Chapter 57: 52: Subordinates With Potential

If you’re operating in the blind then that’s the first thing you’re going to fix!

“Pythia!” you call out to the bird monster who looks amused by the whole speech situation. “You’re returning to Birdville at once! I want your troglodytes scouting every nearby town and village. And, most importantly, send some to the capital of Lignom—that’s where Xi should be. I need to know what awaits us there.”

“Birdville?” you hear some whispers between a few of your subordinates.

“Eh? They’re not some ravens or pigeons, you know?” Pythia frowns.

“You want to eat a certain bunny, correct?” you ask.

“Yes.”

“So, can they do it or not?”

“… Yes, of course, they can,” with hesitation Pythia acquiesces to your request.

“Good, leave at once! I’ll head to the—” you pause, realizing you don’t even know the name of the town your sister spoke of, what seems like forever ago. “Who can tell me the name of the nearest town with both an adventurer’s guild and a brothel?”

“A brothel?” Pythia raises her eyebrow with an amused smile. You don’t feel the need to explain yourself.

“Ranville,” Elza says.

“Right! Thank you!” you say and clear your throat. “Like I was saying, I’ll be going to Ranville. But I don’t want to attract attention, so I will only take a couple of people with me. Pythia, have one of your troglodytes inform me as soon as there is any news. I will also send some men for supplies there, so keep an eye on the routes between here and Birdville.”

“… Aye aye, boss!” Pythia salutes you and takes off. The ceiling in the hall is high enough for her rise into the air and glide to the archway that leads outside.

“Like I said, we’ll form a team to take supplies from Birdville to here. I’ll leave one of the bunny girls in charge of that,” you say to the others. “And while I’m gone, I will also have you fix this place up to make it more habitable. It’s something you all will benefit from. So just make it something you yourselves would want to live in.”

You look at the people gathered here, trying to measure them up. Very few among them have confidence beaming from their eyes like Elza or the bunnies.

“I want to know—is there anyone among you who can measure up to Chi’s bunnies or Elza in terms of fighting prowess?”

“Hercule!” several people say in unison.

“Besides him,” you say impatiently.

Silence.

“I-I beat Elza once at chess,” A scrawny looking guy with unkempt black hair and lazy eye raises his hand.

“I’m afraid I don’t plan to play chess where I’m going,” you say. “Any other special talents? Healing? Stealth? Infrared vision? Mind reading?”

“I once beat Gamma in a sun-staring contest!” A blonde girl with freckles on her face waves her hand.

You realize that this is not going to get you results. Even if someone did have a special talent, they probably don’t realize what is useful and what isn’t. And even you don’t know what exactly you might need. And you can’t have a small army following you everywhere, attracting unwanted attention. Preferably you’d speak with each of your new subordinates at length, get to know them, but that would take days. You look to the seven short goblins you rescued and ask, “How about you, goblins? Any among you a seasoned warrior?”

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“Surely you jest!” A reddish goblin with wrinkled skin speaks up with a frail voice. “We are but humble field workers. I doubt all seven of us together would pose a threat to beat a wolf.”

“But if you’re looking for vision,” the female goblin speaks up, “Musclebob is unrivaled! If it's for Lady Ariadne, we will do whatever it takes!”

“Oh?” you raise an eyebrow and look at the goblin that is the closest thing to an imposing figure that the goblins have to offer. “How good your sight is exactly?”

Musclebob tilts his body to the side, to look past you and says, “In that storage, I can see a watermelon next to the two red fruits and read what is carved into it. Someone died for that fruit.”

You look behind you, through the open door. There is no way you can read those carvings. The watermelon is over fifty yards from where you stand. You can only make out the small hellfruits, because you know you placed them there.

“Not bad,” you say as you turn back to Musclebob, “Assuming you didn’t read it beforehand. But I’m not sure your kind would be welcome in a town filled with adventurers.”

“What are you talking about!?” The female goblin shouts, putting hands on her hips. “Goblin craftsmen are well-respected, and rivaled by none! I would only ever expect to hear such hurtful things from one of those lizardmen!”

“Don’t bring up that now, Liliana,” The old goblin tries to calm her down.

"What are you saying Minknad—?" filled with anger, Liliana asks the old goblin.

“Enough!” you raise your hand, gesturing a stop to conversation. You’re not accustomed to racial allegiances in this world and will make sure not to make such a mistake in the future when it might actually matter. Then you feel your stomach move from hunger and blurt out, “Is anyone among you a decent cook?”

Why did you even ask? Sure, you’re getting sick of hellfruits at a rapid pace, but aren’t there more important things to worry about?

“Victoria can,” Elza says looking at the woman behind her. “At least she could, before...”

Oh, Table-san has a name after all? You cross your arms and ask her, “Can you speak for yourself or not, Victoria?”

“... Y-yes,” she whimpers.

“Can you prepare decent meals from what we have?”

She looks in the direction of the storage, hesitates, but then mutters, “Yes.”

Well, at least she’s not completely gone, you think and wonder who to bring with you on your journey.

“Alpha!” you wake up the dead-eyed bunny from her daze. “In a couple of words, do any of your bunnies have special abilities like Delta with her healing?”

“Gamma and Epsilon are decent interrogators, Beta can buff, Epsilon can debuff,” Alpha lists off the bunnies specialties in a short and sweet form, just like you asked.

"Decent?" Epsilon takes offense to that.

On your last successful expedition, you brought three people with you. That number hasn’t failed you thus far, so you decide to stick with it. After all, you're just going to search for potential allies and/or people with talent to coerce, bribe, kidnap or submit. You're not looking to start a war... yet.

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