A legion commander is always busy.
Because a legion commander has no room for excuses.
If people die, if plans go awry, if sothing goes wrong—it’s all the commander’s responsibility.
That’s why...
‘Raven will be able to investigate the crown when he returns...’
After entrusting Raven with the crown’s investigation, I imdiately began reorganizing the structure.
Click, click—
The current expedition’s composition was simple.
Split into four large squads and that was it.
Clerics, mages, knights—all mixed appropriately in each squad, so the combat power was balanced and the roles ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) each could perform weren’t very different.
To exaggerate a bit, it was more like dividing roughly into four parts and telling them to manage themselves.
Ah, of course, this setup had so advantages.
In ergencies, a single squad could be operated separately, and if one squad was wiped out, the main force could still function without problems...
‘But it’s way too military-style.’
We are in a labyrinth.
Sacrifices can’t be avoided, but we don’t need to assign personnel assuming sacrifice.
However, the problem was...
‘There’s not enough ti to ddle with this much.’
I wanted to rge the four squads into one and assign each mber individually, but that would an changing too many things.
People would need ti to get used to it.
Mistakes would happen repeatedly until they got skilled.
‘...Let’s just properly set the rank system as originally planned.’
The most efficient way to manage subordinates is to place suitable supervisors above and to push them hard.
The so-called downward pressure thod passed down since ancient armies.
So, I deleted all existing leadership eting mbers from the records and rebuilt the structure from scratch.
Mages, clerics, ranged, lee, knights, tanks, support, non-combatants.
Separating all personnel by class regardless of squad, then selecting one responsible leader per class and assigning appropriate titles.
‘Court Mage, Saintess, Holy Archer, Great Warrior, Knight Commander...’
I just made up titles as I went.
The nas themselves didn’t really matter.
‘Phew... now I’ve chosen all the people to sit here.’
After deciding the chief leaders by class, I created subordinate positions under them.
For example, among mages: research, investigation, combat.
Among knights: combat, administration, each with a team leader...
‘I wonder which Raven prefers between investigation and research?’
Hmm, I’ll ask him later and decide then—
“Bjorn? Busy?”
“Misha? What brings you here?”
“Just... you always seem busy lately. I brought you so fruit tea you like...”
Oh, my sugar must have been running low.
Gulp.
I swallowed about half in one bite, then looked at Misha who was watching expectantly.
Well, taking bribes and then staying silent isn’t very nice.
“Thanks. Misha, I’ll reward you with a title.”
“...Huh? I don’t need that—”
“From now on, you’re the secretary general. Your mission is anything to improve the commander’s work efficiency, and for that you have free judgnt.”
“Uh...? So you want to bring it again next ti, right?”
Well, that’s one way to interpret it.
When I nodded, Misha, who was about to refuse the title, smiled faintly.
“Well, if it’s like that, I’ll gladly accept...”
I got a cat secretary.
After finishing the rank system reorganization, I held a eting with the officers.
There wasn’t an important agenda; it was to get used to the changed faces.
I was also curious if this system would run well.
Ah, of course, it wasn’t that there was no topic at all.
“How far has the investigation of the statues and portal progressed?”
While I was holed up in the barracks reorganizing the structure, the mages continued investigating the stone chamber.
Today was the report eting.
“Ah, I’ll report on that.”
As soon as I spoke, Gahwin Vesillus, the chief of the mage division, stood up.
“Are you feeling better?”
“I rested a few days, so I’m fine now.”
Certainly... until a few days ago, he was still limping, but today he walked well.
“That’s good to hear. Anyway, tell . Court Mage, how far along is the stone chamber investigation?”
“Before reporting, one thing.”
Gahwin Vesillus asked bluntly.
“Why exactly am I the court mage?”
Ah, that.
“This isn’t the royal palace anyway.”
“It’s just a title, don’t worry. You have to have a na to be called by.”
“No, I an why that na...”
Gahwin muttered in dissatisfaction, but I had no intention to change it.
I don’t even know why he hates it so much.
Court Mage.
Sounds pretty cool even if you say it backwards.
Thinking so, I shot Gahwin a look telling him to stop complaining and start reporting.
A white-robed, white-haired old man spoke politely.
“As Baron Vesillus said, it’s just a na. The essence is what matters.”
“......”
“And isn’t court mage better than saintess? Heh heh.”
It was the archbishop of the Tobera Church, who held the saintess position in the expedition.
Seeing the saintess calmly accept the comnt, the court mage stopped whining, and the report began.
“I report: no additional items have been found inside the stone chamber. Just three statues and one portal.”
“And?”
“The portal is as reported before.”
“Likely connected to the original location, but it’s too soon to be sure?”
“Yes. Even after analyzing the portal’s nature, we can’t determine the coordinates beyond. However, we have learned quite a bit about the statues instead.”
“Tell .”
Gahwin placed three statues, about the size of large figures, on the table.
One statue was stained black.
“What happened?”
“During research, one statue was used once.”
“Used?”
“To summarize, the statue has a nature similar to the guardian statues here. When used, it can open a crack.”
“You an the partial crack where only guardians appear?”
“Yes. See this groove? When a crack stone is placed inside, the statue activates and opens a portal for about 30 minutes.”
“Have you gone inside?”
“Unfortunately not. The portal disappeared after 30 minutes while investigating.”
Huh... so one statue was lost?
I felt a sharp pang of regret but was reassured by Gahwin’s explanation.
“It doesn’t seem like a one-ti use item. See the black stain? Over ti, the color is returning from below.”
Oh, so it has a cooldown like an item?
“Also, though the portal hasn’t been entered, we learned several things outside. This is an unconfird hypothesis but...”
What followed was an explanation filled with difficult terms.
“After such research, it was found that the portal’s nature opened by the statue is very similar to the coordinate wavelength of the ‘Blood Fortress’...”
To summarize the long and difficult explanation:
“The crack stone used to activate the statue was a grade 9 crack stone obtained from the first floor crack. We are considering the possibility this is no coincidence.”
Simply put, the guardian’s grade is determined by the grade of crack stone offered to the statue.
Well, this is still speculation.
“Deputy commander, do we have more crack stones among our supplies?”
We checked our crack stones, but unfortunately, only a few below grade 6 remained.
Understandable, how often do you bring crack stones into a labyrinth?
Actually, having even that many proved how ticulous the royal family was.
‘A kind of downgraded crack generator...’
By the way, among the Numbers items, there is one similar to this statue.
No.18 Crack Generator.
This item can open cracks by inserting crack stones.
It requires about ten grade 9 stones and opens random cracks on the corresponding floor.
Though you have to be at that floor, it can open cracks without high-grade stones if you have enough quantity. And it actually enters the real cracks, so it’s an upper-level item.
‘Well, this statue might open a portal to a real crack too...’
But judging by its statue form, it’s likely it will spawn only a single boss like previous guardian statues.
“I see. Good work. I’ll keep the statues safe.”
After that, I pocketed the statues and checked other reports.
“The essence of the Soul Eater?”
“No progress yet. Since essence can’t be studied unless absorbed by soone, there’s not much to research...”
“To research it, soone must consu it. Got it. I’ll think about that.”
“Understood.”
“My stomach is getting hungry. Everyone except the research chief may go out and rest.”
I ended the eting and dismissed everyone except the research chief.
“Yandel-san left only here because—”
“Not Yandel-san, but commander.”
Still an official place, but the research chief ignored that and continued.
“You must be curious how much I’ve learned about that item.”
“Yeah. Learned anything?”
The expedition’s research chief, Raven, activated voice control magic.
“Actually, quite a lot.”
“Oh, really?”
“First, this crown is a Numbers item.”
“Numbers item?”
For soone like who morized all from 1 to 9,999, that was hard to accept.
There is no such crown among Numbers items.
And Raven would know that too...
“Explain in detail.”
“Since this is the first floor we’ve entered, the expedition has pretty good research equipnt.”
“So?”
“Analysis shows this crown has the unique properties of a Numbers item. So I defined it as a Numbers item.”
“But it lacks the most important number.”
“That’s right. So I gave it a suitable na...”
“Why be shy? Just say it.”
“Secret Numbers... how about that?”
Compared to making up a na, it was pretty ta.
“I thought we might find more Numbers items without known numbers while exploring the basent first floor.”
“Sounds good.”
“Then it can be the official na?”
“Yes.”
When I nodded, Raven’s face lit up.
He was probably imagining the future where ‘Secret Numbers’ would be widely used.
Well, what does the na matter?
“Enough about the na. Tell what this item does.”
I worried he might have co only to talk about the na, but fortunately, Raven’s curiosity was genuine as well as his pride.
“I’ll speak only about what has been verified. Keep in mind there might be unknown abilities.”
“Alright, hurry up.”
“First, this crown grants immunity to all harmful ntal effects when worn.”
“Oh...”
Better performance than I expected.
A helt that grants immunity to ntal effects?
Since high-level raids often require ntal resist stats or equipnt, this would be useful going forward.
‘Can I wear it...?’
Imagining a giant barbarian wearing a crown looks odd, but gars always prioritize function over looks...
“Oh, and one more thing.”
The next explanation made lose interest in the crown.
“When worn, it grants immunity to holy power. It won’t be hard by holy spells but can’t benefit from healing spells either. Other beneficial blessing spells are obviously useless too.”
“Ah...”
I figured there had to be a drawback.
‘I can’t use it.’
As a tank who needs periodic healing, this helt isn’t for .
“That’s all we’ve discovered. No active skill has been found yet. Though it’s more likely there isn’t one.”
“Good work.”
“I’ll take it and research further. Is that alright?”
“Of course. You should even na it officially. Numbers items need nas.”
“...Really, I can na it?”
“Of course.”
Motivating subordinates is also part of a superior’s role.
“Oh, right, Yandel-san.”
“Commander, please.”
“About those three statues from the stone chamber. You said they activate with crack stones and open cracks corresponding to the stone’s grade?”
“Yes?”
Raven took out a crack stone.
I don’t know the grade, but it looked pretty large.
“This was obtained after defeating the vampire guardian in the mutated crack we first encountered.”
“Oh, that one?”
“Yes. It’s hard to sell, so we’ve kept it.”
“So?”
Raven asked with genuine curiosity.
“What kind of crack opens if we put this in the statue?”
Uh... I wonder.
“...Should we try?”
I’m pretty curious too.
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