Kaldalis woke up the next morning with a throbbing headache. He wondered if it was a side effect of Garyung’s potion of ‘wake the fuck up,’ but it could have just been anxiety and nerves after getting spiked by the Contender.

The whole situation stank. His realization after talking to Brother Gnider made it worst. The Contender just got away with the sloppiest bullshit just because he had authority, and he was telling Cerh and Jetmorpan what they already wanted to hear.

It wasn’t just unfair.

It was disgusting.

But who could he report this to? Who could he seek for an appeal? This wasn’t a videogame, after all. Monsoon didn’t write this script. These were real people who had really decided that they didn’t care about facts or fairness.

Rather than lay in bed and grumble to himself until something forced him to move, Kaldalis forced himself to throw off the covers and sit up. He was a little bummed out to be alone still, but it made sense. Heluna had to work late to make up for lost time in the wake of the siege. It was the sensible and mature choice for her to crash out at her quarters instead of walking halfway across town to his.

But that only made the situation that much more infuriating. The local town councils - handpicked by the most powerful country in the world for frontier leadership - couldn’t be self-critical about their biases when the lives of their townsfolk was at stake. But Kaldalis’s hard-drinking, foul-mouthed, sailor girlfriend could choose a proper night’s sleep after they’d both had a hard day over a late-night cuddle and early-morning quickie?

Madness.

At the very least he could reassure himself about the soundness of his choice in a romantic partner. He’d paired himself up with a sane adult capable of making responsible choices. She was most certainly not a petulant child who believed leadership to be a zero-sum game. Cerh, Jetmorpan and - most crucially - the Contender were convinced that the only way for them to win was for Kaldalis and Garyung to lose.

Kaldalis shook his head as he forced himself to his feet. Those guys were really getting to him, if his brain couldn’t stick to the thought of what might be happening if he’d woken up with Heluna beside him. He needed to narrow in on a solution to their influence, or he was going to lose his mind.

In the meantime, he’d gotten up nice and early for a change. Considering his appointment at the dungeon was earlier than he’d even dragged himself out of bed the previous day, he could not have been more pleased with his investment in the shower. Even though it wasn’t necessary for cleanliness, it was very refreshing. The feeling of water running over him right after getting out of bed awakened memories of Earth, and his usual morning routine. It perked him up and got him ready to face the day.

Not long later, Kaldalis finished preparing himself to face the dungeon. With breakfast in his belly and his arms and armor readied, the only thing missing was his party. He headed for the beachside gate.

Unsurprisingly, Brother Gnider was there on the pier, looking around uncomfortably. The man was wearing the green-and-gold robes that marked him as a priest, but trying to hide them under a cloak with hood up. It might have worked if the cloak wasn’t also made of the same green-and-gold cloth. The whole arrangement made him stand out like a sore thumb against the backdrop of half-dressed sailors.

Kaldalis made a mental effort and invited the priest to join his party.

The priest jumped almost a foot in the air at the sudden invite prompt. It hadn’t been an intentional prank, but Kaldalis still barely contained a cackle at the reaction. Brother Gnider’s glances around went from merely suspicious to nearly panicked.

“Sorry,” Kaldalis called from the gate as he stepped out towards the man. “I know it’s rude to invite without a tell, but I thought you’d know to expect me.”

“Cute,” Brother Gnider grumbled. “Typical adventurers.”

“Don’t start that,” Kaldalis said firmly. “We’re trying to be friendly here, aren’t we?”

“I apologize,” the priest said with a dismissive gesture. “Old habits.”

Kaldalis was honestly surprised at the unexpected apology, but he didn’t really want to take the time to unpack it. He just filed away that these people were so deep in their biases that they didn’t even think twice before firing insults. At the very least, Brother Gnider seemed to be interested in improving.

“Where is the rest of the group?” the priest asked, gesturing vaguely in the direction of the party frame. “We’re doing a dungeon, aren’t we?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Kaldalis said, gesturing for Gnider to follow as he turned and headed back towards town. “Just stay close and don’t get killed.”

The priest hurried his step as they entered the town, moving to follow almost directly behind Kaldalis.

“I meant when we get into the dungeon,” Kaldalis quickly corrected himself. “You can just walk through Cotanaku, you know. You’re not a criminal here or anything.”

Brother Gnider grumbled something inaudible and fell a few steps back, but was still following a little bit closer than necessary. Kaldalis decided to let it go. If he got caught up in discussing the man’s peculiar behavior, it might take them all day just to get to the dungeon entrance.

At the same time, he didn’t want to just stomp through town in awkward silence.

“I’ve run this dungeon a lot before,” Kaldalis began. He gestured around at the few people who were out and about this early. “My friends and I ran basically everyone in town through the dungeon so that everyone could get access to Kaia’s Flicker.”

“Everyone?” Brother Gnider flinched.

“Well, everyone who was here at the time,” Kaldalis clarified. “The town guards and the newer merchants and townsfolk weren’t around back then. But everyone who came with the original expedition. The researchers, the sailors, everyone.” Kaldalis gestured ahead at the jungleside gate as they approached. “With the Infernal Horde knocking down our walls, it was a matter of life and death to be able to dodge their most powerful attacks.”

“Everyone…” Brother Gnider repeated with a sour look.

“I hope you understand that I’m not going to justify myself to you,” Kaldalis said, feeling his own sourness coming on. “It was life or death. Not to mention the research we did there was crucial to our later discoveries. Research was our original purpose here, and there is information in spades still down there.”

The priest had nothing to say to that. Kaldalis found himself leaning into his own biases. He expected that the church would oppose their research because of how the Contender had behaved. But then he was no better than Brother Gnider, jumping to conclusions and making backhanded remarks.

If he wanted this to become a fruitful working relationship, he would have to break through his own biases as well.

“Now I’m the one who needs to apologize,” Kaldalis added quickly. “Old habits.”

“I understand,” Brother Gnider gave a wan smile. “I have given you no reason to expect anything but judgment from me. Perhaps we should start anew.”

“I’m not sure if you want that,” Kaldalis said, shooting the man a grin over his shoulder. “You don’t often get a first impression like ours was. It would be a shame to wipe that slate clean.”

The priest made a sound that was almost a laugh. Kaldalis considered it progress.

They emerged from the jungle-side gate, and Kaldalis led him around the side of the town walls towards the dungeon. Paradoxically, Brother Gnider seemed to relax once they were out in the wilderness again. Kaldalis wasn’t sure what he’d been told to expect in Cotanaku, that he was more afraid of being within the town walls than outside their defenses.

“Ah, Kaldalis,” a voice came from the forest ahead. “Right on time.”

Kaldalis was a little bit chagrined to see a man with a clipboard sitting on the gnarled tree roots that encircled the dungeon entrance. He found himself reminded of the setup in Baimer, which had reduced the dungeon to a curated walking tour.

“Where is the rest of your party?” the dungeon attendant asked. He was a particularly pale-skinned Suyon, so baby faced that he might have passed for a human child if it weren’t for the pointed ears and tusks.

“Just me for the day,” Kaldalis said. He nodded his head towards Brother Gnider. “And only me, if you catch my meaning.”

The man gave a nod and a wink, making a mark on his clipboard. Kaldalis was glad that the bureaucracy wasn’t here in force yet. It wasn’t clear what the consequences might be for Brother Gnider if there was a record of his attendance, but it seemed obvious that the less of a paper trail there was, the better.

“Is that all you need from me?” Kaldalis asked. “Can I head in now?”

“Of course, sir,” the Suyon said with a gesture. “Whenever you’re ready.”

“Why is he letting you pass?” Brother Gnider demanded as soon as they were underground and out of earshot. “No one is going to believe that you went in by yourself. Who would be stupid enough to venture into a dungeon alone, no matter the level?”

“Haven’t you heard?” Kaldalis asked with a smirk as he checked his Dedication Ring, activating it just as it became available. “Maybe I need to introduce myself again.”

He drew his new spear from his inventory and started down the stairs into the ancient ruins at speed. “I’m Solo Dungeon Hero Kaldalis,” he called over his shoulder. “This is what I do.”