CH 182

Fabian forgot the formalities in greeting the emperor and even made mistakes in his report. That unusual behavior drew a bewildered look from his vice-captain Decca. Even if he was a novice captain of an expedition corps, that did not stop others from clicking their tongues in quiet disapproval at seeing him do even worse than a newly established group.

“No matter how nervous he might be, to bumble so much like that…”

“There seems to be a limit to a commoner expedition corps, regardless of how many achievements they have made.”

“But it is not like the rest of the expedition leaders of common birth are like that, no?”

“Indeed. In my opinion, that man has little courage. It’s a wonder as to how he can close dungeons with that lack of mettle…”

Fabian’s performance this year wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t enough to cover up for all the mistakes he made. Even the emperor didn’t look happy with the way his beard twitched slightly. Regardless, there was nothing to be gained from antagonizing an expedition corps, no matter how weak it seemed to be. After all, who knew what would happen in the future? Not to mention, Fabian was a swordsman on top of being able to wield the mana of flames. That mana type was known to have the best offensive capability among mages.

In the end, the emperor overlooked Fabian’s mistakes. Although no one picked any faults with him outright, he had clearly lost points. Fabian’s ears turned so red that they couldn’t be distinguished from his hair. By the end of his report, he looked on the verge of blowing his top. I guessed he must’ve been aiming for a lot more in this second playthrough. He was bound to be unhappy at getting a result that wasn’t much different from the first. He probably thought he could close a bit more dungeons in this around… It wouldn’t have been easy for him to score any points, though. At least, not since I had swept up the dungeons in my bid to develop the special unit, taking away the opportunities for Fabian Corps to level up.

In the end, this was all but a butterfly effect. A consequence of the choice Fabian made.

A countless number of reports were made after that until finally, the last turn came to the Dark Knights. Our captain Mayer took a step forward before the emperor, and as the vice-captain, I moved by his side. It was my first time standing in front of everyone like this, and the unfamiliarity of it made my heart pound. I got the feeling that everyone was murmuring at the sight of my gray hair.

Mayer began speaking with an impassive face as if he was carrying out a tedious task for the umpteenth time. “The Dark Knights, reporting. Over the past year, we have closed two dungeons of level 60, nine of level 50, twenty-three of level 40, forty-seven of level 30, and seventy-three of level 20. That is all.”

The achievement was incomparable to that of the other expedition corps. The number of dungeons conquered alone without taking level into account was 154. The corps that did the best after the Dark Knights had barely closed over 100 dungeons. The comparison gave an idea of what a tremendous feat we had accomplished. Not to mention, our corps was the only one to have closed level 60 dungeons.

“Is that number even possible?”

“For the Dark Knights, probably. They’ve got the members, and all of them are incredibly skilled.”

Everyone gathered in the hall could not help but admire the achievement of the Dark Knights. I could hear quiet exclamations from all over the place. We certainly had closed an exceptional number of dungeons this time. That was mainly because I had worked the special unit to the bone, focusing on raiding level 20 and 30 dungeons. Even though the difficulty involved was low, the contribution we made couldn’t be called small. We had closed around 50 dungeons.

“The Dark Knights truly are a blessing to the empire!”