As the team was preparing to exit the dungeon and return to the outside both Jaclyn and Jones approached Jones.
“We understand that Ajax's abilities are something the confidentiality covers from sharing with others but we would like a chance to offer him a position with a noble family.” Devin said.
While Jones couldn’t feel it, the young noble’s social skills affected the leader into giving up more information than he intended when answering.
“You can go ahead and try but considering he turned down an offer from the baron I doubt he will take you up on it.” Jones said knowing both of them were only part of a knight’s noble family.
Both of the noble’s eyes widened at the answer. It wasn’t all that surprising that Ajax was predisposed to turn them down since with his level of talent achieving the rank of Knight would not be all that difficult. No the surprise came from the fact that Nestor the local Baron knew of his existence yet he was allowed to work independently.
They could only think of one explanation: he was backed by a different noble house, one stronger than a baron. Not only that but he also wasn’t attached to the house that was backing meaning he somehow earned their favor or interest.
“Ajax if we could talk to you alone for a minute?” Devin said as the pair motioned Ajax to the side.
“Yes?” Ajax asked, unsure of why they wanted some privacy.
“Our house would like to formally offer you a position as a retainer.” Devin said. Despite not actively looking to manipulate Ajax his skill did their job in making the offer sound more attractive.
“I understand,” Devin said, both siblings also wondering why he would spend so long in such a backwater place but decided to let their curiosity go.
“Good luck.” Jaclyn offered before all three of them rejoined the group and prepared to exit.
As they exited the dungeon Ajax didn’t feel any disturbance in the mana of the arch marking a clean clear of the second floor. He was somewhat disappointed that there hadn’t been a massive boss stuck somewhere in the caves.
Swiftly following their exit another team also exited the dungeon, this one was in a much worse shape than they were and the guards went on immediate alert.
“Defensive formation around the assets.” Jones’s voice cut clear through the commotion and the team formed a defensive circle with the two nobles in the center. “We didn’t just finish taking them through the second floor only to fail now.”
They all waited with baited breath for the now unstable arch to spew out some monsters. Information from the exiting party and the guards quickly made the rounds and everyone knew that they should expect some ambush predators from a swampy environment.
This was surprisingly good news, despite there being nobody who would wish to get such a theme in a dungeon their very nature would mean the exiting monsters would be out of their element completely.
The monsters that charged out were a solid mixture of crocodiles, moving trees and snakes. None of them proved to be any problem to take care of. There was one exception to the norm, well two if you counted the landed fishes which were pretty much a joke despite their sharp teeth.
The problem came in the form of oversized insects. Their individual strength wasn’t all that high, Ajax even managed to figure out one of the weaknesses his [Judge Threat] had as it considered them about as strong as a level fifteen boar. The problem came from the fact that there were a lot of them and despite their increased size to being about twice a clenched fist they were very mobile.
As the swarm spread through the clearing all the teams took a defensive formation to protect their more vulnerable members, Nelly wisely moved into the center with the two nobles knowing that with her physical stats she was just as much if not more at risk than them.
Fighting a swarm was not an experience Ajax had before. He knew the theory and even discussed the possibility of it with Hatchet during his training but it was nothing he had any practical experience with.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
All the mages present started filling the air with wide attacks, their tactic worked like a charm with 80% of the swarm being taken out in the opening salvo, but this is where the hard part would start.
They had already been informed of the incoming insects so they had time to prepare a counterattack. Not only that but they also knew the insects would be very fragile with most of their power coming from their number and the magical poison they possessed.
Ajax had been deemed the last line of defense for the trio in the center of the formation. Despite it being a defensive formation all the members were still relatively spread out compared to normal, this was in order to make sure nobody hit each other when dealing with the insects.
The adventurers present had done a quick job of killing everything and no monster could be seen after a few minutes of fighting. Unlike the other times the dungeon spewed monsters however there were a few casualties this time around. Even Ajax had gotten himself lightly pricked by one of the mosquitos but the weak stinger didn’t even manage to penetrate his [Mana Skin]. He could see the small pool of poison that had formed on his skin try to burn its way through the mana skin like acid before he used [Mana Syphon] turning it from magical poison into the regular variant. With everything taken care of the team and nobody having been hurt the all broke formation.
As the team started heading towards the nearby village Ajax also picked up on the fact that they wouldn’t be trying to pay off the guards in order to avoid taxes on their loot, this despite it being of lower value than the last time he was in the dungeon. He didn’t know why but also didn’t bother to ask.
The way back to the city went much like the way here. Devin and this time most of the team had spent each night drinking and the following morning nursing a hangover. He was surprised that none of them had a resistance skill to take care of it, or maybe they just had enough to drink that the resistance skill was surpassed.
After entering the Lessis the group split up, Jaclyn and Devin joined their guards who were waiting for them by the entrance and the Collectors moved to get their loot taxed and split the payment they received from said guards now that the job was done.
Similarly to last time Ajax took a sizable chunk of the mana cores they had gained as his payment and the rest of it in coins. This way he ended up with ten cores and thirty gold worth of coins, much more than he expected though he knew it was only so high because of the job of defending Devin and Jaclyn.
Ajax went on to head back to Tom’s house. As he did this he found himself thinking on the offer Devin had extended to him. A position in a noble house would definitely come with benefits, not only that but considering that his house was headed by only a Knight would give him some serious negotiation power even at his current strength.
In the end however, despite how attractive getting noble backing might be Ajax remained stoic in his choice to go it alone and not tie himself to anyone else besides family. As he entered the front door he was surprised to only find Tom, Katy and Fluffy inside.
“The great adventurer returns.” Tom goaded him, but his tone made it clear he didn’t mean anything by it.
“Ajax!” Katy shot out of her seat to give him a hug. “The Healing Union approved the paper we wrote.”
“So quickly?” he was surprised by the efficiency with which it was all done, from what he had discussed with Katy it should have taken a lot longer than this.
“Yes!!! … well locally.” She fought hard to contain her excitement and explain the situation further. “The local branch tested the hypothesis but we don’t have the people for the full testing so a copy of it was kept in our records here and another was sent to the capital for approval.”
“That’s good.” Ajax nodded though he wasn’t all that excited about the approval of the healing union as he was about the fact that sanitation was about to become a much bigger deal in the world.
“Anything else happen while I was gone?” he asked as he took a seat at the table.
“Nope.” Tom said “Everything has been normal, maybe for the first time since you came here to enroll in the guild.”
Ajax almost physically winced at the way his own brother had marked their quiet life for death, though he supposed the concept of jinx didn’t exist here. He quickly finished his own meal and then headed off to bed.
As he lay there Ajax didn’t go to sleep straight away. For the past three days he had a new pre-sleep ritual, which was opening his status and looking at the only change following his exit of the dungeon
Experience : 25490/40600
Traits: Divine Witness
He felt that he could advance [Mana Syphon] but the ‘Advancement available’ made him hesitate until he got some more information on the subject.