The Mafia Empire
Chapter 15: Chapter 15 The Fellowship Association

After a long pause, Julian finally looked up and said, "What we need isn't a gang—it's an organization. A Guar association."

The Guar people were not originally part of the Star Empire. About sixty years ago, a war broke out, and the Guar nation was destroyed by the Star Empire. The Guar people and their homeland were annexed into the empire's territory, becoming part of its composition.

It cannot be denied that during the war of resistance, the Guar people showed a quality of preferring death on the battlefield over retreating even a single step, causing great trouble for the Star Empire at the time.

Afterward, in order to prevent the defeated Guar people from gathering and causing further problems, a high ranking figure came up with a strategy: scatter the Guar people and relocate them to various regions across the empire.

Once dispersed, it was difficult for the Guar people to unite, even if they wished to. Later, as conflicts on the border with neighboring nations escalated, leading to the outbreak of the Third World War, known as the Golden Goblet War, a large number of young Guar men were forcibly conscripted into the military, only to perish on the battlefield.

This left the Guar people in an extremely harsh living environment. More recently, in the war that just ended, many more young Guar men were drafted, causing the Guar population to suffer severely.

Now, with many Guar families having lost their labor force and main providers, the survivors have adopted a mindset of avoiding trouble whenever possible. Over time, this has made the Guar people indistinguishable from ordinary citizens, or even more fearful of stirring up conflict. In this rapidly changing society, the Guar people have become synonymous with "honest folk" and "pushover."

In the city of Terneil, there are about two thousand Guar households. Of the men between sixteen and forty years of age, fewer than three hundred remain, as the rest had perished as cannon fodder in the empire's recent wars. Their sacrifices tipped the balance in favor of the empire, securing a victory—albeit a bitter one.

However, to the Ordinians, the dominant ethnic group of the empire, it wasn't a bitter victory at all, but rather a grand triumph.

They had used the populations of ethnic minorities to fight in place of the Ordinians, successfully depleting the future potential and development of these minority groups. Not only did they win the war, but they also purified the population ratio—truly killing two birds with one stone!

Under these circumstances, when Julian proposed the idea of a "Fellowship Association," it quickly garnered attention, particularly from the sixteen year olds and those slightly younger, after Graf's promotion of the idea.

Having personally felt the malice from both the empire and society, these youths were eager to use their hands and efforts to improve the lives of the Guar people and their own circumstances.

And Julian offered these kids, who had no prospects for gaining a higher status in society, a decent salary so they could support themselves and their families.

Looking at the group of youths, aged fourteen to sixteen, Julian's gaze carried an inexplicable expression as he glanced at Graf. Among these children were even three girls. If it weren't for the hope and vitality in their eyes for a better future, Julian might have dismissed them all. At this moment, he forgot that he was their age himself, only slightly older than the others.

Julian pulled Graf aside, casting a glance at the group of thirty or so boys and the three girls, and asked quietly, "No adults? No one in their twenties?"

Graf smiled awkwardly. When the empire's military conscripted the men of Terneil, they forcibly drafted all males between sixteen and forty. Besides Graf, who had hidden in the wilderness early on, there were no able bodied men left. As for those who fled, they were even less willing to join something that had obvious gang like intentions, such as the Fellowship Association.

These timid individuals, along with those simply wanting to live peacefully, flat out rejected Graf's invitation. This embarrassed Graf and made him secretly resentful. When they had asked him for help in the past, he had never refused. Now, when it came time to fight for the Guar people's rights, they cowered. They no longer resembled the Guar people, lacking even an ounce of courage or resolve.

As a result, Graf had no choice but to recruit these dissatisfied, daring youngsters.

After Graf's lengthy explanation, Julian was left speechless. But with the situation at hand and his own need for manpower, he had no choice but to accept it. While young people lacked the experience and lessons that adults had, he figured he would just have to put more effort into educating these youngsters.

When the two returned to the group, many of the boys and girls wore anxious expressions, their eyes fixated on Julian, waiting for his answer.

After a brief moment, just as disappointment began to show on some of their faces, Julian nodded. "The Fellowship Association welcomes you all!"

At that moment, Graf grabbed Julian's hand, and to Julian's shock, reopened the barely healed cut on his palm. Blood immediately flowed out, but instead of fear, the boys and girls—yes, even the girls—were thrilled by the sight.

Without Graf's prompting, the boys and girls lined up, taking the knife from Graf and cutting their palms open. They each clasped Julian's hand firmly, and unlike the last time, they kissed the back of his hand after shaking it.

The last ceremony had been a pact between equals—a ritual of friendship. This time, however, it was a ritual of loyalty.

In a unique part of Guar religious culture, kissing the back of someone's hand was an important ritual performed by family members toward the head of the household, originally stemming from the Guar aristocracy. During festive times, nobles would line up to kiss the king's hand to show respect and submission.

Over time, this ritual became a part of daily life, something most Guar people were familiar with.