Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil

The capital city, Edin.

Eren's temporary residence, located in a relatively quiet sector of the city.

Because he was one of the finalists for the graduation event, Eren was offered a place to stay in the Edinnica district by Edinburgh. But since he had Nina, Levine, and Jiana with him, he rented this quiet villa instead.

Nysa bid adieu to Eren after reentering Edin to meet Duke Arthur's administrative panel to settle her contract with them. She would meet him again during the commencement ceremony before she was deployed to the borders. Of course, it meant she had to enter the Lionheart duchy.

Levine and Jiana had decided to settle their own affairs in the city.

Jiana was a bona fide title holder. She had certain rights in the kingdom. And with those rights come responsibilities. Furthermore, Jiana was once a guild master of a healer-centric guild. She herself was an excellent healer as well. As such, her consultation would play a vital role in Edinburgh's army deployment.

Jiana would not only represent herself as a consultant in these meetings held by various authorities and departments within Edinburgh. Of course, she also represented the White Raven Guild.

Jiana had been given a separate unit to run by Eren within the guild's parameters. Whatever contracts and missions her unit takes will therefore be considered the contracts and missions offered to the White Raven Guild.

Levine was busier than ever, thanks to Demonmir's actions. His faction had lost its power. The demon had killed all the prominent members of his clan who supported him. So the few survivors could only look at Levine as their next leader.

Levine received complete rights to govern her weakened clan. But at this point, she would have preferred a competitor who could take some of the responsibilities off her platter.

House Montmorency was a prominent potion-making clan. And it had rightful claims to some of its unique support-type potion recipes. These potions would play a significant role in the war. As a result, Levine was also asked to attend these war-related meetings along with Jiana, representing House Montmorency as a whole.

Levine lost manpower in Demonmir's hands. And there was no quick way to fill the lost places. So she could only rely on Eren's guild and its manpower resources to accept kingdom contracts for her house. Meaning House Montmorency would accept kingdom contracts. And in return, House Montmorency would take White Raven Guild's help in fulfilling those contracts and pay accordingly.

Eren had asked the scissor sisters-- halfling Marie and snow elf Arizihana-- to take up these responsibilities in his stead. Marie was more than capable of handling anything and everything potion-manufacturing related. Anything she couldn't do herself, she knew how to get it done. Arizihana was the force needed to support Marie's actions.

Nina was relatively free these days. She was supposed to attend the war room meeting with Jiana because she was part of Jiana's unit as well. But the elf healer gave Nina a free pass to skip these meetings and explore the capital city. This was Nina's first time visiting Edin after all. Plus, Jiana knew Eren was close to Nina. So she kept Nina's schedule free from such meetings.

Nina had about a week or two before leaving the capital city with Eren to return to White Raven City. So the Master-ranked healer decided to explore the city on her own. Eren would join her whenever he got free time to do so.

With the three ladies out of the picture, Eren was left alone in the villa. He would have gone with Nina to keep her company. But unfortunately, he too had virtual meetings to attend.

One of the faction leaders of Last Blood Bastion, Sirius Fenris was about to call Eren regarding the recent developments. So the butcher couldn't miss his call.

One could say that two terrorists were about to talk over a spectral call. The only difference between them was Sirius' terrorist label existed because of his known origins. In contrast, Eren was about to be celebrated by the kingdom of Edinburgh because of his known heroic acts but unknown vile deeds.

***

Eren didn't want to get involved in kingdom politics at any level. Therefore, he gave Jiana full rights to accept kingdom contracts and missions for her unit. She was asked to consult with Agatha regarding resource allocation, overall expenditure, and profits division.

This was the reason Eren wasn't looking forward to receiving a kingdom bonafide title for himself. After receiving such titles, title holders were expected to participate in the kingdom's business in some capacity. Even rankers like Demonmir and Paladin of Pain were asked to be part of the pre-war meetings held in the capital city over the last few months.

Eren knew that involving oneself in the affairs of the kingdom on any level was like walking into a quick-sand crater. This was because it was easy to get in but difficult to get out of. There were various factions and vested interests involved. It was difficult to make friends and easy to make enemies.

Rather than political friends, Eren preferred paid allies he could count on. And he disliked making enemies. He would rather have his enemies not know they have enmity with him if he could avoid it. Arthur Renar was one such example. So the best way to ensure these two things was to stay away from kingdom matters.

For these reasons, Eren would have declined Edinburgh's title bestowment straightaway if he didn't have his guild to rely on. If he was alone, his responsibilities would be his. But with his guild in the picture, he could assign his responsibilities to his guild.

In short, Eren could enjoy all the perks that come with his title while his responsibilities as a title holder would be fulfilled by his guild. What's more? Edinburgh will pay his guild for it. A win-win situation.

Therefore, Eren had no reason to refuse the title bestowment.

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AN: VEH has 1200 chapters and more than 1,370,000 words with this release. The in-story time skip I announced is approaching soon.

From this chapter onwards, we will try to place the character/place/event art in the chapters' comment sections. Thank you and stay tuned. ;)