(Curator POV)

Hold up before jumping into things I should think about the ramifications of adding a lake. Let’s see downsides, everything in my dungeon is weak to water to some extent which could lead to people exploiting it. Yeah, it sounds more like a major flaw than a downside.

But on the other hand, it should make it possible to evolve water-based creatures like kelpies or nixies, they should be unaffected by the water which would render the aforementioned downside mute. It would also make the floor a lot more aesthetically pleasing and would give us some preemptive measures when dealing with fires.

I get More fairytale creatures and a better-looking floor.....

Well, I guess it’s settled, let’s try to make a lake!

Although this does pose a few logistical problems, first off, is where am I even going to find enough water to create this lake and second is how am I going to transport said water into the dungeon. Actually, the ceiling vents are still around so I could always wait for it to rain and get water into the dungeon that way or I could get Alice and Red to go to the surface to gather some water from a well or something.

Another thing to take into account is the amount of water. I might not even need that much water, to begin with, it might just be a case where I just need a bit of water and using DP I could generate more.

With that being said it would be nice if it rained in the next couple of days, so just in case it does rain let’s dig out a few pits underneath the ceiling vents. If nothing else this does help me decide where I’m placing the lakes.

Starting out I tried to give each lake a unique shape like an almond or a gourd, but as I worked on them I started thinking that they looked a little too unnatural, I tried to carving out the edges a bit more to make look natural, but then they started looking more off then when I started.

So after hours of adjusting and readjusting I decided to leave things the way they were, the lakes still looked a bit off but I think they look somewhat presentable now. At this point, if I wanted to start all over again it would just be a waste of DP. Live and let live I say.

With that done and over with, I still have the niggling feeling that the floor is lacking in something. Let’s see, each lake was dug underneath a vent that means there’s one located directly west of the entrance, another one near the clearing and the last one on the east side of the floor bordering both the staircase to the second floor and the Illusory woods.

Actually, it was the Illusory woods (version 2.0), the fairies were currently in the process of rebuilding it. They could’ve made it anywhere else on the floor but they really liked the spot since it’s guaranteed to get a lot of foot traffic, being right in between the clearing and the exit, giving them ample victims to mess with.

....That’s it! Looking at the floor as a whole it was clear just how disjointed the floor was. So far everyone has headed in a straight line from the entrance, which coincidentally happens to be the fastest way to the second floor. Anyways brushing aside the fact that the first floor has more or less been a glorified hallway, I think rivers going from lake to lake would really pull the whole floor together.

I can also give the fairies free reign over certain areas, to prevent people from blowing through the first floor. Hehehe that actually sounds like a pretty good idea.

Well enough planning and chuckling to myself, let’s get this started!

Carving deep trenches into the earth flowing and weaving my way through woods I connected one lake to another then another repeating until I created an interconnected network of waterways.

The floor was looking a bit a more unified, well not really but once the lakes and rivers are filled with water it should, right now it looks more like a war zone with all the with trenches and pits littered everywhere.

It feels a bit bittersweet seeing all that DP go, but it’s not like I needed it for anything urgent. Traffic has been slow ever since the fire and the few people that do enter the dungeon simply explore around the first floor for a bit and leave. It really makes me wonder if they’re having some sort of issue up there.

Oh, speak of the devil one of them just entered the dungeon, how embarrassing they’re going to see the lakes and rivers before it’s done.

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(Lyra POV)

“What in the creators above do you mean the dungeon might be permanently damaged due to the fire!”

It’s been three days since the accident and the reports I’ve gotten so far have been utterly insane!

In the aftermath of the fire, the dungeon was left a smoldering field of ash, which was expected, what I didn’t expect was that in less than a day the floor would become a black and gold desert.

And according to today’s report, apparently, the whole floor is back to normal, not including the worrying gashes that run throughout the floor.

I can already feel a headache coming, not once has a dungeon ever been documented changing floors in such a rapid manner, and that’s nothing to say about the contrast between the environments it’s been switching to, changing from lush woods to desolate deserts. Usually, every dungeon has some sort of theme that it follows weather it’s a mana dungeon or a normal dungeon.

Making matters even worse Bargas has been using his connections to learn about the Dungeons condition and is spreading it among the populace to rile them up, making them wonder if this town has a future, promising them that he would be able to fix all this.

His influence is growing. Once the town is up and running and it’s time to start electing the branch head Bargas is going to have the advantage if things don’t change, but just how do I turn this around?

The initial advantage I had making connections by managing the town's construction is gone, and now because of the incident I’m buried to my neck in paperwork, so he’s free to campaign all he wants.

Dismissing the scout, I let my head smack against my desk, how do I handle something like this?

None of the training I’ve gone through has set me up to handle something like this. Frustrated I let out a sigh of defeat, I can’t even blame a flawed education for this.

I thought I hit the jackpot when I first introduced myself to the dungeon avatar and learned that it... she was amicable and even let me sit in on her using her powers. And from my experiences in the dungeon while I was undercover I concluded that the wolves would be difficult at first for new adventurers but would pose little threat to people once they had experience fighting them.

But now with the dungeon’s sudden aggressiveness during the training camp, and it’s dungeon avatar, Alice going missing after the fire. I don’t know what to think.

‘Some times you just have to let stuff like this sort itself out, but if you really need to do something do it with a smile’

Haaa, really why am I remembering him now, yeah “The first”, “No the Other Guy”, “Mr. Dungo Esq” or one of the other hundreds of ridiculous names he called himself. The branch head of Felschonheit, incompetent, lazy, shameful and also my mentor.

Under his watch problems, both in the dungeon and town were abundant, and he would just lazily go about fixing them. I came to him time and time again with ideas to permanently fix the problems but he would just go “these things take time.”

At some point I started tuning him out convinced that I could solve everything if I was put in his shoes, honestly thinking back on it now, I had just graduated from the academy and wanted to feed my own ego.

I really want to slap my past self so hard right now, those ideas were just the hair-brained schemes of a brat that had yet to see the world. Thinking back on it that dry smile he gave to me every time I told him my plans were probably those one would give a problem child.

But maybe it’s not too late to take some of his teachings to heart, Maybe things aren’t as bad as I thought they were.

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(Curator POV)

Well, It’s been a couple of days with no rain or adventurers. it’s been pretty boring and as far as I can tell nothing has changed above ground either except for the fact that people seem to be avoiding my dungeon. I think that’s enough waiting around.

"It’s settled, Alice, Red how would you like to go into town and run some errands for me?” It’s time for plan B, infiltrate town to get water and information also it would be a good opportunity for the two of them to actually interact with different people. Alice has had limited interactions with Lyra and Red well no one has made it to the second floor yet.

I have tried to talk to Red on occasion and she has improved, but not by much, the only time I actually saw her talking like a normal person was with my first visitors.

Accepting my offer, Alice and Red convened at the library.

“Alright, your mission is to go into town and get some water and to get information on why people are avoiding the dungeon.”

“Yes, Curator,” Alice replied while Red gave a tiny nod.

“Okay then be careful, don't follow any strangers, don’t eat anything weird... actually don't eat anything I don't know how that’ll affect you and remember not to touch the water directly god knows how you’ll end up if you do.” I feel like a naggy mom right now saying all this but I really do worry about them this is the first time they’ll be above ground, there are way too many unknowns up there.

Alice can be a bit dense when it comes to things, not about the dungeon, in that respect it seems like apart her knowledge of dungeon workings she’s just as clueless as me about the world at large. As for Red, well a variety of things can go wrong, So I had her take the little fire fox with her just in case.

With that said, the little fox strode up from the second floor and jumped into Red’s basket. Alice collected her tome from behind the counter and they exited the dungeon.

______________________________________________________________________________________

(third person)

Leaving the dungeon they found themselves at the outskirts of town, Alice holding Red’s hand, led the way, the only thought on her mind was how to procure a source of water.

Not really knowing much about the town the duo followed the flow and let the crowd take them where it will. Drifting slowly amongst the current of people the pair eventually ended up at the heart of the town, which was teaming with activity. Voices were being thrown left and right some were trying to talk over the noise, some were trying to advertise their wares and others well if Alice didn’t know better she would guess they’re trying to yell to the gods.

It was a far cry from the quiet and tranquil dungeon that Alice knew, so many different people too many voices she couldn't tell when one voice started and where another ended it was chaotic and she didn't have the power to put things in order. It reminded her of the fairies but multiplied tenfold. Red, on the other hand, her eyes were darting left and right taking in her new surroundings, not that anyone could tell as her namesake red hood obscured her face.

fighting against the tide of people Alice made a concentrated effort to try and read the signboards posted outside the various storefronts, but with her short stature she soon realized that it was futile, everyone else was just too tall.

Trying something else, Alice opened the first door she could get her hands on and threw herself through the doorway pulling Red in with her. This place looks like it could be a store, Alice thought as she examined the building's interior. There was a bunch of people lined up in front of the numerous counters waiting for their turn, but oddly enough there was no shelf nor goods on display.

Lining up Alice and Red waited for their turn. little did the duo know, they had unwittingly become the centre of attention the moment they entered the building.

“Hello, how may the Adventurers Association help you today?” The receptionist gave a polite greeting but it was clear that she was acting stiffer than usual.

“Yes, we would like large quantities of water,”

“wa- water?”

“yes water, this is a place to procure water is it not?”

It was around this point that the adventurers waiting in line burst out in laughter. Here they thought that payday might just be around the corner in the form of a request, but it was just some kids who got lost on their way to the provisions store, they had such a dynamic entrance too, and on top of that, the look on the receptionist's face was priceless.

Giving a sigh the Receptionist politely informed Alice that this was in fact not a provisions store, and offered to get someone to guide her to one, free of charge.

“Can someone go fetch that sad sack Tsukiko, it’ll do her good to get some fresh air every now and then.” seeing her orders being carried out the receptionist turned back to Alice and continued. “Sorry, it might take a while, for us to get your guide and please excuse her behavior she has been a little out of it lately. Please take a seat while you wait.”

It is a well-known fact at the A.A that Tuskiko is infatuated with Virgil, and well he hasn’t visited the A.A building recently. Apparently, Lyra dumped a bunch of paperwork on him, so he’s been focused on that for the past couple of days. Because of that Tsukiko has been going through “love withdrawal” or something along those lines according to her attendants who entrusted her to the A.A staff while they were out finishing a request.

After a few minutes of waiting the staff came back with a girl, her shrine maiden clothes were in disarray and she looked pretty out of it like she was looking past Alice and Red, into a realm that only she could see.

“Don't mind how she’s acting right now she’s still all there in the head (I hope) and can lead you to the provisions store.” The receptionist quickly tried to reassure Alice and Red that everything was okay by giving the shrine maiden a pat on back, which elicited a small groan from the girl.

Exiting the building the zombie-like girl took the lead stumbling through the streets as people gave way to the weird girl. “they just dumped their problem child on me didn’t they?” the thought lazily drifted about in Alice’s mind as she memorized the different locations and streets in case she and Red had to make a round trip to pick up more water.

Arriving at the provisions store Alice pulled Tsukiko into the store with her along with Red, the zombie-girl was entrusted to her after all. Entering the store, the owner a burly man leaned over the counter welcoming them in.

“So what it’ll be today?” the man like many others in this town was a retired adventurer with many stories under his belt, so seeing a girl carrying a tome half her size while simultaneously dragging along a zombie-like shrine maiden and a hooded girl entering his shop didn’t perturb him at all.

“we would like to procure some water” Alice answered in the same manner as she did before at the A.A. Tsukiko was hanging dejectedly on her shoulder like a cheap scarf.

“sure,” the burly store owner went into the back of his store and came back with a waterskin.

That definitely wasn’t enough water for what the Curator had planned, so Alice asked for something bigger, The Burly shop owner came back with a large waterskin, but that still wasn’t enough, this exchange went on back and forth until he brought out a large barrel of water.

“Okay final offer this is as big as I can go, this enough water for you lassie?” the store owner shot the question at Alice, this was the largest amount of water he could sell to a civilian without a note from the A.A.

The barrel was a little on the expensive end but he had no doubts that the girl could afford it, she was wearing what looked like fairly expensive clothing, but it was the book that she was carrying in her arms that really indicated her status. In short, it was a massive ornate book that looked like it had well over 100 hundred pages in it, and that wasn’t even the end of it.

From his days as an adventurer the store owner was well acquainted with the faint tingling sensation that only mana could cause, and this girl well she practically radiated mana, a telltale sign she was decked head to toe with items and materials that could only be found in a dungeon where mana was abundant. The girl in the red hood wasn’t a slouch either, although the mana coming off her was weaker than the first girls.

There was no doubt in his head, these girls had to be the daughters of some wealthy adventurers.

“yes.” Giving a nod Alice confirmed that the barrel was sufficient enough.

“Alright, then that’ll be 250 GP then. Ah yea, also we are not accepting Dutchy or Empire currency at the moment,” the burly shop owner kept a straight face but was secretly overjoyed, business has been sparse the past few days, so a sale of this magnitude was a like finding a safe zone in a dungeon for him.

“.........”

“..........”

“.............”

“ya know if you only have Dutchy or Empire currency, there is a bank around the corner, you can exchange your cash for GP there and while you go I’ll set aside this barrel for you.”

“..................”

“I don’t have any money,”

“Why don’t you bring your parents next time.” the shop owner said with a bitter smile at having his adventurer's instincts fail him.

Alice started thinking of a plan to get the water barrel but quickly found herself at a loss on what to do next.

“A medium-sized water skin please and ah yes that water barrel as well” A hand suddenly shot out leaving 270 GP on the counter.

“Ah, mister Bargas good to see you again today, as always your business is appreciated, but...”

“Don’t worry about it I’m absolutely sure, I mean look at the poor girl she looks like she’s about to think herself into a tizzy,” Bargas cut the storekeeper off, reassuring him. “also I'll have some of those hard candies” placing another 3 GP on the counter Bargas pointed to the jar of apple-flavored candies.

“no, no, no keep the money, the candies are on the house, consider it a gift for all the work you’ve been doing lately” the shop owner bashfully refused the mans coin as he carried the large water barrel from behind the counter, setting it next to Alice.

“Now then do you have anything to say to the nice gentleman” Handing out the candies the store owner reminded the girls of their manners.

“thank you,” Alice said gracefully bowing as Red followed suit while Tsukiko gave off a sound that could be construed as a ‘thank you’, Bargas laughed it off taking no offense to the weird sound.

Alice was about to summon her wolf to help carry the barrel when Bargas offered his assistance not wanting the kids to hurt themselves trying to carry something so heavy. Seeing no real reason to turn down the offer Alice accepted the man’s help, she could always dismiss him once they neared the dungeon.