Chapter 1216 Underqualified
Chapter 1216 Underqualified
Chapter 1216 Underqualified
Although Valyr felt the urge to ask the man as to why he wanted him to pay more attention to the velvet faction, the young man continued to remain silent, getting the feeling that he'd receive the answer to his question sooner or later.
Fortunately, his thoughts were soon proven to be correct, with Romel going a bit more into detail on what made each faction of the clan different from one another.
Considering the number of factions within the clan, the man started with the ones that were easiest to explain, which were the majority of the factions that came about within the Caemelio clan.
Just like he had mentioned before, most of these factions had come about within the clan due to the slight differences they had in either approach or ideology. Though, in the grand scheme of the entire Caemelio clan, these slight differences were just variations of the ideology and the approach that the clan's founding faction followed.
From what Romel told him, these differences could be summed into three archetypes: conservative, laissez-faire, and true freedom.
With the three archetypes in mind, as well as the two variables that separated the factions from one another, Valyr did not take long to understand why the man decided to focus on these factions first.
Of course, such a thought also brought up another question.
"Isn't it normal for clan members to have different interpretations on the clan's ideology and approach, though?" asked Valyr, reinforcing the barrier surrounding them. "Wouldn't it be more accurate to say there's three factions within your clan?"
"In a way, that would be correct." Romel nodded in agreement. "After all, even the members of the founding faction have different interpretations on what they think of the founder's ideology."
"However, there is a reason as to why I say the clan has nine factions." As these words left the man's mouth, he then continued his explanation onto the two remaining factions.
Starting off with the warfront faction, Romel explained to Valyr that the faction's ideology and approach could be summed up as the militaristic archetype, believing that every decision made by the clan should follow a set of established rules and guidelines.
Hence its name.
Slightly confused by this, Valyr asked the man for a bit more clarification, prompting the latter to list down a couple of the rules and guidelines the warfront faction had created.
By the time Romel was done listing down a couple of them, the young man slightly shuddered at the sheer absurdity of the things the man mentioned, wondering how the faction even came to the conclusion that their clan would prosper under those limitations.
In response, the man could only shrug his shoulders, informing Valyr that those rules and guidelines were also the reason why the warfront faction was considered the smallest faction within the Caemelio clan.
With the warfront faction out of the way, Romel moved onto the velvet faction.
"If you consider the warfront faction as a greater extension of the conservative archetype, then the velvet faction would be considered a greater extension of the true freedom archetype," said the man.
"I understand the warfront faction's ideology as being bad, but the velvet faction's ideology doesn't seem that way to me?" said Valyr in response. "Wouldn't having each member contribute to the clan's overall decisions be for the better?"
In his mind, he thought of the velvet faction as a faction that advocated for true democracy wherein every member's words were taken into consideration before making a massive decision.
However, Romel's next words would quell those thoughts in an instant.
"I agree that such an approach would be great to an extent." The man nodded. "Even the founder thinks that taking in the opinions of other people within the clan would lead to an overall positive."
"Unfortunately, the velvet faction takes it one step further by introducing the influence of other clans into the Caemelio clan's decisions."
As those words left his mouth, Romel continued by telling Valyr that the velvet faction prioritized the other clans' opinions over the opinions of the other members within the clan before making a decision.
"These other clans are noble clans at the very least, hence the name," said the man to end his explanation.
Unsurprisingly, it took a while for Valyr to wrap his head around the entire thing, even going so far as to close his eyes for a bit in order to give himself a bit of reprieve.
By the time he felt like he had a decent understanding of the clan's nine factions, the young man went ahead and asked Romel a few more questions for clarification. "I more or less get how the first eight factions work. There's no need to explain that to me any further."
"But the velvet faction… would I be correct in understanding that the velvet faction is acting as a mouthpiece for the other clans?"
"A mouthpiece that greatly influences the decisions the clan makes, to be more exact," answered Romel with a bitter smile. "Unlike the warfront faction, the velvet faction is considered the largest faction within the clan."
"And the founding faction?" Valyr looked at the man with a raised eyebrow.
"Somewhere in the middle," replied the man.
"…I see." The young man nodded, only to pose another question to him not long after. "You mentioned earlier that there's a reason why the clan has nine factions instead of three. Am I wrong in thinking that it might have something to do with the velvet faction?"
"You are not." Romel bitterly smiled once more. "It's a very long story, but it ultimately has something to do with how the velvet faction has the most sway in terms of the clan's decisions."
"Not surprised that it worked that way." Valyr nodded in response. "Do you know which clans the velvet faction gets their opinions from?"
"That… I unfortunately do not know," said Romel with a shake of his head.
"That's fine." Valyr nodded back, having more or less expected such an answer.
With all of the information the man shared with him in mind, the gears in Valyr's mind turned at great speeds, gathering his thoughts on the overall situation.
By the time he was done pondering over the things Romel said to him, he then went ahead and dispelled the barrier surrounding the two of them all this time.
"Now, if you could lead me to the guest area," said Valyr after that, implying between his words to the man that it wouldn't take long for the other factions to catch wind of the private conversation between them.
"…Understood." Thankfully, Romel was able to catch what the young man was implying, nodding in response as he proceeded with his original duties.
…
"Just to remind you once more, there is a possibility that your request would take a bit longer than usual for it to be worked on." After guiding Valyr to the clan's guest area, Romel looked directly into the young man's eyes for a bit, implying through his gaze that it would be best for both of them to now part ways.
"In the worst-case scenario, you would have to wait until the next day… but I don't think the clan would have you wait for that long."
"Thanks for the reminder," said Valyr in response as he nodded back in agreement.
With how much time the two had spent talking about the nine factions of the clan in great detail, it wasn't surprising if any of the other factions had already caught wind of it.
With that, he decided to have Romel return and continue doing his usual tasks, even if he thought it would've been nice to have an insider from one of the clan's factions in order to resolve the problem faster.
Receiving a respectful half-bow from the man not long after that, Valyr was soon left to his own devices, briefly looking around his current surroundings to get a rough idea of where he was within the clan estate.
'Man…' By the time he was done, he let out a long and exasperated sigh as he went over all of the information Romel gave him in his mind once more.
'I am seriously unqualified for this shit.'
'In what way is an upgrade to an accessory I only use for its stats nowadays an equivalent exchange to me helping him solve a problem that he should really be the one solving?'
'If only I could talk to him about this entire situation,' thought Valyr to himself as he let out yet another sigh, finding it lamentable that he still hadn't added Riekan to his friend list after encountering each other in his friend list.
'I don't mind doing something in exchange for the upgrade. After all, I wasn't even expecting to receive the upgrade without paying a price.'
'However, it would've been nice to get his help in solving his problem. Or, at the very least, get his input on what I need to do to start solving his problem if he wants me to do most of it.'
'Too bad I have no way to contact him.' Continuing to lament over the opportunity he missed in the past, a thought soon popped up in the young man's mind, causing the gears in his mind to quickly spin for a bit as he began to come up with a rough plan.
'On second thought… there might just be a way for me to do that.' Going over the plan he came up with a couple of times in his head, Valyr soon let out a slight chuckle as he looked around his surroundings for a bit.
Feeling confident that no one from the clan would be looking for him anytime soon, the young man then went ahead and conjured a rift to the Mystic Plane, making use of the authority he had as the Guardian of the Mystic Plane.
'Surely, Mystia would have a way to contact him, right?' With this thought in mind, Valyr confidently took a step forward, disappearing from the Caemelio clan's estate not long after.