Chapter 100 - Into The Dungeon

Quick instinct and deep thinking were essential qualities of an expedition member. However, more weight was placed on one or the other depending on your position. Quick instinct was a priority for a melee member as they had to catch the smallest changes on the front line. On the other hand, ranged members required insight and complex thinking skills. They needed to take in the battlefield at a glance from the rear. It was the people with these qualities that survived long in a dungeon—or those with luck.

The special unit members were all full of talent, but that alone wasn’t enough. What they needed was experience. That could be obtained without having to go through an ordeal. The word indirect experience wasn’t there for nothing.

With a bit of time to spare before we entered the dungeon, Vegan gathered the unit members to hold a quick lecture. While I did have a lot of dungeon experience, that was from the perspective of a rear supporter. I could hardly give any information or tips that a melee member could.

Nova and Julieta desperately etched Vegan’s experienced advice in their heads. Sevi appeared somewhat careless, though, as he was a ranged attacker. “Can’t I spend this time training my mana control instead?” He seemed nervous at the thought of entering a dungeon in a few days. The boy was young and couldn’t hide his feelings, moving restlessly on his chair.

I was about to give him a scolding, but Vegan cast me a dissuading look. If he had a child, they would be around Sevi’s age. It had to be unpleasant to have his advice ignored by such a young one, yet Vegan gave a wily laugh as he remarked, “Hmm… I suppose a rookie that hasn’t even been to a dungeon yet wouldn’t know what’s important.”

Feeling a subtle poke at his pride, Sevi reacted. “But there’s no real need for a ranged attacker to hear advice from a melee member! I just want to be efficien—”

“A ranged attacker needs to grasp the flow of things in the team. That includes what the melee members are thinking.”

“But…”

“That’s how all high-level ranged members are. Squad Leader Axion knows more about melee attackers than most do themselves. And I’m sure the vice-captain is the same.”

Sevi looked at me with questioning eyes and I nodded with a shrug. “I don’t know as well as Axion, of course, but… Vegan’s speaking the truth, Sevi. Sure, you only need to care about your position at a low level, but you’ll be growing at an extremely quick speed. So it’s better that you get into the habit of taking melee members into account as well.”

“Urgh… I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking enough.” Sevi nodded and meekly sat down, then joined Nova and Julieta in listening to Vegan’s advice.

* * *

After the lecture was over, I followed after the spearman as he was leaving and apologized. “I’m sorry. Sevi’s still young. I’ll have a talk with him about it again.”

“It’s alright. He’s still young indeed. Fifteen now, is he?”

“Fourteen.”

“Whew, real young,” Vegan exclaimed quietly. “The boy was smarter than I expected. He gave in right away, even though he must have quite the pride awakening as a mage at that age.”

“It must’ve been your persuasion.”

“Naw. He wouldn’t have even pretended to listen if not for your support, Vice-captain. You see, mages have this strange stubbornness to them. He must really look up to you.”

I could sense the joys and sorrows of dealing with Axion from his words. To be honest, it was true that mages were stubborn about the strangest things. Sometimes it was because of pride in their abilities, or a sense of superiority from being blessed by Saint Marianne with talent.