I'm leaning on the wall at the side of Forsaken- Clan's hall. Ivonna is giving a speech to her members about what happened earlier today. She sounds so devastated, but she barely shows her expression. I asked Francesca about the poaching incident, and she said a third of Forsaken- members moved to the Aarus Empire's faction and joined Supremacist Clan this morning. She didn't know when and how they managed to persuade them, but one thing that she knows is they all left this morning at the same time when Ivonna and the others are online. That means they were all told to do so, to make Ivonna feel betrayed.
I'm looking at each and every single one of them. I can see some of them are concern about the situation, and I can see some of them are ignorant towards the situation, and some of them might join those who joined the Supremacist clan soon. Francesca is anticipating and preventing those who are planning to join the Supremacist clan later with her own ways. She's more aware of the situation than Ivonna and the other. I honestly think Francesca is more fit to be the leader. It's such a waste to see her being passive in this clan. I can recruit her as my vice leader if I want to, but Ivonna might not like it.
Ivonna is done with her speech and everyone is dismissed and leaves the hall. Ivonna then goes to the roundtable room with the others to wait for Admin Sev to release the schedule for the skirmish game event except for Francesca and Emma. They both walk toward me. Francesca leans on the wall beside me while Emma is standing in front of me with her innocent smiles.
Francesca is taking a deep breath and exhales deeply.
"She's being passive again..."
Emma is raising her eyebrows and looks at Francesca with confusion. I tilt my head.
"Yeah, I think the second wave is coming soon if she's not being aggressive towards her members."
Emma is tilting her head.
"What are you guys talking about?"
Francesca and I are looking at Emma, then Francesca lifts her hand and asks for Emma's hand. Emma grabs her hand and Francesca pulls Emma towards her. Francesca smiles.
"We are talking about the downfall of our clan, Emma. If Ivonna keeps being passive towards the members, we are afraid they will be leaving our clan and joined another clan like this morning."
Emma is raising her eyebrows with surprise.
"Ohh... should we talk about it with her?"
Francesca shakes her head while smiling.
"It's pointless. I have talked about it many times with her, but she didn't listen and still convincing herself that her way of leadership is the best way to treat her members. Michael and the others agreed with her, and only me that is not satisfied with her way."
Emma is humming with understanding.
"But she did a great job to take care of her members though. I myself feel satisfied and happy about it. I still can't believe they left to another clan even though Ivonna did her best to help them. I thought everyone is respecting her for what she did for them. But turns out they're just a scumbag."
I smirk and scoff.
"But they're not you, Em. Those who stayed might have the same thought as yours, but those who left have a different thought and think they're still not satisfied with her, or worse they only think of her as a stepping stone and leave to find another stepping stone. Sure, they might have shown their respect and gratitude toward her for what she did for them, but she didn't gain their loyalty. She did give them satisfaction, but she didn't ask for their loyalty in returns."
Francesca is laughing and covering her eyes with her hand. Emma and I are looking at Francesca weirdly. Francesca clears her throat and wraps her arm around my neck.
"You know, Trev. How about you make your own clan and I will gladly join your clan and be your underling. I'm totally agreed with what you just said."
Francesca looks at Emma.
"This guy over here knows how to be a leader. You need to be kind and strict at the right moment. People might stay loyal to him even if he didn't give them anything. What a leader does is not just about giving satisfaction to their followers, but also being a person that can submit their followers with power and by showing dominance. What's the point of being a leader if what they do is just showing kindness and giving them satisfaction without showing their superiority. I would rather follow someone who is feared but does their job correctly and dependable than being respected but soft and passive."
Emma is humming with understanding. Francesca is pointing behind her back and continues.
"Take Kingstar for example. He failed to protect Krestan's limb, he failed to prevent Trevor from taking Krestan's last limb back then and he died for it. He died by Trevor's hand in the PvP room a few days ago. Are you not curious why his clan members are still following him and keeps raising as we speak even though he failed many times? It's because of loyalty and his figure as a leader is well-known around the world. People turned a blind eye to his failures and keep following him because of his superiority."
Emma is humming with understanding.
"I think I get it now. So what should we do then?"
Francesca chuckles.
"We can do nothing. What's the point of giving her advice if she's not going to listen to it anyway? Well, we can prevent the members from leaving, but in our own way. Still, why should I do my own way if I can just leave and join another clan that has the same idea as mine? It would satisfy me even though I have to break a sweat and exhausted myself for it since the clan leader will appreciate me more. Do you know what I mean, Emma? Anyway, this conversation, please keep it to yourself, okay?"
Emma is not responding to her words and she's playing with her lips using her fingers. Francesca removes her arm from me.
"I'm going to the roundtable now. Ivonna might have something to say to me."
Francesca leaves the hall. Emma is looking at Francesca with concern and then she looks at me.
"Is she planning on leaving the clan?"
I scoff and shake my head.
"No, she's just ranting. Don't think about it. She would never leave Ivonna since she's her precious friend. Believe me."
Emma sighs with relief.
"I'm scared from what she just said. I thought she's planning to leave the clan. Anyway, let's go to the roundtable!"
I nod and we both go to the roundtable.
We enter the roundtable room. Everyone is looking at us for a second and then continues with their conversation. We walk to sit at the roundtable and we both are looking at Francesca sitting next to Ivonna with one of her legs on top of the table. She's grinning and raises her eyebrows while chewing a piece of bread. I smile and shake my head.
Ivonna takes a glimpse at me and then Michael is putting his hand on the table.
"It's not a problem at all. We will take first place anyway in the Alliance Kingdom's bracket. The problem is, will we be able to compete against the winners from the Empires' brackets? Since we lose a third of our force, are we still equal to Diamond Clan and Cloud Veil Clan?"
Hans is tapping his fingers on the table.
"Maybe we can try to open recruitment in the forum? We haven't done that. Most of our members are from our subs from the stream. We might recruit some of the players even though the population of players in the Alliance Kingdom isn't that much. Or we can recruit mercenaries players? Those factionless players still can join a clan though and there are a lot of them currently."
Michael is looking at Francesca.
"What do you think? Do you have any ideas?"
Francesca is pointing at me. Everyone is looking at me and then looks at Francesca with confusion. Francesca puts down her leg and leans on the table.
"I want to hear his opinion about it."
Ivonna is looking at Francesca. Francesca looks back at her and smiles while shrugging. Ivonna then looks at me.
"Do you have any ideas, Trev?"
I tilt my head.
"I have some. Let's talk about what you guys are going to face first. Michael said it's not a problem to win first place in this bracket. Then why don't you offer them to merge their clans to your clan after you won the skirmish game against them? If we are talking about chances. A small clan with hundreds of players has 40% to 60% to accept your offer. Of course, some of them might accept willingly without any demands, and the others might want to demand a commander spot for their leaders. It is you all to decide rather accept their demand or not. But for me, I don't mind giving the commanders spots for their leaders if they have the talent for it. Then, for the big clans, the chances are 20% to 40%. Give them a reason to increase the chances."
Francesca is smiling happily.
"I don't mind giving my spot as commander to them."
Leonardo is humming with understanding.
"And what is the reason should we tell them?"
I smirk while looking at Francesca.
"Tell them if they want to fight in against the players from the Empires' Factions. Everyone wants to be in the top 3 in this bracket so they can fight against the clan from the other factions. Use that to persuade them. If they still don't want to merge their clans, then ask them to lend their members to join your clan just for this skirmish event. I believe most of them want to participate in the big game. Your clan has a great reputation around the world, I believe they're not going to be suspicious of it. I'm confident that they want to lend their best members as a representative from their own clans in the big game. It's good for promoting their clans in the future."
Everyone is looking at each other. Francesca is chuckling with satisfaction.
"I agree with him. It's not a bad idea to merge or ask to lend their members to join our clan for this event. It's easier and better compared to open recruitment in the forum."
Everyone is nodding with agreement. Then Grisell is snapping her fingers.
"Guys, the schedule is out with the bracket for each faction in the website."
We are opening the browser and check the website. I look at the bracket for Alliance Kingdom Faction and search for Forsaken- Clan. Their first opponent is against Serenity Clan. It's a small clan with hundreds of players. Everyone is excited and sends an announcement to their clan members.
I stretch my body and stand up.
"I was planning to take a day off today, so I'm going to log out now."
Everyone nod and say goodbye. I log out from the game. Then Michael and the others leave the roundtable room except for Ivonna and Francesca. Francesca looks at Ivonna and raises her eyebrows. Ivonna stands up and then sits beside her.
"I have a question for you."
Francesca leans on her chair and looks at Ivonna.
"Sure."
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