The Shadow Organization Members Raised Through Pay-To-Win Are Too Strong

[Leader, do you want to promote Black Raven’s provisional members to official members?]

A status window suddenly appeared.

There was one piece of information written on it.

‘Promotion of provisional members?’

They hadn’t been carried out since I disappeared.

That meant the provisional members shown in the status window were, so to speak, non-regular employees.

“……”

Come to think of it, promoting to official members was the leader’s job.

‘Sigh….’

One more thing to worry about.

Who would have known they wouldn’t promote members?

Of course, it wasn’t a bad situation.

Think about it.

It was better to have authority rather than members ignoring the leader and squabbling among themselves.

The fact that this promotion authority was concentrated in the leader showed how strong my power was.

Isekai Conqueror even had likability and loyalty systems.’

Now that it’s become reality, such systems have probably become more difficult than in the game.

‘Let’s think about that later.’

There was no use worrying about it in advance anyway.

For now, what I could do was limited.

Still, realizing it wasn’t the same as the game was a big gain.

‘First, I need to change the internal system.’

Before seriously designing the system, I closed my eyes.

It was an expression not to touch it further because I wasn’t alone in the carriage.

When I closed my eyes, I heard Bella saying “Hmph” very quietly.

It wasn’t something to worry about.

Whether she sulked or not, something else was important to me now.

‘I should handle the promotions first.’

It was said I could promote provisional members to official members with the leader’s authority.

But no matter how much I looked at the status window, I couldn’t check the personal information of the provisional members.

‘Isn’t this meaningless then?’

Promoting without knowing who’s who?

It didn’t make sense.

Even if I could directly confirm and promote the provisional members, it would still be a problem.

Because although I’m the leader now, I’m in the position furthest away from Black Raven.

It was a contradictory situation where I was the leader but didn’t know how Black Raven operated.

So, I didn’t have the discernment to know who among the provisional members was important and should be converted to an official member.

Moreover, there was a 10-year gap between the Black Raven I knew and now.

Considering these points, wouldn’t it be better to delegate to a member who knows well?

‘Let’s delegate this promotion authority to the High Council.’

Black Raven is an organization that will continue to prosper in the future.

And having only me with promotion authority meant that only I would be working.

‘That absolutely won’t do.’

My goal is to enjoy a comfortable life sucking honey, after all.

But concentrating authority on the High Council alone wouldn’t be a good picture either.

I shouldn’t think exactly the same as when playing the game.

‘It would be good to use various agencies diversely.’

Black Raven is a huge group.

As such, there were various agencies within it.

First, there was the High Council.

The High Council was the highest agency that could make decisions for Black Raven and was responsible for making important decisions.

It was a position given the power to establish various strategies and policies, and supervise the activities of subordinate agencies.

Therefore, the High Council was not large.

‘Next is Judex.’

‘Judex’ is the judicial agency, ranking second after the High Council.

As a judicial agency, it was created to address crimes and disputes within Black Raven and maintain the organization’s discipline.

If criminal acts were discovered within the organization, they would conduct investigations and interrogations and decide whether to ‘execute’ through trials.

If the promotion authority for provisional members was given to both the High Council and Judex, power would be appropriately divided.

But it still felt a bit lacking.

‘Should I divide it even more?’

We can’t just promote provisional members to official members recklessly.

It might have been possible with one touch in the game, but this was clearly reality.

‘Surely there aren’t any spies?’

We must not be careless.

We needed to be careful because we didn’t know what variables might exist.

Ultimately, the point was to promote trustworthy provisional members to official members.

So the method I thought of was.

‘Noctis.’

It was a plan to utilize ‘Noctis,’ the third-ranked audit agency.

Their main purpose is to audit corruption and irregularities within Black Raven.

It’s a place that monitors the behavior and activities of organization members and can seek cooperation from the judicial agency Judex when necessary or temporarily has judicial authority.

In fact, when playing the game, Noctis’s role was not significant.

But now that it’s become reality, it should have become powerful.

‘Let’s make it go through these three agencies for promotion.’

The plan I thought of focused on dividing power and minimizing variables in the promotion process.

Of course, there are more agencies, but these 3 agencies were enough for promotion review.

Dividing it further would only make it more complicated.

First, the audit agency ‘Noctis’ will gain the authority to investigate provisional members scheduled for promotion.

Only if there were no problems through the audit could they move on to the next stage.

Provisional members who passed Noctis would be reviewed by the judicial agency ‘Judex.’

As a judicial agency, they should be able to investigate all the members’ records.

I planned to have personnel who passed up here receive a final review from the High Council and be promoted to official members.

‘This seems good enough.’

It’s not concentrating authority on just one specific agency.

I thought it was the best measure to minimize variables while going through several agencies.

‘I should give orders later depending on the situation.’

It was expected to take a few days to reach the Hartwell family anyway.

Since the village I was in was so far out, it took quite some time.

I planned to slowly adjust the system during that time.

*  *  *

Before long, the sun had hidden beyond the horizon.

The carriage crossing the fields had now entered a treacherous mountain path.

And it quietly came to a stop.

“Young Master Ethan, we plan to stay here for the night. From tomorrow, we’ll enter the city and secure rooms for lodging.”

Cael, the senior knight escorting me, approached and greeted me politely.

Thanks to Bella correcting my name, I was now called Ethan instead of Brooks.

I nodded briefly at Cael’s words.

After such a long journey, we eventually had to stop.

I might travel comfortably in the carriage, but the knights and horses needed rest.

“Today, we’ll have a simple dinner, and I’ll teach you the etiquette you’ll need, young master.”

Etiquette?

Come to think of it, I knew nothing about etiquette.

When playing the game, you just had to touch an option, so there was no need for such things.

It seems that Cael is not only my escort knight but also a teacher who teaches me what I need before I arrive at the family.

“I look forward to your guidance, Sir Cael.”

Cael bowed to me and quickly set about preparing the camp.

The knights’ actions were swift.

Some lit bonfires and began preparing dinner. Others pitched tents and made beds.

The remaining knights scouted the surrounding forest, standing guard against potential threats.

The carriage and flags were clearly engraved with the Hartwell family crest anyway.

Yet to touch a noble’s knights?

That would be nothing short of madness.

‘Or they received instructions.’

If they received instructions here, the target would probably be me.

But there was no reason to mess with me ‘for now.’

Isn’t it because the Hartwell family needs me that they called me in?

So there’s no reason to check me yet.

I could be assured of minimal safety until my usefulness ran out.

Of course, I wasn’t one to just sit still.

Besides, Bella was here.

Even if something happened, it wouldn’t be dangerous.

‘Being the Tower Master’s disciple, she should be able to hold her own.’

Knowing this fact, the knights chose to camp in the mountains.

‘Should I take a rest?’

I got out of the carriage.

As I got out of the carriage, Bella followed.

And Emilia, who I didn’t know when she woke up, also got out.

“?”

It felt like I had become a mother duck leading her ducklings.

*  *  *

“As expected of Leader.”

Ariel couldn’t help but be amazed at the leader’s new orders.

This order was virtually equivalent to a major reorganization of the organization.

Until now, the promotion of provisional members had been continuously postponed due to the leader’s absence.

Of course, Ariel, the vice leader, and the High Council could have pushed it through if they had insisted.

But they didn’t.

They hesitated to step forward, worried it might damage the Leader’s authority.

For Black Raven, the Leader deserved loyalty more than anyone else.

But this time, he significantly overhauled the provisional member promotion system.

He made it so that they could be promoted to official members after thorough verification by three agencies.

Ariel sighed deeply and admired this point.

Needless to say, Black Raven’s system was solid even now.

Because systematic verification by the High Council was carried out from the moment provisional members were accepted.

However, the leader wanted to change the existing method and make it more specific.

The implications of this were clear.

“This is the leader’s will…”

Elitization of members.

It seemed he had in mind not just filling numbers but making every member stronger.

Black Raven is one huge organization.

Everyone was loyal to the leader and doing their best in their respective roles for Black Raven.

The leader is saying that this alone is not enough.

A strong will to compose only the best talents was felt.

“Things are certainly livening up now that the leader has returned.”

Ariel happily examined the documents.

The documents contained the personal information of promotion candidates.

They were all provisional members who had passed the review of Noctis and Judex, awaiting only final approval.

Originally, the High Council should have gathered and reviewed the documents together, but Ariel decided to improve the system one step further.

It was a method in which members of the High Council each reviewed the documents, and promotion to official member was permitted only in cases of unanimous agreement.

This was a measure considering the current ecology of Black Raven.

Because those belonging to the High Council were not gathered in one place.

Everyone was busy moving around in their own positions.

The fact that the High Council was busy with its own work meant that the organization was running peacefully.

While Ariel was busily reviewing the documents, she sensed a presence.

Ariel stood up from his seat and greeted.

“Ah, you’re back.”

Walter, who had gone out, had returned.

“Welcome back, Sir Walter. How was your outing?”

Ariel welcomed Walter.

The expression of the returned Walter was gruff.

“Yes, I think I found traces of Leader.”

At Walter’s words, Ariel could not hide his excitement.

To think he had found traces.

“Re-really? Then the leader is…!”

Ariel asked expectantly, but Walter shook his head.

“I don’t know that far. The trail went cold after that.”

Walter confessed in a regretful voice.

In fact, he had detected the leader’s traces through the traces left by Celestia’s hounds.

And he couldn’t find any more clues related to the leader.

Ariel was momentarily overwhelmed with disappointment.

And then she pulled herself together.

In any case, knowing that Leader was working tirelessly for Black Raven was a great comfort.

That alone was a great gain.

“That’s unfortunate. But he must have some plan.”

For now, they just needed to believe in the leader and do their assigned duties.

When Ariel spoke in a regretful voice, Walter nodded.

Walter was silent for a moment, then added one more thing.

“This might be my misconception… but it seems Phantom also passed by.”

At the mention of Phantom, Ariel’s expression darkened.