Within the Dungeon, Hidden Haven, a Dungeon Town had been set up. Though a seemingly reckless decision at first, it was only inevitable considering the size of the Dungeon. Even simply traveling to it from the outside, navigating the long, winding tunnels to reach it, would take up half a day *if* one knew their way. For the sake of convenience and efficiency, it was only a matter of time someone dumb and brave and perhaps greedy enough would try to do it.

All things said and done, a Dungeon Town within a Dungeon was a never before seen endeavor and as such, no one quite knew what must be done. Even the Dungeoneers, accustomed to camping within a Dungeon, were not sure of sustaining a base of operation within a Dungeon for an extended period of time.

To counter any possible issues, several members of the Scholars of the Abyss were sent in. Meanwhile, clerics and priests of various divines had also arrived, setting up altars and makeshift temples in an attempt to ward off the abnormalities of the Abyss.

Taking a visit to one such altar was a member of the Henrietta Company, Auguste. Taking a day's break after returning from an expedition, he suddenly recalled that he had not visited for quite some time. How many weeks had it been since he last saw another altar? Has it been a month already? Frankly, it was a pain, but Cera, his mentor as well as the Oracle of Goddess Ceratias had reminded him time and time again to always make time to visit. She claimed that it made it easier to check on him. Considering that she was the Oracle, that might very well be true.

The altar he found was a small one, decorated with an unimpressive lamp. There wasn't even a single priest or priestess on site. It would seem that having traveled so far west, Arithmi was a more popular choice over Ceratias and that's not even accounting for the dwindling numbers of worshipers for Ceratias over the last decade.

Auguste kneeled before the altar and closed his eyes, appearing to be in silent prayer. He wasn't exactly praying per se, only making the appearance of such. For someone working against this supposed fate, praying to a goddess governing over fate seemed antithesis to what he desired. Then again, he couldn't have made it this far without his master, making him wonder if he was playing at fate's hand after all at times.

"Gusty?"

A familiar voice called for his attention. When he turned to meet the owner of the voice, he was met with a nostalgic figure that brought him both comfort and a hint, just the slightest hint, of bitterness.

"Lena?"

It was Helena.

It was certainly a surprise, to meet Helena out here, in a Dungeon found in the middle of nowhere. Then again, perhaps it's not as strange an occurrence as it seemed. After all, this Dungeon, the Hidden Haven, was special. Never had a Dungeon so vast and filled with life been discovered before. There was also the case of the Dungeon Town, the first ever to be set up within a Dungeon itself. There's no possible way that the Lightbringers wouldn't be interested. Someone would have been sent this way sooner or later and the chances of the ones sent being Albert and his party wasn't exactly low, given that the Lightbringers were said to be hurting for manpower.

"Lena, fancy meeting you here," Auguste greeted, finding it odd not because he met her in this Dungeon, but at the altar of Ceratias, which was somewhat out of the way of pretty much everything else. Lena shouldn't be a worshiper of Ceratias either, so it's unlikely that she was making a visit.

"Well, I saw you going this way and thought I'd say hi," Helena answer with a smile.

"Oh, that's it?"

"What do you mean? It's not strange to want to say hello to an old friend, right?"

"No, I guess not." Auguste took in a deep breath. "But it *is* a little out of the way for a greeting, don't you think?"

"Maybe, but I didn't want to miss you. This is a pretty big Dungeon, there's no way of knowing when we'll run into each other."

Truth be told, Auguste would rather not run into her at the moment. He was lately feeling the limits of his abilities as he witnessed Finn steadily improving himself and becoming a core asset to the party. He would rather not be reminded of how far apart he was from the likes of Helena and Albert.

"I guess you have a point." Auguste had to swallow his grievances whole to make that reply. "Anyways, how are things going on your end?"

A look of trouble came over Helena's expression when the question was asked. It did not seem like it's going well at all.

"I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be discussing that to outsiders."

"It's fine, I get it. Guess I'll be going then. You're busy, aren't you? I can't imagine that you're here for a vacation."

"Not quite. We still have to talk to the dungeoneering clans that had set up shop around here, though by 'we', I mean mostly Albert and Lyudmila. So as it turns out, I have a bit of free time on my hands."

"Sounds nice."

"It certainly *is* nice to have a break now and then."

"Sure is."

"Yep."

For a moment there, Auguste was wondering why the conversation did not seem to be ending. He expected Helena to go "see you later" or something and be on her way by now.

"Gusty, I see your social skills hasn't improved at all," said Helena, her tone gave away her intention to tease.

"Uh-huh." Auguste, sensing mockery, got offended. "If you want something, just say so."

"That's a big no-no, Gusty," she said while wagging her index finger. "If you want to make friends, you should be more proactive in inviting others. You could have asked me if I had eaten and try to invite me to lunch or something, right."

"I'm afraid our party can't afford to feed you at the moment."

"Who asked to be fed!?"

"Isn't that what you mean? Or are you going to bring your own rations?"

"I'm actually thinking of eating at a tavern around here or something. They've got a few places set up already, right?"

"I'll have you know, eating out isn't exactly on the table for our party right now. We're trying to save up in the case that everything goes to shit. It's the first time we're operating with a Dungeon town *within* a Dungeon after all. You never know if something might go wrong and we have to make a dash for the exit."

"I see..." Helena grew a little quiet, feeling somewhat bad for not considering Auguste's side of the situation. "W-well, who says I'm expecting you to pay for it? I was, in fact, going to treat you. The Lightbringers pays rather well, don't you know?"

"Well, why didn't you say so?" Auguste's eyes brightened up. "I wouldn't pass up a free meal."

A feeling of irritation began to well up within Helena. Despite being the one who said she'll treat him, Auguste's attitude pissed her off somewhat. He seemed happier about the free meal than meeting and talking to her.

"So a free meal is more important than a friend now is it?"

"Of course not, friends are important."

Those weren't the words Helena had expected out of Auguste. The Auguste she was familiar with had never been one to be so open about his feelings. At that moment, Helena had an ill foreboding.

Entering a tavern of Helena's recommendation, they sat on a long table, a table more than enough for seven. Auguste had invited his entire party, his friends, along for the meal.

"Since we're not paying out of our own pockets, we can order as much as we want, right?" asked Henrietta, the joy on her face so bright that Helena had a hard time refusing her.

"Henri, control yourself," Elaine came to the rescue. "She's a friend of Auguste's, go overboard and you'll make things difficult between them. Besides, this is how you'll to wear out someone's goodwill."

Helena gave an internal sigh of relief. She was paid well, but not *that* well. Still, she had no one else to blame for this situation but herself. It would have been easier on her if it had been a setup by Auguste from the start, but she knew he lacked the cunning to pull such a thing off. He merely saw the opening she gave him back there and took it. If Zeke was here, he'd laugh at her till his lungs wear out and will never let her live it down.

"My oh my, if it isn't Helena?"

And speaking of someone as unpleasant as Zeke, a black-haired woman with the greenest of eyes came walking towards Helena's table, a large man on each of her sides.

"Why good afternoon, Seren." Helena forced herself to put on a smile. "Fancy meeting you here."

Helena was well acquainted with this woman. Claiming to be the daughter from a rich family in the Republic of Magnolia, the woman called Seren was rarely seen without her ever-loyal bodyguards. While technically a Dungeoneer affiliated with the clan, Bright Aegis, she seemed to possess no combat prowess whatsoever and relied solely on her lackeys to do her bidding. It was also no secret that she had a fancy for Albert, constantly tailing after him wherever he went. Though Albert himself did not show it outwardly, he was quite troubled by this fact. He had tried to subtly get her to distance herself from him in several of their interactions, but the woman was either having none of it or simply did not pick up on any of the hints.

"Of course I'm here, the Bright Aegis and the Lightbringers are allies, after all. I plan to do everything in my power to support Sir Albert and his companions wherever they go," said Seren, putting on a friendly demeanor.

"Why, thank you. I'm sure Albert appreciates your hard work," replied Helena, not meaning a single word of it.

"Oh, I'm sure he does. That being said, where is Albert?" The woman's lips turned upwards into a sneer as she looked down on Helena in contempt, her mask of friendliness already torn from her face. "Don't tell me they kick you out? Oh, you poor thing. Though, I suppose it was only a matter of time. I simply do not see how a common village girl like yourself has anything to offer Sir Albert. I'm sure the only reason he kept you around for so long was out of pity. What a kind, caring gentleman he is."

"Is this woman for real?" a cold, thorny voice muttered.

"Huh!?" Seren's face twisted in an ugly manner upon hearing those mocking words. "Who said that? Who here dares to mock me? Have you any idea who I am?"

For the first time, Seren's gaze turned towards those sitting around Helena, people who she did not even register as important enough to notice before. As she looked around for what she had arbitrarily decided to be her nemesis, her deep green pupils lock onto the dull green eyes of Auguste who happened to be looking her way.

"You! That was you, wasn't it!?"

Seren did not appear to have recognized him from last time, she might not even remember his face. Still, upon being gazed so intensely, Auguste instinctively looked away, an admission of guilt in Seren's eyes.

"Hmph! I'll show you what happens when a rat like you run your mouth," Serena proclaimed haughtily.

As Seren's two bodyguards approach him, Auguste turned his gaze towards Morganna, the actual perpetrator. She gazed into Auguste's eyes as he gazed into hers, unwavering, unblinking, cold, as if to say "this is your problem now". He's going to have a talk with her about this later, *if* there's a later for him.

Of course, the Henrietta Company would never abandon their own. As soon as the bodyguards went past him, Finn was preparing to get up. And Morganna, cold as she was acting, had already pulled out one of her wands from a hidden pocket woven into her sleeve. Henrietta too, from the look in her eyes, was rearing to go, looking a bit too eager to high-fiving Seren's face with her forehead one more time. They were more than ready and this time they have the full party. It's time for round two.

"Seren, that's enough!"

Helena stood up from her seat, attempting to put a stop to things before they escalate. The bodyguards froze in their tracks. Even if their boss, Seren, did not recognize the capabilities of Helena, the bodyguards knew better.

"Oh?" Seren raised her brows in delight. She somehow took Helena's strong tone as a sign of desperation. "If you wish me to stop, then apologize to me right now. Tell me how sorry you are for insulting me while licking my boots."

She didn't even seem to care about who was the one that insulted her anymore. All that was in Seren's mind at that moment was how she was going to humiliate this 'common village girl' that had managed to slither her way by Albert's side.

Tension filled the tavern as the two women stared each other down. As if the air itself was frozen, every person in sight held onto their breaths, not daring to make any sudden movements as they waited to see what would happen next.

Shattering the tension and the frozen air, the door to the tavern was violently swung open, smashing into the wall behind it and making a loud, irritable sound. Yet, the most irritable of all sounds was but a step behind.

"Hey, hey, hey! You guys starting a fight!? You all must have some massive guts to not invite me! Or is it that you're all scared that I would beat you all up?"

Entering with an arrogant gait was a man with a large, golden, halberd. In came Zeke, a man nobody was thinking about, a man nobody wanted to think about, and a man last on anyone's list to invite to anything, if he's even on the list at all.

"I'm afraid there won't be any fights breaking out today, Zeke," said a man with silky, blond hair as he walked in after Zeke. Turning to the room, he then added: "It won't be happening, right?"

It was Albert, his gaze going over the entirety of the tavern before finally falling upon Seren, pretending to have only just noticed her and not knowing who exactly it was that started the whole ruckus.

"O-of course no, Sir Albert, I would never," she said with a trembling voice.

"Please, like I've said before, just Albert will do."

"Oh, b-but, that would hardly be proper."

"No, I insist." Albert's tone was stronger than usual, trying to build a wall between Seren and himself. Seren did not seem to have picked up the hint.

"W-well, if you say so, Albert..." Seren's cheeks flushed as she uttered his name. "C-come now. Our business here is finished, let us be going."

With her face still bright red, Seren left the tavern that she had entered on a whim just so she could make things difficult for Helena, her bodyguards in tow.

"M-miss Seren, I've been looking all over for you." A young man's voice could be heard outside.

"Silence!" Seren yelled, a sound of something being smacked could be heard. "What took you so long!? Can't you even do a single thing properly, you worthless little worm!"

"I-I'm sorry, I-"

"Enough excuses! Fail me again, and I will have you kicked out of the clan!"

From what Auguste could tell, it sounded like it was someone on the lower hierarchy of the Bright Aegis. Unfortunately, this was not an uncommon treatment for newbies who had little in the way of experience and achievements. It's this kind of thing that made the Henrietta Company reluctant to join a clan this early on in their career. Once again, Auguste was grateful that Henrietta put down the capital to sponsor the creation of this party. He's not going to tell her that though. Maybe he will one day if he's drunk enough, but for the moment, he's keeping his mouth shut.

"It's been a while, hasn't it?" Albert came over to the table and greeted them.

"It certainly has! I can't tell you how happy I am to see you again, Albert!" cried Henrietta, dropper her accent for something more 'refine' sounding.

"And it's a pleasure to see you again as well, Henrietta," Albert responded with good cheer. "Oh, and since you're here."

Albert turned to his back, looking past Zeke behind him and towards Lyudmila by the door, urging someone in.

"Go on, say hello to your friends," Lyudmila said in a quiet tone.

"Seesh! If you're so timid that you can't even do a proper greeting, then you might as well be useless to us," Zeke went ahead and spouted, his tone infuriating to all those within the earshot, including the person his words were directed to.

With shyness blown away by rage, the person outside entered like a storm and marched towards Helena and the Henrietta Company's table.

"......Hello..."

Those of the Henrietta Company were in a state of shock, or at least, some degree of surprise upon seeing the figure enter. Why? Because it was Gertrude, the very same one they had left behind in Iotas Tria. To think they'd meet again so soon.

***

End of Chapter 54