Growing the squad

"Hey Charles, you actually think we can take over an airship on our own?"

"Well, no, but we don't need to take on an airship on our own. All we need to do is wait for people to fight with each other, and then once they are tired from fighting, we can appear and take over!"

"Haha! That is a brilliant plan Charles!"

"Of course, who do you think thought of it"

…

Daron, who was nearby, nearly spat out blood from what this brat named Charles was saying. Just how shameless was this guy?

But that did not matter. The decided time finally came and Axel dashed towards the group of 5. Secretly circulating his Internal Energy to boost his speed without showing any signs of using the energy on the surface, Daron swiftly moved closer without anyone realising.

'This is a pretty useful ability to sneak up on enemies' Daron thought to himself as he finally appeared behind the child named Charles, and used his fist to flick the shit out of the dude, causing him to fall unconscious instantly.

Before the others could even realise what was happening, Daron his knocked out 3 more children, one by one, while the last one was handled by the collective efforts of the remaining knights, with the mages having done absolutely nothing.

"Tie them up"

…

A few minutes later, Charles and the rest were awoken by water being splashed onto their face.

"I will be frank with you guys. I need some people to fill up the numbers of my group. Be grateful for having been given this great opportunity to survive. Don't think of doing anything over than what I say, or else I will simply kill you all."

Just as Charles, who heard everything, was about to retort, Daron pulled out one of the people from their group, and with a casual grip, he broke the neck of the person, who was merely a night in training. The most useless person in Charles' group. The death of someone like this would not affect the combat power of the group, but it was enough to strike fear into the hearts of Charles and his little gang of 2 beginner apprentices and 1 Novice Knight.

Immediately, Charles shut his mouth, and began regretting not bringing along the Intermediate knights that his father had arranged to protect his life during the journey.

…

After releasing the group of 4 people and having them join into Daron's own forces, their numbers finally recovered to the double digits, but not nearly close to the maximum of 20.

But more importantly, Daron was able to gain some information about this place from Charles. It turned out that countless notable families within the three kingdoms, and those secret families which had inheritances from powerful mages, would participate in this journey, sending young beginner apprentices with potential, including their heirs.

They could naturally send over strong knights to protect their prodigies; however, this had a downside that these knights would not be allowed to enter the various organisations as part of the participants' power, but could only separately enter the organisation. On the other hand, you could send over other young apprentice mages and knights in training along with their participants, who would grow together with their successors and become their power in the future.

Charles was one such participant from a rather well-known family in the kingdom of Jose, but they had decided to try their luck and send a large portion of their younger generation with potential to various organisations. Charles was left with either selecting these few supporters, or take on the much stronger bodyguards, who would be able to protect him, but would not be able to help him once he reached the organisation.

'This guy is not that bad…'

'Although you are too arrogant, you are still able to think things through and analyse the situation properly. The decision you made was acceptable, but unfortunately for you, I exist. But that is fine.'

Daron called Charles over, who was still recovering from the mental shock of what was happening, and said,

"You can stay with me even after we reach whichever organisation we are going to reach."

This was another thing that he had learned.

For all those who were strong enough; this journey was nothing special. However, for those who were weak, like Charles' group, and his own group, this journey, especially the last two weeks, was essentially a game of roulette. Just finding an airship after being forced off your own was a difficult matter, making it nearly impossible to find the ship belonging to your own organisation.

It was like gambling with all the odds against you, and all you could do was hope the card you drew was a good one, hopefully leading you to a prosperous organisation.