Chapter 250: Deal done

The screech tore through the square and the frantic clatter of clashing steel stuttered to an abrupt, uneasy halt.

Thousands of criminals paused mid-stride. Heavy axes hovered inches above shattered cobblestones. Crossbowmen eased their fingers off triggers, their chests heaving, every pair of bloodshot eyes locking onto the lone figure standing center in the chaos.

Eren stood with effortless, swaggering ease, completely at home amid the butchery. In his right hand, he held the megaphone; in his left, he casually held the brass remote trigger high.

"You all saw the little welcoming fireworks earlier," Eren’s amplified voice rolled over the square, smooth, rhythmic, and laced with terrifying cheer. "Leveling this entire plaza is literally one twitch of my thumb away. If I press this, everything turns into dust. We all die. Me, my terrifyingly beautiful companions, and every single ambitious bastard standing in this square."

Beside him, Seraphina’s jaw tightened, her eyes blazing with disbelief.

"Idiot, have you completely lost your mind?!" she hissed under her breath.

Emma lowered her greatsword by an inch, her storm-grey eyes wide and stunned. Aria and Norelia stood entirely frozen, staring at him in stunned, breathless silence as if trying to comprehend whether he was genuinely psychotic or merely bluffing.

Eren didn’t even glance their way. He brought the horn back to his lips, pacing in a small, confident circle.

"Now, I’m well aware that a few overly enthusiastic gentlemen in the back were ready to charge anyway, thinking that dying in a firestorm is better than letting me walk away. So how about an offer where everyone walks away with a prize? A little mutual benefit between civilized people?"

From the third rank of the vanguard, a grizzled veteran stepped forward, his gaze dripping with suspicion.

"What’s the damn deal, brat?" the old man barked, his raspy voice carrying over the uneasy hush.

Eren flashed a dazzling, unrepentant grin.

"Simple arithmetic, my friend," Eren drawled into the megaphone. "The three lords of the Rujgard were turned into smoke and Whisper was nowhere to be seen. The sovereign throne of Rujgard isn’t just vacant—the entire syndicate leadership has been wiped off the map."

He spread his arms wide, gesturing to the sprawling, smoke-stained metropolis around them.

"So tell me... why the hell are you all wasting your precious morning trying to butcher me, when you could be figuring out which one of you is going to rule this glorious cesspool?"

The words landed like a physical blow against the crowd’s greed.

"Do you want my head... or do you want Rujgard? If you want my life, by all means, take another step. I press the switch; we all go to hell together, and the city burns before sunset. But if you want the territory... you step aside. You let me, my companions up there walk straight out through your main gates without anyone fighting."

A murmur broke out, cutting through the ranks like a wave of hungry murmurs.

"And how do we know you won’t just detonate the damn stones the second you clear the walls?!" another gang leader yelled, gripping his war hammer tight. "What’s stopping you from turning us into grease from the mountain pass?!"

"Because this little thing has a shorter operating range," Eren said with an easy, dismissive shrug. "It won’t ping the charges from a mile out. But since I know trust is in short supply in this lovely neighborhood... I’ll make it even sweeter. The exact second our feet cross your outer gates, I’ll hand this little box over to your designated representative."

Silence dropped over the Grand Municipal Plaza.

Thousands of killers stood motionless, weighing the promise of an open crown against the suicide of an explosive standoff.

A heartbeat passed. Two.

Then, the scarred old veteran slowly sheathed his broadsword with a sharp, resonant clack. He raised his calloused right hand.

"I accept the deal," the veteran grunted.

Beside him, another captain hesitated, cursed under his breath, and raised his palm. Then another. And another.

Within seconds, a forest of rough hands rose into the air across the entire square, rippling through three thousand cutthroats until the square looked less like a battlefield and more like a rowdy guild meeting.

Eren’s grin stretched wide enough to show teeth, lowering the megaphone with an exaggerated, courtly bow.

Behind him, the silence from his squad was deafening.

Emma’s mouth hung open, her storm-grey eyes practically bulging out of her skull. Aria stared at the blood-stained rogue with wide, golden eyes of disbelieving awe, while Norelia pressed both hands over her mouth, entirely dumbfounded. Even Princess Seraphina stood rigid, her regal composure completely shattered as she looked around the pacified underworld.

The suicidal, infuriating idiot had just talked thousands of bloodthirsty killers into stepping aside without having to swing another blade.

Eren casually tossed the megaphone over his shoulder, letting it clatter against the shattered cobblestones.

He strolled past Norelia, reaching out with an affectionate, lingering pat to the top of her messy brown curls as he walked. The petite lecturer squeaked softly, but he didn’t break stride.

Before him, the sea of the crowd parted as he walked.

Eren sauntered right through the newly carved aisle. On either side, men towered over him, breathing heavily through clenched jaws. He could feel the suffocating heat of their suppressed bloodlust; he could hear the muttered curses, the venomous spitting into the dirt, the grinding of rusted steel held back only by the promise of surviving to claim a sovereign throne.

Yet not a single blade twitched. Not a single man dared to breathe too loudly as the blue-eyed rogue swaggered through their midst.

Eren took steps and reached the platform.

Alice was on her feet now, leaning against Theo’s shoulder. Her face was as pale as winter frost, the thick bandages beneath her linen tunic faintly stained with red from the strain, but her amber eyes shimmering as she watched him approach.

She chuckled dryly.

"You absolute lunatic..." Alice whispered, shaking her head weakly against Theo’s chest. "You actually pulled the trick."

Eren’s lips curved into that familiar, unrepentant smirk. He paused, casting a leisurely glance back over the balustrade at the dead-silent plaza below, watching his every move with bated breath.

Then he looked at Baron Kiliyan, who was still balled up on the floor, blubbering in muffled gratitude behind his rusted chains, before letting his blue eyes settle on Theo, whose posture remained rigid behind the ridiculous black mask.

Down by Alice’s boots, the Shadow Cat cub let out an annoyed, scratchy mewl. Eren leaned down, effortlessly scooping the cub up by the scruff of its neck.

CHOMP.

Twin tails lashed as fangs immediately sank straight into Eren’s wrist with rabid enthusiasm. Eren didn’t even flinch. He just held the menace against his ribs like an unruly loaf of bread, rolling his shoulders with a long, contented sigh.

"Well," Eren murmured as he glanced between the battered Saintess, the masked prince, and the small army of formidable women waiting at the bottom of the stairs. "I survived the hunt like Vane asked."

"Now then... shall we get the hell out of here and go home?"