Chapter LXXX - War Council (part 1)

The adventurers who stayed are Fran, Cane, Marksus, me, and two other team leaders who I guessed from another team. 

Actually, one of them is from Jrake's team, but since Jrake couldn't make it to tonight's meeting, so he will be the one to replace Jrake.

I'm actually the lowest ranking one, here. Aside from me, Jrake's friend and the other team leader is a Green ranked. Hod and Cane is Blue, while Fran and Marksus is Yellow. I'm the only Purple one, but I don't really mind.

I think most of the people at the table know who I am. I am the hidden White ranked adventurer in their midst.

Aside from the adventurers, there are Valon, Klane, and Armir the guy from the village. Valon commanded the boys to move the tables into forming a circle for the meeting, and we sat down on each side.

I sat next to Hod. On my right is Cane, and next to him is Jrake's assistant who sat next to Armir. Fran sat next to Hod, and next to her was the Green ranked team leader. Marksus sat next to the master, who sat next to Klane. 

Everyone else is seated, hence Valon started the meeting.

"Now, since it's a Yellow ranked dungeon, this might be quite difficult without a White ranked adventurer. However, Jonus is out doing missions just as important as this outside the kingdom, so we don't have much of a choice."

"What about the greatest magician?"

Fran asked from her side, but Valon shook his head.

"He belongs to Xyphon now. We can't ask him for help. This matter is for our kingdom only."

The greatest magician… he was a White ranked of the kingdom. For some reason, he went to Xyphon and became an important figure there as the headmaster of the magic academy.

I don't quite understand that part, but we definitely couldn't ask him for help.

"Then? What should we do?"

Marksus asked with the rather soft tone. Valon turned his gaze around the table, and came up with an answer.

"For now, let's pick a leader for this raid."

Oh dear... Leader choosing.

For everyone, the leader should be the highest ranking one, which is Fran and Marksus. 

But, the master had another idea that we all liked.

"I propose Hod as the leader."

"What?"

Valon suddenly chooses Hod, and Marksus quickly looks confused.

As expected from someone with his personality, Marksus definitely is the first person to react. Everyone else however, simply agrees.

"I'm sorry. Why did you choose… me?"

Hod seemed to be shocked himself. He had expected Fran to be the leader for this raid, since her rank is higher. He knew that Marksus couldn't be the leader since no one likes him.

But for him to be the leader, is…

"Hod. You are the best planner of all of us here. You're the one who planned the assassins federation raid, and that went successful."

That's right. Hod was the one who devised the plan to insert our most powerful explosive on their insides, which is Jonus. He was also the one who suggested most of the planning, like moving out the civilians as soon as Jonus entered.

Hod was the one who planned the raid, and he is also a great planner during our missions. The ones agreeing probably know about this as well, hence nobody spoke out.

"Alright. If you see it that way-"

"I advise a change."

Marksus suddenly spoke out. No one likes him, really, but he is overly confident.

"I can lead the raid. If the raid was given to a Blue rank like him, it might be difficult to run errands if he dies to a monster inside the dungeon."

"Yes, I know. That is why I'm suggesting Fran as the vice leader."

"What!?"

Marksus fell even further. Fran was the Yellow rank that everyone loves. I mean who doesn't like the name Swordsaint?

"… I guess I'm the vice."

Fran shook her shoulder and turned a grin to Hod. Hod noticed her smug, and let out a sigh.

On the other end of the table, someone is already sitting at the edge of their seat.

"Master-"

"This is all by voting, obviously. All of you who wish to pick Hod as the leader raise your hand."

Valon ignored Marksus and asked as he lifted his hand. Slowly, everyone lifted their hands...

Except for Marksus.

"… and those who agreed with Fran as the co leader?"

No one seemed to be lowering their hands. They all agreed.

Marksus felt defeated. He leaned his back on the chair with his arms folded. His expression says nothing else but his annoyance.

Valon ignored the fact that Marksus is sitting right next to him and turned to the blue haired man.

"Then, let's begin. Hod, after hearing the explanation from before, what do you suggest we do?"

Valon threw the question boldly at Hod. Such a question was so dumb, I would have asked for more information. But, Hod placed his hands on the table and started thinking like a supreme dictator.

There he goes…

Everyone who knows Hod immediately chuckled seeing the man thinking. I can see Fran also let out a chuckle, and the master is also letting him think.

After a while, Hod lifted two of his fingers up.

"We have two options. One, is that we lure them out of the dungeon and ambush them. Second, we waited until daylight, where the dungeon would stop producing more monsters and struck them inside the dungeon. Since dungeons stopped making monsters during the day, it might be the perfect opportunity to start an attack.

Both of these options require us to camp outside. So beforehand, we might have to clear out the area from any scouts.

We also need to evacuate the villagers, because if we fail the raid somehow, the monsters will continue to pour out. But I assume… the knights are already doing that?"

Hod asked Valon, and he nodded.

Everyone else listened to Hod's planning and had no problems with it, so Hod continued.

"Once either of these plans has been done, we will start taking down the dungeon. The Blue ranked group, led by me and Cane, will help the Yellow ranked group in removing all the hindrances. 

Once we have entered, there might be some groups of monsters inside the dungeon that was left and we didn't get to slay, so Jrake's group and Emlar's group will stay at the camp and guard the entrance."

So the name of that Green ranked guy is Emlar. Noted.

"Not just that. Their teams will also serve as backup. We shall keep communication on all the time, and when something terrible happens, I need you guys to send a team down.

We will secure a way to find the dungeon boss room, and since the dungeon is like a maze, we will split up into two teams for the search. Two is good, though we might miss out on a lot of parts of the dungeon, but at least we will be much safer when our teams work together. 

Fran and Cane, your teams will go together. My team will go with Marksus."

Wait… why does our team get to go with Marksus?

I turned my gaze to Marksus, and noticed he was quite surprised. He noticed my glare, and looked very annoyed. I simply showed a smug at him, making him even more annoyed.