Culminating Tactics (2)

"Run, obviously."

"But, what if it's faster than you?"

"Well, theoretically, that might be a problem, but it's actually not. There aren't any monsters that are smaller and faster than me in the woods, so that just leaves the larger monsters. Due to the thick foliage, it's difficult for something like a Griffith to run in a straight line while I can just dodge between the trees to get away."

"I guess you have to be lucky…." Mikey says dejectedly. This rubs me the wrong way, and I feel myself getting angry again. I stop and twist my head around.

"Excuse me, what do you mean by lucky?"

"I mean, you have to be lucky to get enough bonus points that you can move that fast."

"I haven't used any bonus points." Technically I still have five points in various stats from my encounter with the Dracoterra, but it's hardly worth mentioning.

""What?"" Terry and Susan look shocked at my answer.

"What do you do before getting together to go hunting?" I direct my question to Susan, who has just entered the conversation.

"Get something to eat, maybe?"

"I go for a run, and after I'm done with that, I workout. I'm constantly working to improve my base stats." The air is silent. I'm curious, so I continue my line of questioning. "You said you heard the rumors about me earlier but have you heard about how I do laps around the town? How about the grueling training I do with Jezabel using equipment everyone at the guild has access to? Have you heard from Sampson all the time I spent sparring?"

"…"

"Maybe you all should stop feeling sorry for yourselves and put some effort into self-improvement. I don't know what that Finch person did, but it's in the past. You all need to move on."

"You heard about what he did?" Kerry asks.

"No, you just mentioned him earlier. I'm assuming he betrayed you or something. You all have decent equipment, which implies that you were making money at one point. What, did he rob you?"

"Kinda, Finch was the one who formed this party. He told us we should concentrate on getting him strong first, and then he'll help us level up. He even let us have a larger share of the money. Then one day, he just left."

"Interesting, so he took the long-term rewards while you all focused on the money. He took advantage of your greed. If you think about it, there isn't much benefit to leveling only one person. Having weaker people in your party can only hold you back. In my party, we always make sure to split the experience equally."

"What if someone steals a kill?" Kerry asks. She apparently got the worst of the betrayal because she only asks me about things like this. It's clear she has the most trust issues in the party. I'm even beginning to suspect that she and Finch were a package.

"If you're on a team with someone that would intentionally steal a kill, then you need to remove them from the team. Even if it does happen accidentally, you can always redistribute the experience after the next kill. If I were you, I would put down an ultimatum, if someone steals a kill, then they don't get any experience points for the next thirty days. If at any time during that period they kill a monster and take the experience points, then they will be kicked out." They all look stunned at my suggestion. "Obviously, I've never had this problem as experience points aren't very important in my team, but this is probably what I'd do if I were in your position."

I focus my gaze on Susan expectantly. As the leader of Blackfoot, she should be the one making this decision.

"I don't see any alternative. We'll adopt that policy for now." She follows through as I expected. Susan knows as well as anyone that their current situation is unsustainable. Without properly utilizing the strengths of everyone in the team, there's no way to make a proper living.

""Susan!?"" Terry and Kerry shout in unison.

"This is the best way to rebuild the team." She responds firmly.

"But, but–" Terry struggles to come up with a good argument.

"Don't think I haven't noticed how many kills you've been taking. You're always the first to jump in when we get into a fight. You know you're faster than everyone, so you try to take down the monster before we get there. If you don't like the new policy, then you can leave."

"…" Not having anything else to say, Terry quietly slides to the back of the formation.

"I'm glad to see everyone's motivated. Let's keep moving." I cut in with an overly enthusiastic tone to keep everyone moving. It's imperative that we don't stay in the same spot for too long. The light seeping through the leaves is almost at its peak. I wasn't expecting our hike to last such a long time, and I'd like to hurry things up. I'm a bit anxious because I haven't established communications with the kids yet today. I went for a run this morning and never came back, so Josh or Shinobu could be worried about me. I doubt Sakura would care much, but I'm sure she'll find a reason to be upset with me one way or another. I pick up the pace while heading for the nearest Punctastar hot spot.

"We're here." The only response I get is the sound of ragged breathing. It seems I pushed them a little too hard during the trek. "I'll show you how to take down one of these Punctastars, and then we'll head back."

"Wait, only one?" Mikey asks after recovering a bit.

"It'll be hard enough to get one back by yourselves. Any more than that, and you'll be vulnerable to attack. Remember, you don't have the stats to outrun much in the forest.

"We can just skin them or take the magic stones," Terry interjects.

"And end up exactly where you were when I met you. The problem is you're too focused on short-term gains. If you kill every Punctastar in this spot, what are you going to do when you need money again?"

"…"

"Exactly. Working as a team to carry one whole carcass back will help build your stats and make the supply of monsters last longer. Add running every day, and you should be able to safely navigate the forest in no time. It's not like you don't have any experience." I throw a little praise on top to keep them from arguing with the first half of my statement. If they argue against anything I said, then it'll be as if they also disagree with the compliment.

"I guess I see what you're saying." Terry finally responds after a moment's hesitation.

"Great. Now, let's aim for this one closest to us and have Susan deliver the finishing blow."

"Why her?" I'm beginning to get annoyed that Kerry only speaks up when she doesn't get what she wants. I deal with children all day, and yet I'm still shocked by how immature this team is.

"She's your healer, right?"

"Yes."

"So, the better she can heal, the less likely everyone else is to die. Right?"

"I guess."

"And it's not like you won't get a chance. This will work in a rotation where it goes from Susan to Mikey to you and then to Terry, okay?"

"Why do you get to decide."

"Because you're all children, and you'll spend the next month arguing about it with each other, and I don't have time to babysit, capiche!?" I'm nearly shouting by the time I finish.

[Even Sakura isn't this hard to deal with.]