Zheng Qing had many helpers.
When he had first entered university, he had formed his own Knight Order and hunting team. Three Great Sprites had emerged among the little sprites he had rescued, while the shadow Su Shijun had cut away had broken out of the 2D World and become a Shadow Cat. Along with the Yellow Flower Cat his teacher had left him, the Little Green Snake burdened with obsession that R'lyeh had entrusted him to destroy, the Giant God Soldiers Taiyi and Yuanshi, and the Qingqiu Mansion, whose position was somewhat delicate, and so on—filling the various departments of a newly established organization would not have been much of a problem.
The problem was that this newly established organization was called the "Relevant Department."
The most secretive organization in the Alliance.
Joining this organization would, most likely, mean completely bidding farewell to the life of an ordinary wizard. Many of Zheng Qing's helpers, including the Knight Order of the Guilty, came from prominent Wizarding World families and were unsuited to entering such an organization.
So when he said he lacked manpower, it was not mere modesty.
Master Baoyangzi seemed to have long prepared an answer for the young Garden Master's difficulty.
"Even if you had sufficient manpower, we might not necessarily accept them into the Relevant Department."
The old wizard shook his head slightly, but also offered a solution. "As I just mentioned, the Relevant Department is a vast organization. Beyond your four branches, it also has its own central Disciplinary Department, Secretariat, Office, Archives, and other related departments. For the manpower you need, you may submit an application to the Office—my side—and the General Affairs Department will make allocations as appropriate."
The words "as appropriate" were rather subtle.
They meant that the manpower Zheng Qing needed would