Kamil and Duman’s team were on the 10th floor of the labyrinth. There were similar slabs of stones blocking their way on this floor which was opened in a similar manner as the last time. They fully expected a boss-type monster to appear, and it did. Interestingly, it was a new type of monster which they had never seen before. It was a huge slime monster which resembled just a large drop of water except it was so large that it was the size of a great bear. While it looked really unsuspecting on the surface, because it looked like just a huge drop of greenish water, it was anything but.

“My sword is fucking melting!” Ayaan shouted in utter dismay while frowning at his sword that was releasing white gas and was literally melting down.

“My warpick ain’t doing anything. I feel like I am hammering a bed!” Mezei shouted in frustration also. Meanwhile, the slime was not attacking. It was simply sitting there, blocking their way.

“Elementals of fire, heed my call! Grant me powers to explode my enemies: Fireball!” Amanda shouted her spell incarnation. Three fireballs were thrown at the giant slime which exploded upon contact. However, where the fireballs exploded seemed to have boiled momentarily, it didn’t appear as if they had done any significant damage. The slime was still lazily blocking a path as if it couldn’t care less what they were doing to it.

“I do believe this thing is immune to physical damage!” Mezei declared while taking backsteps, Ayaan followed the suit and retreated as well while throwing away his sword and taking out his backup which was a short sword. Meanwhile, Duman took a shot. A bolt successfully punctured its outer layer, but that was as far as it went as the bolt was swiftly melting down while floating around inside. The punctured hole leaked its inner fluid a bit before closing down.

Roseline cast her spell, “Elementals of water, hear me! Sweep that thing in front of me away from us: Seiche!”

A large wave of pressurized water moved toward the giant slime. The water lifted it a little, but the slime itself seemed mostly unaffected. Since it wasn’t attacking, as long as they could get it out of their way, they could proceed. That was her line of thoughts although that was dangerous since the monster could block their way back to the surface.

“Magic has some effect but not much,” She concluded after having cast hers and having observed Amanda’s fireball.

“What is even that thing?!” Duman barked with a voice full of frustrations.

Slimes did exist in this world, but they were predominantly found deep underground. And, since barely anyone had been venturing into caves and dungeons, it wasn’t widely known. Interestingly, the capital of Estana, Deltalago had an extensive cave system which had slimes. Even then, only a limited number of people were aware of slime monsters within Estana. Basically, they were rare.
When Kamil fired his magic arrows, they became stuck at the skin of the slime. It didn’t seem to do much other than leaking the content which made the stone floor bubble, releasing white fumes. As the arrow began to vanish, the punctured holes closed swiftly. It healed itself fast essentially.

He asked aloud, “Am I correct in assuming that the monster will die if it loses too much of its internal juice?”

“Juice? Isn’t that his blood?” Duman replied with a question.

“What kind of blood melts an iron sword?!” Ayaan retorted strongly.

Mezei barked, “Quit yapping, ya all. What do we do?!”

“I will fire an explosive arrow,” Kamil suggested. “If I could create a big enough of a hole, it might leak enough of its juice or blood to weaken it.”

“Stay away from that thing!” Duman commanded others. Its juice was energetically acidic. If it was going to leak a lot of it, it could pose issues for those around it. Either way, it was quite weird for them to be angry about a monster that wasn’t quite hostile. All it did was block the path.

‘Are there smaller variants? It may just be me, but I think it looks cute in a way. Could make an excellent pet if it could be tamed…’

Anyway, firing an exploding arrow did just about what they expected; It created a sizable hole on the slime, and its juice began pouring out, creating a large amount of white smoke that swiftly started to fill the confined area.

“EVERYONE, BACK OFF! GET OUT OF HERE!” Duman shouted, immediately sensing that the fumes were dangerous. He ordered his people to flee. In fact, seasoned adventurers tended to avoid anything that they had never seen before, which would be the right call.

“Wait!” Kamil delayed the order while casting a specialized breeze spell.

‘Elementals, give me a wind barrier around us.’

“Gather around me!”

Duman and the others showed clear hesitation. They felt it was just better to get out before the fumes overtook them.

“Duke! Let’s just get out of here!”

Seeing their hesitation to go along with his plan, he took a last look at the slime which was becoming blurred enough by the rapidly expanding fumes, he made a dash toward the exit along with the others. By the time they reached the 9th floor, most of the 10th floor was filled with the white fumes. It was high acidic which would damage a person’s respiratory ducts and, because it would have been an internal wound, water magic would have a hard time dealing with it. Whatever the case, they weren’t going to touch what they didn’t know.

“Now what,” Mezei asked indifferently. She was mildly disappointed that they had to withdraw, but the withdrawal wasn’t what disappointed her. It was the fact that the whole 10th floor looked to be out of limit for God knows how long. Air circulation was extremely passive in the labyrinth. In fact, the 10th floor may never become accessible if left alone.

“My apologies,” Kamil said, “This was my fault.”

“Not really,” Duman retorted. “We all agreed with your method to puncture a larger hole to drain its blood out. We simply did not predict this.”

They gazed down at the stairs where it was full of white mist. It was slowly coming up at a snail’s pace.

“I feel like that monster’s purpose was to delay anyone who desired to proceed deeper,” Roseline said. “I don’t think it attacked us once, did it?”

“Can it even attack?” Amanda asked back, and a long silence struck them. Not only did it not attack, all it did was stay still. In a comedic sense, they went crazy on a still object.

“So, what now?” Mezei reminded them.

“It is clear that we cannot go down to the 10th floor until the air clears out which … could take forever?” Duman said with folded arms and a long sigh. He had Brian’s warning in his mind that the exploration should be completed as soon as possible. This mishap was going to delay it which could prove to be costly.

“I reckon the air will clear eventually, but we are going to need to accelerate the dispersing,” Kamil said. “I am going to send you a crate of wind crystals and copper pipes. Use it to circulate the air forcefully.”

“Eh…, how will those work?” Duman asked with an amused face. Air ventilation was an alien concept for most folks. Kamil was familiar with it only because of Cezary who explained to him how the ventilation system worked within the Ceres manor.

“I will send you a basic instruction along with the shipment. The gist is that you use pipes to direct airflow.

Roseline, who was a bit of a scholar, was the first one to catch on what he was saying. 

“I see. That’s actually clever,” She replied after piecing the stuff together. “But we are going to need a lot of pipes to make it all the way to the surface.”

“Fear not. Copper is cheap and readily available. In fact, you could ask Tantan to supply them with pipes. They’d be more than willing for a nominal price.”

The town was literally sitting on top of a huge copper deposit. They had so much copper that they used the metal for roofing, which resulted in their iconic green roofs. 

Taking a deep and long breath, Duman cracked his neck and fingers. “Well, it looks like we are taking an unannounced break then. I hope the negotiation with Atra doesn’t go awry…, duke?”

He shrugged in his response. “I, too, am waiting for some sort of a reply. The distance is a factor here.”

Even with an airship, it took about four to five days to arrive. A round trip was ten days, give or take a day. That wasn’t even including negotiation itself. 

“Is it true that the Kingdom of Egra is meddling in?”

It took a short moment for him to answer. “Yes, it’s true. Ceres doesn’t have an issue with Atra. If it were just us two, it should have already been concluded amicably.” Sooner or later, it was going to become public knowledge. He felt that there was no point in hiding, especially to those he was frequently working with.

“Can we expect a good outcome?”

“No, you shouldn’t expect that,” He replied earnestly to which Duman beamed a crooked grin.

“Thank you for your honest answer, Duke.”

While on their way out of the place, Kamil asked Duman.

“I’ve got a question, Duman.”

“Oh? Sure, shoot.”

“What would happen to this settlement if the guild were ordered to pull out?”

“There are some independent mercenaries here, about ten of them so far. I am pretty sure that they would run the settlement on their own if we were to leave. For how long, I am unsure. They wouldn’t be able to get support from Ceres or the guild. But, as long as they have money, I suppose Tantan can always provide support.”

“Is that so…”

“What are you thinking, Duke?”

“I have been contemplating pulling out everyone related to Ceres out of here,” He declared which made everyone around him surprised.

“For what reason?” Mezei asked.

“Our presence is the seed of a potential war. I wish to avoid that unless it’s already too late.”

Exploring the labyrinth was equally important. At the same time, he could always sneak into here. He realized that the Ceres guild didn’t need to be here. In fact, he realized, albeit late, that this settlement did not need to start the way it did. Instead, he should have sent an independent group. If he did, the whole diplomatic nightmare wouldn’t have been his baggage, and that the Kingdom of Egra wouldn’t have had a foot to interfere.

“A bit late, ain’t it?” Ayaan said to which everyone, including Kamil, agreed with a nod.

“It is late indeed,” He admitted as much. “I apologize for my foolishness.”

“Duke, you really don’t need to…” Duman was in a rush to stop him from apologizing.

Ayaan clicked his tongue and said, “You are a noble. Don’t be sorry to folks like us.”

“So, what do you want us to do?” Mezei asked.

“If it’s possible, I want you to prepare to depart on short notice. I am unsure whether I will give out an order to evacuate in haste. I will need to discuss this further with my advisors. But just preparing shouldn’t be harmful.”

Duman contemplated his suggestion a bit. They would have nothing to do for a while otherwise.

“Fine, that will give us something to do at least,” He replied.

“I thank you for your cooperation.”

 

When Kamil returned to Ceres, Nestor was waiting for him, which was a sign that something happened.

“Duke.” He showed his respect briefly.

“What happened?”

“Lord Knell’s airship came by.”

“Came by? He left?”

“Yes, he just wanted to leave a message that the negotiations are being stalled by both sides and that it is not looking good.”

Stalling meant neither side was pleased with how it was going. Atra was most likely dumbfounded that the kingdom was meddling in the first place. Of course, it was unclear what Isaac wanted to accomplish from these negotiations. Would he manipulate them to a conflict or would he prevent war breaking out? Whatever his plan was, he ultimately wished to rid of king Karsten in order to bring a period of prolonged peace.

“I see. Sir. Vogel, how is the baby?”

Rose had recently given birth finally, and it was a baby girl. Rosetta was her name, taken after her mother.

He beamed a smile as he answered, “She is healthy, and so is the mother.”

The Vogel manor he planned to construct, it didn’t quite happen the way he envisioned it to be. Instead, his manor was built underground in the end. It happened that way because the cost was much cheaper. While Nestor wanted his manor to be built above the ground, Rose was against the idea because they’d be having a debt that needed to be repaid for over a decade of their lives. With the underground manor, the debt was much lower, and it’d take only a few years for them to pay back. She was the wiser one in this case because the couple was going to have more children, and more children meant more expenses. More staff would need to be hired and such. She simply did not want to sacrifice their quality of life for a luxurious home.

“I hope to see her back soon.”

“Yes, she should be back working in a few days.”

Rose was meant to be Nestor’s assistant as a scholar. Due to her pregnancy and the demanding nature of his job, she was temporarily demoted to work in the public library with Marat. Now that she gave birth finally, she was to be back to her original position although it was almost certain that they’d try for a second child soon since their first child was a daughter. A noble couple usually had three children in addition. In other words, Rose would probably be out of real action for a few more years. That was the life of a noble wife. Greta went through a similar ordeal where she gave birth to three children in a span of three years. Rose would probably go down the same path as her.

 

Once he was back in the manor, Flora greeted him warmly.

“Milord,” She called out softly. Her belly was quite large at this point. She was flanked by Avina who was keeping sharp eyes on everyone around her. She had a sword equipped visibly on her belt and had her hand on it even, ready to strike at any potential assailant. She was clearly being oversensitive and overprotective. After exchanging an affectionate hug, he kneeled down and put an ear on her belly. It was at that very moment which he felt a subtle kick.

“Oh, the baby kicked!” He blurted joyfully.

“Yes, I felt that, too,” She replied with a broad smile. He stood back up and held her hand, guiding her to a table and making her sit.

“How are you feeling?” He asked.

“I cannot complain.”

“I am sorry that I had to be away.”

“Don’t be. I don’t know why you keep apologizing for that. It’s not like you have been going away for no apparent reason.”

He had been traveling for truly legitimate reasons. No one in their right mind would blame him for “going away” indeed.

“If you need anything, let me know.”

“Please, I am more than happy.”

In a sense, Flora had a similar problem as Esther. Both longed for a place to belong. While the latter found her place as a strong independent woman, the former found hers in a fairly different way. Regardless, noble women rarely had their wishes come true because they were frequently used as a political tool. Many chose to find happiness somehow within. Otherwise, their lives would just be downright miserable. Commoners would argue that they had no right to complain since they would generally not worry about basic needs however.

“Who’s there?!” Avina turned around suddenly toward the sound. It was apparently a maid who was coming in with a plate full of food.

“It’s me,” She told her as if they knew each other.

“Oh, it’s you. Is it the stuff?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Intrigued a bit, he looked over to find something he had never seen before. It was a ball of white stuff.

“What is that?”

“It’s called rice balls, made from rice. The priest from Rem a while ago? He brought them with him,” The maid answered.

“He complained about the bread being stale and insisted on cooking the rice,” Avina added. “Then the chef, Gojar, got wind of the new ingredient and came up with this. The lady likes it very much.”

“May I have one?”

“Certainly, Milord.”

The rice balls had salt sprayed on them already and they were fairly moist and sticky to touch, which was completely opposite of how bread felt.

“Interesting texture,” He remarked. “Oh, I see.”

With the bread, one had to drink water constantly. This wasn’t the case for the rice balls. It was fairly moist to begin with and went down smoothly. Additionally, it actually had a taste although it was coming from salt. The bread was tasteless mostly. Salted bread was unheard of and unthinkable.

“The chef said that it should be consumed with raw vegetables for a healthier diet,” Avina added. “In fact, he suggested covering the rice balls with veggies and consuming them that way.”

“Is that so-”

He realized that the plate was already empty, which had 5 rice balls. Apparently, Flora ate them all already.

Wow, never seen her eat so fast before. She must love it.

Her pregnancy had something to do with it most likely. Regardless, she wasn’t a woman who showed any strong favoritism when it came to food. And he had never seen her wolf down any food at all, until this moment at least.

“Kindly obtain the seeds for this rice. I shall attempt to cultivate it in my laboratory.”

His greenhouse research was moving along nicely because the wind crystal was working. It seemed to provide enough light for wheat to grow properly. He had recently given an order to Ravas for a much larger space to cultivate crops indoors therefore. Anyway, Flora’s eyes lit up as soon as she heard that.

“Surely?”

Rice was available in a very limited quantity at the moment because there was only so much Vetaawala, a priest of Divine Will, could have brought.

“I shall make it my priority, my dear. You hear that, Avina?”

“Yes, Duke. I shall acquire the seeds by the end of the day. If he refuses, I will confiscate it.”

She’d do anything for Flora and probably meant what she said.

“Just … don’t beat him up, please.”

She refused to give an answer to that.

Eh, good luck, Mr Veta… I forgot his damn name. Anyway, good luck, Mr. Veta.

 

Once his time with her was over, he called for his council to discuss several matters. Cezary, Nestor, and he sat down at a table. A maid delivered cups of Macomaco tea onto the table.

“Sir Waszak, could I get an update on the deadland please?”

“Certainly.” He unfolded a small piece of paper which had rough drawings of the region. “It has not been expanding outward. Instead, the Northern part and the Southern are now connected.”

Kamil narrowed his eyes as he saw the drawing. There was now a giant patch of deadland right between Tonga, Dido, Fadin, Vedo, Larok, and Valet, which meant foot travel between those settlements was no longer an easy affair. Thankfully, the airship arrived at a very convenient time although it still wouldn’t help regular traveling merchants who would need to take a much longer route around the deadland. This meant prices for some goods would eventually go up.

“It looks like it is still expanding outwards, though?”

“Yes, but it’s expanding very slowly. I don’t believe it will expand much further. It’s almost as if the deadland has a center and its influence gets weaker the further it expands.”

Folding arms, Kamil replied, “So, this means our concern of the deadland swallowing the entire kingdom is no longer valid.”

“Uncertain but highly unlikely.”

“The kingdom must be aware of this,” Nestor added. “Yet, they are doing nothing.”

What could they do anyway?

Curing the deadland was his primary motive for wanting to clear the labyrinth. He assumed that he would be able to learn something at the bottom of the dungeon. He showed urgency previously in fear of it expanding further. It was still one of his priorities.

“Any update on the negotiation?” He changed the subject. “Sir Vogel told me earlier about Lord Knell’s message.”

“We don’t know what they are negotiating about,” Nestor said while making a troubled face.

“The Kingdom of Egra has nothing to do with this literally,” Cezary added with a snort. “I am pretty sure that it’s going nowhere because Atra is dumbfounded.”

“This impasse does give us time, though. Now, would you like to hear me out?”

Then he proceeded to tell them the idea of withdrawing everyone from the labyrinth and inform Atra about the decision.

“Would that change anything?” He asked.

“It would depend on Atra …,” Cezary trailed off but soon resumed, “If you do that, the Kingdom of Egra has nothing to work with. Are you sure about this? I was under the impression that you needed to explore the place.” 

“Which is true, I admit. But I’ve decided to sneak in and out instead of formally establishing a colony there.”

“If you are going that far, what is stopping you from rushing to reach the bottom? If we send others, like Raem and Lara, we could finish the place sooner rather than later. As you said, we are at an impasse which we could take advantage of.”

Sighing, Kamil explained what had happened on the 10th floor and that it is going to be impassable for the foreseeable future.

“Ouch, indeed,” Cezary replied while rubbing the bridge of his nose with his eyes closed. “That does complicate things.”

“So, I am thinking of just withdrawing everyone from the guild and let the place be run by whoever is willing. We won’t meddle in and inform Atra about this. They could send their own people there.”

“Duke, I must say,” Nestor spoke, “This is getting a bit complicated. If we do withdraw, what will the Kingdom of Egra think about us? Like or not, they are our mother nation. We should not cross them too much.”

Nestor was pro-Egra, which was understandable since he had a family in Dido under the Flissing whereas Cezary couldn’t care less about anyone or anything, a neutral so to speak although he seemed to take pleasure in seeing those from the Siwen suffer. Kamil was more or less neutral also but he saw Estana in a more favorable light than he did with Egra due to the fact that the king of Estana seemed more reasonable than Karsten.

“Are you suggesting that we leave as things are currently, Sir Vogel?”

“Well, that is what they are working on the basis of the situation that we are currently occupying a piece of land that belongs to Atra.”

Cezary added, “Which is precisely why we should be talking to Atra directly instead of them. They have no right. We may have let them negotiate on our behalf, but I say they blew their chance. It is time for us to act.”

“That’s …” Nestor couldn’t argue back.

“Duke, let us call Lady Izabella and send her again to Atra. Arrange a meeting between them and us at the labyrinth and let us talk to them directly.”

Kamil spoke, “So, you are suggesting that we now ignore Egra, yes, Sir Waszak?”

“We’ve given them enough time to work things out. It’s either they are being incompetent or just want to drag things out to make it hard for everyone. If they are acting that way, I say we kick them out and finish this up on our own. Duke, we aren’t a part of their kingdom anymore and we have the backing of Estana.”

With eyes downcast, he gave Cezary’s suggestion a thought. He wasn’t wrong. This so-called diplomatic talk was going nowhere. It should have been concluded already, and he wasn’t informed of what had been going on. If they were going to leave him in the dark, then why not do the same to them?

“Very well, summon Lady Izabella.”

“Duke, I urge you to reconsider,” Nestor argued. “If we do this, we are going to damage our relationship with them.”

“I don’t think they consider us friendly in the first place, Sir Vogel,” Cezary talked back. “Respect is a two-way street. They must respect us before we respect them. We’ve given them a chance.”

Nestor, again, could not argue back, and Kamil gave Cezary a nod, telling him to summon Kerekes. It didn’t take long for her to show up.

“Am I right to assume that you’ve finally made your decision?” She said as soon as she sat down at the table they were at. She was dressed in a loose dark yellowish robe tied with a belt on waist. A maid swiftly entered and left a cup of Macomaco tea on her spot on the table and left at once.

“We’ve decided that we do not want Egra to make a decision for us,” Kamil declared.

“Is that a unanimous decision?” She studied others as she asked, and her attention was fixed at Nestor for a brief moment whose eyes were downcast. “I guess not.”

“Sir Vogel is against the idea, yes.” Cezary said. “But he was unable to make an argument.”

“Of course not,” She replied with a curt nod. “Because what they are doing is contrived. Am I to be the diplomat?”

Kamil answered, “Yes, since you’ve dealt with them previously.”

“Makes sense. I will depart tomorrow morning.”

“We’d like to arrange a meeting between them at the labyrinth. I don’t know whether they’ve sent anyone there, but it’s about time that they see the site officially.”

She nodded along. “Excuse me, but I will need to prepare.”

“Dismissed, and thank you, Lady Izabella.”

“This is what I am here for anyway.”

Once she was gone, Kamil told Cezary, “Sir Waszak, we are going to need to be on alert from now on because we are about to cross the point of no return with the Kingdom of Egra.”

“Understood. I will inform the guard captain about the situation.” Then he glanced at Nestor who looked clearly down.

“Sir Vogel, do you have anything to say?”

“No, Duke. It’s just that … This feels wrong.”

“Is this about your family in Dido?”

He shook his head weakly. “No, sir. They threw me away. I don’t have much attachment toward them. I am more worried about Rose who was actually eager to visit her family in Lux.”

“She shouldn’t really leave Ceres at the moment,” Cezary said to which Nestor nodded in agreement.

“Alright, folks.” Kamil clapped his hands to gather their attention. “Let’s get back to work.” 

Cezary and Nestor stood up at once and left the study.