I arrived in Uthaira, and didn’t send a message to Laura until I approached the guards. The guards block me from entering, and I could easily dispose of them, but this is supposed to be a diplomatic mission, so I just stand there towering over the guards waiting for Laura to respond, or someone to let me though the gate.

Laura doesn’t respond, but I don’t have to wait long until a young and attractive cat beastkin woman approaches in a complete suit of armor matching that of the other guards with the exception of it being of far higher quality.

The guards quickly salute her and she looks up at me with quite the troubled expression. I do not know if this woman is associated with Laura’s dungeon or just the castle, but it doesn’t even clarify it as she says. “Forgive me Madam Erin, your arrival was not expected. Unfortunately the king is quite busy right now, so I have been instructed to take you to his trusted adviser, Lady Laura…”

Even if she knows of the dungeon, it doesn’t mean the guards do, so I simply say. “Very well, please lead the way.”

The young woman leads me through the castle until we enter the throne room, and as she said the king doesn’t seem to be here, but that doesn’t matter because the person I came here to see is sitting in a chair next to the throne. The young woman bows and then excuses herself leaving Laura and I alone in the large throne room.

“Well isn’t this a sight to be seen, I would think someone such as you would claim the throne yourself rather than sit at its side.”

Laura: "I am but the king's devoted servant. Whether that service happens in court during the day or in his bed at night, is inconsequential."

"More like his full-time puppeteer."

Laura: "You'd be surprised, but I rarely if ever pull at his strings, as you call it. I've found that respect works a lot better than bitching or manipulating does, when it comes to keeping my partner happy."

“You would partner with a mere human?”

Laura: “You are hardly one to speak, Erin Calhoun, but I guess it is much easier to be labelled as a keeper of whores, than by the name given to you by your husband before you killed him.”

“Don’t you speak of matters that you know nothing about!”

Laura: “Oh Lucille told me plenty. First of your kind, The wife of Calhoun’s first prince, and then damning beastkins for centuries, after running to hide in your dungeon after your husband learned your secret, not only killing him, but half the royal court as well.”

That was far from my finest moment, and neither is this one as I let my anger get the best of me as I leap across the room snatching the now shocked Laura from her chair before she has a chance to react and slamming her into the floor.

“Not so cocky now are you?!” –I say with my hand pushing on her head hard enough to crack the stone floor.- “I came here to put an end to this civil war, but I can just as easily end it by doing away with you as I can through negotiating, so what is it going to be?!”

After a bit of struggling on Laura’s part I manage to cool my head a bit and I let her up. She quickly jumps to her feet brushing herself off with an angry and bruised face. “Are you out of my mind? I am an Elder what the hell is wrong with you!?”

“You might have gained a little bit of power, and you are a temporary Elder, but don’t let it go to your head. Lucille might have told you what happened to me in the past, but that gives you no right to open your mouth in what you only think you know!”

Laura then casts a spell healing her face before sitting back down in her chair and saying. “Fine, what is it you came here to talk about…?”

“We are neck deep in trouble with the traitors killing dungeon cores left and right, we don’t know what their next plan of action is, hell we don’t even know why they are doing this, but what I do know, is this is no time for you and Lucille to continue this spat of yours.”

Laura: “Aaron is the rightful heir of Merretta, and he will settle for nothing less then what is his! You can’t blame him or me for Lucille’s lack of foresight when I took Aaron as a boss monster, and only now that he is in the position to take it, she is standing in his way.”

“You know as well as I do, this civil war wasn’t started by Lucille, but by greedy humans, and the only reason Lucille has decided to fight it, is because you deliberately provoked her.”

Laura: “And when Aaron takes the throne of Merretta regardless of Lucille’s interferences, she will not only have to admit she was wrong, but that I was right!”

“All of this just for the sake of your vanity, and what happens when one of the traitors kills you because you are too preoccupied with your fight with Lucille to see them coming?”

Laura: “They would not even be able to step foot in Uthaira without me knowing about it!”

“I walked right through your doors and had you in the perfect position to end your life if I wanted to, and we both know they are capable of mimicking other’s appearances.”

Laura: “Only the real you and a small handful of others could put me in that kind of position.”

“That may have been true in the past, but Rosalinda was far weaker than even you are now, yet if it wasn’t for Two-Twelve’s unique abilities she would have bested even me. With that kind of increase in strength I could easily see 20 to 50 dungeon cores, which if they become one of the traitors, could easily end you just as I almost did.”

Laura: “Then what is it you expect me to do, deny Aaron his rightful place as king of Merretta? I would have to kill him to stop his pursuit for Merretta, and you think the war is bad now…”

“The civil war is just a means to an end, if it was over, Lucille and you would have no longer any reason to keep this up, but it in itself is not what is important as ending the tension between Lucille and you.”

Laura: “Aaron becoming king is the only thing that matters to me! Even you, who have taken a human husband in the past, called Aaron a mere human, so you know Lucille’s opinion of him is far less. However if he were to reunite Merretta and put Lucille in a position that gives her no choice but to acknowledge his power, then she would also have to acknowledge I was right.”

“You are so determined to prove you are right, you are willing to let all dungeon cores become targets of the traitors to do it. A human war would never prove anything to Lucille anyway. Instead end this war as quickly as possible by asking for Lucille’s assistance. You may have to show her some humility, but once your king sits on his throne, use his army to help put an end to the traitors and prove his worth to Lucille that way.”

Laura: “That doesn’t sound much like an Elder’s way of thinking…”

“I have to admit, it wasn’t my idea, but Two-Twelve’s. You and him are much more alike than either of you care to admit.

Laura: “After everything that has happened, what makes you even think Lucille would allow Aaron become king of Merretta without a fight?”

“Because like I am here with you, Two-Twelve is speaking to Lucille, proving to her she doesn’t actually care about what human sits on the throne of Merretta, and by allowing your Aaron to take the throne she would be doing you a huge favor, in which she would appear to be the victor. That way everyone gets what they want. Your Aaron gets to be king, Lucille thinks she won, and you go on to prove you are right by stopping the traitors with your humans.”

Laura: “Why would Two-Twelve do that…?”

“Honestly, I don’t have a clue, but what he said was, that this is no time for us to be fighting among ourselves, and how could he expect to convince you two to quit fighting if he couldn’t put his own feelings to you aside.”

Laura: “As I told you before, I allow Aaron do as he pleases, but if you can get Lucille to bring the civil war to a swift end, allowing him to take his rightful place as the king of Merretta. Then I will see if he will assist with the matters concerning the traitors.”

“None of this “we will see” or “I will think about it”, if you ever want your position as an Elder to become more than temporary, or see your king sitting on his throne. You will negotiate terms with Lucille, and I don’t care if you have to bring that king of yours with you!”

Laura: “I will speak with Aaron, and if Two-Twelve can convince Lucille to come to favorable terms we can discuss it then.”

“Don’t make me regret letting you live. I will get back to you when Two-Twelve pulls through with Lucille.”

Not waiting for any reply I turn and walk out of the room.

○○○○○○○

After arriving back home after talking with Lucille I collapse on one of the couches in the living room. Belinda askes me “That bad?” as she sets Rory down on the floor, Rory take a few carful steps before giving up by dropping to her hands and knees to crawl the rest of the way across the floor.

She can’t pull herself up onto the couch yet, but she gives it her all before looks at me with her big blue eyes and raises her arms opening and closing her tiny fists while saying “Dada” over and over again until I pick her up and she hugs my neck.

Even though they are almost the same age Wolfric doesn’t get around near as well as he comes crawling across the floor to see what the commotion is about, but Listel completely ignores my arrival as she is too focused with playing with some kind of a toy on the other side of the living room.

Belinda picks up Wolfric and then sits down next to me while tickling him with his own tail. I lay my head on Belinda’s shoulder while stroking Rory’s head and say. “I don’t know. Lucille is rather hard headed, but I think I told her in a way that she will find it favorable. We are just going to have to wait and see I guess.”

Belinda: “Sounds like a trait many of you dungeon cores have.”

“The problem is Lucille has close to a thousand years on me, so how could I be sure that anything I said to her be taken seriously by her?”

Belinda: “She agreed to meet with you, so I don’t think you give yourself enough credit. Besides the Elders have done things their way for so long, now that everything is being flipped upside down they are scrambling for answers just like the rest of us.”

“Well, in any case there is nothing else we can do now but wait, it isn’t like I don’t have plenty of things around here that I need to get done anyway.”

Belinda: “Are you sure that is a good idea? I mean [Menu] isn’t warning you of any more dungeon core deaths, but that doesn’t mean the traitors aren’t creating more places like we were at and killing more of them without the notification.”

“There is not really anything else I can do. The [Archjusticar Menu] might be able to help if I wasn’t the only one able to access the finer details of it. I could just assign more justicars, but still it would take days if not weeks of analyzing the stats of each dungeon core to find out if something is out of place, if they haven’t found a way to cover that up as well, and I am still not too sure who all I could trust with that kind of responsibility. No, our best bet is to hope whatever that dungeon we were in was, that it is not something they can easily replicate, and the traitors for whatever reason are leaving the other dungeon cores alone for now.”

Belinda: “Not that Rory and I don’t enjoy your company, but what are you going to do until you hear back from Lucille then?”

“If she doesn’t answer by the end of the day I am going to try again tomorrow. Until then I am going to start summoning some more sentient monsters. We lost a lot of people in that dungeon, and without the xp gathering groups out and about our income for the month is going to take a major hit.”

Belinda: “What about their levels? Having to start all over from scratch is still going to set you back for quite a while.”

“I could summon them at higher levels, but I don’t think the cost of doing that is really worth it unless you are going to summon them at 50 or above, and we don’t have the xp to summon a bunch of level 50 sentient monsters like Inari does…”

Belinda: “What about the girls! If you just summon a bunch of monsters and take them to the girl’s dungeons, they would be much safer, and you wouldn’t even have to make them sentient if you didn’t want to.”

“I am hoping the girls will let me level them up in their dungeons, but allowing them to go out and explore not only brings us the xp, but it also brings us new items, and information as well. Besides I already have a sizeable amount of monsters in the girl’s dungeons as it is, and if I summoned a bunch of non-sentient ones on top of that, there would just be much too high of a risk of something bad happening.”

Belinda: “But what about the risk to those you summon? I know it’s a risk every adventurer takes, but we lost so many this time…”

“That is even more reason why we need to do this. The xp we earn from these groups is what we use to make our dungeon, and in turn all of our monsters safer.”

Belinda: “I understand and I am sure this is how my Father and brother feel every time they have to send the Gowen soldiers out as well, but I can’t help to feel that we are more responsible, because we summoned them into this role they didn’t choose it for themselves.”

“We never force any of our sentient monsters, and you know that.”

Belinda: “Because that is the purpose you summon them for and they feel obligated to do it! I’m sorry… I don’t mean to criticize you, maybe I, myself, am feeling like I should have done more to protect the ones that didn’t make it back. Just promise me you won’t send them anywhere dangerous until they are well aware of the risks involved, ok?”

“With the traitors around, I don’t really think sending them anywhere is safe, but I plan on rearranging the groups around a bit, so that so some of the stronger ones like Poppy and Lynx, can help the new ones.”

There was of course some of the xp gathering groups that were not strong enough to take with us when we went to what we thought was Barry’s dungeon, and they are still in the field, but our high level groups have all been shattered.

Bandy and Poppy’s groups were the only ones that came out of that place without losing any members, but with Bandy’s group breaking up, and Poppy’s group already shorthanded before we entered, I decide to just call everyone in together and work it out all at once.

After sending out the message to the xp gathering groups, I wait for them to arrive while continuing to play with Rory and visit with Belinda. In that time Roxy and Zoey arrive and pick up Wolfric, but after hearing that I am going to summon some new monsters Zoey’s curiosity is peeked, so they decide to stick around for a bit.

Everyone gathers in the ballroom, and by the time they are all there Zoey and Katie both are here as well both wearing all their gear…

“What are you two doing…?”

Katie: “I don’t know what she is doing… But Miss Bandy made a compelling argument to me, and the small amounts of training I am doing here in Tobes isn’t enough for me to take the next step in my crafting, so I have decided to go with them.”

“Are you sure that is a good idea…? And what about the orders that has to be filled for the smithy?”

Katie: “Some of the others are going to fill in at the smithy while I am gone so it shouldn’t be a problem, but I lost too many friends this last trip, so I need to get better.”

“But with Bandy’s group…?”

Bandy: “What’s that supposed to mean?!”

Zoey: “I’m just here to show off to the newbies!” –She says cutting Bandy off.-

“We should get started. I should start with how we are going to split the more experienced members up with some of the new people to give them a hand starting out.”

Bandy: “With the addition of Katie, we are all set now!”

“Katie isn’t enough to replace both Kit and Suzie, you are going to need at least one more mage.”

Bandy: “I don’t have time to be holding some beginners hand!”

“Katie isn’t quite at your level either, so you are going to have to cut it back anyway, this way at least you will have a solid group again. Besides I would like Bradford and Corrie to start their own group as well.”

Bandy: “This is bullshit! We waited like you asked us too, and now you are going to further weaken us by breaking us up even more?!”

“Our groups need to become stronger. Your group and Poppy’s group were the only two that have really taken off. All the others we took with us were either lost completely or at least lost most of their members. We need strong leaders to make all the groups better, and between Chase, Katie, and you, your group will still have quite the head start on the others.”

Bradford: “I am hesitant to leave Bandy after all this time, but if you are just asking us to train new members, then I am willing to head up a group temporarily. I will however refuse to separate from Connie, she and I are partners, and I rather be unbound from your dungeon, then not being there to watch her back.”

“I would rather each of you head up a group, but if that is the way it has to be, then maybe it is for the best. Having at least two higher level people on each group would be safer, but we will have to switch out groups more often.”

Connie: “We appreciate it…”

“Alright, we have Bandy, Chase, Katie training one group, Bradford and Connie training another, Kit, are you and Suzie good to lead a third?”

Kit: “It would be my pleasure. Suzie, it looks like we will still be in each other’s care.”

Suzie: “I’m looking forward to it.”

Poppy: “If that’s the way you want to do things, it may make more sense for Lynx and I to each head up a group along with Aster and Iris, as our seconds, but even though it might be a bit unreasonable I think Aster and Iris would like to remain together, so if must, I ask you let them stay together, and Lynx and I can each head up a group if you want.”

Iris: “We would like to stay together, but we understand if you have to split us up.”

“From a level standpoint you may be right, but I have seen firsthand how well Poppy and Lynx work together, so if it is already with the rest of you, I will let Poppy and Lynx head up one group, while Iris and Aster lead up another.”

The sword maiden, I think her name was Avila, is one of three left that made it from the fake dungeon, she looks a bit uncomfortable as she says. “I barely made it through that dungeon, if that dungeon core didn’t save me I wouldn’t have even made it, so I don’t think I am in the position to train anyone…”

The warrior Dreues, and the mage Armand, made it out of the fake dungeon together, but they lost the rest of their group as well, so they seem to agree with Avila when it comes to leading a group, but I manage to convince the three of them to work together to train another group.

Now all I have to do is fill out their groups and we will be back at the number we started with, but the xp they will be bringing in will still be short until they level up the new members.

“Alright we will start off with Bandy’s group. Between Katie, Chase, and you, we should probably summon at least one more mage, and make the other two defensive types.”

Bandy: “It’s my damn group! I should be the one that chooses what gets summoned for it!”

“That would get you a well-rounded group, but if you have another suggestion I am willing to listen…”

Bandy: “Fine, but I at least get to choose their race and sex.”

“That depends on your purpose for summoning them…”

Bandy: “That’s awfully hypocritical of you after the women you summoned for Dyson.”

“That was a unique situation.”

Bandy: “Can’t be too unique if you did it twice.”

“Neither Desiree or Angela are doing anything that they themselves didn’t choose for themselves, I made sure of that, and besides what about Chase?”

Bandy: “After I gave Chase so much, he has decided that is no longer enough for him anymore, so he is moving on…”

Chase: “Tell the truth! All I said is I want a real relationship, I deserve at least that much! I told you I refuse to just be the man you come too when you have no other options.”

“Alright that’s enough… I will summon two male beastkin, but I am leaving their subspecies random. Whatever you convince them to do willingly is between you, but I am going to make sure you don’t use your position in the group to take advantage of them either. Your group also needs another mage, a human would be the best bet, so I will summon a female human mage as well.”

Bandy: “At least make them manlier then chase!”

I sigh and open [Menu]. The beastkin don’t need to be ripped, but they are going to be in defensive roles, but abilities are only lightly affected by physical appearance. After all, Chase and I share a similar body type, but I could hold a defensive line as well as anyone.

I am a dungeon core though, and when they summoned with a muscular physique, it will increase their likelihood of having defensive classes available to them. A standard adventurer’s physique that isn’t focused on magic should be fine though, so I don’t worry much about that focusing, instead on roles.

I prepare them some clothing and summon them both at the same time. I have gotten pretty good at adding clothing before the light fades of their summoning, but two at once was a close call. Just to be on the safe side I will make sure I only summon one monster at a time.

One of the men is a pretty standard bear beastkin man, and even though I didn’t put any effort into it, he is built pretty solid, but the other one is much more interesting. At this point I have summoned quite a few beastkin, and even though I tend to summon them with random subspecies more often than not, but rarely unlock a new subspecies any more.

I don’t know if it was the influence of fighting all the lizardmen in the fake dungeon, or just a coincidence, but the second man is of a lizard subspecies that is new to me, and he is rather prickly…

As for beastkin that have subspecies that are furry animals even the feral beastkin, only have 20 to 40 percent of their body covered in fur tops, but for reptile and amphibian beastkin their skin is usually far more effected. Scylla is a good example, even though her physique is very human-like, but her skin and tail is largely like that of a salamander.

This beastkin that I summoned is no exception. In fact I would go as far as to say he is more reptilian then most. His face is very human-like albeit it is covered in the tan and brown like scales that cover the rest of him, but eyes seems largely disproportionate to his face.

The scales on his shoulders and tail have large spikes sticking from them that are large enough that if his clothing wasn’t fitted with [Menu] they would poked through it. The spines seem to cover most of his back from the base of his hair line on his neck down to the tip of his tail, but the closer you get to the center of his back their size decreases very quickly.

Bandy: “When I said I wanted a horny man, that isn’t what I meant…” –She then moves over to the bear beastkin and starts sizing him up.- “This one however seems quite nice.”

“Behave yourself Bandy… These are going to be your new teammates, not playthings…” –I say while the bear beastkin man seems a bit nervous about being sized up by Bandy.- “What Bandy lacks in manners, she makes up for in combat ability, so she is going to lead the group you two will be on, as you leave the dungeon to gather xp.”

Bandy: “That’s right, so you have to do as I say.”

“Within reason, she may be the leader of the group, but your opinions matter. I don’t want her to force either you into anything that you don’t want to do. Chase and Katie will be with you as well, just in case, so I hope you follow in their moral example rather than Bandy’s.”

Bandy: “That is a horrible way to talk about the strongest person in your dungeon!”

“You have done quite well for yourself I admit, but you are hardly the strongest person in the dungeon.”

Bandy: “I am the first A-Rank adventurer in a hundred years!”

“Because everyone stronger then you doesn’t have time to worry about their adventurer rank.”

Bandy: “I’m going to call your bluff! You say that I am not the most powerful person in this room, I say prove it!”

“We don’t have time for this, but if you want to see the difference between us…” –I take out the stone that I made that mimics the Adventurer’s Guild item that shows ones abilities.-

Bandy: “That doesn’t mean anything, if you want to prove it, prove it with a fight!”

Zoey: “Let me take care of it Boss!”

Katie: “I think it is a good idea as well. Bandy is strong, much stronger than me, but she needs to realize she is just a cog in the wheel of your dungeon.”

Poppy: “Bandy has been disrespectful of you for far too long, and it makes me angry when she talks to you like this. I think it is time she learns the sun doesn’t rise and set at her behest, so I agree Master…”

Bandy: “So what is it going to be?”

“Do all of you feel this way?”

Bradford: “I would just like to see Bandy go all out for a change.”

Lynx: “Bandy needs discipline…”

Zoey: “Just say the word boss!”

“Under the right circumstances you could even beat me Zoey, and Bandy’s problem is with me, so I think it is best if we do this, then I should be the one to handle it.”

Bandy: “Hot damn, then how about we raise the stakes a bit? If I win you treat me like I deserve to be treated, and I get to choose the last member of our group, down to the last freckle.”

Zoey: “And when Boss wins?”

Bandy: “Then the only thing he will hear out of me is when he says jump, will be me asking how high.”

Poppy: “That is the way you should be treating Master already!”

“If it will settle this once and for all… Then you know what, fine.”

I don’t want to tear up the ball room, so I transfer us down to a part of the dungeon with plenty of room to move around in, everyone then moves to the side leaving Bandy and me in the middle of the room. Now the question is just how serious are we going to take this…?