"He bestowed the class," Phytia said.

"Stan?" Penelope frowned as she and her group slowly walked toward Amorium.

"[King] Tiberius," Phytia corrected her. "You have awakened him."

"Stan," Penelope corrected her back, "and I'm sure I didn't awaken anything at all."

"Why are you both so sure?" They turned to Eupraxia, the Goblin woman. "You are taking opposite sides, as usual. Penelope, your friend might have chosen to go beyond what you’d asked him to. Phytia, stop being adversarial and put away that spear. They are not going to like a battle-ready Dryad entering their city like this."

Pythia’s body looked pretty much like any other woman’s—any beautiful woman, that is. Only her face bore distinctive traits that set her apart from the Elves and the Humans—that and her bright green hair. Specifically, she had diaphanous skin so thin and pale that you could see veins all over her arms, legs, and even her neck and face. Her facial traits were thinner than those of Elves or Humans. Her nose was extremely thin, almost scarily so.

And that was because she was a Dryad.

"I am a Named Adventurer," Phytia said, puffing her chest. "No lowly [Guard] will tell me what to do."

"The Steel Titan might – he’s the [Captain] of the Watch here," the last woman of the group, Petra, the Elf at the back, said. She was wearing heavy plate armor and carried a battle axe in her hands that soon disappeared into her bag of holding.

"Your leader orders you to put away the spear, Phytia," Penelope said with a sigh. "Let's not create more problems than we came to solve."

"Weak," Phytia grumbled but still obeyed the order and put the spear away.

Eupraxia softly poked the leader of the group in the side, giving her a sneaky nod of approval. Penelope smiled back at the soft features of the Goblin woman.

Phytia lasted two minutes without grumbling and complaining again.

"I can't believe we are going into the city for a party when there's a massive Dungeon just waiting there for us."

"Jesus," Penelope swore under her breath, "we need to coordinate with the Adventurer’s Guild and the Watch. Petra has already explained this to you, Phytia: this isn't Carilia, and much less your mother's territory. We can't just barge in, jump into the Dungeon, and claim it ours."

"Weak."

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

"We might also want to see this mysterious Human that piqued Penelope's attention," Eupraxia giggled. "It's the first time we see you so riled up, darling."

"Oh, stop that," Penelope sighed. "Phytia's mother pointed me in this direction and told me to look at the place that I first came to. This is business."

"Humans love their business," Eupraxia teased her, "almost as much as Sirens."

"Disgusting creatures," Phytia cursed.

"The reports we bought on the Human say that when he first came here, he had no levels, allegedly. Now, it appears he's got a [Warrior]-oriented class and a [Mage] one," Petra commented. "He's definitely an interesting person."

"He's only interesting because he might be the key to getting my mother back," Penelope reminded them. "My mother was dead back on Earth... whatever I can do to see her again, I will do it."

Eupraxia extended a kind poke to Penelope's side and squeezed her arm, "if the [High Priestess] said so, there's a great chance that you will see your mother again."

"Wherever the key is, it lies somewhere here in Amorium," Penelope said, feeling Eupraxia grab her hand and squeeze it. "We will not leave until I've found it."

...

Opposite of Marcella Aureamanus sat a man with chiseled features and a shimmering silver ring on his finger, revealing his family crest.

Marcella was reading a report he had given her, frowning.

"He's still alive," she commented.

"Unfortunately for us, he is."

"Why is he here?"

The man tapped his digits on the table in front of him before sighing, "let the protocol rot, Marcella. When the idiots were extracted, the most valuable possession they had was lost together with their dead leader. You know how this man co-opted the research, right?"

Marcella nodded. "I'm not sure why they even let him onto this."

"He's very interested in self-preservation; you can rest assured of that. However, he's not bound by anything other than self-interest. He had gone underground, apparently. Now, he's back."

The richest [Merchant] south of the Capital inhaled deeply, looking at her wizened hands and then back at the man. "What are we going to do?"

"Nothing," the man sighed. "He won't give away anything for free. I suspect he's here for... his research."

Seeing the confused expression on the woman's face, the man sighed.

"There's only one individual he might be interested in inside the city. He's here to study what's going on with them."

"So, this might actually come out in our favor?" Marcella pondered.

"It should. At a price, but it should have a positive outcome for us. Especially given how the [Princess] seems to have flipped sides and is fully committed to the Human."

"The sleeping Dragon has hatched two eggs as well," the man said, waiting for Marcella's response.

"My loyalty is with the country, first and foremost."

"We shall put that to the test soon enough," the man replied.

At that point, a servant entered the dining room and bent down close to Marcella's ear, whispering something to the house host.

"It appears my new guest is here. Go change—your niece will be elated to see you at the party tonight."

Marcella got up, making the man stand up out of courtesy, and led the servant back to a smaller living room in her villa outside Amorium.

There, she found a rather pretty woman twisting her hands together.

"I hope I will not take you away from your business for too long. I understand very well how hard it is for a woman on her own," Marcella smiled, making the woman jump up, almost scaring her to death. "Darling, sit down. I invited you here because I wanted to make you a proposal."

Marcella sat on the same couch where the much younger woman was sitting and smiled, grabbing her hand.

"We haven't been formally introduced yet. You can call me Marcella."

"I—I'm Irene."