"Making what proposal? I don't even know what the Azure Alliance is," I said.

Hearing my words, Fran relaxed his body and glanced at Mai, realizing his gaze, Mai spoke "Let me explain, the Azure Alliance is an alliance created to protect the clan of first-grade students and is run on the principle of fair reciprocity, demanding and enforcing existing regulations and agreements clearly stated in the agreement"

what corporate words are these? Are they office workers? they are high school students right? I thought the residents of this building were just punks... tch but I can't look stupid here, putting a knowing smile on my face I spoke "Ho, interesting, and what benefits can it offer?"

Pushing his glasses, Fran smiled confidently, I've never met sales in person, but I can imagine they would look like Fran right now.

"That's right, the Azure alliance offers many benefits, starting from money loans, headquarters rental, security, health and cleaning services, all with predetermined standards."

no, the name sounds cool, but aren't they just a service agency? Was I dragged here just to listen to his offer of services? Am I trapped by sales seduction?! Unlucky! this turned out to be a trap! Ah, we have to escape from here, otherwise our money will be lost...

Oblivious to my unease, Fran continued enthusiastically "I was really amazed by the strength you showed earlier, so I thought about us working together from now on"

"Working together?" I said hesitantly, let's calm down a bit, if I don't sign anything everything will be fine!

"Yes, all the clans on the first floor and the second floor are also part of the Azure alliance to a certain extent."

"Then what about the people I beat up earlier, aren't you going to do something about it?" I narrowed my eyes.

but Fran only smiled softly "No, they are the ones who started it, and they have also broken the rules not to hinder people from entering this building"

"Are there any rules like that here?" I tilt my head realizing these people were more organized than I expected.

"After all, how can we get new members and customers if we beat everyone who comes in, if someone comes to do business then we are happy to welcome them" Fran smiled broadly.

"Ah, I understand" In the end they care more about money.

"Eh? But we came to-" Kita almost said something outrageous before Gako closed her mouth.

"Please continue" I urge Fran to ignore Kita who is panicking while her mouth is covered by Gako.

"...If I'm honest, the Night Bats have caused a lot of problems, after this problem we have decided to end our cooperation" Fran sighed.

"but you treated them?"

"Of course at a cost" Fran smiled happily.

I understand now, this person is dangerous and this company is definitely a fraud company.

Cold sweat dripped down my back, it would be easy to escape from here, but I couldn't leave Gordon, Kita and Gako here or their money would be sucked out! Hiding my feelings with a smile, Fran opened his mouth.

"I can see you don't trust me, but there is nothing more trustworthy than fair reciprocity, so I want to offer cooperation that benefits both of us" Listening to him I spoke "Do you think I'm worth more than all of them?"

Hearing my question, Fran laughed amusedly "Ren, I respect your decision to join any clan, even though I want to offer you to join us, but I realize that you really value your Clan members, however, you have to realize your own value....you are special" Fran's eyes became serious.

"What do you mean?" I asked confusedly, special? Am I?

"The Night Bats clan is a low-class clan, but normal people wouldn't be able to defeat them alone like you did."

Pushing his glasses Fran spoke "You're the same as me, Mai and a few others, we entered the dungeon first, and we did it right after we were allowed but the others only tried entering the dungeon recently"

"Well, not many people want to rush into danger to dive into a dungeon" I shrugged my shoulders, did he mean by special was to be a reckless person?

"It's true, they are afraid and doubtful, but we just do it because we understand the value of the power we can get, strength is everything in this world"

Hearing Fran's words I just sat there silently, indeed everything he said was true, I immediately went to the dungeon and desperately raised my level to gain strength as an adventurer, but in the dungeon or outside, strength is a useful thing.

"They might think one or two months is not a long time and buy their time, but that's where those people make a fatal mistake." Fran glanced at Gordon, Kita and Gako for a moment before averting his eyes.

"In two months, that was enough to separate ordinary humans from superhumans. For two months I dived three times a week in the dungeon without missing a single day." Raising his palm a burst of fire came out of Fran's hand, making the three people beside me surprised, while Mai just smiled sarcastically.

extinguishing the fire in his hand Fran smiled, but in his smile I could see pride "We were the first to gather strength, this is the difference between losers and winners like you who able to beat a clan alone from the past few months of diving into the dungeon, of course, there are talents that cannot be bridged no matter how much someone tries"

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"Job Class" I said under my breath.

"That's right, the fact that you can become this strong must be because you got a pretty good job class, and this is the most important thing, such talent couldn't be bough or stolen, that's why I can throw away a clan to collaborate with you."

Huh, this person is trying to boost my ego, indeed the new students who gain power from the dungeon will feel special and feel a great sense of superiority, if it were someone else they would probably fall for this guy's bullshit, but I don't have that kind of ego, to be more precise, I have experienced hardship and poverty throughout my life so my goal now is only to be rich and live a good life, I am not interested in being the strongest or at the top.

"ahh I understand now, because I am more useful than them, you want to use me instead" I spoke bluntly

"You're rude" Mai whispered while looking at me sharply but Fran just laughed "That's right, you are more useful and we can provide the same benefits as you are useful"

"And what is that?"

"my offer is for your clan to join the Azure alliance and I will give you some benefits, the first is a room as your base, I offer you a free base here, and in exchange you have to guard this place when it is attacked and cooperate with other clans to a certain extent."

"That's all? Free? Why do you want me to build my base here?" I said half-believing.

"Yes, we offer free places to several clans that we judge are strong enough to guard this place, in exchange, we take money from clans that seek refuge here."

"I see, this is definitely interesting, but I feel like something is missing, ah, that's right! A special person like you definitely doesn't ask outsiders for help just for trivial matters, right?" I smiled sarcastically at him, there was no way a cunning person like him didn't have other intentions, the fact that he built an alliance instead of a regular clan must have been for a purpose.

maintaining his smile Fran spoke "You are indeed a smart person, this has something to do with why the Azure alliance was formed, we were originally just a small group that was just created, but two weeks ago something happened" Fran's smile disappeared and he put on a serious expression "have you heard a clan called the Worm?

The Worm huh?

"I-I've heard of it" Gako spoke nervously.

"is that so, what have you heard about them?" Fran asks.

"...The worm was a Clan founded by first-year students that suddenly absorbed many other Clans, and destroyed every clan that tried to oppose them" Gako explained.

"That's how it is, all of us here are a Clan of first-year students who are against the worm and trying to fight it" Fran opened the can of drink in front of him and took a sip of the contents.

"Are they strong?" I asked shortly.

"strong? they have absorbed more than twenty clans so far and counting, they have also tried to take this building from us" Mai was the one who answered my question.

"The worm wants to unite the entire Clan of first-year students and absorb them" Fran sighed tiredly, he seemed serious about this.

the worm huh? If indeed the worm wants to unite the entire first year, then we will also be in danger, now or later we would have to fight them, quickly considering the losses and advantages in my head, I finally made a decision that there is an advantage to join this alliance.

"Okay, then I will accept your first offer, but I won't cooperate with other clans, just that they don't mess with us and I won't put a hole in their stomachs" threatened him, but Fran just smiled casually.

"And that was our first deal" Fran held out his hand and I shook it slightly.

"Please remember that we have regulations here regarding trade between clans, medicine, security, responsibility, electricity and water costs, the details will be sent to you by Mai" Fran quickly spoke.

"wait, shouldn't you have said that from the start? and didn't you say it was free?" I frowned.

"Don't worry, this is within normal limits as residents to maintain the comfort of all of us, medical matters and other things are our service that could be paid, don't worry, the costs can be paid in installments, and regarding the rent it is free but the water and electricity still have to be paid for" Fran said quickly explained everything.

damn, everything he said makes sense except the installments and predatory services part, I have to be careful about guarding my money from this guy.

"Yeah, I understand," I answered reluctantly trying to remember how much credit I had left in my account.

While I was thinking, Fran continued "One more thing I want to offer, it's about diving into dungeons"

"hm? dungeon diving?" I asked about the sudden topic.

"Yes, actually we have plans to build a large team to dive into the dungeon with selected members of the alliance to strengthen our strength, and I thought you could take part in that" Fran offered me.

Leveling together in a big party huh? This could be a good opportunity, but unfortunately it's not possible with my job class, it would be a different story if I already had a solid position among all of them.

"I'll think about it" I answered firmly.

"Then, I guess that's all for now, I hope we can do big business together and live a fun high school life with everyone here" Fran smiled cheerfully and raised his canned drink, now he looks more like a high school student.

"Then I hope this collaboration will continue for the next three years, so we will take our leave for now" I got up from my seat, followed by Gako and Kita, while Gordon finally relaxed a bit.

"Are you going to leave, why don't you at least have a drink?" Fran and Mai stood up from the sofa to see us off.

If we stay here any longer, this man might be up to something again, I already got what I wanted so there's no reason to sit here any longer.

"no, it's not to be rude, but we're in a hurry, it's the day of the school event after all" I smiled.

"I almost forgot about it, hope you guys enjoy this holiday" Walking towards the door, I turned one last time to Fran "I want to hear more about the Worm, can you send me information about them?"

"of course, we are an alliance now so it's better if we share information about our enemies with each other" Fran happily spoke.

"and one more thing" I might be able to find out myself, but I want to hear the answer from Fran's own mouth about one thing I'm curious about.

"What's that?"

"The worm was created by the first-year students and they are trying to absorb the first-year clans as well, but aren't the upperclassmen reacting to this and why all of the Clans in here were first-year students?"

"No, Silver Claws made a rule that second and third-year students cannot build bases here, we also have to go elsewhere when we enter the second year, and the seniors will only watch from the side, because Silver Claws has ordered so, so we won't do anything to them either, please remember that Ren" Fran told me with a dead serious tone "Mai will also send information about regulations like this to you. We actually have many regulations here that we have made, but most of them are not."

"So the rumor about silver claws who rule almost all the clans in this school is true?"

"They are not people we can mess with, our enemy now is the Worm" Fran reminded me again, he seemed very reluctant to have anything to do with Silver Claws.

"Don't worry, even I realize the difference in our strength with them" I smiled but my mind was only thinking about one thing, not the Worm and not the Azure alliance, but another clan that raised alarm bells in my head ever since I knew their names and their existence and the the fact that rumors about them making rules for all the clans in this school is true really raised their danger level several notches.

The strongest clan in this school.

the Silver Claws.