There were a lot more people than Alissa had expected for the heroes’ first dungeon trip.

There were the three of them of course, she herself, Ethan, and Joshua – who still looked rather jittery and was mostly taciturn compared to usual but was present regardless – were all geared up to the neck and had their respective weapons in hand. Alissa and Ethan wore their helmets, open-faced designs that also covered their cheeks and the backs of their necks, while Joshua had lighter gear since apparently mage types did not mesh that well with heavy armor in this world.

Instead he had a hooded robe-like garment that Alissa thought looked very similar to the silk used to make the outer and inner layers of her gambeson, with a vest made from what seemed to be leather on top of it, one with many pockets filled with various sorts of things. He also carried a long staff that had a gem embedded on one end and had a crossbow slung behind his back.

Arrayed next to them were their escort group of twenty hand-picked members from both the Royal Guards – soldiers that served directly under the King – and the temple guards – ones loyal to the High Priest over the King – which couldn’t look more different. The Royal Guards were dressed almost like medieval European warriors, in a combination not unlike what Ethan wore, if less finely made ones. The Temple Guards on the other hand looked more like greek or roman warriors come to life.

All of the chosen members – ten for each – were young men and women, in their late teens to early twenties, and all of them were also around the same “power” level of the heroes presently were, namely that they were around the middle to the late stages of their second tier. The idea was supposedly to have these members tag along with the heroes and help them out whichever way they were needed, as both groups would grow in power together, the heroes gaining trustworthy companions in the long run while the Guards gained a faster leveling by accompanying the heroes to dangerous places.

Probably in an attempt to make the heroes more receptive to the guards, Alissa recognized many of the faces amongst the temple guards. Four of the ten had been amongst those that had fought off the thing in the temple back then, and they greeted her with polite nods. Amongst the Royal Guards, Alissa also noted Moira’s presence, the young female soldier who had been their guide to the Royal Armory. Apparently she too had been shifted from her post to accompany the heroes.

Of course, neither the temple nor the royal family had been foolish enough to toss them into the dungeon with just those members, even if the dungeon in question had been recorded to only contain creatures with a level range of five to thirty-seven. The group had guards, or rather, chaperones attached to them from both factions, again people the heroes already knew.

On the Temple’s side was Cerilla, who had been the priestess in charge of the Hero Summoning that brought them to this world, and had often accompanied them over the past month, accompanied by another young woman in the same priestly garb she introduced as Vesta, who had apparently been Joshua’s “minder” and had helped him get over his funk. Vesta was an all-rounder sort of priest in her early third tier, while Cerilla was a healing-focused one in her late third tier.

Representing the King’s side was Sir Inolet, who despite his handicaps was after all well in his fourth tier and could still hold his own against beasts of that level without much issue. Along with him was Magus Drummond, an old bald man with long white beard who had tutored Joshua in the magic arts, who was also in his fourth tier, if lower in level compared to the old knight.

If things went as planned, then they would not need to lift a finger during the expedition. The rest of the guards would fight and help the heroes gain levels and power, and benefit from the effort, but the higher tier ones were there to guard in case the unexpected occurred. Of course, given that the fourth tier was generally already the peak of power – the fifth tier being something only heard about once in a century or so outside of the summoned heroes – in the Kingdom, the chances of there being any trouble they could not solve this close to the capital was negligible.

The Dungeon itself was pretty underwhelming overall. It was located on the hillside of a small range of hills around a couple hours away from the capital by carriage. There were some guards positioned by the cave opening that served as the Dungeon’s entrance, but oddly enough, there were no other people lined up, which Alissa thought was rather odd. Surely if the world needed levels there would be some who pursued it, no?

“There ain’t anybody going to the dungeon? Is it just an unpopular one? You’d have thought that newbie dungeons like these would’ve been the most popular ones,” asked Ethan, who clearly also had the same doubts she had. “This place is like, bloody deserted, man.”

“The crown had requisitioned the Dungeon for our exclusive use,” replied Magus Drummond curtly to his question, which met with a nod of confirmation from Cerilla. “We are keeping the summoning of heroes mostly a secret outside the Royal Palace for security purposes, so it does not behoove our intentions to have so many people notice you three out there.”

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“Wouldn’t booking the whole dungeon like this cause the people to have suspicions anyway, though?” Alissa asked as she pointed out the obvious.

“No they won’t. We do this on a regular basis when one of the Royal Princes or Princesses needs their first proper leveling as well,” said Sir Inolet with a wide smirk on his face. Then he turned to the young woman dressed in a Royal Guard outfit to his left, who sat across from Alissa before he continued. “As it happens, Her Royal Highness Princess Nadine here, the Fifth Princess, has yet to do hers.”

The attention of all three heroes turned to the young woman, who at first glance looked no different than the other Royal Guards. On second look though, Alissa noticed the woman’s light brown, almost golden shade of hair, something she had only previously seen on the King himself when they were introduced. The bright blue eyes the young woman had also matched that of the monarch in question, and she saw similarities in their features as she peered closer.

“Is having a Princess amongst those coming with us a good idea? I thought as heroes we’re supposed to head to the frontlines sooner or later,” Ethan said as he asked the same question Alissa thought of. Given how the nation they landed in was clearly still in the feudal era where the King held great power, she only thought that it would likely cause a scandal of epic proportions if one of the princesses were injured or worse while tagging along with them.

“His Royal Highness has his own considerations, Chosen Ones,” said Cerilla in a gentle tone. “The Fifth Princess is not only close to your age, she also had aspirations to be a knight. In fact, to be part of your retinue would be greatly beneficial for her advancement.”

“How so?” asked Alissa.

“The quality of every class one could choose from on the second tier onwards are affected by the feats that the individual had done in their life up to that point,” said Cerilla calmly as she explained. An unsaid implication from her previous words was that the Fifth Princess was low enough on the succession line that she was allowed to pursue other paths in life. “To accompany the Heroes of the age would be something that greatly benefitted her in this regard.”

“I kinda get that. So basically the greater the stuff you did before getting to a new tier, the better the options offered, right?” said Ethan. “If specific things like… beating that thing in the temple and accompanying us heroes count… then I assume the classes they would get offered on their next tier would be something particularly good, or at least unique then?”

“That is so. It behooves me to see that you understood this world so well, Chosen One,” replied Cerilla with a nod and a smile.

“Just falling back to what I already know, is all,” said Ethan humbly.

Their attention was soon drawn away from the conversation when the carriage they rode in stopped near the entrance to the dungeon. Sir Inolet opened the door and walked out first, while Cerilla was the last one out, conveniently making sure that the Heroes and the Princess were safe between them. Behind their carriage another two carriages which had the rest of their retinue also stopped and the guards stepped out from them in an orderly manner.

With disciplined precision, the guards arrayed themselves in a neat formation. They seemed to have come to an agreement between themselves, and split up into four groups, one in each cardinal direction around where the Heroes and the Princess was. Sir Inolet, Magus Drummond, Cerilla, and Vesta stood just behind the Heroes, between them and the four royal guards who served as their rear guard.

The soldiers stationed by the dungeon entrance seemed to have awaited their arrival, as their group was waved inside without question. Five of the Royal Guards including Moira stood at the forefront of the formation, while each of their flanks were guarded by five Temple Guards each. The Dungeon’s entrance was almost like the maw of a beast that waited to engulf all those who entered, but of course no such thing happened.

In fact, once they were within the Dungeon proper, Alissa realized that it was nowhere near as dark – or damp – as she had assumed it would be. While the inside of the dungeon was by no means well-lit, there grew some luminescent moss and mushrooms from the walls and floor here and there which gave a modicum of light to see with inside the cave. It was bright enough that there was no need to light a torch, but also still quite dim that sometimes Alissa was uncertain whether there was something in the shadows or not.

“The creatures here are very sensitive to bright lights, which is why we didn’t light a torch,” explained Moira as she hung back a bit to explain to the heroes.

“Sensitive in what way?” asked Ethan. “If their eyes are hurt from bright light we could use that to our advantage.”

“No such convenient thing, I’m afraid, Chosen One,” replied Moira with a shake of her head. She had a crossbow in her hands like another two Royal Guards, while their two fellows further in the front carried maces and shields in their hands. “Rather, the things here flock to bright light, even if it was around obstacles. They had some sort of sense for it, which is why we didn’t light any torches. The ambient lighting on the other hand would not attract them since they were used to it. For the same reason I would recommend that Chosen Joshua not use magic of the Fire or Lightning variety, as those would have the same effect.”

“You know, although we’re already in the dungeon, I don’t think anyone mentioned one thing so far,” said Alissa as she interjected from the side with a question. “Like, what sort of beast or monster could we expect in this dungeon? Their weakness maybe, or anything we could abuse to our advantage?”

“Fair question. We call the beasts that inhabit this dungeon as the Winged Scavengers. Despite the name, only higher level creatures are even capable of flight. Most of the lower level ones would just hobble around the ground and are of relatively minimal threat to anyone who knew what they’re doing-” Explained Moira before she turned and pointed towards the distance. “Aha, there are some coming over there.”

When Alissa and Ethan looked at the place Moira pointed at, it took them a moment before they managed to notice the shifting form in the shadows. Joshua on the other hand seemed occupied in some conversation with Vesta and Magus Drummond and had not noticed. The shapes in the darkness seemed about as high as an adult’s waist, and shifted with an odd gait where they used their long arms to help balance out their much shorter legs. Both Alissa and Ethan recognized the creatures and blurted out a curse at almost the same time.

“Goddamned bats.”