The group went in to the fifth floor and then returned to the fourth to catch a breath several times and with each one of those trips, Billy became more certain that they needed some help… not actually help to fight the monsters but to do other miscellaneous things like gathering the materials and moving the corpses to places where they couldn't become a burden on battles. They were losing a lot of fighting power by leaving that in the hands of Billy…
Despite all that, they managed to kill more than fifteen hundred Aquatic beasts, so they achieved as much as Marie's old party. Not only that, they noticed that they got some terrain on the last floor, they had to walk for a while after defeating the first group of those creatures and to find the second and third. Basically, each group had five hundred of them.
"Tomorrow, we will need some help," Billy said. "We can't be bothered to worry about the corpses and the materials."
It also would be nice to have a battle support party, some guys that could keep the enemies at bay with long-ranged weapons would be nice. However, Billy didn't want to show their stuff to others that much. Marie was many things, but she wasn't one with a lousy mouth… probably.
"I suppose that is unavoidable," Kate said.
"Well, as long as we don't get other parties to fight alongside us it will be fine," Lily said. "We can't let strangers hog on our achievements."
Lily was more worried about their achievements, that was probably because her skill improved by leaps and bounds thanks to Fierce Aura. Nevertheless, she needed to be corrected before that attitude causes problems.
"It would be bad if people think that we only care about that," Sarah said.
"You are right… I got carried away," Lily said.
Billy didn't have to do that, so he felt thankful for it. Regardless, they left the dungeon while carrying three boxes filled with claws and fangs, so they certainly would have money to rent the services of some parties, the question was: who was willing to work with them. They certainly couldn't borrow Marie's assistance with her social skills, the other side would feel more coerced to help than work for it. Besides, they were strangers in that state, one of them caused a lot of trouble and bad rumors were circulating about him.
"Don't worry, I will handle this," Marie said. " For ten silver coins, any part wild do those tasks for you."
"I suppose I am going to talk with miss receptionist, she must have some skills since your guild didn't fall apart yet," Billy said.
"Didn't you hear what I said?" Marie asked, visibly annoyed.
"I will help Marie with that," Kate declared. "You stay away from that receptionist and work on recovering your mana."
"Yes, Mom," Billy said while laughing.
Leaving work in the hands of others wasn't so bad and Kate was a capable one, so Billy felt that it was fine. After selling the materials, Billy and the others left the guild and he noticed that he had some daylight. So, he decided to check the shop for magic items. While he wouldn't benefit much from having any other item that could give him automatic meditation, the others would, so he was looking for those.
"Making their weapons reach level twenty will take too much mana and even though I can increase their overall parameters as well, it would be too suspicious if they suddenly become more powerful thanks to those," Billy thought.
Billy found many items that used the orbs that the beetles had on that city, and their effects varied quite a lot, but he didn't find many magic items that were in his interest. Probably because most of those had been sold during the war. That being said, Billy found two bracers that had the same effects as his earring. So, he ended up buying them and decided to lend them to Alexander and Natalie. He couldn't equip them since he already had a pair of them, but he will be able to use them during training once he is at home.
"Speaking of which… I really need to learn the skill of that effect," Billy rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Since I already learned something as useful as Fierce Aura, then that should be possible."
In the end, the next day, Billy found some parties of adventurers outside the inn waiting for them. He thought that Kate would only hire some baggage carriers to carry the materials, but then Billy realized that they would need to know how to fight in case they had to return before them. Besides, some extra strength would mean that they could do more work than others.
As if she had read his thoughts, Kate had hired three parties of adventurers that used mostly, long-ranged weapons. She was counting on their support in case something happens. It would be enough if they could just buy them a few seconds on the fifth floor, Billy would be satisfied with just that.
Nevertheless, even though they didn't show much, the members of those parties frowned since everyone was talking with Billy as if he was the leader. He had the appearance to be the youngest and while he was growing lately, he still only had the same height as Lily, they were 1.65 meters tall. Sarah was five centimeters taller, and Natalie ten. Kate and Alexander both were 1.80 meters tall. Billy felt that it would be nice to break his old record, 1.70 meters tall…
Regardless, they entered the dungeon and then massacred all the monsters up to the third floor without giving them a chance to attack. For some reason, Marie didn't fight, but after thinking for a while, she was probably being considerate.. That was a plan to make those helpers spread rumors that it was indeed true that Billy's party didn't need her help.