Zoemie wasn't feeling very good when she woke up still. She swallowed the feeling, and decided to grab her food, finding herself taking more time than the usual to eat. She then went to the bedroom, to clean herself and try to put herself in a better mood.

After having done so, Zoemie sighed. Fuck. Still feeling very out of it, she considered returning to her gaming sequence, hoping to have peace and quiet this time around, as she was really tired still from yesterday's... adventures, but it wouldn't come to pass.

Zoemie swore again, as she sensed movement within her territory. "MORE fucking people ! Come on !" she whined. She grumbled as she activated her long-range Warden sight. A brunette with an axe, a redhead with a spear, and a black-haired guy which I assume is a mage. She sighed in rage and defeat. "Dammit ! Can't I have peace for one fucking minute, please ? Is it too hard ?"

Zoemie grabbed her mask and stared down at the trio, but this time she did not get the feeling she did before. Rather, the curse did not react strongly to them. Zoemie grumbled as she thought. She'd rather just not have to deal with the lot of them, but... "They probably won't leave on their own, huh ? What a paaaain...."

Fiiiine. Let's hear them out, she thought, sighing again in frustration. Zoemie eavesdropped on the trio, listening to their chatting as they walked about inside the dungeon. "Are we even getting closer ?" grumbled the spearwoman, who then shook her head and continued. "At least I get why the Wraith didn't bother with this place."

"Yeah, it's obvious. This dungeon seems wholly deserted – I don't think there's any dungeons known that ever had absolutely no monsters." said the axewoman, before continuing. "We should be extra careful, then. If the Warden is that confident...", she finished, her buddies nodding in agreement.

Zoemie cocked her head in confusion. "Uhhh, what ? You make it sound like I'm trying to get into trouble, lady." Zoemie shook her head wildly, emitting a vaguely "rrrrrmblblbl" sound as she did so, before she decided to speed the trio up with her space magic. "Sooner we're done, sooner I have peace."

---

The trio felt space warping around them, and suddenly found themselves in front of a mountain. And their attention was instantly directed towards the strange opening in the mountain, with a few seats teleporting all of a sudden. "Welp." said Ruvarie. That was unexpected.

The women looked over the seatings, while Tarac scanned them over with magic. "No traps.", she said and nodded to her friends, all three of them sitting down. Saeja in the middle, Ruvarie to her right, Tarac to her left. And they waited for a short while, before a presence made itself known.

Saeja shivered in fear, having felt that type of pressure exactly once before, in an incident involving the Bleeding-Hands, and despite not even being the primary target of his wrath, or even involved in it in any fashion, she remembered the fear that gripped her throat back then.

It was feeling a mountain overseeing her, being stared down from unfathomable heights, the same feeling a small bug felt when watching the skies darkening as a human was about to stomp on them. Saeja feeling the fleetingness of her own life, the aura of the Warden alone making it clear this is a fight they would lose.

Hell, even the strongest fighter she knew of, the aformentioned Bleeding-Hands, probably wouldn't win this fight ! Assuming that one even managed to get the man to fight the Warden to begin with – he was infamous for being mostly interested in spending quality time with his... notoriously enthusiastic maids.

And even if they did win, by some mad stroke of luck or horrible tactical failure from the Warden, it would be a pointless victory. The invisible wall, the corridor – these were stalling tactics while the Warden regenerated at the dungeon's core.

Saeja didn't know what kinds of guards were protectings the dungeon's core, but considering the Warden's own power and complete lack of external defences, said guards were bound to be incredibly powerful. Fighting no matter what was a mistake here.

Even very powerful fighters couldn't break through the dungeon, either. While the invisible wall wasn't strictly speaking a new trick - past records of the Purity Campaigns indicated that it was a thing some dungeons had, these eventually were broken through other methods.

But the nature of that dungeon, with a tight corridor entrance, meant that mounting an attack would be a nightmare. First you'd have to reach the mountain within the forest, without getting lost, break through the wall, which likely would require special, large equipment.

After this, one's army would have to climb up into the waist-high entrance, which would be very slow, and then try to find the dungeon core itself, with a short time limit and no scouting information. The tights paths made flooding it with a large number of units unviable.

Saeja was certain there was fake paths as well, to confuse and weaken intruders, and breaking the door on the side was wholly impossible. She knew of no being on the world capable of busting down the door, and it had no lock either. And as an adventurer Saeja knew that splitting up was death, as well. 

Saeja's overall opinion of the dungeon was "impregnable defenses", to an almost comical degree. At the same time, the dungeon's appearance led Saeja to believe it would be hard for the Warden to mount attacks, for much the same reasons – distance from settlements and tight corridors, waist-high wall getting in the monster's ways.

The figure responsible for the pressure, the Warden, came out of the darkness after another short while. At the same time, something was... off. Wardens never showed up like this to meet people, nor did they conjure seatings. Saeja then realized something about the Warden, something she should've immediately noticed, a "d'oh" feeling within her.

They're not a monster ! They're a human wearing a mask. That was... unusual. Very few known dungeons had human Wardens. Maybe more often in the past, before the Purity Campaigns ? The pale pink mask only left their mouth visible, and they wore a pink-and-purple striped gambeson-like shirt-skirt combo with a high collar. The Warden nevertheless cut a threatening image, and Saeja could sense they were not pleased at their presence.

Between their mask and their clothing, their gender was impossible to identify. The Warden sat down on their own chair, on the other side of the opening, only their head and arms visible, Saeja feeling their glare, before they started talking with a raspy, husky, loud, but rather high-pitched voice.

"Who the fuck are you and what the hell are you doing here ?" they... she ? they said. Best to not make assumptions. Saeja swallowed back, breathed in, trying to control her worries, and started talking to answer the questions.

"My name is Saeja, an adventurer. These are my friends and teammates Ruvarie,", she said, as the spearwoman nodded, " and Tarac.", as the mage nodded in turn. Before Saeja could continue, Tarac started talking in turn, Saeja wiping her brow internally.

"We were on a mission to chase down and either apprehend or slay the Crimson Wraith, a bandit chief." he explained to the Warden, their mask's strange, singular eye opening covering their eyes fully and most of their face, making it very hard to see their expressions and emotions. Saeja found it very disconcerting, but it seemed she might just let Tarac do the talking.

Typically, he was the worst of them at dealing with people, but it seemed he had a handle on the Warden. Something Saeja was immensely thankful for – she made a mental note to thank him for that later.

The Warden stared at them, their mask leaving no expression visible. "Fucking bullshit... Fiine..." they grumbled before continuing."Bunch'o bastards passed by my turf yesterday. I dunno who they were, what they wanted, why there were here." The Warden took a short breather and continued. "I killed 'em. Every last one. Ambushed them during the night and slaughtered them all with wide-area magic."

"Why ? I mean, I'm not complaining, thank you for dealing with the bastard, he deserved it, but..." Ruvarie had started, before Saeja interrupted her by raising her hand, frenetic. Dammit ! Her mind raced to quickly defuse the situation before the Warden got really angry and attacked.

"Why the fuck not ?" they answered instead. "Because I could ? Because I wanted to ? Because the lot of them were dickheads ?" A strange, weak chill washed over, seemingly attempting to calm the Warden down. "...Someone needed to put the lot of 'em down. Make the bastards stop." they said eventually, Saeja calming down a little.

"...Huh. Fair enough" answered the spearwoman as Saeja muttered something under her breath. "So it was not about revenge, or justice, but about making them stop, huh..." Although the Warden didn't catch it, Ruvarie and Tarac most certainly did, the three adventurers anticipating a complicated discussion later.

The Warden seemed to have gone silent. Are they... yeah. That's surprise, of all things, Saeja realized, before Tarac started talking. "I see." he said, returning to the conversation. "I suspected something among these lines, to be quite honest.", he continued. "Well, this world is certainly safer without him." he continued.

Saeja recentered herself, reminded of something. Right. He's got a bounty on his head. That wasn't the reason they had started going after the man, however, although it had been a motivator – their original motive being to bring him to justice and stop his heinous actions.

Although, considering the man's many sins, justice would've most likely been execution, so him getting killed by the Warden changed little overall, other than speeding it up and ensuring he wouldn't harm more people. Saeja took a deep breath, and started talking in turn. "If I may, there is a bounty of the man's head..." she started, but was interrupted by the Warden.

"Piss it away in beer, I don't want it." answered the Warden in the same tone, which rather shocked all of the adventurers. Wow, rude. Even I wouldn't do that, Ruvarie thought as the Warden continued talking. "Gonna be more trouble than it's worth. I don't wanna deal with it. Bastard's gone, that's all that matters."

Tarac acknowledged the Warden's words with a nod. "I see. I was curious about the spell, though..." Saeja started to internally freak out again, but thankfully it seemed the Warden decided to spare them the demonstration with a simple but blunt "No."

"Alright, then.", the mage said before whispering "It was worth an attempt, but one cannot win them all." to himself, then he went into thought. Saeja was pretty confident all three of them had a similar... question for the masked figure, now that the adventurers had a clearer handle on the Warden.

And their problem was mostly how to approach the issue. At its core, the idea was fairly simple. What does the Warden demands in order to not attack the country ? Killing them was not an option. The Warden outmatched in combat any military force the nobles could muster, and besides military assault was rarely the right pick for handling dungeons.

But the Warden was willing to talk, to hear them out at the least – and the trio intended on extending that courtesy back to them if nothing else. It was ultimately Saeja herself who decided to chomp the arrow and start talking. "One last question, if I may ?"

The Warden answered with a grunt, so Saeja continued. "Is... there a way to ensure you... your dungeon, your forces won't attack ?", a question that seemed to legitimately take the Warden aback. They thought about it for a short while, spinning a thin rope in their fingers, before settling on an answer.

Zoemie considered. The thing is that all she wanted was peace and quiet. But at the same time it was pointless, right ? People are dickheads who are gonna ignore my requ... Zoemie thought, but her mind raced and decided on her answer.

"Fine. I mean, telling you is pointless. Of course it's gonna be pointless because people are gonna ignore it. But fine ! At least you can't say I didn't fucking try." Zoemie started. "Open your ears, because I'm only gonna say it once. Okay ? You listening ?", she said before the three adventurers assented.

"This is my turf, and what I want is peace and quiet. You don't want me to attack ? Simple. You leave me alone. That's it. That's my sole request, non-negotiable. That's all I fucking want. Now do what you gotta to drill it into heads. Use a fucking jackhammer if you have to. I don't think I can be clearer than that. All I want is to be left alone. Understood ?"

The adventurers looked at Zoemie, and the brown-haired one with an axe... Saeja, it was ? nodded. "Yes. Crystal clear." she said with a nod. The trio looked at eachother. "We should go." the mage said, the women nodding.

"I'll teleport you lot at the dungeon's exit." said Zoemie, the trio getting up and nodding at her. Zoemie activated her dungeon's magic, and teleported the trio away. It took just a bit of time before they started walking away, Zoemie emitting a sigh of relief. "What a pain, man..."

---

"That was unpleasant." grumbled Ruvarie. "Like, fuck... What a tryhard, man. Talk about being over-the-top ! It's really hard to take 'em seriously." said the spearwoman, who had the found the attempt at intimidation a bit excessive. Although it didn't mean the Warden wasn't capable of being a threat.

Although, when you're as powerful as the Bleeding-Hands or that Warden, quirks of personality like that are much more tolerated than on a powerless commoner, Saeja thought.

"I personally found them rather refreshing.", said Tarac, surprising the other adventurers – and to some degree even himself, but he knew when he said that that it felt true to him.

"Your lack of drinkin' is getting to your head.", Ruvarie reacted in disbelief, as Saeja simply stayed quiet for the time, thinking.

"Say what you will about them, but their honesty is... refreshing." Tarac continued, frowning. "Nobles are untrustworthy fools that will do counterproductive, irrational, hypocritical things for the sake of short-term gain. But the Warden's situation is in line with their goal, they never lied to us at any point, and fully intend on sticking to their word."

"True, I guess." admitted Ruvarie. She still did not like the Warden, but she could at least admit that. "Hey, Saeja. You okay ?", she asked, worried about her friend. The lack of response quickly clued in Ruvarie, who was quite used to the axewoman's quirks. "Guilt's gnawin' ?"

"...Yes" the adventurer admitted, after taking a deep breath. "I'm... troubled." She sighed, before shaking her head. "Our goal have been accomplished, even if not by us, and we have a way of preventing the worst from happening... assuming they listen.", the three adventurers nodding to eachother.

"Thing is, how can you do that ? Like... people suck, and there are some that'd rather die than listen, yanno ?" said Ruvarie. "How do you make them obey ? Because, like, sure, you can tell them, but the dickheads are gonna go "But I tried to talk to the Warden for good reasons", despite being full of it at every turn."

"I don't know, Ruv." said Saeja. "I don't know.", she repeated, grimness dripping from her voice, less of hate or anger and more of unavoidable sorrow born of human folly.

As she wandered through the forest, Saeja thought about the motive for the Warden's murder of the Crimson Wraith. Ensure they never hurt anyone ever again, huh ? It was a motivation she found unusual. It was neither revenge like Ruvarie would've supported, nor was it justice like Tarac advocates for.

It was a whole lot more... naive. But if nothing else, it was a naivete Saeja respected. Revenge won't undo the harm done, and you can't bring these kinds of fellow to justice. But you can prevent them from causing further harm. Old memories of bitter desires swirled deep within her mind.

"Will... you do... that ?" asked one of the othe... of her friends, she wasn't sure of which one, and by the time the question reached her mind she had forgotten the exact voice.

"Yes." she answered. "Later. When I... we have an escape plan. But it will happen. I'll ensure he can't hurt anyone anymore." The other two nodded, grimly supportive. They didn't disagree with the idea, after all. They were merely worried about their friend's well-being.

---

A fancy, dapper fellow with black hair and piercing dark eyes, tall, dark, and classically handsome in quite a few ways, was sitting in front of the adventurers. His hands were clasped in front of his face, and whatever he felt went unexpressed.

"The Crimson Wraith is dead.", Saeja started.

"I have heard it from the Guildmaster. Good news, certainly.", said the black-haired man in turn. "He was a most vile man – I daresay his absence shan't be missed. But what does it have to do with me ?", he continued, as it was, in fact, quite unusual for adventurers to request a meeting with a town governor, even the one of such a small town.

"We didn't kill him.", answered Saeja. "There is... a dungeon that appeared in the depths of the Seaguard Greatwoods. It's the Warden that got him." she continued, watching the man's expression cloud over at her words.

"A dungeon ? That is most troubling..", The man started. He sighed, before continuing. "I do not believe we have the men, money and time to mount an invasion force." he said, the guard captain next to him nodding as well.

"It... might not be necessary, sir." Saeja said, before swallowing and continuing. "We've managed to talk to the Warden, Somewhat. The Warden, while human, is... exclusively interested in being left alone. And is also strong enough than even Bleeding-Hands might fall to their might."

The man closed his eyes and considered, before casting a spell to ensure that the adventurer was saying the truth. He nodded, satisfied at the results, and turned to face the other man in the room, who had red-brown hair, a bushy mustache, and wore armor. "Jorkreng." he said, the guard captain bowing quickly. "How are we on men ?"

"We barely have enough lads as-is.", Jorkreng answered in turn. "If we wanted more, we'd have to lower the recruitin' standards.", he said, the distaste both of the men expressed towards that option putting it off the table. It was enough of a pain to find men who wouldn't abuse the position as-is, lowering the standards would only open the position to more corrupt guards.

The man considered for a while. "Would it be possible to order the guards at the southern outpost to keep an eye for monsters, and inform travellers to avoid going deep in the forest ?", the town governor asked, instead.

"Aye, ser." answered the captain in turn. "Might need a bit of work on the patrols, but I think the lads won't mind. The forest might be a bit more interesting to stare at than the roads, after all.", both the captain and governor chuckling a little at the nevertheless truthful jab.

The governor closed his eyes again, thinking, then opened them, and started talking. "Then we shall abide by the Warden's wishes. I will talk to the guildmaster of the Adventurer's Guild myself. How deep in the forest are we talking ?"

"Around... an hour from the edge, give or take. More than that, maybe." said Saeja. The town governor nodded. He would verify on his own with a trusted runner... with of course explicit orders to not step inside the dungeon's territory. That just wouldn't do. He would've verified himself, but he didn't have the time to spare.

Saeja nodded at the governor. "Thank your for your time." She hoped it would work... but as someone who wasn't much of an optimist, she was well aware it was unlikely. Still, better to have tried.

"And thank you for this information. I shall pray to the gods this dungeon will not cause the town excessive trouble." said the governor in turn.