Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil

Eren Idril was on his way to reach the Lionhearts Adventurers' Academy.

He was travelling in a carriage that had him, Jake, and Jack Sullivan as its patrons. It would take a little more than a week to reach the city of Lionhearts from the city of Osan with the carriage's current speed.

The trio would have to change their carriage services often across various cities en route in their journey. These cities would also serve as their resting spots.

One of the cities en route was the city of Laurel. It would take a little more than two days for someone to travel from the city of Osan to the city of Laurel at a decent pace.

It was the same city that Nina had visited to get some of the herbs unavailable to her at that time.

Even with a travel time of up to two days, the city of Lauriel was considered to be one of the few major cities close to the city of Osan. Because the cities were connected by many roadways. There were many colts and other types of rental transportation services available between them.

The city of Laurel was especially famous within the potioneers' communities for its rich availability of potion-related ingredients. The city cultivated a huge garden full of herbs, potion-related trees and medicinal plants right in its centre.

Or to be precise, the city was formed around the already existing green space.

Laurel was a preferred resting spot for people travelling to the city of Lionhearts from the city of Osan and any other colonies nearby to it.

During this time of the year, Eren would see a lot of students who had either gotten into the LA through a reserved quota like them. Or they could be someone who had passed the academy's harsh entrance exam.

Of course, these students will travel with their guardians like Eren and Jake with the latter's father.

This will result in the creation of a fleet of carriages heading towards the Lionhearts from Laurel and other such gathering spots. This fleet would be organized and maintained by various carriage services working together.

It was natural for Jack Sullivan to travel with the boys since he often had to travel across cities for his business. He also had a small shop in Lauriel. A businessman like Jack would have his fingers dipped in all kinds of pies.

Jack was also looking to open his business in the city of Lionhearts. He was going with his son and his son's friend to do a reckon regarding the same.

It had already been more than two days since Eren had started his journey. The carriage was closing in on Laurel. Jack asked Eren to change the deafening silence spread in the carriage:

"Tell me, Eren. What are you aiming for during these academic years? And what are your plans?"

Eren stopped looking outside the carriage's window and focused his eyes on Jack. Jack had honed his instincts judging people for a living. Therefore when Eren looked at him, felt like he was being stared at by a slumbering monster whose intentions weren't clear regarding its prey.

"My aims? I wish to complete my academic years in peace and harmony. Maybe major in potion-making and close-range combats.

I wouldn't mind serving the kingdom if the position and benefits that come with it are good. But I will probably dabble in businesses related to potioneering as a side hustle."

Eren concluded like he had things figured out. Jack was expecting an unclear or far fetched answer from a teenager. But he could never guess that the kid who gave off such laid-back vibes would have these ambitions.

"That's a good and flexible goal to have. But potion-making and close combats usually don't gel together.

You might want to rethink your goals when you get to the academy and spend a year there. Your specializations would start from the second academic year. So you'll have ample time to make a decision.

Jakey, what about you?" Jack turned his attention to his son.

"I'm also thinking about majoring in potioneering. I'm not sure about the rest. I'll figure things out by next year after having a look at things in the academy."

Jake Sullivan didn't experience the academy life like Eren. So his approach to setting his aims was cautious. This was the most natural response a kid his age would have. It was Eren who had acted differently.

The trio discussed a few other things before they arrived at Laurel's city gates. They entered the city soon after. Jack had already booked an inn for three of them.

Jack and Jake would have one room to themselves. Eren had insisted on having a dedicated room so he was offered the other one.

They were all tired after spending two days on the road and sleeping half-assedly on the ground during the night. So they all slept off as soon as they found their beds.

Or so the trio's pursuer had thought.

This pursuer was none other than Matt from Dom's Raiders. The only surviving member of his wiped out party.

Everything had gone south after the team Dom's Raiders was met with SR snakes' incident. Matt had to be hospitalized for a week. And Dom did everything in his power to save him.

But later on, Matt was informed that Dom Walker had been the mass murderer of his entire party as well as Isaac's party. That he was in cahoots with Osan Woods' Butcher.

Matt refuted that claim entirely. He had a lot of conflicting information that would at least be enough to question the authenticity of Dom's involvement in the whole thing. But nobody entertained him.

When he tried to make some more noise, Matt's hunting license was revoked by the OB and he was prevented from forming a party with the association's members. All of a sudden, Matt was out of a good job.

Matt was as confused as he was angry. Everybody had seemed like they were hell-bent on making Dom Walker the only guilty person in the entire case.

But that was not all. They had even stopped discussing or investigating the OWB's role and identity entirely. Even a non-scheming guy like Matt could understand that this was a cover-up for something bigger he wasn't aware of.

Matt had nowhere to go or no one to count on. His party was his only family during all these years. And he wouldn't accept Dom as the mastermind behind everything even if someone were to beat him to death for it.

What was a guy like him supposed to do now to get to the bottom of things?

Matt kept on thinking about various possibilities. And his mind finally zeroed in on one detail that everyone seemed to have missed.

Apart from Matt's party itself, only one other group of people knew about what had happened to Dom's Raiders at first. It was through that group the city's various organizations came to know about the incident.

That small group of people was Nina and Eren.

Even Matt kept rejecting the idea of their involvement. They had no motive. But that idea would always sneak back into his head, probably because he didn't have any other lead.

Questioning Nina about it was a suicide Matt didn't want to commit.

But what if Matt could scare a kid into telling him everything he knows about the case?

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Author's Note: Hello. I wasn't going for a release today. But then I thought this two-chapter release was too funny not to share sooner.

Hope you can recall what happened in volume 01. This sorta ties a loose end we all know as Matt! ;)