Sunflower, a blonde, brown-eyed, worker elf, chuckled when the newest cape was completed. They were all working during the night, but this was not new for them.

The capes were excellent. They had hoods and pockets. The contractors hadn’t given these details, but Grandpa Thinker liked it when his capes had such things.

Theanore woke up in the morning and quickly went to the watering hole to wash up. She liked the soap her father had brought her. Now she smelled of flowers after she washed, and the fireflies liked her better.

After the bath, Theanore washed her clothes too, and she put on a nice creamy dress with white lace at the edges of the skirt. She really liked lace, and so her father made sure to get her dresses that had it.

Putting on fresh socks and her leather shoes, Theanore went to the worker elf tunnel to check if the elves needed anything. She was presented with twenty capes when she came and a group of beaming elves.

“Wow, you guys are very fast. Do you know what? I will rescue eight more elves today!” Theanore expected joy at this, but she received dread.

“How will you feed us?” Asked one of the boy elves, the one who had white hair and red eyes.

“You don’t have enough space for more of our kind!” Said Sunflower. Oh, what if the contractor fired them? Was their work subpar?

“What if Grandpa Thinker finds out and comes here to take us all away?” Asked Alfred. Grandpa Thinker gave them out to dungeons, it was true. But in small numbers, and then the dungeons breed their elves further. Occasionally, the cores even sold back the elves they didn’t need back to Grandpa Thinker.

“But we have to do something. We need to help them,” said Theanore, her lower lip quivering.

“Theanore, you can’t help everyone. Please don’t return us to Grandpa Thinker. We will be good,” pleaded Alfred, and Theanore hid her face in her hands. She breathed in and out, and she tried to think on how to help the worker elves still in Grandpa Thinker’s clutches.

“System, can I do anything to help them?” Asked Theanore.

You can hire the worker elves on behalf of the villagers. But there is no guarantee that they would be treated with kindness. It is best to take comfort in the knowledge that the elves you already have will be well taken care of.

“You are cruel, system!” Snapped Theanore. To just cut off those who required help was cruel. Heartless, even.

I am the system of a dungeon core. My existence is closely linked to your own. You can’t go to war with Grandpa Thinker. He invented magic and was the first to use mana.

“So, he is a dungeon core too?” Asked Theanore, and this time it was Alfred who answered.

“Of the entire continent of Alerion. Most of the monsters which appear for dungeons are spawned by him and breed in his reserves. He has legions, Theanore.”

“Alfred, how far is the continent of Alerion?” Asked Theanore. She already had a plan.

“It is on the other side of the planet. Hidden in the eternal ice,” answered the confused elf.

“Then how will Grandpa Thinker find out about me sending his creatures a message if the system masks it?” Asked Theanore with a grin on her face.

“System, I want you to send a secret message to every creature on the continent of Alerion. Tell them to run away.”

“The icy water will kill them, Theanore,” said Sunflower, talking slowly as if she thought that Theanore was slow herself.

“I have a plan for that too. We will buy countless ships with mana. And if the creatures rebel, then Grandpa Thinker won’t have an army anymore!” Theanore clapped her hands. But then the system did something that dampened her spirit.

Warning: Message intercepted.

Grandpa Thinker has intercepted the damning message of Theanore the nymph and has put her on the bad list. He had put his dungeon on a lockdown and had scratched off Theanore’s name from the list of dungeons he is obliged to supply. The apple grotto is denounced by the continent of Alerion. You are not yet in a state of war.

“Tell Grandpa Thinker that what he does with living creatures is bad!” Said Theanore to the system. Internally, she was shaken. She was nearly declared war by a dungeon core that ruled over an entire continent.

Grandpa Thinker sends the following message:

Little nymph, I used to be like you.

Full of cheer and goodness galore.

But then bad men entered my cave and tried to smash my candy cane.

If you don’t try to take that which is not yours,

Off the bad list, you will be.

But no longer will I help,

the hand which struck me unprovoked.

“You were attacked? But why would anyone attack you if you only made presents for children?”

Grandpa Thinker sends the following message:

Wealth is measured in coins.

Power is measured in toils.

When this lesson you learn.

Much more, will you earn?

Grandpa Thinker has turned off the connection. Should I send him an apology in your name, Theanore?

“An apology won’t help. I will show him with my actions how he should behave with those in his dungeon. System, create a worker syndicate!”

Granny Oakheart was a part of a worker syndicate. She had told Theanore all about it. The nymph hadn’t thought that her workers would need one. She tried to treat them kindly. But she preferred not to face the day she became like Grandpa Thinker.

For the worker elves, or for everyone?

“For everyone. You will be included too. Include the plants too, if you can. And Mari’s fish.”

Theanore felt a light amusement coming from the system. Theanore ended up spending her mana on her deep wheat as she wanted to avoid wasting it. At sunset, the first meeting of the Apple Grotto Worker Syndicate held place. Between the representatives of the builder ants, the murder muffins, Marinus, who spoke for the fish, the worker elves, and Theanore, who spoke for the plants and the system.