The Rise of the Black Plain

"I'll do my best," Minos said as he looked at that guy who had a humanoid body, the legs of an ox, and the head of a bull.

Meanwhile, the other three group members, two level 99 individuals and one level 98, looked at Minos curiously, interested in seeing this mid-level Grandmaster acting.

Normally, Law Enforcers were either Rank-and-File Soldiers or Elite Soldiers. The reason was obvious: they had to keep order and enforce the guild rules, so they had to be able to deal with guild members living in the area where they operated.

That was the area external to the headquarters, so any problems that arose for Law Enforcers to solve would be with individuals of the Recruit, Rank-and-File Soldier, and Elite Soldier ranks.

In other words, a guard from the Law Enforcement Hall in this external area had to be able to deal with individuals from these three hierarchies!

'Will he cope?' Asked one of the two level 99 to his level 98 friend. 'We're here to help him, but the tradition is that new Law Enforcers solve the problems of their first day on the job by themselves, and we don't help him until he's in mortal danger.'

'He accepted this mission because he wanted to, Banus. The optional missions have warnings about their risks and the indicated cultivation range for accepting these missions.' Said the level 98 individual. 'If he was greedy for the 300 merit points, that's his problem.'

Meanwhile, the group leader began their patrol, walking ahead of his men while thinking about Minos' audacity.

'I want to see what this kid can do.' He thought to himself, 'He's probably not a fool, so he must have power. But does he know our job isn't just enforcing the law?'

One might think that a Law Enforcer would put on their uniform, fulfill their responsibilities, and then put these matters aside when they left their cloak. But it wasn't that simple.

Once a Law Enforcer, always a Law Enforcer, that was the motto of the Law Enforcement Hall.

Why was that? Well, because by taking action against problematic guild members, Law Enforcers ended up earning the enmity and sometimes the hatred of those they punished, prevented from something or even humiliated.

People who broke the rules within an organization, like Armhands, were usually not very sensible beings. Some of them would not simply see the Law Enforcers' attitude as one of their own organization that had nothing to do with personal problems. Some would take it personally and have problems with specific guards.

That was the problem!

When a member of Armhands joined the Law Enforcement Hall, they would hardly ever stop being a Law Enforcer because ceasing to be one of those guards wouldn't take away the problems they accumulated while fulfilling their responsibilities.

That was too much trouble for someone unprepared and weak!

Was Minos prepared to earn the hatred of those he would have to deal with today?

That was the doubt of these men watching him curiously as they walked at the start of their patrol today.

They were Rank-and-File Soldiers and an Elite Soldier, so even when acting against more daring outsiders, they had the protection their positions gave them. That is, when dealing with external members of a lower rank than their own, the chances of those members trying to cause them trouble were lower than when dealing with individuals of the same or higher rank.

However, Minos didn't have this advantage!

There were around 40,000 external members in Armhands and only one Law Enforcer for every thousand external members.

Only 40 men were working as guards around this area of the guild!

The chance of a group like that not finding any problems to deal with during their shifts was pretty slim!

It was possible that, in just one week's service, Minos would get into enough trouble for him to have permanent problems after just a few days of service, even if he were to give up being a Law Enforcer later on.

But Minos wasn't worried about that. He didn't have the same level of knowledge as his companions this morning about the problems that Law Enforcement Hall guards could have when doing their jobs. But he had chosen this mission on purpose.

Minos felt that his powers were too interesting for him to carry out this kind of activity. He was much stronger than the average outside member, and this job paid the best amount of merit points, considering the time needed to end the service and the difficulty in carrying out the mission.

'If all goes well, I can use this mission to collect 20,000 merit points in just over a year.' He thought as he walked alongside those four guards. 'That will be enough for me to take the promotion test and become a Rank-and-File Soldier.

I may be able to do other missions simultaneously and earn a little more than 1,500 merit points a month. That will speed things up for me.'

While he thought about what his next few months in the guild might be like, their group crossed half of the external city, with the group members talking little to each other the whole way.

But Minos was left with a question after a while when he stopped thinking about his future plans.

"Why are we patrolling this place together? I mean, I heard earlier that there aren't many Law Enforcers in the external part of the city. Wouldn't it be a case of each guard patrolling different locations?"

The leader of this team nodded to Minos positively. "It would be, but only Elite Soldiers can do that.

As it's more difficult to solve the problems that can arise around the guild without other guards' help, the premium for service is higher, and there are fewer such missions. All of them are already being taken up by Law Enforcers of Elite Soldier rank at the moment, and as soon as one of them leaves the service, someone like me will try to pick up the mission."

"The pay for patrolling the external city alone is 800 merit points a week." Said one of the two level 99 individuals.

"Oh?"

The group leader continued to explain. "Some of our comrades in the Law Enforcement Hall do their patrolling on their own. But those of us who can't take on these patrol missions individually have to act in groups."

"I see. Is there any benefit to someone like you being with a group like ours?" Minos asked.

"Yes, when you serve as a Law Enforcer, you get preference to take that individual patrol mission. So even if I get paid less to do it together with you, I'll get a much better mission because of it." "I see."

After more than an hour and a half of calmly patrolling the zone they were responsible for handling together, they spotted a situation near a predominantly residential area.

As soon as they heard sounds of combat and murmurs of concern or even interest in the dispute, the five started running while the group leader gave Minos guidance.

"Recruit, I hope you can handle this. That is your responsibility! If you can't handle it, I'm afraid this will be your first and last time on this kind of mission!"