Eren ran his fingers through his hair and tilted his neck to his left as he kept walking. He stopped only when he was only an inch away from Jiana.
He smiled graciously before speaking to the Goldy Wings in the most welcoming manner.
"You know… I can only hope you are joking for everyone's sake.
Someone else becoming a guild master of White Raven? I'll burn this whole setup down to cinders if anyone even comes close to snatching it away from my hands. Only I can enjoy the fruits of my labor. If I can't have them, I'll make sure nobody can claim them for themselves either."
Eren's aura had manifested around him for the first time in the room. Even Nina was shocked by his sinister presence, a testament to how much death, destruction, and resentment he had caused till now.
Amory was even more taken back. He only had one thought running through his head as he looked at the butcher with apprehension.
'This man… How many people has he buried to lay the foundation of his city?'
Jiana had similar thoughts running through her head. She couldn't feel Eren's dominating presence because she wasn't physically present in the room. But there was something about the butcher's presence that affected one's very consciousness.
Her soul was already susceptible to such exposures due to her injury. As such, there was a part of her that was overwhelmed. Still, she felt that her rank had granted her some form of leeway. She took a deep breath before voicing her opinions.
"I understand how you must feel. But I feel the same way about the thought of assimilating my guild into yours, Eren. How about this? Give me administrative rights for the entire guild instead of a single division. As a Master ranker entity that has so much to offer to your guild, there's nothing wrong with me having these rights."
Eren shook his head in denial and cut her off.
"One's ranking status doesn't mean jack shit when it comes to handling guild-related affairs. It requires a calm and collected mind as well as the ability to keep emotions out of the decision-making process.
That position is already filled by Ace-ranked Agatha. And no offense to you Master Jiana but she's doing a better job than you ever would."
Jiana was ticked off when Eren claimed that as an Ace ranker nobody was doing a better job than her. She wanted to demand an explanation from the butcher for such a statement. But he beat her to it.
"You know what I'm talking about. It's your fatal flaw. It's just that your defense mechanism is preventing you from listening to your inner voice.
I quickly read through the incident report of the attack on your guild before coming here, Master Jiana. And I see a lot of glaring errors you committed in the heat of the moment. Due to this, your guild and guild members had to pay a heavy price.
You prioritized your guild members' lives when you could have finished off your opponents. You prioritized citizens' safety over the guild lands, resulting in both being compromised in the cultists' indiscriminate attacks."
Eren stopped giving Jianna the kind of respect her rank demanded of him. He knew he couldn't come across as weak when dealing with her. As weak as she looked in her current predicament, she was still a Master ranker.
The butcher also knew that hiring Master rankers into his fold when he had almost no prior background wouldn't be an easy process. One of the reasons he had avoided approaching the known Master rankers despite having sufficient funds to do so was because he expected some difficulty controlling their actions.
For all his achievements, Eren was still a weaker party when it came to individual strength. Yet, handling guild affairs was not related to one's individual strength at all. Thus, the butcher ignored the concerns of Aunt Nina talking to him in his mind and marched on.
"Why are you looking at me like that? Did I say anything wrong?
Maybe your guild would have still been in a precarious situation even if you had taken those ruthless decisions. But it would have protected a lot more of your guild assets and guild members. And it would certainly have sent the right message to the attacking cultists. They wouldn't have dared to attack your guild again if you had just remained steadfast in your role as guild master.
You made tons of emotionally driven mistakes when your guild needed you to be a cold and callous guild master. And you still expect me to give you administrative rights over my guild?
Hahaha. What a joke. There are easier ways for me to destroy what I have built so far, Master Jiana. I would opt for those if there ever comes a time when I have to give you my guild's admin rights."
Nina and Amory both looked at each other and had blank expressions on their faces as they listened to Eren. Only now did they realize why Eren kept asking them questions related to the incident.
The butcher had also employed some of his channels to get an incident report from the city of Curar. To get a true picture of the incident, he paid extra and had his channels locate and interview eyewitnesses as well.
Eren was provided with an almost complete picture when all these pieces of information were provided to him. Jiana felt like she was standing naked in front of the butcher when he started listing her faults. She felt exposed and her mental condition was shaken even further.
"I… I only wanted to help my people…"
Jiana clenched her fists and looked down as she admitted to her fault. Her body was slightly shaking and her eyes were dilated as if she was reliving memories of the incident. One could see the corners of her eyes getting red and moistened.
Eren looked at the shaking Jiana and sighed. He didn't want to bring this subject up because he knew it would have negative effects on his friendly takeover. However, Goldy Wings forced his hand.
He retracted his presence and gave Jiana some space. He knew she needed some time to sort her feelings out.
