had been true. No, if anything, the previous reports had been understatements. The reality was far more remarkable.
A whole floating mountain.
Those hadn’t been just empty words either. Without his approval, it proved impossible to settle down on that patch of land.
Unlike every other sensible person in his position, the man hadn’t welcomed her and the prospect of an entirely new branch of the Adventurers’ Society’s right on his doorstep.
Surely, from then on out things would be smooth sailing.
If one disregarded the existence of a certain ship-state, she now was the administrator in charge of the first and only non-stationary branch of the Society.
Or at least that’s how it should have been.
In reality, things seemed to only ever get worse.
But nothing.
The HQ’s usual support for a job well done never came.
The Emporium and its owner were so much of an outlier that the higher-ups only became more and more cautious and reserved.
Not even the fact that the Searing Witch herself was now working for that man seemed to change their attitude.
But that didn’t mean she could accept their decisions. She and her people were simply overworked. They severely lacked the manpower necessary to successfully run a branch with such daily customer volume.
And finally, it came to bite them in the ass.
A major dispute also among the adventurers, who demanded answers and clarifications.
‘As if that decision was up to me.’
What a disaster it had been. If only-
Now was not the time. Not for grief, and certainly for self-pity.
But it was time to swallow her pride and to do what had to be done.
It was still early, more night than day, and the festivities hadn’t yet resumed. Still, things were already busy on the mountaintop. Jasmine’s troops, in particular, had their hands full maintaining order.
While she was, of course, grateful for their support, this observation only further dampened her mood.
Someone in her position shouldn’t have to rely on anyone else’s support to handle such situations. Not if the Society wanted to remain truly neutral. Not to mention their prestige.
It certainly wasn’t comparable to the HQ, but it was still by far the largest and most influential branch in the area.
Coming here and having to beg for reinforcements was humiliating, the situation unfair.
She hesitated. But only for a moment.
The situation was truly grave, and she refused to let her personal feelings or ambitions influence her decision making.
She swallowed her pride-not least for her people''s sake- and stepped inside.
The moment she saw one adventurer had finished her business and was now leaving, Magda nonchalantly squeezed into the resulting gap.
“Magda didn’t wait for the diligent clerk to start paying attention to her uniform or the badge she wore and instead directly handed over her papers to identify herself that way.
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.“Excuse me, but I really need to see the local manager. It is urgent,” she assured.
The woman behind the counter was visibly annoyed by the interruption, but realizing she was dealing with the manager of a different branch, she didn’t dare argue.
The woman leaned to the side and made an apologetic gesture to the person behind Magda, the one originally next in line.
“One second,” she then excused herself and stepped away from her desk to disappear into the back.
“Mr. Lee is waiting to receive you.” That said, the clerk placed a key onto the counter between them and push it over towards Magda. “I trust you know how to use it? The elevators are over there,” she pointed.
“Thank you very much.”
“Of course. My pleasure.”
Magda stepped into one of them. Once the door closed behind her, she took the key she had just received and put it into the opening below the buttons panel.
And then turned it.
““I- Mr Lee. Thank you for receiving me,” the woman returned the greeting, offered her hand, and, after a gesture from her opposite, took a seat. Only then did she satisfy her curiosity.
“The Emporium? Why are you saying that?”
“Haha, am I wrong? Ever since it had appeared, things have become quite the hassle. We have more to do than ever, and the kind of requests and inquires we receive have also changed drastically. Everyone wants to know where to buy the elixirs that increase one’s stats. Or the foods with similar effects. Or they want to know how to combine different consumables together into one. That and all other kinds of similarly absurd requests. And the situation has only become worse with the appearance of that portal right outside our city.
I can only imagine how all of this must affect you.”
“No. You are exactly right. It-,” she hesitated. “It shames me to have to ask you. But I fear I must. I urgently require backup. A trained exploration group. Preferable more than one.” In the end, she admitted frankly.
Mr. Lee raised his eyebrows. Whatever he had expected, this had obviously not been it. So Magda quickly continued to explain herself,
“
“Of course I’ve already heard about it. How could I not? But I also heard it was quite the low level dungeon. Even a group of four newbies with only one or two skills in their repertoire had managed to conquer it successfully. My sources tell me it was quite the close call. And they also told me that dungeon was quite unique in some other aspects as well. But even then...”
The meaning in his words was clear, even without him having to finish his sentence. No matter how much the HQ had neglected Magda and her branch office, there was no way she couldn’t deal with something like that herself. Either that or the woman was utterly incompetent.
“It is not quite that simple. Have you seen the dive?”
“I have not,” Lee answered matter-of-factly.
“In that case, let me show you.” With that, Magda produced several crystals; a [Receiver] as well as a [Transmitter Crystal]. “I got my hands on a recording.”
“Please,” now Lee was intrigued.
***
“But still, you have to excuse me. I quite frankly don’t see how any of this explains your request. Despite all, nothing’s changed- it is still just a low level dungeon. You don’t mean to tell me that…” here Mr. Lee hesitated. He was looking for the right words to express his opinion on the matter without having to directly insult Magda and her staff.
Last night, I already set out some men to map the dungeon.”
“Oh?” Lee’s curiosity was once again piqued.
In response, Magda took out a second set of crystals and wordlessly handed them over, her expression grave.
And so, soon, a different recording started to play. This time, in much better quality; it wasn’t just a recording of a big screen with parts of an audience visible and audible like the last one, but clearly the original.
More professional, judging by their equipment and the manner in which they carried themselves. Also, the group’s number of members and their composition:
Five people, as opposed to the previous group of four. And the only one carrying a melee weapon.
The skeleton’s only skill had been a deadly sweep of its sword; a group composition which tried to minimize the damage this attack could do was only prudent.
He could already imagine the group’s formation. The tank would bind the enemy to himself in the middle of the room. The other four would spread around them.
‘
The group proceeded slowly. Not because of caution, but because one of their members had to conscientiously map every stone in the tunnel. The mood was relaxed, jovial even, with friendly banter between the group members. Until they approached the eighty meter mark, as indicated by the fourth pair of torches on either side of the tunnel.
““Chill. I’m confident it was right over here. Look.” With that, the man at the front confidently stepped onto a particular stone plate.
*click*
“fwoosh fwoosh fwoosh fwoosh fwoosh fwoosh
“But Magda had watched this scene multiple times already. “A classic ceiling trap. Nothing special.” Besides the obvious grief, there was also a hint of anger in her voice. “Easily preventable. So unnecessary.”
““Just keep watching,” her voice was shaking. But despite her words, the first thing she did was actually pause the video and fast-forwarded the recording a good forty minutes. She couldn’t handle sitting through the whole ordeal, the screams and the cries of the group. Not again.
And now this group, because of the lack of the usual exiting portal right at the beginning of each dungeon, had been forced to carry on and face the boss of this dungeon without a tank.
As the recording resumed, Magda turned her face.