Unsealing Emptiness

“Haley and Oliver will be in charge here. I will go with Irvin,” Ozul said as everyone listened to him. In the room, there were only the most trusted and competent people present.

With the recent progress of the Three-Eyed Strangers, it was time that they covered the rest of the continent.

“But what about here? What if someone comes to cause trouble?” Oliver asked. He wasn’t sure about the idea of having Ozul and Irvin so far away from the organization at the same time.

They had recruited a Rank-8 Mage, but he was only at the early stage. That would be barely enough for ordinary circumstances. But what if some unfortunate incident occurs? Will a single early-stage Rank-8 Mage be enough to deal with it?

“I will take care of that. There wouldn’t be any problem,” Ozul assured Oliver. It had been a while he took advantage of being the nephew of Raymond and Alver. Why would he waste his energy in finding another solution?

Oliver nodded his head, reassured since Ozul had given his word.

.....

There were people stronger than Haley, but she would be in charge of everything after they left. Ozul only had this concern if she would be able to make everyone obey even if they are stronger than her.

“Nevermind...” he muttered, noticing the fearful looks the members would occasionally throw at Haley. She looked to have everything under her control.

. . .

After Irvin had said his goodbyes to Haley, the two left together with another team of Rank-7 Mages.

They had yet to start when Ozul said, “Keep going, I will meet you on the way.”

They had already planned the route they would take. Ozul had to inform either Raymond or Alver about the organization.

Irvin nodded his head and continued on with an average speed of a Rank-7 Mage, towards the opposite side of the Neutral Lands.

Ozul changed his direction towards the headquarters of Order of Dusk. It was the closest to him, so he chose it instead. Also, Raymond was easy to talk things with. Alver still had a guilty conscience, so he would get quite awkward whenever talking with him.

After he arrived in the town, he directly went in the direction of the invisible tower. He recalled where the entrance was, and just as he stepped close enough, the tower came into his view.

No one minded his presence when he entered, so he directly went to the highest floor where Raymond was. He didn’t even pause at the floor with the lady behind the counter.

When he entered the room, it was dark as usual. Raymond seemed surprised that someone had entered his room without the secretary first informing him. The person didn’t even knock on the door!

Just as he was about to lash out in rage, he saw the face of the person taking off the conical hat.

“Nephew!” Raymond was pleasantly surprised that Ozul had given him the visit as he asked, “How come?” It was easy to guess how often Ozul had interacted with them based on how Raymond was surprised that his own nephew had visited him.

“The organization has already spread to the Neutral Lands, only those two giant pieces of the continent remain. I would be away for a few years, so I came to ask if you can help protect the organization during my absence,” Ozul asked, knowing full too well that Raymond wouldn’t decline his request.

“Of course, I will take care of that. But...” Raymond confidently accepted his request but hesitated in saying something.

“But?” Ozul asked.

“...Don’t you think that it is going a little too fast?” Raymond didn’t want to discourage his nephew, but it was also true that he wanted to see him succeed. He would be constantly updated on the situation of the Three-Eyed Strangers, so he was worried things might crumble at this speed.

Ozul also understood his worries, but he had things in control for now. So he reassured him, “I know that. I wouldn’t let it all fail.”

He was not overconfident, it was just that the organization had only spread to a vast area; they hadn’t done anything risky yet. The chances of something happening were zero to none. After all, who would mind people keeping watch only on the streets?

“Alright. If you say so, I will believe you,” Raymond said with a sigh. He wanted to talk more about this with Ozul, but he didn’t think that it would be appropriate. Especially when his nephew was also a Rank-9 Mage.

Ozul nodded his head and took his leave shortly after. There was no other topic for them to talk about, and he still had to catch up with Irvin with his team. Raymond didn’t stop him either.

“There he goes again... Stay safe,” Raymond muttered with a sigh while staring at the door.

——-

Time started to flow like a gentle breeze.

Ozul and the company first went to the part of the continent where the Leonhard Dynasty was known to have the most influence.

Since that was the case, they set up bases in a random city of the Dynasty and slowly started to recruit people.

With time, they had started to build more branches. At each branch, Irvin would set up a small communication crystal that linked directly to the giant one installed in the headquarters.

Their growing popularity had caused many strong people to join the organization. It didn’t take long for the system to start working on its own.

Some years later, the team was ready to move onto the last part of the continent. From what everyone had heard, this part had many sects ruling each prominent area.

These sects were not at all friendly to each other except for the few who had allied themselves to each other.

This time, they had just randomly chosen a city near a prominent sect and began the development.

With the same process repeating again, they started to build branches and then connect each one to the headquarters.

Ozul didn’t feel much different, but in the blink of an eye, more than 6 years had already passed!

It took them more than 6 years to develop the organization in these 2 parts of the Mainland.

. . .

These days, all the elite members in the headquarters of Three-Eyed Strangers would expect the return of Ozul and Irvin. They had received their message from a branch, and it was about time that they returned.

Some of these people joined after Ozul had left with Irvin, while the ones who had joined before were only normal members back then. They had never even seen Ozul from up close.

Only a handful of people knew him. And they were the most excited since they felt proud of being able to work under a Rank-9 Mage; everyone thought of him as such.

Because of their success, there would be a regular stream of people walking in and out of the tower, so the staff was used to strange-looking people appearing occasionally.

However, it made a lot of the people working near the entrance back away because of the appearance of an odd group of people entering. Leading the group was a person with his face hidden because of the pitch-black conical hat on his head.

Some of them wanted to approach the group and ask what they were here for, but the intimidating aura they felt from the middle-aged man walking closely behind the person in the white shirt made them stop in their tracks.

Before anyone dared to step up and finally ask any question, a loud voice rang out from the stairs, “Young Master!”

When these members moved their eyes towards the stairs, they could not help but be shocked at the person who had come down. Most of them instantly forgot everything and wanted to hurriedly get back to their work, not wanting to get scolded.

However, they couldn’t ignore the scene that happened next.

Haley, followed by Oliver quickly approached the group of men and the two gave a respectful bow to the man with the conical hat on his head.

The few who were still able to think after the shock quickly realized that he must be the leader! Some of them had been working for a couple of years and hadn’t even heard about the leader.

Ozul absorbed the hat back into his body, making others think that he had put it in his Spatial Ring. As people saw his face, gasps could be heard from every direction.

The number of women joining the organization wasn’t much lower than that of the men, and all of them right now were dumbly staring at Ozul.

Oliver couldn’t help but smile wryly at this scene as he muttered, “Still a lady killer, I see...”

Ozul didn’t mind Oliver’s teasing. He ignored him and walked towards the stairs, only leaving these words behind, “You can celebrate. And don’t disturb me.”

Haley was about to go with him to ask if he required anything, but she stopped hearing the last part of his sentence. It seemed to her that their Young Master needed a little rest.

After Ozul was out of sight, Haley turned towards Irvin who was smiling brightly at her.

He proudly spoke, “Three-Eyed Strangers are officially known throughout the whole Mainland!”

Following his words, cheers erupted everywhere. Some of them were hesitant at first, but they all joined in when they noticed that even Haley didn’t seem to mind it.

Such an achievement definitely called for a celebration!