"Pick any talents that you think will have a great future. I will transplant the parasitic essence eater to control them."
Souta said in a cold tone. He knew that loyalty was a fragile thing to the people that he didn't even know. That's why he had to do this... Transplanting a parasitic essence eater in their body will not only boost their strength but Souta will also have a way to control them.
"I understand." Franklin nodded before he continued, "I didn't dare to make a big move as the higher power in this country are called Annihilation Realm. From my investigation, it seems that Annihilation Realm is equivalent to an S-rank expert."
"Mn."
Souta rubbed his chin as he realized that the name of the power level was the same as the Council of High-world in the game. If he remembered it correctly the highest power in this kind of world was Extinction Realm in other words a Shackled Realm expert.
Also, the Council of High-world had god-level powerhouses. It has five gods that managed that gigantic organization of sub-world. Their goal was to rival the Imperium and prevent the gods from Imperium from controlling too many high worlds, but the overall power of this organization was weak compared to the organization in the Imperium.
They could only compare to a large country in Giza Continent.
In the game, the Council of High-World was annihilated by Beelzebub. The Lord of Flies, Beelzebub, took all five of them alone. In the end, the four of the five gods had died and only one managed to escape. The entire Council of High-World was destroyed including their planets and galaxies.
"Pest from sub-world shouldn't get involved in the affairs of Imperium." That's what Beelzebub said at that time after he destroyed hundreds of high world alone.
Souta knew that it was far away in the future but his current organization wouldn't be able to handle the Council of High-World. That's why he should be careful in handling things here in this world as it was somehow connected to the council.
"I think that we can handle this country step by step but for the central continent... We can't do anything about it as the peak experts there already reached the shackled realm." Souta said to Franklin.
"I have the same thoughts... I will continue to expand my group and gather talents to increase the number of experts that can fight for us." Franklin said.
"Good." Souta nodded.
A knock came from the door and Yenxa's voice sounded once again.
"My Lord, the tall man is here."
"Torkez? Let him in. I want to hear his report too." Souta said to Yenxa.
The door opened and Torkez entered the room. Torkez swept his gaze across the room and his eyes landed on Franklin.
'It seems that Franklin has finished his task.' He thought as he stood in front of Souta and kneeled down.
If it was a normal time, it was fine to act like normal comrades or friends but the leader has given him a task so he had to treat it seriously and act accordingly.
"How is it? Did you finish it?"
Souta asked even though he knew the answer. The system already gave him a notification that the quest was completed and he received the reward even though he didn't do anything.
"Yes, but we encounter some problem so I want to ask your permission to bring my subordinates with me," Torkez said in a respectful tone. He was talking about the people that remain in the Guardian Fortress. Those people only had the power of C-rank but they were quite useful for Torkez.
"Okay, you can take them with you." Souta gave his permission. It didn't matter to him if Torkez brought all of his subordinates to this country. "But why do you want to bring them with you?"
"I will be able to control this city soon. The only problem is that the expansion of Clautus Group encountered an unknown organization and it's quite powerful. According to our intel, the leader of this organization is an Extermination Realm so I plan to handle it with my subordinates." Torkez replied to Souta.
"Eh...?" Franklin glanced at Torkez with wide eyes.
"Eh...?" Torkez turned to Franklin with a confused look.
"Eh...?" Souta looked at the two of them as he didn't have any idea what's happening.
"Um... Can I say something?" Franklin forcefully coughed to gather everyone's attention.
Souta gave him a nod.
After receiving Souta's permission, Franklin glanced at Torkez and asked, "Did you say that you're helping Clautus Group?"
"Yes, why?"
"Sigh... I should've realized it when something happened in this city. There's no way that you aren't involved in the big incident in this city."
"Do you mean..."
"Yeah, the unknown group that you are talking about is the group that I have recently formed, the Noxious Group. This is an assassin organization that Souta asked me to form to secretly infiltrate the depths of this country."
"I didn't expect this at all," Torkez said with a sigh while glancing at the windows. It seems that the problem with this unknown organization has been solved.
"Okay, I'll pull back my subordinates so that you can focus your expansion in this city. I will simply devour the other assassin organization in this country before I extend my hands to the neighboring countries." Franklin said to him.
"But I'm not the one who destroyed the Red Witch and Nine Lives. It's Alice and it seems that she has her own plans." Torkez said.
"Alice...?" Franklin slowly glanced at Souta and Souta shook his head indicating that he didn't know anything about Alice's plan.
"I leave all of you to do what you want in this country as long as you don't forget to gather information," Souta said.
For him, as long as they didn't overdo it they could do anything they want. He would simply stay here and expand the capacity of his monster orb using the monster orb from a fifth evolution monster.
Torkez and Franklin nodded at him. After chatting for a little bit, the two left the coffee shop to settle their own problems.
Torkez went back to the Guardian Fortress to bring his subordinates into this country while Franklin went back to the assassin organization that he created to pull back his forces in this city.
...
On the next day, Alice had appeared in Souta's coffee shop and she brought a woman with her.
The woman was beautiful and seductive and her red clothes couldn't even hide her curves. She had a long silky red hair and eyes.
She looked fierce but her complexion was somewhat pale and Souta could clearly see that she was injured.
Souta observed the woman before he turned his eyes to Alice and asked, "Who is this?" He could feel the liquefied mana lingering around the body of this woman so he was curious.
"She said that her name is Amanda, the leader of the Red Witch," Alice said as she glanced at Amanda who was sitting beside him.
"Oh? The leader of that small organization..." Souta raised her eyebrows and looked at Amanda. He didn't expect that he would meet the leader of the ruling forces of this city albeit a former one.
Amanda was silent as she just listened to the conversation of these two people. She didn't know them nor have any idea what they were planning to do with her.
When she woke up this morning, she found that she was already in Alice's grasp. She was injured so she couldn't escape. Also, the aura around Alice that she didn't bother to hide was that of an Extermination Realm. It was one of the reasons why she didn't try to escape. With her current condition, there's no way that she could escape from other Extermination Realm.
So she decided to stay until she completely recovered but she didn't expect that this girl, Alice, would bring her to meet the so-called leader.
Before meeting this leader, Amanda asked what happened to the southern part of the city. She loses her consciousness after she used her final attack on Greyman and she didn't know what happened after that.
Amanda just heard Alice's words that the Red Witch and Nine Lives were gone. The noble families in the central part and Clautus Group were dividing the wealth of the two organizations.
"Then, why did you bring her to me?" Souta asked as he slightly tilted his head while looking at Alice.
"She's a witch." Alice simply answered his question.
"A witch? Are you for real?" Souta was surprised when he heard it. He then turned his attention on Amanda with a curious gaze.
Even in Imperium, a witch race was pretty rare. They weren't different from ordinary humans and they blended pretty well in society. Unless the witch was forced into an emergency situation, the witch wouldn't reveal their identity as a witch.
"Yes, I'm a witch..." Amanda replied while narrowing her eyes.
