"O-Of course! I understand, magician Randwen." Rethos bowed slightly while answering.
"Very well then."
"…"
"…"
"…"
"Are you not going to ask?" After a few seconds of uncomfortable silence, Randwen finally said.
"Yes! If you allow me, magician Randwen."
"Go ahead, then."
"Y-Yes!"
For Rethos, this was a very complicated situation. He could find out more about this unknown organization, which could prove to be very useful in the future, but, at the same time, he would be forever regretful if he asked an irrelevant question. After all, he only had 3.
After thinking as fast as possible the most optimal questions to ask for his limited opportunities, he asked:
"How is your organization composed?"
Rethos was risking it with his first question, but it was of crucial importance. What was their hierarchy? Their members? Their goals? These were all questions in his mind, and what he asked could, somewhat, encapsulate all of them. But still, it was a very rude question. Why would a king explain how his country operates? The same goes for those big organizations like the magician's association and warrior's guild. Who would answer that truthfully?
"That is both a smart and dumb question, magician Rethos. You can get multiple answers, but do you really think I would answer that?" Randwen seemed somewhat dissatisfied. "Would you answer that same question?"
Rethos' legs were starting to tremble. He knew it, it was a rude question, and it had the risk of angering this supreme magician. But still, that was he asked it first, to determine his next questions.
Just as Rethos was about to apologize and ask something else, Randwen spoke again.
"Well, since I promised to answer three of your questions, I will do my best to do so without giving away too much information."
Just who was Randwen? Granted, he used to be a bunch of alphanumeric lines, but that was what he used to be. Now, he is a might celestial. And a magician, for that. His intelligence was off the charts. He saw through Rethos plan and decided to answer his question, so he would not have the opportunity to ask something else.
Of course, it was all due to Dane's wishes and instructions. He would never even think to release information about Dane without his permission.
"Well, simply put, we have six main divisions." Randwen said slowly. "They are the resources, crafting, mercantile, information, strategic, and recruitment divisions. Each of them cooperates with each other and are under the command of a division leader. Each division leader has four generals that serve directly under their command, and each general further has two commanders that answer directly to them. Each commander has a certain number of members under them. That is pretty much how the branches work." Randwen calmly stated.
Rethos expected this much, so he wasn't as surprised. To him, an organization that can tie a magician as powerful as Randwen should be either very weird or very rigid, possibly even both. But, what he didn't expect were his following words.
"Well, that is for the main divisions. The auxiliary divisions are, too, divided in 6, and those six further divided in 2 sub-divisions. The training subdivision and the response subdivision. Each subdivision is divided into magicians', warriors', and rogues'. So, there is the magicians' training division and the magician's response division. The same is applicable for warriors and rogues. These sub-division have a division leader and they have two generals under them as well, the same for the commanders and normal members. Of course, in the case of the training subdivision, instead of members, they have students. The response ones though do have members. It is very straightforward." By this time, Rethos face was already somewhat pale and his lip twitching.
"And, finally, the headquarters." Randwen said without concerning about Rethos' mental health." As you may have guessed, all of the previous 12 divisions report directly to headquarters, two of them to one individual, making it six. They are the Guardians. Each of these six have the authority to manage their underlings as they see fit but have to report important matters to "The Brain". The Brain makes almost all of the decisions and is the second in command of the entire organization, only under the head. Still, as The Brain handles most matters, very few people have seen the head, but The Brain contacts him periodically and is the one truly leading the organization." Randwen said with a straight face.
Rethos was gloomy. This information was… just… too normal! It was, for the most part, the same structure that every organization adopts! This was even scarier than a weird organization. If a group of regular people saw the strength a bear can exert, they would be scared of the bear. If they saw a person just like them exert that strength, it would frighten them even more! Because they at least knew the reason for the bear being so strong. But for the "normal" person…
But, Rethos still had to gain more intel, so he tried to calm himself as much as humanly possible. And, as he was thinking of strength…
"T-That is truly interesting, magician Randwen. I thank you for answering." He gave a slight bow. "But, can I know, just how strong are the individuals in your organization? I mean, for someone as strong as you, they must be remarkable…"
"Well, I cannot answer with that much detail, but I will tell you the basics. The Guardians are all high-rank transcendent. Division leaders are mid-rank transcendent, generals are low-rank transcendent, commanders are high-rank classholders or newly advanced transcendent. As for our members and students, they are too many to name and have very different ranks, so that ought to be enough. No one has ever fought with The Brain, that coupled with an item that can hide an aura completely, nobody knows the true strength of The Brain. As for the head, well, in order to become a guardian, one needs to fight with the head, and not a single one of us have ever won. We do not know the head's strength either because of some of his skills, but it is superior to every guardian."
By this point in time, Rethos was aghast. He had no will to talk and actually thought of dying. This was too much of a shock in the way he could see the world. Just what the hell was this? When did high-rank transcendents become so easy to find?
Last night, there were only six of them that were known of, and four of them had no interest in belonging to any organization, with the remaining two being the deterrent for entire races. And now, a previously unknown organization appears with not just one, but six of them? And an even more powerful existence? What about the second in command whose strength is unknown? With the way this organization hierarchy behaves, this individual's strength should not be in any way inferior to the one of the guardians, such as Randwen here.
It was just way too much. Too much information, too much pressure, too much shock. Rethos was about to go crazy, but his last thread of sanity made him remember he still had one question left. He had to get the most of it and do it soon. He had to inform the world about this.
No, not the world. The world is not ready, no. He should just inform headquarters. The leader should know what to do. But, the leader is just the equivalent to one of these organization's division leaders, would he really be able to do anything? What to do?
Taking a deep breath, Rethos steeled his mind and prepared to ask the last question. With the information he got beforehand, it was probably the most important question to ask.
"What is the purpose of your organization?" Rethos asked in a somewhat menacing voice. He was scared shitless, but he had things to protect. If a behemoth like this had any ill intent, it would be very hard to stop them. Hence, the question.
"You do not have to worry about that, magician Rethos. Truth is, not even us guardians know why we are changing location. It was a direct order handed down by the head. Well, the head told the Brain and the Brain told the generals." Randwen answered with a very calm voice.
"I am the first to come here and was instructed to sell "Heaven's Rose" in order to have a more precise idea of this area's economy. We won't fight anyone unless we are threatened first. You should know, except for a few exceptions where some idiots who did not know better invaded our territories, we have never raised our hands against anyone. We hope that would be the case here too, magician Rethos, so please be sure to let your superiors know." Randwen calmly said and signalled Dane to start walking.
"We will se you at tomorrow's auction. I hope it will be interesting." Randwen said without saying goodbye. Dane was looking back and forth between Randwen and Rethos, pretending to be unsure of something. He finally bowed towards Rethos and followed Randwen out of the room.
One the branch-master was alone, he fell to the floor on his knees and let out a deep, deep sigh. He wasn't threatened, but he felt like it. He stared at the hand that was clutching his wand. He hadn't notice. It was the best position for a spell to be cast in haste. Not that it would've worked, anyway.
Randwen could be lying, but the thought didn't even cross Rethos' mind. It was an instinct that magicians had. It could be wrong, of course, but he felt it unlikely.
Rethos got up and started walking towards his office. He was neither in a hurry nor flustered about the danger this organization represented. There was nothing he could do about them. There was nothing no one could do about them.
He entered his office and activated a voice crystal, recording his conversation with Randwen and then the information about the staff. After that, he ordered his tower spirit to send both of them to headquarters. After it was done, he fell limp on top of his desk.
Whatever happened after today, it wouldn't have anything to do with him.
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Hello guys! Author here. I am editing the chapter and adding this review about 20 hours after its release and 4 hours before the new chapter is due. So, things are like this: For some strange reason I have been a little blocked recently in this series (I am not going to drop it, it is just getting a tad bit harder to write). Since, as you have probably deduced, next chapter is very important in the worldbuilding, I have been stuck writing it, deleting it and re-writing it for over a week. The result is a chapter I am not satisfied with, so I have been unable to continue. I am not being lazy, I promise I am doing my very best! So, the thing is, as of writing this, I still haven't finished next chapter, so I am sorry to tell you guys there will be no update today. I am sorry, but I will make it up to you, I promise!
In other news, SSS is at almost 400 power stones! And, that means 4 bonuses next weak! So, Expect at the very least 11 chapters. Thank you for reading this and I hope you enjoyed!