Vol 4. Chapter 106: Joining the Staff

The Ghost Star Flame Corps—

was a force Lady Karina had developed back when she worked as a mercenary and adventurer.

At first, it had merely been an ordinary adventurer party. But under Lady Karina’s leadership, it gradually grew from a ten-person team into a mercenary group of nearly a hundred people, and then into the mercenary army it was today, numbering roughly seventy thousand......

Of course,

that was only the number on the surface. As for exactly how many people the Ghost Star Flame Corps truly had, perhaps only Lady Karina herself knew.

In any case, for an insignificant adventurer group to develop into one of the foremost mercenary corps on the continent, the speed at which the Ghost Star Flame Corps had grown was truly astonishing.

Because of its formidable strength, extraordinary efficiency in carrying out missions, and exceptional ability to drive back Abyss Demons, many nations in the central and eastern regions of the Anqieka Continent held the Ghost Star Flame Corps under Lady Karina’s command in extremely high regard. They frequently hired the corps to carry out missions, and some smaller countries had even outsourced their national defense to the Ghost Star Flame Corps.

Enmm, although considering the fine traditions of the Great Winter Forest, Saiboke-Baniya was not entirely certain whether that had truly been ‘voluntary.’

Unlike the Black Rose Family, the Ghost Star Flame Corps did not participate in the operation or management of any businesses, nor did it possess territory from which taxes could be collected.

Its finances mainly came from mission rewards issued by the Adventurers’ Guild, commissions from employers, and the ‘voluntary’ unconditional support of major sponsors.

Although the combat forces making up the Ghost Star Flame Corps were a complete mixed bag, Saiboke-Baniya knew perfectly well just how powerful the corps was.

Its upper-level combat strength was in no way inferior to that of the Black Rose Family.

The strength of the Black Rose Family’s upper echelons came from talent and arduous training from childhood.

Then what did the members of the Ghost Star Flame Corps rely on?

The answer was its utterly insane system of internal competition.

Although Lady Karina mingled within human empires while maintaining a human appearance, her true essence was still that of an Abyss Demon.

Apart from fellow Abyss Demons, members of the Black Rose Family, and the small number of existences who had earned her recognition, Lady Karina looked down on practically every other form of life.

Humans, elves, dragons, or whatever else—no matter how many of them died, Lady Karina would not even blink.

In order to make her own forces better able to ease Lady Yumo’s burdens, Lady Karina had unhesitatingly implemented a brutal promotion system within the Ghost Star Flame Corps.

Within the Ghost Star Flame Corps, aside from the vice commander, Lady Karina personally appointed no other positions.

The captains and vice captains of the corps’ nine squads were all selected internally by the members of their respective squads.

And the condition for taking one of those positions was simple—

strength.

The Ghost Star Flame Corps was made up of all kinds of people.

If you wanted the others in your squad to acknowledge you and make you captain, you had to possess enough strength to beat them into submission.

And even after becoming captain, that did not mean you could rest easy.

A captain had to constantly guard against the other members of the squad, because every single one of them had the right to challenge the captain.

If they won, they became the new captain and obtained enormous authority, vast sums of money, and precious cultivation resources.

As for the method of issuing a challenge, there were absolutely no restrictions.

No matter how vile or shameless the methods were, it did not matter.

Poisoning, assassination, sowing discord, honey traps......

During the Ghost Star Flame Corps’ captain selection periods, methods like these emerged endlessly.

The main reason Lady Karina had named the captains of the Ghost Star Flame Corps things like A-Da, A-Er, A-San, and so on was precisely because, in the past, the corps’ intense competition had caused captains to change far too frequently.

Rather than remembering all those captains’ names, it was much easier to simply distinguish them by code names.

This situation continued for several decades.

Only in recent years had the nine captains of the Ghost Star Flame Corps finally more or less stabilized, with no major changes occurring among them for several years now.

Naturally, anyone capable of becoming a captain under such a system could not possibly be some harmless nobody.

They not only had to be exceptionally powerful and highly intelligent, but also ruthless enough when necessary.

Therefore,

the instant Saiboke-Baniya saw the blue-haired young man acting like some simple-minded apologetic boy, he directly concluded that the fellow was putting on an act.

However,

“Why pretend to be like this? Is he seriously trying to imitate us and fool Lady Yumo?...... With their level of skill?”

Saiboke-Baniya narrowed his eyes slightly and thoughtfully glanced from the corner of his eye at A-San, the blue-haired young man riding a warhorse beside Lady Yumo while chatting with her.

......

......

Meanwhile, A-San was enthusiastically telling Lady Yumo about various interesting events that had recently taken place in the Crimson Leaf Empire, along with a few stories concerning Lady Karina’s deeds.

After chatting smoothly with the stunning black-haired girl for a while, especially after noticing the smile at the corners of Yumo’s lips, the blue-haired young man’s own mouth slowly curved upward.

Hehehehehe~

The plan,

was going extremely smoothly~

A-San was very satisfied with the current atmosphere of their conversation.

He even began to feel faintly smug.

After receiving Commander Karina’s instructions, A-San had only one goal in mind.

He had to successfully complete the protection mission assigned by his commander while obtaining as much recognition as possible from this black-haired girl.

After all, this black-haired girl was the mother of their great commander~

If he wanted to gain her recognition, A-San believed that giving her a good first impression was an extremely important first step.

However, when it came to making a good impression, being a member of the Ghost Star Flame Corps put him at a ‘slight’ disadvantage.

Mainly because the Ghost Star Flame Corps’ reputation among the common people of the Crimson Leaf Empire and the Snow Night Empire was not exactly ‘very good’......

Unlike the refined and elegant Black Rose Family, their Ghost Star Flame Corps was practically fucking synonymous with brutality and belligerence......

After hearing about them throughout her journey, Lady Yumo might naturally hold some prejudice against captains like them from the very beginning.

That was why A-San had ordered those genuinely simple-minded giant subordinates of his to stage an extremely fake rescue operation.

Naturally, Lady Yumo would see through such a clumsy performance.

But the scene would also make her realize something about their Ghost Star Flame Corps......

Enmm, or at least about the members of their Third Squad.

Although they might be somewhat brutal during combat,

their warriors were still pure and simple at heart~

After that,

he himself would personally step in!

He would give Lady Yumo the impression that he was honest, straightforward, and willing to take responsibility.

Of course,

the ultimate goal of all this was still to gain the recognition of Lady Karina’s mother.

Thinking of this, A-San glanced sideways and looked at the black-haired girl beside him with extraordinary respect.

As he observed her, the young man clenched both fists so tightly that his fingernails sank deeply into his flesh.

A trace of obsession,

unconsciously surfaced in his eyes.

I,

have to obtain...... Lady Yumo’s recognition.

If I can gain Lady Yumo’s recognition, Lady Karina will definitely recognize me too......

“If Lady Karina recognizes me...... then...... she’ll remember my name......”

The moment he thought about the figure he had been chasing after for so long, A-San’s eyes filled with yearning and worship.

......

......

Throughout her conversation with A-San, Lady Yumo was also constantly observing the captain of the Ghost Star Flame Corps.

This was the first time Lady Yumo had ever personally interacted with the force cultivated by her daughter Karina, so naturally, her heart was filled with intense curiosity.

Besides,

chatting with her daughter’s subordinate and learning a little about her daughter’s glorious exploits outside the forest was also quite exciting for the black-haired girl.

However, as they continued chatting,

Lady Yumo suddenly noticed something unusual.

Whenever Karina was mentioned, a flash of excitement would appear in the young man’s eyes.

Clearly, her daughter possessed extremely high prestige within the Ghost Star Flame Corps.

While this made Yumo admire Karina’s management abilities, it also caused her to feel a trace of sympathy for the young man in front of her.

After all,

Yumo knew perfectly well.

Karina had established the Ghost Star Flame Corps for the purpose of ‘training’ the protagonist group.

And figures at the captain level were precisely the carefully cultivated “experience packages” Karina had prepared.

Their purpose was to become the bosses of those twelve high-level missions......

“Sigh......”

Thinking of this, Lady Yumo could not help letting out a long sigh.

Just as the girl sighed, A-San seemed to suddenly remember something and spoke up.

“By the way, Lady Yumo.”

“Hm? What is it?”

“Sorry, Lady Yumo. We probably won’t be able to host you properly right away. We’ll need to take you to the administrative area of Yexinlian Academy first.”

“Oh...... but what are we going to the administrative area for?”

“Well, there are some procedures that need to be completed.”

“Procedures?”

“Mhm. Employment procedures.”

“Oh, employment procedu...... Hm? Employment procedures? For Yexinlian Academy?”

Hearing this, Lady Yumo tilted her head in confusion, her expression full of suspicion.

That girl Karina......

just what kind of identity had she arranged for me inside Yexinlian Royal Academy?