Chapter 117: The Search For Capable People

POV Cornelius

We were in our meeting room in our hotel in Tyros. It was time to develop more far-reaching plans. I also had an important matter to discuss with the others.

“There are two matters I need to discuss with you tonight. Do you want the good thing or the bad thing first?” <Cornelius>

“The bad, of course. The quicker we get it over with.” <Ansgar>

“Are the others in favor too? It seems so, okay then. We've received a letter from the church.” <Cornelius>

“Oh no, what do they want from us again?” <Ansgar>

“I hope nothing bad.” <Eleonore>

“It's not great news, anyway. There was an oracle in the church. It was about how strong we currently are in relation to our opponents.” <Cornelius>

“Hmm, that's interesting. We can do a lot with this information, especially if the other side has no such information.” <Javier>

“Don't be too euphoric. We haven't been given exact figures, but it looks like the others are ahead of us. We're at a disadvantage if it comes to a confrontation.” <Cornelius>

“Why is that? Didn't we try hard enough? Bloody hell. We have to change that immediately. Off to the dungeon!” <Ansgar>

“Stay calm, Ansgar. We'll get to that. But as I said, there's good news too.” <Cornelius>

“What is it, Corni?” <Eleonore>

“I've developed a long-term plan that I haven't told you about yet. It should be a surprise until I've gotten Imperium's approval.” <Cornelius>

“Now tell me, old mystery man.” <Ansgar>

“The plan is about how we can find and recruit capable people. I plan to find allies who can help us in the future. We already have the support of the military and the academy, but we need a lot more people. I was thinking of a kind of task force that we train ourselves.” <Cornelius>

“Hmm, that sounds like a good idea. Why should just the four of us do our job alone when we can get dozens or even more people to support us?” <Javier>

“That's exactly the point. We can only recruit a few people from the military or the academy to keep the Empire fit for battle. That's why I want to train people with potential myself. Then we can also ensure that they are loyal and can help us.” <Cornelius>

“I like that idea. We train our own armed forces, which can serve as cannon fodder if necessary.” <Ansgar>

“That was the idea behind it. We all have too few EXP to learn everything we want. That won't change even if we change classes several times as planned. Our development takes time, but our opponents seem to be ahead of us. That's why we have to focus on quantity rather than quality for the time being.” <Cornelius>

“Hmm, but we can't take any more people with us on our dungeon visits. Each additional person lowers the EXP each individual receives. If they're not already strong on their own, they'll slow us down too much.” <Javier>

“That's true, but we still need to increase our times in the dungeons. We have the best possible equipment at our disposal, but not enough EXP. We need to get to the deeper floors quickly on our next visits, as there's more EXP to be gained there.” <Cornelius>

“Do you have to do that?” <Eleonore>

“Yes, it has to be. We can't stay near Lightburgh for very long. Our goal has to be to visit dungeons other than the two on site. The battles here will get boring in the long run.” <Cornelius>

“I agree with that. The Darkness Dungeon in particular, with its permanent darkness, gets on my nerves.” <Ansgar>

“Hmm, whatever we decide about training people, we should send messengers all over the empire. We can't afford to overlook any potential allies.” <Javier>

“I've already worked out an idea. We'll take advantage of the fact that there's a dungeon here for free use.” <Cornelius>

“Use the dungeon? That sounds good.” <Ansgar>

“My plan is as follows. We put together a small group of 3-4 people each, ideally consisting of a fighter, a scout or similar and a wizard. The fourth person is an addition, depending on the level of the others and how many people come forward. The group should show whether it can work together independently and achieve a certain goal in a defined time.” <Cornelius>

“What are they supposed to do?” <Eleonore>

“We don't have the time to teach them everything from scratch. That's why they need to have a certain basic skill. I was thinking of level 15, and I have the level 10 boss in mind as a goal. It's doable in a group and if they can't do it, they're not useful to us.” <Cornelius>

“Hmm, that sounds reasonable. What are you planning to do with them then?” <Javier>

“In a second step, I plan to send them to the boss of level 15 in a different composition and a different size, I was thinking of 6. To do this, I'll collect all the successful groups from the first task over three or four weeks and let them put together a group themselves. If they succeed, we'll take their names and go on from there.” <Cornelius>

“Hmm, do you want to train them then?” <Javier>

“Yes, with the level, they can still be molded to our liking. My aim is to divide them into three groups at the end, depending on how useful they are. The first group are the foot soldiers, who I want to integrate into the military sooner or later. These are all those who are not good enough for the other two groups. The second are those who are so capable that they stand out from the masses. They should accompany us when we go on expeditions or dungeon raids. The last ones are the outstanding ones. They also include those who are already so good that they would help us further. Most of them will act independently and will eventually form our elite force.” <Cornelius>

“Why aren't the last ones the ones who are supposed to accompany us?” <Ansgar>

“That's quite simple and has two reasons. The simplest is that they have the potential to become elite later on. They can then act independently of us.” <Cornelius>

“Then they should stay with us all the more. And what's the second?” <Eleonore>

“It sounds strange, but it's just a feeling. We'll get into trouble at some point, because our enemies aren't idle. We can't assume that everyone is on our side and that there are some who want to hinder us. The higher the level of these enemies, the greater the chance that they will cause us problems. I don't want these people anywhere near me if they become active. We can say that we trust them enough to let them act on their own.” <Cornelius>

“Hmm, that's pretty cunning. You're right, our enemies won't sit idle. I can also well imagine that we are not popular with all the nobles in the Empire. Just take the duke who tried to marry his son into the imperial family, but now that the youngest princess is betrothed to Cornelius, that's no longer an option. And he is certainly not the only one. There is a very good chance that our enemies are to be found among the most capable. Smart.” <Javier>

“That's right. We can't just look for our enemies among the Luna champions. But back to our plans. So as not to neglect our own progress in the dungeon, we'll take one fixed day a week for our recruitment and go leveling the rest. Maybe with one rest day a week.” <Cornelius>

“What are we going to do with the new recruits when we're no longer in Tyros?” <Ansgar>

“We instruct a deputy to continue our work here. After all, we can't stay here forever.” <Cornelius>

We heard a knock and a soldier entered the room. It was the soldier who was supposed to get us an appointment at the guild with the guild master.

“Noble heroes, I have returned with the answer to an appointment.” <Soldier>

“So, when do we have an appointment?” <Cornelius>

“I had to briefly tell the guildmaster what the appointment was about. I received a reply in response.” <Soldiers>

“Well, tell me, what is it?” <Cornelius>

“It says: I will pass on your request to the responsable person. The person will get back to you if they approve your request.” <Soldier>

“Why doesn't she have time for us directly? Never mind, we have other things to do right now. You may go.” <Cornelius>

After that, we went to the Dungeon every day, except on sundays and the day before, which became our day off.

The next sunday, we waited in our hotel for the first recruits. As soon as about 10 had gathered outside, Javier went out and examined them with Appraisal. He then put the first group together. We told the group their task and sent them off. Then Javier fetched the next group and we sent them off again. The level of the people didn't really matter at first. It was all about teamwork. We continued until there was no one left. Over the course of the day, almost 20 candidates came to the hotel to take on our task.