Chapter 69 - Small World

"Rejoice, Gramps," Ryan said. "Your daughter is stronger than you now. At this very moment, she is probably capable of killing Sahuagins without breaking a sweat."

"Don't call me Gramps… My name is Miles, and I'm just fifty years old," Miles said while he was clearing the tears off his face. "What do you mean by my daughter can kill monsters? Did you force her to fight those grotesque creatures?"

"No… I just gave her a weapon," Ryan avoided Miles' annoyed eyes.

"Why did you do that?" Miles raised his voice. "She can't even walk!"

"Would you trust the safety of your daughter on the hands of strangers?" Ryan frowned. "I know the people who are looking after her, but I wouldn't trust my life on their hands, much less the life of a kid. That is why I taught her how to use a bow. Anyway, you can go to where she is and become a burden since you don't have any power yet, or you can fight alongside the people here and safely obtain power. Believe me,… fighting alone is much more difficult than you think."

Miles gulped when Ryan raised his right arm. He was fully aware that Ryan wasn't the type who would say empty words. Given that he still was dirt with monster's blood, Ryan's words had an even heavier meaning. Regardless, Zoe asked Ryan to find his parents, but since he didn't see anyone talking with Miles, then it was most likely that his wife had passed away during the dragon's attack. It was a pity, but finding her father was already a miracle, to begin with.

Putting such things aside, Lilian got the whole group's attention and then divided everyone's roles. Some people still didn't want to fight, even though they were quite interested in obtaining Ryan and Lilian's skills. So, those would work to scavenge and carry everything they might find useful for the time being. Besides, the number of weapons in their possession was low, so, it was only obvious.

Only one group would be responsible for looking for supplies. Meanwhile, two other groups would look for survivors. As for the last group, they would approach the dungeon and see how things are there. Since the dungeon was the dangerous area, that group would be the smallest. Besides, the other three groups would need a lot of manpower to protect those that didn't obtain much status.

"The last group members will be Ryan, Luke, and me," Lilian declared. "Fighting near the dungeon will grant us the chance to encounter more monsters and obtain more drops. Tomorrow the strength of our group will be higher, so more people will be able to help, so look forward to it."

Although that was a bit surprising, it was only obvious that they needed to watch the dungeon from a distance. Besides, even though the encounter rate was pretty high thanks to the dungeon break, decreasing the number of Sahuagins would be much easier near the dungeon.

"I thought you wouldn't like my plan," Lilian said while looking at Ryan.

"If you tried to send me alone, then I wouldn't like it, and in fact, I would abandon this group," Ryan said. "However, since you two will take care of the enemies when they approach, then I don't have any reason to dislike the plan."

"Are you sure about this?" Luke asked. "I'm not the best person to doubt your plans, but going with three people to that place sounds a little risky."

"Don't worry," Lilian patted her little brother's head. "You didn't see him in action yet, but Ryan isn't half bad… Considering that he just lost his dominating hand."

"So, you already figured it out, huh," Ryan said, a bit surprised.

"The smell of blood still is pretty strong, and while you were sleeping, I checked your right arm," Lilian said as if it was a matter of fact.

"… I'm starting to wonder if I shouldn't give up on this group and challenge the Sahuagins alone," Ryan frowned. "I think I would rather die in the hands of monsters than trust on someone so creepy."

"By the way, which type of monsters you fought so far?" Lilian asked. "I know that you want to keep your abilities as hidden as possible, but you are fully aware that at the very least, you need to tell us the dungeons which you found and the monsters you found there."

"What do you mean by 'by the way…" Ryan sighed. "Slimes and goblins… as you can imagine, slimes are relatively easy to deal with as long as you are fast enough or you are a ranged fighter. As for the goblins, they more or less possess the same level of strength as the Sahuagins. Give me your map. I will show you the location of the dungeons."

Although making more people obtain classes could ease Ryan's work, it could also cause him later. Still, he was confident that none of the people that might actually cause him problems would. The first reason was that he would never stay in a group for a long time, and the second was because he is a trained hunter. Just power wouldn't be enough to defeat him. Some experience and skills were also necessary. If anything, he would rather give a chance to all people to obtain power. That way, he would be able to identify the troublesome individuals with ease and then get rid of them if necessary.

"I should prepare myself when the time comes… For the time being, I only found a few slightly troublesome people, but I feel like it is only a matter of time before I find some real assholes."

So far, Ryan only found people who suffered thanks to the monsters, but his instincts were telling him that soon he would find those who were enjoying the situation. Right now, the human race was in a war against monsters, but that was just the beginning… everything could change at any moment.