The idea of some unknown entity conspiring with Guildmaster Bradt send a chill down his spine. However, his deductions were not without merit. If Guildmaster Bradt truly was the sole mastermind and the sole cause for the strange disappearances of the esoteric ore deposits as well as for Esosale Suppliers, then he would have had plenty of reasons and incentives to be more straightforward, open, and even flashy about it.
Yet he didn't, even if it was very much for his interests. That means that he probably was not the sole mastermind responsible for everything related to these recent events, if there was another entity that was also responsible for this with differing interests, then it would explain why Guildmaster Bradt has not acted on his interests alone. He has a partner who is aiding him with this. Maybe even more than one!
('But what exactly is that serpent gaining from this supposed partner or partners?') He furrowed his eyebrows as he thought long and hard about it. Passing the anonymous registration policy amendment was not something that was to his benefit since being famous was better for garnering greater prestige and influence than being shady, thus the passing of the anonymous-registration policy amendment may have been for someone else.
('But wait, that hypothesis doesn't make sense either,') The man gritted his teeth as he grew engrossed deep in thought. ('Why would Bradt use his limited and precious decision votes to pass a bill for someone else, even if that person is a potential partner? Are the profits from the monopoly of esoteric supplies really worth it?')
Of course, Guildmaster Bradt would also gain the advantage of hampering his opponent, but just those two conditions alone couldn't be worth passing the bill.
('There has to be something else,') He couldn't help but feel quite certain about this evaluation. There was just far too much that was off here. He couldn't quite put his finger on it.
('No,') He shook his head. ('It doesn't matter. Regardless, what I must do wouldn't change. I need to find the way that he is acquiring all those esoteric supplies through, and then destroy it, or at the very least render it obsolete.')
Regardless of what had happened behind the scenes, what he needed to do had not changed. He could not allow the one and only chance that he had to break away from the guildmaster's stronghold over political power to be taken away from him.
The appearance of the Shionel Dungeon was truly a blessing from fate, he intended to protect it at all costs.
('There's only one way to gain access to a huge supply of esoteric resource deposits,') He noted to himself. ('Martial Artists,')
He was relatively certain that the guildmaster had not found a way to get around this limitation.
('Which means he's using Martial Squires for sure, furthermore, they're based here in the Shionel Confederation,')
This meant that he could find them. As long as they were inside the country, they were within his primary domain of influence and power.
('It's unlikely that the guildmaster managed to gain all those esoteric resources using a large quantity of Martial Squires. That would have been noticed by now and is far too conspicuous to hide.') He shrewdly noticed. ('Furthermore, even with the sense-jamming properties of the Shionel Dungeon, there is no way a larger group of Martial Squires would have gone unnoticed on the twelfth floor.')
This strongly suggested that the guildmaster was compensating for a lack of quantity with sheer quality.
('That means the number of Martial Artists he actually has is probably few, probably lesser than five if I had to take a guess,') He tutted with a grim expression.
The smaller the quantity of Martial Artists made it harder to find them, as opposed to a small battalion of Martial Artists that was far easier to find.
('It's not going to be easy…') His eyes narrowed. ('There's really only two ways to go about this, from what I can see. I need either need to track their identity by narrowing down the possible list of suspects by eliminating Martial Artists who can't possibly be them, or directly target them by catching them in the act.
Both ways were going to be difficult. He could tell who were this or these Martial Artists were, they were either extremely powerful or possessed some powerful techniques that were extremely well suited to the Shionel Dungeon.
In which case, simply deploying some Martial Squire to keep an eye on the floors of the dungeon wasn't going to be enough in and of itself.
('Damn it all, that fucking snake,') He gritted his teeth.
This new development posed a big problem that would require a lot of resources and manpower to succeed. This would hinder his growth since he would need to invest a lot of capital into killing those pesky Martial Squires who were working with Bradt Patrick.
He was not worried about the legality of killing Martial Squires, he was far too powerful as far as his resources and political power to be perturbed by such a thing. Furthermore, killing Martial Squires inside the dungeon was not criminalized, thus if he assassinated them inside the dungeon, he could even brag about it.
('I need to get to work, otherwise, those Martial Squires will steal what is rightfully mine,') His eyes became bloodshot with anger.
"Maynar," he turned to his secretary standing before his table in his office.
"Yes sir," The man bowed lightly. "Put together a team of veteran hunters together. I want the best of the best. All the S-rank and A-rank hunters. Promise them twice as much as their current contract and give them generous terms and conditions to join our hunting team."
"Immediately sir, any details for the team?" He asked.
"I'm going to call it…" He considered the matter for a second. "The Voidhunters. That sounds fitting for a group of hunter-class Martial Squires that are going to be dispatched to take down a couple of their own kind."