Chapter 121: Raiding Dungeons With Our Recruits

POV Cornelius

After our return, we took care of our recruits. This week there were more promising candidates qualified for the second round, so we were able to form a total of 5 parties of 6 recruits each. We told the parties that we would go into the dungeon with one of each party over the next five days and see if they could conquer the 4th boss room with our help, even if their levels were perhaps too low to do so.

The first four groups consisted of two melee fighters, one archer, one scout and two wizards. The fifth group consisted of three melee fighters, a scout and two wizards. We could have formed another party, but it would only consist of melee fighters. So we put them off until the next round until we had enough new recruits available.

In the first group, it quickly became clear who the leader was. The archer called Ezekiel immediately took over the planning. From his old party of four, only the wizard Stevt was with him, the rest were strangers to him. The scout and one of the melee fighters had previously formed a group, as had the other melee fighter and the second wizard. So they each knew a different person already. Ezekiel first found out about the respective strengths of the others and then formed a formation. They were to take the four of us in the middle and protect us. The only support they got from us was a few support spells.

Their task was to conquer the boss room within a day. We therefore provided them with horses and set off at sunrise. In the dungeon, Ezekiel proved to be a good leader indeed. He skillfully led the group around most of the monsters and the ones we encountered were quickly defeated. Another recruit to the party who impressed me at least slightly was the wizard Stevt, who kept a low profile in most of the fights but became much more active when we encountered the spiders and butterflies. With his Air Magic, he knocked over the spiders and took the butterflies out of the air so that the others could take care of them. He obviously knew the special properties of the monsters and acted accordingly. He was also capable of light healing magic, so it made sense that he held back and saved his MP. The other members of the party were able to help protect him accordingly. I watched him more closely during this mission.

They had their first major problems with the forest wolves on floor 17. Their speed allowed them to bypass the melee fighters and then attack from behind. This showed the advantage of the formation that Ezekiel had the group adopt. He had positioned one of the two melee fighters as a rearguard, knowing full well that the wolves liked to attack from ambush. Using his good senses, he managed to maneuver the group so that they attracted enough wolves at the same time for the group to deal with them. Without Eli's support, they would probably have had more problems, but we still made it to the 4th boss cave relatively unscathed.

Both wizards cast further support spells as far as they were able. Then we entered the boss cave. Here the recruits took up a new formation. Ezekiel placed the four of us near the entrance, with the two wizards to our sides. The scout and he himself were positioned in front of the wizards. The two melee fighters were at the front of the formation. After the monsters appeared, the four of us watched the recruits as they fought here.

The recruits were able to defeat all the monsters, but it was closer than expected. The two melee fighters took a lot of damage, not because of Ezekiel's instructions, but because one of them left the formation by being lured out. Stevt spent most of his time casting his water healing spell to keep them alive. Overall though, they had done well considering most adventurers were at least 5 to 10 levels higher when tackling this boss.

However, the fact that they had all survived without us having to intervene showed that they had a lot of potential and therefore passed our test. Unfortunately, the scout didn't manage to open the chest as his skills were too low. However, this was not part of the task, so no points were deducted for this. But no bonus points either.

We let them touch the stele and then went back to the surface. Later, in Tyros, we gave them a letter to report to the capital. There they were officially accepted into the recruit pool. If we were to start an expedition from the capital, anyone who had previously been accepted into the recruit pool could register and then had a chance to take part.

We did the same with the other groups, but not all of them were able to defeat the boss without help. These groups didn't pass the test, but that just meant that the recruits weren't ready yet. They were free to come back in a few months after they had trained and take the test again. Whether we were there ourselves at the time or sent our deputies from the capital in our place would then become clear.

That evening, we briefly summarized our impressions so far.

"Okay, we've got the first 30 recruits through our exams. At least three of the five groups made it through. The other two groups only just failed because they ran out of time. What do you think?" <Cornelius>

“The last group was good, but with three fighters it was to be expected.” <Ansgar>

"Hmm, you can make something of the wizards, at least the ones from the successful groups. I'll only rate the others once they've been successful." <Javier>

"And you, Eli? What do you think?" <Cornelius>

“As long as the women keep their hands off you, I don't care about them.” <Eleonore>

"So it's business as usual. I was impressed by the leader of the first group. He could play an important role later on. We should write down all the people we remember. Then we'll have potential candidates that we can train separately." <Cornelius>

"Agreed. Even if I haven't memorized any names.“ <Ansgar>

”Hmm, sounds good. I've memorized the important names. And as long as we only ever have them in our group for a short time, they can't betray us. Once we've worked with them for a few years, we can trust them again." <Javier>

"That's exactly how I see it, although we should make sure that we achieve most of our goals on our own. Otherwise it would be too embarrassing for the heroes of this world. Although I'm still annoyed by this group of adventurers. We have to track them down so they don't beat us to it again." <Cornelius>

"Then ask the guild. They need to know." <Ansgar>

"That's obvious. And I already have an idea. What if we had a proxy ask the guild which groups are currently in Tyros and which of them are capable of clearing the entire floor in one day?" <Cornelius>

"Hmm, a good plan with ulterior motives. Then we could either convince them or hire them for some other task to get them out of the city." <Javier>

"Don't forget they left the monster corpses all lying around. Maybe they don't need money.“ <Ansgar>

”We are the heroes of humanity. If they won't help us voluntarily, we'll resort to other means." <Cornelius>

“Corni, you're scaring me.” <Eleonore>