Valkyrie's Shadow

Chapter 13

Pluton Ainzach crossed his arms as he observed the proceedings from his cushioned chair. The furniture in the room was of a luxurious quality that, in turn, made him uncomfortable. He shifted in his seat for the third time as he watched the hastily assembled Copper-rank party progress through the training area. Ainzach and the six party leaders of the afternoon’s exercise were in various reclining postures as they, too, watched the novices make their way through two Mirror of Remote Viewing provided by the Sorcerous Kingdom. Occasionally, one of them would glance around the room at their surroundings.

He couldn’t blame them. All of the preparations that the Sorcerous Kingdom made for the Adventurer Guild seemed to surpass expectations in every way, whether it be their financial support, powerful magic or the facilities provided. The large room was situated on the top floor of one of the abandoned administrative buildings in E-Rantel’s central district, once the archives that had been emptied with the flight of Lord Panasolei Rettenmeier and his staff following the defeat of the Royal Army at Katze Plains.

There were eight rooms on the floor, each set up with two mirrors each and various comforts provided out for the guild members as they monitored the progress of Adventurer parties progression through different parts of the training area outside the city. Each seat was placed behind a desk, amply stocked with ink and stationery to take notes with. There was a table where refreshments had been provided, and extra seats arrayed around the viewing area for additional observers.

Mare, the manager of the Adventurer Guild Training Area, stood to the side of the two mirrors, watching the proceedings intently. The boy barely blinked; his clear, wide eyes reflected the light of the images in front of him. He barely said anything aside from his initial greetings to the Adventurers. Once in a while, he would adjust the mirrors to offer a better view of the activity within – currently, one was fixed on the main group of the party, while the other was set to follow the party’s Rogue as he regularly scouted ahead.

“That guy is a real workhorse,” commented Utrecht. “He’s doing three times as much as everyone else.”

“Well, that’s just how it is,” Merry said. “Scouting’s a lonely job; not like you can have three or four of us tripping over each other doing it. It’s really the worst when you’re a newbie though – you’re weak and vulnerable with no items or tricks to help you. Just gotta keep slogging along until you do, and hope you don’t get eaten by something before that.”

“I never knew how much work it was until now,” Utrecht murmured as they continued watching.

Ainzach silently agreed with the man. Before he had retired, his own party’s Ranger worked tirelessly to keep their group informed and secure against both their enemies and the elements at large. Watching the Rogue in the mirror really showed how underappreciated those efforts could be, even amongst veteran Adventurers.

“Doesn’t that mean we’re going to need more reconnaissance types?” Josin asked, “This is just a narrow catacomb – what about when they’re out exploring the wilderness?”

“It becomes a problem if we do it that way too,” Ainzach replied. “Each Scout needs to have a party supporting them just in case a quick response is needed. We can’t send our people out alone for days at a time just to make things convenient for the rest – it would alienate them from the others even more and it might lend to the idea that they are numerous and expendable.”

“The way the expedition camps are set up helps too,” Ilyn piped in. “It’s a safe place to rest after long treks and to swap party members according to our needs out there. I think Guildmaster Raksheer said something about being able to station divination specialists as well as any other types of mages we’ll need for the things that are too dangerous to carelessly approach in person.”

“That’s still being discussed,” Ainzach said. “It’s not necessarily a bad idea, but for the time being the city doesn’t have the casters to spare – the Guildmaster of the Mage Guild should know this, of all people. Also, until we know that our procedures are safe enough for it, I’d advise against using the expedition camps as a base to house non-Adventurer consultants. Samples and collected information can be studied in the city safely, so unless the work requires an on-site presence, it is an unnecessary risk.”

The idea that magic capable of moving limited amounts of people and cargo around was readily available was yet another idea that many found difficult to wrap their heads around. Before the Sorcerous Kingdom, flight magic was the best they could come up with in E-Rantel, with Teleportation being a Fifth-tier spell out of the reach of the local arcane casters. Now, it was just a matter of making a request.

Ilyn, as well as most of the remaining mages of the Magician Guild were the exact opposite when it came to the magical might of the Sorcerous Kingdom – they had flung their arms wide open to embrace the opportunities that the nation presented: new power and knowledge to further advance their passion in the art. Many hoped that they, too, would be able to wield such magic. Even if they didn’t, the Sorcerous Kingdom’s offerings represented countless lifetimes of research and study that they could happily pursue with the support of the nation.

“Looks like they’re moving again,” Blair turned their attention away from the discussion and back to the Adventurer team in the tomb. “According to the itinerary, things should be picking up soon?”

All eyes were glued to the mirrors as the Adventurers cautiously advanced. The ‘Copper Floors’ of the tomb were simple in nature and divided into three levels. The first were sections designed to ensure that all the party was capable of performing all of the necessary tasks to function, the second consisted of a series of encounters that would require a team to work together to overcome and the third was used as a test to identify which members of the party qualified for Iron rank. As straightforward as it was, however, several major issues had already been made plain before them.

“Ah–they’re holding out again,” Merry said from the side. “This time it’ll definitely bite them in their asses if they don’t do something about it.”

The first issue was due to the perception that it was ‘training’, the Adventurers were overly sparing in their use of party resources. Alchemical potions and magic were being used in an unrealistically frugal manner. It was a sentiment that any Adventurer from the old organization could understand: generally all the costs and risks of adventuring fell on the Adventurers themselves, so with nothing to justify use of those resources to offset these costs, one would naturally be hesitant to use them.

“The Cleric used a healing spell,” Blair said, shaking his head. “Bad move. She should have used a slower acting salve or potion since they’re not under immediate threat.”

“Reminds me of some kid that used to do that all the time,” Merry snickered.

“Hey now, that was over twenty years ago!” Blair turned defensive, “Besides, being there once myself makes this all the more painful to watch. Twenty years, and the newbies are still making the same mistakes that we made so long ago – have we really been so stagnant after all this time?”

“It’s because they’re Copper, isn’t it? Th–”

Utrecht interrupted himself as the party worked to finish their fight, the two fighters facing off against the two giant cockroaches awaiting them. According to Mare, their controller had instructed them to not be too aggressive, so the front line held easily. The Adventurers went from one to the other, decisively killing them before they could flee like the one they had encountered in the previous room.

“See? They learn quickly.” Utrecht continued after the Rogue headed out again, “It’s not all gloom and doom here. Anyways, Copper plates don’t know because the Guild never paid much attention to them. Nine out of ten new Adventurers either quit or died before they earned Iron…it just wasn’t worth it to babysit every new face that showed up.”

“That’s true, but how many we could have saved with just a little bit of attention is a question I still ask myself after all these years.”

Ainzach’s words created a sombre atmosphere amongst the veterans; it was a question that all had considered at least once in their long careers. He wondered if that hardened attitude towards the lowest ranks of Adventurers was something that would continue in the new organization. Even though they faced little risk of dying during training at Copper and Iron ranks, those that couldn’t make Gold would be dismissed. There was little reason to get close to or invest time and effort into those that could potentially fail to make the cut, and few were so friendly that they would go out of their way to try.

“We’ll find out soon enough,” he said, attempting to lift the mood, but the group had already turned their attention back to the trainees.

With three opponents, the party had opted to hold off two while overwhelming the third quickly. What followed after was an uneventful repeat of the previous battle. The group was overly defensive in their tactics, but Ainzach supposed that it came hand in hand with being new Adventurers. There was also the matter of the training regimen itself, and how Mare designed each encounter and scenario.

It had been the source of some confusion when their collaboration with the Training Area manager had started – the Dark Elf had used many terms unfamiliar to any of the Adventurers that Ainzach had called in to help lay out their future plans. Mare was aware of how the Guild rated opponents and quests, but the finer measure that their Difficulty Ratings provided seemed superfluous to both him and his sister. Ainzach supposed that, to the unfathomably powerful servants of His Majesty, wondering if something weighed one mote of dust or two mattered little. He remained adamant on the use of Difficulty Ratings, however, and was able to convince them of the merits of its continued use as a more suitable measure for ensuring the training facility was as comprehensive as possible.

When reviewing the content of the current session before it started, he had estimated the opponents in the dungeon to have a Difficulty Rating of anywhere from one to twelve. While Copper-ranked Adventurers also occupied this range, there were notable advantages when one considered how many there were in the party as well as the clear edge provided by their equipment.

The adversaries Adventurers commonly saw fulfilling Copper-rank quests were mundane in nature: animals, weak, tribal Demihumans and the like. Such opponents without special natural weapons, abilities, spells, or access to advanced equipment had issues overcoming the protection provided by even the wooden shields and light armour that beginner Adventurers used.

In addition, these opponents were poorly protected so even simple, unenchanted weapons were more than sufficient to defeat them. In this situation, the training party was being overly cautious and wasting time – though he supposed there was no way for them to know this. With experience would come confidence, and the ability to assess how dangerous a situation actually was.

Having such nicely standardized opponents to train against was something that could only be accomplished in the controlled environment of the Training Area. Out on a real job, a Copper party could take a commission to eliminate weak targets but, if those targets had a stronger individual among them – say, a tribal leader or shaman type ruling a group of Demihumans – it would often result in fatalities, or even spell the end of the entire Adventurer team. The gap between a Copper or Iron-ranked Adventurer and an adversary equivalent to Silver or Gold was a painful one that was encountered far too often on the field.

He saw Merry stretch and yawn in the corner of his vision. Her drawn out action started a chain reaction amongst the assembled proctors.

Ainzach knew putting Copper ranks through generally nonlethal training would take time, but this group had taken over an hour to clear through six rooms. At this rate, he was actually afraid that the observers would lapse in their observations due to how slow it was. Fortunately, there should be enough to rotate them at some point so a single set of veterans was not exposed to hours upon hours of sluggish Copper rank training.

“Look alive,” he said while fighting off a yawn of his own. “Third floor’s where it should all come together...or fall apart.”

Ainzach leaned forward in his seat as the party entered the first chamber. Unlike the previous rooms, this one was empty: the starting point for an uphill struggle to the end.

“There goes the Scout,” Merry said. “Say, isn’t it a bit unfair that we get them into this pattern then suddenly change everything?”

“First two floors are just to make sure all the parts are working, yeah?” Moknach stated. “A freebie. Third floor’s the only one with anything resembling a challenge for a Copper party.”

After Howe crossed the halfway point in the hall to the next chamber, the fight began. Smaller cockroaches began to appear out of cleverly hidden cracks in the walls of the first chamber, and it was only until the first one flew at the panicking female Fighter’s face that they realized that they were no longer the only ones in the room. Though the mirrors did not transmit sound, they could see the frenzy of shouting and stomping as they fought to keep the trickle of insects away. It was an image that fell far short of what one might have thought of when they heard the word ‘adventure’ and the stone floors were becoming slick with mashed cockroaches. Thankfully, while the mirrors could not transmit sounds, neither could they transmit smells.

Their scout was in his own predicament. Howe had turned to look back at the commotion behind him and found himself cut off by more insects that had crawled out of the openings that lined the hall.

“Are they just going to stand there smashing roaches forever?” Ilyn mused.

“More to the point,” Moknach said, “how are there so many of them?”

It took a few moments for Mare, who was still intently watching his handiwork, to realize that the question was intended for him.

“Hm? Oh! Kyouhukou’s family was able to have some extra food recently. They were getting so big that they were about to spill–er, overcrowd their living space. He was more than happy to send some over to help out. E-even Demiurge praised me for the idea. An inspired reallocation of idle resources, he called it.”

The Dark Elf boy almost smiled, then stopped as if he was unsure about whether he should actually show pride at his achievement.

“Does that mean that we’ll be watching newbie teams fighting roaches every day?” Merry asked.

“My sister said it’s not a good idea to do the same thing every day, so I thought maybe a rotation for now? The first floors will be expanded eventually to have many things, but for now we wanted training floors for everyone, right?”

“Right…”

Ainzach wasn’t sure how to respond. He hoped that the days would be chosen at random, or many Adventurers would mysteriously happen to be absent on Cockroach Day. It was probably just better to have a variety of different training opponents in any given session where they made sense.

It seemed that the Adventurers had finally decided to advance while defending themselves from the encroaching roaches. Ainzach could not tell whether they had actually coordinated a move with their trapped scout, or they had found the situation untenable and spontaneously decided to get away. As they pressed forward while fighting, more and more of the areas they left in their wake were being filled with the insects that would then join the dark stream from the first room that was following them.

One more hall and one more room to go, Ainzach thought to himself as they entered the second chamber. Somehow, they still had the presence of mind to send their Rogue to scout ahead once more while they fought off the wave of insects behind them. Howe seemed to be periodically calling back to them as he stepped forward, probably to try to gauge how far he could advance before triggering additional sources of the mounting infestation. He made it all the way within sight of the last room with his expectations unfulfilled, however and, with any semblance of stealth negated by his continued callbacks to the team, he shouted one last time for them to catch up to him.

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