Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil

"But…. But if you guys want, I can choose a different class."

Bel said this while adjusting his oddly shaped specs in vain! Eren pacified him with his words:

"Bel, you don't need to change your class for us. Rather, we wanted a historian in our team. That's why you were approached."

"But I didn't tell anyone about my choice to become a historian till now. How did you know that I'd choose this class?"

"Er… Bel, just look at yourself, man. Do you have what it takes to choose a combat-oriented profession? Do you think others can't see that and read you like an open book you are? Historian was going to be your most likely choice.

But that's not important here. I've called you guys here to inform you about a few things. That way, we'd be able to gain maximum benefits in the coming days.

First, Ana and Bel would not join our party until they officially start their ranking journey. But that doesn't mean they'd stay idle.

Ana, you need to apply for a job at LA's department of health. They'd place you in one of the infirmaries on the academy's ground. You would gain experience in treating rankers and earning Merps at the same time this way.

Likewise, Bel should apply for a job in the library department. You'd stay out of trouble while expanding your knowledge. Earning Merps is an added advantage.

I'd like all of us to get apprenticed by respective Adapt rank professors by the end of this year. The earlier you could pull it off, the better.

Apprenticeship isn't a cakewalk. There are some disadvantages to accepting it.

First, your day would become more hectic as you might get called by your master anytime they see fit. That can put pressure on you to arrange your schedule to accommodate your lectures, job, training, and more in such a way that they won't hinder your apprenticeship.

Second, you might have to tag along with your master outside the academy grounds if and when they need to do so. The Adapt level professors only take one class a week because they tend to leave the academy grounds to run errands for LA, partake in personal missions, answer a summons by the kingdom etc. So accompanying your master for almost a week might disrupt all your planning for the week.

Of course, Masters won't necessarily try to sabotage your routine. They'd take your job, lectures, and training into consideration and coordinate with LA before issuing a summon to you. But still, it might get a little difficult for us apprentices. Of course, there's a certain factor of risk involved.

And lastly, Master would pay in Merps or some other form for your services. But apprenticeship isn't all that lucrative Merps wise. You are better off doing your regular job if earning Merps is all you care about. But what you gain instead, in abundance, would be an on-field experience.

The monetary issue prevents most of the poor students from getting into the program, but trust me when I say this. You don't want to miss gaining experience right now. Especially if you want to be a good ranker of your generation.

The biggest advantage of this Master-apprentice program is that you'd potentially get an unrestricted amount of knowledge in your field. Your Master is responsible for teaching you stuff in your class. You won't have to pay in Merps for those learning sessions like you do for the academy's lectures and on-field programs.

And the second advantage would be that nobody would try to mess with you. It is quiet for now. But inter-year ranking wars have the potential to completely dry your accounts of all your Merps if you are unlucky and not backed by someone influential in LA or outside it.

In short, the advantages of receiving an apprenticeship far outweigh its disadvantages. We must aim to get into the program from the start if we want to get those advantages to ourselves. I want you guys to think hard about what you need to do as a ranker all your life.

Once you do that, gather information regarding any possible Adapt rankers from the same field who take in apprentices. Know about what conditions you need to meet to get apprenticed by them. And start working on those conditions so that you can fulfil them before your rivals.

Ideally, the apprenticeship program is for second-year students and onwards. But there isn't any rule about whether or not you should have the information and try to meet the conditions of apprenticeship. So that's what we will do. We are going to streamline our efforts so that we can get maximum output from our invested time and efforts.

I'd suggest you choose your masters from the field or job posting you are part of. That way, you will have maximum time with your Master who can guide you in your field while you are doing your job. Your master will be aware of your schedule on a personal level so the instances of your schedule getting disturbed would be minimum. Plus, you'd save time.

I, for example, have decided to opt for an apprenticeship offered by Adapt Marla. I'll have my Besanc missions as a source to earn Merps. Adapt Marla isn't a regular professor in LA. and she mostly stays at her posting at LA's border. So I'll be able to sync my apprenticeship with personal missions.

Besanc is the best place to earn Merps in a short time. But it won't provide you with the guidance you need to progress speedily in your ranking journey. Most of you guys are not ready for hunting outside yet. So we'll think about running missions for Besanc as a party when you get some experience under your belt.

I want us to raise our individual prowess, as well as our potential as a team to the best possible way we can in this crucial period. That's because there's going to be an event before the end of the year for our first years. That event will only allow team participation. And only the strongest team will be the biggest beneficiary of that event. I want that beneficiary to be us."

Eren stopped after saying till here so that his instructions would sink into his team members' heads. Only now did the others realize that Eren had been aiming to play a long game. Renia couldn't help asking:

"So you tipped us off about that event so that we could get the best techniques and spells for ourselves without going broke or employed. All so that we'd have a clear road to ourselves to get apprenticed. Why do I think that you are not gathering teammates but raising pawns for your benefit? And what's with this so-called event? I would have thought that you are spouting nonsense if your information about the previous event did not pan out. That being said, can you tell us about the event from the get-go so that we could trust you more."

Steve didn't like that Eren was being questioned by a girl who had just joined their party. He wanted to rebuke her but was stopped by Becky. The latter is also keen on knowing about the event now.

But mostly, Becky wanted to see how Eren would reply. The guy was still a mystery to her. He had all the crucial pieces of information despite being from a backwater town. And nobody knew who or what his source to get such information was. Of course, Becky was intrigued. So she let a newbie question their de-facto leader.

Eren didn't even flinch when he was called out for his goals. He looked into Renita's eyes while saying:

"Look, I'd be lying if I said that I helped you gain resources because of the goodness of my heart. As I've already said, this is a form of investment.

But it doesn't mean that you didn't or wouldn't gain anything from my selfishness, does it?

Forget about me saying anything about the event before the right time to do so arrives. I'll not allow anyone to mess up with my plans by risking an info leak.

I'm only telling you to improve yourself as an individual and as a team. I'm doing all I can to help you achieve just that. And it's not like I would stay idle in the process. I'm not making my team stronger so that they can carry me in ranking wars and help me earn freebie Merps.

I'll probably work the hardest among you to reach my goals. So what's wrong with me asking you to keep up with me? If you want the easy life in LA, I'd suggest you quit this team.

We would have to ensure that you won't say anything about the event or any of the remaining members to anyone with a binding contract. Do that, and I'll ensure that there'd be no bad blood between us even if you decide to walk out of the team. I'll just find your replacement and aim for the same goal I've been aiming for from the very start.

"So I'll ask this to all of you. Who wants to quit being part of this team?"