At the outpost near the ruins of Haibei City, north of Settlement No. 1, Anthony sat in the barracks with a cigarette dangling from his lips, flipping through a novel he had bought from a nearby settlement.
Ever since he had brokered the deal with the Goblin Corps, he had been promoted from a squad leader to a centurion. The entire area from the outpost to the camp was now under his command.
After the Battle of the Torch ended, the Sticky Community's various forces had not immediately withdrawn from the Hague Province. The Eastern Legion's expeditionary force alone had left behind a ten-thousand-man unit in Haiya Province, continuing to scrape together what little loot remained while excavating pre-war ruins.
Although the Southern Legion and The Alliance were locked in fierce fighting in Boro Province, Triumph City's relationship with The Alliance was not particularly bad, and the Eastern Legion followed Triumph City's lead... at least for now.
That was why this so-called outpost was really just for show, with both sides asserting their military presence.
And so far, the Eastern Legion's 37th Ten-Thousand-Man Unit and The Alliance's local garrison had not had a single military clash.
They occasionally even picked up jobs from nearby settlements, such as clearing out raiders, mutants, alien nests, and guarding railway lines.
The Alliance usually paid them in silver coins, which could be exchanged at nearby settlements or with passing merchants for plenty of things that improved their quality of life—cigarettes, Happy Water, and vodka, for example.
Anthony had found this kind of life rather hard to adjust to at first, but he had gradually gotten used to it. When off duty, he even went to the bar in the neighboring settlement for a few drinks.
Just like usual.
His backside numb from sitting in