"Sir," A woman walked into Chairman Deacon's office.
"What is it?" he growled. "I'm busy."
Before him was a wide array of documents that contained reports and analyses on any and all matters that pertained to the election.
The elections were right around the corner, it was just a matter of days. At this moment in time, for the first time in a long time, the Shionel Dungeon was a secondary matter. Although he certainly paid attention to the matters of his company, he was far more invested in the matters of the elections.
Fortunately, his work in that regard was going well. The countless allies that he had united and supported in the battle for dominance within the Shionel Dungeon were all aiding him in the dungeon. He had already bagged at least forty percent of all the votes for certain. These included his allies, or people who his allies had bought leveraging their capital to get them to vote for Chairman Deacon.
Given that his allies consisted of countless local merchants and corporations and many international powers, his support group was huge. Yet he wasn't overconfident, he knew that Guildmaster Bradt had a gigantic support network that he used to leverage a large proportion of the voters.
Right now he was simply looking at the ways in which he could leverage his capital to reel in more voters. This required knowing the people he was trying to reel inside out, and using his capital to appeal to their interests.
This was an extremely difficult and rigorous process, one that he had already extensively gone through, he was just looking for any and everything that could tip the scales even more towards him.
"It's important sir," She insisted. "An exploration team has reported the discovery of a new floor."
"That sounds standard," Chairman Deacon frowned. "Just execute standard protocols around it, no need to bring this matter to my attention."
"Sir, the exploration team's data has indicated that the floor is most likely the bottom-most floor of the Shionel Dungeon and that it is actually the mine that created the Shionel Dungeon in the first place."
Those words drew Chairman Deacon's attention. "What?"
"It's true, sir," She confirmed as she handed him a document containing all the data that had been collected about it.
"Hm," He quickly skimmed through the reports on the matter. "Fascinating. Assemble the best Martial Squires we and our allies have, and put together a strong raiding expedition as soon as possible. I want us plundering this floor before that bastard Voider ever gets a chance at it."
He turned towards her. "Handle it. I have my hands full with the elections, they take priority."
Within a few days, a large sum of Martial Squires had gathered in a facility in the main branch office of Deacon Industries.
More than one thousand high-grade Martial Squires had gathered in the facility, each prepped and ready. I think you should take a look at
Before all of them stood three Martial Squires.
Each of the three of them exuded an avalanche of sharp pressure that washed over all of the other Martial Squires.
"I am the captain of the raid force, Cernet Deacon," The man announced. "I will be leading our force into the Shionel Dungeon and into the recently discovered fifty-second floor. The plan, the protocols, and the strategy remain the same as always. There is no need to fix what isn't broken, and we will execute the winning formula for clearing floors."
He began quickly breaking down the strategy and protocols for each of the Martial Squires.
Of course, by now, nearly all of them were intimately familiar with how to get things done in the Shionel Dungeon. The captain was merely going through all of it once for the sake of formality.
"Normally, Chairman Deacon himself would be addressing all of us, however, the chairman is unfortunately preoccupied with more pressing matters," The captain explained.
None of them had missed his last name matching the last name of the chairman. The man was the son of the chairman, and a grade-ten Martial Squire as well, having received the best of tutelage and training and growth resources from a young age.
"Regardless, he needs us now more than ever. As all of you have been briefed, this floor is most likely the mine that the Shionel Dungeon was empowered from. This floor is the final and the lowest floor of the entirety of the Shionel Dungeon," He reminded all of them. "Whoever clears this floor, wins the race to the bottom of the Shionel Dungeon. They will be the winner. This victory will have great consequences for the upcoming elections. A victory could seal the chairman's victory. While a loss…"
He didn't even bother finishing his words, wanting to avoid dampening the atmosphere.
"Today, we fight for more than our victory, we fight for the victory of our patron," His eyes narrowed. "We shall win, no matter what it takes. Remember that."
The captain was mindful to not attempt to make the speech more sentimental. At the end of the day, these Martial Squires were not soldiers, they were adventurers who were patroned by Chairman Deacon and reeled firmly into his side with remarkably attractive deals. They were not loyal personal warriors of the man like his own internal Martial Squires, like the captain.
The raid force was soon dispatched. They marched through the sky in an orderly manner drawing great attention from the public.
"Oh, that's Deacon Industries' raid force entering the dungeon again. Looks like they found another floor in the dungeon."
"Chairman Deacon still diligently clears the dungeon despite the elections nearing."
"It's because the election is nearing that he diligently clears the dungeon, idiot."
A large number of people talked about the matter, gossiping to no end. One of the reasons that Chairman Deacon had his raid force sky-walk through the air in such a manner was essentially for a novel form of advertisement of himself, all in hopes of gaining more support.