"Who could have believed that reality would be more twisted than the fantasy story most of us had built around your name?"
Rondo took a long breath. He glanced at his mates fighting around him before looking in the direction Oliver had disappeared in. He started laughing as he spoke.
"I must confess… I have secrets of my own, Eren. I am not the Rondo that these guys know. I am... Well…. I'll just show you who I am. Hahahaha."
Rondo declared maniacally before pulling the skin off his face. It took him a bit of effort to pull off the mask because it looked like it had been glued to his original skin. However, it only took him a second or two to get rid of the mask.
In the next moment, a strange ripple of mana spread through the surroundings as Rondo took out the mask he was wearing. The mask turned into a face-shaped wooden artifact with runes and formations carved into it. It was clear that the artifact was what allowed Rondo to change his identity.
One had to say that Rondo's way of masking his identity was more secure than the one Eliza had provided him with. It couldn't even be detected by the inspection artifact Oliver had used before the start of the battle.
Then again, Eliza did not really care that much about letting Ivor hide his identity. She didn't invest much effort in Ivor because he was even more of a disposable pawn to her than Eren.
Rondo turned into a completely different person than he was before he pulled out the skin-like face mask he had. He turned into a handsome elf.
Rondo now had bluish-gray eyes and shoulder-length jet-black hair. He had an attractive square-shaped face and a copper-brown skin tone. His jewelry consisted of long earrings, which looked precious.
The elf smiled wickedly as he looked at Eren. He then stared at the members of his own team with evil intentions when they forced themselves to look at him. Fortunately or unfortunately, these rankers had stopped getting surprised because of so many revelations given to them one after another.
The spectators neither had the time nor the means to join Eren and Rondo's battle. They were too occupied with their respective battles to ask the HOWs and the WHYs.
Eren, on the other hand, did not know what to say about what he was seeing right now. He had to admit that he had attracted a weirdo's attention with his altered identity.
'Hehe. Your fans are bound to be a lot like you, Eren.'
Eren scrunched his nose when he heard Alephee's comment. She was busy writing new runes in her grimoire inside the pendant abode. He didn't need her presence in his fights either. Only if she could keep her commentary to herself, the butcher would really appreciate it.
The butcher had a secret fanbase from known and unknown cultists as well as rankers' communities. The people saw him as some kind of rebel, rebelling against the kingdom's restrictions. In some of the stories, he was painted as a good guy who turned bad due to unforeseen circumstances.
Many origin stories around him portray him on the receiving end of some kind of injustice. A person who was constantly suppressed by the kingdom's policies until he couldn't cope.
There was the other faction of the fanbase who treated him as a malevolent character that only knew how to kill. According to them, he had no real talent other than dismembering organs. In their eyes, he was a lonely monster who could take on the kingdom's forces all by himself. Someone who fought solo and won solo.
Contrary to what all those people thought about him, Eren was nothing like those assumptions. At least not entirely.
Eren couldn't call himself suppressed anymore after he had obtained a piece of freedom for himself. The establishment of the guild and the foundation of his city liberated him in more ways than one. He wasn't completely free of the kingdom's restrictions. But nobody could treat him as nobody anymore.
Eren killed only when there was a need for him to do so. He would slay his opponents without hesitation. But that didn't mean he would be looking for trouble when there was nobody for him to mess with.
Eren wasn't a saint by a long shot. But he was also not some knucklehead wandering evil some people believed him to be.
He could guess that Rondo or whatever his real name was, had also assumed a lot of things about him. The butcher just let that stuff be as it is. He didn't need to explain his stance to a stranger.
***
Eren was curious to know about the elf's identity though. He made a guess based on his precious earrings.
If the butcher had to guess, he would bet on the fact that the elf he was seeing in front of him was part of Layos' royal family. That's because those precious earrings would only be worn by members of the royal family of Layos.
That's right. Layos, unlike Edinburgh, was ruled by elf royalty. It had a majority of elves as residents compared to humans.
'So what Sirius said to me was true. The forces of Layos have infiltrated Edinburgh. But it is not just the rankers who have infiltrated. The Layos' royal scions are also here– possibly trying their luck in some kind of royal competition.'
Eren guessed as he took a keen look at Rondo. He was only recently informed by Sirius and Fiona about the infiltration. The butcher didn't care about the cold war between the two kingdoms at this point. He had decided to let his guild participate in the war as well. But that would only happen when the war officially begins.
He also acknowledged Rondo's boldness in getting employed under Arthur who was Edinburgh's legit duke. If he had to compare, he would rate Layos' royal scions higher than the scions of Edinburgh.
