During my stay in Umpedes, I never reencountered the woman. She might have left, or we simply might not have crossed paths. It didn't appear she was too interested in me either, as nothing happened.
No one even stopped by any of the bases I'd taken over. My detection magic wasn't simple. Even with an advanced technique like Garth or the woman, my magic would detect any movement, and I would be alerted for a manual check.
I hadn't been stagnant all this while, either. Oshan did most of the work for the Greyhound group, or as it was slowly turning into, the Greyhound Guild. It wasn't a guild like the Mercanaries' guild but more like a player's guild.
We would choose our guild members to work for us instead of accepting everyone. Compared to standard groups, ours could be seen as a guild because we didn't have just one purpose. We started mainly accepting combat personnel, but more diverse professions and people joined later in the week.
Many of them came because of our high status. My rank was A, but that was only the low end. In my evaluation, Jasper couldn't properly discern my rank, so my unofficial rank was A+. As my ranking was high, my group ranking was also high, starting as a rank B group.
Most normal A-ranks would only be able to establish a C-rank group, and many of them didn't, as they either wanted to join better groups or were part of an already established group.
As the only current B-rank party in Umpedes, we garnered much attention. With so many people, our evaluation was rigorous. As Oshan and I were the only ones capable of evaluating the applicants, we had much to filter through.
Even with such rigorous requirements, by the end of the week, we had over 100 members. Most would only be part of the "normal" group, but I initiated a handpicked 20 into the underground side.
These 20 included our captains, ranked by seniority: Nord, the warrior captain; Douglas, the smith captain; Adon, the inscription captain; Nora, the thief captain; and Hadous, the tactical captain.
Everyone was organized into these five categories based on their specialties, with Oshan choosing the captains and vice-captains who stood out. In addition to these five departments, Oshan led the magic department as captain, and a secret seventh department would follow me.
The seventh department was the underground group, which dealt with the organization's dirty work. I'd known these individuals well and trusted them to do their best for society. They all agreed with my reasoning or saw the potential to do good.
Oshan would continue to have recruitments for another week, so I expected the size of our team to double. I was going back home, but Holone and Zarith would take my place to cover the captain spots until we figured out what to do with the positions.
Currently, the organization is just in its fledgling stages, and we are only doing "above-table" work. However, as the underground team organized, we'd start taking over some of the less, shall we say, "savvy" industries.
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With the Greyhound group, which I really should have renamed the Greyhound Player's Guild to reduce confusion, all setup, I went back to the town, Greyhound.
I returned with the newly constructed teleportation circle, making the journey more straightforward. Our regular route along the coastline would take three days with no stops at maximum efficiency, covering almost 4,500 miles. Umpedes was way inland, and the coat was curvy, elongating the journey.
In a straight route, the distance from Greyhound to Umpedes would be closer to 1,000 miles, which would involve crossing vast swaths of treacherous land. It's an unrealistic route.
I was going back to Greyhound to report on my situation and establish a system before returning to Umpedes. I had no business in Greyhound, and Garth led the effort there. My place would be best for developing the Greyhound Guild.
The guild would be the way we got new residents, and once it got powerful enough, it would act as a secret military force when Greyhound inevitably revealed itself to the public.
Greyhound was still tiny at this stage, with under 1000 residents. Currently, Garth is building up infrastructure, but even that needs actual human resources.
Garth was in the planning hall, planning out the city space with the others, so I talked to him.
All the leaders were situated around the table, standing in a circle. A huge map, one of mine that I had created while flying, was laid on the table.
Toby, the dwarves' leader, was closest and thus the first to welcome me.
"Aye, Alex, it's nice to see you again finally. It feels like forever ago since I last saw that face of your's." Toby said boisterously. Norg, the orc's leader, also nodded in agreement.
I blushed slightly. It had been a while since I last interacted with them. It made me wonder if the village saw me as antisocial.
"I've been busy, Toby, but it has been a while. It's nice to know you haven't changed." I replied.
"Report?" Garth asked.
"Well, I set up the teleportation circle to Umpedes. It transfers you just outside the city, but we might want to set a permanent place for the circle here as well.
The Greyhound Group has also started working. We have some members now, but Holone and Zenith should head out to help Oshan. We're a bit lacking in leadership" I reported briefly.
Garth nodded his head. "Good, we're just in the middle of city design, and I'd like your input, Alex."
Modum, the fisherfolk's leader, chimed in, "While we're all here, why don't we take a moment to discuss the future?"
"We've gone so far without a plan, but if Greyhound is to expand, we need a vision. Some sort of plan has to be in place or else we're just working towards nothing." Felicia, the human's leader, concurred.
Holone continued, "We also need some law or governing body. It's fine when we're small like this, but if Alex's estimations are correct, we'll rise in population soon."
Garth thought it out for a moment. "Alright, I guess we can't put it off any longer. I thought we'd need to do this eventually, but we're preoccupied now. We have to finish this first.
Holone and Zarith will also need to leave for Umpedes. I know the rest of us have work as well. As now isn't optimal, I suggest we postpone those discussions for next month. We can finish up anything urgent at that time and clear our schedules."
Norg also said, "This is a delicate matter and cannot be rushed. We need to handle our discussions in peace and clear mind, so a less chaotic time would be desirable."
"All agreed?" I asked, looking around the table. I saw everyone nodding their heads. "Then it's decided, we will convene again at the beginning of next month. As for now, I believe we have a city planner to finish."