Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil

"You showed up on time today. That's a fresh change. Hehehe!"

Arjun welcomed Eren when he saw him approaching. This was the meeting spot they had chosen to gather before heading up for their usual clean up mission.

"I'm not someone who always runs late, you know. I had been very busy settling my affairs in the early days of coming to this place."

Eren replied to Arjun with a light smile.

Eren's squad had 33 members. There were seventeen Ace rankers in the team along with an equal number of rookie soldiers in the Novice ranks.

Of course, not all of the 33 soldiers had been gathered at once at the same place. Life at the army camp required squads to divide their schedules in such a way that things would work for all of them. There were too many tasks given to a single squad. So the squads would be divided into groups of two or three depending upon the task.

"Heh! I wouldn't be surprised if the guy gives the same excuse not to show up when our squad runs into some trouble."

A harsh voice sounded in Eren's ears. He looked past Arjun and saw the man to whom it belonged– Sidro Zas.

Eren didn't pay him much attention. The guy was eyeing his position long before Eren came into the picture all of a sudden. Sidro Zas, Arjun Ruku, and Dianna Remus were potential candidates for the position of vice-captain ever since their previous vice-captain was assigned to a different task.

But then Eren chose to do his on-field assignment at the duchy of Nightshade and that put a halt to the trio's race. The position he had secured was that of deputy vice-captain. It didn't seem that strong at first. But should Eren decide to continue serving the military post his graduation from LA, his position as vice-captain will be cemented. Students of top academies enjoyed this advantage the most.

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The duchy of Lionhearts was different from the other three duchies because of its geographical position. It was the only duchy that didn't face any Badlands because it shares its borders with the kingdom of Leyos. The same kingdom that Isen had escaped to.

The remaining three duchies of Edinburgh had their borders shared with Anfang Badlands.

Anfang Badlands were the places that were occupied by the monster tribes like goblins, orcs, cyclops, kapre etc. Anfang Badlands was not one place but a common term for all the places where the monsters had established their dominance throughout the continent of Anfang.

That's why the presence of guilds was not that prominent in the Lionheart duchy. But the other three grand duchies differed greatly from the southern one in this regard.

Anfang Badlands had been used to define kingdom borders by many establishments. That meant two establishments would usually have Badlands dividing them. The kingdoms then assigned their respective armies to keep the Badlands in check.

The kingdoms would tacitly agree not to reclaim the Badlands from their side because it served as an ideal neutral ground. Plus, for some reason, the monsters' presence in the Badlands didn't completely disappear no matter how many purges the kingdoms ordered. The land that the creatures had occupied wasn't worth the cost of committing to war against them.

So over time, the establishments came to a mutual understanding that Badlands would be used as neutral grounds to define each of their territories. They would also be harvested for resources from both ends without anyone claiming pre-defined claims over them.

The armies of the kingdoms would organize regular clean-up operations to keep their borders safe from sudden monster invasions. The aim of these clean-ups was not total purge but population control.

Of course, the monsters would not leave things lying down. They would attack the borders of human establishments from time to time. So the army of each kingdom played a big role in keeping their normal populace safe from monster invasions.

This was the reason not just Edinburgh but other establishments also focused on cultivating young rankers through their academies or other such practices. High-ranked entities were only used as deterrents in such regular skirmishes. The real battles would unfold among low-ranked citizens of their respective establishments.

The resources found in the Badlands would be used for a variety of goods. Not just potioning or other forms of alchemy, they would also be incorporated into making weapons and other such gears. The economies of almost all the establishments were hugely dependent on Badlands.

Eren had taken the on-field task so that he could enter it from the Nightshade duchy's side. The Badlands were heavily restricted zones in which normal citizens wouldn't be allowed entry.

Only the army and certified guilds were allowed to send their teams into the Badlands. Then there were some areas in the Badlands that only the army could enter. The region in Badlands Eren wanted to enter was one such area.

The guilds would pay kingdoms a fixed cut as an annual tax. In return, they were allowed to build certain facilities near the borders or in the safe zones of the Badlands.

Of course, there had been times when the monster invasion had gotten so intense that they would have the potential to threaten a substantial population of the establishments. Some special protocols would be initiated during such times.

This was the reason why the case of Osan Woods Butcher was blown up so big. Only the Lionhearts duchy was considered relatively peaceful in Edinburgh. As long as the treaty with the Leyos kingdom was intact, the southern duchy was the least troubled region of the kingdom.

So when the peace in Lionheart was compromised, almost everybody thought of a foreign hand. And Isen's escape into the Leyos kingdom only worsened that suspicion.

However, what Eren's team was currently doing was a regular clean-up. At least that's what the butcher wanted his team to think. He had different goals in his mind.

The Badlands were going to become his playground eventually.