Unsealing Emptiness

“What was your name again?” Ozul asked the person who had built up his courage to question before.

“My name is Tatsuo...” Tatsuo again answered, though a bit awkwardly since it hadn’t even been more than a minute since he had told his name before.

“Well Tatsuo, you are the temporary leader of these 34 people behind you,” Ozul told the brown-haired man which was truly a surprise for him.

Did his question cause him to catch Ozul’s eyes? Not only Tatsuo, but even the others also had the same question in their minds as they clicked their tongue in regret.

“All of you are to obey his orders just as if you would obey me,” Ozul turned towards the other members of the Rogue Crew and ordered while sweeping his gaze over all of them.

While most of them in the Rogue Crew didn’t want to listen to Tatsuo, they had no other choice now that Ozul had already given his order. Death awaited them if they didn’t obey it.

.....

Unlike what they thought, Ozul’s reason for selecting Tatsuo as the leader was not because he stood out. Rather than that, it was because Tatsuo was not only relatively younger compared to the rest, but he was also closer to breaking through to the End Stage of Rank-8 than the others.

It was more likely for him to achieve a breakthrough than those old geezers in the Rogue Crew.

Anyway, he had only made him a temporary leader. If someone else managed to reach the End Stage earlier than Tatsuo or if Haley somehow found an End Stage Rank-8 Mage to join, then he could always just remove him from the position.

Tatsuo was naturally surprised and happy that he had gotten a promotion this early. Even though it didn’t change anything except for his title as the leader of the Rogue Crew, he was still happy with it.

All the members were given the same amount of resources, so a promotion only meant that his task will be a little different from others and he would probably have a lot on his hands considering how lazy Ozul was.

“You will be following me wherever I go, but not in plain sight,” Ozul explained further, which cleared a few doubts of the Rogue Crew.

They got the idea that they were like the personal guards of him who would stay hidden and only appear when needed.

Not that Ozul needed any protection that required the help of Rank-8 Mages, but it was still convenient to have such a hidden unit of personal guards around.

It wasn’t difficult to learn the techniques to hide their presence either. They had been running from their previous organizations as well, so they were bound to learn a few tricks to keep themselves safe.

Moreover, Haley had not only taught them some proper techniques but also gave them artifacts that would make them so no one under Rank-9 would be able to sense their presence near Ozul!

With such expertise, it was quite surprising that they hadn’t thought of this before.

Their mood improved a little as they thought that this was an easy job for them. What they didn’t know was how much Ozul would make them run around in the near future.

“Starting from now on, get to the work,” Ozul waved his hand before turning away.

“Yes, Leader!” the Rogue Crew shouted before they disappeared in the blink of an eye. If there was anyone weaker than Rank-8 present there, they wouldn’t have even caught their shadows!

Even Raven could barely pinpoint the location of a few members of the Rogue Crew as most of them hid pretty well.

Ozul walked out of the compound followed by the dumbfounded Raven and Blaze. They didn’t expect to find out the reason for him allocating almost half of the total resources to only this group of 35 people was for him to act even lazier!

As they went back to the tower, only Ozul was able to sense the location of all the Rogue Crew that spread out in a 50 meters radius around him.

“Also, get yourselves proper clothing from Haley,” Ozul seemingly said to the empty air, but it was obvious that he was talking with the Rogue Crew. Even with such a long distance between them, these Rank-8 Mages didn’t have any problem hearing his words.

They didn’t appear on sight just to confirm if they had heard his orders or not since that was Ozul’s command. Unless he asked them to appear, none of them were to ever show themselves even if someone notices them.

As they went back to the tower, the Rogue Crew stayed in the vicinity as they were supposed to stay hidden.

In the tower, Ozul made his way directly to the 8th floor and then to his room before going straight for the bed.

Nothing was more satisfying than a dark room and him sleeping with only Jinx around. Other than him being complete and fully knowing the reason for his own existence that is.

. . .

The next day, Ozul woke up and headed to the 7th floor. He still had a few things to ask Haley.

It turned out that she, for once, wasn’t in her office due to some work outside. Although he did find Oliver who also knew about all the details.

“Oh~? For once you came to find me,” Oliver shook his head, exaggerating a sigh.

“Haley wasn’t in her office,” Ozul gave out a monotonous reply.

Oliver smiled bitterly, knowing full well that it wasn’t as easy to tease this guy anymore. After thinking about it for a moment, he asked, “So? What can I help with?”

“Does the organization hold any information about that uninhabited part of the continent?” Ozul knew only a little about it.

His next destination was to explore the ruins in that fourth piece of the mainland. There was no reason for Luthien to keep that parchment leading to those ruins in his Spatial Ring if it wasn’t anything important.

Maybe Luthien didn’t know it himself about what was there, but him holding onto the map meant that he certainly had his reasons.

There was only a single year left before that test of Old Gu began and he was feeling rather bored.

“I am not sure, but I can check it out for you?” Oliver asked with a confused face. He didn’t know why Ozul wanted to know about that forsaken area, but he could guess that it was serious judging from his tone.

But then again, he always had a serious tone and expressions. ‘Urgh! Whatever...’ Oliver thought before throwing these thoughts out of his mind.

“Do it. While you are at it, I also want a detailed report about the organization’s expansion these past 4 years,” Ozul nodded his head before he went to the couch placed at the farthest corner of the 7th floor.

Haley would have already ordered to move that couch somewhere else if not because she knew that Ozul always took that seat since it was placed at the most inconspicuous corner. The fewer people who bothered him, the better.

Oliver nodded his head and went into Haley’s office to look for all the files. All the important things were always in her office and only he and Irvin were allowed to enter there without her permission. That too only if the reason was of any importance.

Meanwhile, Ozul waited silently on the couch. In the dark corner, the fact that he didn’t have any Mana made him almost invisible to the people running about on the seventh floor.

He could smell the fragrance in the air and started thinking about how well-maintained the organization had been even when most of the things were handed to Haley who had only recently become a Rank-8 Mage.

‘I thought I was lucky to find Irvin. It turned out that Haley was the real gem...’ Ozul was truly satisfied with how she had been running everything.

Although he had placed Irvin over all the others, it was known to everyone that most of the important decisions were made by Haley instead. She was the real brain behind everything.

Irvin alone wouldn’t have been able to build even half of what was created by Haley in such a short period of time.

If Haley had been at the End Stage of the Rank-8, he would have long ago given her the official title of the Vice Leader. For now, that seat was empty with Irvin being the closest to it.

It was true that brains would win over brawn, but what would a person with a genius brain do when they are overwhelmed by just the sheer amount of strength that their opponent possesses?

‘Whatever... things are fine as they are right now,’ Ozul mused inside his head.

Currently, If he took himself out of the picture, Irvin appeared to be the Leader of the organization in front of whom no one dared to question the orders given to them. Meanwhile, Haley was actually the one who was giving all those orders.

Oliver then seemed to be directly under Haley. He was just as intelligent and crafty, but his strength lost out a lot compared to others.

All the other core members placed right under Oliver.

With this strange hierarchy, the organization had already grown to whatever it was right now.

Only because everyone knew that Ozul, the real leader, was the one who allowed everything, they didn’t dare to object in fear of offending him.

Ozul was broken out of his thoughts when he heard Oliver’s voice, “Here they are...”