Ghana was working on a few documents with furrowed brows when Yasenia opened the door to her working area.
Ghana's office room was orderly and lightly decorated, with shelves full of folders, jade slips, and other methods to hold information.
Even if it looked like there was a lot, Ghana used her previous experiences when she created a mess big enough to have a hard time searching for specific information to place everything in an orderly manner and with enough labels to be able to search through the mountains of data efficiently.
On top of that, she had developed a routine of ordering all files of the day in the last thirty minutes of her shift, allowing her to work much more efficiently during the rest of the work hours.
The room was not only occupied by her. There were four extra desks. Each was occupied by one harpy.
When Yasenia entered, they were all moving around quite quickly.
These four were direct workers under Ghana's command. Two came from the City Lord's office and had years of experience working with Ghana. The other two were new but had great potential.
'Or so I've heard from Mom.' Yasenia muttered in her mind.
When she entered, Ghana looked up, somewhat annoyed that the person hadn't knocked. However, her face completely changed when she spotted that said person was Yasenia.
Ghana stood up and smiled. "Yasenia, do you need anything? You could've called me, and I would've gone to your side."
Yasenia lifted an eyebrow. "What, I can't come if it is just to visit you?"
Ghana placed her hand over her mouth and giggled. "You certainly can. I'm sure these girls are also happy."
Yasenia looked at the four and nodded. "Keep up the good work."
"Yes, Matriarch!"
Yasenia sat down at a chair on Ghana's table's side.
Her long legs crossed as her tail went through an opening on the back of this chair.
This design of a chair was standard throughout the Astral Sky Clan because of Yasenia and other beast humans with tails.
It didn't bother those who had no tail, and it certainly helped those who had it.
"I saw that you were frowning. Is there anything wrong?"
Ghana sighed, feeling a bit helpless. "Yes. I don't know how these people became recruiters. After your scolding that day, we've cleaned the clan and made people retake the entry exams, including the fifteen examiners we have. Examiners of the third batch and beyond did not pass the test. Those of the second batch supervised by me, and with your help, passed it without problems. Moreover, we've estimated that from the nine-hundred members we have now, we'll reduce that number to around five hundred once the retest takes place."
Yasenia nodded. Those tests were supposed to be extremely difficult to overcome, so this outcome was more than predictable.
However, there was something that made Yasenia curious. "Why are those from the third batch forward so suspicious? Who is the one that allowed those people into the clan?"
Ghana frowned. "That's what I'm confused about."
Yasenia tilted her head. "Why not use the formation's recording function?"
Ghana blinked twice. "Eh?"
Yasenia was stumped. "Didn't Tatyana speak about these functions?"
Ghana smiled bitterly. "In her words: I will not tell you anything about the formation. Try to use it as you think is appropriate. If you know nothing about using formations, learn it. The functions are extensive, and I'm adding new ones daily. Here are a few books about basic formation usage mastery. Read all of them and memorize them in two months."
Ghana waved her arm-wing and summoned a pile that reached nearly thirty books. All thick enough for a person to not be able to grab them by the spine.
Yasenia didn't know whether to laugh or cry. 'Well, I had to learn all of these before I was fifteen, together with similar piles for the main professions and politics…'
Since birth, Yasenia had been fed, bathed, and pampered with precious herbs and medicines. Tatyana increased Yasenia's overall body as much as she could without affecting her Fate.
Even before starting the cultivation path, her strength was enough to beat some low-level cultivators.
Naturally, being a dragon, her mind was nothing but extraordinary. Hence learning all of this was achievable.
Therefore, she understood why Tatyana did something like this. She probably wanted to feed their creative thinking and ability to cope with unknown things while creating a foundation for them to build their future knowledge.
In short, she was slowly preparing them to become someone extraordinary.
Yasenia sighed. 'Mom is probably using the clan as a testing experiment for the harpies and those from the first and second batches to have broader minds and eventually be able to have leadership strong enough to push the Astral Sky Clan without us around.'
'But… Did she consider that people of this continent have subpar education compared to us? There aren't learning institutions about general topics like management, economics, and all the knowledge comes from the hundreds of years of experience they have.'
'Of course, underestimating that experience is foolish, but specific concepts are impossible to grasp even with millennia of "experience" in a non-advanced environment.'
Yasenia decided not to explain things too deeply. "The formation built around the mansion has functions for almost everything. For example…" Yasenia moved her energy in a complex pattern and activated one function. "[Core Fortress Formation Activation: Show Ghana yesterday at five o'clock]."
Energy gathered in front of Yasenia and created an illusory screen where Ghana appeared seated on her desk doing work.
The five harpies let out an exclamation.
Yasenia commented. "Unless they do something explicit, like intercourse or going to the toilet, the formation records everything in the core. Moreover, we changed the core not long ago, and it has increased the capacity of our formation almost a hundredfold. Even if they are during an explicit moment, you can check it with my or Tatyana's permission."
"I think that saying publicly that these functions exist is prohibited is redundant, but just in case. It is not permitted."
Ghana and the other four were stunned, but hearing Yasenia's stern tone, they nodded firmly. One of them asked. "Everyone can do this?"
Yasenia shook her head. "Only the heads of department, those that I assigned. The assigned people do not have the authority to spread the authority unless they have either my or Tatyana's permission. Currently, the ones assigned are the following: Andrea (Head of the Spiritual Blacksmiths Department), Angel (Head of the Formation Masters Department), Cecile (Head of the Military Department), Evelyn (Head of the Spiritual Tailoring Department), Kali (Head of the Alchemy, Medicine, and Poison Department), Tatyana (Head of the Management and Punishment Department), Ghana (Clan's sub-leader and head of Harpy group), Marta and Garta (Sisters, and Heads of the Jewelry and Gem Embedding Department), Gala (Head of the Sexual District), Leila (Head of the non-erotic entertainment Sector), Florrie (Heads of the assassins and information gathering squad), Hanna (Head of the Treasury), Drasha (Head of the Lamia group), Fascia (Head of the Tattoo masters Department), Esther (Head of Human Slaves), and me who has the entire authority (The Matriarch)."
Ghana blinked and nodded. "I see. Hm? Esther?"
"The black-haired, green-eyed, and gorgeous human."
Ghana nodded and asked with a calm tone. "Does she have as much authority as us?"
Yasenia saw a glint flash in her brown eyes and internally smirked. 'Worried?'
Yasenia shook her head and answered. "Don't worry. No matter how much I pamper the humans, I won't give them such high authority. She can only use her authority over other humans. She can't look at or influence any beast humans. In short, she is at the top of the lowest authority group."
This was the truth. Yasenia couldn't afford to say that the formation couldn't be cracked and reveal that humans had such high authority in it. However, Esther could communicate instantly with her via the formation so that she could act as a proxy for any command Esther wanted to do.
Ghana's strange expression disappeared. "I see."
Yasenia smiled. "Leaving that aside, I've come to pick everything you've prepared for the auction house event. Did you prepare the capital, catalog, and schedule?"
Ghana nodded and stood up, moving to a shelf behind her desk and taking a blue jade slip. "We followed the general planning you gave us and drafted this."
Yasenia picked up the jade slip and sank her consciousness into it, the words engraved in it appeared in her mind, and she scanned everything quickly.
One thing caught her eye and made her frown for a split second. 'Hoh? These prices… Well, let's leave it for later. I don't mind losing a bit if it becomes a good lesson. These losses will be negligible in the long term.'
Yasenia smiled. "Whoever made the summary did an excellent job. There are things to be improved on, but since this event has been mostly planned by you all, I'll interfere as little as possible. I want all of you to see the results and learn from them."
Ghana frowned, and after getting the jade slip from Yasenia, she also inspected it. 'Hm. I can't find the error she is pointing at…'
Ghana pondered and decided not to ask since Yasenia had made her intentions clear. She felt that since they were accepted in the Clan, Yasenia and the rest have been testing and training them with real-life examples instead of books.
Although just a little over a month had gone by, Ghana today was incomparable to the Ghana that had just entered the Astral Sky Clan.
Ghana pointed at the side and smiled. "She made the summary and notes. I don't want to be punished by the Matriarch for taking the glory, hahaha."
Yasenia chuckled and stood up.
She walked toward the nervous and excited-looking harpy and leaned down to pat her head and kiss her forehead once. "Great job. I'm satisfied. Once this event ends, you'll receive an evaluation of where you could've done better."
The previously elegant-looking woman began stuttering as her face became red. "I-It is my honor working for the Matriarch!"
Yasenia and Ghana laughed.
"Well, I'm leaving. I'll try to come back at night, but I can't guarantee it. Many powerhouses are roaming the city. Many more than in Torrent City. So, keep up the defenses at all times."
Yasenia continued. "If you need more power in the formations, there are any problems, or you urgently want to check something, call Angel. Her expertise and control of this formation don't lose to mine."
'Well, in truth, she can control it better than me.'
Ghana asked. "Yasenia, shouldn't one of us go with you?"
Yasenia nodded. "Who is the harpy supervising the person working with Carbira?"
Ghana commented. "It should be Hanna."
Ghana remembered. "Well, unless she has moved the work to another harpy. She has told me that since everything was pretty much on track, she was about to divide the work to a lower-ranked harpy for her to supervise it."
Yasenia ordered. "Check if she has done so."
One of the harpies at the side spoke. "Matriarch, she hasn't done that yet. I told her to inform me before she does so, and I haven't received any notices yet."
Yasenia asked. "Is Hanna occupied?"
Ghana looked at some things on her desk and shook her head. "I can relegate her work to others without a problem if you need her for something."
"Good, then tell her to meet me at the main door in one hour. Tell her to gather all information about the powers we've listed in a single jade slip. I want her to be able to recognize all powers we have listed and tell me who is who when we arrive. Doing something like that in an hour shouldn't be difficult."
Yasenia saw Ghana's hesitant expression and understood what she wanted to do. "I know you can deal with it, but overworking you is the last thing I want. Attend to the more important matters, especially those surrounding the [Sun Engulfing Ore Lobster Clan] and our expansion plans."
Ghana swallowed the 'I can do it' she was about to say and smiled softly. "I'll inform Hanna right away."
Yasenia nodded and left, sashaying her hips temptingly.
Ghana looked at the closed door and then gazed at her subordinate. "I thought you were a serious person. I didn't think you would become so nervous and blush because of Lady Yasenia's teasing, hahaha."
"Ghana! Although I appreciate your good intentions, I have a husband! If she kisses me on the forehead again, I'm going to become a spiral instead of a straight bar!"
Another colleague smirked. "Does it even matter? I could see your wings fluttering happily from here. I bet that if she wanted you on her bed, you would obey without complaints."
The flutter of wings only happened when the harpy was feeling strong emotions, so being spotted was embarrassing for them.
It was like someone seeing a human making little hops because of happiness when that person thought nobody was nearby.
The woman flushed and shouted in embarrassment after slamming her hands on the table. "They were not fluttering! I have a husband!"
They all began laughing. Naturally, the teases were just jokes. They knew that their friend was very loyal to her current husband, a not-so-common trait between harpies who regarded sex as an entertainment activity.
One of them sighed. "Thankfully, our Matriarch just teases us and doesn't push us to engage in intimacy with her. Many of our sisters would lose their current relationships if she did so."
"Right? The Matriarch is super attractive. The way she carries herself, with her soft and slender waist gently swaying with each step, gives a certain allure that makes me hot all over. Moreover, the tail movements that follow the waist rotations all the way to the tip are more than delightful."
Ghana smiled. "I've heard from her that we will have a shared bath with her in about a month or two if she is satisfied with our work. If you want to impress her, you better groom your feathers."
They became excited, and when they went out, they secretly informed their sisters.
By the time Yasenia left, all harpies knew about it.
Yasenia informed Ghana, and she told her that she didn't mind if she said it to the other harpies. So, there were zero problems with this.
Their efforts in finding the person hiding between them tripled, and it was soon discovered that it was a high-level cultivator using extremely high degree concealing measures.
A few harpies that didn't know how to use the formation properly failed to see through the concealment.
They sent this person to the torture rooms, and after Tatyana's 'gentle' questioning at a later date, they learned that he came from the [Five Shadow Fang] group.
This person was a peak Ethereal Soul Body Cultivator, just a step away from Epoch Core Body Realm strength. He alone would be able to fight two elders of similar power to Elder Song and the others alone.
However, since he was caught inside the formation, not to mention resisting, he was as helpless as a chicken trapped in a metal jail.
His life of becoming a live testing subject began without delay after confessing.
His thoughts then were: 'I prefer this fox's methods than that hellish creature that conceals itself as a human!'
**************************************************
Author: Quite a long chapter~.
Tatyana: Hmm, dividing this chapter would not be good.
Author: Yup.
Angel: What did you do to that person, Mommy Tatyana?
Tatyana: Well, I don't know. This happens a few days later, but to keep it out of the way, the author just explained it.
Andrea: I see. The important thing is [Five Shadow Fang] group is the one that dirtied my dearest's clan with their filthy schemes.
Author: U-Um.
Evelyn: (Andrea's face is a little scary when she is angry… and handsome. Kya! Spank me with those big hands while I lay in your muscular thighs, Mommy!)
Author: Cough. Evelyn, behave.
Evelyn: … You know. You could allow me to be as unhinged as I want inside my head, right?
Author: … Well, you have a point.
Kali: What did she think about?
Yasenia: Probably, she wanted to be spanked by Andrea.
Andrea: Huh?
Evelyn: How!?
Yasenia: *Looks sideways, embarrassed.* Cough, because I thought similarly.
The rest: …
Author: A-Anyway, I summon you!
Lost_Universe: Here I'm. One. More. Time!
Kali: fufu, you quite like to use this theater.
Lost_Universe: Of course! It's quite fun speaking with all of you~.
Author: Well, go ahead and shoot the question.
Lost_Universe: Tatyana, my curiosity is piqued! It seems you've mingled with a merry bunch of "otherworlders" in your time. Now, spill the cosmic beans: did these outlandish characters all pop out of the same realm, or did they stumble in from various dimensions? If you've got the scoop, do share! But hey, if you'd rather keep this interdimensional gossip hush-hush from Yasenia and the girls, don't sweat it—I won't say a word. Let the cosmic secrets remain locked away!
Tatyana: Well, it's not that big of a secret. Moreover, we are really not "the girls." We can speak about it without problems. Naturally, I won't say big spoilers.
Lost_Universe: Oh, that's very nice.
Tatyana: They don't come from a single dimension, planet, or place. The "otherworlders" are souls that are lost from the mortal realms, worlds with super low cultivation, and similar things.
Tatyana: However, it is the truth that once a single soul is selected from a world, it opens a path, and it is easier for the heavens to pick more souls from there. Hence, the reason why there are quite a lot of Earthlings of your era between those "otherworlders."
Lost_Universe: Interesting.
Tatyana: That's the explanation.
Lost_Universe: Thanks!
Author: And there you have it. To add a little extra, the less a soul knows about cultivation, the better, as shaping it is easier.
Tatyana: Well, with this, it is the end. Bye-bye!
Author: Have a nice day.
The rest: Goodbye!