“Hail, Mr. Hans,” a rotund man with a long white beard and silk robes said. He stood in front of Hans’ desk in the Leebel guild hall. “I’m William. I didn’t think we’d ever get to meet.”

  “Yeah, me neither,” Hans said, shaking the scholar’s hand. Looking around, Hans saw that the guild hall was too busy for an open meeting. “Come with me.”

  Both men chose a desk in the renovated classroom, where it was quiet and private.

  “Miss Tandis said that we should discuss our research goals with you now that you’ve returned,” William began. “We’re very anxious to get started, as you might imagine, but we also understand the delay. The timing of our arrival was unfortunate.”

  Hans laughed. “Yeah, maybe. We’re here now, though. How can I help?”

  “Access is our biggest roadblock. How do we visit the dungeon core and other areas of the dungeon?”

  An overwhelming urge to be protective of the core flooded Hans’ system, like a pack of gnolls was descending on a child of Gomi and he was the only one who could stop them. Hans swallowed.

  “The dungeon core is a tough ask,” Hans replied. “If we have a Reaver’s Rest incident here, everyone in Gomi dies.”

  “We would not attempt to damage the core.”

  “That’s part of what worries me. That’s the rumor as to what happened, but we don’t really know, right? I mean, whoever triggered the event didn’t survive to talk about it. Neither did any witnesses who weren’t two miles away on a boat.”

  “I see.”

  “Olza, our town alchemist, has been studying the core from the beginning. I can ask her about sharing notes with you, but I also wouldn’t be surprised if she was a bit guarded about unpublished research.”

  William nodded. “Yes, I see. I would appreciate that. If the dungeon core is off limits for now, we have a historian who would like to visit the City of Glass and the Regenerating Castle. We have two alchemists interested in studying the materials that grow in the dungeon. There’s a botanist who is interested in the farming methods being used in the dungeon. There’s a biologist interested in monsters, and there are two scholars of spellcraft, one of whom sits before you.”

  “Anything magic-related will be under Mazo the Diamond Blue Mage’s purview.”

  The scholar sighed. “I was afraid that would be the case. We have interacted before.”

  Hans struggled to contain a chuckle. “I’ll do my best to mediate there. Her research is pretty far along, but there’s a lot of dungeon. What monster does your biologist want to study first? Shouldn’t be too hard to work them into a rotation. Same goes for anyone collecting ingredients or samples.”

  “Well, the biological interest begins on the surface, actually. He has a lead he would like to pursue in the Gomi Forest before his dungeon work begins.”

  “Lead?”

  “It’s a strange story,” William replied as he straightened his silk attire. “I’m sure you heard that the orcs were ruthless in their destruction, burning whole forests and salting every inch of farmland they could.”

  “I did hear that.”

  “Well, my colleague has sourced reports of sightings describing a creature that was believed to be extinct. His research on those sightings has revealed Gomi as a sort of epicenter, potentially.”

  Hans narrowed his eyes. “Is this creature a green bird?”

  “...Yes. How-”

  “A zout?”

  “So you’ve seen them!” William exclaimed with a smile. “That’s wonderful. Have you learned where they nest by chance?”

  “If I know Maurice, there’s a zout nesting in a soft New Gomi bed right now.”

  “I’m sorry?”

  “Zouts grow in the dungeon,” Hans said. “One every cycle. We release them into the wild, so your colleague was right in a way. We are the epicenter, but there’s no secret flock of zouts living in our woods.”

  “They all come from the dungeon?”

  “Yes.”

  William burst into deep laughter and continued for several seconds. He wiped tears from his eyes as he forced himself to calm.

  “My apologies,” he said to Hans, “but that’s too funny. I can’t wait to see his face when he learns that. He’ll be devastated.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “An extinct animal appearing in a dungeon is interesting, but it’s not as interesting as discovering where they’ve been hiding for centuries in the wild. Most of his work has been on hypothesizing where they would be most likely to nest.”

  “That’s sad for him.”

  William shrugged. “These things happen. Well, perhaps not these exact things, but you understand the expression, I’m sure.”

  Hans nodded that he did.

  “I wish this didn’t have to be as forward as it is, but I was hoping to discuss studying you as well. Your story is remarkable and the first of its kind.”

  “Sorry,” Hans said. “That’s not something I’m comfortable with.”

  “In the short-term, or…”

  “I don’t have any plans to change my mind.”

  The scholar wrinkled his face. “I’d urge you to reconsider. There’s so much we could learn, and who knows how-”

  Hans raised a hand. “I understand the interest, and I don’t fault you for asking. I can promise to give it more thought, but I can’t promise that I’ll ever change my mind.”

  “Understood. Shall we begin preparations for the other projects?” William asked. “Or is that a Miss Tandis conversation?”

  “We should talk about what you’d like to offer the people of Gomi for their assistance.”

  “I beg your pardon?”

  “Culling the dungeon is a lot of work,” Hans continued. “And many of our people are refugees. They’ve been treated like objects instead of people for much of their lives. That might make this sound like a shakedown, but it’s not. I just know that when I take this back to the real leaders of Gomi, they’ll have questions about what justifies subjecting our people to that extra responsibility and scrutiny.”

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  “I see. I see. What price do you have in mind?”

  “I meant it when I said this isn’t a shakedown. Your status gives you access to the full University library collection, I’d imagine.”

  William nodded.

  “We are in the process of building a library here in Gomi, and sourcing the best material is important to me. I don’t expect you to hand over the really good stuff, but if you could arrange permission for us to copy any material available to your undergraduates and the public, that would satisfy any concerns about trade or compensation here in Gomi.”

  “Copying that many books would be a monumental expense, such that I’m not sure we could ever get approval for the amount.”

  “No, no,” Hans said, leaning forward. “We’ll take care of getting them copied and getting those copies back to Gomi. All I’m asking of you is permission to make the copies and some basic accommodations for completing that process, if possible. Like a separate room designated for the project.”

  William pondered for a long minute. “Like you, I cannot make decisions on behalf of my people without their input. However, your sizable request is fairly reasonable at the same time. I believe a letter from me would be sufficient to facilitate this, but I cannot give you a total guarantee. It will also be some time before we hear a response.”

  “If you agree to send the letter and I have your good faith, I don’t mind letting you start your work while we wait.”

  Quest Complete: Continue the momentum of establishing a Hoseki-grade library in Gomi.

  “Truly? What if the request is declined?”

  “Then we have this conversation again and figure it out.”

  “Are you not concerned we will simply leave instead?”

  Hans shook his head. “No one stealing from Gomi will get very far. We’ve got Devontes, griffon riders, and a few dozen adventurers.”

  William chuckled nervously.

  “You’ve had an interesting summer,” Galad said as he and Luther walked Hans through the Leebel fairgrounds.

  “I won’t turn you to stone.”

  Galad shrugged. “Happens to the best of us.”

  “These are the Giant’s Voice crystals we’ve mounted,” Luther said, pointing to the enchanted gems hung at various high points across the grounds. “Dunfoo says we don’t need any more than that. The Tribelands didn’t have stone walls and a dungeon ceiling.”

  “You were worried I’d be bothered if you adjusted those without talking to me? Am I that awful to deal with?”

  Luther set a hand on Hans’ shoulder. “No, but we did want you to see if anything is missing or out of place. We’re ahead of schedule and don’t want to give up that advantage.”

  Hans slowly turned to take in all of the grounds in one steady motion. Like the Gomi Games held on the surface last summer, the fairgrounds had arenas for swordfighting and magery duels. There was an archery range, bleachers, and several sets of picnic tables scattered all over.

  “Guys,” Hans said, “I need you to see what tournament grounds usually look like. They pick a pasture, put down some posts, and then watch it all turn into dusty dirt as a bunch of adventurers stomp all over. It’s never elegant.”

  “That does sound much different from ours,” Galad conceded.

  The whole of the grounds were constructed from bronzewood, so not only did they glisten beneath the dungeon sun, they would likely never show signs of age in their lifetimes. The clover would stay thick and lush, and then there were rivers of wildflowers that Becky planted with Druid magic. This venue would also never get rained out or face a summer sun strong enough to deliver heatstroke.

  The only drawbacks to the fairgrounds were that Gomi was not centrally located in the kingdom, and the town was always slightly dim because of its artificial sun.

  “Yeah. You guys have built the nicest tournament grounds in the kingdom. Please don’t get offended if someone bleeds on it, or if our attendance is a lot lower this time.”

  “As long as they buy some beer, I don’t care,” Galad replied. “I wouldn’t mind a slower Games this year if I’m being honest. Vaglell might be doing us a favor by giving us a small rest.”

  “I too wouldn’t mind something less exciting.”

  The trio laughed.

  Luther gestured toward the outside edge of the grounds. “I was thinking we could set up proper vendor stalls since we have time. Last year was a bit of a free-for-all, and there was a lot of squabbling. They’ll get used any time a caravan is in town as well.”

  Hans could picture it and thought it was smart.

  “Well?” Luther asked.

  Hans spun. “What?”

  “Are you okay with that?”

  “Why are you two tip-toeing around me all of a sudden?”

  Galad and Luther glanced at one another.

  Ultimately, Galad took responsibility and said, “We don’t understand how you’re even working right now. We don’t want to add to your stress by getting something important wrong.”

  “My stress?”

  “Brother,” Galad chuckled. “You died. Ah, no. You were murdered. When you got back, no one believed it was you because the fae were here and pissed off about the dungeon. And then there was the mishap with Petrify. A man ought to slow down a bit after all that, at least for a little bit.”

  “The Petrify spell was an accident, and I feel terrible about it. It won’t happen again.”

  “This isn’t punitive,” Luther added.

  Hans smiled, grateful to have these kinds of friends. “I know, and I appreciate the concern. I’m doing fine, though. I’ve gotten a handle on this, and the inadvertent spell risk isn’t something I’m worried about.”

  “Dreams?” Luther asked.

  “No true terrors since I’ve been back, but I’ve had a few nightmares. I’m pretty sure the dungeon didn’t fix the Curses, so I know they're rattling around up there. I’m staying vigilant and still doing sessions with Chisel.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “Yes.”

  Galad took a deep breath. “Then we have something to tell you. We want to move forward with Honronk’s statue plan.”

  “I didn’t realize the thinking on that was so far along.”

  “It is, and it’s evolving,” Galad said. “We’re not staying passive anymore.”

  “Galad-”

  The tusk held a hand up. “Calm, calm. I’m not talking about rebellion. We have four groups of volunteers who are willing to travel with the cave crawlers, all humans. Shouldn’t have any trouble passing through some place without incident.”

  “This doesn’t feel rushed? It wasn’t that long ago that Chisel and I talked about this like it was nothing but a thought experiment.”

  “Your murder moved up our timeline. We want to bring our concerns to the King directly, so not only do we have evidence that these enchantments are in place, but we also have reason to believe they led to your murder.”

  Hans put his hands behind his head to think for a moment. “If the King ordered all this, that’s the end for you.”

  Galad grinned. “That was also my assumption, and I don’t mind being our town’s canary. If I didn’t come back, everyone here would know who is on our side and who isn’t. Fortunately, Devon volunteered to accompany me to provide credibility and protection. He thinks his reputation and his relationship with Prince Rodrigo all but ensure our total safety.”

  “Pulling both of you away from Gomi is a pretty big risk.”

  “All of our choices have the same ultimate risks,” Galad replied. “We won’t leave until the pass is snowed over. Devon will escort us through, and then we’ll ride griffons the rest of the way. He suggested a few Diamonds we could ask to cull the dungeon with Mazo in his stead.”

  Well, okay, that was pretty smart. Winter was the least likely time for Gomi to face an outside threat, and traveling by griffon would make their trip as brief as would ever be possible. Furthermore, Hans was far more capable now. He didn’t have Devon-level power, but he wasn’t a worn-out human anymore. For the purposes of this mission, he could attempt to fill those shoes for a few months.

  Or…

  “I support the plan,” Hans said.

  “Really?” Luther asked. “That quick?”

  “Yep. You’re smart fellas. I need to go, though. Something’s come up.”

  Hans didn’t wait for either tusk to reply before running back to the guild hall for his gear.

  New Quest: There’s no way…

  Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

  Monitor for independently grown sections of dungeon.

  Complete the next volume (Bronze to Silver) for “The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers.”

  Learn to help your advanced students as much as you help beginners.

  Relocate the titan bones to the dungeon entrance.

  Master your Diamond boon.

  There’s no way…