CH 107

The children looked bored of the tedious labor. Smarter kids were prone to make light of basic practices, and Sevi was no different.

“There’s something you’ll miss by moving on so quickly.” I would’ve used the experience point gain skill early on if this were a game, but this was reality. And in reality, having high numbers wasn’t everything. “Goblins are easy opponents, but not the goblin king. You heard Vegan talk about the goblin shamans a while ago, right? Those shamans are goblins too in the end. It’s relatively easy to face them if you learn the behavioral patterns of goblins.”

What the special unit needed wasn’t experience in slaughtering at a high level, but hard toiling against opponents of the same level. This experience was useful even against dragons. When fighting against a dragon, victory would be decided by whether you had properly faced wyverns and drakes before. In reality, the guys in the first playthrough had completely believed in my experience buff. They took out wyverns and drakes easily, only to almost be wiped out when we later came across a dragon. Even if dragons were at the same level, their stats could be entirely different. They had good physical strength and high resistance to attacks, were capable of flight, spitting fire, and using their tail as a weapon. No matter how many times one tried, it wasn’t easy facing a fellspawn like that, more so if it was for the first time.

We had panicked back then, driven to the edge of annihilation. We survived only because Fabian barely managed to kill the dragon by figuring out its pattern at the last moment. Looking back, it wasn’t just once or twice that we had almost been wiped out… Those were some tough days. We would have suffered far fewer losses had they “properly” faced a dragon-type fellspawn before.

Something like that would never happen this time around. Firming my resolve once again, I persuaded the three rookies. “The characteristics of greater fellspawn are similar to those lesser. That’s why it’s important to have experience overcoming them at a similar level. Of course, there’s no need to make plans if you’re at the captain’s level, but just so you know, he has perfectly mastered strategy too. It’s a basic quality, to sum up.”

The three listened quietly. As soon as I finished, they hurriedly began speaking one after the other. “…I was being too arrogant. I’m sorry.”

“I, I’ll work hard…!”

“Thinking about it, I guess there’s a need to think a little more about how fellspawn act in the heat of combat instead of just killing them. There’s still a lot we don’t know, after all.”

This was why it was so nice teaching kids who caught on quick. I gazed at them with endearing praise, feeling excited already just by thinking about these kids growing strong and helping to slay the demon lord.

* * *

Our first dungeon clear proceeded without any problems. Although Mayer Knox made such a big deal out of it, even in the Dark Knights, something like a level 20 dungeon was for 3rd Corps recruits to handle. In short, it was the lowest among low-level dungeons.

“Look at them acting triumphant over clearing a mere level 20 dungeon.”

The gazes that greeted us upon clearing the dungeon and returning were no different from before. In fact, the reception might’ve become even colder. It was natural that we went to a level 20 dungeon since all three of the special unit members were rookies. But, with all the hype about us being special, they probably found the matter laughable. Thinking of it that way, it really was funny. What in the world had gotten into that man, Mayer Knox, to think of making me, practically a 3rd Corps rookie, the vice-captain? Looking back, I still felt it was a sensational appointment in many ways.

In any case, I hadn’t cast “Rich Experience” on our three rookies as it was necessary to adjust the practical experience they gained. However, that had nothing to do with me. Thanks to my fastidious acquisition of experience points, I was able to become level 27 even though the dungeon was lower-leveled than me.

“I think they cleared their first dungeon with the greatest perfection and speed among the rookies I’ve seen. I can see how much you’ve invested into them, Vice-captain.”

“Well, it’s thanks to them following my lead well.”

“It’s thanks to you, Vice-captain!”

“Right!”

“That’s right!”

The children chirped like baby birds and I laughed at their cuteness. Vegan gazed at them with eyes full of praise. “Since they’re all so motivated, we can rest for about a week before going straight into another dungeon.”

“No.” I immediately checked the calendar. Since today was the day of the spirit tree… We barely made it in time. I raised my head to look around at the others whose souls were already gone to their resting quarters. “We have to go straight into another dungeon.”

“…Excuse me?”

The three rookies who were already half-turned toward their rooms turned back toward me in surprise. I laughed despite myself at the look in their eyes, their gazes hoping that they had heard wrong. “You think it’s that easy leveling up enough to join the elite squad by next year? You gotta suffer for it.”