Chapter 56: Small World
Eren woke up the next day feeling refreshed. He was holding a palm-sized pebble with inscriptions on it.
It was the F Rank sound isolation artefact kind-hearted Matt had gifted him last night.
Eren stored the artefact in his ID. He had plenty of uses for it. Eren got ready to explore the city a little before leaving it in the afternoon.
Eren had a lot of herbs in his storage that he had collected from the Osan woods. Some of them had no immediate uses for him. He might as well sell them to make a profit.
And what other city would be better to sell these herbs than the city of Lauriel?
Eren opened his room’s door to head out. But he found four people were waiting by his door.
“Sir Lin, what are you doing here?”
Eren recognised Lin Karr among them. He realized these people must be here looking for Matt.
“Oh? Isn’t that madam healer’s nephew? Why are you staying here?
We came here following the traces of a suspicious person named Matt. He had come to your apothecary a few days back, so you should know him. Did you see him here anywhere?”
Lin Karr gave Eren a piece of brief information about his reason for being here. He had told the OB to a.s.sign someone to keep an eye on Matt.
The informer had relayed to them that Matt was still fixated on clearing Dom’s name. He confirmed that Matt had left the city of Osan for the city of Laurel.
Lin Karr was heading to the academy anyway. The city of Lauriel was a natural gathering spot for a carriage fleet heading to the Lionheart.
It was in Lin’s interest that he travels in ma.s.ses, lest he gets ambushed by Isen Osan’s forces. So he decided to check up on this liability named Matt on the way.
Lin was going to try one more time talking sense into Matt. He had already told the guy to drop the whole subject of Dom as one bad deal in his life. But the guy wouldn’t listen.
Lin can’t always keep tabs on Matt in case he does something to resurrect the case of Osan Woods’ Butcher, which they had buried after so many efforts. He had decided to silence Matt for good if he didn’t listen this time.
“Sir Lin, I haven’t seen Matt. I’m going to attend LA as a first-year student. So I came with the Sullivans. They are staying in the room next to me.
We will join the carriage fleet in the afternoon that leaves for the city of Lionheart.
But why is Matt a suspect? Wasn’t he a victim of the woods’ disturbance?”
Lin was surprised Eren was going to attend the LA. But it made sense after he thought about it. The boy must have been offered a reserved seat.
“Oh! That’s a nice coincidence. Then you should start calling me professor Lin, boy. I’m also heading for LA.
Let me introduce three people to you who are a.s.signed under me. They will be joining the academy as the a.s.sistant professors.”
Lin then introduced LA’s new a.s.sistant professors under him.
They were Peter, Ela, and Julie.
***
Peter and Ela were the same party members from Lin’s party that had found Isaac’s body. And Julie was the one who had recorded fake Dom’s footage that had him testifying to his alleged crimes.
Julie Ekheart’s name had gotten pretty famous for this event despite her attempts to remain hidden.
Peter and Ela were also at risk because of their involvement in the OWB case that was connected to the kingdom’s big league.
Peter, Ela, and Julie would have never involved themselves in this mess had they known the OWB was connected this deeply. Even when they had buried the case after knowing about the killer’s background, their involvement had become public knowledge by now.
They were in the same boat as Lin. They needed a st.u.r.dy shelter that could save them from any possible “accidents” happening to them until the heat dies down.
Lin could understand their situation and empathize. Therefore, he gave them the same option he was going to make use of.
A D-Rank professor of LA academy can hire three E-Rank ent.i.ties to serve as the a.s.sistant professors under them.
That’s why D-Rank professor Jaime had Ronald, Linda, and Verna serving as his a.s.sistant professors.
Lin had already left the LA academy thinking he wouldn’t go back to being a professor there anytime soon. His previous a.s.sistant professors have either been accommodated in the academy’s administration or hired by another professor to serve under them.
Therefore, Lin offered the trio to serve him as his a.s.sistant professor in the academy. All three of them accepted the lifesaving offer quickly before it could get s.n.a.t.c.hed away.
Lin didn’t tell Eren the inner details. But he informed the latter of his professors.h.i.+p at the academy.
Lin also told Eren that his hunter status in the OB was more like an honorary responsibility due to his relations.h.i.+p with the OB. He was supposed to take a break from his academic duties. But the circ.u.mstances made him resume them for the time being.
***
“Hm? Julie Ekheart? Aren’t you the one who took Dom’s footage that served as conclusive evidence against him?”
Eren quickly “figured out” Julie’s ident.i.ty after they were introduced to him by Lin.
Eren knew about Julie beforehand. After all, he was the one who had allowed the lady to record fake Dom’s speech.
Eren would have never guessed he could meet her again after leaving the city of Osan. ‘Small world!’ Eren thought.
So Julie was going to be an AP (a.s.sistant professor) at the academy along with two others. He would see them for the next five years.
At least Julie looked hot among them. Eren thought he should try his luck with her. He knew Julie could be swayed with money and resources, thanks to her interaction with fake Dom.
Peter and Ela’s names were known by the hunters as the prime investigators behind the OWB case. But they were still lesser known than Julie among the common populace. Therefore Eren neither covertly nor overtly knew about them.
Julie smiled mirthlessly as Eren identified her. She couldn’t wait to reach the academy now. She felt like the so-called ‘accidents’ might come from anywhere and anytime if she keeps on getting identified like this.
Even a mere brat had recognised her. It was about time she disappeared from the public and concentrated on being an AP at the academy.
“Kid, I’m a ranger. I tracked Matt’s presence to your room and then it vanished. Maybe he had entered your room while you were sleeping.
Why don’t you step aside and let us conduct our investigation? We can consider that we owe you one.”
Peter stepped forward and declared his intentions. Eren nodded and stepped away, letting them enter the room.
Eren had already confirmed that whoever gets killed and eaten by Reen becomes difficult to track post their death. Their presence almost completely fades away from existence.
It seemed like Reen would also ingest and digest a part of her victims’ auras. And that would somehow negatively impact the tracking and other such spells.
It becomes nigh impossible for rangers and historians to make sense of the residue aura and traces if they get left behind at all that is. Eren could only a.s.sociate that with Reen’s special existence for now.
Reen was a perfect killing and body disposal machine for him. He had nothing to fear from an E-Rank ranger.
Just like Eren had thought before. The ranger couldn’t find anything conclusive. He confirmed that there was an artefact used here or in the vicinity. But that was it. Peter gossiped with his party and Lin had to conclude their investigation at the site.
“Thanks, Eren. We’ll take our leave now. See you in the afternoon. We’ll be travelling together.”
Eren smiled and nodded his head. His smiling face immediately turned serious right after shutting the door behind them.
Eren had to watch out for Jaime’s group in the academy. Another group had been added to that list. Lin’s group was more dangerous for him than Jaime’s in many ways.
Lin knew him personally. His group had been deeply involved in the OWB case. It knew inside information about the case that might not have been released to the public.
Of course, Eren knew that Lin and his a.s.sistants were far from knowing his involvement in the case. But one slip from his end was all it needed for them to start connecting the dots.
Eren needed an insider in this group to keep tabs on them. He had another reason to hook up with Julie now.
Of course, Eren knew that Julie wouldn’t want anything to do with a kid like him even if she acted like a gold digger. He needed a different approach to come close to her. Money alone wouldn’t cut it.
Eren waited for a while before heading out. He was going to meet up with Jake and explore the city. Jack must have already left by now to handle his business.