Three days had passed since the Soma and Hestia Familia won the War Game by a landslide, and as promised, the Soma Familia got all of Apollo's members, while Hestia got the rest of his assets. The god, stripped of all his possessions, was then banished from Orario.
During those days, the Soma Familia had gone through a lot of changes. First was the Familia home—Cupidinem. Since Rex already knew he was going to win the War Game, the day the Apollo Familia accepted the challenge, Rex had Zanis request the Goibniu and Demeter Familia to start a mass remodeling of the entire Familia land.
Zanis also bought the surrounding lands around the estate for a bit of expansion, which was pretty cheap since it's an area no one wanted. Now, ten days have passed since the remodeling started. With the two Familia working day in and out, the remodeling was practically done. During this time, the members and executives had to keep moving around when an area was getting worked on, which was annoying, but the end result was well worth it.
The entire estate, following Rex's blueprint and the old setup of the Familia, now looked like a college campus—with six mansion-like buildings arranged around the land. Each building held about 30 to 40 members, with private rooms and shared bathrooms, kitchens, and living spaces. An additional dining hall was built, being on the opposite end of the first one, and other areas were still being built like the training area that Zanis decided to postpone because of money.
The land itself was revitalized by the Demeter Familia. Before, due to being on the outskirts of an industrial district and quite close to Daedalus Street, it barely had any plants—except Soma's garden. Now the land was filled with greens and trees, giving it more 'life' and making it 'fresher,' arranged along the walkways and roads connecting the multiple buildings and facilities.
There was an area surrounded by a fence that was Soma's old garden—now improved with the help of Demeter. He had declined letting them touch it at first, but agreed after pressure from Zanis. After its remodeling, it looked even better, and though Soma didn't show it, Scavenger confirmed he was pleased about the change.
Of course, the biggest improvement was the main mansion at the center of the land, which now looked like its own separate mansion with a second wall surrounding it. A four-story beautiful mansion with exactly 45 large rooms—about half of those having their own plumbing—one central living area, three kitchens, two communal bathrooms for those rooms without, a meeting area for the executives, and other facilities.
This mansion was only for the Familia Executives and High-Class Adventurers, and the higher your position, the higher the floor you had. Soma, Zanis, Rex, Hyakinthos, Chandr, Daphne, Lissos, and Cassandra were the only ones on the fourth floor due to their executive ranks, with the other 37 rooms being separated among the lower three floors for the other Level 2+ members. Of course, there was one exception to this main mansion occupation rule.
"A-are you sure we are allowed to stay here?" Momiji asked as she watched Rex sweep up some mess they made while arranging the room.
"How many times are you going to ask that?" Rex turned to the girl sitting on the edge her bed, dressed casually in a shirt and skirt. "Yes, and no one can say anything about it."
"I don't know..." She looked around the room, fidgeting with her fingers. "It just seems unfair, you know..."
"Of course it is," Rex replied with a shrug. "But who cares? That's how life is."
He had allowed the three musketeers to stay in the main mansion, the trip being the only exception. He had known them for a month, and if he was asked who he had the closest relationship with in this world, he would say the three of them, then Zanis, and then maybe Rose or Naaza. He saw them like his little sisters, so of course he was going to give them advantages that others didn't have.
"Exactly, Momi." Kaede sprawled lazily on her back across her bed in an oversized shirt, chimed in without lifting her head. "We ain't s'posed to be humble, remember? Use every damn edge we got. And Rex?" She smirked. "He is the edge. So we're gonna milk him dry before someone else snatches him up."
"Yeah, milk me dry." Rex nodded, then paused. '...That don't sound right."
"Matter o' fact," the rabbit girl went on, "if anyone so much as looks at us funny, we'll just say we're Rex's lil' sisters. They mess with us, they deal with him." She flashed a smug grin. "Easy peasy~"
"Nah, don't turn into a young master." Rex shook his head before turning back to leave, and that's when he remembered something, "Also, I've talked to Daphne." He said, turning to the rabbit.
"Wait, for real?" Kaede bolted upright, eyes wide with interest. "C'mon, spill it—what'd she say?"
"She agreed to train you as long as you don't slack," he nodded. "Starting tomorrow."
"Hell yeah!" Kaede yelled, bouncing on her bed with a huge grin. "Finally! I get a teacher, since this bum-ass mutt—" she jabbed a finger at Rex, still grinning, "refused to teach me after days of beggin'!"
She let out a dramatic sigh. "I even got on my knees, y'know." Then, with fake tears and a sniffle: "Heartless bastard~"
"I don't have time to teach things like that," Rex shrugged dismissively. "Use this opportunity well. And no slacking off for you two." He turned to the fox. "Momi, you will be learning how to use a sword from Lissos."
"Eh?" The fox looked stunned. "But—"
"No excuses," Rex cut her off, turning to Coco, who stopped arranging the stuffed animals on her bed and glanced up at him. "And Chandra will be your teacher." She nodded.
He opened the door. "The training will start from tomorrow, whatever time they decide. Use this opportunity well," Rex grinned back at them. "Reach Level 2 and I'll get you guys something whatever you want~."
"Say less my brother." Kaede grinned while rubbing her hands mischievously.
Rex smiled and waved at them before leaving the room, closing the door behind him as he entered the wide hallway with the afternoon sunlight streaming through the windows and illuminating the walls and tiles. The renovation was extremely expensive, totaling about 3 billion valis—about 2.2 billion to the Goibniu Familia and 810 million to the Demeter Familia.
They didn't have enough money to pay off everything, so they were currently in significant debt to both Familia, but he thought it was worth it since the change would bring new life to the Familia. Besides, with the way things were going, the 2.5 billion valis debt would be gone in no time.
'Thankfully, we could use the money from the black market,' Rex thought as he climbed the stairs. 'I don't know how Zanis managed to disguise those hundreds of millions as legit money, but as long as we don't get caught, it's fine.'
From legal business, they would barely have been able to get 100 million valis, but adding the black market income gave them an extra 400 million—a huge difference.
'It's terrifying to think that's only five grimoires.' He sighed. 'I need to get the mystery development ability and start selling grimoires in the black market or something. Holy shit.'
Reaching the fourth floor, Rex knocked once, then opened the door to Zanis' office. "Has everything about the new members' registration been completed?" he asked the moment he stepped inside.
"It has," Zanis replied, gesturing with his head to the sitting area, which had stacks of paper on the table.
His office wasn't much different from his old one—just a bit larger, with the sitting area still across from the fireplace, now having a long couch and two armchairs surrounding a rectangular glass table. Nearby was a wooden door with wooden framing that led to a balcony currently open for fresh air.
Going to the sitting area, Rex picked up the papers and quickly skimmed through them. The papers basically held the Familia's basic information, including its members, Familia ranks, taxes, etc.
Right now, the total membership was exactly 210 people: 2 level 3 adventurers, 29 level 2 adventurers, and 179 level 1 adventurers. The number of Familia members had solidly placed the Soma Familia in the 'Large Familia' category, now one of the largest in Orario behind the 'Super Large' Familia like Ishtar, Ganesha, or Demeter Familia.
They even had more level 1s than the entirety of the Freya Familia, which had 'only' 157 adventurers, and were close in size to the Loki Familia. The number of members in their Familia was enough for the guild to raise their Familia Rank during the reevaluation to C-Rank.
The Familia had become so large because Zanis had decided not to kick out all the weaker members and instead assigned them jobs around Cupidinem—cleaning the grounds, bathrooms, buildings, cooking, landscaping, and other mundane tasks. This would lessen the burden of hiring outsiders for maintenance.
Of course, this number of members came with a massive monthly tax of—
"Holy shit!" Rex flinched, moving the paper away from his face as he saw the number. "Seven…" He counted the zeros. "Seven point six million a month?!"
"You should see the member-to-tax ratio there." Zanis sighed, continuing to work on his seemingly endless paperwork.
Rex glanced down, and it was indeed listed there. For each level 1, 2, and 3, the monthly tax was 23,250, 69,750, and 209,250 valis respectively. The base tax for their Familis is only 6,603,000 but due to their Familia Rank, this base number is increased by 15%, so it became 7,593,450.
'It turns out having almost 200 level 1 adventurers is extremely expensive.' But seeing as Zanis isn't complaining, it looks like this was actually better than hiring people to take care of the land. "I guess the per-person tax keeps tripping each level." Rex mumbled to himself, but Zanis replied;
"Yes," He didn't look away from his work, "When you become a level 4, it would become six hundred thirty thousand a month."
Rex closed his eyes, feeling almost ready to cry. "It seems like this is the guild's way to keep higher-level adventurers active."
It made sense, and he couldn't really argue. Making 600 thousand valis in a week would be possible for most level 4 adventurers, assuming they didn't spend it all on equipment maintenance and potions. The tax only became difficult when combined with taxes from other Familia members. Though
"Speaking of staying active," Zanis adjusted his glasses, looking up from his work. "I assume you haven't gotten to that part yet, but now that our Rank has become C, we are required to go on expeditions every three months."
Rex turned to the page as Zanis continued, "We were actually supposed to start expeditions at D-rank, but I managed to evade it by constantly proving we were more of a business-type Familia than an exploration type." He sighed, "But now, I can't use that same trick."
"It shouldn't be too hard," Rex shrugged.
Prime Rex had heard about expeditions before. To pass a Familia expedition, all you basically had to do was expand your deepest floor by one level, contribute to the discovery of various new resources, or map an unexplored area. Most Familia just cleared a new floor and called it a day since discovering new resources and exploring new areas wasn't easy.
"I can just complete this tomorrow, right?" He turned to Zanis. "I can reach Water City and show proof—wouldn't that complete it?"
"Reach…Water City?" Zanis raised a brow. "Solo?"
"Yeah, I can solo my way down there." Rex nodded, realizing Zanis still thought he was level 3 in strength. "So, would that count?"
Zanis was silent for a moment before adjusting his glasses again. "Sadly, no." He shook his head. "For a Familia of our size, the expedition team has to be at least 30 adventurers strong, with more than 50% reaching the new floor to count if we choose that route."
He paused. "Of course, if you manage to discover new resources or map a new area, it would automatically count even if you did it solo." He shook his head again. "But that's impossible on the upper floors."
'Scavenger, shouldn't I be able to find new resources or areas in the Large Tree Labyrinth?' Scavenger judged this as correct, but Rex decided not to do this. This expedition would be a perfect chance to mass level the Familia members after he received his Apex Hunter DA in a month's time. "Then we should start preparing for the expedition. We should get going in a month or two from now."
Zanis nodded. "So would you mind holding off from going down to Water City?" He asked, causing Rex to blink. "If you sell material from Water City now, in a month's time, 15 of our members would be expected to go down there, which is realistically impossible."
"Hahaha~" Rex laughed as he placed the paper down. "You're a funny guy, Zanis." He looked at the man, "Ain't no way I'm waiting a month before going down there. Fuck that."
Zanis just stared at him as Rex added, "Anyway, it would be a good chance to help you guys rank up." He grinned, "Did you forget that I said I'd help you become level 3 after you got your magic?"
The captain shivered at this thought. Leveling up was never a pleasant experience. Just the thought of going through an experience enough to grant high-rank excelia to become level 3 made him swallow hard.
"You have a month to prepare yourself, my friend." Rex stuck up both of his thumbs and flashed a stupid grin. "I believe in you."
He lowered his hands. "Besides, even though we are this big, our strength is nothing compared to other Familias our size, so the upcoming expedition would be a good time to level most of our level 2s and 1s." He started walking towards the door. "You saw how many new members had stats above D. Our goal is to level them all up."
"That's impossible." Zanis shook his head. "That would mean leveling up fifteen level 2 adventurers and multiple level 1 adventurers in a single expedition. It would be more realistic to say Ottar will become level eight tomorrow."
"It is," Rex nodded in agreement as he stopped to face Zanis. "But what's my name?"
"???" The captain was confused. "Rex Magnus."
"No." He chuckled, "I am Rex Magnus Lapis Beifong, the Red Dragon of Infinity." He raised his head, folding his arms behind his back like an elder. "Nothing is impossible for this one."
Zanis' glasses turned white as he clenched his fists, holding himself back so he wouldn't jump over the table and punch Rex in the face for that cringeworthy line he just spouted. The silence stretched between them as Zanis stared at Rex, who continued standing like an elder, before Rex finally broke it.
"Ahem." He cleared his throat. "I'll be going to the Dian Cecht Familia main shop to name the new potion they made. After that, I'll go get other things ready for tomorrow's dive, so don't expect me back until the evening." He had only come to see the new evaluation of the Familia new rank, but they ended up talking about more.
"Magnus," Zanis called, stopping Rex as he reached for the doorknob.
"Hmm?" The Chienthrope stopped and glanced back at him.
"When are you going to show me your full status?" Zanis directly asked, adjusting his glasses even though they didn't need adjusting.
"Hmm…" Rex tilted his head as he thought, "During my next update."
He kind of trusted Zanis, and showing the man his true status would deepen that trust. Even if Zanis decided to say something, by that point, he would be as strong as a level 6. There would only be a handful of people who could fight him in this city, and if he decided to run, with his Jack Bird Dash skill, no one could touch a hair on his neck. Maybe 'Vana Freya,' the level 6 cat of Freya Familia, known as the fastest mortal, but that's about it. He would have literally nothing to fear at level 4.
"Toodles~" He waved as he pulled open the door.
[Author's Note: I apologize for the abrupt break, hope these two chapters made up for it. Shortest author's note ever, lol.
Have a good day ya'll~~~]