize that a young girl was standing beside Eren in a black Gothic dress.
"It's funny really. I no longer hate her even after seeing her in front of me. At least not as much as I thought I did. I'll kill her just to put an end to the matter. But that's just it."
Eren opened up to Alephee. He realized that the satisfaction that he was going to have in killing Sienna was not because he was about to kill her. However, the chapter that he had opened in my past life was coming to an end.
Alephee looked at Eren and observed his expressions. She felt his steady heartbeat and his serene mind. There was a certain calmness that was getting reflected in his eyes.
The homunculus smiled before commenting casually.
"Go ahead, Eren. We often close one chapter in our lives to start another. Get rid of the calluses you have on your heart."
