The following day, I resumed upgrading the rest of the Seimei's 7th-stage tamers. Since I got used to doing it for them, I can now use one hand to circulate my energy around them.
With this, I could unlock the limits of two tamers at a time, halving the total time I needed to clear the rest. Of course, I still activated the system for those under Guren's faction, but the number of them was getting lower and lower as the line became shorter.
I estimate that less than a third of the total number of tamers that I encountered here were under Guren's faction. It was lower than I thought, given that his faction was supposedly the leading one in their clan.
When I asked Guren about it, he then smiled wryly before saying,
"I only included half of the 7th stage under our faction. It's not that I'm doubting the loyalty of the others, but to avoid gaining too much hostility from the other two factions."
Other than his Peace faction, which included about 60% of the whole Seimei clan, and the Radical faction, which consists of 30% of the clan, there's also the Neutral faction, which includes the remaining 10%.
The leader of the Neutral faction was none other than the one who helped repair my broken life vessel, priestess Harumi. Yulia and the rest of the Lily Knights, whom we met at the frontline, were all her nieces.
They were all in the Neutral faction too, including a large portion of the other branch family heads.
This is why, in terms of political power, the Neutral faction wins hands down against the other two. The Radical faction boasts the strongest fighters and nothing else, while the Peace faction only had numbers.
"Then isn't it bad that I helped those from the Radical faction reach the 8th stage?"
When I mentioned this, Guren just shook his head.
"Although they are an unpredictable element, we can't deny them from getting stronger just because they aren't aligned with our views."
"And the real reason?"
Guren stared at me with wide eyes before he let out a shy grin.
"Well, they're the most powerful force we have. We can't afford to let them lie low."
That's a pretty valid reason, but still a dangerous one nonetheless.
Well, now that the Peace and Neutral factions have more 8th stage than them, after they finish acclimating to their newfound strength, the power balance should crumble shortly. What's more, Guren's first uncle, Hiei, vanished from sight after he supposedly called the Luo here. Without him, the Radical faction is just a headless chicken, only able to run around without purpose.
"Oh, it's finally here!"
Guren cheered after hearing a soft voice from beyond the sliding door. When it opened, several servants carrying a large pile of documents entered.
"Will, these are all the papers that you need to see. They're all the transactions that the Seimei family did in these few days."
The papers were piled high in front of me, almost like a small mountain.
"Y-You want me to read all these? Look at this thickness! It's not something I can process alone."
Guren smiled cheerfully as he patted my shoulders.
"Don't worry, I'll be guiding you as the previous head until you learn all the ropes!"
Based on his tone, he should be planning to disappear somewhere when I finish learning things from him. You want to gain freedom after dumping me with all these responsibilities? Dream on! I've already planned something to prevent that!
The two of us grinned, unaware of the thoughts hidden behind our expressions.
---
The pile of paper was, as expected, not something one could finish in a single night. By the time the last document was processed, the sun was already about to rise from the horizon.
Luckily, I finished helping all the 7th stage tamers reach the 8th stage yesterday, so this means I could rest and catch up on some sleep for now.
"Hey, what are you doing? It's almost time to do our rounds!"
Guren, who should've stayed up the whole night along with me, said it energetically as he opened the sliding door. He's not showing any signs of sleepiness, meaning he should already be used to this lifestyle. Me? My eyes were already about to close.
"Sleep can come later; come on!"
Guren pulled me up and tugged, bringing me all over the place.
As the family head, it seems like it's my duty to check the state of all branch families lightly every morning. It's a bit tiresome, but looking at the busy tamers training, glistening in sweat early in the morning, I felt a bit ashamed that all I thought was to end this quickly and get some shuteye.
After the rounds, we were then led to the dining room, where the branch family heads were already gathered. We had a light breakfast while talking about small matters that each head wanted to report.
After an hour or so, the breakfast ended, and we went to the training grounds. There, thousands of tamers were practicing sword moves, spears, and even martial arts at the same time.
There, I sat on a large chair as I was told to watch over their training.
I don't know why—maybe due to the tension of having no sleep—but I taught them all the shady techniques that I developed in the dark space that I remembered. Of course, excluding the forbidden ones.
This included the fictional footwork, vanishing steps; the powerful and destructive void slash; the swift and sharp move, million stabs; and the body technique, metal body.
Of course, they were just replications of the actual technique and not exactly the same. However, their effects should at least be similar to the original.
Soon, I was looking over the thousands of tamers who were practicing the martial arts that I told them about. I felt a sense of accomplishment, followed by a sense of pride, as I watched over them.
"Where did you even learn all this stuff...?"
Guren's words didn't reach my ears.
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