Unsealing Emptiness

Chapter 271: The Rogue Crew.

“Young master, what should I name the division?” Haley stopped Ozul to ask.

While Ozul had previously told her to name it whatever, she couldn’t just casually name such an important division of the organization placed directly under him. Not to mention, she didn’t think herself to be qualified enough to name a division consisting solely of Rank-8 Mages when she herself had just advanced to become one recently.

Although Ozul didn’t really care about naming it himself, he noticed the pleading look in Haley’s eyes and decided that it didn’t matter anyway, “How about... the Rogue Crew?”

He hadn’t bothered asking what crimes all of those members had committed to be hunted down by their own organizations, but since they had taken the oaths, it didn’t matter to him either way.

Whatever crimes they had committed previously didn’t have anything to do with him.

Anyone in his place would have been reluctant to use this method to recruit a whole division under him, consisting of criminals and runaways of other factions, but he had thoroughly checked that oath artifact.

After these Mages took oaths, the pulse of Mana that bound the oath takers was even more restrictive than one might expect. Since Mana is filled throughout the Mages’ bodies, they had no way to get rid of this parasite-like oath binder.

.....

Unless one had absolute mastery over the Mana and its workings, meaning they had broken past Rank-9, they wouldn’t be able to break free from their oaths. He was also certain that no Rank-10 Mage would bother about some group of Rank-8’s.

“The Rogue Crew? Hm. As simple as ever. But it is perfect~” Irvin commented with a thoughtful face. He didn’t expect Ozul to name the division anything fancy anyway.

All of them were criminals in one way or another, running all over the continent to save their lives, so the ‘Rogue Crew’ fit them perfectly.

With that, the new division Rogue Crew known only to the core members of the Three-Eyed Strangers was formed under the direct command of Ozul.

Satisfied, Ozul asked Haley to lead them to this newly formed group of runaways.

Until now, Haley had been dealing with everything related to this division, so even Oliver and Irvin knew very little about them.

As she led Ozul outside the tower, others also curiously followed after them.

At this point, except for the occasional customers, there were only the members of their organization in the entire town. All the others had already moved out from the Neutral Lands.

Unlike the giant organizations, ordinary people couldn’t afford to stay for long. Unless they moved earlier, they wouldn’t be able to establish their business outside the Neutral Lands.

Since the Three-Eyed Strangers had the whole town to themselves, Haley had created a lodging for them using the abandoned structures.

As Haley stopped before a particular structure, Ozul sensed all the Rank-8 Mages cultivating inside the compound. It was surprising to see that none of them were slacking off.

When they entered the compound, the Rank-8 Mages all opened their eyes and the people behind Ozul noticed the dead look in their eyes. Having death looming on their heads even while they slept previously had obviously changed their psyche a lot compared to an ordinary person’s.

They all wore different types of clothes. Some had simple white robes while others were even worse. Although they were Rank-8 Mages, they didn’t have enough time to enjoy living a luxurious life.

As the group of people entered, these people stood up and eyed everyone one by one. At last, their gazes stopped at Ozul and it was a surprise for them that they couldn’t feel any Mana from him.

“Young master-” Haley was about to introduce them to Ozul before she was interrupted.

“We greet the leader!” Suddenly, all of them got on one knee and bowed towards Ozul!

Their voice was really loud since all the thirty five people had shouted in unison. At this time, they didn’t look like some rogue runaways who were hunted like street dogs. Instead, they had the air of trained warriors who were ready to give up their life for their leader anytime.

Surprised, Ozul squinted his eyes at Haley. Most of these people shouldn’t have known about each other beforehand, so it was unlikely that all of them would be so cooperative like this.

Haley revealed a proud smile and replied, “I had enough time to teach them the basics...”

‘Just basics?’ Ozul shook his head. It was obvious that she had spent most of her time in the past four years on this bunch. Otherwise, he would never believe that such people would become so cooperative in such a little time.

What really satisfied him was the fact that none of them held any bad thoughts about him. They all had neutral thoughts for him, even with their heads bowed towards him.

“Rise,” Ozul said as all of them stood up one by one.

These people all looked down on the ground without making any unnecessary movement. Although they weren’t hunted down like street dogs now, they had still forfeited their lives in someone else’s hands.

No one would be happy with such circumstances.

The group of people behind Ozul all felt an eerie feeling looking at the dead stares of these men who willingly handed their own leashes in some other’s hands.

However, Ozul wanted exactly something like this. He raised his eyebrows at Haley and said, “You did a good job.”

Being praised made Haley smile ear to ear, but she tried her best not to lose her composure.

‘With them, things will be a lot easier,’ Ozul mused in his mind. The day had finally come when he could have people do most of his work!

As he turned back around to face these people, he noticed that they were still not properly dressed.

“Get them proper clothes later,” he ordered to which Haley nodded her head. They were all waiting to see what Ozul would say to this group of people as he hadn’t previously explained to them the reason he wanted to create such a division in the organization.

Much to their disappointment, Ozul turned around again and said, “All of you can leave.”

However, it was obvious that this ‘all of you’ didn’t include Raven and Blaze as both of them stood unmoving on their spots. Meanwhile, Haley and Irvin quietly left.

“Aw! Can’t I just stay for a while?” Unlike them, Oliver wanted to give it a shot. He was really curious as to why Ozul had created this division and allocated them so many resources.

“...”

“Alright...”

Being the target of Ozul’s vacant gazing, Oliver couldn’t win the staring competition and decisively chose to take his leave as well.

The compound turned silent after a few moments as Ozul confirmed that no one was spying over them.

He suddenly shifted towards the group of men and a couple of women mixed within turned tense noticing his strange behavior. They had willingly handed over their lives to this person, so they were extremely nervous as to what kind of person he was.

“I am Ozul... and as you already know, you will be following my orders from now on,” Ozul first introduced his name with a casual tone.

The people before him didn’t express any emotions listening to his words. They only wanted to know what their real job was.

From what they understood by the organization’s work, they expected to do infiltration, or maybe even assassination in secret? He could have very well created their division as the main force of the organization as well.

“You will do any and all kinds of things under me. If you have any questions, keep them brief. I have a nap waiting for me,” Ozul spoke impatiently.

For a while, no one dared to ask anything. No one knew what was included in this ‘any and all kinds of things’, so some of them had a bad premonition.

Many of this group consisted of old-looking people and only a small group looked to be around middle-aged.

After a few moments, a relatively younger looking man with small brown hair and saggy eyes stepped ahead.

Just a single stare was enough for Ozul to know that he was one of those Middle Stage ones in the group. He faced this brown-haired man and asked, “What is your name?”

“Huh?... I am Tatsuo.” Though surprised, Tatsuo immediately answered the question.

“What is your question?” Ozul asked with bored expressions on his face. He really wanted to go and take a nap right now.

Even though Tatsuo realized Ozul’s impatience, he still questioned with an unwavering tone, “What does ‘any and all kinds of things’ mean?”

“Hm?” Ozul looked at him as if it was the stupidest question he had ever heard. But he still answered Tatsuo, “You will be following me all the time. If I tell you to call over anyone, you will do so. If I ask you to take things from one place or another, you will obey. It depends on the situation really.”

He said all of that so casually that one might have even thought that he was only joking with the group.

However, Raven and Blaze couldn’t conceal their astonishment as well. And just as they had expected, the Rogue Crew also showed various degrees of facial expressions as all of them had a single thought in their mind, ‘You created a group of 35 Rank-8 Mages to do such miscellaneous tasks for you!?’