Chapter 131: Daring question

Comparing Jeff's quarters with mine was like comparing an ant to an elephant. While I occupied an entire wing of the complex for the matters that I wanted to have direct supervision over, the head of the Baskar family only ever requested a simple office with enough space to fit a huge cabinet. 

Walking towards the doors of this man's fortress, I could see the huge disparity between the atmospheres of both places. In my region of the complex, everything was lively, bustling with activities. One wouldn't miss the truth by far by claiming that despite being located on the outer end of the complex, my quarters were in the direct middle of all the activities of the faction.

On the other hand, there was Baskar's place. Separated from everyone else by thick walls and long corridor, one's mental state would start deteriorating just by walking between the bare walls that led to Jeff's office. Thankfully, those kinds of lowly trick had no influence over me.

Toc, toc.

Knocking on the door was just another detail that made this place super unwelcoming. Even though there was no signs of anything strange, even the sound that the wood of the doors leading to Jeff's quarters was weirdly repulsing.

"Come in."

Shouting from the inside of the room, Jeff invited me in. Contrary to all the others like Pavlo, Sander or even Ayda, I actually had to announce my visit on the phone, as to not bother him in his work. This perfectly portrayed what kind of relationship I had with this main supporter of the faction.

"It's been a short while. I hope I'm not bothering you too much."

Ever since the meeting ended, everyone rushed to their own respective duties. And this older Baskar wasn't an exception. While I never really bothered to find out what exactly he was working on, I had no doubts that without his involvement, the operations of the entire faction would not only slow down but most likely cease completely.

"Don't worry about it. What can I help you with?"

In the relatively short time that we knew each other, we both managed to make an opinion of each other. Just like I knew to not disturb him and bring only the truly important matters to his attention, he knew that I wouldn't bother going directly to him if there wasn't a dire need to do so.

"I need a group of about ten strong men, and three more capable of safely exploring the southern dungeon. I hope you have the reports from the earlier explorations…" 

Seeing the man nod to my unasked question, I continued.

"Then you should know what level they need to be. And before you ask, yes. I'm going to start the groundwork already."

Given Baskar's achievements so far, I didn't feel like I needed to explain what would be my purpose. Even though it wasn't submitted directly to him, I could see my request for a filming crew displayed on an honorary place on top of his table.

"Are you sure you need that many? I know that it's mostly for show, so wouldn't cutting their numbers by half still give you more than enough men?"

Looking at me weirdly from his slightly higher chair, Jeff asked. At first, I wanted to instantly agree to whatever he would say, but thankfully I managed to hold my words back in my throat. After all, I was the ultimate leader of the faction, so I couldn't let my decisions be swayed that easily.

"No, we need at least that many. Keep in mind that we are officially not involved with the matters there. If we want the show to have this organic, realistic feeling, we can't use our forces sparingly."

Sitting down in the guest chair, I leaned back on its comfortable pillows before adding.

"In this situation, the excess will become proof. If we have just enough people to deal with the aftermath, no one will believe the entire action to be spontaneous."

There wasn't any need to explain what the show was in the first place. Given how the very founding idea of setting up the adventurers guild relied on pushing the agenda that the dungeons weren't safe if left alone, the task of the adventuring group that I asked for was rather obvious for anyone who knew about the plan.

"Good. I honestly thought you would just admit to whatever I would say. Putting that aside, I have yet to congratulate you."

Smiling with satisfaction, Jeff leaned back on his chair before sending yet another weird look to my face.

"Congratulate for?"

Not really sure what he meant, I could only ask for clarification. Fixing my position on the chair, I looked at his ever-calm face with curiosity.

"Your partner. Her Excellency Ayda… I will admit it, I tried to look into her, but I wasn't able to find even a shred of information. Pulling her out of your sleeve forced me to bring your importance on the scale up a notch."

Not bothering to beat around the bush, Jeff honestly admitted to how he perceived our relationship. But rather than dancing around with flowery and meaningless words, I preferred this kind of approach. After all, it was best to be always conscious of how our cooperation was strictly political and economic. 

"I'm glad to hear that. I hope you won't… make things hard for her while I will be away."

Squinting my eyes, for the very first time, I allowed myself to use the emotional aura of mine. Rather than invoking any of the witchcrafts, I simply infused my wrath into my own emotional state while allowing it to seep outside of my body. 

With the magic energy contained within my flesh influenced by my emotional state, even a non-witch like Jeff could clearly feel the threat included in both my words and my aura.

"Don't worry!" 

Jeff laughed out loud.

"I wouldn't dare trouble your partner. Whether she is a bishop or just your woman."

Adding the last part to his sentence, Jeff instantly soured my mood. As expected, not everyone fell for my deception. Or rather, it was hard for anyone to be fooled by my words if they knew that this entire cult of mine was nothing but a sham in the first place.

"Then, let's not push it for any longer. Can I count on your help here? I would rather not showcase my own abilities in public, given how no one really knows what I'm capable of right now."

That was the problematic part about establishing the legend of the dungeon monsters. If I were to make a move personally, then both baiting and then defeating the baited monsters outside of the dungeon they would be pulled out wouldn't be even the least problematic. 

"Yeah, I'm in this mess as well after all. I can get you five soldiers that reached second level and ten of the high ranking first graders. Would that be enough?"

Pulling out a sheet of paper from the drawer in his desk, Jeff presented me with a list outlining the details of each of the soldiers that he could spare for me. Just this alone was enough of proof to claim that he knew about my idea even before it actually appeared in my head.

But it wasn't anything strange. This was the easiest and most straight-forward way of accomplishing our first huge objective. Only by proving that dungeons could be truly dangerous for the civilians could we push the forces in both the city and in the surrounding towns to acknowledge the need for a special tax. 

And what could be a better method to accomplish it than creating a controlled danger ourselves?

"They are… quite good."

Despite my intention to look into the cultivation that the rest of the people on earth practised, I never found the time to do so. Reading through the list of Jeff's people, I was finally forced to realise that while I was running around and setting up stuff for the business, everyone seemed to suddenly advance at a far faster rate than they could do in the past.

"They are. But don't think too much about it. Ever since we learned how to create the magic stones, just the leftovers from Sander's workshop are more than enough to mass-produce second level warriors. In the early stages, it is all about accumulating the energy after all."

Momentarily forced to recall the ranks of the cultivation that existed even before I started exploiting my system, I realised with a fright that I wasn't capable of doing so! With everything that was going on in my life, I simply forgot about something that the rest of the world was fully focused on!

"Thinking about this, since the first level is about gathering energy, what seems to be the main hurdle in the second level? Because you know…"

Taking a moment to breathe in, I used this short moment of silence to defeat the sudden terror that overwhelmed my thoughts when I understood the potential consequences of what I was about to propose.

"... if we used the stones to make advancing through the first rank that easy, maybe there would be some way for us to overcome the thing that stops people from advancing even further?"

This question wasn't daring. It was insanely arrogant, to say the least. Even if I wasn't the one who first came up with it on the entirety of the earth, there was a huge chance that I would be the only one with the means to actually do so!