Manfred amused himself by adding a library, mostly empty until he asked Antonio if he had any books he could share and was presented with nearly sixty years of rabid book collecting in Portuguese, English, French, German and Spanish covering the most diverse subjects including to Manfred’s surprise some CoC works he didn’t have.

So the bonanza delayed Manfred, then he added several suitably gloomy houses, a diner and general store. Shut due to lack of stock.

Due to demand from his new friends he added a pump for diesel to the Paradise Motel.

His collection of buildings soon were teeming with energetic live action role players and he started to show a definite profit in manna from their activities. Somewhat reluctantly he examined the chambermaid that seemed able to seduce any male she desired and found that she seemed to have evolved the ability to secrete tailored pheromones. He rewarded her by naming her Lola Montez and giving her a beast core.

Lola celebrated by becoming pregnant.

Manfred added a grandiose Town Hall set well back from the main road.

* * *

Once the Hub to be was declared finished, the construction workers vanished and an army unit moved in to supply defence. Manfred studied plans for some of the army training grounds and borrowed manna from his grandfather to extend his domain and then he created something similar near where they were setting up their base. Having all those soldiers running around and suffering in his domain was bound to be good for his manna stocks.

The dark SUV bearing Mandy Carvalho and Marcus Smith arrived at the kid dungeon’s place and looked at the haphazard collection of buildings with bewilderment. They pulled up outside the kid’s home and threaded their way through the collection of Alsatians to the front door where they rang the bell.

A young woman with bulging eyes and an over-wide mouth answered the door. “You are expected, please follow me.” She turned and led them to the lounge where they found Alice waiting for them.

Alice smiled at her colleagues, “welcome to Manfred’s haven, it would seem that he might make level six soon. Especially if the army starts using his training field.”

“How soon can he claim that hub and how many portals can he set up now?” asked Mandy.

“I think he’s figured out to manage that with his grandfathers help. Without that help, in however long it takes him to reach level six. He tells me he can open eight portals at this moment.”

Mandy and Marcus shared a look. Then Marcus said, “Alice get him to claim it as soon as. But don’t mention his grandfather’s help in your reports. We won’t. Eight portals won’t satisfy the oversight committee but that’s one limit we managed to hammer home, and eight is better than the six we feared would be his maximum at this time.”

“You know, you should consult a town planner to improve your – dungeon, as it stands the place just doesn’t ring true. I mean, whoever expects the town hall out by itself in the woods and the commercial properties scattered here and there without rhyme nor reason.”

Alice’s eyes became unfocused for a second. “Manfred wants to know if he will be allowed his buildings?”

Mandy nodded, “if he cooperates and gets us those portals it is well within our power to give him a long term lease on the land they stand on. It’s in our interest to keep him happy and – fed.”

Marcus grinned, “get ready for a long trip Alice, I strongly suspect you’ll be visiting Hawaii and Taiwan first.”

* * *

Colonel Fierro stood behind the workstations that were being used to fly the drones that were spying on the raiding party from the Empire of Light. It looked like this little affair would soon be concluded satisfactorily. He was glad there would be no need to kill this lot as they had not caused gratuitous damage as had been feared, and they had captured that idiot hunter unharmed at some risk to themselves. And the kid was being treated reasonably well.

The colonel watched as the patrol descended below the snow line and continued to follow the stream at the centre of the steep sided valley. He watched carefully until the leading rider reached the selected point before barking, “Go!” into his communicator.

Colonel Fierro watched with satisfaction as the patrol of the Empire of Light was engulfed in tear gas and the choppers came over the mountains and dropped their cargo of gas-masked soldiers into the mess.

The soldiers of the Empire put up a fight despite the – to them – poison gas and a few were killed but the majority were captured as planned.

‘Now if only that clusterfuck in Los Angeles can be dealt with as easily.’

* * *

Windchime and Antella made their way to the Antella’s mother’s house and spent a couple of hours discussing the news with Fidenia. Fidenia consulted her tomes of elven lore and found little on the subject of ocean elves, just hints that they had existed in the legendary past.

They packed and headed for the local Guild office, presented their tickets and paid a small surcharge to include Fidenia. The local gate mages had never opened a gate on Midgard previously so it took them a couple of hours to make sure of their calculations.

They stepped into the gate room in the guild building at Feira dos Namoradeiros. They were swept into the family home by Silverfin’s wives and were soon exchanging news and gossip. Then when Tessara showed up after school ended there were fresh scenes of greetings and joy.

Some time later Silverfin turned up with a still damp Antor in tow, “I found them with Isabella, be welcome to Midgard all of you.”

“Them? And who is Isabella?” asked Fidenia.

“Them? Oh Antor and João I bet, they almost seem to be glued to each other at times,” laughed Galianna.

“Isabella is the daughter of Jezebel the dungeon’s roving boss,” added Silverfin.

“Your children play with one of the dungeon monsters?” exclaimed Antella horrified.

“Isabella’s fun, she’s a good friend,” blurted Antor while Tessara nodded agreement.