[The previous translator went incognito… she disappeared without even asking for payroll. This new one isn’t as skilled but is a bit cheaper, which will allow for a more skilled editor. We’re already stockpiling chapters, and the new editor will join soon (editors are a lot easier to hire). It’s good news that this translator is much quicker than the previous one. We’re not quite big enough yet to have binding employment contracts… rip this series is cursed. There’s some choppiness and misuses of tenses in this chapter, though it should be minimal. (Dec. 5)]

Evan D. Sherden, Discovering the Witch (3)

The next morning, Evan left the village with all the Dungeon Knights.

A guide sent by Ctheasil saw them out to the vicinity of the barrier exit since it was impossible to enter the village or leave the village without a guide who knew the way.

“Then, I will be waiting here at noon a week later, as you just said. Please come back by then.”

“Okay.”

Evan muttered as he stared at the guide, who politely bowed his head, turned around, and went back into the barrier.

“This is something I thought of yesterday. Isn’t the male ratio too high for a witch village?”

“I am curious about their relationship.”

“Probably polyandry, right?”

While the members made their guesses, Belois raised her red eyes and gazed over the barrier. Soon after, she nodded as if she understood something, and then grabbed Evan’s sleeve.

“Let’s go, Master Evan.”

“Alright.”

It was obvious that Belois noticed something, but he didn’t ask her. If it becomes clear to her, Belois would voluntarily speak about it, and in fact, Evan had his theories too.

“You know, Evan.”

Serena, who needlessly had a keen sense, came up to Evan and asked vaguely.

“There’s more, right?”

“Well, probably.”

Evan replied vaguely and smiled. He raised the map high, ignoring Serena’s dissatisfied expression, and declared, pointing to the nearest point from here.

“Then, let’s start hunting some Devil Rune!”

“Stop right now! Searching for traps is the basics of the basics!”

“Argh, sorry!”

“Melson, forward!”

“Yessir!”

It was an excellent decision to bring the members of the Dungeon Knights into the western region dungeon.

Because there was no other place better to train guys who have been only familiar with the Sherden Dungeon.

There was no environment like this.

“Your left is vulnerable. If you only focus on what’s in front of you, your comrades are going down. If they’re down, then it will be you next!”

“I’m sorry!”

“Allocate your stamina. It is difficult to level up outside dungeons. You have no choice but to manage your fatigue from the battle! From now on, you guys are going to decide when to take a break from a battle.”

Looking back at the conversations Evan had with Ctheasil, it seemed as if Evan would wipe out the Devil Rune monsters head-on. But in reality, it was different.

Securing the Devil Runes is also important, but the training of the members is equally—no—it was more important than that.

It would be fruitless if they couldn’t even do tactical training when they finally entered a dungeon that suited their level.

“Don’t compete with your comrades. Focus on how much you can accomplish as a team by working together as a team!

“Yessir!”

“Jhin, be meticulous in your mapping. There’s no room for error. When you enter the dungeon by yourselves, your decision is going to save or kill the Knights members.”

“I will keep that in mind!”

Evan was aware of most of the dungeons they would be challenging during this expedition.

And close to 70% of them, excluding the Devil Rune monsters that could appear from anywhere, would get defeated by even the lowest level member!

Therefore, he left all of the combat and scouting to other members just like he did in the first dungeon, Molene Dungeon.

People would be shocked if they found out the crudeness of placing ten-year-old children in charge of conquering dungeons, but Evan didn’t hesitate in this at all.

Evan knew of the new race children’s (Rookies) physical and mental capabilities and trusted them.

“Good, everyone’s doing well. It seems there are no Devil Rune Monsters in this dungeon except in the Boss’ Chamber. Let’s move ahead.”

“Yessir!”

But he constantly looked out for Devil Rune monsters from behind, and corrected the members whenever he saw a shortcoming.

Maybe it was because they were young children; their learning rate was so fast that Evan had very few to correct as time passed.

“Break is over!”

“Melson, scout the area. My 3 o’clock looks suspicious.”

“Got it!”

As the members of the first squad were excluded from conquering the dungeon, Jhin naturally became in charge of the second squad. Jhin’s broad vision and quick judgment made him a great leader.

Jhin had some flaws, such as his hot-tempered and aggressive personality and not being polite to anyone other than Evan. Still, nonetheless, he clearly had the qualities of a leader.

Above all, the strong determination to perfectly complete Evan’s missions gave him the ability to deliver instructions that seemed to give him the ability to act beyond his age.

“Jhin, I see a lot of traps.”

“Prepare for battle! Melson, only remove the visible traps and return to us! Paul, prepare the barrier!”

“Prepare for battle!”

“Got it!”

If they had the right leader, the party’s strength would surely follow.

At first, the other children who were not used to being instructed by other members didn’t follow well. But after a few days, everyone was fluidly moving according to Jhin’s order.

Should one say that it was truly impressive that Jhin had such charisma to lead the party in just a few days successfully? Or should they say that it was truly impressive that the children had a great mindset to quickly adapt and learn how to depend on fellow comrades?

It was probably both.

“Clear! Anyone injured?”

“No!”

“Then let’s move on to the next section! Start scouting!”

“Ummm……I think they’re at a point where they could enter the Sherden Dungeon by themselves.”

Evan mumbled happily while looking at the children who had become accustomed to the changing dungeon environment, monsters, tactical instructions, and showing a level of expertise.

Members who have now leveled up to at least Dungeon Level 26, were all combatants at least as strong as the Silk Line Elite Knights, regardless of how young they were.

And all of the dungeon’s regular monsters, not the Devil Rune monster, were cleared off by them.

“The dungeon level is probably the same, and even if their Existence Level went up, it wouldn’t make much difference, but they have changed so much in such a short time. They’re still young children, but…”

“It was actually possible for them to advance so quickly because they were so young. Maybe it would’ve been better if we brought them earlier?”

“No, I don’t think so.”

“Hmm, okay.”

No matter how fast the children’s growth was, it would have been pointless if they lacked foundation. Raising the dungeon level in the Sherden Dungeon was the process of forming that foundation.

“Master, I feel it.”

“Okay.”

While Evan was having a conversation with Raihan, Belois spoke quickly.

At that moment, Evan raised his hand to stop everyone. It was a signal that a Devil Rune monster appeared.

“There is a Devil Rune monster nearby. Everyone, quickly finish off the monsters you are fighting right now and stay behind Raihan.”

“Yessir!”

The first squad members, who had nothing to do except to observe the second squad, finally were having their turn. If proceeding to the regular dungeon was for the training of the second squad, the Boss battle was for the training of the first squad!

If possible, he would like the second squad to handle it, but the elite boss monsters, who have become stronger by the Devil Rune’s power, were too strong for the children to fight against.

“What are we doing? Can I fight it?”

“You alone? Ummm… I feel like it might be tough to do by yourself.”

“But I still want to try fighting it alone, can’t I?

Maybe Serena was motivated by the other members’ achievements. She laid her hands on her pumped chest and looked up at Evan.

Evan was curious where she learned to pose like that but still sternly spoke.

“Still, you can’t fight by yourself. If you really want to fight by yourself, I’ll put Shine to back you up. So that as soon as it becomes dangerous, he is there to intervene.”

“Alright, Master Evan.”

“Hey, I’m more advanced than I was a minute ago! Take a closer look!”

Evan smiled bitterly as he watched Serena grab the tip of her twin tail and play with it.

Everybody acknowledged Serena’s talent of being able to comfortably control three elite slimes.

Starting from scouting, aiding, defending, and many other ways to attack, she was a jack of all trades, but Evan still wasn’t sure if she could take on the Devil Rune monster by herself.

‘She is good in all parts, but she isn’t particularly strong in any specific area.’

For example, Shine was an assassin who excelled in speed and devastating strikes. Belois was a mage who could cast devastating magic from afar and eliminate the enemy. Raihan had no attack attributes but was an invincible tanker who could endure any attack. Arisha was a well-balanced vanguard who had ample defense, movement speed, and attack power.

However, Serena didn’t really have something that popped out. She would, of course, be a flawless jack of all trades if she would continue to train for more time…

‘If I had to pick out one flaw, it would probably be magic power. She would be much stronger if she could tame a monster specialized in offense.’

This intention had already been conveyed to Serena before.

However, Serena adamantly declared to Evan, who recommended taming a new monster, that she had no intention of taming a monster who did not meet her aesthetic requirements. It wasn’t something that should be rushed, so Evan told her to think it over and left it at that.

‘The characteristic of tamer is not just about efficiency, it’s also about having the right fit, so I can’t just barge in.’

Even in the game, taming skills were as tricky as they get. The monsters that you could tame would depend on the tamer’s level and status and also change with so which makes it really hard to control the skill.

Serena would be considered extremely lucky to find elite slime that had the right fit for her as soon as she became a tamer.

“Shine, nice!”

[Witch…]

“Huh?”

Evan, who had fallen into deep thoughts about the monster tamer, looked up, and all of a sudden, there was a huge bird-shaped monster lying on the floor.

From the looks of Shine holding a bloody dagger near its neck, he probably had already delivered the finishing blow.

“You killed it already?”

“Well, it was a difficult enemy to defend with the slimes because the enemy was specialized in its attack power. But that meant there were more openings, so it was easy to kill.”

On the ground, Lin and Lan were rushing to heal the slimes, which were on the verge of dissipating and dying. Serena also helped to heal them with the exclusive skill ‘Tamer Healing’, which healed tamed monsters.

As Evan shrugged, looking at them and the dead bird-like creature, Belois explained calmly.

“It all happened very fast. The moment the third slime was attacked, spewing fluid, obscuring its view, Shine gave the devastating strike he had been preparing.”

Even if it was a monster specialized in attack and had a poor defense, it didn’t change the fact it was a Devil Rune.

Just like how Evan became stronger, Shine became extremely strong after learning the skill from his last duel with Leo.

“There’s no miracles or just pure luck…”

“I told you it was a stretch.”

Evan stroked Serena’s head. Serena seemed depressed, holding Ruby in her arms, which was hurt and bruised in the battle. Luckily, that was enough to relieve Serena somewhat.

“It’s good to know about your shortcomings and ask for help from a comrade. That’s why you have comrades.”

“Right…! But if Louis comes out, I think I can take it out myself.”

“You’ve already named the slime that will pop up next. I’m relieved that you are as expected, but…”

Evan bitterly smiled as he saw Serena talking nonsense, gazing at the Miraseul’s necklace on her chest. Then he recovered the Devil Rune onto his boots.

Was it because he had absorbed the Devil Runes from dozens of dungeons over the past few days? The Devil Rune’s countless fragments were crunching together and were drawing a geometric pattern that could not be grasped.

“It’s still not enough yet when we gathered so much?”

“Yes, it was too much to extract in its original form. But we are gathering plenty of seeds of possibility. Now, I only have to interpret it in my own way and process it.”

“Isn’t that the most difficult part?”

“It’s the most fun process.”

Evan responded with a smile and skillfully concealed the evil energy of the boots.

The magic that hides the evil energy was taught by Evan’s mother, Marquess Redine! Unless Evan lets its energy out, nobody would be able to detect it. Not even the witch Ctheasil.

“How many days do we have left from the week?”

“Three days left.”

“Okay… It’s just the right timing.”

While having his boots on, Evan tapped it on the ground to see if there was anything different and then turned to his party and ordered.

“Shine, from here on, lead the junior squad and conquer the dungeons that I tell you.”

By junior, he meant all other members other than the first squad members. He thought it would be better than calling them as a second squad.

“Attack the dungeons that I tell you to.”

“We’re this far in and dividing into squads?!”

Evan didn’t hesitate to say yes to Shine, who was clearly shocked.

“Yes, because I was able to verify the potential of the junior squad and your abilities from this dungeon. And, you can retrieve the Devil Rune with your Scimitar, right? Be sure to get all of them.”

“Ah, okay.”

“And the senior squad, with the exception of Shine, will follow me. We’re going to the dungeons that are too tough for the junior squad.”

Among them were dungeons where you can get the Evil Origin and the Grass of Innocence—materials for the Elixir.

With the power of these members, it wouldn’t be a problem to conquer the remaining dungeons. The Dungeon Knights that Evan trained were that powerful for him to have such certainty.

“If that’s the case, Master, then…”

“Yes, you’re right.”

Evan grinned as he checked the map that he got from the witch.

Although Evan didn’t rush since he wanted to train the children, the map was already marked more than half as completed.

“I’m planning to finish it within the remaining three days. We would be sorry if we have her waiting.”

“Of course.”

No matter how high Ctheasil valued Evan’s talents, she would not have imagined that he would completely hunt down all Devil Rune monsters in the region.

Unless she knew the true powers of Evan and the Dungeon Knights…

“I’m looking forward to seeing how thrilled Ctheasil will be, right?”

Evan laughed naively and said so, but no one accepted the words as is. Anyone who knew Evan knew that he had some other agenda.

After leaving the dungeon and taking a short break, the party split into two and started the second half of conquering the western dungeons.