Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil

"The guild might even…"

The woman ranker was about to disappear but was stopped by the armored ranker's suppressing aura once again. The Edinburgh kingdom was also keeping tabs on White Raven city and the guild itself.

The city assured the kingdom of significant revenues as soon as it opened. So it didn't care who owned the city as long as it got what it wanted from the city. However, from the looks of things, the kingdom was under the impression that Demonmir would eventually take over the management of Minerva's Utopia. It was only a matter of time.

Still, this was not something a kingdom-affiliated ranker was supposed to mention or comment on. So the swordswoman cleared her throat and dropped the subject of the White Raven guild before saying what she wanted to say in the first place.

"Anyway. My name is Meera Medinah. And this is Kev Larson, also known by his title Armored Knight. If you ever think of joining Edinburgh's special forces, give us a call.

You have already proven your worth by what we have seen you can do so far. We'd gladly accommodate a ranker of your talent."

Drin was taken aback when he heard Meera extend an invitation to him to join Edinburgh's special forces. Although the offer was tempting, Drin didn't want anything to do with the kingdom's business. As a ranker, he knew that increased authority only meant additional responsibilities, which limit a ranker's path.

Although it was not public knowledge, more and more rankers had started noticing that there was a storm brewing on the borders of Edinburgh and Layos. Both kingdoms were actively seeking to increase their military strength. It could only mean that a massive disturbance was heading for both the kingdoms and their respective populace. When the storm hit, Drin didn't want to be restricted. He'd participate in the storm on his own terms.

"I'll think about it."

Despite not wanting to join the special forces, Drin spoke calmly. He didn't want to turn the rankers' invitation down in front of someone like Bigua. So he chose to keep his answer ambiguous, which made the Armored Knight chuckle. He knew at that point that Drin wasn't planning to join their ranks.

Drin got up from his position and looked at the full-body armor man and the beautiful lady ranker who was beside him. When Bigua the tribe chieftain stood in front of them, he wanted to know why these kingdom-affiliated rankers were willing to rescind the raid mission.

From the looks of it, these two rankers' combined strength should be enough for them to take care of Bigua. Especially with their kingdom-issued artifacts.

In retrospect, Drin decided not to ask these questions of the rankers. He guessed that monsters of Bigua's level would always have contingency plans that would spell doom for both parties.

The rankers simply didn't want to burn their hands in collateral damage now that their main goal had been achieved. It didn't matter that Bigua had killed more humans and attacked the many settlements near the borders in the past- it was just that. A past.

Drin wasn't really keen on targeting the entire monster tribes. Especially now that there were no rewards to be gained from doing so. He bowed at the two rankers and also bowed at the quasi Monster Overload Bigua before taking his leave.

Meera, Kev, and Bigua waited for Drin to leave the region before resuming their talk. Bigua was the first one to speak.

"You can't fool me, you know. I know you guys don't care for adventurers that die here, no matter how many of them end up losing their lives.

You don't care about anything other than your profits. So why the pressure tactic?"

Meera smirked when she heard Bigua speak. However, she didn't speak to herself. It was Kev's place to bargain with Bigua.

Kev didn't take long to answer.

"Alright. I'll cut straight to the chase. Should the kingdom of Layos send its forces through the Badlands from your region, we would like for you to attack them with your entire tribe.

Of course, we'll provide you with the necessary intel and some artifacts as well as array imprints to cause maximum damage to our enemies. But you'd have to use your manpower in a sufficient quantity."

If Drin was here, he would have been taken aback by the special forces of Edinburgh striking a deal with a monster and his entire tribe. To ordinary rankers, dealing with monsters on a diplomatic level was unheard of.

Bigua shook his head in disappointment when he heard Kev's words. He seemed to have guessed correctly.

"I just don't understand why humans can't settle their disputes as we do. Arrange mortal combat between the two sides. Whoever wins gets to decide what they want to do. Simple as that."

Bigua said and snorted. Then he caressed his chin before adding more.

"I'll need a lot more than the intel and the few artifacts. I need other resources from you. I want you guys…"

Bigua started discussing what he needed with the two rankers. Both sides talked for a while and objected to some of the proposed arguments before finally finding common ground.

Bigua was not the only monster chieftain of importance the kingdom of Edinburgh was in talks with. Similar talks were taking place throughout the Badlands.

The space-time fabric in Badlands was abnormal. Meaning it was very easy to create teleportation arrays inside the Badlands if the rankers knew where to build them. This was the reason why Eren could create a teleportation array all by himself after Alephee's guidance.

Thus, the kingdom of Layos could create multiple fronts of attacks on Edinburgh by using teleportation arrays inside the Badlands. The kingdom approached the monster tribes with this possibility in mind.

The kingdom of Layos was no different. It was doing the same thing with the monster tribes it was in talks with. Both kingdoms had put aside their differences with the monsters at this point.

Instead, they were focusing on making their side stronger by getting monsters onboard on their side. All while using guild rankers as deterring forces and bargaining chips at the same time.