All eyes immediately fixated on the general seemed to force him to ask the question.

“You need me for something?”

“Elania does, apparently,” Seralyn said nonchalantly.

“Ask away.”

“I’m going to need small metal balls, no larger than this.” I showed him the approximate size I needed with two fingers. “Preferably of different sizes so I can figure out what works best, but I didn’t want to bother Dworag with the request out of precaution.”

“Well, metal balls shouldn’t be the hardest things to make. There are some other lower-skilled smiths that can do that just fine. I can give one of them a visit if you want to. Was about to head out anyway.”

“If it’s no trouble…”

“Not at all,” He said before his expression changed to one of relaxation, and then a smile. “Got a little surprise when I come back as well, though, I doubt it will be of much use when I hear Velariah’s stories, but still.”

Now that caught my interest. I wondered what he meant.

When he left the room to go outside, it had Seralyn grinning and shaking her head. When I stared at her, it only seemed to fuel her amusement further.

“I can’t believe you have everyone running for you.”

“You know what?” I said with a smile, placing two hands on my hips. “Neither can I.”

“All this had better be worth it,” She continued. “It seems you’re going through a hell of a lot of trouble.”

“Are you kidding?” Velariah interjected. “You’ve seen the stuff she comes up with and she says this far exceeds anything you’ve seen so far. I’m more than certain this is gonna be worth it.”

She then took the bowl with water and saltpeter.

“Let me just get this to our room. I imagine Elly wants the table cleared sometime soon.”

“It’s that late already, huh?” Draco commented with a smile. “Time sure flies when you’re having fun.”

“Glad you enjoyed today,” I replied. “And let me assure you there are many more things I can show you… eventually.”

“You very much have my curiosity.”

I was left grinning and shaking my head as for the third time today, the mention of a person’s name seemed to summon them. Elly walked down the stairs, said hi to all of us, called out Gray’s name who came running, apparently woken up by his name. The two of them then went for a walk after which the maid would start preparing dinner. It left us with some time to relax, and what better way to do so than play a game of checkers.

Or well, Draco and Nira played. I was left watching, which I totally didn’t mind, and thinking. There were bound to be other fun games we could play together, and I should probably think of something that wasn't just one-on-one…

Would monopoly be too complicated?

I looked at Seralyn who watched the game between the others, but she didn’t at all look interested.

Definitely too complicated.

I reckoned Ludo would be more to her liking. I mean, hell, she would take great pleasure in screwing other people over. Yep, that would definitely be her thing, even if it was the suboptimal move to make, I could see her do it nonetheless.

It was simple enough to make too. Even though I knew I hadn’t played it in a long time, the board was simple enough to recreate, and even if there were slight errors, who cared? It wasn’t like anyone was going to correct me.

Eventually, Elly returned, and after she’d entered the kitchen, Draco and Nira finished one last game before the harpy took the wrapped-up stock again and laid it down on the table. She then traced the wood with her fingers before continuing where she left off. It was technically already finished, but she appeared to take pleasure in refining it through the use of sandpaper.

To be fair, it was probably for the better. Firing a gun and then getting a bunch of splinters from the recoil didn’t sound particularly fun.

Nobody commented on it, either, opting to just leave her to it while we waited for dinner.

During that wait, Valtheril returned. in his hand a small pouch, with something that sounded like marbles inside. I had no reason to be surprised anymore at his swiftness in getting things done.

“I hope these will do,” He said with a smile as he placed it on the table. “A wide variety, just like you asked.”

“That was quick,” I said, vocalizing my earlier thoughts. “Thanks a lot.”

He nodded, sat down at the table, and swiftly changed the topic.

“So, about tomorrow,” He started with his usual neutral expression. “The dungeon isn’t too far into the forest and I’m hoping to be back on the same day, making it easier to revisit if necessary. I don’t know what we’ll find. I’ve sent none of my men inside yet. I’ll lead the way myself with you only coming in once I’ve made sure it’s safe.”

We nodded in silence, knowing full well that he’d already thought this through. Besides, I doubted any of us would object to that in the first place.

“When it is, I’ll let you do your thing,” He spoke while looking at me in particular. “But I’ll be staying near you.”

“Understood,” I said with a nod.

“Any questions?” He asked while watching the harpy sand down the wood.

“I have one,” Seralyn said, surprising me. “Say we find Master Lorin in there, what do we do with him?”

“I’ll have no choice but to take him captive,” The general said softly. “As much as I’d like to execute him on the spot, my duty commands me to do otherwise.”

“I see,” The archer replied with a nod.

“Though evidence is mounted against him, he will get a chance to defend himself in a trial, but that’s only if he’s there, which remains to be seen.” He remained quiet for a few seconds and lightly shook his head. “Anyway, that’s enough of that. Let’s clear the table so we don’t make Elly mad.”

“Has she ever gotten mad?” I asked, not seeing how anything could ever drive the maid to anger.

Valtheril chuckled.

“No, and I’d like to keep it that way.”

His words had me grinning as Velariah cleaned what was left on the table and Nira finished her work after one last inspection. She wrapped the wood in the cloth again and handed it to Velariah.

“So how well are things going with your… experiments?” Valtheril asked, eyeing his daughter who brought all the items to our room.

“Hard to say,” I admitted. “I simply can’t know until all parts are combined, and I will say that the next part is usually dangerous, but there are ways to reduce that risk.”

“If you need anything, just ask. You know how I hate risks.”

“I know, and I appreciate it, but the solution is quite simple, so don’t worry about it.”

I was obviously talking about mixing the ingredients for gunpowder. The only way that I knew of to make it ‘safe’ was to mix everything together while it was wet and then let it dry. Nevertheless, even then, I’d have to be extremely careful.

He nodded without inquiring further, and Elly exited the kitchen to set the table. Things remained quiet until we’d finished eating after which Valtheril explained a few more things regarding the dungeon, and how we would move through it, and a plan in case unexpected events happened.

The general idea was to just run back and leave the place after which he, Vymar, and some others would re-enter to take care of business. In an ideal world, we could convince it to work with us and make things easy, but we had learned the hard way that apparent cooperation could very well be a trap.

Thanks, Arch.

And then there was a bit of bad news. Valtheril wanted to leave early in the morning to ensure we had plenty of time and increase the likelihood of finishing this within a day so we wouldn’t have to spend the night in the forest. This did mean that there was a chance my day could be ruined from the start since I hated getting up early. To compensate (and because coffee was a no-go for me), we went to our bedroom immediately after talking so we’d at least get plenty of sleep.

There, after taking off my shirt and staring in the mirror, I let out a deep sigh.

“What’s wrong?” Velariah said, appearing at my side. “Worried about tomorrow?”

“Would be strange if I wasn’t,” I said after nodding slowly. “We can only hope that the dungeon is anything like Arch, and that it has the ability to communicate.”

“All it has to do is create some kind of spider, right? If Arch’s explanation is correct, it should be able to do so. It would be kind of weird if there’d never been a single spider inside.”

“I suppose that’s true. Yet, we still need to hope it’s willing to.”

“I have hope,” She said with a smile as she moved in front of me, moving my hair out of the way before closing in to steal a kiss. The simple act had me smiling afterward. “That’s what I like to see,” She commented.

“Gotta admit, I’m very curious to know what Valtheril can do in a dungeon. I’m hoping we can get a glimpse of it.”

“I doubt it, but I’m hoping with you. Though, if all works out well, there probably won’t be a lot to see.”

“Dilemmas, dilemmas.”

She chuckled before turning around to watch the bowl with growing crystals.

“This is quite interesting, I’ll be honest. How does this work?”

“Science?” I let out, trying to find an easy way to explain.

“Are you going to respond with that every time now?” She asked with a sly smile. “I mean… you know what I mean.”

“You want to know more in-depth, I get it, and I’m thinking. I suppose the easiest way of explaining it is that it’s like tea. When it’s hot, it's much easier to dissolve sugar in it. If you add a whole lot of sugar the water becomes saturated with it, and if you then let it cool, some of the sugar will crystallize again. The difference here is that sugar mixes very well in water, whereas this will only do so to a lesser degree.”

“And the crystals? How do they form? They are quite pretty.”

“That has to do with how the atoms bind to one another. It’s really quite complicated, and I don’t know that much of it myself, but I guess I do have an example.”

“Oh, now I’m curious,” She said as she undressed before moving into the hammock. “Please explain.”

I chuckled and skittered onto her, taking her in for a hug with my many legs.

“You know what diamond is, right?”

“Of course I do, silly.”

“What if I told you charcoal is the same thing, chemically speaking?”

Her smile slowly dissipated and her eyes grew larger over the span of a few seconds. seeing the gradual shift forced me to giggle.

“I would say you’re kidding, but for some reason, I know you’re not.”

“You’re right, I’m not. You see, both diamonds and charcoal are made of carbon atoms, but in diamonds, they are very neatly ordered in a very specific structure. This structure is what gives diamonds their strength, and other physical properties.”

“That’s… wow.” She was at a loss for words and I saw her eyes trying to make sense of what I’d just said. I gave her some much-needed time before she came up with another question. “These atoms, how small are they?”

“That’s impossible to grasp,” I said. “Even for me. The best I can do to explain is some saying by someone whose name I forgot a long time ago, but I believe it goes like this: ‘There are more stars than grains of sand on the Earth, but there are more atoms in a single grain of sand than there are stars in the universe.’” I paused for just a moment to have Velariah take in the words. “Now, I don’t know if any of it is correct, but I do like the saying. I suppose it also helps if you have a better idea of what is out there in the cosmos. There are far, far, far more stars than you can see.”

“Any estimate? I’m trying to do math in my head.”

“I have no fucking clue,” I admitted with a grin. “But there’s a helluva lot of zeros in the number.”

“That doesn’t really help, now does it?” She asked, giggling. “But I know there is an insane amount of sand on this planet, even if it’s not exactly Earth.”

“That’s one thing that’s for certain, but come, let’s actually get to sleep. We’re gonna be talking all night before you know it.”

“You’re right,” She whispered. “Good night, El.”

“Good night, Vel,” I said before I found Minia looking at us from the wall. “And good night, Minia.”

I clapped out the lights and heard Velariah giggling softly at my last words before I relaxed into her embrace and just let my thoughts drift off…

---

 

Of course there was the knocking, always the knocking.

“Be there in a bit,” I heard Velariah call from beneath me. She had either a way easier time waking up than me, or she’d been awake for a bit already. If it was the former, I would be quite jealous.

“How are you feeling?” She quietly asked me while I was in the middle of a yawn.

“I think I’m fine. Just need to wake up first.”

“Well, you can do that during breakfast,” She replied as she wormed herself from under me before hopping out of the bed with ridiculous dexterity.

How in the world…

I forced myself awake by wildly shaking my head and skittered out of the hammock, saying hi to Minia before I made my way to the sink. Then, after a quick wash and putting on my one piece of clothing, I made my way to the other room where surprisingly, only Valtheril and Draco were present.

They both had coffee…

This new life is just unfair.

“Morning,” The general called out, a warm smile on his face.

“Morning,” I replied as I took my place at the table where bread and accessories were already in position. Elly had been kind to place a cup of tea for me which was definitely welcome.

“Good morning, Miss Elania.” He paused for just a second before he added Velariah’s name as she walked through the door, her belt with the pack in hand.

“Morning,” She replied. “How are things here?”

“Good if you’re talking in the general sense,” Her dad replied. “If you’re talking about supplies for the trip, well, you don’t have to worry about that. Elly’s got that covered. She’s loading them into Draco’s bag as we speak.”

I was about to suggest we use my bags as well, but then realized that we were only planning for a one-day expedition.

The others joined us soon enough and after breakfast, and the very last bits of preparation, we headed out. Vymar was waiting for us at the gate closest to the forest and joined our party on our trip.

I was quite confident that Valtheril hadn’t shared our secret with him, proven by the fact that he seemed surprised that we tagged along. Perhaps he had mentioned there being some reason we were there that I wasn’t aware of, but I wouldn’t ask.

It became quite clear that he wasn’t kidding when he mentioned the dungeon was quite close. Okay, it was a two-hour walk which I once would have considered quite long, but this kind of distance was nothing for me now.

We arrived in a piece of the forest that was just like any other. There were trees and dirt between them. The only thing of note was that there was no undergrowth here, but there were many places where that was true. The only thing that made this area in particular seem conspicuous was the fact that there were about ten or so of the general’s soldiers stationed in a large ring around where we stopped.

One of those soldiers walked up to the general and saluted him before stating that nothing of note had happened.

“At ease,” He replied casually. “Are the preparations in order?”

“Yes, sir. Ready when you are.”

“Good. Go ahead and dispel the illusion.”

The soldier nodded and drew his sword, moving to a very specific spot of dirt where he hovered his weapon over it. After a few seconds, his sword started glowing with a bright blue light which made the dirt close to him disappear, like a shadow when a source of light closed in. Beneath it, I could see a flight of stairs, much like the one that led down the other dungeon.

It was fascinating to see the process, but it also begged a few questions, the main one being how the illusion of there being a dirt floor worked. I saw this person walk on it, so it wasn’t like this so-called illusion was some sort of hologram that couldn’t be interacted with. The next one would have to do with what happened when someone was inside the dungeon that couldn’t dispel this. Would they be stuck inside?

I figured it would be best to ask after going inside so I could do so in relative privacy.

“Alright,” Valtheril stated after the soldier was finished, drawing his own sword. “Let’s see what’s down here.”