Jabrax smiled kindly and waved at the retreating form of the young human child. Held tight in the skipping child's arms was the bag of fire stones the demon had just given her. It was slightly unfortunate that she needed to simply lay seeds for suffering instead of enacting it herself, but time was short.

As if to punctuate that thought, the chime of Geltheas' city hall bell rang out, signaling the new hour. Jabrax's face fell. The demon had planned to keep poor track of time so that she could 'accidentally' arrive late for the meeting, but that bell had made the cognitive dissonance required to skirt the edges of her contract frustratingly impossible.

With no choice but to comply, she stomped back in the direction of the dungeon entrance. Her mood didn't drop too much, though. She had gotten a lot done in this short time span, and not many contractors would grant such small freedoms to a demon. Being under the control of any non-demon was distasteful, but at least she wasn't being controlled by the Archon's food. A contract with a construct was at least the second-best option. Even if Mud was a slave driver.

A short time later, Jabrax arrived at the meeting spot. As expected, Mud was already waiting.

When Jabrax came close, Mud sent its usual droning voice.

"Give me the money for the subjugation."

Jabrax's face split with a wicked grin and her eyes squinted into crescent shapes. She had been looking forward to this.

"Oh, that money? I spent it all! All of it is gone!" She leaned forward and taunted the golem. "I said I would collect it, but you never told me what to do with it you idiot!"

"Understood." Mud simply turned and began moving towards the dungeon.

Jabrax deflated. This was the annoying part of working for Mud. It was extremely difficult to evoke negative emotions in the golem. The most effective methods were locked by the contract, so the only times she had managed to piss the golem off was that time with the tea, which was a legitimate misunderstanding on her part. Even abandoning Mud during the goblin hunt was only perceived by Mud as "a sub-optimal tactical choice." She had hoped depriving resources would work, but it seems she would need to get more creative to make the golem suffer.

Following behind Mud, Jabrax rubbed her chin and plotted its downfall.

Cutting swiftly through the crowd to the dungeon entrance, the demon was snapped out of her reverie by the unusual sight that greeted them. Stacked high on both sides of the dungeon entrance were piles of Giant Caterpillar corpses. While increased action was normal before a wave, this was escalating more quickly than the demon was expecting. Even as she watched, another beast crawled out of the dungeon tunnel and was immediately slain by the guards.

Taking no notice of the action, Mud continued towards the entrance, blocked as it was by the wall of soldiers. As it drew near, the doughy scribe run up and stopped the golem.

"H-hold a moment." With a short fearful glance towards Jabrax and a gulp, the scribe seemed to gain some courage as he wasn't immediately attacked. Holding his clipboard up like a shield towards Jabrax, he continued speaking to Mud. "T-the dungeon is barred from entrance. Leader Thagi Ghul has declared it too dangerous for delving, as the high tier beasts are starting to climb."

Having delivered his message, the scribe gave a short bow and retreated.

Jabrax crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. "I didn't think I traumatized him that much. Pathetic."

Turning towards Mud, she raised her arms and shook her head in sarcastic dismay. "Oh no, it looks like we can't kill bugs for fourteen hours straight again, we'll just have to go home!"

Scanning the area around the dungeon, it seems that Mud wouldn't be taking the easy route. Mouth drawing a line for a moment, the demon tried again. "If we go home, you can meditate on your Ideals. Maybe even get a stronger spell. It's, uh, tactical."

The reply from Mud was not as she hoped. "We will remain in the human city and search for ways to gain an advantage in the competition."

After that, Mud slithered towards the doughy scribe, who looked extremely unhappy about being followed by the delver. A moment later, he seemed to relax, likely having received a mental message from the golem.

"Other ways to get achievements? Leader Ghul has been trying to leverage the contest as much as possible to help with the wave by encouraging killing large numbers of monsters, so there aren't many alternatives. The only alternative source of achievement is the tournament the royal family is hosting tomorrow in the new arena they constructed. Since the dungeon is closed that's your only real option until the wave hits."

A moment of silence followed as the scribe stared at Mud before he spoke again.

"It's off that way a few blocks, close to the waterfront. On the same road as the dungeon." The scribe pointed west.

Mud and Jabrax immediately set off following the instructions of the scribe. Traveling farther west than they had before, the city continued its steady downward slope. A few blocks later, and as the smell of salt on the air grew stronger, a large stone stadium came into view.

Looking rather out of place beside the warehouses nearby, the stadium was clearly a new construction. It lacked the corrosion from the salty air evident on the surrounding buildings, and nearby large chunks of debris were still being removed. Likely the demolished remains of the lots former occupant.

In terms of scale, it was moderately large, filling nearly the entire block. It was still much smaller than the massive arena in the capital suitable for fighting dragons, but plenty large enough for a tournament. In the future, it would likely be used for sports and concerts rather than fighting.

Entering through the wide arched doorway designed to accommodate heavy traffic, Mud and Jabrax headed towards a short line of people speaking with two seated scribes. Waiting in one of the lines was a familiar group. Being the first to notice their arrival, Suzy squealed and ran up to Jabrax.

"Jabby! You're joining the tournament too!" Running forward, the black-robed girl gave Jabrax a hug, then pulled back, suddenly self-conscious. "You remember me right, from the other day? The Raven! And my party, The Raven's Wings!" Swinging her arm theatrically, she pointed towards the rest of her group. There, Meld and Kim nodded politely before facing back towards the front of the line while Ovis waved back with a gentle smile.

"So, are you going to join the under twenty division? I'd like to see how my magic holds up against you! You look pretty strong. Plus, you're Cithlar's daughter right? Strong people have strong family so you should be amazing, a perfect rival for The Raven!"

Jabrax placed a hand against her forehead. "His niece, actually, but please stop talking for a moment." The demon held up one hand to the pouting Suzy and thought for a moment. It was likely that they would have means of detecting age if they were having age-restricted categories. Some demi-human races could resemble young humans or looked much older than their actual age to humans, after all. Age checking magic tools were rather cheap, besides.

Although her preferred disguise was a youthful girl in order to better manipulate people who are soft on the young, in truth she was older than twenty. Luckily, her appearance could pass for an adult who just had an unusually youthful appearance. "Actually, I'll be joining the adult competition. I'm a bit older than I look."

"Wow, you're over twenty? What's your secret?" Looking over towards Mud she continued with a sarcastic tone. "Don't tell me that kid's over twenty too."

Looking down at Mud, she grinned. "Actually, he's probably a bit younger than you think."