Jimmy looked at Souta and said, "Let's wait in the back. They will go there."
Souta nodded at him and Jimmy led him to the back of the building. There's a wide space at the back of the building.
"Let's wait for them here," Jimmy said and he walked to the vacant chair. He sat there and Souta also sat beside Jimmy.
Jimmy glanced at Souta and asked, "Why did you want to create your group?"
Souta looked at the wide space before he answered, "I wanted to go to the Forest of Eternal Light."
"Forest of Eternal Light...?" Jimmy was shocked when he heard Souta's words. He took a deep breath to calm himself before he asked another question. "Why do you want to go there?"
"Hmm... That's a good question." Souta smiled and said, "I wanted to go there because I wanted to get an item there."
"Do you know how dangerous that forest is? We don't even have a branch in the Eternal empire there." Jimmy said.
"Yes, I know how dangerous that place that's why I wanted to borrow some of your people to help me," Souta replied to him with a serious expression.
"What item?" Jimmy asked then he shook his head and said, "No, don't tell me the answer. I just wanted you to bring something that will benefit the Lanny group."
"That's simple... I could easily do that." Souta said with a confident expression. He just needed to bring the Lanny corp in his expedition.
"Haha, that's what I like about you." Jimmy laughed when he heard Souta's answer. He didn't doubt Souta at all. Souta was the man who best the head of the Vidrato family and the one who brought the body of a third evolution monster.
He leaned on the chair and said, "I'm really glad that you brought a peak third evolution monster to Lanny corp. Say where did you get it?"
"In a place called Fersch dukedom. That monster almost destroyed the whole dukedom. Luckily, we're there to stop it and with the help of everyone including the guild master their Adventurer's Guild, we've managed to kill it at the cost of thousands of innocent lives." Souta said to Jimmy as he looked up at the sky and recalled the battles that he experienced there.
"A small dukedom that is not affiliated with any large country... They certainly didn't have the manpower to stop a monster of that level. Every year dozens of them fell because of the monster tide. Some of them fell because of some disease." Jimmy said in a low voice. He understood well that a lot of people were dying every day because of a monster's attack.
He slightly turned his head and glanced at Souta in the corner of his eyes. "Do you know why monsters attack humans and demi's nation?" He asked.
"Why? Is it because humans and demis are attacking them and reducing their numbers without any reason." Souta said as he looked at Jimmy in the eyes.
"...That's the reason of the people of Ambrosei," Jimmy muttered when he heard Souta's words.
The Ambrosei was a country in the north of the Forest of Eternal Light. A country that was called a paradise for tamers. Most of the people that lived there were tamers. They believe in the saying that if you don't invade a monster's territory, the monster will not attack anyone. That's true and everyone knew it. But humans and demis couldn't help it at all. They could do a lot of things with the monster's corpse especially those powerful ones.
Just like what the Lanny corp could do with the corpse of the dark vine stinger. They could create various potions using the organs of the monster. They could also create armors and weapons using the wide and sharp vines of the dark vine stinger. It will be enough to craft a high-grade purple grade weapon.
"No, they have a reason and that's they are afraid of the monster growing stronger to the point that they couldn't deal with it... Just like the Dark Forest." Souta said to Jimmy.
"That's..." Jimmy was surprised when he heard Souta's answer. Souta was not entirely wrong at all.
The Dark Forest was the largest forest in the whole Giza continent and it was a forbidden land. It was a land that the three great countries agreed to not let any humans and demis wondered around it. All vicious and powerful monsters reside there. The monsters inside the Dark Forest grew to the point that the three great countries have to fear them. The monster lords were the ones who managed that huge land.
The human and demi countries don't want any other place to become like the Dark Forest. That's why they were slicing down some of the strong monsters across the whole continent.
"Humans and demis are a bunch of greedy creatures. They invade a monster territory just to steal their possession like precious fruits. It's humans and demis fault why monsters are attacking them." Souta said with a serious expression. He was included in those greedy creatures and he wouldn't deny it as it was the truth.
Jimmy looked at Souta before he asked, "Is that your perspective as a tamer?"
"No, I'm just saying the truth but you couldn't deny it. Also, for some monsters, humans and demis are a delicious meal." Souta said to him.
...
After a while, more than thirty people arrived in a wide space. They stood in front of Souta and Jimmy.
Jimmy stood up and looked at the people. He opened his mouth and said in a loud voice. "I'm sure that all of you know me so I don't need to introduce myself but the man beside me..."
Souta then stood up as he knew that Jimmy was going to introduce him to these people.
"He is Souta Ieshi, a new captain of the explorer group under Lanny corp's name. He is also a first-year student of the famous Ladro Institute. As you know, his name shook the entire kingdom when he fought the head of the Vidrato family." Jimmy introduced him to the people.
The people were surprised to find that man here. They heard rumors about him having a Red Fur Bear and his one hundred percent completion in his quest in the Adventurers Guild.
Now that they saw him in person, they realized that he's the same man as the one who was illustrated in the newspaper.
"You were called here because he wanted to form his group. He will pick some of you but I'm not entirely sure how many he needed in his group." Jimmy said.
The people were slightly surprised when they heard his words. They looked at each other and realized that all of the people present here were the people that didn't have a group.
Souta looked at them and said, "I don't want a lot of people in my group so I will pick a few people among you." He then looked at Jimmy and asked, "Can I test them?"
"You can whatever you wanted. Their rank is at least C-rank." Jimmy nodded at him.
Souta nodded in response and he looked at the rest of the people. "Okay, I'll start by eliminating some of you."
Boom!
The mana in his body burst out and Souta focused it on the people. The atmosphere suddenly changed and it became suffocating. He used his mana to pressure the people that were here. His [Mana Manipulation] skill was level 4 so he could control it to some degree to press the people on the ground.
Jimmy looked at Souta with a stunned expression. 'You've reached this level in just a few months? How frightening!' He thought while looking at Souta who was releasing his mana and directing it to the people.
Thud! Thud!
Six people fell on their knees as they were caught off guard by Souta's energy release.
"Out..." Souta looked at the people who fell before he looked at the remaining people. "We still have a lot of people." He already expected this outcome when Jimmy said that they have the power of C-rank.
He stopped releasing his mana and said, "Try to resist it as much as you can." He then took a step forward and the floor turned black.
It was swallowed by shadow and several tentacles-like shadows wrapped around their body. It tightened around their body as they tried to use their strength to free themselves from the [Shadow Bind] spell of Souta.
Everyone tried to resist with all of their might but no one managed to break free from Souta's [Shadow Bind].
In the end, Souta waved his hand and the shadows disappeared like a bubble. He looked at them and pointed at seven people.
"I'll take the six of you in my team." He said with a smile while looking at them. He knew that these people were quite capable as he noticed that his pressure didn't manage to make them sweat for a little bit.