"You fucking psychopath…"


    Old Rey mumbled to himself as he watched the scene unfolding in front of him. He was bbergasted by Eren''s behavior. However, the pain in Janos'' voice made him focus on their current situation.


    "Hang on…"


    Old Rey said and made one of the treants approach Janos. The treant screamed at Janos before cing its talon-like set of twigs that were its hand on his chest where he had been pierced by Kirin.


    ? The treant''s body started drying up as the wound on Janos'' body started healing. In a few moments, a D-Rank-summoned creature had to sacrifice itself to fix the damage on Rey''s assistant.


    Janos could still feel the pain of having his heart pierced by Kirin''s dagger in his head. He felt like the dagger was still inside of him even when his injuries were all healed.


    Eren had given his space-element dagger to Kirin, who was perfectly matched with it. It was the same dagger that he had received from team Chalo. He had upgraded it to D-Rank with Alephee''s help.


    Since Alephee''s homunculus body was D-Ranked, she couldn''t upgrade the space element dagger to Kirin''s rank. However, Kirin''spatibility with the dagger reduced its shorings.


    "He… he has an Ability."


    Janosmented and spat a wad of saliva mixed with blood. He knew he didn''t have to worry about getting injured in the battle because he was with Rey.


    ***


    The old man''s summoning spells could be used as an offense and defense. And they also allowed him to treat himself and hispanions mid-battle.


    House Remus had been focusing on the summoner ss ever since it started its auctioning business. The summoner ss rankers would allow them to conductpletely secure auction events by deploying summoned creatures around the auction sites. This was how the House started making a name for itself.


    These summoned creatures were easy to rece and disposable. They could be used to establish an all-aroundmunication grid. Plus, they didn''t have to be paid. Thus, these summoned creatures started getting deployed as part of official security at the n''s auction events.


    House Remus started collecting spells of the summoner ss belonging to various elements and schools. They experimented with these spells and researched the ss to derive aprehensive set of spells for their prominent summoner n members.


    The number Eren had dered earlier was only for the House''s most prominent summoner ss n members. A sizable percentage of n members in House Remus were summoners.


    Dianna was with the old man Rey and Janos when they arrived to meet Eren. and she had stayed behind to talk with him after the duo left to go to the city of New Beginnings.


    It was Dianna who told Eren about Rey''s ss as well as the fact that her house specialized in raising summoner ss members. Since she was from the side branch of the n, she wouldn''t have been offered the same resources to be a summoner. So she chose to be a ranger instead. Of course, she used her n''s connections to get into Edinburgh''s army.


    Dianna hade to visit Eren to tell him how much of a danger her n posed to him and his city. However, when Eren learned that Rey Remus was a summoner, he couldn''t help having designs on him.


    Eren quickly contacted Kirin and vanished from Agatha''s office. He told Kirin to bid her time until he created an optimal opening for her to intervene.


    ***


    "Hm. Kirin darling, next time attack the opponent''s other vital organs as well. Piercing the heart or puncturing the anal opening is easy to target and effective in incapacitating opponents. But it will not give them quick deaths. There''s always a chance of them possessing exceptional healing spells, potions, artifacts, or other healers in their vicinity.


    Puncture the neck through or drive your weapon through the person''s eyes back to the back of their cranium. They are more effective methods of assassination than simply piercing the heart."


    Eren casually lectured Kirin on assassination methods while Rey and Janos were working on their team y. Eren only wanted to prevent his opponent from running away from him. He had achieved that by taking the space-element ring away from them.


    The butcher knew targeting a summoner ss from the House Remus wouldn''t be easy. ording to Dianna, the most prominent summoner ss members of her n always had a capable close to a mid-range fighter with them who would protect them at all times. They also had various artifacts to assure the summoner''s safety, preventing them from turning into ss cannons.


    Thus, Eren focused on taking Janos'' ring away as soon as he found out about it. He used his Ability at a crucial time to achieve this feat. Otherwise, obtaining this artifact from Janos wouldn''t have been easy for Kirin even with her special powers.


    Targeting the Remus pair at this particr location served Eren well. It allowed him to im usible deniability in case the kingdom tries to or is made to intervene. And yet, this location was close enough to his city to make it obvious to the general poption of the kingdom who had targeted Rey and Janos.


    Choosing the site would be an open conspiracy. Everyone would be aware that Eren and his allies had initiated an attack on the Remus n members. But nobody would be able to point fingers at Eren openly.


    The kingdom of Edinburgh was receiving sizable revenue from the city of White Raven. As long as Eren didn''t give it a reason to intervene, the kingdom''s forces were bound to look the other way once the conflict between him and House Remus grew.


    At best, the kingdom would try to help Eren in some way. At worst, it would remain on the sidelines while House Remus and Eren fought their battles. Ambushes and assassinations were about to ensue. And they won''t be as low-key as those conducted by the Escalon guild.


    However, Eren had decided to target Hour Remus openly for his own gains. As much as he preferred his guild''s and city''s growth, he didn''t want to sacrifice his personal growth for it.


    Plus, the butcher had already decided to make an example of House Remus. He would destroy a powerhouse within the kingdom in its entirety.


    It wasn''t just about protecting what he had fought so hard for in this timeline. It was about sending a message.