Chương 244: (239) 4.18. The Burden of Responsibility

By now, Vin had come to the conclusion that dungeons didn't always reflect the fragment they were housed in when it came to the monsters and terrain held within. Not always, but usually. New dungeon discovered! 5, 000 exp gained. Dungeon Type: Cave Primary Monster Type: Mimics Strengths: N/A Movement: Fast Grouping: Solitary Dungeoneering increased to lvl 12! 1, 200 exp gained. Similar to the fragment up above, the dungeon was a large cave with branching tunnels filled with hundreds of stalactites and stalagmites.

Though a quick cast of Sense Earth confirmed that a handful were made of flesh and blood rather than stone.

"Mimics, huh?" he said, dismissing the notification.

"I always thought those were supposed to take the shape of chests, or things like that."

"Wouldn't finding a random treasure chest make you more wary than walking past a rock spire in a field of them?" Shia asked, using her own Sense Life to pick up on the locations of the mimics as well.

"I will say though, this is actually a rather good dungeon to use for training. We already know these mimics don't come to life until you get close and turn your back on them, so it's perfectly safe to just stand here chatting."

"Good point, I'll have to bring the Slayers here to get in some practice," Alka said, her eyes flaring in excitement.

"Once Lumel has enough of those artifacts to outfit everyone, of course." Focusing on his Dungeoneering, Vin led them toward the corridor entrance he could feel a quarter of the way through the cave. He let his friends handle taking down the mimics, and it wasn't long before they'd arrived at the entrance to the Underside.

"You guys go ahead, like I said, I'm going to wait here until my master shows up," Shia said, smiling at them.

"No idea how long it will take, so don't grow too worried if I'm not back by tonight."

"Alright, just be careful," Vin said, turning and following Alka and Scule into the Underside. Now that his teammates had their own dungeon-artifacts, courtesy of Lumel, they didn't need him to open the door to the Underside for them anymore. Though without him and his skill, they would have to run all over the dungeon as they hunted for the entrance. As they entered the Underside, Vin split off from his friends.

While they headed back toward Terra, he made his way over to the giant room connected to the infernals' fragment. Just as he'd suspected, he found Lumel hard at work analyzing the stone frame in the center of the room that no longer went anywhere. They'd already found that once the infernals' fragment vanished into the void, the corridor leading to the dungeon vanished as well.

Casting Whispering Wind, he threw his voice over to her from across the room, ensuring he made it originate from a bit off to the side rather than directly behind her so that he didn't scare her.

"Need a break?" Lumel was so deep in concentration that she didn't even react to his voice, and he could only laugh as he decided to leave her be for now. As much as he wanted to check in on her and hear how things were going, Lumel herself had told him she was on the precipice of hitting level 40 and her second prestige, and he didn't want to interrupt whatever she was working on.

It had already been four days since the infernals' fragment vanished and the Underside revealed its true purpose, and they had no idea how much longer that strange dimensional magic Lumel was studying would linger. Instead of distracting her, Vin turned and headed back to Terra as well. There were a number of things he wanted to check in on, and there was no time like the present.

Following the trail of dead beast monsters Scule and Alka had left through the Earthers' forest dungeon, Vin made his own way back to town, pausing just outside the forest to admire how far they'd come. It was mind-blowing to see the thick stone walls being manned by watchful guards and hundreds of buildings sitting in the exact same place where they'd once had barely more than a few dozen poorly made tents.

The fact that it had been almost two months since the first wave arrived on Edregon was pretty surreal to think about. Nodding at the guards manning the front gate, Vin ignored the stares he was steadily growing more and more used to as he made his way into town. The fourth wavers hadn't even been on Edregon for a week at this point, but that appeared to have been plenty long enough for the rumor mill to do what it did best.

Vin made a beeline straight for town hall, smiling at Linda as she looked up from the front desk as he walked in.

"Hi Linda. Any chance Spur or Myers are in?"

"Welcome back, Vin! I believe Myers is currently working over in the Crafter's Guild, and Spur is off helping Phil train some of the new fourth wavers against the Hunters in Sakis' fragment," she explained, returning his smile.

"Spur decided helping the new Earthers experience just what Edregon truly is early on was better than just trying to explain things." This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"That's probably for the best," he said, nodding his approval. It was one thing to tell others about the fragments, but to actually see the entire world simply stop and change into something else? People really had to experience that for themselves to understand what Edregon was.

"Maybe you can help me?"

"I'll certainly do what I can," Linda said with a smile. As a Scribe working directly for the council, Linda had her finger on the pulse of basically everything that happened within Terra's walls. Seeing as they had no computers, everything was documented on paper, and just about all of it went through her hands at some point or another.

"To start, any chance you'd happen to know if a human named Normun came through town at any point over the past few days? Young, male, probably only level 1, or close to it. We picked him up two fragments out and dropped him off in the Sacred Forest with some elves, but I don't know where he went after that."

"In fact, he did stop by town the other day." Linda nodded, shuffling through a few stacks of papers and picking one up without even looking, as if by magic. Seeing as she was a Scribe, it probably was.

"He was run through the same screening process we put everyone from a foreign fragment through, and he passed with flying colors. He didn't stay for too long, just long enough to pick up some supplies before heading out. It says here he ended up picking…" Linda trailed off, blinking at the sheet as she reread the information. Her smile widened, and she held it out toward him.

"Maybe you should see for yourself." Confused, Vin took the sheet from her, skimming through it. It didn't take him long to figure out what Linda found so amusing.

"Explorer," he said blankly, staring at the scribbled word.

"Are you serious?"

"Seems as if you may have made an impression on him." Linda giggled, taking back the paper and placing it back within the large stack on her desk.

"Anyway, he left yesterday. Didn't bother to tell us where he was going."

"Then we can only hope he doesn't get himself killed." Vin sighed, mentally checking one thing off his to-do list.

"How about Tiffany and Chance? Did they end up heading over to the meriders' fragment for a merger?"

"Yes, they've been gone a few days now," Linda confirmed, her mirth fading a bit at the topic of the crippled Earthers.

"Vanessa, your Ambassador, is still busy keeping the peace between the infernals and Terra, so your Diplomat Tom went with a small contingent of warriors just in case things needed to be smoothed over with the meriders. Though if they are as friendly as you say, he'll probably return before the warriors do."

"I doubt there will be any problems, but it's good Tom went with them for their first contact," Vin said, nodding at the decision. He hadn't spoken with the man much, but Tom had struck him as the quiet, serious type that didn't speak often, but got things done whenever he chose to.

"I have no idea how long a merger takes, but there's a good chance it might take a week or even longer, so we shouldn't grow concerned or anything like that. If we haven't heard word in the next day or two, I'll run out and check on them myself. Speaking of Vanessa and the infernals, how's that whole situation going?"

"As you'd expect, it's a bit different than how things worked out between Terra and my own people," Linda admitted, her expression equal parts understanding and pitying.

"Whereas we all decided as one to make the move over to your fragment, the infernals didn't have that option. From what I understand, it doesn't help that they lost their leader right alongside their home. I've heard they're struggling to fill both voids, so Terra is currently hanging back and letting them get that situation figured out.

We're still providing them with food and supplies, but Spur thinks it would be best to let them determine who is leading them now that Madam Trebella is gone before we move on to the next steps."

"That's probably for the best. I'll swing by their camp after this and check up on them. In that case, the only other thing Spur asked me to check in on when I got back…" Vin paused, taking in a deep breath before letting it out, resigning himself to his fate.

"... any chance Terra has any potential mages I can help teach the basics to?"

"I can see you're chomping at the bit." Linda smiled, shuffling through a far smaller stack of papers and pulling a few of them out.

"In fact, there are three members. All from the second wave, and all nearing their first prestige. They've been putting points into magic and focus, and they have each already learned the Sense Stone spell and gained the ability to manipulate their mana with the help of Sakis' teaching aid. In fact, Spur was actually planning to ask you to chat with them once you'd returned."

"I'll deal with all that after the infernals," Vin decided, taking the sheets and scanning through them. There were a few surprising bits of information listed there, and he couldn't help but raise his eyebrows once or twice.

"These records… they're accurate?"

"Myers conducted the screenings herself." Linda shrugged.

"Those are copies I made for you, so you're welcome to take them with you. Spur has also provided you with a mana potion allotment to use while training the three of them. Obviously they can only drink so many potions each day, but he wanted you to know the option was there if you wanted it."

"How kind of him, making sure I can spend as much time as physically possible training them," Vin drawled, making the papers vanish with a cast of Dimensional Sheath. He could only keep three things stored with the spell at once, but luckily enough, it seemed the stack counted as only one. The casual display of spatial magic got a wide-eyed look from Linda, before she schooled her expression.

"Before I head out, how are things going with the Bands? Everything looks fine from the outside, but I figured I should check."

"There have been a few minor scuffles here and there, but not many more than there are between regular Earthers already," Linda informed him, smiling at his question.

"Though I will say, your inquiry is appreciated."

"I just want to make sure nobody is giving you guys a hard time," he admitted.

"And of course, please let me know the moment Curash shows up. I'll probably need to be here to stop Waltz from trying to kill him."

"Of course," Linda said, a subtle hint of something venomous flashing across her face as he mentioned Curash. It was probably safe to assume Linda hated him just as much as the rest of the Bands did, even if she was smart enough to understand everything the Hunter had done had been at Golrim's request for the greater good. Thanking her for all the help, Vin walked out of the town hall and began making his way to where the third wavers had once stayed.

The infernals were using the old buildings as temporary lodgings, but that was only a short term solution. Now that Madam Trebella was out of the picture, it was time to figure out who was leading the infernals in her stead.