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nZach couldn’t be sure if their current monopoly at the transportation chain would last very long or whether they would be able to enjoy the fruit of their efforts for much longer. Many families were eyeing them and their rising influence in the city in a not so good manner. One single mistake or one lapse of judgment on their part could lead them into an abyss from which they would never be able to come back.

nZach couldn’t stay put and be cautious all the time. He needed insurance in the event that some outside elements tried to harm the Luther family. And that he couldn’t leave in the hands of people he couldn’t trust or weren’t capable of earning his trust.

nDespite being the next son-in-law of the Elizabeth family and the future husband of Christina Elizabeth, Zach was sure that they wouldn’t lend him the military strength no matter how important he became to their family in the future. The reason was that he would never stop being the outsider and the shameful dark mage who could tarnish their long preserved reputation if he ever came out in public. How could they let someone like Zach, command their forces?

nAs always, Zach could only rely on himself since all the support with him, except for Luna, had their own motives and their own purposes which made it difficult for him to trust them as well.

nAs if having decided something, Zach got up from where he had been sitting and rushed off towards the place where Diana usually trained to maintain the accuracy of her shot. She had never missed a single day after the incident with Raisman had happened. It only made her more adamant and more persistent about her personal safety.

nZach knew that he would find her at the shooting range at this time of the day. Therefore he didn’t bother checking with anyone else and came straight to the location.

nAs expected, Diana was there rolling around on the ground with two pistols in her hand and firing at multiple moving targets to simulate a situation. Her accuracy had never taken a hit ever since he had begun teaching her. Her talent in the field had been so great that it had left even him surprised. Therefore, as a recruit with potential and his very first student to undergo the shooting course under his tutelage, Zach wanted to take her under his wing as he considered the development of the Special Forces unit under him.

nZach waited for Diana as she simulated the whole situation before holstering her weapons. At that point she seemed to have found him too as she rushed out towards him at a brisk pace.

n“Did you come to see me?” asked Diana hoping that Zach wanted to be with her instead of Christina and had come to his senses after thinking about it for some time.

n“Yes, I did. I needed to talk to you about something.” replied Zach with a serious look on his face.

nHopes began to rise in Diana’s heart but she wasn’t going to count her blessings before confirming their existence. Therefore, she wanted to hear him out first before she misconstrued something.

n“What is it?” asked Diana curtly as she untied her hair that she had previously tied into a ponytail for the shooting practice.

n“I have some reservations regarding the security detail of the family considering the amount of attention that is being directed at this place from several families of the city who wouldn’t stop at anything unless they got their hands on the confidential information regarding the trucks and its fuel. We need to have some kind of security measures in place to fight off against a relatively bigger source of danger such as a group attack of various mages in the event that the families decided to pool their strength together to attack us. The responsibility for the incident would then be divided between the families in such a way that not a single one of them would suffer any after effects or the kind of retaliation that a single family would if they attacked solo. Another angle would be that they would collectively be shameless and deny all responsibility which would leave us with either no customers or an enemy that wouldn’t come to light and wouldn’t accept responsibility for targeting us. These are only some of the loopholes in our system that these families would soon find and begin to exploit. Our business model may be good but it is far from being perfect. We need to take security measures as fast as possible.”

nZach rambled off for a long time as he explained each and every one of his reservations regarding the security of the mansion and the people but he failed to witness the change in the expression of Diana who had been expecting this visit to be something else.

nHer hopes had been doused with cold water and her expression during the conversation continued to become sterner with every word he said. Nonetheless, she listened to him as he gave voice to his fears and understood that they were quite valid. He wasn’t just being paranoid. There was an actual possibility that something like that could happen very soon. ．

n“I understand what you are trying to tell me master but what is it that I can do for you?” asked Diana in an almost professional and business-like manner.

n“I need capable and brave servants who will undergo the same training as you did in the past. The number doesn’t have to be very large but make sure that each and every one of them is a loyalist. In short do not bring me someone you can’t entrust your back to with confidence.”

n“Will a hundred of them do?” Diana nodded and asked as she tilted her head towards the side in confusion as to what Zach meant by ‘a small number’.

n“No I don’t think I can handle teaching all those people. Just a few hands would do. What I want is an elite group that would undergo the harshest of training so a few able bodied and disciplined individuals would be best.”

nBefore he could say anything else, Diana headed off towards the mansion and wordlessly gathered a group of servants that she thought were the most loyal to the family or had some vested interests with their family that made them essentially bound to Luther family.

nIt didn’t take long for her to scour the long list of servants to shortlist a total of 20 that were both able bodied and young enough to learn this new kind of warfare that Zach was planning to teach them.

nWhen she returned to the shooting range, she found Zach in the same position as if he had never moved from his location. He stood rooted to the ground like some ancient tree with a rigid posture.

nBehind her came an entourage of servants who lined up properly behind her and came to a halt at her direction some distance from the range. She then proceeded onwards to meet up with Zach who looked like he had been waiting for her.

n“I found the 20 physically and potentially best servants from the list and brought them here. Will this number do? Or should I scour some more?”

n“This is enough. Rather this number is perfect for the vision that I had in mind. I want to create a special security group with YOU as its centre. Although you have learned shooting skills because of your natural talent in that regard, you still have a lot to learn from me. Therefore, I want you to undergo this training along with these servants so that all you can act as a single team in the future and can take on any threat whether magical or otherwise in the future.”

nDiana couldn’t have been happier since it had been a long time since Zach taught her anything. She had already been looking for a reason to get close to him in some way but hadn’t gotten the opportunity or any valid reason to do so.

nNow that he had taken the initiative and asked her, she wasn’t going to waste this godsend opportunity.

nZach called the rest of the servants who were looking at him with an almost fanatical expression. He looked towards Diana helplessly as he wondered what kind of a selection criterion she employed to gather such a group of obvious fanatics.

nDiana smirked following his helpless expression and began to brief him about the servants who had expressed their willingness to undergo this training. In order to get them to agree to this, she had presented them with various benefits including and not limited to their family status being raised to that of the lower end guards as soon as they started their training.

nNone of them could say no to such conditions as they accepted without a second thought. This kind of opportunity was practically godsend for these servants who had already accepted their situation and were going to spend the rest of their lives in the miserable constraints put on them by their status.

nAddressing all of them, Zach said a few words to motivate the group regarding the upcoming training regimen that he was planning for these people. But before that he needed to test their physical ability.

nHe demonstrated how to do several exercises used by Special Forces in their testing mechanism such as push-ups, pull ups, kip ups etc. He then asked them to follow his lead and do as many as they could one by one.

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