"Welcome, everyone!"
Right now, it was morning, and a group of 20 warriors was gathered near the northwestern border of the Farm Line.
The warriors all wore different outfits.
Some of them wore furs.
Some of them wore armor.
Some of them wore normal clothing.
However, one thing was the same.
All of them were at the Early General Stage.
Except for one.
The person that had just spoken wore an expensive-looking set of green armor and a spear, and while everyone else was at the Early General Stage, he was at the Late General Stage.
The gathered group of warriors only politely smiled at the officer's greeting.
"I'm from the Duke's personal army, and it's my responsibility to get you to the northern border," he announced.
"All of you have signed up for one reason or another."
"Some of you want to make a good impression on the Duke," the man said as his eyes went over a group of men wearing a set of standardized, immaculately cleaned armor.
"Some of you are here to gain experience," the man said as his eyes went over a group of young men wearing uniforms from the Warrior's Academy.
"Some of you are here to make amends," the man said as his eyes went over some people wearing furs and leathery armor.
"And some of you are here only for the reward," the man said as he looked over a group of three people wearing masks.
"However, today, all of you are equals. It doesn't matter why you are here. While you are here, you are one and the same," the officer declared.
"Excuse me?"
The officer looked at one of the students. "You may speak."
"Thank you, sir," the student said. "I am fine with working together, and I have no problem with anyone here."
Everyone was waiting for the but.
The student's eyes went over the three masked men. "But I, at least, want to see the faces of my comrades. If I am going to trust them, I want them to trust us enough to at least show their faces."
One of the rugged-looking men snorted with derision. "Go back to your-"
BANG!
The officer rammed the butt of his spear into the man's abdomen, making him immediately keel over in pain.
"Did I say you were allowed to speak?" the officer asked with an admonishing tone.
"N-No, sir," the man said through gritted teeth.
The officer nodded and looked at the student, his smile returning. "Our three friends have a reason to keep their faces hidden," he explained. "We are lacking manpower due to the increase in land and the Days of Chaos."
"Because of that, we decided to extend our reach of acceptance, if you will," the officer explained.
"This includes fugitives, former bandits, and especially immigrants from our neighbors."
Not everyone understood what the officer meant, but most of them did, and they looked at the three masked men.
Immigrants from our neighbors?
That meant traitors.
It was no problem to go to a different territory if one wanted. However, it was a problem if that person had sold themselves to their ruler's faction.
While all of these lands were ruled by the Skythunder Kingdom, and while the normal peasants believed that the Skythunder Kingdom was united, in truth, a bloody war for resources took place right beneath everyone's noses.
Towards the outside, the Skythunder Kingdom portrayed an image of a powerful and united force.
But inside, all the Dukes were silently battling each other for resources and land.
The King, of course, knew that all of this was taking place, but he didn't care. He had officially forbidden the Dukes from battling each other, but he would only enforce this rule if someone managed to collect irrefutable evidence of that happening.
The King believed that the treachery and war would keep his Dukes and armies strong and ready for battle.
Before the King had taken over, the Kingdom had been a land of peace, and when another Kingdom attacked, the Kingdom suffered a lot.
The Old King had sacrificed himself to stop the war. The Old King had been an altruistic person, which was reflected by the way his Kingdom was and by his own actions.
But the new King found this freedom-loving ideology to be a ticking timebomb.
Other Kingdoms wouldn't care if the Skythunder Kingdom was nice or not.
They only coveted their lands.
Shang was among this group of people, and he was one of the three masked individuals.
Eight months had already passed since the trial, and Shang had been taught a lot by Mattheo and his teacher about the hidden politics.
Just as Shang had expected, the person that had tried to destroy Warrior's Paradise two years ago had been Duke Mithril, the Duke to the north of Duke Whirlwind's territory.
A year later, Duke Whirlwind had struck back by making the Ice Wyvern fight the Volcano Wyrm.
How did he accomplish that?
Well, according to calculations, one of the Abominations would appear in the northern parts of the battlefield, and it was a General Stage one.
The Ice Wyvern and Volcano Wyrm dealt with half of the territory each. If an Abomination appeared in the south, the Ice Wyvern would kill it, and if it appeared in the north, the Volcano Wyrm would kill it.
How did the Zone Beasts tell if the Abomination appeared on their side?
Mana Sense.
If there were more Ice Mana, the Ice Wyvern would deal with it, for example.
However, just before the Abomination had appeared, several True Mages had detonated Ice Bombs at the location where the Abomination would appear.
So, when it appeared, the Ice Wyvern felt that there was a lot of Ice Mana around the Abomination, which meant that this was its responsibility.
Yet, the Volcano Wyrm felt that the Abomination was very close to its territory. After all, the entire north was coated in Fire Mana, except for that small spot. So, it was obviously its responsibility to kill it.
In the end, both of them went out to deal with the Abomination.
But when the two saw each other, they began fighting.
Both felt like the other was encroaching on their territory. Additionally, as beasts of opposing Affinities, they didn't like each other that much anyway.
In the end, the Ice Wyvern won, and the Volcano Wyrm fled back to its Zone.
That was when the Ice Wyvern claimed the entire battlefield as its own.
And this group of people?
Well, they were here to make the place habitable.
The wildlife in the new Zone was still unstable, and the ecosystem was undergoing an upheaval.
Fire beasts walked around in icy lands, and the ice beasts fought them.
On top of that, over the long years of fighting, the flora had basically been eradicated except for a few exceptions.
When the Ice Wyvern had claimed the Zone, the battlefield had been nothing but a war-ravaged wasteland filled with General and Commander Stage beasts.
And now, as the owner of these lands, it was Duke Whirlwind's job to make this a rich and prospering land for his people.
The Storm Eagle Zone had been managed to near perfection, transforming into a land brimming with wealth and gold, and he wanted to transform the previous battlefield into a similar land.
And it was the job of this group of people and many others to achieve this goal.
Of course, Duke Mithril would do his best to destabilize the Zone by infiltrating it with his own people.
Which was why Shang was here.
It was his job to sniff out these agents and either kill them or report them.
