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“Alright!” [Berk]

After grouping up with Berk’s party of six, we are now heading to our seventh nest. We defeated a guard just now, which is why Berk was celebrating. Berk and his friends have been fighting proactively all this time, but as for me, I’m just the guy carrying our luggage. He said they wouldn’t shy away from help, so I thought he’d rely on me more, but all they’re really relying on me for is to find the nests. But even that is being done mostly by my monsters, so you could say I’m not really doing anything.

“Ryouma, the next one is last.” [Berk]

“You’re done already?” [Ryouma]

“We have enough materials already and our cart is full.” [Berk]

They’ve already loaded their cart with 12 tunnel ant corpses. Although they could still load their cart with more if they just removed the carapace first, a poorly done removal would affect the quality, so the craftsmen advised them not to. I don’t have any experience dismantling tunnel ants either, so I better refrain as well.

I could store the corpses inside my Item Box, but then I’m not so sure if I’ll be able to get back before it starts to get dark.

“Alright then.” [Ryouma]

We loaded the tunnel ant we just killed and resumed moving. We didn’t hurry or anything. We just walked leisurely toward our next nest.

Still, I can’t believe there are so many nests. I guess they really are in their breeding period.

It’s common for ant-type monsters to have a queen. But Tunnel Ants don’t seem to care about that and just build nests and breed everywhere. In their case, queens only appear when the infestation is really bad.

“…It should be around here.” [Ryouma]

While the 6 adventurers were preparing, I used Earth Sonar to craps the position and size of the nest.

…?

“…Berk. I don’t think this nest will do.” [Ryouma]

“Is it too big?” [Berk]

“The opposite. This one is smaller than everything else so far. The distance from the entrance to the deepest part isn’t long. It’s likely that if we attack, it won’t end with just the guards at the entrance.” [Ryouma]

About a third of the usual size, I estimate. Although the nest being small also means that there aren’t that many ants inside, considering the performance of Berk’s group until now, the most they can take on is about 3 or 4 at the same time at most.

“Shall we go for a different nest?” [Ryouma]

“About that… Actually, we do want to familiarize ourselves with fighting multiple opponents. Can you give us a sec?” [Berk]

Berk and his friends huddled together and talked. After a while…

“Ryouma, we want to fight. Something like last time might happen again, after all.” [Berk]

I see. Well, it should be fine against the tunnel ants.

“In that case, I’ll be fighting too.” [Ryouma]

If they really can’t handle it, I’ll step in.

“Are you sure?” [Berk]

“Supporting you a little should be fine.” [Ryouma]

…This reminds me of my time at my workplace in my past life.

You can find people like Berk or my former subordinates wherever you look, but that’s only normal. After all, it’s a given for beginners to be sloppy. There’s no one who’s good from the start. You might find someone good at dealing with things and quick to learn, but no beginner can do a good job right off the bat. The only ones who can do a good work right after employment are those with previous experience from working at another company.

Because of that new employees had to be trained by the company, and I myself watched over them for a few years. Unfortunately, I was lacking in leadership and the only thing I could really be proud of was my patience.

A proper employee could complete about 10 jobs in a day, but a beginner could only do about 1 at most and in some cases even none. My quota for each day would be to complete 10 jobs, and the boss would expect 10 from the new employees, but they obviously couldn’t finish all 10. As a result, I had to complete 19 jobs in total.

Since they can’t complete their quota, when training them, I start by ensuring that they would at least be able to do that 1 job properly. Once they’re capable of doing that consistently, I increase their load to 2. There’s no point in giving them more work if they can’t even complete a single job, after all. Although 19 jobs is a lot, it’s still better off than 20. The new employees can gradually make their way up to 10.

If their work is lacking somewhere, I compensate for it. If they makes a mistake, I point it out. If they have a question, I answer it. No matter how many times they blunder or how many times they ask the same question, I would help them.

…Berk and the others aren’t that strong yet, and it’s still hard for them to find the nests on their own, but they can kill the tunnel ants in front of them.

So I should help them learn fully how to fight against the tunnel ants. There’s a lot they can learn from that. Like the way to move their bodies and how to coordinate. Once they’ve grasped that then we can search for a different enemy or I can start teaching them how to find a nest.

To that end, I’ll cover the parts they’re lacking.

My subordinates at the time were about three at most and they tended to leave their work unfinished.

“Ryouma? What’s the matter?” [Berk]

“…It’s nothing.” [Ryouma]

I was just thinking some unnecessary things. Berk and his friends aren’t my subordinates, so they don’t count. They’re different from them.

As I concluded my thoughts, I took out another Iron Slime. I transformed it into a katana and prepared to enter battle.

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