The boy scampers upstairs quite fast. One would think he would have run out of energy by now.

"So, how was he?" Larn asks in a soft voice, presumably not to alert the boy.

Before I answer, I let my eyes wander to Asger. I wonder if his confidence took yet another hit today. His gift is a godsend for our dungeon work, but both his fighting ability and judgment are lacking. He was probably eager to join today because he thought he could not be worst one for once.

"An absolute monster" I say in my most serious voice. "Only way to describe him".

"Hoh? What makes you say so?" Larn looks baffled, but then quickly switches to an expression of interest.

"He practically cleared 4 floors alone in 5 hours. And it was only an hour for the first two floors, when he still had magic to find the monsters, and then 4 hours for the last two floors. And he didn't run out of mana, but seemed to want to keep a reserve for emergencies..."

"No wonder he was beat" Larn adds, but

"That's not all. He pulled the cart both ways, and we had a decent haul on the way back."

Ah, Asger looks slightly depressed. maybe it would have been better to send him to bed also under the pretext of a meeting or something.

"Ah, impressive. But a self-healer having impressive stamina is standard, right? What else did he do?" Larn is really curious.

"First off, his gift apparently only when he sleeps or something like that, according to himself. Secondly, he didn't use magic to fight, only to find monsters, nor did he seem to overly exert himself. I am guessing he still has a lot more up his sleeve. The second half of the floors he was in formation with Bern, bu-"

"Didn't you just say he cleared it practically alone?" Larn interrupted

"Bern, care to elaborate?" I shove it to the guy who should know best.

"I barely did anything" Bern said. "He basically took care of everything himself. And that's with him having never hunted in formation before. He seemed to stifle his movement option considerably, but even then, if I didn't have my spear aimed at a monster, that he happened to let close enough, he would still reach it before I did".

"To be honest" I add "He is probably already the third strongest member in this clan"

"After me and Kamas?" Mynie asks, to which I nod.

"Heh, well I can share a bit about him too" she continues. "Last night, he did a little party trick in his drunked stupor. Jammed a knife hard into his own hand. It barely had a scratch."

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"Jesus christ, just what kind of training did that kid do?" Larn asks a rhetorical question, but I have an answer.

"Seems he has basically been training all day, every day since he could walk. He also mentioned some "special" training that made him grimace, so I imagine it wouldn't have been pleasant."

"He seems so awkward though" Mynie adds.

"Right, and unfortunately, not arrogant. We would do best to try and get him cocky, while we can still put him in his place. And by "we" I mean Mynie and Kamas, because that ship has sailed for the rest of us." Is my best take. Young ones always get cocky sooner or later, think they are better than they are. And you need to teach them that there are always someone stronger out there, before they forget to be careful and get themself hurt. I continue with a vague idea of my plan going forward.

"I know it's extra work, but I suggest we keep him completing requests until he realises he is pretty good. We keep Mynie or Kamas, when he returns, with him all the time, so they can step in when he decides to overextend, okay?"

"Uhhh, but that means I have to work more" Hunting with the association is dangerous, but in return you either get a lot of days off or rich. Mynie definitely belongs in the "days off"-camp.

"Also, is it just me, or is he a little stupid?" Bern adds.

"Certainly he is ignorant and awkward, but that can be excused by his upbringing. What do you mean, Bern?" I ask

"Well, he showed he understood that the request was for three people, proceeded to complete it basically alone, the connection between the two seemingly never dawning on him."

"Well, I can confirm he is awkward by my conversation with him last night" Mynie adds "He told me never had a friend, and he only ever spent time with the adults and his little sister, and that his older brothers hated him" She is grinning. Ah, she does have a terrible personality after all.

"Speaking off, what was the deal with him being only almost naked" Asger asks.

"Ah well, after hearing he had a gift for self-healing I upped the amount I wanted him to drink. They tend to take quite a lot. But he just passed out. No longer having the option of bedding him, I then got the idea of just making him think we slept together, but after getting the stupid armor off him, I just wanted to sleep and took him to bed."

"You really are horrible" Asger says.

"Aww, don't be mean, little man. It's called acting with privilege. If you come to be the strongest in a clan, you too can get the honours of acting with total impunity!"

Silence falls a little, indicating that we have talked what we needed to talk about. But then Mynie adds:

"But he is strange in more ways than one. Why is he so clean? I first thought he was some low-ranked son of a noble. And how early did he get up? We went to bed basically just before it became bright outisde."

"He was up early in the morning, he woke me for a bit before I continued sleeping" Asger answers one part.

My brain starts working furiously on something. "Maybe" I postulate the idea it came up with "His power does more than healing his wounds, filling his mana and curing his exhaustion. Maybe it also cleans him, and even removes his need for sleep. It could be that it just fires once a day, and that he has drawn a wrong conclusion because it happens early in the morning and he always wakes up."

"Do we test it?" Bern asks, but I shake my head.

"If it happened to be true, I get the feeling he would train all through the night, and I don't want him to abandon humanity even further."

"I for one, am just looking forward at how his interactions with our little "princess" are gonna pan out" Mynie adds.

Certainly, that brazen little girl with this awkward young man, that clearly is her superior is most likely gonna produce some interesting results.