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

As the night deepened, the underground mine sank into silence.

Exhausted from excessive work, the children had already fallen into deep sleep.

Everyone had gone to dreamland, but I couldn’t.

“……”

I just blankly stared at the ceiling, organizing my thoughts.

I had experienced so many things in one day.

Who would have thought that being hit by a flying rock while working would make me remember my past life?

If I hadn’t remembered, I would have inevitably met my fate just working here in this underground mine.

Fortunately, another stroke of luck came to me.

The symbol I accidentally discovered on the back of the tray was very familiar to my eyes.

‘The symbol of the Duchy of Hailstone.’

That meant this underground mine was in the territory of the Duchy of Hailstone.

‘How was the setting again?’

The Duchy of Hailstone was a wealthy kingdom based on abundant underground resources.

The reason it’s in past tense is because conflict started when the Arcadia Empire set its sights on it.

Eventually, the empire declared war.

No matter how wealthy, they had to kneel before overwhelming military power.

Thus, the Kingdom of Hailstone became a vassal state of the empire and was demoted to a duchy.

‘That’s already a story from 200 years ago.’

In fact, by now, it was essentially one with the empire.

The first policy implemented by the empire when it made the duchy its vassal state was to mix blood.

They forced the royalty of Hailstone to marry the imperial family of the empire.

In the end, now it was convenient to see the emperor of the Arcadia Empire and the grand duke of the Duchy of Hailstone as distant relatives with mixed blood.

‘Then is the duchy and the empire behind this mine?’

Underground mines are basically managed by the state.

Moreover, the underground mine where I am is a place where mana stones are mined.

Since mana stones are important resources, they would manage them more thoroughly.

‘Well, I don’t need to think that far.’

Whatever the empire and the duchy do, it had nothing to do with me.

I was just resentful that they caught me.

Basically, this continent of Eluncia was different from Earth in many ways.

Not only do knights and wizards exist, but there’s also a class system.

With the class system, of course, slaves existed, and child labor exploitation was common.

But I felt unpleasant thinking that I was included in the category of slaves.

‘How should I deal with these guys?’

It’s always been a thought, but I just didn’t like the Arcadia Empire.

Even when I was playing the game, the empire was the entity that interfered the most.

‘Thinking about it again makes me angry.’

I was just trying to escape, but that didn’t seem enough to satisfy me.

So I looked at the message that appeared before my eyes.

[Welcome back, Leader of Black Raven.]

It was a familiar status window.

It matched the notification message that always appeared when logging into the game.

‘That means…’

Doesn’t it mean that the Black Raven I raised is still there?

[Leader, please give us your orders.]

But I didn’t give orders right away.

There was one reason.

‘I’m not the leader now.’

It was simple.

In the game ‘Isekai Conqueror,’ the Leader’s appearance never showed.

In fact, the setting was that the user playing the game was the Leader.

But now I exist in reality.

Let’s say I give orders and move Black Raven.

For the members of Black Raven, rescuing me trapped here would be nothing.

The problem is that there would be a gap between the Leader the members think of and my current appearance.

If they carried out a mission by the Leader’s order, but instead of the Leader, there was an unfamiliar boy?

‘Would they believe me if I claimed to be the leader?’

No.

It would be fortunate if they even listened to my story, but they would obviously immediately interrogate me.

They would question how I came to know about Black Raven.

If interrogation was all, it would be fortunate. With bad luck, I might die after being imprisoned in an underground dungeon and suffering all sorts of torture.

‘…It’s horrifying just to think about.’

Even if they believe, what about the other members?

Black Raven isn’t an organization comprising just one or two people.

In the end, I would need to be able to convince all members.

My current appearance is that of an ordinary boy.

Moreover, I was skinny from malnutrition.

No matter how I thought about it, revealing my identity immediately was too dangerous.

‘I need to at least raise my position.’

That way, the members are more likely to believe me when I say I’m the Leader.

The words of a slave and a high noble carry different weights.

‘So, am I not using Black Raven now?’

That didn’t make sense either.

If I can’t escape from here, I’ll rot in the mine.

“Hmm.”

I closed my eyes and was lost in thought for a while.

My body was tired from hard work, but my mind was clear.

How much time had passed?

Suddenly, a good idea crossed my mind.

‘Ah, that’s it!’

In times like this, it’s better to think simply.

‘I just need to hide myself, right?’

All the assumptions I’ve considered were only options where I reveal myself as the Leader.

But what if I hide my very existence here?

I give orders as the Leader, but make it so that Black Raven doesn’t know I’m the Leader?

‘Why did I only think of something this simple now?’

I immediately clicked on the status window.

[Leader, please give us your orders.]

I muttered softly while looking at the status window.

“Investigate the mana stone mines of the Duchy of Hailstone. Thoroughly, without missing anything.”

The status window responded to my order.

[Confirmed the Leader’s order.]

‘It worked!’

Along with the relief that the status window was working well, I had hope that I might be able to get out of here soon.

I deliberately didn’t give an order to rescue the people in the underground mine.

I just spoke vaguely, telling them to only investigate.

‘It’s dangerous if they investigate the children unnecessarily.’

Of course, even if they investigated the children, my identity as the leader would not be exposed.

However, if it’s Black Raven, they would be able to track all the children and more.

Even though it’s a group I created, it was uncomfortable in a situation where I had to hide my identity.

So, I deliberately only gave the order to investigate the mana stone mine.

‘Now they’ll start investigating the mana stone mine in earnest.’

Gaps will be created in that process, and I can use those gaps as a foothold for escape.

Now, all that’s left is to wait patiently.

*  *  *

Ariel, the vice-leader of Black Raven.

Under Ariel’s declaration, the Supreme Council of Black Raven was revived.

With the revival of the highest organ, they started a large-scale audit by moving the judicial agency ‘Judex’ and the audit agency ‘Noctis.’

The reason was to reorganize the interior of Black Raven as the Leader had returned.

All this took less than a day.

And now Ariel was checking the final report.

“Hmm, as expected.”

She nodded and skimmed through the report.

The result was normal without any problems.

To begin with, the members of Black Raven had high loyalty.

Count Renfield, who recently became a traitor, wasn’t even a member, and it was right to see him as just in a cooperative relationship.

‘If the Leader had been here, he wouldn’t have dared to even think of betraying.’

But what could be done?

The situation had already occurred, and Count Renfield met an end befitting the price of his betrayal.

Other than that, everything was normal.

But Ariel wasn’t happy.

Because this was the normal state to begin with.

Above all, Black Raven must be perfect.

After confirming the results, Ariel immediately entered a room thickly shrouded in darkness.

Then she knelt down and started praying.

With her head bowed, Ariel’s clasped hands were filled with earnestness.

As the prayer was ending, she murmured with her eyes closed.

“Leader, please give me guidance.”

Her voice was full of longing.

The Leader she had been searching for so long had returned.

But for some reason, he didn’t reveal himself.

There must be a reason, but Ariel wanted to see the Leader’s face as soon as possible.

But why?

The Leader’s face in her memory was blurry.

“Leader…”

To Ariel, the Leader was a special existence.

Her gaze turned to a small flowerpot.

A small sprout shyly showed itself from the soil; the seed of the World Tree gifted by the Leader had germinated.

As a result of carefully nurturing the seed of the World Tree, a sprout had finally emerged.

The World Tree was the mother of all elves.

But long ago, for unknown reasons, the World Tree died.

When the World Tree disappeared like that, the High Elves vanished.

The elves also no longer stayed in the forest.

Thinking they would never see the World Tree again…

They found a seed of the World Tree in an unexpected place.

‘Where on earth did the Leader get this seed…’

She remembered a prophecy once passed down among the High Elves.

– The savior shall appear with the seed of the World Tree.

At the time, she thought it was absurd, but now she had no choice but to believe in that prophecy.

And the savior in the prophecy…

“Leader…”

It could be no one else.

From Walter’s story, the Leader focused on finding High Elves.

He also ordered the members to guarantee the best treatment if they found a High Elf.

Just looking at that, the Leader was indeed the savior of all elves.

And he was practically a benefactor who saved Ariel, who had nowhere to go.

‘Even if I have to offer my soul, I will find the Leader.’

That was Ariel’s mission.

“Where on earth are you?”

Anxiety seeped into Ariel’s voice.

But she didn’t lose hope.

Ariel continued to pray and tried to feel the Leader’s will.

Before she knew it, the blue dawn arrived in the sky that had been full of darkness.

And a moment later, a mysterious light shone from Ariel’s blue eyes.

A soft radiance rose around her.

“…I found it!”

Ariel wore a surprised expression.

She hadn’t found the Leader’s location.

But she felt that the Leader had given her some kind of order.

After all, Ariel was a being who could feel the Leader’s will by unlocking her potential.

“Ah…”

Her silver hair was all disheveled from how much strength she had exerted, but it didn’t matter.

Rather, she spoke out loud to remember the Leader’s will that remained strongly in her mind.

“Mana stone mine?”

The Leader was talking about a mana stone mine.

And the location of that underground mine…

“…It’s on the outskirts of the Duchy of Hailstone.”

Why did the Leader mention the mine instead of where they were?

And the mana stone mine of Hailstone at that.

“Could it be that you want us to investigate that place?”

Ariel’s potential was not complete.

She might feel the Leader’s will, but it wasn’t whole.

She was just inferring the Leader’s will in her own way.

Suddenly, she remembered something Walter had said once.

– There’s always a reason for the Leader’s actions.

There was always a reason for the Leader’s actions.

And the result gave growth opportunities to Black Raven and its members.

Ariel thought, mulling over Walter’s words.

“Mana stone mine, Duchy of Hailstone…”

The Duchy of Hailstone was a vassal state of the Arcadia Empire.

The main source of income for the Arcadia Empire came from the duchy’s abundant resources.

The Duchy of Hailstone has many mines, but if specifying mana stone mines, there are five in total.

Among them, only three were in operation.

If you combine these…

“Ah!”

Suddenly, Ariel’s mind lit up.

The intelligence department of the Arcadia Empire had tried to dig into Black Raven’s background.

How dare they try to investigate Black Raven.

They were foolish beings.

They ended it with a simple warning at the time, but that didn’t mean Ariel’s anger had disappeared.

When her thoughts reached this point, Ariel could understand the Leader’s intention.

“The Leader wants retribution!”

The Arcadia Empire had looked down on Black Raven.

An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.

It clearly meant to pay back that sin.

And the meaning of investigating the mana stone mine of Hailstone was equivalent to cutting off the empire’s main source of income.

Mana stones were rare minerals in important areas such as high-end equipment production, magic tool creation, and magic-related research. They were indispensable to the continent of Eluncia.

But what if the mana stone mines disappeared?

It would be a big blow to the Arcadia Empire.

“So that was the meaning!”

Ariel nodded as if she finally understood.

The Leader’s order was retaliation and a warning to the Arcadia Empire.

The price for messing with Black Raven.

“As expected, the Leader is a kind person.”

It was clear that he meant to slowly kill them economically rather than immediately destroy the empire.

This was a similar but different meaning.

Saying to kill slowly was, in other words, a merciful act of extending the time they could live.

“I understand the Leader’s will well.”

One act of mercy is enough.

From now on, there was only one action Ariel would take.

At her gesture, a masked man appeared from the darkness.

“From now on, we will destroy the mana stone mines.”

But they shouldn’t just destroy them.

This was a silent warning.

“I need to meet Celestia.”

They had to show thorough punishment.