Unsealing Emptiness

“It was because of me,” Irvin stepped in when he noticed that his wife was troubled. Although he was afraid of her anger and more than ever of Ozul at this moment, he was still a Rank-8 Mage who had faced much worse.

Ozul shifted his face to Irvin who seemed to be eager to describe the events. He hadn’t meant to put any pressure onto them, he was simply going to ask about the general situation after he had left.

“I am listening,” he said calmly. Irvin’s confidence returned as he heard Ozul’s not so cold tone unlike what he had expected from him.

“A few weeks after you had left, we received another message from the Royal family. The messenger asked the same questions this time as well, but before leaving, he threatened to uproot our merchant’s organization if we either did not answer their questions or left the city,” Irvin briefed.

“It was clear that the Emperor was telling us to leave the city because even they knew that we wouldn’t be able to answer the questions as we are not merchants in the first place... Although the Young Master had ordered to set the main base in the capital, I had no other choice but to abandon it.”

“Hm...” Ozul only hummed in response which caused Irvin to start sweating buckets.

.....

He hurriedly tried to explain himself, “There was no other choice. If the Emperor really wanted to take action, then no help from the Ashin Family could ever stop him. Even then, I stationed the experts in the field there to act independently in groups.”

‘Hm... that explains why I had to search them using emotions,’ Ozul concluded as he did not think that every member of the organization had gotten so expert under a year.

Saying all he could, Irvin stood there with his head looking at the floor, awaiting his punishment. Ozul had never been particularly harsh for him to have this fear, but he could not help it after having previously experienced the anger of a Rank-9 Mage.

When Haley looked at her husband, she could not help but speak up, “It’s not Irvin’s fault, Young Master. It was actually me who decided that we should move the base.”

Looking at the scene unfolding before him as if he was some villain and the old couple acting like the heroes of some story, each ready to give up their lives for one another, Ozul sighed and said, “That is enough.”

Irvin, who was about to say something, shut his mouth and again looked at the floor, looking like a pitiful child who had accepted his fate and readied himself for the punishment.

“I understand, you did what you had to. It would have been stupid not to shift bases. You would have had to worry about punishments if you really stayed there after that message,” Ozul said with a deadpan face, making Irvin smile as he hurriedly wiped it off from his face.

Silence descended in the room as Ozul contemplated on this matter.

He had left thinking that the one message from the Emperor was the extent of what he would do. However, now that he thought about it, it was his own fault to assume so much. That person was an Emperor and a Rank-9 Mage, he shouldn’t have underestimated his intelligence.

“There is no use in worrying about it; it doesn’t matter much anyway,” he said, making the old couple sigh in relief.

In the first place, Ozul had only wanted the main base to remain in the Capital since it would make it easier for them to expand because of the direct routes connected to the city.

“Leaving that aside, what is the current situation of the organization?” Ozul asked as Haley hurriedly went to her desk to pick up the file that probably contained the detailed report on this.

“Ahem! Aside from the places that did not allow the weak members of our organization to enter, we can proudly say that we have our third eye placed on every corner of the Silverbird Kingdom! Just a few days ago, Irvin and I were planning to start expanding in the neighboring countries as well!” Haley reported with a proud smile on her face.

Both the old couple had worked their assess off day and night as expanding to cover the whole country was not something that could happen in just one year. They wasted resources and used connections as if drinking water!

However, the end result was worth all their efforts and expenditure.

Smiles blossomed on their middle-aged faces as Ozul praised, “Well done.” with a nod of approval.

“It wouldn’t have been possible if Young Master hadn’t hypnotized the Ashin family to spend so much on us,” Haley replied politely.

It was true. The financial funds and the resources sent from the Ashin family played a huge role in their success of covering the whole Kingdom under one year.

At one point, Haley still remembered that they had even offered to send trained men! Of course, they had immediately accepted the offer, but not for the field work. Haley asked for professionals so they could teach their new recruits.

All in all, Haley concluded that they would have needed another few years to reach this stage if they did not have the Ashin family’s support.

“What about business?” Ozul asked casually. He could care less about it, but the long term growth of the organization depended on how many people used their services.

They could not keep asking the Ashin family for resources and funds.

“Well, that hasn’t been so good as we wanted it to be, but there aren’t any big issues. However, that is only because people mostly want to know details and pieces of information of places outside the Kingdom,” Haley answered.

“Still, there have been plenty of times when even the Nobles have sent men to ask help in some trivial matters. Although they were minor, I believe that they are only hesitating because we haven’t had any reputation set yet. And people’s trust in our organization would only be built as the time passed,” she added.

Ozul nodded his head since he also agreed with her words. No matter how fast they grew, reputation could only be built with long enough time. There was no shortcut in that.

“Even all of this was because of Count Oliver that the Young Master had ordered to come in contact with,” Irvin added from behind.

Ozul was not surprised by this since he was aware that Oliver had his hands deep in the unground business.

He would have had many connections and places where he could introduce their organization to. From what he knew at least, that man was trustworthy but had many shady connections.

“Though he has yet to fully trust that it was really you who sent us,” Irvin added a little awkwardly.

Although Oliver had helped them out on many occasions as well, he was still skeptical if they really worked for Ozul. His doubts had only strengthened after they couldn’t tell him Ozul’s location even after months.

“Hm. He is always doubtful of everyone, I will give him a visit later,” Ozul replied before standing up from his seat.

He walked out of the room followed by the old couple. The guard standing outside could only fearfully bow his head in their presence. But even he had questions about the identity of this person who their boss and madam was so respectful to.

Ozul was about to ask for a room for himself when he remembered the souvenir that he had brought with him.

“Does this place have any large space?” he asked, without turning. Behind him, Haley repeated, “Large space?”

“Oh, an empty space! Yes, the training ground in the back of the building has a huge space,” she answered.

Though she did not know why he was asking for it or how large the space he wanted, Haley told him about the training ground that they had built which was rarely used.

“Show the way,” Ozul said, letting Haley take the lead.

. . .

As they reached the training ground behind the main building, Haley told the people inside to empty the hall. There were only a couple of new recruits inside who immediately sprinted off.

The training ground only consisted of a big hall closed off with walls from all sides. There were some seats placed on the corners, but they were there just for the sake of filling the place.

“Is there something that you wish to show us, Young Master?” Irvin asked curiously.

Ozul did not reply to his question and instead untied the golden pouch that hung on his waist.

With just a single motion, three gigantic bodies appeared in the middle of the hall that left the old couple’s mouth hanging in the air.

“Wh-what are these, Young Master!?” The old couple asked simultaneously after getting out of their stupor.

“Corpses of Beasts,” Ozul replied with a tone that suggested that the two were stupid to ask such an obvious question.

“... N-no. What type of Beasts were they for them to be so gigantic?!” Irvin asked. His eyes still glued to the three massive corpses.

“They were Rank-9 Beasts,” Ozul had just uttered these words when both Irvin and Haley’s world drew a blank. They hadn’t even seen a Rank-9 individual showcase their abilities, and he was telling them that these three were all Rank-9 Beasts?!

Only a while later did the two get a hold of themselves when Irvin asked, “... Young Master, are they really...”