Chapter 333 - 325. The Price for Loyalty
To be exact, it wasn’t about the shadow guard, but something similar. Zein told the summoner about what Senan asked of him last night; something that he kept thinking about the whole day.
"The Iron Shield, huh..." Radia rubbed his lips. "They asked to be your brigade?"
"I don’t even know what a brigade means, what they are for," Zein shook his head. But he remembered the envious gaze Senan had at his bodyguard, as well as their pledge to follow and protect him. "When the old man told me about it, all I could think about was the shadow guards you put on me."
Zein paused for a bit. All this time, he had always called them shadow guards, because that was what they were doing; guarding him from the shadow. Radia too, simply called them back in front of him. But he knew those people did more than just guarding, especially after seeing how they were handling the aftermath of the attack this morning. They did clean-up, they investigated, they moved and dis everything Radia--or probably the Mallarc--asked for.
As if reading Zein’s mind, Radia replied without missing a beat. "I can’t tell you their name--the name of their...let’s say ’brigade’," he smiled teasingly. "They are a group of people that my House had been cultivated from the start, contracted to live in the shadow of the sentinel community."
"Shadow..."
Radia called his secretary for some water to soothe his parched throat before continuing. "Their job is solely to do what we told them to do--just like regular employees, basically; only with more hazard risk and a strict non-disclosure agreement," Radia smiled. "They are active espers, but not actively going into dungeons. They will never put their name out there, and only a select few can show their face, like your bodyguard. If you want to simplify it, though..."
Radia tapped on his lips, looking out of the window with a deep smile on his lips. "They are formed to be our dirty hands."
The crimson eyes could see how the guide stiffened. "It’s something that every Old House had, although each has a different way of cultivating it. For example, contracting a smaller clan,"
"Like Golden Viper?"
Radia smiled and nodded. "There’s a House that recruits orphans and develops them to be the House’s loyal vassals, or, like the House of Ishtera, it was a vassal house that had been formed organically ever since the House itself came into existence."