Building My SSS-Rank Universal Empire: From Trash to Cosmic Overlord-Chapter 71: Lead the way

The owl-eyed admin was left shivering after I left. The heat that had suddenly filled the room turned lukewarm, and he shuddered. "This has never happened to me before! That kind of disrespect!"

His first reaction was to call the guards, report the incident, and have us arrested or something. But when that green-eyed glare of mine flashed in his mind again, he could only shake his head and firm his lips.

"And that horrible pressure. Fine, then. I’ll do as they want and send the letter to the Ten! I will!" He straightened his thin frame, adjusted his glasses, and stood up. He picked up the letter, placed it into an envelope, and wrote on it before leaving his section.

Crossing the hall, he entered another room where there were five boxes with different flag colors on them. Each box contained envelopes and packages belonging to the team leaders of the highest-ranked teams under each flag—essentially the leaders of all their flag’s teams.

He looked at the Steelclaw box and placed the envelope on it without hesitation. He sneered. "Too bad you’ll be directly told off, and your letter torn! Maybe you’ll get summoned and questioned..."

He muttered this as he left.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆,

Three days later, the box with the Steelclaw Alliance mark on it found its way into a large room. The room was covered in lush red curtains and carpet. A big, dark wooden table stood at its center, already piled with papers and a plate of half-eaten food.

Dlodus sat behind the table, his eyes narrowing as his second-in-command placed a box on the floor, the box marked with the red of Steelclaw. "Who’s all that for?" he asked with a deadpan expression.

Liam, the second-in-command of the Rank 2 team, replied dutifully. "It’s for the team leader of Rank 2."

Dlodus was a man in his late thirties. His eyes resembled a thunderstorm wrapped in clouds, giving him a gentle appearance with a promise of sudden violence. "That’s me, all right. But seriously, why do we have to handle all the requests just because we’re the Rank 2 team?"

"Because we have the most powerful team... second only to Rank 1. And you’re the leader of all the teams in Steelclaw’s second layer," Liam said, as if it was something he’d explained many times before but knew wouldn’t pass through anyway.

Dlodus smiled. "But it’s too tedious."

"You don’t complain about the taxes you skim from the teams or the fact that you get to boss them around. You’re probably as rich as some low nobility back in the city." As Liam said this, he began sorting through the pile of envelopes and boxes. He removed letters from envelopes, carefully arranging them in order of importance.

Any matter affecting the whole alliance first passed through the table of the highest team of a flag before it was presented at their Ten meetings. Liam carefully examined each complaint, quickly reading the first part to know what it was about.

"You only have one disposable complaint this time someone’s demanding to create a team."

Dlodus grunted. "They never stop, those outlaws. Here, let me amuse myself with this before I get into those shitty complaints."

Liam handed the letter over, and Dlodus settled into his chair to read it. Idly, he wondered what excuse this outlaw would bring up this time. But to his surprise, there was no excuse. In fact, it seemed this person wasn’t an outlaw. The person directly demanded to create a new team, arguing that it would benefit the second layer.

Dlodus grinned as he crumpled the paper and tossed it away. "Well, that’s new. At least he has a catchy name, Vale. He’s not even an outlaw. He’ll join a team when he’s ready."

☆☆▪︎☆☆

Two weeks had passed since I wrote the letter to the Ten, and I had yet to see any results. I had sent Tiber to the admin building at the end of the previous week, but still, no response came.

During that time, we hadn’t been idle. Xan had taken us to a merchant organization that processed and sold monster leathers, specializing in the lizard monsters known as the twice-skinned lizards, prized for their multicolored hides.

The organization maintained a ruin where these monsters were abundant. Carefully, we hunted them while ensuring the lizards could still reproduce.

The others and I had been working as cheap labor, killing the monsters for two gold coins a day each. But today, Tiber, Xan, and I were not at work.

Instead, we stood in front of the small ruin building we had rented for our stay. I was dressed in black leather with a red slash across the chest. My hair was tied back, and my face was hard and smooth as I leaned against the rough brown ruin, looking down the road toward the admin building.

At my side were a dagger and a sword.

The others were similarly dressed in newly bought leather armor that was cheap but functional. Tiber’s hands were in his pockets, his deep eyes focused on the same direction as mine.

Xan wore no leather armor, but his robe was clean and new. A small dagger hung at his side.

Then we saw her, Slya. She was dressed like us, but instead of swords, small throwing knives were arranged around her waist.

As she approached, we could tell what she was going to say before she opened her mouth. "They didn’t reply yet. I... doubt they will."

I nodded. I was expecting this. Really, the only reason I lasted this long killing random leather monsters was to give the Ten a warning. And to learn all I could about the second layer. Now I know that Rank 2 team leader probably didn’t bring my letter to the Ten.

"I see. Then I will do things my way now." I grinned, feeling oddly relieved. "Xan, lead the way to the Veilwood. It’s finally time to do what I’ve wanted since the beginning, make a noise that will ripple through the whole second layer!"