Chapter 421: Mission Recruitment II

Octavia and everyone else knew exactly how Claire operated. They had seen enough to know exactly when to give the soldiers breaks and when not to. Because of that, the number of people who were injured during regular training was actually close to zero. Sparring was a completely different matter, though.

Due to this lack of injuries, Hugo had actually forced the people in his healing group to train alongside the other knights.

His policy was pretty simple: medics shouldn’t be helpless in real fights. They had to be able to hold their ground and they had to be stronger than the regular knights or closer to their level. He would only accept the strongest into his group, so having weaklings was a strict no. Exceptions would be made for those who had powerful blessings related to recovery and healing, of course, but until now there had been none.

Hugo and the rest continued their training while Adrian just sat quietly on a bench and watched them until it was finally lunchtime.

When they all began to gather for lunch, making a huge line as they grabbed their food from the long wooden tables placed on the edge of the camp, Adrian finally stood up and walked over to the five teens.

"I am going to go to a different continent soon," Adrian said bluntly. "There is this faction which is similar to a Magic Academy, but much, much stronger. They have the power to basically topple an entire empire if they wanted to. They gave me a mission and I am allowed to take a few people with me. I want you guys to come."

He looked at them. "Are you interested?"

All five of them nodded instantly.

Adrian looked at Hugo. "Unfortunately, due to the limit on how many people I can take, I can only take you since you are one of the best healers here. I cannot bring your entire medical squad. But do not worry, I will keep you solely as a healer. You do not have to fight unless it is absolutely necessary."

Hugo nodded firmly.

Adrian paused and did a quick headcount in his head.

’Okay, these five make five. I am six, Aria is seven, Claire and Serena is nine. Now I cannot really take both the S-rank knights, so this is not really good.’

He thought about it for a bit.

"Okay, let’s do this. I will come back to you guys later," he said, turning around and heading back to the bench.

He sat down and sighed.

’Okay, I am dumb for not thinking this through properly. I had so much time and I kind of just wasn’t really thinking about this.’

He shrugged to himself.

’Well, I guess it is a fair fact that I couldn’t think straight because of those two. How could I even think about logistics when I am with them?’

He mentally started counting again.

’Okay, first is going to be me, Aria, Claire, and Serena. So that is four. The two S-rank knights are a hundred percent necessary since they’re basically powerhouses and I need them to protect Aria. So that makes six.’

He rubbed his chin.

’Yeah, I can take Draven and his wife. She is an A-rank knight, and Draven is a B-rank knight. So those two are a really good option. So that is eight total. I need two more slots. Who else do I have?’

He thought about it for a while. He recalled Lorcan, who was extremely capable, but he was a mage. Mages usually didn’t do great on this specific continent due to the mana properties based on what the elder had said. The only reason Adrian told the Elder that he was going to take mages was specifically for Aria and Serena’s sake. Everyone else needed to basically be knights.

Of course, he could always just use dungeon door to bring his entire army to that continent but Adrian knew nothing about that continent. He didn’t know whether his skills would work or not.

"So two slots left," he muttered. "Okay, I will take Octavia. And we do need a healer just in case something bad happens. But having Vance is also a great option... wait, we don’t really have a dedicated healer besides Hugo, do we? Wait, Aria should be able to heal right? She’s a fourth circle mage after all."

He immediately got up from his bench and looked around the camp, but he couldn’t see Aria at all.

He recalled that Damien had specifically told him Aria was out here training. Seeing that she was nowhere to be found, he couldn’t help but panic.

He immediately ran back to the mansion. He burst through the doors and saw that Damien was still standing exactly where he left him.

Adrian looked at Damien, and all he felt right now was pure anxiety.

"I cannot find Aria in the training field!"

Damien just looked at him.

"Well, that took you a lot of time to realize, Papa."

Right in front of his eyes, Damien basically melted and transformed back into Aria.

Adrian just stared at her.

"Do you... do you really have that much fun making me feel scared?"

The fear hadn’t exactly dissipated yet, but now it was mixing heavily with frustration.

"Where is the real Damien?" he asked. The tone of his voice was so sharp that Aria flinched.

"I told Damien to hide in the kitchen," she said slowly, her voice soft and slightly hurt.

Adrian took a deep breath.

"Okay, so listen here Aria. Imagine you just keep doing these illusion pranks, right?"

Aria nodded slowly.

"Now what if one day you actually go missing? What if someone actually abducts you, but I am so used to your pranks that I just think it is another illusion? What if I just assume you are hiding somewhere and I do not even care to look? Do you think that is a good outcome?"