“RENA,” I said, trying to make sense of what I had just heard. “What is that lady suggesting, exactly? Taking over the world?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Miles,” RENA replied. “She refers only to researching the items so that Dimen-X can reproduce them, rather than sell them to someone else who will try to reproduce them.”

“So by power, she means holding a monopoly?” I asked.

“That is correct, Miles.”

I wasn’t 100% sure that was the entire story, but it didn’t really effect me, one way or another. The more important consideration was if they would still buy what I sent them, and let me go home, eventually. It was not the time to be debating the moral considerations of sending magical items to a billionaire’s pet project tech startup.

“So if the other group wins outs,” I said, ignoring the potential ramifications, “how much could I get for the ring?”

“The exact payment structure has not been decided on, but it would be lower, Miles. Significantly lower.”

“Well that blows,” I said. “How much lower are we talking?”

“Somewhere between a few thousand dollars, and fifty-thousand dollars.”

I frowned. “That’s quite a range, RENA.”

“It is, Miles.”

I sighed. Even the $50,000 wouldn’t be quite enough to pay off everything I needed that month. I’d have to find more either way.

“Hey RENA,” I continued, thinking of something else. “Why hasn’t Dimen-X sent anyone else? Not that I’m complaining, but…”

“There have been staffing issues,” RENA said. “I hope you will not take this the wrong way, Miles, but the company is looking into hiring personnel with skills, this time. People who are likely to succeed. You have outpaced our expectations, Miles, but still you must understand that Dimen-X has not realized significant returns on its investment, thus far.”

“So why not send them?”

“It is exceedingly difficult, we have found, to find someone who is both skilled enough to be useful, and also desperate enough to sign our waiver of liability. The prospect of potentially dying during transportation seems to be a major cause of concern for them. We have considered removing this part from the contract, but our legal team has advised against it.”

“So you’re stuck with me, then.”

“So it seems, Miles.”

“And Tom, of course,” I added quickly. RENA didn’t respond.

I’ll have to think about all of this. But, for now, the goal is the same. Find treasure, sell what I can, don’t let my mother become homeless.

The conversation with RENA took place a couple of days after Naomi and I had returned.

On the actual day we got back, Cadoc immediately began bragging and showed us how he had figured out how to smoke meat, with Amaia’s help. She was clearly proud of it too, though less vocally. They showed us how they had constructed a little enclosed room out of summoned sticks and planks, with a fire able to burn in the center, and how they could hang meat above it so it could smoke. They said the meat would last much longer, this way.

Once they were done, we told Cadoc and Amaia what had happened.

“You used our last health potion on an enemy?” Cadoc asked.

“I did,” I said, confidently. I was doubting the sense of doing it, but I knew Cadoc was wary of me at that time and I didn’t want to show him any doubt.

“Then there is still some bit of bravery left in you,” he said, clapping his hand on my shoulder. It was not the reaction I had expected, but maybe I should have. I was relieved not to have started another fight. “Do you believe she will live?” he asked.

“No,” Naomi said. We all turned to stare at her. “What? I stabbed her. Might have nicked a kidney or something, y’know? One health potion isn’t going to fix that.”

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

“Why didn’t you say that before?” I asked.

“Well I didn’t exactly know you were about to do that, now did I?” Naomi replied. “I thought maybe you were just giving her something for the pain. Alcohol, or something.”

I slumped my shoulders. “So we killed her anyway.” What a waste.

“I didn’t say that,” Naomi said. “I just said that one health potion wouldn’t be enough. Her boyfriend showed up right when we left, yeah? So if he had something, she’ll be fine.”

“And if he didn’t?” Amaia asked.

“Well then she’ll be dead, naturally.” Naomi pointed at Amaia. “Why do you always have to bring up the bad part, huh?”

Amaia shrugged.

“So then what happened?” Cadoc asked.

Before I started to speak, Naomi cut in. “If he’s not going to say it, I am. He was talking out loud, told me he was talking to someone named Rena.”

Cadoc nodded. “That’s his goddess. I thought we had mentioned that to you.”

“Well, you hadn’t,” Naomi said. “I thought Miles had gone crazy. Then he started calling her ‘Mom.’ But I guess you knew that too, huh? We’re traveling around with a demigod and you didn’t think I might need to know that?”

Cadoc turned to me, a serious look on his face. “Is this true, Miles?”

“So you didn’t know?” Naomi said. “Well that’s interesting.”

What was I supposed to say? Would Naomi believe me if I denied it? Would Cadoc believe me if I said it was true? Amaia wouldn’t care either way, I was sure.

What do they want me to say?

“It’s…complicated,” I said.

Everyone was staring at me, now. Even Amaia had her mouth open in shock.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” I continued. “Except - well, I was about to say this, but I need more items to offer up. A lot more. I need some really valuable stuff. And I need it soon.”

Cadoc was muttering to himself. “Is this true? Could it be true? Appearing in the desert, alone, by magic, with a strange weapon… is your far-away country the heavens?”

Amaia slowly jutted out one finger, and poked me. I ignored her.

“Items,” I said, trying to reign them in, unsure if the gamble had paid off or not. “I need items.”

“Your mother is demanding,” Amaia said.

“I’ve been there,” Naomi responded.

“Truly,” Cadoc agreed. “But ought we to speak ill of a goddess?”

“Ill?” Naomi said. “Who’s speaking ill? Not me, no sir. I saved this guy’s life. If anything, I have been exceedingly kind to the goddess, I think. Perhaps she owes me a favor, even.” She said this loudly, as if RENA could hear her. Which she could, of course.

“Hey, guys, focus,” I said, snapping my fingers as if to wake them up. “We need a plan. The lovers are probably going to go get their teams, and then come and try to find us. And we need to get moving. We don’t have more than a couple weeks before I need to send RENA some items. Where do we get them? Will the core have some?”

“You lot really have never been in a dungeon,” Naomi said in amazement. She pointed at me. “He just fell out of the heavens, and I can imagine they don’t have dungeons there, but what’s your excuse?”

“I had a job,” Amaia answered.

“I had many jobs,” Cadoc said. “And no magic.”

Naomi shook her head. “Well, anyway, yes. Often there is treasure near the core - and sometimes the core itself contains a treasure inside of it.”

“And what if there isn’t treasure?” I said.

“Well then you’ll have to tell mommy that you couldn’t do what she asked. I’m sure she’ll understand.”

I shook my head. “Not an option.”

“What about the Kalamuzi?” Cadoc suggested. “The beasts must pile their spoils somewhere in this dungeon.”

“Yes!” I said, remembering the Kalamuzi with the necklace in his pocket. “There’ll be stuff I can sell there, for sure. How do we get there?”

“Follow one,” Amaia suggested.

Naomi looked back and forth between us all. “Are you out of your minds? You want to go to the Kalamuzi omphalos? Did you forget about my teammates being ripped to shreds?”

I had no idea what an omphalos was, but saying that wouldn’t help convince her. I could follow the context clues.

“You have stronger teammates, now,” Cadoc replied. “Do not fear.”

She laughed. “I’m not so sure about stronger. Crazier, yeah.”

“We don’t need to fight them,” I said. “We’ll sneak in, steal some stuff, and leave. Besides, your team died because they were ambushed and swarmed, right? If we attack them, we’ll have the advantage. And if it looks too dangerous, we can always bail before attacking and come up with a different plan.”

“Might as well just come up with that plan now,” Naomi said. “Because it will look too dangerous. By the heavens you people are insane.”

“What are our other options?” I said. “Here’s how I see it so far.” I raised a finger. “Option 1: Go straight to the core, and hope that there’s an item down there. I’m not lucky, so I’m not one for hoping. Tell me there’s an item there, and we’ll go. Otherwise…

“Option 2: Wander around the dungeon and hope we stumble upon an item. Sounds a lot like option 1, except our chances of finding something are probably even worse. We’ve already found one empty chest - whose to say there’s any treasure left at all? We were the last ones in, after all. Which leaves…

“Option 3: Find the Kalamuzi - omphalos, you called it? - and take the treasure that we definitely know is going to be there. Have I missed anything?”

“Leave,” Naomi said. “And not risk our lives. That option still not on the table?”

Cadoc answered for me. “No,” he said.

Naomi sighed. “OK, well, option 4 is to find the other adventurers, and steal from them.”

“Adventurers are stronger than Kalamuzi,” Amaia said.

Naomi laughed bitterly. “Some of them, anyway.”

I shook my head. “Too many unknowns. The Kalamuzi don’t have magic, at least. And for all we know, all the adventurers are dead except Nolan and Leah’s teams. And attacking them would involve being outnumbered.”

“You think the Kalamuzi won’t outnumber you?” Naomi said.

“Give me a better option,” I said. “And I‘ll take it. I need valuable items, and I need them now.”

“There is no better option,” she said. “Except running away.”

“Look,” I said, meeting her gaze. “I don’t like this either, OK? I would love to run away, get out of this dungeon, find somewhere safer to make some money. But that’s not an option, alright? I need these items immediately, or else-“ how the hell do I put this. “Or else I’m fucked, alright? I’m asking you for a favor.”

“No you’re not,” she said. “You’re taking advantage of me, because you know I can’t make it out of this dungeon on my own.”

“Maybe I’m doing that, too.”

She sighed again. “Y’know, you people are maniacs. Fine. Whatever. What am I going to do, keep arguing? Just don’t get mad at me when one of you dies, and then we leave anyway.”

With that decided, we began making our preparations.

Cadoc had slowly gotten better at directing the worm-drakes, which made hunting easier. We started smoking the meat so that we would have provisions to take with us, but that was a long process. We spent a few days just preparing. In the meantime, we all passed the time by sparring.

Well, all of us except Naomi. She insisted that there was no point in her participating, seeing as she could kill someone in a single shot. I pointed out that that wasn’t how things went last time, but she wouldn’t listen. She just sat on the sidelines, shouting cheers and jeers at us as we fought.

With Cadoc, I practiced my shooting, and he would block my bullets with his boards. They would usually smash through, but they would then be so slowed that they could hit his skin and bounce off harmlessly. He had the perfect counter to my weapon, but it was good practice for both of us.

With Amaia, we practiced my sword-breaking. She would attack with weapons that had been left in the chamber, discarded by deceased owners. I was able to break them, occasionally, but she was also eventually able to attack me without getting them broken. It seemed that it worked best on unaware enemies - if they knew how to fight against a drows, it was hard to get the sword to break - because if they didn’t attack with enough force, I couldn’t use that force to break the sword.

When the meat was finally finished, we slept one last night, and disembarked. We made for a cavern branching off from the worm-pit - one that Naomi and I had found before, but hadn’t gotten to explore yet. We had no idea which way the Kalamuzi were in, but we were certain we would find them before long.

We were right.