DD 204 Ch 5

Chapter 5

"I see,” the President of the United Guilds murmured as we finished our recounting about what had happened down in the dungeon.

I had concluded with a brief explanation of Star City, hoping that maybe they would probe more on that information and leave the rest of what I said alone. Particularly the bit about the Royal College students.

 I glanced around, feeling the awkwardness of the situation.

We were in the largest building that the Nagato clan owned, their dining hall, which was packed to the gills. 

Not only was the President of the UG present, but also representatives from most, if not every, of the top 50 guilds. The students who had been portaled back earlier that day were there, along with their parents.

As soon as Crimson had mentioned Star City, it felt as though the entire upper echelon of the adventurer world had descended upon the Nagato clan within hours. Meanwhile, I had become the leader of the student group.

All of this left me squarely in the center of mounting questions and demands for attention. Everyone wanted to understand who and what Star City was, as well as the opportunities that lay within.

"We, of course, will have to send people down that way. If they insist on people making their way themselves, then we, the UG, must enforce those rules," The UG President spoke, slowly panning his gaze across the entire dining hall, catching the eyes of multiple high-level individuals. "Does everyone understand that? From Crimson and Kin's explanation, it would be poor form for us to make enemies with the next race that we encounter in the dungeon." 

His words seemed to initiate several nods, as people all around grumbled about the Naga and the trouble they had caused. More than a few pockets of Naga had been found with the dungeon shuffle, and more often than not, needless bloodshed surrounded those findings. They were simply too hostile for anyone to work around. 

"As for everything else, I would like us not to treat Star City as a gold rush. However, we will be making an effort to claim the nearest safe zone along our path to Star City and establish a base of operations for humanity to cooperate with the Orkai." His words were met with plenty of agreement from the adventurers present, not that I expected anything else. 

An adventurer raised his hand. "Is there anything you can tell us about their trade? What do they need?" The question sparked plenty of interest, and others echoed it.

I held my hand up, glancing at Crimson, who didn't seem particularly interested in engaging. "As far as we can tell, they don't particularly need anything. The city that we saw was carved by a powerful Level 100 adventurer. I think it is safe to say, as a whole, they are far beyond us."

My words did not make the people present happy, and yet at the same time, others seemed to have a new fire lit in their eyes. New goals would spur many of them to new depths of the dungeon. 

"I'm certain humanity has some goods or services that are unique," another offered. "Perhaps we could bring culinary dishes or other consumables." There was murmuring amongst the adventurers, as they all tried to think of their own best solutions.

"If you're all done," I said, standing up, "I'm not particularly interested in the talk of trade.” The deals that we had with the elves were going to keep the Nagato clan plenty busy. And I wasn't particularly concerned about money anymore. I was far more focused on adventuring.

“Thank you, Ken." The President of the UG nodded to me. 

When I stood up to leave, so did Crimson.

Many of the other students realized they were well beyond their own depth and moved to leave. To my surprise, more than a few were getting subtle or not-so-subtle invites to the surrounding guilds. In particular, I noticed Penny's father had grabbed her by the arm and was talking to her in a hushed tone. I could faintly hear him trying to encourage her to drop out of school.

He wasn’t going to poach my new tank.

Stepping up behind her, I smiled at her father. "Hello, nice to meet you again, sir," I held a hand out and shook it firmly.

When I first met him, he was level 41. From the handshake, it seemed he had maybe progressed to mid-40s. That level felt giant when I had met the man, but now I was already his peer at level 44.

"Ken!" Penny did a double-take. "Father, you remember Ken?" She clumsily introduced me.

I nodded again. "I think we know each other. More importantly, I was hoping to talk to you about our party situation." I didn't hide anything in front of her father. "You see, with Fayeth and Elysara leaving for the elven world, we've been discussing who we'd like to fill our tank spot. I would like to formally invite you to take that spot." I spoke pointedly, staring back at Penny. 

She blinked, registering what I said slowly, before blushing fiercely and turning to her father with a soft yet sure voice. "I'm sorry, father. I will have to turn down your offer to join you and mother at the guild. There are still too many opportunities for me at school." She rattled the words off like a machine gun. Each word appeared to almost physically stab her father in the heart. 

He sniffed, "My baby girl." He went to wrap her in a hug.

"Father." She swatted his hands away. "Ken, I would love to join your group. Of course, I need to discuss this with my previous group rather than leave them high and dry.”

“I would expect nothing less," I said with a smile, excited to see how eager she was to join our party. 

Penny bobbed her head several times, glancing back at her father. "I'm going to be busy. I'm so sorry, but I'm going to step out of the conversation about trade. I think that's best left for the more senior adventurers." She quickly extracted herself, grabbing my arm and looping hers in mine to pull me along.

I cast a glance over at her father with what I hope was a reassuring nod.

"Thank you for getting me out of that," she said quickly as we stepped away.

I waved a hand dismissively. "Thank you for agreeing. Though I still feel bad about leaving your other group high and dry."

Penny snorted, "Please. Most of our dives were just me and Helena fighting over who got to be the main tank. There wasn't a particularly better solution available, but perhaps we can pick up a few more students to fill out the class later. I know no one wants to be the party left out." 

I nodded. Our class would be down three members from the original when the elves left. Felin was currently filling one of the spots. 

As a result, one of the groups would only have three in their party, and as we were diving deeper, having an incomplete party was going to be more of a burden for their ability to progress smoothly down the dungeon. 

"Just maybe take your time easing in." I said. "I don't want Fayeth to feel like I'm replacing her already."

"Oh no, I would never step on her toes." Penny waved her hands and let go of my arm, giving me a good look at her.

She was just as tall as me and let her royal blue hair grow down past her shoulders. It hung down to the small of her back now. She wore a pair of dark black pants and a pair of ghostly greaves over her feet. There was a matching belt and heart guard protecting some of her vitals as well as a pauldron hanging off one of her shoulders. All of that armor was over a white blouse that hung loosely around her waist yet pulled tight on her chest. I knew when she fought she also put on a pair of gauntlets.

Given that all of her gear had come from the same instance, it was stylized together in black steel with green accents. It had a sort of haunted vibe that didn't fit at all with her personality. And of course, Penny had also become famous for being the author of 74 Wives, a smut novel that was posted about Haylon Academy and, more pointedly, about me, apparently sleeping with the entire sophomore grade. 

"It's fine, Penny. Come on, why don't you come over with me and join us? I think all of us could do with a good talk before everyone starts getting pulled in different directions." I offered.

Outside the hall, students were beginning to form up in their parties or loose groups. Not everyone was as tight with their party as we were. Machen saw me, and the big berserker gave a wave before stepping up. Many of the other students were crowding around, waiting to hear what he had to say. 

"Ken." Machin scratched the back of his head. "What is it that you're going to do now that all of this is done?" 

I blinked, looking at him, and then around all the expectant faces. "Dive the dungeon, Machen. That's all there is to do." 

He scratched his cheek. "I suppose so. Though I think we're going to lose more people than you expect from our classes, Ken. It was a rather harrowing experience, if we're honest. A lot of people probably thought they had safer paths to exit should they ever get stuck. The shuffle really scared them." He glanced awkwardly to the side, "I think we're gonna lose eight people from Pendulum by the latest count."

Now I realized the problem. 

I hadn't expected students to drop out. I glanced down at my feet for a second, composing myself before looking back up. "Wonderful. I'm happy everyone can do what they want. That is a privilege we didn't have a few days ago." I kept a giant smile on my face. "If people want to leave, then let them leave. I think Haylon will just consolidate if any leave. And then we will keep pushing down. Star City is a great launching point."

There was no way that I was backing down even if the entire rest of the class ditched. As for my party, they were behind me all the way.

Machen nodded to himself. "Yeah, yeah, I think so too.”

“And why do students get to choose what they do?" Headmistress Marlow swept out of the hall. Several other teachers and a few members of the UG followed after her. "You are all still within your second year, and you have not received the vital training required for you to have passed the dungeon colleges certified by the UG. Yes, we have an aberrant situation and that you are all much higher level students than normal. Thankfully, many of your teachers have leveled as well." Her gaze fixed firmly on me. 

"It is my recommendation that you use the closest safe zone to Star City, or perhaps in Star City if we can manage it, to continue your education in exploring the dungeon. While we are at it, we will consider it more akin to an apprenticeship. There is so much space around Star City that needs to be explored and recorded." 

She flicked on the tablet and swiped between two images. "This was our knowledge of the dungeon before the dungeon shuffle," and then she swiped it again, "This is after."

The difference was stark. Before, there were highlighted blocks that covered almost a third of the screen. Now there were just specks and lines, narrow routes that have been explored by the UG

"It is my goal that each of the Haylon students will continue exploring the dungeon. They will begin learning how to explore the dungeon without prior knowledge of what they are going into. That means learning to test the waters, understand the monster types, and come fully prepared. Also, equip yourself with the skillset to know when you are out of your depth and must retreat." Her lips pressed into a tight line. "I do not want any student that attended Haylon to go into these guilds untrained. Despite your high levels. In fact, your high levels will, if anything, only make you more prone to mistakes. Arrogance is a dangerous mindset." 

The headmistress glared at all of us and I was the first to nod.

"Fine by me. As long as we can dive the dungeon, I think we can all benefit from further instruction." 

With my agreement came a wave of acceptance from everyone else, and the headmistress let out a heavy sigh.

"Wonderful. Given that Crimson will likely follow you, Ken, she will teach the classes deep in the dungeon. Similar lessons are being taught to all the other students, as we have no idea what even lies below the college itself. I will leave it up to Crimson to manage the schedule, but all of you have not graduated." She punctuated the word and spun around before storming away.

Des stretched her arms over her head before nonchalantly wrapping her arm around my shoulder. "Oh, you're still stuck with us," she said. I chuckled and kissed her on the cheek. 

"I wasn't going anywhere, Des. I came out here to fight your mother, if need be, to make sure she doesn't sweep you up. Your family's guild can't have you." I told her.

Des chuckled. "Never. My mother likes you far too much to do that. If anything, she'll probably thrust me in your arms, given the opportunity." 

I glanced at Charlotte. She was bobbing her head repeatedly, nearly unseating Bun-Bun. "We're sticking with you, too. There's no way that I'm diving the dungeon with anyone else." 

The two elves looked almost pained at the talk about sticking around.

I walked up to Elysara and Fayeth. "I think it will take a couple days for Crimson to finish finding her way back to the Elven homeworld, and it will take at least that long for the rest of humanity to begin to organize down to Star City. How about the two of us spend some time with me, Ely?" 

The fiery-haired princess beamed at that, grabbing me and pulling me out of Des's grasp. "I'm going to hold you to that. I'm sorry, Des, I will be taking him for the next several days. He's..." 

"Oh," I said as if I had an afterthought. "I also now have a portal." I grinned. "So, even if you're stuck in the Elven world, I'll make sure to visit from time to time." 

Fayeth snorted. "We have a portal, too. It wasn't like you were going to escape." 

I kissed Ely, and then... Even if they were not going to be in my party for the near future, I was going to do my damnedest to keep them in my life. 

I glanced around at the other students. "I think we have a couple days. If your colleges don't give you a date, in three days we will be back here and I will open a portal to Star City for those that have already earned the right to enter. Then we can all, once again, dive the dungeon to our hearts' content.” I looked at Machen meaningfully.

“You heard him. Pack it up. We get a short vacation. I know I could use one after all of that." Machen called out. “Besides, we all missed winter break.” He muttered the last under his breath.

He wrapped his arms around his own party, nearly managing to encircle all four women as he crushed them together and began. Meanwhile, working together, they dragged the Berserker away. It seemed I wasn't the only one in need of quality time with my team. 

There was something about being topside on Earth that allowed adventurers to unwind just a little more.

"Tonight, how about we do a whole group thing?" Charlotte quietly raised her hand. "And then Fey-Fey and the princess can have you tomorrow during the day." Charlotte hesitated as she asked, but the fact that she made the request told me the shy druid wasn't ready to separate from the rest of us. 

"I think we can manage that. Don't you?" I turned to the two elves, who quickly agreed, nodding their heads.

"Of course. I think we all deserve some time to relax together." Elysara agreed.