The class didn’t sleep all that well with the constant fighting occasional screaming of “[Heal], [Heal], where’s my [Heal] at?” and “You’re a DPS prioritize [Heal]s on the tanks.” and “Leeroy LFG fully geared and ready for dungeon raid!” well maybe not that last one, Leeroy was already in the group.
Micky and Prin didn’t have as much of a problem though. Micky had already gotten used to battle happening around his resting grounds. Originally that had been an all hands on deck kind of thing, but he got used to sleeping through it, though restlessly. Prin didn’t have Micky’s reservations. Her father was a bandit, her mother a former blood crazed merc. She lived on a battlefield before moving to the quieter dungeon life.
Micky for his part, spent most of his rotations buffing and staying out of it. He would throw a dagger in to hit something but mostly just stayed away. The rest of the buffers would also stay out of it. This was why they were given the shittiest rotation and also the least time to sleep. They were given merely one quarter the rest time as the other classes, not including the breaks those classes received in between combat rotations.
Combine that with his new lease on life and the village kid was wondering what he was doing out here in the first place. Well at least besides ‘Fuck Bob’. Restlessly getting into a dreamless sleep and waking up unrefreshed, Micky got up and prepared for a new day and new challenges.
Finally, at around noon the rescue workers arrived. The adventurers each grabbed a small group that they would be in charge of. Micky’s group got a pretty boy and his three nonplussed female party members. The man had skin dark as night, with soft short hair, and straight white teeth. He was on the muscular side of fit and wore his armor well. Prin and Desala were not impressed.
He seemed to be trying fairly hard to impress the group of twelve with his exploits. Micky thought of him as a bit of a braggart but didn’t care. Histopher seemed to be worriedly looking at Desala, then relieved, then worried. There did seem to be a couple of girls that were oohing and aahing him and asking to touch his muscles. This was quickly cut short when an adventurer, probably the only one that was his actual girlfriend, cut that short.
After his leash was tugged he fell back in line… behind the girls, who seemed to be almost militarily professional. They explained that the entire group would move through the woods on the way back. While they were going to be in charge of this group, there were others that would be running around to establish a perimeter. And also, that they may not always be the ones in charge and may be sent off in rotation if it gets really bad.
These monsters were vicious bloodthirsty and relentless. They stuck to themselves until the target had their blood on them, then they would pursue until they lost track of the target. Which wouldn’t be for half a kingdom. This was also likely how they got here.
It went unstated, at least, why exactly they were here. But they did seem to know the how at least. This was not a monster from this area. This wasn’t even a monster from this [System], so even if they did pursue, they shouldn’t have been brought here without reason.
Micky was more than happy with this turn of events though. He understood that management and the nobles were handling it and it would be over shortly. He was more then happy to go along with this situation as is. Things were looking up!
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They marched out of the dungeon and the ants almost immediately poured towards them. They had been made aware that new ants using primitive tools would appear called [Antolion Soldier]s. They could also have captured equipment that would be much better ad fiercer. These were left to the outer adventurers, while the group around Micky’s and Micky’s own group was to kill the stragglers. If a soldier did show up they were to leave it to the adventurers and at best take the pressure off with the regular [Antolion]s.
Micky didn’t want to face off against a soldier anyway. They would tear his group apart. They were much higher rated than his little group of twelve. This didn’t mean that it wouldn’t be able to kill it, but about how many of them it would kill. Which was the point, they weren’t supposed to die pointlessly, but to fight their way back to the town.
Luckily they had procured transport and would be able to ‘rest’ in the carriages. These things were much better than the chariots or the carts, but better and comfortable… Anyway, it would be a long journey and the class was ready to sleep.
“Yes, the town planning comity and the council didn’t want to send out any party to help. However, once the baron was about to kill them they relented. But then the city guard captain refused to go, as it would bring the ants back to the city, and until they could get these monsters under control the city would be under constant siege.” Said Helsa.
Delsa continued with “So the baron had him executed on the spot for being a coward. But by then it was too late, and the adventurer’s guild had already sent out our delegation. The baron was of course, pissed that the glory had been stolen right from inside his mouth. He then had over one hundred of his soldiers publicly flogged for their cowardice and whole new training sessions for the rest. Neither soldier is sure which is the better punishment.”
Jenise said “And I heard that the council is having a mandatory reshuffling. Even though they were saved from execution because they had valid arguments, that didn’t save them entirely. The baron is a smart fair man, but cruel and bloodthirsty. Their pussy footing around cost him greatly. He will not allow this to go unpunished. So he is going to make sure that new more amiable councilors are brought on. He isn’t quite at the point of hiring an administrator, but he was apparently pretty damn close!”
Micky said “Ah ya, the baron put an administrator in charge of my village a month or so ago. I wonder how it’s doing?”
“Ahh, so you were part of the reshuffling too, hu? There was a lot of that going around. Plenty of claims of mismanagement. Most of them true. The baron’s territory has expanded considerably in one fell swoop. They say he is ambitious enough to become a viscount in his lifetime but not when he has one heir and none for political marriages. But the viscounts in the area are up in arms against him. He might have to hold back his hand for a while and play nice with his neighbors.” Said Helsa.
Jenise looked over at her boyfriend then. “Ergh, will that playboy ever stop? God, I need to get him clipped.” There was a finality to that statement that made Micky shiver. Jenise ran over to her boyfriend to give him a ‘whatfor’ while they were still not in combat.
Prin asked “How did your group even end up together if he’s like that and you’re not?”
“Oh that’s easy, Helsa, Jenise, and I were a party for a long time. Then she got a boyfriend but didn’t want to leave him laying around and unattended. So we let him join, something he was ecstatic about at the time. He kept his natural flirty tendencies in check then, now not so much. Believe it or not he doesn’t actually know he’s doing it. It’s the only reason we put up with him. You should see what happens when one of those girls asks that bozo out, his eyes get big and you can just read the ‘oh shit’ on his face. It’s like a puppy that just pooped on the floor and doesn’t know what to do about it, ha!” Said Delsa.
This actually happened shortly after Delsa made a comment about it. Oddly enough it was one of the male students that made the come on. And just like Delsa said his eyes got big. Then Jenise stepped in. But it did not stop their, some of the female students that were crushing piled on. They told Jenise he was a free man and free to do what he wanted. So Jenise stepped back and had Justin make his decision. It was a ‘Your mess, here’s the towel, clean it up!’ kind of deal.
He looked between the group and his girlfriend, not able to tell what he got himself into or how he got there. Delsa and the rest were laughing their asses off, in their party, justin was the comic relief. Finally he made his decision, he walked up to his girlfriend looked her straight in the eye, and gave her a deep kiss, wrapping his hands around her waist at the time. You could tell he had done this before.
This ended the argument, and all respect the group had for him. The girls looked disappointed, the male student more so, and for some reason, the male student getting disappointed got the female students even more disappointed, some would say, devastated.