Chairman Deacon was far more intelligent and sharper than the leader assigned to lead the raid team. Unlike the latter, the man had quickly constructed several hypotheses and explored several possibilities based on his information and its veracity.
He concluded that it was quite likely that the individuals spotted in question were the Voider, or had something to do with them. He came to the conclusion that their objective could not have had anything directly to do with the raiding team, and most likely had something to do with the floor, most likely having something to do with the esoteric resource deposits that every floor had.
(‘But no esoteric ore deposits were found,’) His eyes narrowed. (‘Could they have possibly extracted and run away with it in that brief period of time?’)
He wasn’t sure. It was also possible that there truly was nothing in the entire floor, and both the Voider and the raiding team were the ultimate losers against the Shionel Dungeon.
(‘If they did steal all the esoteric resources of the fourteenth floor, then the Voider’s ability to extract ore deposits from the Shionel Dungeon is even more powerful than I had ever expected,’) He grimaced. (‘However, even if they didn’t steal anything because the floor truly was empty, they surely intended to steal it, right?’)
The smoke screen only bought them a few seconds, they absolutely were aware of this, of course. Yet, they still used it to enter the floor. 𝐎𝒱𝐋xt.𝑜
(‘If their goal was to steal the esoteric ore deposits, then the fact that they used a smoke screen that lasted a few seconds means that they possess the ability to extract a gigantic amount of esoteric mineral and organic mass in those same few seconds,’) He inferred.
This was the only conclusion that made sense to him.
Of course, he was aware that Martial Squires lived through time differently than mere humans like himself. A few seconds may as well have been ten minutes to them. However, that also applied to the raid team.
The raid team would not sit around for ten minutes, so it didn’t make sense.
(‘Unless Squire Harens attack on the raid team was intended to prevent them from intercepting the Voider in those ten minutes?’) He narrowed his eyes.
It wasn’t a perfect theory by any means, but he once again could not deny it. He ultimately ran into two possibilities that he was unable to narrow down any further.
Either the Voider was unable to extract the esoteric resources that was their objective, and thus needed Squire Haren to sabotage and hamper them with a powerful attack catching them all off-guard. Or, they had the ability to swiftly extract all of them and leave all in the span of a few seconds.
He wasn’t sure which theory was true, but at the moment, they roughly held equal merit. However, he knew of a way to clarify which theory was accurate, and which theory was not accurate.
(‘I’m going to investigate the living hell out of Squire Harens. I’m going to be subject to a level of intelligence gathering that no Martial Squire has ever been subjected to in history,’) He grinned widely.
The outcome of that investigation would most likely tell him which of the two final hypotheses that he had ended up with was the accurate theory.
Still, he couldn’t believe that he would end up looking positively on such a horrendous fiasco. Not only had the raid team ended up empty-handed but most of them had been injured, and three had even died, all to friendly fire.
That was the very definition of a fiasco.
Yet, he could tolerate it, the intelligence that he had come across as a consequence of these events was truly incredibly valuable!
With this, he was no longer wandering in the dark, desperately trying to come across a shred of information on the Voider. He was actually quite shocked that he had come across it in the first place.
The events in recent times had left a poor taste in his mouth, but now it seemed that the goddess of luck had taken pity on him and given him an opportunity to turn things around.
(‘And turn things the fuck around I will,’) He could feel his blood boiling. He was not going to let go of this opportunity no matter what.
He hadn’t been known as the bloodhound of the Shionel Confederation for nothing. Once he got a hold of his enemies, he never let go. He shredded them to death bit by bit. Almost none had tangled with him and made it out in one piece. Barring Guildmaster Bradt, no one had ever gotten the better of him in the long run.
This modus operandi was in stark contrast to the guildmaster, who was closer to the Grim Reaper, a surgeon of a businessman who acted with precision and accuracy. His enemies fell before they realized what happened.
He lifted a communication device from his table, contact his secretary.
“Arrange a meeting with all the major foreign stakeholders of the Shionel Dungeon, all twenty-nine of them. The purpose of the meeting will be the issue of the Voider, I intend to inform them of some information and propose a plan that will be in our mutual interests.
He rattled off a few more details before putting his communication device away.
(‘I have already united the supplier merchants and businesses of the local supplier market in the Shionel Confederation under my banner against the threat that Esosale Suppliers and the Bradt Distribution Service together represent. Now, I ought to do the same with the foreign forces with interests tied to the supply of the esoteric resources from the dungeon,’) His eyes narrowed.
He had no issue with harnessing all the help that he could get, even if it was an admission of defeat, it wasn’t as though the Voider was a business whiz who schooled him in commerce. They were in fundamentally different fields.
“Let’s see if you can fight the world, little Squire.”