Chapter 32

Red Sands Desert, Contested Border Region.

Dungeon Factory, Core Room.

Alexandra watched quietly as the dwarf stepped into the core room, and surveyed it, noting Emilia's presence, then his gaze settling on her gently floating core.

It felt...odd, to have someone that powerful this close to her core. It was like two massive forcefields right next to each other, or two rivers smashing into one another. It was manageable -for now at least- but she had no idea what would happen if a powerful core was in the same position. Would both forces just...cancel each other out, or would it become even more turbulent?

Well, there was no real point worrying about that right now.

"Greetings, sir dwarf." She spoke from the golem next to her core.

"Greetings again, lady Crystal, lady Oswald." The guildmaster gave her and Emilia an oddly elegant bow, for an heavily armored killing machine. "I am Starvak Estorius, guildmaster of the Darthar adventurers guild."

Well that answers as to where we are on the map. Sort of. It would make sense for the guildmaster of the closest adventurers guild to take command. She thought to herself.

"I see..." Alexandra tilted her golem's head. "Well, sir dwarf, are you only here...provisionally, or are you intending to become the guildmaster of the guild in this nascent dungeon town as well?"

That seemed to put the dwarf slightly off balance, but he recovered quickly. Very quickly. If the golem has eyes, they would be narrowing right now.

I have to remember, guilds on this world are like megacorporations. He isn't just the guy that signs the quests and solves disputes, he probably has some considerable political power as well. She reminded herself.

"I am indeed her only provisionally, to help the guild find it's footing, and well...." He smiled impiously. "I must say that being affiliated with the discovery, and assessment of a new dungeon, as well as maybe even meeting the core in person, would look good on my resume."

"Indeed." She chuckled...but her eyes were narrowing even further. Either he was lying, or the guild was managed by idiots. And she doubted it would be latter, especially given how....lethal an adventurer's occupation could be.

Because she was pretty sure a man -well, dwarf- of his level and power didn't need a resume, at all. She hadn't invited him to stay to 'verify' she wasn't under someone's sway for nothing. First, because he was immensely powerful, and her mana income had spiked and gone through the stratosphere thanks to his mere presence, but also because she hadn't formally met him, and if she'd learned a single thing from her stunt through Fleet Logistics it was that networking was everything. She wasn't supposed to know it, but she was fairly sure she wouldn't have been promoted as fast as she had, or been handed such sensitive projects as the design of the Infinity-class cruisers or Dawnstar-class super-battleships, if she hadn't been on very good terms with Arcadia, the EFSN's primary military contractor.

So she was sure that being able to put a name on the local guildmaster -or whoever the local guildmaster took their orders from, because she would bet her sword that the dwarf would be pulling some of the strings- would be beneficial in the end. Establishing some back channels would be invaluable as well, but she had yet to acquire communication systems. Which reminded her that she had promised to get Emilia a communication crystal, so she could call her family. Mmmhhh, she needed to bump that up in the priority list.

TO-DO LIST UPDATED

Dear gods, I made an entry about modifying another entry. I really need to clean this up, she thought to herself.

"Well, I can see that you aren't under anyone's thrall." Said the dwarf, bringing Alexandra back from her thoughts. He was just putting some glasses back in his pockets, and the metallic fringed vision aid glowed a bit as he stowed it away. Probably enchanted...possibly some sort of scanning device. Alexandra idly wondered if you could make NVGs with magic glasses. "In that case, I think there is no purpose to staying there, and distrupting your operations further."

"Actually....I wanted to ask you a few questions."

The dwarf's eyebrow rose, and he started stroking his mustache.

"Of course, ask to your heart's content."

"I was wondering how...commercial transactions between a dungeon and surface dwellers could be handled."

Emilia squirmed uneasily, and Starvak's stroking hand froze, before he slowly lowered it.

"Commercial transactions...for what purpose, and...what kind?"

Alexandra gestured at Emilia.

"I want to acquire a communication crystal so that my advisor may contact her family, and reunite with them."

Whatever it was the guildmaster had been expecting, that wasn't it. Emilia looked at her in surprise, and then warmth and thankfulness. From what Alexandra could feel through their link, the vampire seemed touched by the thought.

Of course that wasn't the Earth-born's only objective.

Starvak looked thoughtfully at Emilia, then back again at her core, and slowly nodded.

"Transactions between dungeons and....'surface dwellers' as you call it, are usually heavily regulated, and restricted." He chuckled. "It would be, after all, very easy for a dungeon to flood the markets with extremely cheap goods of a certain kind, to destroy certain enterprises or even distrupt international trade, usually at the behest of a competitor. Thus, it is usually forbidden. Plus, selling or giving specific items, or materials to dungeons is also forbidden, to avoid trying to steer their growth in a particular direction, which again, could have massive economic consequences." His eyes narrowed, and he shrugged, looking at Emilia's hopeful -some would say puppy eyed- expression. "But....for such a cause, I could make an exception. I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you, sir dwarf." Said Alexandra, quickly mirrored by Emilia.

Starvak smiled, and waved his hand, and Alexandra felt a twinge of guilt as she looked at Emilia. She knew that the transfer wouldn't be a one time thing. Oh, the guildmaster probably wouldn't partake in it, but whoever he put her in contact with...that person she would make sure got a very good deal. And once a merchant had smelled such a pile of profit, and a single crack had appeared in the dam....there was nothing to stop it from widening. And acquiring a communication crystal would ensure she wouldn't have to send physical messengers, which would most likely be carefully monitored. She didn't know why she felt bad about it though. It was odd, she never had been squeamish about using other people to get her way, but she usually didn't really care as long as her friends got what they wanted. Everyone understood that people had second motives. And yet...

She thought back to when she'd first met Emilia....and how fast she'd come to trust the vampire girl. There was something to be said for clinging to whoever was ready to help her, or 'any port in a storm', but still....She might need to investigate that later.

TO-DO LIST UPDATED

Alexandra never noticed that the item vanished off the list seconds after being added to it, or that her memory of the moment began being slowly pushed aside, just like her memory of creating herself a set of implants, or analogue to analyze what was happening to her had been pushed aside and forgotten.

"Well, in that case, I have another question."

"Once again, of course, ask away."

Alexandra smiled, although the dwarf couldn't see it.

"Well, I wanted to ask if there were any problems with expanding the entrance, or extending the dungeon up rather than down. There is, after all, a lot of room I could build into the upper portions of the mesas, without having to necessarily invest more into my influence."

The dwarf blinked, and start stroking his mustache once more. Alexandra idly wondered if he did that every time he answered a question, or if it was just a coincidence as she awaited his answer.

"I don't see why there should be a problem. As long as the entrance is a reasonable size, there shouldn't be any issues. Well, I suppose warning the local government and city planner would be nice nonetheless. As for building up, I don't see any problems with that, although you might, once again, want to tell the local government of your plans. Living directly above a dungeon is considered extremely prestigious, and I have a feeling that estates on top of your mesa would be in high demand very quickly, if nothing was done."

The Earth-born nodded. That made sense, after all prestigious residences tended to be built around monuments or high value locations, like the Arc de Triomphe, or Central Park, whenever possible. Heck, they'd even built villas with sight on the first orbital elevators, even though they were giant cargo sites. And some of them were in the middle of the ocean, which didn't make it any easier to build there. Plus, on purely practical terms, they would be closer to the dungeon entrance for delves than anyone else, and would be the closest to her influence...and might end up englobed in it eventually.

Uh, maybe I should let them do that. Free mana. Then she mentally shook her head. No, short term profit in this case could cause massive problems for her later down the road if she wanted to expand upwards. Plus, she didn't really know how powerful the guys up top would be, and she didn't want to deal with an interference area big enough to take out, say, her upper floors all day every day.

"That's more than fair. Well, in that case, I suppose that is all."

"Indeed. Have a nice day miladies." He bowed, and walked out of the core room, carefully following Jared down the hallway. Alexandra watched him through her golem's eyes....uh, cameras. Sensors. Whatever her golems used to see things. Then, she switched to dungeon mode to follow his progress for a few seconds, before reintegrating into her normal body, and waited for the dwarf to leave the boss room before slamming the door shut behind him, and opening the one of the command center, walking out into the hallway.

"That went well." She remarked as Emilia exited the core room and stood beside her.

"Yeah. It did." The vampire girl smiled. "And....thanks. For the communication crystal, I mean. It means a lot to me."

Alexandra smiled, and patted the vampire girl's head....and Emilia huffed...but said nothing, and didn't look at the Earth-born.

Alexandra's smile grew wider, before she withdrew her hand. Better not to push her luck.

"Well, now that this is over with...wait, I have a question."

"Shoot."

"Why didn't he distrupt my influence? You know, when he went close to my entrance, when the nobles came to visit. Heck, given the size of his disruption area, he should be affecting the entrance from the camp!"

"That's due to your influence boundary."

Alexandra looked the the side, and met Emilia's gaze.

"Well that sounded like it was supposed to be an answer."

The vampire girl giggled, and shook her head.

"Sorry. I forget that you don't know a lot of the basics. Your influence boundary, is, well, what separates your influence from the rest of the world. That's clear?"

"Yes."

"Well, that boundary has...special properties. First, it seems to retain a lot of ambient mana. Kind of like...a sieve with grain. Some of it goes through, but most gets stuck behind it. Not the best analogy, but it works."

Alexandra nodded, although given how the mana density increased near her core, she'd wager it was more like gravity and a planet's atmoshphere.

"And the boundary has a few more properties. One is that influence disruption outside of it doesn't cross the boundary. In fact, disruption from inside doesn't cross to the outside either, although that's usually less relevant. And your influence also blocks any and all scrying attempts."

The Earth-born raised an eyebrow, and gave the screens in the command center a pointed look.

"Well, all scrying attempts made by someone that isn't linked to the core." Hastily corrected the vampire girl. "Sorry, usually it's assumed that a lot of limitations imposed by a dungeon to outsiders are ignored by those linked to it."

"That...makes sense." It did mean, however, that there must be some form of IFF system somewhere, to identify who could do what. Mmmmhhh, it might be interesting to dig into that. If she was emitting and receiving data, she'd really like to know why or how, especially when it concerned her defensive systems.

The Earth-born shrugged.

"Well, at least now I know. And the scrying thing is reassuring if nothing else." She clapped her hands. "Now, onto more important matters!" She turned towards the body. "I am very curious as to what these...people had been carrying."

"Isn't the guildmaster still in your influence?"

"Well....yes, but that doesn't stop us from at least taking a look." She gazed at the fallen soldiers. "Especially their crossbows. Finally a ranged weapon!" She giggled, grinning evily. "Oh the things I can make with that..."

Emilia smiled hesitantly, and for once, she pitied the poor adventurers that would have to face her friend's creations.

*****

"Well, that concludes that." Said Allya as she sat down around the map table.

It had been a few hours since the incident at the dungeon, and they'd had to do a few public announcements to reassure everyone that the crisis had been averted, and everything was fine. They'd also announced that reconstruction on the aqueduct would begin shortly, and that anyone who volunteered was welcome, but participation had been far lower, as Starvak had announced that the dungeon would be open to delves tomorrow evening at the latest. They'd also taken the time to fully destroy the influence disruptor, under Starvak's supervision. The last thing they needed was an UDC intervention, even if they were there to 'help them'.

Everyone nodded or voiced their aggreement....Except for Anders.

"Do you have something to say captain?" She asked.

"Well...Yes. We think....we think we may have a security breach. There have been reports that some of the enemies taken in the ambush might have...temporarily escaped us by passing themselves off as adventurers, and disappearing into the crowd of people we caught up in the raid." He sighed. "We've found two sets of saboteur gear hidden in a crate, and after some inquiry, it would appear that two adventurers were also found in the same area when the raid took place."

Allya carefully set down on her hands on the tabletop, and got up, using her full -somewhat meager, but still full- height.

"Tell me who these adventurers are, captain. Now."

"Yes ma'am!"

*****

Neptunite sighed as he sat down. For once in his life, he was more than grudgingly grateful for the harsh training he'd undergone back in boot camp. Sure, soldiers had it hard, but these adventurers were monsters. What they called 'sparring' was closer to a an actual duel than anything else. These maniacs even sparred with real weapons and ammo!

At least his skills had let him hold his own, even with the...subpar adventuring equipment he'd been issued. He had a longing thought for his high quality combat gear, but he firmly dismissed it. He would have been arrested within the day -and probably not even let out of the ambush to begin with- if he'd been sporting it. He could have bought himself some better gear, but the funds he'd received had gone towards equipping Opal -no, Isabelle damn it!-. They'd decided that giving her a more...common name would be for the best, which he had been very thankful for ever since it had leaked that the 'unknown commandos' were using precious stones to denote rank. That had also confirmed that Saphire was very much dead, unfortunately.

After the news broke out, some people had started becoming suspicious of him, but a fair amount of people had been named after gemstones, and to his surprise, the fact that he had a girlfriend, one that had a normal name, had helped tremendously. Plus, Op-Isabelle was much better at passing for an adventurer than he was. So much better, in fact, that he was wondering if she was even passing as a an adventurer to begin with.

He shook himself, and looked at his tiny desk in the tent, his gaze coming onto his letter kit, and his face suddenly becoming grim.

He'd attended to the public announcement in the morning about the fate of his comrades. Diamond had obviously resorted to launching the assault on the dungeon...and failed. According to the announcement, there were no survivors, and the crisis had been declared -tentatively- to be over. That had relieved a lot of people...and taken quite the weight of suspicion off of his shoulders. Still, it did put him in a tremendous dilemna.

Most people would have been weeping for their lost friends, and he would, but now wasn't the time. Opal and him were the last two persons that knew what had happened here. The last two that could report everything they could to the Colonel, so that he may plan better for his next move. Because there would be a next move, he was sure of it. He was a spy after all, and thus picked up a lot of things that his superiors wouldn't want him to know. Like, oh, the fact that on their way here it looked like the Republic was massively overhauling and reinforcing the fort over at the trading oasis of Erakis. The official purpose was to better protect the trade routes, since they were likely to see a rather large increase in traffic, and thus banditry and monster attacks, but he was fairly sure anti-bandit patrols didn't need siege bombards, and that was exactly what one of the convoys had pulled into the fort in the middle of the night.

He sighed, and picked up his pen. He might as well write to the contacts he had been given to report mission failure, and make as good of a description -all in masked words or oblique terms of course- of everything that happened. Then he could look for how to get the hell out of this wasp nest with Isabelle and back to the Republic.

He started scratching down the heading of his letter, pulling out names, addresses and code words out of his memory, when someone knocked on the entrance tent pole, through the canvas.

"Enter!" He called out, looking to the side.

He was a very good dissembler. Not as good as his instructors, but still, good.

He very nearly went white regardless when a lieutenant of the guard opened the tent flap, and stepped inside, followed by 2 guards with spanned crossbows pointed straight at his head.

"Mister Neptunite? Follow us if you would. Lady Aubétoile wishes to speak with you."

He licked his lips, and nodded, slowly. He no longer had his suicide device...but he still had a poison pill hidden inside of a fake tooth. He carefully touched it with his tongue...then decided to wait for a bit. The fact that they hadn't just shot him with stunbolts meant that there was a way out of this. They were probably suspicious, but not sure he was a spy...and that meant he had a chance to get himself and Isabelle out of there.

He told himself very firmly that, over and over in his head.

It didn't help.

"Of course. I am at her lady's service."

He got up, and calmly followed the guards outside.

*****

Neptunite looked around the room. It was about as featureless as any interrogation room he'd ever seen, although he'd never heard of one made in a tent. It was quite ironic that, at long last, he had penetrated the most holy of holies of the administration tent. Of course, he hadn't quite expected it to be in handcuffs, but still.

The guards had also proven remarkably polite. Uncompromising, yes, as they'd searched him very thoroughly for any weapons, and had very obviously been looking for his suicide device, or something similar. They hadn't found his fake tooth, but they'd slapped runed handcuffs on him, just to be safe. He was no mage, but he was fairly sure they were the type to prevent someone from casting spells as long as they were on their persons. Quite useless in this case, but it underscored quite how thorough they were being....and made it even more intriguing as to who, exactly, they were setting him up to meet.

He sighed and settled himself for a long wait, but to his surprise, he only had to wait a few minutes before someone stepped through the door flap. He had expected them to let him stew for an hour at least. It was a classic intimidation and power play, used by interrogators and police around the world, but that didn't mean it wasn't effective. At least against some people.

His eyes narrowed slightly, despite his best efforts, as he saw the first person to step through. She was tall, pink-haired, and wore a perpetual scowl, and had a peculiar, mechanical blade by her side. From his information, her name was Éclair Étoile-Scintillante, and she was one of the baroness' armswoman. Which meant...

His eyes flew wide as Allya Aubétoile stepped through the door. He started to sit up to bow, and froze as something sung through the air, and he felt cold metal on his shoulder.

He looked to the side, very, very slowly, and gulped. He hadn't even seen the bodyguard unsheathe her sword.

"Please, mister Neptunite, remain in your seat." Simply said the baroness, as she sat down in front of him.

"O-Of course." He said as he sat back down, the bodyguard immediately drawing back her sword...but leaving it unsheathed in her hands, and he moved his tongue again to probe at the false tooth. He wasn't ready to trigger quite yet, but...

"So, mister Neptunite. As I'm sure you're aware by now, you have come under some...suspicion. Considerable amounts of suspicion in fact."

He smiled.

"That does seem to be the case indeed, of what kind of suspicion are we talking about?"

Allya smiled back, and he shivered as he saw the coldness in that smile...and the cold hatred in her eyes.

I'm fucked. I am so fucked. Was the only thing he could think about. There was no doubt in his mind, whether there was enough proof or not, they were convinced he was a spy.

"Before you swallow your neurotoxin pill, incinerate yourself, or whatever suicide method you no doubt have at your disposal, I would like you to at least hear my proposal."

Neptunite froze. And then he smiled -poorly, but smiled- and nodded.

"Of course. Not that-"

"Stop lying mister Neptunite." He gulped outright as her gaze sharpened, and he saw, for a brief second, the burning fury behind the cold hatred. He knew, instantly, that if that woman wasn't controlling herself, she would hacking him to pieces as they spoke. "Because I, for one, will not lie...or stand for one." She pulled out a glowing crystal, and set it on the table, and Neptunite's eyes went wide as he recognized a truth stone. Then his eyes widened further as she set her hand on the crystal. "So, here is my proposal." Her eyes bore into his, and he couldn't, just couldn't, break his gaze away from hers. "It is extremely simple. I want you to tell me precisely which nation ordered you to murder my people. And whatever you know they are up to. And do not worry, no matter how...precious such a recording would be, I know you would not answer my question if our conversation was being recorded, and it isn't, you have my word. Not that said recording would hold up in court anyway." She held up her other hand, leaving the one on the truth stone where it was. "Make no mistake, I would rather kill you as you stand, but after some....long conversation with my friends and advisors, they have convinced me that as sweet revenge could be...It would help my people more if I made a deal with you. Less of my people would die from the storm we both know is coming, and, well, if you refuse my offer." Her smile could have frozen boiling water solid. "There will be ample time to let you kill yourself, or execute you, now wouldn't it? So, mister Neptunite, the question is, will you accomodate me....or my advisors? You have my word that if you talk, you and your girlfriend, miss...Isabelle, was it? Will be let free, to leave through your own arrangements, or one of the incoming caravans, without any pursuit or bounty."

Neptunite took a deep breath. The stone hadn't even flickered. Well, the stone could have been tempered with, and she might be lying anyway, but if that was the case he was dead anyway and...he had a responsibility to at least tell the Colonel what had happened. Besides, deducing who was behind the attack should be pretty simple anyway. And a military buildup in a trading town wasn't exactly easy to conceal, even if you assumed the people planning it weren't complete idiots in military matters, like the Republic's political masters. So, he could either reveal some pretty useless 'secrets', and get to bring back whatever intel he could to the Colonel, intel that he would desperately need for his next move. Or he could die gloriously for nothing. Put that way, it wasn't such a hard choice.

He had a sneaking suspicion that the baroness had more or less followed the same train of logic, and probably thought whatever intel he had wouldn't be worth much getting back to the Republic. Well, he supposed they'd just have to find out who was right then.

"Very well milady." He moved his hand towards the stone, and she slid it towards him. He gripped it firmly. "To the best of my knowledge, it was the Elkis Republic. Regardless of if they did order this attack or not, the Elkis Republican Army is building up it's forces along the frontier, particularly in the town of Erakis. They are renovating the fort and building it up as a Forward Operating Base, as far as I can tell. They are also starting to stockpile artillery there, although how they intend to even get it through the wasteland -if they intend to attack- I have no idea. That's all I know."

The baroness' eyes flickered to the stone, which once again, didn't change color or illumination.

"Very well. That was...detailed." She smiled again, coldly. "I thank you for your assistance, mister Neptunite." She gestured at the stone, and he rolled it back towards her. She smiled, pocketed it, and got up. "I am a woman of my word. As much as I would rather slit your throat, you have 12 hours to get the hell out of my city." She tossed a small bag onto the table, which jingled with the sound of mana crystals. "That should be enough to buy supplies to last you until your ship arrives, or a caravan passes buy and you can bargain your way aboard. You are free to go."

And with that, she left, with her pink haired bodyguard close on her heels.

*****

"So, you did let them go." Said Pyn as Allya sat back at the map table. They were the only one around it, for once, although you could technically count Éclair, but she was just standing back, watching over them.

Allya shook her head, smiling.

"Yes, I did" She shook her head. "You and Anders were right. We're starting with a massive disadvantage here. We needed to at least try to equalize the odds, even if temporarily. Our opponent already has information nets in place, and their own forces that they can throw at us to gather more intel if needs be." She shrugged. "In fact, I'm tempted to think that what happened here was exactly that, just throwing troops at us to gather intel, but it seemed like these guys were genuinely sent to sabotage the dungeon town and steal the core. Obviously their intelligence isn't that great, otherwise they'd have realized that given our funding, supplies, and sheer military support it wouldn't have been possible to force us to leave with only a dozen commandos of this level and skill, however well equipped they might be. Sure, we might have had to hole up on the ships, and getting water would have sucked, but they could have only delayed us, not crippled."

Pyn frowned.

"Why did they try anyway then?"

Allya smiled.

"Soldiers and low level officers tend to think in terms of objectives, defensive positions and destroying the enemy's capabilities. It's the generals that think logistics. Obviously their commander at least understood the basics, hence their attacks on the well and the warehouses, but they didn't know enough. That's why they tried it...and why they attacked the aqueduct, which was far from being vital in any way, shape, or form, and warned us that they were gunning for our infrastructure. Hell, the fact that they went for the leadership, despite this-" She gestured around, englobing the tent, and the expeditionnary camp beyond. "-being a corporate dominion indicates they went in more or less blind. Even if we'd died without designated heirs, Elkaryos would have just taken over until the succession could be established. The problem is that they aren't going to stay blind much longer. The second Elkisian merchants start coming through." She shook her head. "They'll know most of what they need to. These merchants are going to make a lot of people rich, and make a lot of friends in the process. And we can't restrict the movements or opportunities of their merchants without reason, otherwise we'll kill our own prosperity in the process. Not mentionning giving them ample justification for war, although lacking a proper Casus Belli didn't seem to phase the Republic much before."

"That's...fair enough." Pyn shrugged. "I'll leave that up to you, it's not really my field. Although while for you the aqueduct wasn't important, it has become quite the pain in the ass for me."

Allya chuckled. After Myskarios' assassination, Pyn had to step in and shoulder much more of the responsabilities concerning day to day operations. She hadn't quite taken the dark elf's place -his highest ranking subordinate had technically done that-, but she was definitely more involved in the process. Which was good, they needed to assert control of the budding town more than ever, especially since it wouldn't be long until the first trade caravan arrived.

"I'll try to protect it better next time." She looked at the table, and sighed. "Well, as much as I'd love to stay, I have more paperwork to deal with, may the Gods help me."

Pyn laughed, and shook her head.

"Why do you think I always stay in the field? At least that way the bureaucrats have a harder time finding me!"

Allya shook her head, got up, and after exchanging a quick kiss with her girlfriend left for her office. For once, after the insanity of the previous few days, she welcomed the...normality, if not boredom, of the task. Of course the question was how long it would last before she started dreaming of strangling her clerks and administrators again.

And it allowed her to take her mind off of Neptunite's words. The fact that the Republic was already mobilizing at the frontier -although she expected the buildup to at least be under some form of civil justification- meant that they weren't even interested in diplomatic solutions. Whatever fancy footwork and accusations they did from there on out, and she was sure there would be some, would only be to mask the incoming onslaught.

Which reminded her that she desperately needed intelligence....

She looked at her desk as she sat down, and pushed the paperwork aside, pulling out two fresh sheets. On one, she began writing a letter for Elkaryos...

On the other, she started the long, and complicated process of writing a coded letter for Trira. Her old friend, mentor...and old assassin sect leader.