Seeing everyone nod, David Harris turned to look at Grace. Grace whimpered a few times and came over. David Harris carefully considered his current situation. If things were as they said, he really couldn’t go back.

Linda’s goal was to keep him here. This person was extraordinary—he easily caught her arrow, subdued Chuck, and with just a few words, strengthened Elsa’s magic. Truly a treasure. With him in the group, there was no need to worry about finding more treasures.

Seeing David Harris deep in thought, Linda seized the opportunity and said, “Since there’s no way to go back right now, maybe if you stay with us, we’ll find a way. Besides, our team has never had a leader—no one really listens to anyone else. You’re the only one everyone respects. Will you be our leader?”

Chapter 6: Forming a Team

David Harris was still hesitating when Chuck, having recovered from the joy of getting the treasured blade (the hatchet), heard the latter part of Linda’s words and took it upon himself to shout, “Leader David Harris, from now on, we’ll follow you!”

Looking at this person, David Harris suddenly remembered his days in the Wolf Army. Always regarded as fierce and unapproachable, David Harris was now being sincerely invited, and he felt a bit moved.

After pondering for a moment, David Harris said, “If you want me to join, you have to agree to a few things.”

Seeing everyone nod eagerly, David Harris held up one finger and said, “First, until a certain matter is resolved, I won’t kill anyone. Don’t ask me why—just know that’s how it is. Do you agree?” Everyone nodded.

He held up a second finger and continued, “Second, don’t call me ‘leader.’ Call me ‘boss.’”

As if by tacit agreement, everyone shouted in unison, “Bo—ss—!”

David Harris nodded, then suddenly thought of something and asked, “What’s the name of our adventurer group? What do we usually do? How did you all come together? Who handles daily life? Why do you go on adventures?” A string of questions, and everyone started talking at once. David Harris stopped them and said, “Elsa, you answer.”

Having just become the boss and already giving orders, no one minded. They all fell silent obediently. Elsa gathered her thoughts and began to answer one by one.

Their adventurer group was called “Ailinske,” a name formed from one character of each of their four names. Ailinske was fairly well-known in Rob Province of the Tianlong Empire. Even some nobles, including the local lord, would hire them to handle various matters.

David Harris frowned. Nobles? From their tone, it seemed similar to the officials or aristocrats back where he was from.

Elsa was the granddaughter of the famous imperial magus, Qimu Finaide. She grew up in a magical family and had a deep understanding of magic. At a young age, she was already a junior mage. Now eighteen, after passing the junior mage exam of the Mage Guild, she needed to travel the world and gain a certain amount of reputation to advance to intermediate mage. That’s why she set out on adventures.

David Harris: What’s a magus? A mage—junior probably isn’t that powerful. What’s the Mage Guild? How do they measure reputation, and what counts as enough?

Linda was from a family of forest elves. Elves were born master archers, and Linda was no exception. Aside from the element-controlling magic elves, other elves in the empire got along well with humans. Prairie elves and forest elves often lived among humans. Master archers were highly sought after by adventurer groups. When Elsa set out on her journey, she encountered the injured Linda, helped her recover, and invited her to join Ailinske.

David Harris: Wow, there are also elemental elves and prairie elves. Hmm, probably like the Han and Khitan peoples.

Chuck was from the new generation of the Dax family, old friends of Elsa’s grandfather. The Dax family had been warriors for generations. Chuck was still young, but his martial skills were impressive. When Elsa went traveling, Chuck accompanied her.

David Harris: Looks like this Chuck likes Elsa, otherwise why follow her so closely?

The dwarf Snow was on his coming-of-age trial, tasked with finding a weapons appraiser for the clan’s master swordsmith, Carter. Although the task seemed simple, all the so-called appraisers he met looked like swindlers, only caring about the value of the weapons, so he never completed the task. Later, he met the three of them and joined Ailinske to wander together.

David Harris: Found the right people, and now there’s a tough problem for your master, haha.

As for what everyone did on a daily basis, they didn’t have any specific goals. They took on whatever came their way—sometimes searching for magical items, sometimes eliminating evil monsters like this time, and sometimes hunting down escaped prisoners.

Hearing about hunting down escaped prisoners, David Harris felt a strange emotion. He himself had been a prisoner and knew well the helplessness of some of them.

Everyone had their own strengths, so no one would submit to anyone else. They could only discuss and decide things together, which was why they wanted David Harris as their leader.

After hearing all this, David Harris made another decision.

“There’s one more condition you all have to agree to.” Everyone looked at him. David Harris continued, “I can be the leader, but that doesn’t mean I’m stronger than all of you. There are other reasons I could withstand your attacks, and I can’t kill anyone. So if anyone asks about me, just say you all couldn’t decide among yourselves, so I’m here as a mediator.”