Chapter 209: The Headhunting Houses (1/2)

Chapter 209: The Headhunting Houses

“Ferguillo!”

“Charlotte!”

“Ivan!”

A voice full of enthusiasm and fighting spirit rang from behind them. Even without turning their heads, Charlotte, Ferguillo, and the rest knew that it was Ayrin who was approaching them.

“How’s it going? Did you guys also receive news from the Office of Special Affairs?” Ayrin hurriedly blurted as soon as he reached the group of people, “You know, the news that we will be conducting missions to specifically deal with the Evil Dragon followers.”

“We just received the news not too long ago. We have all decided to participate. I assume you are as well?” Ferguillo calmly asked as he looked at Ayrin.

“Haha, you all are indeed brave warriors.” Ayrin excitedly looked at Charlotte, “We will be able to run missions together.”

Charlotte slightly blushed.

“Man, can’t you just hide your feelings, even a little bit? Don’t forget that the rest of us are all single,” Ivan said half-jokingly. He shook his head, “But it’s still too early for you be happy. For such a large-scale operation involving so many arcane teams, you two might not be able to be on the same team even if you want to.”

“Why?” Ayrin became dazed. “Are the teams going to be arranged by academy?”

“The teams will not be arranged by academy, but by the skillsets and fighting styles of each individual arcane master,” Ferguillo calmly explained, “The Office of Special Affairs will thoroughly analyze every aspect of every arcane master before making any arrangements. For example, if you had strong offensive capabilities but a weak defense, they would probably pair you with a teammate who was really good at defending. Or if you were a relatively negligent individual without any scouting arcane skills, they would probably pair you with a teammate who was extremely meticulous and good at detecting ambushes. By doing this, the Office of Special Affairs can create synergized and well-balanced teams which allow each member to shine by utilizing their respective strengths as much as possible. This maximizes the battle power of each team and the arcane teams as a whole. Moreover, due to the special circumstances of this operation, it is also likely that they will not be especially assigning arcane masters with rich combat experience to act as team captains for us.”

“So it’s like this. But our coordination and performance last time seemed to be so good. Perhaps we will actually be grouped together.” Ayrin scratched his head, then spontaneously exclaimed, as if he had discovered a new continent, “By the way, how come it seems like there are suddenly so many strange looking arcane teams all of a sudden? Moreover, they all seem really strong!”

“The majority of them are from the Kingdom of Doa.” Ivan glanced towards Ayrin, then icily said, “You have remained within the athlete village and focused on training, so you wouldn’t know that several hundred of the Kingdom of Doa’s arcane teams have come to Eichemalar these last few days. They have probably come to cooperate with us in these missions.”

“They are from the Kingdom of Doa?” Ayrin was greatly shocked, “How come we needed to invite over so many arcane teams from the Kingdom of Doa to cooperate with us in this mission? The strength of the arcane teams of our Kingdom of Eiche is not enough?”

“Thus, we predict that we are going to be moving against the main encampment of the Evil Dragon followers this time. It seems like we have finally determined its general location after searching for it so long. But it seems like the size of the main encampment has already surpassed their original predictions to the point where they are afraid of losing control of the situation with just the arcane teams of our Kingdom of Eiche.” Ivan looked at the several arcane teams walking atop the street in the distance. He grimaced, “However, it is not good for us to have so many fellows from Doa here.”

“What do you mean Ivan?” Ayrin turned his head and looked at Ivan. Ayrin seemed to be the only one who had heard the sudden increase of hostility in Ivan’s voice.

“You have never been part of a corps, so you there are some things which you don’t understand,” Ferguillo gently explained in place of Ivan, “Although we are allies with the Kingdom of Doa, our two kingdoms naturally still harbour separate, selfish interests. The simplest example of this is what happens when two teams from different teams encounter each other. They will try to steal from each other, and this in turn often becomes a battle of life and death. Every year, there are a lot of battlemaster teams from our kingdom who enter the demon forests to hunt giant beasts and monsters. Some of them are killed upon encountering teams from the Kingdom of Doa, sometimes before they even see their killers. This is especially true in areas which neither kingdom has very much control. Furthermore, there are many a times where we end up being unable to locate the corpses of missing teams.”

“The main reason arcane masters exist, other than defending against invasion by Evil Dragon followers, is to maintain the balance of power between the kingdoms.” Seeing the look of astonishment on Ayrin’s face, Ferguillo calmly added, “Forget about the two kingdoms, this kind of competitive relationship also exists between the various families. These battles of life and death frequently erupt between arcane teams from different families.”

“You mean that some teams end up fighting against each other for selfish reasons even though they are all supposed to be working together to fight the Evil Dragon followers?” Ayrin asked, sucking a deep breath.

“That is just how the relationship between us and the Kingdom of Doa is. It’s because neither side has the power to suppress the other. We just merely happen to have the same dangerous enemy.” Ferguillo nodded, “As for the arcane teams of our Kingdom of Eiche, the Office of Special Affairs has specific rules disallowing internal killing. However, there are still some arcane teams which kill when the opportunity where they will not be discovered presents itself. Normally in these circumstances, they will kill the entire other team, making it very hard to find the culprits.”

“Let me use another, simpler example which you might have an easier time understanding,” Ivan said, looking at Ayrin. “Let’s say we were to encounter Golden Stag Academy’s team in the wilderness while doing our mission. Considering Rinsyi’s character, he would probably try to kill all of us.”

“If you put it this way, it actually makes sense.” Ayrin thought for a while, then vigorously nodded, expressing his agreement.

“Anyway, moving on. Ayrin, just what exactly is Teacher Carter’s plan? Moss has been spending every day just eating and drinking and hasn’t trained at all. I’ve heard that Stingham’s the same and is just spending every day chasing after and flirting with pretty girls.