As mentioned before, dungeons are places where miasma is accumulated and generates monsters. If too much gathers without being cleared, by those same monsters being killed, there’d be a stampede and all of the monsters would head to the surface for freedom.

This is why it was vitally important to discover and take charge of any newly formed dungeons before this occurred… Or destroy them.

And somehow this one had been overlooked.

Which wasn’t surprising, since I was well away from any well traveled locations when I found the thing. It was in a valley in the foothills of the mountains. Probably ten or so days by foot from the port city.

The area around it was rather rough, making it difficult to pass through easily, which is the only reason the stampedes, because there had to have been several by now, hadn’t been noticed or significantly affected the settlements of the kingdom. It also didn’t seem to have too much food, which helped lower the numbers of the escapees due to starvation.

Additionally, after the initial stampede out of the dungeon, the mentality of the monsters released would change. Where before, all monsters born in the dungeon would consider the others their allies, regardless of race, they’d come to view those from other races as enemies or prey. They fought each other, reducing their populations and making the defeated flee to find places they could live elsewhere.

It was likely the proliferation of monster settlements in the area was due to the survivors of the past stampedes spreading out to find places they could live.

And this monster battle royale for the custody of the lands immediately surrounding the dungeon seemed to be happening right now.

There was evidence of a settlement having previously existed around the dungeon, but it seemed that the stampede only considered those monsters from inside the dungeon to be allies, not the ones that had been outside, so the village had already been crushed, likely days ago, with the dungeon born alliance having only fractured recently. Or at least so I believed based on the large number of fresh-ish corpses in the area.

Hmm. I kinda wanted to get in on the action, but should I?

Before heading out, I’d been made to promise not to attack any of the villages until the army chose what they wanted to deal with for their training. I could go destroy the other ones afterwards.

While technically the village was already gone, and it was just multiple hordes of monsters fighting for supremacy, it was a bit too close to breaking my promise with the GM.

Sighing, I found a landing spot on a cliff well away from the action. After adding this location to the map and notes, I headed back to the city. The fast way.

Had I not been an hour or more away from the city by air, I’d have just flown back, but in this instance I had no interest in taking the time and going back over terrain I’d previously passed over. So I opted to teleport.

Due to magical defenses, teleportation into major cities was forbidden, and usually either impossible, or at least very difficult, not without a key to the defenses and something proving the one porting in had permission. Therefore I arrived a ways outside of the gates. The location was one I’d prepared for when I needed to port over. I arrived in a small cave I’d made, compacting the earth to dissuade burrowing creatures from trying to enter.

After arriving, I checked the surroundings, and finding it clear, opened up the exit for long enough to pass through, then sealed it shut again.

A quick jog later, and I was at the gate, passing through and headed for the guild as quickly as I could.

Once I’d reached it, I dropped a message for the GM at reception and took a seat in the guild’s pub, enjoying a small meal and some ale as I waited. I could have gone straight to his office, but I was a bit hungry, and I also didn’t want to interrupt him if he was in the middle of something.

“Rynn, the GM is ready for you.”

But it seems I didn’t have to wait long… I’d barely gotten started on my meal when the deputy showed up to dragged me back to the office. I hastily dumped my meal on my own plate and chugged my ale before following him to the back.

The desks were as stacked with papers as ever, though the sizes had changed to indicate work being done. The faces of the guild’s leadership showed the stress they were under as they tried to get through all the work.

“Finally you’re back! How many targets did you find? I want to get these military bastards off my back as soon as I can.”

“It’s faster to show than tell, come over here, I made a map.”

I cleared the coffee table of it’s contents, dropping the map I’d made on it and holding it open by returning some of the stuff.

“You can see the little numbered dots on the map, those are the location of various points of interest. Monster villages and dens, as well as places I’d spotted some monsters that don’t have a fixed residence. Here’s the list of what each of the numbers is for, as well as details on size and estimated strength. You may want to start at the last item though. It’s the most interesting.”

The pair of men looked over the map, comparing the location to the pages detailing what resided or was discovered there. They ignored my advice about skipping to the end, going through it an item at a time, with the deputy noting down brief details on a separate sheet of paper.

I left them to it, sitting back and enjoying my meal and a book. Until I heard their exclamations of surprise. I guess they finally reached the end. Looking up confirmed it.

“You found a dungeon?!”

“Yep! I came back right after doing a quick evaluation of the place. The dungeon just broke, so there’s a chance things will get busier in the region. It’s probably also why there are so many monster villages around there. I don’t recall reading anything about a dungeon being suspected of being in the area, which is why I wrote what I did. Place is quite a ways away, so most of the horde would be dead even if they didn’t turn on each other before reaching the city.

I really wanted to get in there and take down some of the monsters, I saw some nice juicy targets, but decided you might want to know sooner rather than later. Probably has a decent number of floors given the variety of monsters. Or I could be misinterpreting things. Never been in a dungeon before, so I can only go off of what I’d read.”

“You say they’ve already turned on each other?”

“Yeah. Looks like it was recent, probably in the last day or two. If I remember correctly that happens about three days after dungeon break.”

“That’s the average, though it varies.” DGM

“They barely left the area around the dungeon for that long? What’s it like?”

“The area? Rough. The place is a valley in the mountains, and surrounded by lots of cliffs. There’s ways to get out, but they’re narrow and hard to find. Plus there’s only one small stream that I saw and little in the way of other resources other than rocks. Not a place for a large number of beings to stay for long. They’d start starving pretty quick unless they happened on the paths. Might be why they turned on each other already. Any other questions? I want to get back out there quick before they kill each other off.”

The GM thought for a minute.

“You don’t have to answer this, since it involves revealing your skill set, but how long ago did you get this information, and how did you get to and from the area?”

I’d planned for this. Partly because it tied into something I’d already revealed.

“I have a high affinity for and level in Spacial Magic. It’s why my storage skill is as good as it is, and why I can get to and from places quickly, provided I’d been there before or can see them. It’s been less than half a bell since I found the dungeon.”

Their eyes went wide. Space Magic is rare, and leveling it up is difficult since it is extremely difficult. Not only do you have to wrap your mind around the concepts and perform complicated equations in order to utilize it, it also takes an extremely large amount of mana. A short portation is one thing, but going the distance I claimed to have would be something only a handful of mages in the world could do, and they would usually augment their magic with a magic circle and mana stones to provide the power. It would also have left them exhausted.

And yet here I was, looking no the worse for wear.

They stared at me in disbelief.

“How could such a young person be powerful enough to…?”

Raiden started to ask, then trailed off. Nothing prevented him from asking, but in the same way, I was not required to answer the question. And his oaths should prevent him from doing anything to force me to.

I smirked at him, and decided to answer his question.

“I told you before, I’m not as young as I look. I won’t give you the details on that though. So, you got any questions on the information there, or can I go have some fun?”

“You’re planning on going right back there? Now? How deep… no, I’m not sure I want to know. Can you take me with you? And maybe a few others?”

It seemed that Raiden wanted to join me. Well, given his build, I assume he was a retired adventurer, though why he retired I didn’t know. That meant he probably had a good eye for things like this.

Checking my reserves and calculated the distance, I considered his request. Solo, I had a range of roughly a thousand miles unaided, but if I had to open a portal and wait for a group of people to pass through, that distance dropped quickly. At present, I could probably only pull off seventy miles before having to wait for a recharge, and the dungeon was around two hundred fifty miles away.

The place was actually pretty close to what would be considered the border of Merrow with the country that shall not be named. The mountains there acted as a barrier and border between the two, but there were no official paths through the mountains nearby, though there was a small border town on the coast. From what I’d read, even that town wasn’t much since it was built into a small bay that was the only significant break in the cliffs along the coast for a hundred miles.

“Yes and no. I could get back on my own easily, but if I have to open a portal, it gets iffy. I only have so much mana, and nothing to boost it, so a single person, holding onto me and I could probably get us there, but any more than that and it’d take three portals, with a long wait between to let my mana recharge.”

If someone clung tight to me, I could adjust my usual teleport spell to include the extra mass. I was running the calculations, and found that it would be close, but I could get there with the guildmaster, but just barely. I’d be running on fumes and be unable to do any significant magic for a while, so if there was any danger I’d be restricted to mostly physical means of defence. As well as relying on the one who traveled with me to assist.

If they wanted to bring a group, the first portal would only get us around seventy miles, and that was with the thing being open for roughly a minute. The amount of time was less affected by the mana input than the distances involved, but it still made a difference. Once a portal was opened it was easier to keep open than open a new one.

I relayed this information, and they considered it.

“I’d like to go with you, but I can’t go alone. Do you mind waiting for a bit? I’d like to discuss this with the commander of the army. And would it be possible for me to tell him what you just told me regarding your abilities, without mentioning you specifically? I’ll try to get him to swear not to reveal it without your permission, but since he has to answer to his superiors and the king, I’m not sure he’d be able to give such an oath.”

“I’d really like to avoid getting too much notice from the higher echelons of society. It’s part of the reason I’m here rather than back in Valla. Nobles and royalty tried to use me to push their agendas and tried to force me to marry against my will. I gave up my title and left there forever rather than get involved with that shit, and I will do so again if I must.”

“You’re a noble?!”

“No. Not anymore. I just said I gave that up. It’s not something I’d inherited, but something I earned, so I don’t really care that much. It was worth getting rid of in order to avoid all the problems that goes with it. I swear they only gave me the titles in order to try and lay claim to me and to try and force my obedience. Not that that worked. I’d never swear to obey anyone unconditionally, I’ve seen too much of the dark side of society, both high and low, to put that much trust in anyone.”

My words brought up dark memories, and the pain and troubles of that must have shown on my face, because I was quickly brought back on track.

“Okay. Going to have to make sure you avoid notice to the best of our ability. I’ll try and wring an oath from the commander, otherwise I’ll get one of the high ranking parties to do so, and they can accompany us to scout out the dungeon and he’ll have to wait for the report. Might bring them with us anyways. Jacen, can you see if Karl’s group is still around?”

“They should be. They only got into town a couple days ago after a big hunt. They usually take a week off after something that size.”

“Good. Get them to swear confidentiality and bring them here tomorrow. Make sure they’re ready for a long trip. I expect this to take at least a couple weeks. I’ll have to get my gear together too. Been a while since I’ve seen any action. And plenty of supplies…”

“Uh, if you’re worried about supplies, I’ve got plenty of storage space, so I can bring along plenty of fresh supplies rather than relying on travel rations. I’ve actually got a lot already, though most of it would need to be cooked. You should know how much meat I have based on what I’ve told you of my activities, but I’ve stocked plenty of fruits, vegetables, and other items too.”

“Ah! You don’t mind?”

“Naw, I’ve played pack mule for groups before as well as being a fighter.”

He rubbed his chin, as if he had a thought.

“Got a bit of an idea. Would you be fine with being seen as primarily a non-combatant, a mage specializing in storage and transportation? Doing so might allow me to deflect any inquiries more easily.”

“I don’t like being seen as just a pack mule and being disparaged because of it, so if you think it will make this work, then go ahead, but warn them that I will leave people behind if they anger me.”

I would too. I’d done it in the past. Or sent them through a portal to a very undesirable location, such as the cess pit if they were someone who I couldn’t leave behind.

“Great. I’ll make sure to warn them about that. Come back to the guild tomorrow morning, second bell. It’ll either be a guild group only, or there will be some soldiers if the commander is amenable.”

“Hey, I’m going to get points for this, right? OH! Or maybe you could count my participation in this as the rank up quests? After all, you’ll be there and can act as the examiner. For both, preferably?”

Haha! A brilliant idea. Please accept it!

Raiden looked at Jacen.

“She hasn’t done the rank five yet, that wasn’t scheduled till the end of the month, but this might take longer than that. Think we can make it work?”

“Hmm, yes, I think it will work. Proving you can work with a group is one of the main points of these quests, so doing so while investigating a dungeon, an assignment that can be longer term than usual should be able to count for both in this instance. It can definitely count towards one, so I’ll check the regulations in regards to doing double duty, or maybe send an inquiry to headquarters.”

“Excellent. I’ll leave that to you. I’m off to deal with the army, then get ready for this expedition. I’m looking forward to this! It’s been so long since I’ve been able to actually do something besides paperwork!”

Raiden sounded ecstatic about getting out of the office. How did he become a GM?

He must have caught my questioning look and answered as he shooed me towards the door, Jacen behind us.

“The guild gave me a job after I took a nasty wound taking down a dragon. Took a couple years to get back to full strength, but they wouldn’t let me go back to being an adventurer, instead shoving the Guildmaster title at me instead.”

“Sure, sure. Like you didn’t feel it’d be a good idea to take it when you found Rhea during your convalescence. There’s no way she’d have married your ass if you’d gone back to adventuring.”

“True, and I don’t regret doing so, but sometimes I just need to do stuff other than paperwork.”

“You do know, she’s not going to be happy about this, right?”

“Haah, I know, but we need to send someone from the guild, and I’m the best option. It’s not like you’d go, would you?”

“Hell, no! There’s no way I’m going into that kind of situation. Unlike you, I gained this position without having the ability to fight. I’m a professional office worker. You meatheads can go risk your lives if you want, I like staying in the nice comfortable city.”

I had to retort. I didn’t like being called a meathead.

“Hey! Just because I fight, doesn’t mean I’m a meathead. Do you know just how much thinking it takes to cast magic? Especially Space magic? A lot! It’s like trying to do a stack of that paperwork you love so much in the space of a few seconds. Plus, I spend most of my time doing non-combat stuff like studying and crafting.”

I’d turned and stared Jacen down, and he must have felt ashamed and apologized. To me. Not Raiden. Him he continued to call a meathead.

We didn’t continue talking, as there was a lot of stuff they had to take care of, so I headed off while they did whatever they needed to.

I spent the rest of the day checking my stocks, then amusing myself by making a fun item for the trip. It’d be great if I could time pulling it out just right.