"Here's your tea, Vice-Master."
Sharine said as she handed me her special brew.
The plump graying woman's tea had always managed to brighten my day.
I had lost count how many pots of Sharine's tea I had gulped to get me through all my long hours in the magic hall.
Sharine's previous employer had to be satisfied with her service given all the good things I had seen of her.
And I certainly needed someone like this precious woman by my side moving forward.
It had only been a day since we cleared the third Quintal Trial and master appointed me Vice-Master to the forged land.
Upon my appointment, master built a new wing in the magic hall.
A spacious training chamber underground. A private alchemy lab on the first floor. A library on the second. And a study/office on the third and the highest floor.
All reserved exclusively for me, the newly-appointed Vice-Master.
I could see myself spending most of my time in this wing.
The facilities were almost on par to the luxurious apartment granted to the High Mages of the Tower.
If only master would move my bedroom to the magic hall, then I could transform the entire wing into my new residence.
Perhaps I should make a recommendation later on.
After all, that was supposed to be my new job. Making recommendations.
Master was still the one leading the lobby.
My new station only enabled me to advise our grand superior in running the forged land.
Even so, master had been very willing to accept all my suggestions so far.
No heroes had been sent to watch the fifteenth floor record without my approval.
We were also supposed to be celebrating the victory of the third Quintal Trial last night, but I suggested master to push the event at a later time.
There were quite few things we needed to address before the lobby moved on with its agenda.
My current meeting in the Vice-Master office was one.
"Give me your report."
I told Pavarin who was standing beyond my desk.
The Chief Servant waited until Sharine went to his side before speaking.
"As ordered, Miss Melroy and I have investigated all supporter staffs whom worked directly with the Raid Team."
Background investigations.
After learning our enemies on the fifteenth floor, I ordered Pavarin and Sharine to compose a list of our potential enemies in the trials.
The Great Houses and their vassal Houses were at the top of the list.
Their associates such as their branch Houses and their allies, both nobles and commoners, were also regarded with high suspicion.
Any heroes summoned to the forged land whom had connection to any of these factions would be put under interrogation and, possibly, execution should they were deemed a threat to our climb effort.
Pavarin and Sharine were the ones outside the Raid Team I already believed to be our allies in the forged land.
The imperial count Pavarin used to serve was from a neutral noble family like the Zeref. So was the historian baron Sharine formerly served.
None of the two Houses displayed any sign of loyalty or alliance to the Great Houses.
Both Pavarin and Sharine themselves were commoners at birth and had no allegiance except toward the Houses they served.
So if I needed people who could investigate the other heroes' background without bias, these two would be them.
And so, after I returned from the fifteenth floor, the three of us met together.
Using our combined knowledge of the imperial noble societies, we drafted the list of Houses we should consider suspicious.
Including the Great Houses and all of their associates, we managed to list 753 imperial Houses that could potentially have antagonistic relationship with the heroes of the forged land.
187 of them were absolutely antagonistic given their high loyalty to the Great Houses, our confirmed enemies.
My first duty as Vice-Master was to discover whether any hero in the forged land was affiliated to any of these Houses.
There were also the Tower of Circle and the Serpent's Order.
Most magic academies and magic societies that were aligning their organizations with these two large factions were also highlighted as our potential enemies.
But the suspects would be at least 3-star mages that arrived through advanced summoning. I already had plans to monitor them should they arrive.
There were also the possibilities of factions from Tsahanam and Tchakra to be supporting our enemies.
But we did not have solid proof of that possibility yet and the heroes originating from those nations so far had shown themselves committed to the forged land's missions.
At the moment, however, we needed to locate any existing enemy within our main ranks, which was the Raid Team. More specifically, the supporters that worked closely with us.
"I've interviewed the herbalist Jansen, Chief Crafter Gerrits and his main crafters, as well as the Chief Gatherer Serize and her main gatherers, those whom worked directly to provide for the Raid Team residing on the third floor."
Pavarin said.
He put on a relieved smile and went on.
"Fortunately, none of them are affiliated with any faction on our list. All of those workers were simple commoners back in Dunia. They never served a noble House before nor they have connection to any noble House."
I nodded to his report and turned to Sharine.
The plump woman proceeded to deliver the result of her investigation.
"I've interviewed the Chief Cook Pauline and the entire third floor kitchen staffs, as well as all of the servants working in the third floor lodging."
That was my deliberate arrangement for the two investigators.
It would not be ethical to have Pavarin investigate his own staffs after all.
"The only connection the Chief Cook has with our list is that the lord of her city is a vassal for an allied House to one of the Great Houses. Most of the cooks and servants used to serve neutral Houses. The rest only have vague connections like the Chief Cook."
Pavarin then laid two stacks of paper on my desk.
"The details of our investigation are compiled in these piles of documents, Your Excellency. We've also singled out on this second pile the staffs with vague connections that Miss Melroy discovered."
I nodded once more to the conclusion of their reports.
They did good work in just a day.
I could get used to having efficient workers such as Pavarin and Sharine.
Though I would need more time getting used to Pavarin calling me 'Your Excellency' ever since I was appointed Vice-Master. Sharine also straight up used my title now.
Burden of the station, I supposed.
"Proceed investigating the rest of the crafters and gatherers, Pavarin. And Sharine, perform a follow-up interview with the staffs that have those vague connections. Find out how they think of the factions in our list."
The two bowed to my orders.
"As you wish, Your Excellency."
"Right away, Vice-Master."
I probably should come up with a proper way for people to refer to me.
Later, though.
Another matter still needed to be taken care of.
"So, these are the people you recommended for the new position I'm forming?"
I asked the two in front of me as I stared onto another document.
Pavarin nodded.
"They have no relations to any faction in the enemy list. And they're qualified for the positions given their previous stations back in Dunia."
"Each of them have held credible clerical posts before arriving to the forged land. And, as requested, the heroes in the recommendation list are already second or third floor staffs, or combatant trainees that have at least climbed to the twelfth floor of the tower."
Sharine added.
Hearing their statements, I grabbed my pen and complement the document with certain wordings.
I then signed the paper and held it up in my hand.
"Warden."
A twinkling light suddenly manifested in front of me.
[Yes, Vice-Master?]
The fairy asked excitedly.
She had been very happy ever since I was appointed Vice-Master.
Something about the climb would be much smoother with me leading the lobby, as well as her workload being greatly reduced.
"Take this up to master. I want them to approve this assignment before they leave for the day."
I said to the fairy while handing the signed document.
[Got it! Just give me a sec!]
The fairy replied, snatching the paper away and vanished in a flash of light.
A notification window soon hovered above me.
[Vice-Master 'Serafina (★★★★)' proposes to create a new hero profession, 'Administrator'.]
[Accept?]
[Yes / No]
Now that the Hero Reaction Research had reached level 10 and I was granted the title Vice-Master, I could give more specific and more elaborate suggestions to master. Including how to run the lobby.
Aside from the raiders that climbed the tower, we had other roles in the forged land.
Gatherers, crafters, cooks, servants, depository managers, and brewers.
In order to organize all these positions and ensuring smooth workings throughout the lobby, we would need another position.
Administrators.
There were too many things in the forged land that were not properly documented yet.
How many heroes we had, how many in training to become combatants, the amount of skilled workers that we possessed, the daily yields of the Weekday Dungeons, the list of equipment produced in the workshops, and so on.
Master probably had all of these information conveyed by the fairy, but I did not. The fairy was not exactly that generous with me despite our cordial relationship.
if I were to help master lead the lobby and get us to the top of the tower, I would need to know all of these information, at the very least.
The administrators would work to provide me with what I wanted to know of the lobby.
By having the right information, I could suggest more specific and definitely more helpful recommendation that would greatly aid our climb.
And I also intended for the administrators to continue Pavarin and Sharine's investigation with the rest of the heroes, specifically the first floor trainees which number gradually increases by the day.
I could not let Pavarin and Sharine keep using up all their time interviewing heroes when they had other duties to be done.
Hopefully master would understand my intention.
[Vice-Master 'Serafina (★★★★)' proposes to create a new hero profession, 'Administrator'.]
[Accept?]
[Yes (selected)/ No]
And, as expected, master did understand.
The sky outside soon lost its rainbow color and shifted into its dull tone.
Master had left for the day just as I predicted too.
It would be a bother to wait for them to return tomorrow just so I could deliver my suggestion. Thank goodness I anticipated it.
I proceeded to convey my next set of order to my temporary administrative staffs.
"Master has approved the administrators' appointment. Please tell the recommended heroes to gather in my library so I can brief them on their du--"
[Fina?]
Jonah's voice suddenly echoed in my mind.
He was reaching out to me through the communication blessing.
"What is it, Jonah?"
I promptly replied back.
[The others have returned. They've seen what happened on the fifteenth floor.]
Another important matter had come up.
The job of a Vice-Master was never over.
"Very well, Jonah. Tell them to gather in the main parlor of the mansion. I'll be right there."
I said as I began to leave my office.
I turned to Pavarin and Sharine before I walked through the door.
"Tell the administrators to wait for their briefing till later tonight. I have an important meeting with the Raid Team."
Before we could continue climbing the tower, we needed to figure out how we were going to save our world first.