Pulling strings

"What? Someone's trying to steal my reserved spot?"

Upon hearing this news, Fran's eyes widened in disbelief; she wished she could rush up and punch the mage who was trying to steal her position in the Wartime Provision Department to death.

However, the Alliance's personnel changes hadn't yet yielded such a brutal result. After calming down slightly, Fran then asked Eleanor:

What exactly happened?

Today, Eleanor suddenly sent someone to call her, saying that many people wanted to take the position she had originally applied for, and that she should be prepared.

"Actually, this is quite common. Although the specific work of the Wartime Provision Department is not on the front lines, the departments have considerable power and many areas where they can intervene."

Most importantly, in terms of danger, they do not encounter insurmountable problems most of the time compared to other departments.

"Therefore, with the Wartime Provision Department clearly needing to increase its personnel, many mages will try to use connections to get into this department."

"No, with my resume, is there anyone with better grades than me?" Fran's eyes remained wide open.

She simply couldn't understand it. Even if she encountered a Second Order Battle Mage who had lost a leg on the Battlefield but made a great contribution, it wasn't certain that the other person would take the position.

She personally received the Amber Law Award, regardless of which School she belonged to, as it was the highest award of that School. She also received a work report written for her by Eleanor, her former superior, which demonstrates her exceptional work ability.

Even Harbos, a member of the Alliance Council, wrote directly in his letter of recommendation that "this is my disciple."

Fran had used all sorts of connections and resources, and she thought she had no rivals. How did someone suddenly appear?

"Fran, you may not know how our positions work out here," Eleanor patiently explained to Fran.

"Generally speaking, if you want a mage to be promoted, you need to get the agreement of a group of people."

"First, there's the head of the department you're going to, the minister of the Wartime Provision Ministry."

"There's also the Personnel Appointment and Removal Office under the Command Council. All personnel appointments and removals have to go through here. They don't handle the very small ones, but the Wartime Provision Office needs their approval."

"And finally, you need the approval of one last member of the Command Council. Only with these can you actually go to the Wartime Provision Office."

Fran seemed to understand something, realizing that it wasn't that her resume was useless, but rather that she was missing a crucial step in the process.

The Battle Mage Corps isn't just a place where you're assigned a job because you're capable; it's a real, functioning military unit.

If the procedure is followed, the appointment of each mage requires the consent of another group of people. If someone among them disagrees, although this is considered disrespectful to those with connections, it is procedurally indisputable.

In a complete program execution logic, there is no situation where one major relationship overrides everything. On the contrary, the most useful relationships are those small, interwoven networks of relationships, like a woven web.

Fran had clearly not realized this beforehand; she had actually handed her resume and recommendation letters directly to the Personnel Appointment and Removal Office and explained her purpose.

This approach, without carefully cultivating relationships with these monks, could potentially lead to her being Personnel Appointment and Removal Office after reviewing the recommendation letter.

Thinking about this, Fran still really wanted to get the position in the Wartime Provision Ministry, so she asked directly:

"So what should I do?"

Eleanor coughed, then slowly said:

"It's actually very simple. Among these people, the easiest one is the approval of the council member and mage on duty at the Command Council. That would be the simplest thing for you."

Fran has a letter of recommendation from Harbos, the official Council of the Alliance. How could the mage Command Council not give Harbos face? For these High-Order Mage, those who are closer to them have more binding power.

The Command Council is essentially a subordinate body of the Alliance Council, specifically responsible for overseeing war affairs. This close relationship makes Harbos's letter of recommendation very useful.

"You just need to go and let them know temporarily; the Personnel Appointment and Removal Office might not necessarily push the recommendation letter forward..."

This is why the procedures are difficult to follow, because normally the Personnel Appointment and Removal Office may not even submit all the information in full, and the High-Order Mage may not even know this.

While most people would agree, they clearly don't see the guarantees that a letter of recommendation can provide.

"There's also the Personnel Appointment and Removal Office. I can help you with that. Go there and find a mage named Kavendi. Tell him I recommended you, and the Personnel Appointment and Removal Office won't give you any trouble."

The Personnel Appointment and Removal Office generally only has the power to withhold the materials it has on hand, or to block the deadline so that by the time the monk receives the notification, the position is already vacant.

When other mages can't secure the position through connections, the Personnel Appointment and Removal Office will sabotage them. They're happy to do this for a dozen or so Gold Coin, as long as Personnel Appointment and Removal Office, otherwise it won't be a matter of ten or twenty years before they get in.

However, with Eleanor's connections, Eleanor 'll definitely pass this test.

"Finally, only the Minister of the Wartime Provision Ministry remains. You just need to offer her some small favors to get her to agree, so she won't be able to hold you back by being bribed by others."

Fran noted these things down. Her qualifications were undoubtedly the best among all the candidates, but if she didn't know these procedures, even Nathaniel, the chief of the Elementalist school, would probably lose the competition.

However, it was only at this point that Fran realized the power of a member of the Alliance Council and the benefits of receiving the School's highest award.

This gives a mage in the Alliance a tremendous boost in power.

If Fran were to reveal her third-tier level now and, through some maneuvering, gain the qualification to enter the Alliance Council, that qualification alone, even without actually entering, would be enough to make things much easier for her.

First, she could actually do the opposite: go directly to the mages in Command Council and ask them to reject any applicant other than herself, effectively blocking everyone from applying.

Even if you don't have one, asking Harbos for another letter will have the same effect.

This is something Eleanor didn't specifically mention, but it's also her greatest advantage: the higher she climbs, the stronger her network of connections becomes.

Furthermore, Eleanor didn't tell Fran this because Eleanor wanted to do Fran a favor—specifically, the Personnel Appointment and Removal Office...

Fran didn't care. After all, all she wanted now was to get the position she desired, and doing things her way would attract too much attention.

"Where is that Wartime Provision Ministry now?"

Monica stood on the beach in White Dragon Port, gazing at the empty dock.

"The last time I came to White Dragon Port, the port hadn't been expanded yet. Back then, ships had to wait until the next day to unload their cargo."

Monica remarked with a sigh, and her assistant Talia blinked and slowly said:

"Minister, are you free? Let's talk about the new staffing."

Monica sighed deeply, gazed at the azure Ocean, and slowly turned her head, as if she had made up her mind.

"Speak."

Talia took a small Notebook out of the pocket of her uniform. The handwriting inside was very neat, and there were many creases on the pages.

She turned to one of the pages and read the words aloud.

"I received the information from the Personnel Appointment and Removal Office last night that approximately 1,258 mages have applied for official positions in the Wartime Supply Ministry."

Monica's brows furrowed deeply. Even though she was a Third Order Mage and the head of the Wartime Supply Ministry, she couldn't help but take two steps back when she heard this daunting number.

"So many people! Aren't these people supposed to be on the Battlefield? Why are they coming here? I'm only recruiting six people this time."

This number is still climbing and is expected to reach 3,000 within about two weeks.

Logically, she should complete the recruitment before the war begins, but how should she select this number?

Each person is met for five minutes, and the conversations alone take more than ten days, not including the time spent retrieving Profile and investigating backgrounds.

Normally, this method would definitely not work. Her department does not need to go through the Alliance's formal recruitment process, which is the procedure of initial screening through exams and confirmation through interviews.

She held her head and then slowly said:

"Fine, let's just use connections this time. List all the mages who have given me favors, and we'll choose from those."

Talia didn't react much; when she saw the number, she knew exactly what the minister would do.

"There were probably thirteen people. Seven delivered fifty Gold Coin, two delivered one hundred, one delivered 101, and one delivered 103."

"Why did the last two deliberately give away a few extra Gold Coin?" Although giving away more is always good, Monica was still a little annoyed that they gave away a few extra Gold Coin.

At the same time, Monica also memorized the number of people, and then asked:

"What about the two mages after them? What did they give them?"

Talia's expression was somewhat strange, and then she said:

"They said they could send some girls over, all very beautiful, carefully selected noblewomen from those small kingdoms..."

"Get lost, get lost, what kind of weird gift is this?" Monica blushed slightly, but still refused outright.

Talia knew what Monica was thinking, and she also knew why Monica had chosen her from among the assistants.

Furthermore, she knew that after the news of this year's Gold Alchemy Award winner spread, Monica had been paying close attention to related news, although it was all just hearsay.

Monica's hobby, along with that of the winner of the Gold Alchemy Award, has become widely known in many small circles.

As a result, several mages tried to curry favor with her, but do you think Monica hadn't accepted such bribes before?

Now, however, she's no longer interested in those noble girls from other countries—with their skin as white and delicate as jade, their voices as clear as larks, and their movements as elegant as swaying ribbons—which is why she refused them.

"Excuse me, are you Mage Monica?" Fran arrived carrying a package wrapped in green silk.

Talia blocked her path and said:

"If you're looking for the minister of the Wartime Provision Department, then you've come to the right place."

"Perfect timing, this is a gift I brought for the minister." Fran looked Monica up and down, confirming that this was the person Eleanor had told her about, before suddenly realizing that Monica had been staring at her the whole time.

She lowered her head shyly and handed the gift to Talia.

Fran was clearly not good at giving gifts. She only briefly explained her purpose, her movements were stiff. Who would come up to someone and say they were there to give a gift, and then leave after saying just a few words?

However, Fran left because she believed her gift was sincere enough and should be enough to move Monica.