“Are you guys prepared? It’ll take a day and a half to reach Silvermoon city from here even with these good colts I’ve rented. Hope you’ve packed everything you need.”
“Ready to go anytime at your command Adapt Marla. I’m sure Eren had come prepared as well. He is just too serious about everything if you ask me. So I’m guessing he likes to plan things. Haha!”
Ken answered Marla’s question on his and Eren’s behalf, which the latter didn’t like. But he didn’t let his displeasure known and just smiled in response.
‘This asshat white knight is not as dense as he pretends to be.’
Ken’s remark about Eren’s habit of preparedness didn’t go unnoticed by him. Therefore, the butcher always talked less when he was with his enemy. And yet, that almost-silent treatment ironically gave some details away.
‘I need to make good use of my shapeshifting abilities to whoop this guy’s ass. Aargh! I just can’t stand the brighter-than-the-sun smile that he flashes for no reason every so often.’
The butcher was inwardly pissed at his fellow student. That’s why he did what he did best in the meantime Ken was chatting with Marla. Plotting!
Marla enquired about her two apprentices’ preparations for a reason. They were about to embark on a relatively long journey to the city of Silvermoon. A city that was in the control of Themyscira Amazons. It was located right in the middle of the forest. With only one way in and out.
The city of Silvermoon was one of the few important places for the Amazons because it aided them in maintaining contact with the external world. The Amazons were a close-knit society and they would rarely have visitors at their core bases.
But the city of Silvermoon was different. It was the centre stage for various business and transactions that would take place between the Amazons and the outside world.
***************
Eren and Ken had kept on taking part in practice sessions during these days. And they would also participate in their respective ranking wars. As a result of which, they were deemed as one of the rising stars in the first academic year.
Of course, Ken was at the top of the first years whereas Eren just barely made it to the list. The white knight had given his all and battled the most in the ranking wars while the butcher only made his sporadic appearances.
Eren’s ranking didn’t gain momentum because he was controlling the instances of his participation. That prevented him from becoming the absolute best within the first-year lot.
But the terrorist had made sure that he is placed in the top-tier list of every category of the ranking war. He had also participated solo in the interclass ranking wars to get nominated for that category as well.
Eren maintained a ranking position of 7th and 9th in the intra-class ranking war’s solo and group categories respectively. And he was placed at 29th and 36th position in the interclass ranking war’s solo and group categories.
The Inter-year ranking war was still about to take place for students in the first academic year. But they were all gearing up for the same while participating in the ranking wars that were available to them.
The inter-year ranking war was considered as a foregone conclusion for most participants in the first year, whether they participated solo or in the teams. That’s why almost all the first-years were looking to only participate in the compulsory matches and reduce the collateral that they would have to pay by participating in teams.
The first-year students’ grind these days was to overcome the future loss. And nobody could blame them for thinking like this.
Eren had limited his participation in the ranking wars because he had too many things to do on his platter. But the ranking places he had reserved for himself in various categories were just the right spots as per his designs.
The butcher’s ranking position attracted enough attention to make him known within the first-year crowd. But they weren’t so groundbreaking that he would be made the focal point of the students’ everyday discussions.
Attracting attention was the white knight’s job. Eren was comfortable playing an underdog.
And it wasn’t like he had free time in his hands to play with the kids of his age.
The exercise routine Marla gave to him itself wasn’t something Eren could do with absolute ease at his level yet. Then there were potioneering lectures with Levine from time to time. Plus, he was training Steve and Ramy while giving pointers to others in his team at the end of the day.
The practice battling sessions with Ken were also newly added to his to-do list.
But that was not all. The butcher did not forget to keep on earning Merps while he was doing activities. He had started making a few basic F-Rank potions that were known to be widely used. Then he would sell them off to LA through Levine.
But the butcher’s biggest revenue would start coming from Jake’s father. That is because the butcher had started producing the most potent potions that weren’t preferred by the masses but loved by the specialists. That was because they were controversial. And he was going to use Jack Sullivan to introduce his potions in the market of the city of Lionhearts.
Jack’s father had already opened a shop in the city and he was gearing up for an expansion. Eren’s potions weren’t something that would get sold like hotcakes. But they were still enough to draw some special customers.
The whole reason Eren had kept a good relationship with Jake was so that he could use his father’s connections to make some bucks. The butcher also had some other plans in his mind. But for now, this setup was enough.
Eren had opened multiple fronts to gain the best out of his time and efforts. As a result of which, he barely slept for a few hours. But he didn’t care. The young him could take it. And with the progression in the ranking journey, these herculean tasks would soon turn into chores.
************************
“Alright! It looks like we are all set. But making our next move, let me first introduce you to one of the assistants I have who would also accompany us during this mission.
Meet Almera. She is an E-Ranker ranger with wind elemental affinity.
Now that the formalities are completed, grab the colts that are assigned to you and head out. Almera would stay at the front, leading us. You two will stay in the middle. And I’ll tail you guys from a safe distance.”
Eren and Ken gave a courtesy bow to Alema who was newly introduced to them before making their way towards the city of Silvermoon. The butcher was excited. Because he knew this city was special in many ways from his past experiences.
One of the reasons among them was the fact that the majority of its citizens weren’t humans.
That’s right. The city of Silvermoon had Faeruns.
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AN: Thank you @ppp999 @Williams0306 @GojoVir and @TrafalgarLaws for sending gifts. I also thank @BoneMarrOwO @Greeko_suave @InquisitorCrusader and all the others who have sent Golden Tickets.