[Leadership F Lv5 > Leadership E Lv1]

[Leader E Lv1

The user is an aspiring leader. The user better coordinates their team members more effectively, improving communication and teamwork.]

I thought there would be more, but I feel slightly different. As if I just got out of a communications class I enrolled in to meet the requirements to graduate. Not really.

My beasts and I never needed teamwork; we only needed to not get in each other's ways and inadvertently sabotage each other on the battlefield. With this skill and [Master's Whip], getting my beasts to act like an actual team, like a raid squad or a party, would be more convenient. Am I in denial?

What does a raid squad need? What are the norms for today? The first party was just whoever was strong enough to contend against the strongest. My grandfather, Valentine, Aurelius, and others were, quite literally, the strongest people in that era, just under two hundred years ago, so they all were on one team.

A healer and someone who can actually kill things is a must. Technically, you don't need a healer if you can kill things fast enough. If it weren't for skills and the system having a person be the designated damage sponge would be really stupid, but having a tank in a party is the norm for some reason.

Actually... If I were a squishy utility wizard that couldn't take a punch or two, I also would pay a generous individual to get punched on my behalf.

Why am I thinking of this? No matter how much I try, my little parade would never fit into the "traditional" team comp. Everyone is too weird and can fill multiple roles.

As I sit and contemplate useless things, my beasts wait with bated breath, at least the ones that care and can coincidentally breathe.

"Inside me are possibly seven entities, manifestations of concepts."

[...]

"I'm sure it'll work out. If it doesn't work out, I'll drink tea and beat the concepts until they agree with my statement."

[Are you alright?]

"No. Not really."

[Is there anything thisss one can do? Or the others?]

"Level up, evolve, maybe a little hospice once I'm gray and dying from natural causes."

I start walking towards the exit of my mansion.

"If you guys grind levels, under my commands, in an efficient and team-oriented manner, I should be able to level my leadership skills... Duchess, do you telepathically talk to the other beasts so they have context, or do I look crazy right now?"

[Thisss one doesn't keep thisss one's allies ignorant.]

"We can also work on increasing your strengths in other ways to try and improve my leadership skill. We'll take breaks from level grinding by training skills with levels, practicing magic, unlocking stats, and getting items. Rob could use some new bones for his chimerism skills, and there is a wealth disparity with magic items among us."

[What about you?]

"Training [Leadership] is my priority, but [Master's Whip] will also see some use since it'll passively make training you guys more effective. Training skills by spamming them like a bot and not making an effort seems not to be helping me. I'm changing my approach and focusing on specific skills, likely one at a time, as much as I do with my martial training, but it includes you guys.

I'm not good enough to train myself and others simultaneously."

[Noted.]

"I'm magically illiterate. I'll buy books or something. I'll need a shit ton of books anyways. I can help train you by being a willing subject."

[Noted, thank you.]

We leave, and I have a missing phone call from Free Chains. Ope, he left a text saying to call him back immediately. It's about the lawsuit.

*Ring Ring* *Click*

"Ellis. Good, you called."

"Do you have a specific ringtone for me, or am I the default ringer?"

"What? What are you asking? Never mind. I have kept my ringtone the same. The trial is in three days. Buy a suit. You'll have to talk to the press. The victim's family will be there."

"When do I have to talk to the press."

"Preferably before the trial. We'll talk more later."

He hung up on me. My gaze lingers on my phone for a while before I get a notification from the assistant with an address to a store. I smack my lips once and look at my beasts.

~

The suit store is called "Sphynxwork Tailored Attire," so the Sphynxwork Auction Company definitely owns it. I read a sign near the front door.

"Important: If a patron wishes to buy one of our enchanted sets, they must have the appropriate Sphynxwork Member Card."

I walk inside and immediately get greeted by an employee of the store. Good customer service. Middle-aged male. Brilliant mustache. He's lean, and his suit and appearance scream fancy butler.

"Sir, you cannot bring tamed beasts into this establishment!"

A massive winged snake, a tall skeleton mishmash, a multicolored Flash Gordon, a heat-radiating ooze, and one hundred sharks followed me into the building. Technically I brought Flash Gordon and Prometheus inside in my arms, but I digress.

"I didn't see that sign."

"It must have been moved. But, regardless, I implore you to leave your beasts outside."

I look at my beasts before replying, "Can I get some tailored clothes for them as well? I'm a member, by the way."

If this is a legit Sphynxwork location, I should be able to... do this! I conjure my golden membership card thanks to my time at that secret auction.

"Ah. A gold member, my apologies, Sir. Our best tailors will outfit your beasts."

"Don't bother with the sharks. They won't appreciate it anyways."

~

Prometheus also didn't get a suit. I would buy a heat-resistance one for him, but there would be no point since he's still a growing boy. For some reason, the employee that took Flash Gordan's measurements looked at me like I was crazy. Can't a man get his pet rock an expensive suit? I specifically didn't tip him.

Instead of clothing, Duchess got bling. Multilayered chain tassels make her wings look even more majestic. Flash Gordon, Rob, and I got matching suits. Enchanted suits are really fucking expensive, so I decided not to get one. Most of the options were durability enchantments or self-repairing. Durability wouldn't add any armor, like my gi, and I could fix the suits myself.

These shops pride themselves on their suits, not their enchantments.

I could get a suit similar to the one I wore during the press conference to "boost" my charisma score since I'm a gold member, but wearing a magical suit might be a lousy pr. Looking like the son of a powerful clan wouldn't help with the lawsuit. I changed my mind. I'll buy a charisma-boosting suit for the future.

I spent roughly 140,000 dollars in total. Each custom-tailored suit was made with silk from a magical beast called a [Silkwyrm]. A roughly draconic creature that produces high-quality, breathable fiber with baseline durability without needing enchantments.

Although I won't pay a mind-numbing amount to magically increase the durability of my clothes, not having them catch on fire because of Prometheus or rip from any minor movements thanks to my strength is necessary.

The material is actually quite fascinating. There are many types of [SilkWyrm]s, and each type creates a kind of silk with inherent magical properties. Unfortunately, I didn't get any cool ones. Regardless it has enhanced flexibility and temperature control.

My new enchanted suit cost roughly 100 grand. The one from the press conference was enchanted to "suit" the wearer nicely, making them look dashing. The one I bought is enchanted to fix my frame up to a point and to increase my charisma score by a whopping twenty. Not that much on the grand scale of things, but it's a 40% increase and saves me a little over two levels' worth of stats.

[Tailored Suit D

A custom-tailored suit that forms to fit the wearer. It's made with the simplest [SilkWyrm] silk.

Charisma: +20]

It feels weird going suit shopping right after going through all of that.

~

I'm sitting in a cafe three hours later with a mother and her three children. All of them are blonde with the same blue-colored eyes. The two smaller ones might be twins; they look roughly the same age, one boy and one girl. The other is approximately my age but is stuck in a wheelchair. The twins are well-behaved and seem content with their drinks and snacks, while the mother looks tired but happy, looking at her twins.

I'm the one paying.

"Thank you for being so kind," the mother says. "Besides finding work, It's rare for us to go out in public. We don't have the means to defend ourselves."

I'm not good with grieving mothers. It would be a grieving widow in this context, but I digress. The "kid" in the wheelchair seems to be watching the other children with a wistful expression. They don't respond to my gaze.

[Scientific Insight]

[Rachel Carter Lv 50]

[Owen Carter] & [Emma Carter]

[Noah Carter Lv 150]

I'm surprised that Noah, the "kid" in the wheelchair, is at a higher level than me. They don't seem sick beyond an unhealthy paleness and the chair. I'm tempted to heal them with [Heal Anything] but as an experiment rather than an act of selflessness.

"The Ken family will lose the case. Even if they don't, this opens a giant can of worms for them. Prestigious families like the Kens don't expect actual repercussions for their actions since their influence and power generally get them out of any criminal trouble."

I regurgitate the things Free Chains told me in the past. This wouldn't even be happening without him since the only reason this case didn't get "lost" in the bureaucratic hellscape was thanks to Free Chains invoking his authority as a [Law Speaker] and using Ibere's name. I can see the nervousness wash over the family.

I continue, "This is a civil case, not a criminal one. It should be brief since we have a [Lawspeaker] as a lawyer. Being there is just a formality for you guys."

They wouldn't have to be here if this was only an assault suit. But that's only half of it. Since I bounce back remarkably well, getting physical evidence to win is hard, so we have suit B—the wrongful death lawsuit.

Free Chains hasn't been twiddling his thumbs. While the Ken family has failed to dismiss the charges based on merits or whatever they do, Free Chains has been slamming everything and anyone involved with the full power of the judicial system.

There is even a suit C. Free Chains has yet to tell me much about the lawsuit. Still, with what little he told me and what I learned from [History of the Prime Territories], I can piece together that we are challenging the entire system. Free Chains must be trying to get out of his debt as soon as possible because all the information he imparted to me when he dropped me off at this cafe is staggering.

There is a reason why these people can do whatever they want without repercussion, and that's because the government, but more specifically, the enforcers, are under their heel. More accurately, under the heel of one man.

General Harlan Blackwood is a man with deep ties with the head of the Ken family, and any other "family," for that matter. He's the baby brother or illegitimate son of the late "Enforcer," an obscure member of the First Party, not as unknown as my grandfather, but I digress. When the government was reinstated, the original "Enforcer" created a government body with a mission statement: "To protect and serve the people of our territory by upholding the law, maintaining order, and ensuring the safety and security of all citizens."

I'm not mentioning the ego needed to name something like this after yourself. Regardless, baby brother Harlan had taken the mantle before I came around. Way before my father came around as well. My main point is that any family with ties to the First Party gets "special" treatment from Harlan's goons. Most "families" have ties to the First Party.

He's outside the city and not the direct target for suit C. We are pretending to be ignorant of blatant corruption and instead just suing the enforcer department responsible for letting the murders go. I only mention the General because we're on his radar thanks to the first two lawsuits. Not good. It will take more than a lawsuit to take down that man, not that I'm interested.

Unfortunately, with the Greenbacks and the Stricklands, I'm in a tough spot. Or I will be eventually. Luckily, neither the Greenbacks nor the Stricklands have ties with the First Party, at least not by blood. Any "enforcer immunity" will be thanks to their enormous influence and deep coffers. Something that I can get as well.

Hell, shouldn't I get special treatment from this General guy?