"That Hogg is pretty clever! I thought he'd pick the elite barbarian who'd won four fights in a row tonight, but instead he chose that timid guy who'd nearly been bitten to death by an astral lynx. The weakling gnoll almost got down on his knees in front of Hogg when they led him out of the arena.
"He even knows how to win people over. He specifically bought him a healing potion."
By now, Little Ashina had left Scarlet Castle with Lumina and was heading for the Dark Baronies in the pre-dawn darkness.
"Hogg clearly has his own strategy. It's still pretty rough around the edges and easy to see through, but the guy really is clever."
"He's learning."
Lumina said:
"Learning from you, and from everyone he meets. He went through the process of Lord Murphy recruiting him, so naturally he knows how to recruit his own subordinates.
"If you ask me, Hogg probably won't recruit any elite gladiators until he has a solid base of his own. I think he'll start with the Black Iron gnolls, then recruit elite kobolds. He'll hunt ghouls in the sewers while rebuilding his new clan.
"No matter how useless he is, the guy used to be a clan chief.
"He's not as stupid as you think.
"And when we left, Hogg already had a claw-blade bearing the Blood Rat Gang's insignia. He must have made some kind of deal with the sly Dorothy.
"Ah, Water Lady was right.
"This mission doesn't seem to need us involved the whole time. We just need to give him a hand at certain key moments. The ghouls in the third level of the sewers won't be easy to deal with; there are plenty of elite monsters down there. I think Hogg will ask for our