Endless Evolution: Last Star

"So... Balo Family, Wurhen Family, and the other Twelve Branches are located throughout the First Ring among the nine wings, right?" Adam clarified.

Osana nodded calmly with a slight smile on her face.

"Their influence extends throughout the Upper Ring, even the slums are no exception. Damn, I didn't even realize I've been buying groceries at a store owned by one particular family for most of my life."

Adam scratched his cheek, then he looked at Osana.

"The Balo Family are in charge of the eighth wing, the Wurhen Family are in charge of the seventh wing where we are now, but... what about you? Where is the Rouzet Family located?"

Osana tilted her head, leaning on her palm, eyeing Adam curiously.

"Oh, you finally showed some interest in your future wife?"

Adam frowned.

"Hah, don't be angry. Like I said, I'll tell you everything. The Rouzet Family is in the third wing."

Then, the next question from Adam followed:

"I understand that each family of the Twelve Branches has some field where they have power, territories, and businesses. Like the Balo Family with their Yellow Shark, for example. I'm sure it's not their only business, but still."

Osana shrugged.

"Something like that. The influence of each family of the Twelve Branches is too broad to focus on just one thing, but they all have some core where they're most developed, it's true."

Adam raised an eyebrow, waiting for her to continue the thought and address her family.

"Ah, I don't want to spend a lot of time on my family, but okay. The Rouzet Family's core is hundreds of clothing, cosmetics, and perfume stores, but like the other Twelve Branches, my family owns hundreds of different businesses throughout the Citadel, but... it's not that important."

Adam gave her a questioning look.

"Hmm? What do you mean?"

Osana sighed heavily.

"You should think more about what kind of connections the Twelve Branches have. Obviously, the Twelve Branches' greatest interest is in the Dead Lands."

Osana lightly waved her hand and said:

"Every great family tries to either recruit or create strong connections with the Phantoms and their Operators, military, departmental employees, and so on."

Osana paused briefly before uttering:

"Earlier I said that every great family has some core, it's different for everyone, but every family of the Twelve Branches is actively involved in extracting resources from the Dead Lands, from monster parts to energy crystals to ingredients for the Red Feast and so on."

Adam scratched his cheek in confusion. He didn't understand how all this could be since all the resources were taken by the departments, meaning the government. Even the Twelve Branches weren't supposed to have access to these resources, they could only buy them like everyone else.

"Hm? What do you mean? The Twelve Branches are doing this bypassing the rules?"

Osana smiled weakly as she shook her head:

"Hah, of course not, they don't need to. The scheme is quite simple, the Twelve Families assemble their squads from recruited Phantoms or those with whom they have a very good relationship. Such squads are called the Branch Squads."

Adam's eyes narrowed.

"The Branch Squad...? Technically, they're personal squads for spreading the influence of the Twelve Branches in the Dead Lands, right?"

Osana nodded with an approving smile.

"Yes. Depending on the difficulty of the missions and the strength of the monsters, the Branch Squads receive money directly from the great family. Then, when they return from the Dead Lands and the military wants to exchange their loot for a reward, the Branch Squads simply refuse them."

Adam's eyes went wide, realization slowly coming to him.

Technically, he'd done something similar a few times. If Phantom wanted to, he could keep the loot, the Operator would negotiate, but usually, there was no problem.

Eventually, Adam could even get himself the Plague Reaper, his coat, and the scythe. Sure, it made Adam's reward less, but he didn't care. On that mission, the most important thing was to win, stay alive, and get the Midnight Crystal.

"More than that." Osana continued, "Even so, Phantoms are rewarded for destroying monsters and successfully completing the mission."

Adam nodded deeply.

"I see... It's quite profitable for the Phantoms to be part of the Branch Squads. They get paid by the great family they work for and for accomplishing the mission. That more than covers the fact that they don't get paid for monster parts."

Osana smiled. Find more to read on empire

"Sure. That way, a huge amount of rare materials fall into the hands of the Twelve Branches. This gives them leverage over both the departments and the military with the government. With these materials, they invest in the development of scientists and set their terms favorable to them."

Adam nodded. He realized that it wasn't complicated, but it was effective. However, doing something like this could only be possible with a lot of money.

Twelve Branches hardly made much money from the materials from the monsters considering how much they paid to the Branch Squads to get them. They were probably at a loss in this part, but it was worth it because, in return, they were gaining influence and expanding their power.

To what extent, the Twelve Branches exchanged the money gained from businesses throughout the Citadel for reputation and influence thanks to the Branch Squads and the Dead Lands.

"In fact, the Branch Squads themselves give the Twelve Branches a certain amount of authority."

Osana calmly said.

"Hm?"

Adam raised an eyebrow with curiosity in his gaze.

"The Branch Squads only contain the best and most capable Phantoms from every level, whether it's K0 or K2, the materials of any monsters matter. Many Phantoms would like to be in the Branch Squad, but are turned down by the great families."

Then, Osana narrowed her eyes, staring intently at Adam.

"By the way. If you weren't disappearing for weeks for medical treatment and some odd cases after your rare missions, you'd have been contacted by many of the Twelve Branches by now. I'm sure they've tried to do so, through your Operator."

"What...?" Adam's eyes went wide.