After the spar, Ed went to his house and practiced more of his axemanship. Maybe it was because of the battle but it leveled up almost instantly after he started his basic exercises. Not minding the small attainment, Ed continued throughout the whole night.
Morning came, and Shel paid him a visit. They exchanged some words of greeting before Shel began to talk about her reason for visiting.
"Sharog managed to form an alliance with the Thunder Cry Tribe. She came back with their leader. I just came to tell you about it." Shel said casually.
"Thanks. Where exactly are they?" Ed showed some proper gratitude before asking about their whereabouts.
"Before that, have you eaten anything? I'll tell you over breakfast." Shel said sincerely. It was almost a routine for her to ask Ed for meals at this point. Seeing no reason to decline her, Ed agreed.
"Sure" He said. He grabbed his axe and left with Shel to get something to eat.
They talked for a bit before Shel told him where to meet up with Sharog and presumably the others.
"I wish I could do more. But I am not that smart" Shel told Ed somewhat bitterly.
Ed felt that this was a needless worry. The muscular Shel was clearly made for battle. There was no reason for her to feel envious or just disappointed.
"Don't worry. Every person has their own qualities, and you are a great warrior." Ed comforted her.
"Alright, I'll see you later then" Ed said while waving a short good bye. Shel reciprocated the action and Ed was on his way to the foretold destination. As he had nothing else to do apart from breakfast he wasted no time getting there.
Ed knocked on a door to a shabby wooden cabin. It wasn't Duma's, this one was located closer to the front gate.
With a creak, Sharog opened the door for Ed. He entered and saw a fairly large table being occupied by Vorgarag, Duma, and who he presumed was the new allied tribe leader. He had a muscular body and exuded ferocity. That orc also had a small entourage of orcs who sat next to him. Both sides, although allied, sat opposite to one another.
"Hello!!" Suddenly yelled the allied tribe leader. Ed was caught off guard by his volume but he returned the greeting.
"Nice to meet y-" Ed started to say but...
"Huh?!" The orc interrupted. He seemed to be a bit hard of hearing. Ed looked around the room and everyone had apologetic or helpless expressions.
'I wonder if potions can cure that…' Ed thought before repeating his greeting.
"Nice to meet you! I am Ed!" Ed had no choice but to yell. The orc, finally understanding his words, introduced himself in return.
"I am Durgash, Thunder Cry's chief! The pleasure is mine Ed!" Durgash shouted.
Ed wanted to retort that yelling gave off the opposite impression but kept it in and found himself a seat. Sharog who had been observing from the side also did the same.
Duma, unexpectedly, was the one to take charge over the meeting. With him as the mediator, they all simply discussed the terms of Durgash's alliance. They dealt with the specifics of things like how much manpower Durgash would be able to provide as well as how many Alivio potions that would net him.
Once those discussions were over, it was time to talk war strategies. They had to at least set the groundwork for the battle at this stage.
"How many orcs are willing to participate?" Vorgarag asked the group to which Sharog answered.
"I calculated the estimated amount per tribe and there should be nearly 500 orcs capable of participating," Sharog reported.
This number felt quite large to Ed, almost overkill. He also found it to be a bit surprising but considering the numbers of each tribe it was likely a fairly accurate estimate.
Durgash's injured orcs were probably also calculated now that they would be providing them healing potions.
"Of course, just because they are participating it doesn't mean that they are all capable warriors. That number would probably only be half." Vorgarag decided to add.
"We can just have the less capable individuals man the cannons." Ed also pitched in.
They ironed out some other fine details and Durgash was finally dismissed. He would be called forth and treated as reinforcements in case of an enemy attack. There was no other option unless Ed was summoned beforehand in which case he would be able to call for them in advance.
Ed thought the possibility of this was not zero but it would imply the enemies had retreated or simply chilled in the undead floor long enough for the dungeon to resummon him which was dubious to say the least.
As far as gathering more allies... This matter was postponed.
After hearing the estimated participants Ed felt that the number was sufficient. The boss, assuming the adventurers didn't retreat, would have weakened the enemies enough for them to handle this without issue.
It was also a matter of not being able to support such a large number of people. The boar farm under Vorgarag and Duma's effort had barely even started out. It was therefore already impossible to feed 500 soldiers. If they could support more orcs Ed wouldn't hesitate but the idea was simply unrealistic at the moment.
Luckily Durgash was bought over with potions rather than food although they would have to share some once the battle actually occurred. Had it not been the case, the terms would have been much less generous and their manpower when facing the upcoming threat reduced.
Everyone else dismissed themselves. Sharog and Vorgarag left to set some arrays which Ed was free to help out with if interested. He politely declined when offered though.
While the knowledge was useful everything had its time and Ed would not benefit from learning those arrays at the moment. It could help him set traps in places like the crypt of the dungeon but there were no resources to do this within that part of the dungeon.
Getting the resources there from his current floor would require that the dungeon doesn't supervise him which was not possible under the current circumstances Thus he instead chose to hone himself further. He was aiming for maximum lethality.
***
The adventurers all met up an hour later at the same location as last time. It had plenty of space and was close to the dungeon so it was ideal.
Although right now it could be said to be cramped. This was mainly because of the hundred or so odd adventurers that were currently attentively waiting here.
They were all waiting for Samuel to finally get there. Speaking of, there he was.
He was wearing a different more crude looking armor but he for some reason exuded more confidence, his serious look might have added to that. Samuel didn't even have time to procure himself a new set of armor so he wore a backup.
Its style was much more basic and mainstream but he wasn't one to care about looks that much. As long as the armor did its job and wasn't utterly ridiculous he wouldn't house any complaints.
He eyed the large crowd of adventurers which had doubled in size during the last hour and approached a group of four individuals separated from the rest of the crowd. They were quietly conversing amongst themselves it seemed.
"I am here." Samuel said to announce his presence.
The group stopped their conversation and turned to face him. They were Drake, Clarys, Christian, and Miller.
"Good morning Mr. Oakley." Said Miller in greeting. Clarys sent him a small wave in greeting and Drake simply looked on as he had before. Christian simply stood where he was with a graceful pose.
"Good morning. Are we all ready to set off then?" Samuel said ignoring Miller's presence. He was most likely only there to see them off after all.
"We came prepared." Drake concisely answered.
Chrisitan then offered his own two cents on the matter.
"We were just waiting for you to lead us away." Christian said. Samuel nodded before stealing another glance at the crowd.
He quite simply couldn't bear to take them into the dungeon but… if he didn't someone else most definitely would. He wasn't willing to stay behind either so it was a pointless worry.
What truly pained him was that most of the B-class adventurers had essentially fled Arbor town. The ones that still remained could be counted on one hand. This meant that although their numbers were much greater the overall quality was much lower.
Still, if it was just to clear out the next few floors of the dungeon this party was more than enough. Assuming that they didn't consistently face powerful monsters, the party would suffer little casualties and easily scout out the next few floors until the next boss could be found.
"Let's depart then" Samuel finally said. There was no point in dilly-dallying. The group of C-class adventurers were less elite than the B-class adventurers but they were still able to easily get the large group of people under control.
The large crowd marched away towards the dungeon.