Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil

"Lady Levine, Agatha requests that you meet her."

A middle-aged-looking lady came inside Levine's dedicated potion lab and told her. Levine was busy experimenting with her concoction in the test tube. Hearing her servant's voice, she raised her eyebrows and kept the test tube on its stand before turning behind her.

"Agatha would never bother me about puny matters. Did she say what it was about?"

Levine said while walking away from her table. Her experiments would go on for hours on end. And this one wasn't any different. The B-ranker potioner needed a bath. Her private chamber was on the other side of the potion lab.

"Um… she said it's about some royal matter."

Levine pondered a bit before nodding at her servant. She wondered what the royal matter was as she walked towards her bath.

***

"Like I told you…"

A male voice was addressing Agatha desperately.

"It was Eren who had asked me to come here. I'm sure he'd tell you I'm speaking the truth right away. Where is he? Just contact him and ask."

This young man was sitting on the other side of Agatha's table. He had dark brown hair and a dark brown beard. He had eyes of the same color as his hair.

There was nothing special about this Ace ranker. However, his surname made him royalty. He was a Renar.

Agatha had a headache handling this man. He was asking her to accommodate him into the White Raven guild on the basis that he was being asked by Eren to do so.

"Rodrick Renar, is it? I can't contact Eren because he is not available right now. Why don't you come again in a few days and meet him yourself? Leave your contact details with me. I'll inform you when he comes back."

Agatha said while massaging her forehead. The guy was insisting on being part of the White Raven guild for a while at this point. Agatha had other things to worry about. She couldn't spend all her time arguing with a scion of Renar.

Agatha didn't want to take someone like Rodrick into their fold because she feared the repercussions. There is almost no chance that a royal scion will join any guild like a normal ranker. Those who did join would only do that as a way to gain fame. And they only did that with well-established guilds.

Agatha didn't want to put the White Raven guild in the crosshairs of unknown royal forces that were infighting with each other by taking Rodrick into her guild. She also didn't know what the guy was talking about when he said he was being invited to come by Eren.

As far as Agatha knew Eren, he wouldn't ever do something like that. Not without solid benefits at least. And as of right now, Rodrick seemed to have nothing to offer them but troubles and more troubles.

Agatha had to admit Rodrick had come prepared with a shameless face. He didn't try to leave even after she had turned down his offer several times. He didn't even have a shred of royal pride in him.

"Leave, you say? Hahahaha. But I have nowhere to go. I left the capital city of Royal Renar to live here where my buddy is starting up a new city.

I left all my royal rights when I left the city. For now, I'm just a commoner. I can only count on Eren at this point."

Rodrick said while chuckling. He then looked at Agatha with a serious face before speaking up in an even more serious voice.

"Look, Agatha. I know I'm imposing on you. But I really need a place like this to survive. I wouldn't have come here otherwise."

Agatha's worries intensified when she heard Rodrick speak. She had thought that offering the royal a roof over his head would cause political trouble. But it turned out that she had underestimated the scope of trouble that could be caused by this brown beard man.

"What do you mean by "leaving royal rights?". That sounds like…"

Agatha said while narrowing her eyes on a smiling Renar. The latter coughed a bit before answering honestly.

"I mean I am not protected by any royal retainers anymore. All of my royal rights had been taken away from me now that I left the capital city for my own goals. I basically quit being part of the royal contest for the position at the royal court. By default, I am also stepping down from the contest for the royal throne.

So I hope you understand why I can't live outside this city. I don't have any allies outside this city."

Rodrick said while looking at Agatha with his pursed lips. He scratched the back of his head while doing that. Agatha grimaced as she pieced together the remaining pieces of the puzzle.

"You mean to say you'd be targeted by other royal scions who are still in the royal contest of power? And now that you don't have any royal retainers or royal rights to protect yourself…"

Rodrick nodded at Agatha before commenting.

"That's right. I'm the easiest target for all my royal cousins."

"Even more reason for me to say no to your request. We don't want any trouble with any faction of the royal house, Ace Rodrick."

Rodrick smiled bitterly when he heard Agatha's blunt reply. He had to admit Eren had put the right person on the job of managing his city and his guild. The young lady didn't mince her words after learning about his stray-royalty status.

Rodrick sighed and placed both his hands on Agatha's table before speaking up.

"Look, I have come here in secret. Nobody knows about me being here. And they'd never guess I had come here after meeting someone like Eren. So it should be safe for a while for all of us.

Plus, you are underestimating House Montmorency and House Derringer. No royal cousin of mine would try to offend these two houses. Because it would mean they would be putting such forces under someone else's banner.

I'll keep a low profile until I'm ready to come out. Till then, we'll all be safe. And that's all I need."

Rodrick said before flashing a cunning smile. He waved his right hand and took out various scrolls and books in front of Agatha on her study table. He coughed and spoke up to make his offer more tempting.

"Plus, I have various spells and techniques I can offer you that you can blatantly say came from my side. I have known about the White Raven's team members for a while now. So I only picked up ranking resources that were suitable for all of you.

Do we have a deal now?"