The Kicked Out S-Rank Appraiser Creates The Strongest Guild - Chapter 37

Chapter 37   Training Commanders

Jill, exhausted after finishing the fortress construction quest, returned to Laurent side.

Her armor was in tatters, her clothes were soaked with sweat, and she cradled her overworked left arm with her right hand. Her steps were unsteady, and she grimaced in pain.

However, a sense of accomplishment was evident on her face, and although her cheeks were flushed red from exertion, there seemed to be another reason for her heightened color. Her breathing was heavy, mixed with a hint of a troubled sigh.

“Haa…haa… I have returned,” Jill said, struggling to maintain a standing position before Laurent.

“Good job, Jill. Now, let’s assess your status,” Laurent said.

“Yes, please,” Jill replied.

(Phew. I wondered how I’d manage to get through such an impossible task, but I did it somehow. After pushing my body this hard, my status should be solid. Even Laurent should be satisfied with this…)

Laurent assessed Jill’s status.

Strength: 90-100
Endurance: 110-120
Agility: 90-100
Stamina: 190-200

“Yeah, all your stats are within a margin of 10 points,” Laurent noted.

“Thank you,” Jill said.

“But this is completely unacceptable, isn’t it?”

“What?” Jill looked at Laurent, not understanding what he meant.

“You need to keep the margin of error within five at the very least. Anything more than that is out of the question.”

“Wh-what? Within a margin of five…?”

“Yes, within five. No problem, right?”

Laurent spoke in a normal tone, neither angry nor forceful.

It was as if keeping the margin within five was a trivial matter.

(Within a margin of five… Just getting it within ten requires constant, rigorous training every day. And I managed to achieve that in a week, pushing myself to the brink.)

Jill was stunned, realizing her hard work was not acknowledged at all.

(This is just unreasonable torture! But, that’s what makes it appealing!)

“I understand. If you say so, Laurent, then I have no choice but to go.”

“Next, let’s try the bridge construction quest.”

“Yes!”

Despite the frustration of not having her efforts recognized, Jill dashed energetically back into the dungeon.

Laurent and Arri watched her run off with expressionless faces.

“Jill seemed happy,” Arri murmured.

“…Yeah.”

“Why does she take joy in such grueling tasks?”

“I wonder. To be honest, I don’t really understand it myself.”

“…I see.”

Arri decided to stop pondering the matter any further.

In the workshop, Charl and Daevin were progressing with their development.

“Now, with 3 units of iron, 6 units of silver, and 1 unit of Gianite (a material that enhances metal attributes and strengthens bonds), refined by Arri and forged by me, let’s see what performance this new material can achieve.”

Daevin struck the new material with the ‘Obsidian Hammer’ (a hammer made of obsidian).

A loud, piercing sound echoed, and a strong force was transmitted onto the new material resting on the anvil.

The new material did not chip or move an inch, remaining firmly in place.

“Oh, it’s a success!”

Charl’s eyes sparkled as she stared at the new material.

“Yes. At least in terms of hardness, it passed. The biggest problem is…”

Charl attempted to lift the new material, which was shaped like a rectangular brick, with both hands.

“Ungh, unghh…!”

Charl tried her best to lift the new material, but her strength wasn’t enough to budge it.

“It’s no good. I can’t lift it.”

“Yes, that’s the issue. We’ve achieved top-notch hardness, but it became too heavy. Even if we make weapons out of it, no one will be able to wield them…”

“Hey, how’s the development of the S-class weapon going?”

As the two were standing there with their arms crossed, deep in thought, Laurent entered the workshop.

“Oh, Laurent!”

“Laurent, we’ve just hit a wall, and we were hoping to get your advice.”

“Sure. What’s the problem?”

“I see. It’s definitely too heavy,” Laurent said as he attempted to lift it with Ranju. Even with both of them, they could only hold it up for a few seconds.

“It’s a real pain just to process this,” Ranju said, grimacing.

“Needing four or five people just to transport it makes it too costly.”

“Mass production seems impossible.”

“It’s doubtful if we could even make a profit with custom orders.”

“How much would we need?” Laurent asked.

“Let me see, just a moment,” Ranju said, spreading out some calculation sheets to make an estimate.

“To make a profit, we’d need to sell it for around ten million gold.”

“Hmm, that’s tough.”

“Cost is one issue,” Daevin interjected. “But I wonder if any adventurer could even handle a weapon this heavy…”

“Indeed. A weapon made from this material would require a base status of at least 100.”

“It really is a weapon for S-class adventurers.”

“Even the ‘Guardians of the Magic Tree’ wouldn’t buy this.”

“It’s not feasible.”

“Unfortunately, this new material will have to be shelved.”

“But I want to make a weapon with this material!” Charl whined.

“We can use it if we find another suitable application. This isn’t our only new material idea,” Daevin said, trying to calm her down.

“Humph,” Charl pouted, puffing out one cheek.

“Come on, Charl. It’s time for you to get back to your main job,” Ranju urged.

“Eh? But I still want to work on development with Daevin,” Charl protested.

“No. We have too much work piling up.”

“Humph.”

“I’ll be back tomorrow, Charl,” Daevin said soothingly.

“Okay,” Charl replied reluctantly, turning to work on her silvercraft.

Laurent continued appraising the new material.

(S-class adventurers… That means Jill might be a possibility. But even Jill wouldn’t be able to come up with ten million gold. There must be another way…)

* * *

“Agility Boost,” Rick chanted, and a green light enveloped Lerio’s body.

“Wow.”

“How does it feel?” Rick asked.

“I’m not sure, but I feel a bit lighter,” Lerio said, jumping vertically and running lightly in place.

“Yes, I’m definitely faster than usual.”

“Rick, do it on me too!” Marina pleaded.

“Hold on, I need to recover my mana first.”

“Here you go,” Marina said, pulling a magic cherry from her pocket.

“Oh, thanks… Ugh, sour. I still don’t like the taste,” Rick grimaced after eating the magic cherry.

“Rick! Hurry up and cast ‘Agility Boost’!” Marina urged.

“Hold on, don’t rush. ‘Agility Boost,'” Rick said, pointing his staff at Marina. A green light enveloped her as well.

“Wow. I feel so light! It’s like I could fly!” Marina exclaimed, spreading her arms like wings and running around much faster than usual.

Lerio decided to use ‘Status Appraisal’ on Marina.

Marina Faltuna

Agility: 60 (↑10) – 70 (↑10)

(I see. Marina’s usual agility of 50-60 has increased to 60-70. So this is the effect of ‘Agility Boost.’)

“Still, I never thought I’d be using support magic,” Rick said with a wry smile, looking at his staff.

“You wanted to be on the front lines,” Marina noted.

“Yeah, when Laurent told me to become a magic swordsman, I wasn’t sure how it would go. But I actually picked it up pretty easily,” Rick admitted.

“Laurent’s amazing. At first, I wondered why an appraiser was our leader…”

“Yeah, his training is different from anything at the academy.”

“In any case, it’s helpful. We can finish Laurent’s assignments quickly with this,” Lerio said.

“Absolutely. With this, completing the tasks is a breeze!” Marina added.

“Well, maybe not a breeze, but…”

“You never know. I’m growing rapidly. If I continue to improve my ‘Agility Boost’ skill, it might just be possible…”

Rick gripped his staff tightly with both hands, a confident and ambitious smile spreading across his face. He was fully on board now.

“Rick, can you cast support magic on yourself?” Marina asked.

“Ah, good idea. Let me try it on myself… Uh,” Rick said, suddenly holding the back of his head in pain.

“Rick?”

“What’s wrong!?”

“I don’t know. It’s hard to draw out my mana… Strange. I just ate a magic cherry,” Rick said, puzzled.

“Hold on. I’ll check your status,” Lerio said, using ‘Status Appraisal’ on Rick.

Rick Dyer

Mana: 1-30

(I see. His mana’s minimum value is 1. It’s a sign his stats are depleted. Until he naturally recovers, replenishing mana won’t help… Ugh,) Lerio thought, feeling dizzy himself.

“What’s wrong, Lerio? Do you need a magic cherry?” Marina asked.

“No, I think this is probably…”

“Rick, Lerio, Marina. So this is where you were,” Laurent said, appearing.

“Oh, Laurent.”

“Hmm, all three of you are running low on mana,” Laurent noted.

(‘Status Appraisal’… He’s incredibly fast,) Lerio marveled at Laurent’s speed in assessing their statuses instantly.

“Huh? Now that you mention it, I’m starting to feel weak too,” Marina said, collapsing to her hands and knees on the ground.

Items—equipment, ores, potions, and more—spilled from her item bag.

Lerio and Rick hurriedly picked up the fallen items.

“All three of you, don’t overuse your newly acquired skills until you get used to them,” Laurent advised while helping gather the scattered items.

“Sorry for making you help us,” Marina apologized.

“It’s fine, no problem. But Lerio, come to my tent after this,” Laurent instructed.

Lerio followed Laurent to the captain’s tent, while Rick and Marina watched curiously.

“Hey, hasn’t he been called by Laurent a lot recently?” Rick wondered.

“Yeah, it seems to have something to do with Lerio’s skills,” Marina replied.

“Skills… What could it be about?” Rick and Marina pondered, scratching their heads.

“Here’s the data from today’s status appraisals,” Lerio said, handing Laurent a sheet of paper with recorded stats.

“Hmm, let’s see,” Laurent said, checking the numbers for Rick and Marina.

(As expected, the areas they hadn’t been focusing on are improving quickly. They all have extraordinary growth potential.)

(I feel bad, keeping this from the others,) Lerio thought. Though he was carrying out Laurent’s orders, he found the task distasteful.

“The maximum mana for Rick has reached 30, and for Marina, it has reached 80. Hmm, it seems we’re ready to move to the next stage,” Laurent remarked after reviewing all the numbers. He then turned to Lerio.

“Thanks, Lerio. It’s quite tough to appraise everyone’s status by myself.”

“Yeah,” Lerio replied, feeling a bit uncertain.

(Am I going to be stuck doing odd jobs like this? I want to be an adventurer…)

“Alright, Lerio. Gather everyone at the entrance of the fortress,” Laurent instructed.

Lerio ran around, passing Laurent’s summoning order to the members of ‘Guardians of the Magic Tree.’ The members, puzzled by the sudden assembly, stopped what they were doing and gathered before Laurent.

“From today, we’ll be training in unit operations, not individual tasks,” Laurent announced.

(Unit operations…)

Rick and the others tensed up. They were finally going to participate in dungeon attack training with the main forces.

Though their dungeon management usually didn’t involve monster-related quests, there was one quest that involved unit operations training: the Carrion Ghoul Extermination Quest.

Ghouls, which scavenged the corpses of humans, animals, and monsters, didn’t pose a threat to living humans and thus weren’t typically the target of extermination requests. However, they were perfect for unit operations training.

Ghouls typically moved in groups of five, making them ideal opponents for basic five-member squad training.

Additionally, ghouls had a habit of collecting shiny objects, often hoarding treasures in their nests.

“With the completion of the city walls and roads and the conclusion of the alchemists’ support, we’ll now focus on ghoul extermination quests. Ghouls move in groups and cannot be defeated without team coordination. Each of you should demonstrate your individual skills while also improving teamwork,” Laurent explained.

The participants in the dungeon management project felt a surge of tension. They understood that this quest was different from their previous training. It was a selection process for the main unit in the next dungeon attack.

“First, we’ll divide into squads. The first squad will be led by Monica, with Ryan, Gareth…, the second squad will be led by Shaqma, with Rick, Elmo…, and the third squad will be led by Euphene, with Marina…,” Laurent continued.

Euphene carefully considered the implications of Laurent’s squad assignments.

(Essentially, he’s placing the rookies in the ace’s squad to stimulate each other. But what about Lerio?)

“Um, Laurent, what about me?” Lerio hesitantly asked, noticing he hadn’t been called yet.

“Lerio, you’re going to be a squad leader. You’ll command the sixth squad.”

“What!?”

(Commander? Lerio?)

Euphene raised an eyebrow, and Rick was equally astonished.

(What, Lerio as a commander? When did that happen?)

A buzz of murmurs spread through the ranks.

“Wow, he’s been made a commander of a squad unit.”

“Yeah, but is it really okay to make a rookie a commander?”

“Um, Laurent, isn’t it a bit risky to make a newbie the commander?” Monica voiced the concern that many were feeling.

“Why do you think so?” Laurent inquired calmly.

“Lerio just graduated from the academy and hasn’t had much experience in actual dungeon squad operations…”

“Monica, I’m not giving Lerio any special treatment. I’m assigning roles based on individual aptitudes.”

“I see…”

“Lerio will be the squad leader. That’s final. Understood?”

“If you say so, Laurent…”

Reluctantly, Monica backed down.

“All right, make sure each squad is prepared for the quest. Let me know when you’re ready,” Lerio said timidly, glancing toward where everyone was.

As expected, he was met with sharp glares.

(Ugh, these stares are painful.)

Rick wore a dissatisfied expression.

Euphene looked displeased as she glanced at Lerio.

Shaqma burned with a sense of rivalry.

All three of them aspired to be squad leaders.

(This is tough. Being subjected to this pressure all of a sudden. Couldn’t Laurent have been a bit more considerate?)

“The quota for each squad is to conquer five ghoul nests. Each squad should strive to acquire items eagerly. Now, go!”

With Laurent’s command, each squad hurriedly headed toward the ghoul nests.

(Really, Laurent should know better.)

Euphene muttered under her breath as she hastened forward.

(Even though he said Shaqma and I could be squad leaders, he blatantly favors that newbie. Fine. I’ll prove during this quest that I’m more suitable to be a leader.)

Rick also struggled as he joined the squad’s actions.

(Damn it. Why? Why was Lerio chosen as a squad leader? I’ve cleared Laurent’s tasks just like Lerio has. No, if it’s just about stats, I should have a higher growth rate.)

Shaqma blazed with determination.

(This is a test to select new squad leader candidates, I understand Mr. Laurent’s intention)

And so, the Ghoul Extermination Quest began.

When weapons were struck in front of the den, a horde of ghouls crawled out.

Spotting the enemies, Lerio activated Status Appraisal.

(“Status Appraisal” activated!)

In Lerio’s eyes, along with the monsters’ appearance, their stats were displayed.

Even if they looked the same, each individual monster had different stats.

Some had high power, toughness, or agility.

Conversely, others had low power, toughness, or agility, which was evident through Status Appraisal.

(So, “Status Appraisal” can be used like this)

“Marcus, take care of the rightmost enemy. Nicola, handle the one in the middle. Celeste, focus on the second from the left. I’ll take on the leftmost enemy.”

Lerio assigned shield bearers to strong attackers, high attackers to those with low defense, and engaged agile monsters himself.

Lerio’s squad emerged victorious from the battle.

He collected the loot and returned to Laurent.

“Mr. Laurent, the second nest has been secured.”

“Hmm, well done. Shall we proceed to this nest next?”

Laurent pointed to a location on the map.

“Yes.”

(Phew. I was worried about being suddenly appointed as a commander, but somehow, things are working out.)

Lerio breathed a sigh of relief.

Laurent appraised Lerio’s status.

Lerio Santana

Command: 50-60

(Command: 50-60. Did he learn how to use Status Appraisal and drastically improve his command ability? But it’s still not enough.)

“Lerio, the next ghouls are of intermediate level. It’s different from before, so stay sharp.”

“Yes.”

The sixth squad struck their weapons in front of a noticeably larger hole than before.

The horde of ghouls emerged.

Lerio activated Status Appraisal as usual.

Strength: 70-80

Endurance: 50-70

Agility: 50-80

(What!? All base stats are over 50? There are no obvious weaknesses…)

With the current strength, they couldn’t win.

(What should I do?)

“What’s wrong, Lerio?”

“Give me instructions.”

The members of the unit asked for instructions.

(Even if they ask for instructions… what should I do with this?)

“Damn it. Marcus, take the leftmost enemy. Nick, handle the one in the middle.”

Lerio gave instructions, trying to leverage their advantageous stats as much as possible.

However, unable to withstand or defeat the enemy’s attacks, Lerio’s unit quickly depleted.

“It’s no good. At this rate, we’ll be wiped out.”

“Let’s temporarily recover with potions.”

Though the unit managed to win the battle somehow, they ended up consuming potions more than expected.

“We’ve used up 10 potions?”

“…Sorry.”

“The number of potions we can provide per day is limited. We need to fight with a lower consumption rate to sustain.”

(But even if you say that, with the enemy’s stats being what they are, there’s not much we can do.)

“We’ll face enemies of similar strength next time. Be prepared.”

“…Yes.”

Lerio’s unit went into battle again but struggled once more.

(Damn it. What should I do with this unit?)

While desperately commanding the crumbling unit, Lerio cursed inwardly.

“We’re in trouble. We’re running out of potions, Captain.”

“What should we do, Captain?”

“Ugh, what can we do…”

(Is this level too much all of a sudden?)

Watching Lerio’s struggle from atop a small hill, Laurent was torn about whether to help or not.

As the situation continued to deteriorate, it seemed like the unit was on the verge of collapse.

(No choice. I have to help.)

“Shaqma, go help Lerio’s unit.”

“Yes.”

(This is my chance.)

Rick, who belonged to Shaqma’s unit, secretly rejoiced at this opportunity.

(If I can demonstrate my strength to Laurent here, the evaluation should turn around in one fell swoop.)

Rick eagerly rushed to assist Lerio.

“Step back. I’ll take the front as the shield.”

Rick replaced a struggling frontline member and stood at the forefront.

Facing two monsters, he endured their attacks and stood firm.

“Wow!”

“That Rick guy, he’s really something!”

(My toughness has already surpassed 70. I can withstand attacks like this.)

“Uoooah!”

Not only did Rick endure the attacks, but he also countered.

Furthermore, he cast the “Agility Boost” spell on himself and pursued the enemy.

The enemies were effortlessly scattered.

“How about that! Did you see that?”

Rick struck a triumphant pose and let out a roar.

“That was close.”

“Yeah, it was touch and go there.”

(Phew. Somehow we made it.)

Lerio breathed a sigh of relief, having narrowly escaped from danger.

At the same time, he felt a complex mixture of emotions.

(If anything, Rick seems more suited for a leader. He takes the forefront and boosts the morale of his allies… He’s definitely more suited than me. Sigh.)

In the end, Lerio’s team was the only one that couldn’t achieve the quota for the day.

That night, Lerio came to Laurent to plead his case.

“What’s up? What do you want to talk about?”

“Um, I’ve been thinking about stepping down from the commander training… There are other things I’d rather do.”

“Other things?”

“Yes. I want to train my strength like Monica-san and become proficient in wielding the ‘Silver Iron-Breaking Bow’.”

(Ah, I see. So that’s how it is.)

Laurent pondered.

(Even if he trains his strength to the limit, his strength power will still be capped at 70-80. No matter how much he trains, he won’t match up to Monica.)

Laurent thought so inwardly but decided not to voice it.

“Lerio, Monica has already established an absolute position as a firepower archer. While there’s room for you to train your strength, you won’t catch up to Monica’s power by the next dungeon.”

“But…”

“I don’t intend to include a half-baked firepower archer in the main force right now.”

“… ”

“You have potential in your leadership skills. How about giving it a little more challenge?”

“Um, Laurent-san, may I have a moment?”

Monica arrived to speak to Laurent.

“Ah, Lerio. Sorry, we’ll have to talk about this another time.”

Lerio reluctantly backed down.

For Laurent, not being able to spend time with Lerio was difficult.

(Sorry, Lerio. I really want to invest time in your development, but I can’t favor you over Monica.)

It was obvious that if he only paid attention to the new recruits, the ace would become disgruntled.

It would be detrimental if the ace faltered while nurturing the newcomers.

(The difficulty of dealing with newcomers. They’re exposed to competition with existing strong members, unlike Monica and the others who joined the squad from scratch. But I can’t prioritize your development over Monica’s consultation. Please do your best on your own somehow.)

(Damn it. More enemies with stats over 50.)

Lerio clicked his tongue as he appraised the ghoul’s stats.

Once again, Lerio’s squad encountered formidable enemies.

(…What should I do?)

Lerio desperately tried to come up with a plan, but he couldn’t find an answer.

No matter how he thought about it, it seemed inevitable that the squad would suffer depletion and defeat.

Furthermore, Laurent had prohibited excessive use of potions.

(I can’t rely on Rick’s help again…)

Lerio’s anxiety spread to the squad.

“Hey, Lerio. What are we going to do?”

“The enemies look tough.”

“What’s the plan? Hey, Lerio!”

Lerio ground his teeth.

(Damn it. I can’t take this anymore.)

“We’re retreating.”

“What?”

“With our current strength, we can’t match the enemy. So we’re retreating.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Our achievements are already behind compared to other squads…”

“The enemy is closing in on us!”

“Just retreat! I’ll cover the withdrawal.”

Lerio stood at the rear of the squad, using his arrows to deter the pursuing ghouls.

(Huh?)

As Lerio retreated and shot his bow repeatedly, he felt something was off.

(The enemy’s pursuit is slow?)

Despite some monsters having high agility, they weren’t pursuing at full speed, deliberately slowing down to follow them.

(Why? If they chased at full speed, it would be an opportunity to attack… Wait a minute.)

Lerio appraised their stats.

As expected, the monsters’ agility varied.

(I see… If they run at full speed, they’ll end up isolated, perfect prey for individual defeat. So they need to run at the speed of the slowest ally to avoid getting scattered.)

Afterward, the monsters failed to catch up, becoming easy targets for Lerio’s arrows.

In the end, the monsters gave up pursuit and retreated.

“What’s this? The monsters, they’re retreating.”

“We won… right?”

(I see. So this is another way to fight…)

(You noticed. Tactical retreat.)

Observing Lerio’s battle from a distance, Laurent didn’t miss the clear signs of growth in the rookie commander.

(Ghouls lack long-range attack capabilities. So if the enemy pursues a retreat, they can’t engage in ranged combat. In other words, tactical retreat is effective. Assuming there were agile archers…)

(If the enemy can’t counter our tactical retreat… wait a minute.)

In the next battle, Lerio built a formation based on retreat as the premise.

Placing shield-bearers at the back and agile swordsmen at the front deliberately.

Attacking the most agile enemy first and then retreating.

If the enemy pursued aggressively, they’d be picked off one by one.

If they retreated, Lerio’s squad would give chase.

Lerio’s squad brilliantly defeated enemies with higher stats.

(Done. We can defeat the enemy.)

(Being a commander isn’t just about bravely leading from the front. It’s also about preparing for contingencies and judging the timing of retreats. That’s the true quality required of a commander.)

(Even if facing stronger enemies, can my command skills overcome the stat difference?)

(Different from high firepower archers like Monica, a commander with high command skills. At this rate, I might become something by the next dungeon appearance.)

When Laurent appraised Lerio’s stats, his command was at 50-80.