GREED: ALL FOR WHAT?

Since there were nobles in the village taking part of the supply of the energy water it falls on the lamp bearers to protect the villages.

No one else other than the lamp bearers will protect them. After all, the lamp bearers made the rule, so they have to enforce it.

If they don't offer protection to the villagers, then the villagers will be killed or bullied. The villagers can also willing give up a certain portion of their supply to others for protection. But if they do this, many of them will die because of the reduction in the energy water.

To prevent all of these deaths, Captain Sheckel has taken it as her responsibility to protect all the villages under her jurisdiction.

This is a job that the lamp bearers do without any benefit because they don't take from the spirit spring of the villages at all. So they protect the surrounding villages free of charge.

Now that the population of the village has taken a severe hit, there is extra energy water for the lamp bearers to use. It makes the energy water bitter sweat for many of the lamp bearers.

Legion thought that this arrangement was stupid. It is not just because it sounds stupid that lowly mortals are allowed to occupy important resources that they can't protect. They also have personal reasons for thinking it is stupid.

They remember when they asked Captain Sheckel for energy water, but she could only give them four liters every month.

If she did the same thing to other lamp bearers, then it means that she was prioritizing giving energy water to weak mortals instead of giving it to the people that are going to protect those weaklings when something bad happens.

They groaned to themselves, "It is one stupidity after another. Doesn't she know that power is required to seek and enforce justice?"

They felt that the death of the lamp bearers was not a shame. The lamp bearers have been wrong right from the start, so they deserve to die now.

They were thinking this when someone asked her, "Captain, where is Shawn? Did he also die in the line of duty?"

Everyone, including Legion, looked over at her, waiting for her to answer. They too were curious about Shawn's current condition. After all, it is suspected that it was his family that was causing so much death and destruction.

Captain Sheckel replied, "Shawn hasn't reported for duty since three days ago. He said that he was kidnapped."

Everyone turned away after hearing that answer. They were silent, but they were also angry.

They don't doubt that Shawn was kidnapped. As a lamp bearer, he would never lie about something so important to his captain, or he would be betraying the lamp bearers.

That much is certain. But it is also certain that it was the Ivory family who kidnapped him. They are hell-bent on believing that.

So while they are out here dying, Shawn was "forcefully" kept back at home by his family. The comparison made the lamp bearers worse than they already were about their situation.

Legion thought to themselves, "Damn, we should have done that."

Actually, they would have found an excuse not to come if they didn't come. It was because they wanted to keep an eye on the lamp bearers and Captain Sheckel for their partners in crime that they decided to come.

They relayed the information they had acquired to Black Knife. Black Knife in turn relayed it to the Ivory family and the Silver Mirror black market.

So now the Ivory family knew that Captain Sheckel was hoping that they would run out of mutants and that the reinforcement she asked for from out of town would arrive soon. So they speed up the pace of their scheme.

While this was going on, the brand on their chest didn't react at all. After all, it couldn't read their thoughts.

Captain Sheckel led them into a battle again and again. Legion followed along like a dutiful soldier while snitching on his comrades in arms and doing their best to keep themselves safe.

The frequency of mutant attacks remained steady thanks to Legion. Just as the lamp bearers were done finishing a battle, Captain Sheckel would receive reports of another mutant attack somewhere else. So she and the lamp bearers didn't have any time to rest.

There is just so much that energy water can recover. Energy water can't recover stamina and mental energy. At least, godclads who aren't epic beings can't use energy water to recover stamina and mental energy.

Even though godclads have a prodigious amount of stamina, they still need to rest and recover it. Unfortunately, they couldn't rest because Captain Sheckel couldn't bear that normal people died. She would rather push her lamp bearers to their early deaths than let mortals die.

The Lamp bearers had to rebel against her tyrannical rule. They had to ask her for time to rest while mortals screamed in pain and died in droves.

It was either that or they become unable to suppress the divine flesh within them. If they can't, they too will become mutants. They will become the very thing that they hunt.

Captain Sheckel knew this, but she was always rushing the lamp bearers. It wasn't until one of them lost control after 12 hours of fighting and running about.

They had to kill the lamp bearer, which not only increased their number of casualties but also reduced their manpower and ability to continue to fight. Captain Sheckel finally let the lamp bearers sleep.

Unfortunately, things didn't go their way. They couldn't sleep because they were attacked by beasts. Many people died again.

The 34 people under her command became 12 after this round of fighting. The fate of the lamp bearers looked bleak.

They knew that if things continued this way, it was unlikely that they would be able to last another day. At most, all of them will die in two days. After all, they have lost 7.3 lamp bearers every day for three days now.