Dungeon Tour Guide ch. 60 (Patreon)

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“We can take a break now,” I said, patting the sweat-soaked Guild representative on the back.

He’d been worn down by the half-clear. Karl was a level 7—almost 8 now, thanks to the artifact—[Swarmkeeper], and while he’d been able to defeat most of my snakes, modified or not, by using miniature buglike monsters of his own, he hadn’t quite been able to stick it to the constructs.

M-1 had stuck around to help him when he’d gotten stuck, and Karl had managed to take down the [Fake Hydra] all on his own, but he’d chosen not to go to the underground half.

He hadn’t leveled up, but he’d gotten damn close. With the improvement to my dungeon perception that my own level-ups had granted, I could feel how it was pulsing with energy, like it had overcharged on something.

Well, ‘something’ was probably the dozens of dead Kingsguard at a guess, but…

Anyway, Karl seemed pretty happy with the haul he’d gotten, which I supposed was fair. Guild employees were paid well enough that dungeoneering was only part of their job description for training and saving lives, but a decent infusion of cash never hurt anyone.

“I appreciate it,” the man said, keeping up a professional facade even when his leather armor was practically soaked through. “This dungeon has evolved far beyond where I had believed it to be.”

“Didn’t Lisa update you?” I frowned.

“Not for the last few weeks,” he said. “I just got here, you see, and for a while the higher-ups said there were issues with messages being intercepted.”

I cursed under my breath. Goddess-damned Kingsguard.

They hadn’t even been a factor in my life for a whole week and they were still managing to be a thorn in my side. I doubted they would be a direct nuisance anytime soon, but I was going to have to learn to deal with their ongoing effects on the people around me.

“There may have been some sabotage involved, from my understanding,” I said. “That aside… mind leaving an update on the ARI, then? I know for a fact that that’s up to date.”

After the hectic rush of the week before last, Iris and the Alder Corporation she held domain over had quietly reverted the Adventure Rating Interface back into its old, usual, non-‘hacked’ self. It seemed to be where a lot of people were getting their impressions of dungeons these days, so having up-to-date information was probably valuable.

[ARI: New review received!]

★★★★★ Updated information From Karl Matthews [Swarmkeeper / Ketz Guild Representative]

Recommended Party Level: 3-5 for the first half, 5-? For the second

Reviewed at: Midway (?) through dungeon

No longer solely themed around snakes and earth constructs. Retains strong rewards for the level required to clear it. Monsters have gained features since last report. Encountered at least one species of teleporting snake and one species with significantly hardened skin.

Tour guide continued ensuring survivability. All information about the dungeonbound remains unchanged.

Recommend for low-mid level parties.

“I need to add more to this,” Karl said. “I took notes, but I need to disseminate them. I will add more later.”

“Thanks for the five stars,” I said.

“The dungeon was an enjoyable experience,” Karl said. “It’s a nice change of pace from what the Guild training involved.”

“Guild training, huh?” I asked. “I heard there were some issues with that. Are you aware of what caused them?”

“Nope,” he said. “I know for a fact that I passed, but they put my transfer to Ketz on hold and had me run the entire course from scratch again.”

“That’s odd,” I said laconically, not bothering to elaborate.

“That was totally Kingsguard,” Rose said. “Right?”

“For sure,” Ryan said, nodding along.

The three members of Minus One were trailing just a bit behind us, and they didn’t seem the slightest bit winded. The insane pace at which they’d trained and leveled last week had really been great for them.

“I did come here for a reason beyond sightseeing and adventuring,” Karl said, straightening his armor and brushing his hair out of his face. “Lisa sent me to deliver a message.”

“Too busy to come on her own?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“There is quite a lot to deal with,” Karl replied. I could practically feel the way he was trying to be more serious, how he was shaping his words to make himself sound like a professional—which, to be fair, he was, but it was a lot harder to take him seriously when he was just barely recovered from a fistfight with a snake half his size.

“Go on,” I said.

“The full details of the Kingsguard attack are beginning to come through,” the [Swarmkeeper] said. “The ramifications are coming apparent.”

“Sure,” I said. “What does that mean for Centerpoint?”

It still felt a touch weird to use that name, but I was trying to force it into becoming natural. The more I rolled it around on my tongue, the more I felt it could be an actual name.

“The long and the short of it is that the kingd—er, sorry, the Ketz, the Ketz Guild—“

“Take your time,” I said as gently as I could. “I’m no businessman. You don’t need to get all formal with me.”

That didn’t seem to relax him any, unfortunately. “The Ketz Guild seeks to open trade with Centerpoint Dungeon.”

I couldn’t quite hide my surprise. “Trade?”

“Goods in exchange for other goods or services?” Karl asked, disbelieving. “You’ve heard of it, surely?”

“No, I know what trade is,” I asked. “Just… what for what?”

It wasn’t like I needed money. I had that in theoretical infinity.

Wait, actually, could I try crashing an economy with that? With sufficient uses of [Replicate], I could totally artificially induce inflation…

I shelved the thought. Maybe later.

There was still a conversation to pay attention to.

“Increased protection,” Karl said. “Lisa has some weight with the Guild after she revealed the rate of improvement that certain adventurers in Ketz have gained. She—we believe that we can bring in more adventurers into this area, which would include members of the Guild to act as a security detail.”

“I tried that,” I said. “It, well, kind of worked. I think I’m looking more for raw materials, if that’s at all possible.”

“You could add another few people to your list of lives saved,” Rose quipped.

“I think that’s long enough as is,” I replied, smiling at her.

Adventurers were fallible. I couldn’t rely on them to do what I needed them to do—well, that wasn’t entirely true. M-1? Maybe the Duelists? Lisa? I could trust them.

But a new set of security guards? If another surprise attack happened, I would be a lot more comfortable with having a dungeon that was more conducive to protecting myself and those around me.

“That might be something we can arrange,” Karl said. “Lisa said you might want that. She also said that the Alder Corporation may already be providing it.”

“The Alder Corporation has shitloads of money,” I acknowledged. “But at a certain level, adventurers no longer need to bend their knee to the call of gold. The Guild might be able to connect with those people, no?”

“That is true,” Karl said, nodding uncertainly. “I will talk to Lisa and see what we can do.”

“You need to go now?” Rose asked. “We brought a game to play if you want to stick around for a while longer.”

“Oh, uh, a game?” Karl asked, nervously scratching at the back of his neck. “I mean, I guess? I have time. Lisa said she didn’t expect me back for a few hours.”

“Then let’s get this set up,” Rose said. “Lucas, do you mind if we use your new room?”

“By all means,” I said.

“New room?” Karl asked.

“The dungeon adapts to suit Lucas’ needs,” Troy said. “When we moved more stuff in here, he gained a private room for himself.”

“I did hear about the way the dungeon itself fought off the Kingsguard during the mass attack incident,” Karl said.

“It’s a unique quirk of the place,” Rose said. “Nobody knows why the dungeon is so much more reactive here.”

“I have my theories,” Troy said, “and so does my mentor. Nothing confirmed yet.”

Rose still hadn’t told them, then. Honestly, I was probably going to end up telling the remainder of M-1 at some point—if I could trust them with my life, I could trust them with my secrets.

“I’m not one to complain about too many secrets,” Ryan said, giving Karl a benign smile. “I’m inclined to believe that they all come out with time.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Rose said. “C’mon.”

The door I opened was hidden in a wall inside the first room, and the process of entering it involved my removal of nearly a foot of solid stone—not that anyone saw that—that blocked the staircase.

Over the last week, I’d continued using [Assimilate], and it had been enough to carve out a decently sized underground area. I’d dedicated half of the space to creating and storing monsters, but the quality of life additions that Iris and her company had provided for me had been enough to warrant opening an entirely separate area just for myself.

We set up the game in the room I’d tentatively called a library—really, it was just four walls full of bookshelves and a large round table in the middle, complete with a few small [Create Fire]s to provide torchlight, but it was mine.

“You know how to play Settlers, right?” Ryan asked.

“Of course,” I said. “There were lots of people who played it back at the Guild when I was still an adventurer.”

Also, Settlers was eerily similar to a slightly better-designed version of Catan in more than a few ways. When I’d first played it, I’d gained the impression that this was an otherworlder-designed game, and that theory still hadn’t been disproved.

“What’s happened in the past week?” I asked while we rolled for turn order. “I know you guys have been kinda busy. I’ve barely seen you.”

“Life,” Ryan said. “The order deployed all across the southern border to defend the most critical strategic regions of the kingdom, and we’ve been meeting up with each other to provide updates and fight wayward monsters that the Kingsguard left behind.”

“Magic, the usual,” Troy said with a shrug.

“I just got here,” Karl supplied.

“Going to start on building roads,” Rose said, placing a piece down. “But yeah, I spent a lot of the last week working with Mom. There’s big things happening, and I think the Guild is going to play a role in that.

“I’ll start with a lesser settlement,” Karl said. “Yes, the Guild has been making moves. We have finally gained a more complete picture of the aftereffects of the Kingsguard attack.”

“Yeah, I heard from Mom,” Rose said. “Kingdom still hasn’t acknowledged the attack, which is a pain.”

“To be fair,” Karl said, “in most places, it was less severe than expected.”

I placed a set of roads down myself, silently cheering as the turn roll granted me enough resources to build a settlement as well. “Less severe? I didn’t get that impression here.”

“Centerpoint was kind of an outlier,” Troy said. “My mentor knows a lot of people from his time as an adventurer, and word is that most of the Kingsguard were diverted by a few epic-level knights and mages.”

“The Omen king himself prevented our best adventurers from pushing deeper into Kingsguard territory and annihilating their expeditionary force,” Karl said. “There were few casualties on our side, but I think it is clear that the kingdom in the south is taking action against us.”

“No shit,” I muttered.

“Just roads for me,” Ryan said, shaking his head mournfully as he glanced at his rolls. “I heard the Guild’s taking action back?”

“We are,” the [Swarmkeeper] replied. “Even if most of us survived, even if the kingdom refuses to acknowledge the threat, we are still the Guild and we will not stand down against the enemy.”

“That means conscription, doesn’t it?” Rose sighed. “That’s what Mom said, at least, and she’s usually right about this.”

“That was my impression as well,” Troy said. “Which is part of why we haven’t been around here as often. Teacher’s been taking me on expeditions outside the Ketz area to practice. Also, hell yeah, double settlements!”

“We may be deployed for skirmishes,” Ryan said.

“This is true,” Karl acknowledged. “It will be communicated to you later, but adventurers are being pulled as impromptu scout forces of our own.”

That was unsurprising, but it kind of sucked to hear.

“We’ll still come back as much as we can,” Rose said. “I’ll never leave you if I have anything to say about it.”

“I understand,” I said, rolling the dice once more. “I’ll do what I can to help you. Could you maybe get your hands on some healing potions?”

Minus One got my meaning immediately, though Karl seemed a bit confused.

“Of course,” Rose said. “That would be wonderful.”

“Right, you can influence the dungeon for loot,” Troy muttered. “I’d like to be able to get healed out in the field, but…”

“Healing potions are expensive,” Ryan said. “Not that we can’t get them, just… are you sure you’re okay with giving them away?”

“Huh?” Karl helpfully added.

“Yeah, of course,” I said. “We’re in this together. We can worry about details later. For now, let’s have a fun game.”

“Oh, fun?” Ryan said, assuming an exaggerated evil expression and rubbing his hands. “You’ll not get any of that when you see my strategy for this game.”

“You’re on,” Troy said, picking the dice up for his turn.

I grinned. This is the party I was always looking for.

______________________________

I saw Minus One and the [Swarmkeeper] off two hours later. Ryan’s strategy had, in fact, been incredibly oppressive, but a temporary alliance between the other four of us had been enough to smash through his blockade and get Karl the victory.

As I waved goodbye to them, I looked out over the dungeon town. It still didn’t have a name, though I suspected Iris was going to change that soon.

In just a week, it had started to piece itself back together. With the help of the Alder Corporation and the people within, buildings had sprouted up in the crater like mushrooms after a heavy rain, and it was beginning to take a life of its own.

More people were arriving every day, and while I had no doubt that they were invariably surprised by the destruction that the town was built over, people were adjusting.

Another day, another adventure.

Even now, I watched as M-1 gave some words of advice to yet another new party on their way towards me.

As they stepped within the bounds of the dungeon, I took a look over them. Level 5s, all around. Two healer classes, one ranged fighter, and a squishy wizard.

I whistled. Yet another lacking party composition, huh? No main tank or melee fighter was going to make things rough for them.

But that was what I was here for.

“Hello, everyone!” I said, greeting them all with my arms spread wide, “my name is Lucas! You might’ve heard of me before.”

“The tour guide,” the wizard—a [Fire Mage]—said. “I read about you on the ARI.”

“Then you know the drill,” I said, giving him a sweeping bow. “Welcome to Centerpoint Dungeon. Let’s take a tour, shall we?”