I was shaken from my meditations when Anise flung herself down beside me, leaning against me the same way I was against the tree. The interruption would have been irritating, had I been getting any benefits, but in spite of spending hours each day for the last week on various meditative practices, I had nothing to show for it. It was possible things weren’t getting any worse, but they sure weren’t getting better. So I welcomed the intrusion instead, particularly with who it was coming from. Anise was an excellent person to talk with on nearly any subject, and I rather enjoyed our time together. The last week had seen her become closer to me, and remarkably so since as we’d gone on several excursions together.

“There’s someone who wants to talk to— ” she began, but paused and peered over one of my legs, watching me work mud into a ball while I contemplated everything and nothing by turns. A glance at her ever-expressive face revealed she was as fascinated by my efforts as she was confused, which I took a certain pleasure in. The mana around us tugged and flowed as she was tried to figure out if what I was doing was magical, which of course it wasn’t. As a teacher, I was happy to see she was improving her control and finesse, though I wasn’t sure if that was purely my tutelage or some effect of gaining levels.

During our outings as a group, I’d decided to let Anise and Mia do most of the fighting. We’d returned to both the goblin and kobold areas, since after checking the orc and ogre camp I’d decided my charges weren’t quite ready for it yet. There was more than enough for them to fight, even though they were much easier than they’d been the first time around. Just as I’d thought, the newly spawned ones had only the most rudimentary weapons and no training at all, making them easy pickings even for newbies.

Since I wouldn’t get anything out of it myself, I chose instead to merely back them up in case of trouble, which had allowed them to gain quite a few levels. My solo explorations of the other camps had netted me a few levels, but progress was slowing down quite a bit as I neared the one-hundred mark. I thought I might get more if I fought the chieftains of the camps, but I wanted to save that for when we all visited together.

At first, I’d wondered why an apparently descriptive system would require that I kill ever more monsters for each level, but as I’d been meditating the thought had come to me that it was probably about right. Attaining and displaying mastery of a subject was always asymptotic, so obviously any system would end up reflecting that fact. It was no doubt looking for specific signs and signals of my prowess, and it took however long to recognize them or for me to perform them. The fact that killing monsters was necessary was still pretty weird, but maybe the system couldn’t judge combat skill outside of real combat situations.

“What are you working on there?” She eventually asked, sounding mystified.

“Dorodango,” I said, practice having taught me how to control what my voice had become in order to hold a reasonable conversation. So long as I was quiet and not completely profligate with my words, I stayed more or less intelligible. The glottal fricative sounds could still get bad, though that sort of back-of-the-throat noise was never pretty to begin with, so I didn’t care very much.

“I,” she drifted off for a bit, reaching out a finger to touch one of the perfectly shiny balls, she and it both dyed a reddish-purple by the receding sun. “What?” She finished, looking up at me. Instead of telling her, I just picked up the one she’d touched and crushed it, letting the pale damp earth crumble down next to where I was working on a new one.

It was a pretty strange hobby, I was happy to admit. I’d mostly acquired it for that very reason, dirt having been a somewhat controlled substance on the stations and habitats where I’d lived most of my life before. It was something for the ground-bound, the dirt-lickers, the absolutely degenerate creatures that crawled about on planets. It wasn’t quite taboo, but it was both literally and socially unclean. So of course I’d learned the delicate art of rolling dirt into a perfect shiny little ball of transient beauty.

“It was so pretty, why would you destroy that?” she said, sounding incensed. It was a common enough reaction that I had to admit part of my reason for crushing it as a demonstration was to elicit just that reaction.

“Nothing lasts,” I lifted up the one I had just begun working on before she showed up. “Can make more.” She hummed a bit at that, perhaps not convinced.

“It’s really just dirt?”

“Yes,” I said, waving at one I’d made a day or two prior. I’d set it aside between the tree’s roots because it had been the least interesting and most mundane of that batch. It had already dried out and was crumbling back into the ground, everything I’d put into it exhausted and undone. “Life is full of beautiful moments, beautiful things, beautiful encounters. There is beauty in ending, too. Appreciate, then move on.” I offered one of the nicer ones I’d made that day to Anise. She studied it for a time before putting it back down thoughtfully.

“Someone?” I said, nudging her slightly. I’d not forgotten that she’d come by for a reason, even if she had.

“Oh! Yes, there’s someone looking for you. She’s inside right now with Mia and Fen.” I cast my life sighted gaze in the direction of the common room, and noted there was an unusually bright shimmer next to Mia’s distinctive glow. That was somewhat worrisome, as I’d begun to realize that the strength of the pseudo-light was correlated to something like level. It was very far from perfect as a metric, but it was enough to be alarming.

“Thank you,” I said, gathering myself to go find out what I was needed for. Even if I had suspicions, and I absolutely did, there was nothing concrete and so no reason to delay — other than to straighten up my appearance a bit. Success in adventuring had brought money and renown, and I’d used both to have a very nice matching head to toe wardrobe prepared. With duplicates, because adventuring could be quite hard on clothes. Never let it be said that I didn’t learn lessons! Chief among those was reading Mia and Anise both into my business endeavors, which had reduced my own workload considerably.

For my sartorial needs, I’d chosen full length robes with lots of extra flowing bits, a professionally made hat with attached veil, and very nice custom elbow length gloves that hid how torn up my hands and arms had become, and all of it black trimmed in silver. The image was very much sinister magician and I was rather pleased about it, though at the moment it was a bit marred from playing around in the mud. After fussing with making baths and soap and other things, I’d just gone ahead and learned laundry magic. A small effort was all it took to erase the evidence from my gloves and robes and that was that.

Anise followed behind as I made for the inn. As always, she watched my magical feats with something like angry awe. No matter how much I tried to coach her, and we talked about magic frequently, she wasn’t able to cast like I could. She was faster than before certainly, but still needed the voice commands. I hadn’t yet bothered to tell her I didn’t because of my Abilities; it was amusing to see her try so hard. Mostly though, I thought she might succeed on her own at some point and I wasn’t about to discount the possibility she’d learn something I hadn’t in the process.

As I entered, I made sure to tread carefully over a thin strip in the hallway that I suspected was above a passageway of some description. It had groaned rather alarmingly when I’d stepped on it my first visit, much to the apologetic consternation of the staff. The rest of the place, at least the guest sections I had access to, seemed to be solid underneath, which was why I could confidently walk into what might turn out to be a trap, a meeting, or something altogether stranger without being afraid of my footing.

I scanned the room, noting first that Mia was together with an absolutely gorgeous elven stranger before taking in the scattered groups of well-dressed elves who I’d seen in and out of the place most evenings, several dwarves – including our benefactor Mister Mougein – crowded around a table, and a beastfolk man off brooding by himself. There was, of course, the serving staff moving to and fro, but nothing immediately stood out as threatening. Assessment made, I headed over to Mia and stood to one side behind her. Ready if I was needed, out of the way if I wasn’t.

Anise popped up on a chair next to some elf guy who was sitting at our table for some reason, but my attention was on the stranger. The stranger and her spear, which wasn’t quite at the ready but had obviously been kept within easy reach. A quick look with my spell sight revealed just what I was concerned about. It was the same kind of weapon as the one I’d nipped from the lord’s assassin. The one he called his signet, and which had been able to gouge straight through my heart and take off a hundred fifty of my health.

I’d been losing bits here and there ever since that night after the goblins, and had ended up in the two hundreds. I wasn’t sure how much more punishment I could take from that kind of weapon, but all I had to do was not get hit. I thought again about dialing up the big moron to fix my obviously third-rate body, but I just knew I’d get mocked and scolded about it, and I really didn’t want to deal with that. I was sure I’d be fine. Well, as fine as I ever got anyway.

The knife wasn’t the only one of its kind, which was concerning but completely expected. Expected or not, with the ability to completely ignore my innate damage reduction, and possibly any armor I might wear as well, I was deeply wary. The moment I realized what the spear was and could do and readied myself to deal with it, the woman twitched for it. I had no idea what made her stop, but the only thing that stopped me was that I was betting everything on Mia. Until she gave me a signal, I wasn’t going to start anything. I was slightly surprised I was able to hold to that when tested, since I really hadn’t been sure if I would. I still couldn’t guarantee I’d do nothing if either she or I were legitimately threatened, but it was my intent at least try to leave things to Mia so she could grow from it.

“You must be Mea, then.” Said the voice of someone who had very obviously spent a long time in command. I ratcheted up my wariness another notch as I became certain this woman represented not just a physical threat, but likely something more. Fortunately, no one else at the table seemed to be aware of the tension. I gave her a nod but nothing more.

“Mea!” My golden girl practically squealed when she realized I was there, turning around to give me a half hug. Even though we spent so much time together, she was still unbelievably happy every time she saw me. She was so very sweet on an old monster like me, which would be worrying if she hadn’t also begun showing genuine heroic qualities. I’d also seen enough of elven culture to agree to allow some degree of public affection, as apparently their views on the subject were more lax than those of the sirol populace.

“Mea, you have to meet Ellena,” Mia said, reaching back to drag me forward so I stood next to her at the table. “She really wanted to talk to us about what happened with Lord Kuelli.” I just nodded, as I’d presumed that such a meeting would be coming sooner or later. The envoy had promised to escalate things with the proper authorities, and we were hardly clandestine or hard to contact, staying at an inn so nearby the manor and being in and out of the guild regularly.

“I am Ellena, head of the Shadow Magistrate and the Thirty-Second Princess of this kingdom.” I stifled an audible retort on the subject, but thirty-second? As in, there were thirty-one siblings in the lineage born of the king before her? I’d gotten the impression that the elves had an odd focus on marriage, children, and fecundity, but that was something else. Entirely something else. Anise seemed to recognize the name or the title, because she was actively gawping.

“I dislike wasting my time, and I take it you are a woman of action as well, so now that I have both of you here, I shall get to it immediately. I’ve reviewed the case, but before I say more, I must have the signet back. I’d also like to know what became of the noble guard and their captain.” I couldn’t help the dry chuckle at having those questions asked of me yet again, but Mia’s reaction was swift and surprisingly negative.

“No,” she said loudly, with a desperate edge to her voice. Immediately, the shadows hungrily reached out from every part of the room to surround us, stretching, sharpening, and deepening as they came. “Mia won’t let anyone hurt sister again. Not again!” I was incredibly impressed, as even the big-shot princess with the nasty spear, and what I judged to be no small degree of martial prowess, was caught wholly off her guard. She even looked frightened, as did everyone in the place. Mia was legitimately angry, which I found rather sweet since it was on my behalf. But the situation wasn’t what Mia believed it to be, and the time had come to reveal my chicanery.

“Mia,” I said, laying a hand on her head and messing up her hair. “Thank you, but it’s okay.” I reached into my pack and pulled out the lie ball, setting it on the table as the shadows faded back into their normal places. The rest of the guests began making their exits while the staff huddled behind the bar, frightened and upset. As they had every right to be, since we’d disrupted their business at a peak time.

“The signet,” I said, pulling out the dangerous dagger and the other one that the lord had attacked me with himself. The two were visually identical, but only one of them held the complex magic that could hurt me.

“Captain’s dead,” I said, pulling out the boar-motif helm and laying it beside the daggers, “guards too.” I didn’t have any convenient evidence for the guards, other than the white light of the detector reflecting in the princess’ eyes. I knew Mia would have questions, but not whether they’d be immediate or delayed. She chose immediate.

“But sister said— ”

“Yes,” I said, cutting her off, before being attacked by a cough. “But I didn’t lie,” I finished, more quietly. It was important she understand both things. I had fooled the lie detector, because I had only said true things. But I hadn’t told the truth, because that was something different.

“Never met the captain, I only killed her,” I continued. “Couldn’t help him find the guards, there’s nothing left to find.” Talking my way around the signet had been trickier and I was willing to explain it all, but was hoping to put that off until it was just she and I. It wasn’t a good time or place for that kind of thing.

“Told you before we followed the guards,” I leaned down to say, for Mia alone. “We did things we can’t undo. When you killed the lord, the number we saved and the number who died because of it became the same.” That little tidbit was enough to cause a reordering of everything she thought she knew about the world. As I knew it would for a relatively sheltered and sweet young girl. For a hero, I even thought it should force her to reconsider everything we’d been through, since it was a pretty serious revelation. Regardless, she would be quiet for a bit processing all that, which would leave me free to talk. As much as I was able to, anyway.

“What next?” I asked the Thirty-Second Princess, who was looking surprisingly pensive as she stared at what I’d laid out on the table.

“Ellena?” I called after a too-long silence.

“Mm?” She blinked up. “Ah. I had heard that there were ways to fool one of these devices,” she said, indicating the lie ball. “But I was assured it took a great deal of training and a special sort of mind.”

“Or badly phrased questions,” I said, as that had helped as much as anything.

“Indeed,” she agreed, nodding at nothing. “In any event, you may keep the replica if you like, and the helm,” she said, unerringly picking the correct knife from the table and toying with it. “Signets like these are a requirement for anyone of the peerage, so I had a pressing need to secure it.” Given what it had done to me, I had a notion why those in power would have them — and hoard them. In a society where a few people, or even just one, could become unstoppably strong, those in power had to have some way of justifying and maintaining that power. Whether their rule was legitimate or tyrannical was a separate issue to the pragmatic need for rulers to have something like those knives so they could maintain order.

“On the matter of the lord — if you were citizens there would have been some difficulty,” the princess said, examining the dagger more closely as she spoke. “Vigilantism is not to be encouraged. Your diplomatic status shields you, however, and so you need not concern yourselves over that.” I was relieved to hear that, as social threats weren’t something I was prepared to deal with.

“In all, good work, I must say,” she continued with a nod at each of us and a brilliant smile. “I would have executed them all myself if you had not, as there is no room for that sort of rot.” She finally tucked the weapon away, seeming satisfied with it, and with us. She had commended our work, and claimed she would have done the same, which spoke well of the kingdom’s internal policing. There was the chance it was all a show for the benefit of us as foreign dignitaries, but it was a good sign nevertheless and I allowed myself to relax a little.

A few of the things she said sparked questions, and I thought I’d start with something that had me personally curious as a former ruler. It was the phrasing in particular: ‘no room,’ she’d said. There wasn’t an organization in any civilization, among any species, that didn’t become crooked eventually. So, I decided to state that obvious fact, and see what she made of it.

“Corruption is inevitable.”

“Yet it would doom us all,” she said with a nod and a shrug, accepting the truth of my statement while apparently rejecting any complacency in dealing with it. I could appreciate the attitude, as I’d been pretty active in stamping out corruption in my time before, but I had no illusions about it either. It would exist in spite of any and every effort, simply because it was the nature of people. I really had to wonder what exactly made this princess, or this kingdom, believe it was so dire.

“I have been reviewing all available records this past week,” she continued,” and I believe I have a grasp on what has been occurring. It truly is nothing short of miraculous that years of such degeneracy merely resulted in a restlessness amongst the tribes of this area, and not the utter annihilation of the township,” she said the last with a grave shake of her head, as though she’d seen such things before.

“So forthcoming?” I asked, as I had to wonder a little at how talkative she was being, even as I appreciated that she was satisfying my curiosity. Given my understanding of her position, she being the one in charge of deciding what things were confidential and what weren’t, but chatty spooks were unusual. She waved off my concern.

“Some secrecy is necessary, too much is a burden. The course of this investigation demands I interview you, so if we must speak then I would prefer to speak openly.” She began tapping her fingers on the table as she fell to thinking again. I found her reasoning to be highly unusual — if, that is, she were a spy or intelligence operative. If she was more in the mold of an adventurer, one who had special dispensation to deal with legal matters, it made more sense.

More, but not complete. I was still missing something, but I hadn’t managed to think of a good way to fish for it yet without making it obvious that I might be ignorant on things that were considered common knowledge. Anise, who did know that fact and often seemed to key into what I was thinking, had been completely frozen in place since the princess had introduced herself. Fortunately, Mia took up the slack.

“Mia doesn’t understand. Mia killed,” her voice hitched slightly, and she swallowed hard. “Killed the lord because he wasn’t going to stop trying to hurt us, but why would Ellena need to? Was he threatening you too?” I had no idea if this princess had simply become familiar with my precious golden girl, or if she was used to dealing with kids, but she seemed to take Mia’s question seriously.

“Perhaps it is different on your mountain,” she said after a bit of thought, “but threats press upon us from every side. In this area alone there are six monster tribes, any one of which holds enough strength to raze this town and all the villages it protects.” The gobs and kobolds did? personally slaughtered both of those tribes to the last, though that was discounting the respawn. Which I couldn’t do, since it wasn’t like people could do the same, and opposing infinitely respawning enemies was a tough proposition.

“We simply do not have the latitude to forgive incompetence, let alone corruption. Lord Kuelli only escaped my notice for so long because he was quite capable as an administrator. In spite of the resources being diverted, the town was well run. But that does not change the fact that a great deal in funding and work hours were moved away from where they ought to have been.” She began ticking items off on her fingers.

“The city guard has been understaffed for a year, their equipment has not seen proper service in longer. This while the noble guard were indulging themselves to uselessness in that pit beneath Sollus Brokerage, rather than maintaining the king’s peace.” I had to search my memory for a moment before realizing that had to be the name of the store that the hot spring pit had been beneath — that sort of detail tended not to matter to me. Her comment about the city guard on the other hand, which I took to be the ones who manned the gates, explained at least in part why they’d been so lackadaisical in allowing us in and out without comment or inspection.

“The contracts to inspect and repair the city walls have not been renewed this year,” she went on, “and the regular contracts that should have been posted through the guild for monster observation and culling have been underpaid or absent for more than three!” I stole a glance at Anise, who didn’t seem surprised; though perhaps she was just being a bit slack-jawed still about one of the country’s princesses sitting at the same table.

Regardless, Anise had been an adventurer for longer than the current state of affairs and so would be familiar with the changes, yet she didn’t react at all. I took that as an indication that adventurers were generally aware of the situation with the contracts, but of course what could they realistically do about it? Not a one of them was likely to go risking their lives without the promise of reward. If the camps themselves had been all but inviolable prior to our arrival, and the town’s existence hinged on the numbers and situation of the monsters being watched and managed, then what the lord and his sister had been doing was a slow suicide.

“If your people have more leisure on that lofty mountain perch, then I do envy you. Down here there is not one bent bronze coin to spare in the delicate fight to maintain ourselves.” The vigor drained from her after that, and she leaned back in her chair. “So, as to your question Mia, he was indeed threatening me. Albeit somewhat less directly than he did you. Now that I have commended your efforts and taken your measure,” she said, straightening herself and adopting a more serious expression. “I must come to the next reason I sought you two out.” A bit of my original wariness came back at that, but only a bit. There were good and non-threatening reasons for her to be interested in us.

“I would like a recounting of all that had happened, but primarily I need to know about those who were kept in that pit. I have evidence they existed, that this entire crisis revolves around that fact, but those that might know aside from yourselves are now dead. I have spoken and then dealt with the,” her mouth twisted into a sour grimace, “clients among the local nobility, but they were not the instigators and their knowledge was lacking. The captain’s room in that facility was also stripped of anything that I might have used, so I must ask you about them.”

“We rescued them,” Mia said, with an uncharacteristic curtness. I wondered why she was being so on-edge when she was normally so sweet, but perhaps she was still rattled from earlier when she thought I was under threat.

“I understand that, but I would like to know more. Names, if you have them, their location and condition, at least.”

“First tell Mia why you need to know.”

“There is a certain duty of care that is owed to them. Not restitution, I do not believe that to be possible, but at the least as much assistance as can be managed in finding family or work.” She said with all the same seriousness she’d maintained to this point, but then her expression broke into something softer. “You need not fear me so, I wish to help them as much as you clearly do.” The last with a sad sort of smile, that would have won me were I in Mia’s place. Mia struggled a moment before huffing a sigh and seemed to accept the goodwill.

It was nice to see that my method of impressing responsibility for that lot on her had worked. I hadn’t been certain it would. Of course, sharing where they were might be somewhat troublesome in its own way, but perhaps the princess would accept that the sirol were taking care of them. Might even be able to cash in on that politically, though I’d have to put up with talking with that idiot, so perhaps not.

Then Mia did the strangest thing — she started listing names. Not just names, but entire stories of people: who they were, what they looked like, where they’d come from, what they wanted to do and be. The story of the lives of those she’d rescued. I hadn’t the faintest idea when she’d learned all that, or why she’d bothered, but I had to suppose that was just part of what made her heroic. Certainly more than myself at least, who hadn’t bothered to remember any of them.

I mused that I’d probably gotten too used to having a perfect memory in the old world, but there were Abilities that could mimic the augments I’d once had, I just needed to acquire them. But finding out more about that was a library trip for another time. While Mia was doing her thing, I decided to get in contact with our dear Patron, whom I had been avoiding speaking to for a while.

“Hey, got a question and maybe a request.”

“Shoot.”

“Simple as that, huh? You’re usually too busy for me.”

“Sure, and I’m still busy, but you were right. I sent you two out there, so I’m responsible to some extent. I may as well hear you out at least.”

“Meaning you’ve got a break right now and I’m not personally inconveniencing you by making contact.” I knew that ridiculous thing too well to buy any talk of being nice or feeling guilty or having a duty.

“Yeah, that’s what I said.” As ever, I felt the incipient headache building.

“Of course. So, my question: are any of the folks we sent ready to come back?”

“And then send them if so, right? What’d you need them for anyway?”

“There’s an official here and I wanted a material witness to the case.”

“Yeah, I get it. Interrogations are pretty low on my list of fun things. I’ll have Sunelli ask, just wait a bit.”

“How is she, by the way?” I hadn’t talked to Sunelli since we’d left the mountain. She might have even joined our little adventure if being the core of her own Dungeon didn’t take priority. I wondered if Mia missed her. The two were bound in a strange love-hate rivalry with each other for my and Patron’s attentions, but even so they did seem to fundamentally get along. Mia would at least be glad to hear from her, I thought.

“Weird. Real weird.”

“Sure, but she was always weird.”

“More weird. She started a religion, and all the people you sent have been converted to it.”

“Yeah, that’s definitely more weird. Classic cult or what?”

“Ehh.”

“Wait, wait, don’t tell me.”

“I wasn’t going to.”

“They’re worshipping you, aren’t they?”

“Yes. Yes they are.” I had to focus very hard on not bursting into laughter while Mia and the princess were talking. I was still trying not to laugh when the decidedly unhappy god of a new religion composed of former sex slaves and a slightly demented Dungeon-core high priestess got back to me.

“So, apparently yes. There’s one who’s willing to go back, but she has a condition.” Since I’d heard about them becoming religious groupies, I’d given up on my original plan to have someone else be interrogated instead, so I was surprised.

“Oh really? And what’s she want?”

“To join your adventures.”

“Uh...”

“Yeah, I have no idea either.”

“You can read minds, you dingus. How do you have no idea?”

“I’m not reading the mind of a former sex slave.”

“Ah, that’s fair.”

“Anyway, she’s ready now apparently. You good?”

“Suddenly no.” I really wasn’t. Who the heck was this that was presuming to give me conditions? Ultimately it would be Mia’s decision on whether this person joined or not, and I had a distinct confidence I knew what her answer would be. “Whatever. More the merrier I guess, send her.”

“Turn on your [Manifest] Skill for me, then. Will make it a lot easier for me.” I was tempted not to, just for the sake of spite, but I’d learned that it was better to just get things over with quickly, so I did. It was the first time I’d used the Skill, so I didn’t really know what to expect. The slow trickle of connection we used to talk widened suddenly into a river, and then an ocean, then something so endless I had no words for it anymore. I felt the presence of something so much greater than me reaching out to me, through me, to deposit a very small girl on the floor between Mia and myself.

I really truly did not like the experience. Objectively, of course, I knew there were things greater than myself, but being reminded of that fact so thoroughly and intimately was highly unpleasant. More so when I had once been that thing.

“Noticed you’re pretty banged up. In fact, you’re technically dead, so at least half your functions, well, aren’t. Not sure how you managed that, but I can’t do anything about it from here. Next time you’re out this direction I’ll make repairs.”

“Sure.” I suddenly couldn’t stand talking to that ridiculous thing and just wanted to hang up. “Later.”

“Later.” I closed the conversation and let my sense of the flow of time return to normal, or as much normal as I ever had with my Ability always active, and then everything seemed to happen at once.