A Dungeon’s Survival

Flur

The seven of us sat around a table in the new guild hall. It hadn't been here a mere month ago, yet in the time we had been gone, it had been hastily constructed. There were still large sections of it being worked on, but a few parts of it had been finished and were already usable. One such section of the building was a meeting room in which the town's lord and the guild's branch head were hosting us in.

“Before we delve into the heart of things,” our superior started off, “I believe we should address the matter of who was behind last month's incident. Sir Peter, would you care to share your findings with them?”

I disliked the way that the baron then proceeded in a seemingly unconcerned manner, but I wasn't going to make a scene about it. With my own habits, that would only be hypocritical, and this was neither the time nor place for that. Instead, I just listened intently.

“There are several answers as to who was responsible for the attack. First, we shall get the obvious one out of the way. The Troll Tusk Bandits were a nefarious group of marauders in the area, but as you all are well aware, they have already been dealt with and seem to have been incited by greed rather any grander ambition. I have confirmed the attack on your friends to have been unrelated to them.”

“Unrelated?” came Lance's voice, “With that timing? Do you really expect us to believe that?”

Old man Gyle affixed him with a glare but didn't acknowledge him beyond that as he continued, “My findings point to the group I encountered in the woods that day being a separate issue. They took advantage of the chaos the bandits were causing to make their own play at acquiring the core. Rather than being related, they were only opportunistic.

“The individuals in question have been identified as the Tarnished Blades, a mercenary group that was conducting surveillance for weeks prior to the attack while avoiding notice. Reports from the townspeople have come in claiming they were approached by this group and propositioned to scout the Dungeon on their behalf. Those that reported this declined their offer. It is therefor likely that the unusual surge of people throwing their lives away in the Cave of Absolution were those who accepted. This leads me to the conclusion that they were steadily gathering information while waiting for the right time to strike. The bandit attack only served as that opportunity for them.”

He paused, clearly waiting for the revelation to sink in for us, but rather than being overcome with shock, I found myself with an abundance of questions. I voiced the foremost one.

“Mercenaries don't do risky things on their own initiative. Who hired them?”

That, unexpectedly, earned me a smirk from the old man.

“Now, you're asking the right questions. Unfortunately, you're not going to like the answer. I followed the trail back to a Felix Cornelius, a court alchemist in service to the king and an old political rival of mine. His skills are mediocre at best. To compensate for that, he has a long history of stealing others' works, discrediting his adversaries, and crushing his rivals through underhanded means rather than building up any of the merit actually required to receive a position such as his own. I was once one of those rivals, and it seems he is displeased to see me step back onto the political stage.”

“So, this is all your fault?” Lance asked in an accusing but controlled way.

“If you want to view it that way, I will not stop you, but if your animosity extends to him, I would highly recommend you instead looking at it as us sharing a common enemy. The only slight I ever showed the man was upstaging him, and he got me disgraced and stranded here with next to no remaining connections. I was the oldest and most capable court alchemist at the time. I believe you can imagine what he would do should an adventurer get in his way.

“To complicate matters, he has the ear of the king and enough political power and cunning to erase your family to the third degree while being hailed as a hero for it. He is not an enemy you could hope to stand against, and while he did seem to hire the mercenary group that killed your friends, he is unlikely to be directly responsible. That isn't to say you don't need to worry about him should you decide to pursue the Tarnished Blades, however. They are a favored mercenary group of his, and he approves of their methods. Should anything come out of this incident, he would certainly cover for them.”

My friend deflated at his words. I, on the other hand, was already processing the information and could see where this was going.

“So, you're going to offer us the backing we would need to go after them in exchange for something. What're you after?”

“I can see you have a mind for negotiations, but I'm afraid you're too direct. I don't dislike that. I myself have never found politics to be enjoyable, but should you want to pursue that or take an official position within the guild one day, I would recommend learning to measure your words.”

“I think I'm good on both counts. Thanks,” I said dryly as I gestured for him to go on.

“Very well,” he responded with a shrug, “First, I must state that this matter is separate from your responsibilities as the senior adventurers here. Your acceptance or rejection of this proposal will have no bearing on that. Now, this is my offer: I will extend my limited influence to protect you as much as I can and assist you with information gathering. In return, you will put a more favorable spin on your reports concerning the Dungeon.

“I'm not asking you to outright lie. In fact, it would be best if you stuck as close to the truth as possible. I simply want you to advocate for the value of the Dungeon and highlight that, if handled properly, it is not as dangerous as the statistics we have on it would indicate. I cannot afford to have it condemned, so this offer is negotiable.”

My eyes darted to the branch head. He was unconcernedly sipping tea and averting his gaze. He wasn't officially condoning this, but he also was conveying his approval. That meant this was truly our choice.

“We–”

“This offer poses a significant risk to us,” I cut Lance off before he could agree outright, “We need more concessions to make it worth our while.”

Old man Gyle snorted at my response and spoke, “Well then, tell me little politician in the making, what do you so desire?”

A lump formed in my throat at the way his eyes seemed to pierce straight through me. I didn't care how powerful or experienced he was in negotiations; that was not a natural effect. He was using some kind of ability to examine me like a reagent for use in his concoctions. I didn't like it, but I continued undaunted, my mind racing to ensure we got the most out of this. To that end, I let myself slip into a familiar mask and spread my arms.

“Clearly, you need us, and you need us to be capable. I don't fully understand the situation, and I'm sure you're keeping it that way on purpose, but I'm not blind. There's something going on behind the scenes, and whatever it is, it's got you scared, so since you need us so much, I believe it would be in your best interest to sponsor us, unofficially of course. Senior adventurer groups are supposed to remain impartial and loyal only to the guild, but since our boss over there isn't objecting to your backroom dealing, I'm assuming it would be overlooked in our case.”

I spared a glance to the branch head to make sure I hadn't just royally screwed up. Without so much as glancing in our direction, he gave the slightest, most imperceptible nod possible. I took that as my cue to go on.

“As you said, you were a court alchemist and a noble yourself. Get us information on rare class evolutions and supply us with some permanent enhancers. If you do that, then sure, we'll be your dogs in a limited capacity.”

“Ha!” the man barked an uncharacteristically hardy laugh that made my insides clench, “Is that all you want after that big speech? The information already falls under the purview of the first concession I offered, and the enhancers are well within my means so long as you do not expect them immediately. I am limited on financial resources at the moment, but I already intended to produce some enhancers for my successor in time. A few more for each of you is entirely doable so long as you do not expect them immediately. Do we have a deal?”

A pit formed in my stomach. I was so sure I had handled that well, but it was what it was. I was still getting more than enough out of it.

Well, what did I expect? I'm an adventurer not some noble. I've been on the road most of my life. It would be weird if I could keep up with someone who's been doing this for who knows how many centuries.

“That's it for my concessions,” I answered cheerfully without showing a hint of my true feelings, “I'm sure my companions have some requests of their own, though.”

As I spoke, I shot Lance a telling look. I was already satisfied, but if we could get more out of this, I certainly wouldn't turn it down.

“Additional funds for the families of our deceased party members.”

“Done. We can discuss the specifics of that later. Now, I believe my apprentice and the two children of the Yip family already have a vested interest in the Dungeon's continued survival, but for the sake of this negotiation, I will ask anyway. Do you have any additional requests?”

“Nope! All good here, master!” Lawrence spoke up for the first time.

I rolled my eyes at his response. It made sense considering who he was, but sometimes, I wished he had a spine.

“Your success is our family's now. No reason I can see to try to drain your resources further when you could make better use of them developing the village,” Autumn agreed.

“If you're offering things, I'll take some equipment,” Dan added, “I could use a shield that doesn't get in the way so much when I'm fighting. A better weapon would also be nice.”

“Then, I believe we've come to an agreement. Sirius, would you like to get into the official side of things now? I believe the guild's changing stance on Dungeons is quite relevant, and our friends here need to be informed about the recent activity of our local Hero.”

* * *

Cameron

That's strange. What are they doing here together?

“What was that?” came Fabian's response to my words.

We've got adventurers, and its a strange mix of people.

It was the apprentice alchemist's group, but they had the rogue and swordsman from the scouting party with them. It wasn't the first time I had seen some of them together, but last time, it was only the apprentice with the scouting party. I had to wonder where their mage and healer were. Maybe they were training the younger adventurers, and they thought their full group would be overkill? That wouldn't explain their sudden reappearance after so long, though, and whenever they came to gather intel on me before, it had always been methodical and with the assumption they couldn't take it easy within my walls.

At least it should be a simple run this time around to get back into the swing of things. Can't complain there.

As soon as I thought that, the beastkin girl took down the first room's Trenti with a single well-placed arrow.

Wait, is it just me, or have they improved, like a lot?

“It's not just you,” came Fabian's voice as he tuned into my vision, “They're clearly much stronger. This could be a good test to see where your Dungeon stands, and regardless of who it is, it's good to see actual adventurers again. Don't go overboard with them. Whatever they report back is likely to determine your future. Curate their experience the best you can.”

Got it.

That was an obvious task. I had put in a lot of effort to make sure my Dungeon would give off a good impression once people returned to it. It was a shame we wouldn't get a chance to see what Prism could do against invaders today, but the little blob wasn't something I could bring out against them unless they went for my core. In that case, I would not be holding back. No one, not even them, was ever getting to my core again.

Well, I tried to shake off the sobering thoughts, I guess we'll get to see how much they've improved from before. Oh yeah, I need to get that last bit of magic water, too!

That was an even more important task than before since it could be useful to Archie now.

Okay, let's see what they've got!