Chapter Twenty Two

John groaned as he tried to sign up for a slot to raid the dungeon. Ever since they had a successful trip to the dungeon everyone and their mother thought they could just wander in there and come out rich. The group raiding the dungeon today only had one adventurer, a farmer, and an apprentice blacksmith for gods’ sake. He didn’t know why Olivia and Adrian let them go in knowing they would be useless, and he had the day off, so he decided to go ask them. The first place he went by was Olivia’s office.

Olivia looked up when John entered the room and asked

“What brings you here?”

John gave a half bow as he said

“I have two, no three reasons. Which would you like first?”

“How about we start with the first one?”

“That, of course, is to be graced with your presence.”

Olivia rolled her eyes and prodded John to continue

“And the other two?”

John pulled out the water rune and handed it to Olivia

“The second is to return this. Now that I have one from the guild I don’t need to borrow it any longer. The third reason is because I wanted to ask a question. Do you have time?”

Olivia looked at the massive piles of paper on her desk before responding

“I guess I do. What do you want to know?”

John pulled up one of the seats and sat down across from Olivia

“What I want to know is why we let the civilians join in on dungeon raids. You said that it is important we get a steady supply of the flowers, but I’m here wasting an entire day while we send in a farmer and a blacksmith who want to try their hand at adventuring.”

Olivia thought for a second before responding

“I have three good reasons for it. First, if we don't use a schedule we risk agitating the dungeon. If we accidentally end up sending two or three groups in there at once I’ve read about dungeons freaking out. Second is keeping the citizens happy. Everytime you come out with a harvest that is a year's work for them they forget about the danger and think of the dungeon as a gold mine. If we don’t let them go in they will get unhappy and cause unrest in the settlement. If we do let them go in one or two of them will get hurt and then they will all remember why they stay away.”

Olivia gave John a small smile before continuing.

“The last reason is to keep idiots like you from overworking yourself. If that schedule wasn’t stopping you I bet you’d be in the dungeon every free day you had and that isn’t going to end well for anyone.”

John latched onto the last reason and started to joke around

“I see, you couldn’t bear to live in a settlement without me so you fill up the dungeon so I have nowhere to go.”

Olivia sighed as John continued

“Don’t worry, I’ll always make time to come visit. No dungeon will keep me too occupied for you.”

Once John finished his little joke Olivia shooed him out of the room

“I’d like you more if you came up with better jokes. Now get out of here I’ve got tons of paperwork to do.”

After being kicked out of Olivia’s office John headed to the adventurer’s guild. He suspected that Adrian would have different reasons for letting civilians enter the dungeon. If he ran into Adrian then he could ask him, and if he didn’t then he could practice with his water rune some more. As he entered the guild he saw Adrian talking to someone so he called out

“Hey Adrian. Whats up?”

Adrian hurriedly finished his conversation before turning to John

“If you have to talk to me please call me Guildmaster, or atleast Adrian Spencer the third. Now what do you want to talk about?”

John grinned as he replied

“Sure thing Adrian. I was just wondering why non-adventurers were allowed to raid the dungeon. It seems like that impedes on your authority a little bit so I was surprised you would allow it.”

Adrian turned his nose up as he said

“Not that you’ll ever need to know, but that is a standard trick in any guildmasters arsenal. Dungeons are known to adapt based on the people who are raiding them. If we only let the best of the best enter the dungeon then it would make more difficult traps, more difficult creatures, and give out less rewards. Letting the incompotent riff raff into the dungeon makes it so that the dungeon leaves an easier area for our adventurers to reap gains from. Now is there anything else or can I get back to work? I’m busy unlike some people around here.”

“Sure thing. Thanks for your help.”

After thanking him John went straight to the training grounds. He practiced using the water rune on his own for a while before Sam came up to him.

“Want to spar? I’ve got the whole day off.”

John put the rune back on his belt and said

“I already sparred with some of the new guys this morning. If you're just looking for exercise though I have an idea.”

Sam raised an eyebrow

“Oh? What would that be”

John raised his water rune

“I haven’t been improving much when practicing on stationary targets anymore. How about you try and dodge whatever I throw at you?”

“Why would I do that? Even if I want some exercise being a target doesn’t sound like the best way.”

John thought for a second

“How about this. If I can’t hit you with more than half of my shots then I’ll pay for drinks tonight.”

Sam stuck out her hand and said

“You’re on. I’ll be sure to drink plenty.”

They shook hands and Sam moved about ten yards away from John

“This distance good?”

John nodded

“It’s a bit farther than I’ve been practicing but I’m sure you can use the help.”

John pulled out his water rune again and gathered his mana. Once he was ready he called out to Sam and their game began. The first couple shot out in smooth solid streams and all hit Sam head on and drenched her. The next few streams clipped her limbs but were not direct hits. After that John started to miss entirely. He shot the streams faster but that didn’t change anything except for making his aim worse. Sam still dodged every shot he took. He kept trying until they were both panting for breath.

“Ah I give up. You win. How are you able to dodge all my shots anyway?”

Sam replied

“You’re way too predictable. You always hold out your arm and point wherever you're shooting. I’m not sure if the dungeon will figure it out or not but any human will pretty quickly.”

John looked at his hands before he spoke

“It’s a lot harder to aim without using my arm. I guess I’ll just have to practice some more.”

He stood up and gestured towards the main settlement

“Shall we go get changed and then get those drinks?”

Sam nodded and they went back to their own houses before meeting up outside the bar. They started to go inside and saw that the entire place was overly crowded. It wasn’t possible to move more than a few inches in any direction without bumping into anyone. John turned to look at Sam and asked

“You have any interest in going in there?”

She shook her head so he continued

“Me neither. How about we break into my special stash instead?”

They walked over to John’s cabin. He crouched and reached under his bed before pulling out a gallon of mead.

Sam looked and John skeptically before asking

“Are you a little kid? What are you doing hiding your valuables under your bed.”

John feigned a wounded expression before replying

“I offer one of my most valuable possessions and this is how you treat me? Good mead is a luxury around here.”

Sam ignored his protests and asked

“Where did you get mead from anyway? There isn’t anywhere in camp selling more than a pint at a time.”

John put the mead on his lap and gestured to it as he spoke.

“This is homemade. I found a farmer who claimed he brewed tons of drinks before the expedition and got him to make it with the dungeon honey.”

Sam looked at it skeptically

“Is it safe to drink? I heard about your fiasco with the pastries.”

John took a sip before replying

“I’ve tested it myself. The honeys diluted more for this so you can drink it without having to control your mana. Don’t drink too much though, what it's lacking in mana it makes up for in alcohol.”

Sam looked around

“Do you have any glasses around here?”

John shook his head

“I’m afraid not. Your welcome to fill up your canteen if you like but I wouldn’t suggest it. I’ve tried and everything tastes like watered down mead for the next week.”

Instead of responding Sam took the bottle from John and took a large swig from it. They passed the bottle back and forth drinking and joking until it started to get late. John was yawning and felt like it was about time for bed when Sam said something unexpected.

“I never got the chance to thank you for carrying me back to camp. I heard from Camille how much you pushed yourself to make sure I got back quickly and wanted you to know I appreciate it.”

John took a swig of mead before responding

“There’s no need to thank me. I know you and Camille would do the same for me if you had to.”

Sam shook her head

“That's not important because I know that’s not what you were thinking at the time.”

They sat in silence for a while before Sam looked at the half empty jug of mead and said

“I guess we should call it for tonight. If I drink much more than working is going to be hellish tomorrow.”

She stood up and walked out of the room leaving John to go to bed and wonder if there was a better way to respond to her until he fell asleep.