"What did you do?"
Eren asked Alephee while looking at him. He was walking alongside Kirin, keeping his left arm across her shoulders.
He had observed that Alephee had used her grimoire on somebody or something an hour back. But he was busy chatting with his Oni woman at the time so he had ignored it.
"Tch. Some pest was trying to spy on us. I took care of it. And don't act like you didn't notice."
Alephee said with a frown on her face. She was walking on Eren's right side at this point. Kirin and Kaal both didn't know what the two were talking about. So they just kept their silence.
Eren chuckled when he heard Alephee's words. He thought that maybe it was better for her when she didn't have a vessel. Because she could keep herself disengaged from his affairs most of the time when situations like these occurred. But now that she had a vessel, she couldn't help interfering directly.
Eren had sensed with his soul sense that someone had used a long-range ranger spell on them. He didn't react because, just as Bhaa Laah had said, it was natural for a ranger to use their long-range spell if they were in the Badlands.
If he was alone, he would change his direction. If he was at a party, he would have done nothing in the hopes that the other party was not hostile.
What Eren didn't count on was the fact that Alephee wouldn't like an intrusion in her private space and she would punish the guy for it. He just shrugged his shoulders before commenting.
"Never mind. It's not like you killed the guy. Things could get complicated if they decide to intercept us. After all, it would make sense for both sides to avoid any signs of battle in the forbidden zone.
They are probably cultists. Or some rogue elements within the Edinburgh army…
Hm? Wait a damn minute."
Eren spoke casually when he suddenly stopped talking. He was reminded of Tumko and he spoke of the rogue elements within the Edinburgh army active in the forbidden zone. He smiled bitterly as he predicted the identities of rankers who were trying to spy on them.
In the next moment, Eren and Alephee straightened themselves and stopped walking. They felt with their acute senses that they were surrounded. They also realized that someone had used an isolation array in the area to keep the signs of activity from being detected by authorities.
Eren and his team were also prevented from escaping by the isolation array. Eren would recognize this methodical way of taking action from miles away. He had experienced it for the first time when he was in Lionheart Duchy. Later, he used these tactics on monsters when he was completing missions.
'Edinburgh's army!'
Eren said to himself in his head and looked around himself with nonchalant expressions. If possible, he didn't want to kill the person who had inspired him to live and fight against his circumstances in his previous timeline. If the guy and his team came after it, he could only retaliate. He wouldn't shy away from committing another squad purge at the time.
Eren also hoped that his guess was wrong this time. That it would be a different party he could kill and be done with. However, he was bound to be disappointed by how accurate his prediction was.
"Tumko!"
Eren saw the ranker at a distance above a branch of a tree and called his name. The guy was wearing a unique type of mask which was different from his usual attire. But the patterns were easily recognizable to Eren.
This mask covered his entire face except for his eyes.
Tumko was wearing a long overcoat over a blazer. The overcoat had a hoodie attached to it that Tumko had drawn over his head. The guy had black eyes that gave him an intense stare.
Tumko was surprised when Eren called his name loud enough that he could hear it. He narrowed his eyes at Eren before asking him a question.
"How do you know me? Have we met before?"
Eren smirked when he felt Tumko's presence for the first time in both his timelines. He could only laugh at the irony that the guy who had inspired him to live his life had come to claim it in this timeline.
It wasn't that Eren was faultless in the timeline. He had claimed Tumko's encounter for himself, using it as a way to gain an army of monsters for himself. The fact that Tumko couldn't have achieved what he had done with the same opportunity was a different matter altogether.
"I know you. Or rather, I know of you. You are in Edinburgh's army, right? Of course, I'd know you. I have heard about you from my colleagues, so to speak."
Eren spoke with patience and fearlessness in his eyes. His teammates were instructed not to do anything definitive against Tumko's team. Not unless Tumko's team started the conflict from their end.
Tumko felt puzzled for a few moments before drawing a possible conclusion.
"Are you also a member of the Edinburgh army?"
Eren didn't take long to answer. He nodded his head before speaking up.
"That's right. We play for the same team.
Now we would be grateful if you could disperse the isolation array."
Eren looked at Tumko as he spoke. The latter was shocked once more when he discovered Eren was a member of Edinburgh's army as well. Things had gotten more complicated for him as well. Even he wanted the matter resolved without further complication.
"You know that this is a forbidden zone not allowed to be entered even by army personnel, right?"
Tumko decided to put pressure on Eren who seemed to be way younger than him. He wanted to see how much of a greenhorn he was.
Eren chuckled before answering.
"Yet, here we all are.
Let's just say that I didn't see you here and you didn't see me. How does that sound for an arrangement?"
Eren asked, giving Tumko another chance to retreat. He was about to stop caring about Tumko and his team's well-being anymore now that the isolation array was active. He was also sensing a particularly hostile intention directed at him from a different direction.
