Eren had resorted to blackmailing.

Layla snorted when she heard Eren's response and shook her head in denial as if she was expecting this. She also knew that even though it was blackmail, it contained the truth she couldn't ignore.

"Sigh. Alright. Collect all the corpses in one place. I'll also get to work. We need to finish this faster. We also might benefit from the harvest you have reaped from such diligent work."

Saying that Layla took out a giant cauldron from her storage. It was the same type and size of the cauldron she had immersed Hexen Bee in. It was 3 meters in height and 5 meters in diameter.

Eren didn't understand what Layla was doing but he didn't waste time asking her about it. He started collecting all the corpses and the chopped off parts in one place near the cauldron. He didn't forget to store the ID stones of his victims as well as their unique, army-issued weapons for himself as he did that.

Layla's preparations were also done by this point. First, she looked at the pile of bodies and body parts that were oozing everything they had ever contained. A thick stench of blood was permeating the air.

Layla scanned her surroundings to make sure that Eren didn't miss anything. She nodded to herself after confirming that everything was alright.

"Okay. I'll take a few minutes to process these "ingredients". You can do whatever you want till then."

Layla said to Eren and started throwing a few vials into the already existing mixture present inside the cauldron. Then she used an unelementalized spell to throw a few ingredients before moving her gaze to the pile of corpses and organs.

One after the other, the corpses and other unidentifiable body parts levitated from their positions and started getting dropped inside the concoction. When Layla was ensured that everything had gone inside, she took out the lid from her storage and placed it over the cauldron closing its mouth.

Then she started operating on the cauldron herself. The previously invisible runes over the artefact were illuminated before a green fire was conjured at the base. The green fire couldn't be called Enderflame. Nevertheless, it was something close to it.

Layla sat beside the cauldron and started mumbling a few chants. Initially, the runes were stretched out on the ground a few meters before they began to glow with a breathing effect.

Eren saw all this and came to realize that he hadn't even begun his study in potioning even though he was practically living his second life. That's because he could barely understand what Layla was doing.

But he understood one thing. And that was the fact that Layla shouldn't be disturbed in the process. So he decided to leave her to her devices and find someplace to relax.

This was technically still the middle of the night. But the time was tilting towards the hour of twilight.

Eren decided to take a walk.

'If my map-reading skills don't suck balls, there should be a cliff nearby.'

Eren thought to himself and started walking in a particular direction leaving Layla alone. He didn't think he needed to worry about her safety anyway.

With the way Layla was going, Eren was also sure that his identity would stay safe at this crime scene. He wondered if the historians could even detect this place as a crime scene when Layla was done with it. Layla's intricate setup made him think like that when he was standing next to it.

******************

As his hands were covered in dry blood, Eren took out a Sativa stick before lighting it.

He had returned to his normal appearance when he reached the cliff. His clothes barely held onto his body. And the light wind was making their job even more difficult as he stood at the very edge of the mountain cliff he came here to see.

There was a valley of dense green wildlife spreading down below from where Eren was watching. The bright moon was right in front of him and somehow looked exaggeratedly much larger than it was supposed to be. White moonlight illuminated the valley below the cliff.

Eren was able to remove the reins over all of his thoughts on such a peaceful night. He let them run free in his head.

Soon, he would have to leave the duchy of Lionheart and enter the duchy of Nightshade. So it was natural that all his thoughts were revolving around those changes.

But even while having multiple thoughts to process, Eren wasn't conflicted anymore. The battle that had happened just now had been pretty helpful for him to see what he was supposed to see the naked truth of the rankers' world.

'I'm not living in a peaceful place. There's no peaceful place in this world as long as there are rankers and mana added into the equation.'

Eren thought as he took a large drag of his smoke. The drag seemed to have given him some sort of clarity as he shook his head before adding further.

'No scratch that.

There's no peace as long as there are living people involved. Rankers or not. Mana or not. Human nature is the same at its base. We are all cruel beings if we just dig deep within ourselves.

Some of us know it. And some live their whole lives without being aware of their true nature.

Should I call them lucky or gullible?

Hehehe.'

Eren's thoughts then shifted to his past life which was full of misery. He then thought about the changes he had introduced in this timeline and their aftereffects as he smoked.

Eren had ambitious plans for the place where he was heading. Most of his projects depended on the effective execution of some of these plans. Of course, he didn't want to go there under the circumstances he was in right now, but he had no choice.

Then his ever-restless mind thought of Reen and he started feeling the heartache. He felt even more pain than when it was pierced some time ago.

The domain of Wrath was like a catharsis for him so he wasn't angry anymore in his situation. But he did feel that the determination to see the metaphorical "view at the top of this world" was getting stronger in his heart.

Eren narrowed his eyes as he suddenly remembered Eliza's face and everything she represented to the current him. He realized that he could still feel shivers running through his entire body if he decided to relive the memories he had at the time of their meeting.

Eliza's voice kept reverberating in his head as he took out another Sativa stick and lit it up.

Eren thought as he kept on thinking about the way Eliza had worded her intentions to him. He chuckled after having another random thought.

'That was a good piece she had written. Do all Sages need to possess such skills? Hehehehe!'

Eren chuckled to himself as he had that thought. But that thought stuck in his head and kept on growing.

Audience or not, Eren felt like he needed to voice his feelings too. So he took a long drag from his Sativa stick and released a cloud of smoke in the air before saying aloud.

"As their dried and dead blood

Paint my skin merlot

My calluses are chipped away

And liberated are my thoughts

Their souls shall be torn asunder

Their bodies shall nourish the soils

The debtor will settle the debts

Wasted not will be my toils

To find peace

Amid a clusterfuck of misery

All I need is but a chance

To rewrite my history

My mask of sanity slips away

There's nobody to tell the tale

Even the gods won't see it coming

When a Vile Evil Hides Under the Veil"

A moment after Eren declared his declaration, he threw the butt of his smoke. Then he chuckled to himself and started walking in the same direction he had come from.

The butcher was about to get busy for a while.

AN: End of Volume 02.