They arrived at the envoy outside of the city, with Panda pulling a cart of the comatose prisoners we had rescued from the mines resting inside, covered in a giant tarp.

The group obviously couldn't just carry them around all the time, and it was better to be as inconspicuous as possible.

That went out the window when Richard had Panda return to his original size and pull the cart.

Screecher squirrels, while well known for their verbose language, were still C-class creatures. Seeing one pulling a cart around was quite the site.

Thankfully not too rare, as the group managed to arrive at the envoy outside of the city.

The envoy was outside of Mountain City.

Richard didn't understand at first, wondering why the envoy wasn't inside the city. Que had refrained from answering, with a mysterious look on his face.

Richard soon understood why.

The envoy's base of operations was huge.

Richard had read that the locations envoys resided in were often nice, but not overly so. After all, they were merely for the delegations to temporarily reside in, before heading to the palace or the main ambassador dormitory.

Richard found himself doubting what he had read as he observed the towering structure before him.

This was probably why the building was outside of Mountain City. It was simply too large to fit in the pre-established city.

It wasn't just big, but impressive. The building was completely constructed of metal, and looked advanced. Richard could use no other word to describe the structure but that. Compared to the armored houses they had seen within mountain city, this building felt sleek, simplistic yet more impressive. It made them look shoddy.

The building gave him an overwhelming feeling. He couldn't put his finger on it.

Sister Alexandria had an indiscernible look on his face as he observed the structure, making no comment, but humming in appreciation.

Seeing Richard's look of surprise, the writer Que couldn't help but reveal a small smile before leading them to the front entrance, a steel door guarded by two security guards.

The guards wore uniforms, rather than armor, a stark difference from the general attire adventurers would wear, and even what they themselves were wearing. It didn't seem practical to RIchard, but he was sure there was some reason.

Each guard was holding a weird magic tool, one that looked like some version of a crossbow, as best as RIchard could guess, with a magic stone in place of where he would've expected to see an arrow.

Did these things shoot magic stones? Surely that was inefficient?

As they approached the gate, one guard stepped forth.

"Halt. Please identify yourselves." he said calmly, yet that attitude dissipated as Que stepped forth.

The guards at the gate both looked surprised to see this familiar face.

"Que?! You're alive sir?" He said, almost in disbelief, yet there was joy in his voice.

Que smiled. "I am, thanks in small part to these people here. Can you have a medic come down?" he asked, as he took the tarp off, revealing the comatose people.

"We were dosed with a sleeping agent. My friends here managed to acquire a potion to wake me up, but there was only enough for one. It seems to be a powerful one as well."

Hearing this, the guard nodded. "Right away sir. Let me just call someone down to replace me and I can guide you in to a doctor." He pressed something on his ear, speaking into it.

Soon, another guard came out the gate, with surprise on his face, and was equally ecstatic to see Que.

Seeing another guard had come over to replace him, the guard gestured to them. "Alright, come on. The commander will want to see you for your report on the situation."

Richard and the others were led through the gate, finding the building was still equally pristine and simplistic on the inside compared to the outside.

There was also a simple humming in the background, and the sound of machinery somewhere beyond the walls.

"It's quite the surprise for you guys, right?" Que said with amusement on his face as he continued to watch them.

The only one who didn't look surprised was Achil, who was quietly observing everything as he stuck closely to sister Alexandria.

"Well it's very simple." Olivia said, seeming uncomfortable with how clean it was, observing warily. She looked like a bristling cat, clutching Frodo and looking around warily, with Frodo looking quite calm about the situation and looked happy even.

The guard who was guiding them responded. "Well it's not like we wanted it to be so simple. It has to be simple with the tra-"

He shut up with a simple glance from Que who then turned to look at them with an apologetic look. "Sorry. State secrets."

Frodo nodded peacefully. "Of course." he reassured them. After all, gratitude is gratitude, and secrets are another.

They eventually entered the medic room, where they dumped the comatose patients on the stretchers, with a doctor leading nurses to quickly check the condition of the patients, with the group led out of the room shortly thereafter.

The next room was filled with accomodations, from couches to plates with snacks.

"Do you mind waiting here for a moment? I have to report to inform commander about what we witnessed. If it's as I've feared, then we'll have to make preparations." The soldier requested politely.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

On the way there, the writer Que had informed the soldier about what had happened, and the danger at large, causing him to sweat.

He was grateful to this group of people, otherwise this situation could've devolved much further than it already had.

As the two left, sister Alexandria looked around, and then asked.

"Who wants to listen in to what they're going to talk about?" she asked eagerly, clearly curious to hear what conclusion they would arrive at.

"Me!" Olivia said shamelessly as she plopped down next to her aunt, and Frodo sat down quietly next to her. "I believe I should listen in. To be more aware of the situation of course."

"Of course" Panda echoed his sentiment with a tinge of sarcasm as he sat down next to them.

Achil said nothing merely scooting next to Alexandria, wrapping his tail around her loosely, as if trying to scoot in to the tight couch.

Richard and Ellie sat on a nearby couch, with there being no more space for them, especially with their tails and wings clogging up most of the space on the couch.

Crackle came out too, now that no one else was in the room, picking up a plate of cookies, offering refreshments to everyone in the room.

Seeing everyone was ready, Alexandria cast her spell, both isolating their room from the outside world, but also allowing them to peer into the commander's room.

----------------------------------------

The commander had a solemn look in his eyes as he listened to Que's report.

"Are you sure?" he asked and Que could only show a sad smile in response. "There's no doubt about it.Just before they crushed it, the kaiju meter went off like crazy, detecting the kind of vitality you could only find down there. And the fact they tried to kill us n such a manner tells me they know what they're doing as well."

"Dammit!" The commander cursed as his fist hit the disk with force, and the commander cursed with greater force. "Are they fucking stupid! The one continent where the hollow Earth is blocked, and they choose to unplug the damn thing!

He couldn't help but being frustrated. Wherever they found the Hollow Earth Entrances, no one regarded it as opportunity, but disaster.

After all, kaiju stood in stark contrast to what people normally fought, and this incompatibility was only to their disadvantage.

As a commander, he had seen the true horrors of the Hollow Earth, the death it brought. Even with their perfected evacuation drills, he could never quite get the sights out of his head, the price for the Federation's prosperity paid in blood.

The terrifying Dominion, a beast of pure wrath that killed its way through entire cities whenever it showed up. The devil itself, emerging from the pits of hell.

And those fools, chose to let this all out!

Regardless...

The commander sighed, reminding himself that this was merely the greed of some selfish individuals, indifferent to how their desires would affect others.

"So when is the next wave?" He sighed, turning to ask the soldier posted at the door.

The soldier checked the reports, his face grim as he looked through the papers.

"A week at most before the next wave starts." Hearing this, the commander groaned.

"Alright, alert the dwarves to the potential wave. There's no guarantee as to a wave this time, but now it's only a matter of time before a wave does happen now that the seal's been loosened.

Besides, we also need to establish blame for who's behind this so that we can persecute them. Vehemently." He said the last part with malice, and Que made no comment, quietly acquiescing. .

Although he looked quiet and reserved at this moment, there was a cold glint in his eyes.

After all, these people had killed his friends and hurt his wife. He knew the best way to get revenge was not wildly thrashing about, but by following the rules and trapping him thoroughly, leaving no room to escape.

Only then would his revenge be properly complete.

"So, what do you think about our guests?" The commander asked, in reference to the people in the waiting room.

To that, the group's ears perked up, seemingly quite curious as to how Que would respond.

"They are a curious crowd." Que responded after much thought. "They seem to be friendly enough, but they're certainly stronger than they appear on the surface. I doubt it was that easy to break me and the others out, much less unnoticed. Has no one reacted since?"

The commander shook his head. "No, no one has reacted particularly different yet, at least not as far as we can see."

Hearing this affirmation of his observation, Que nodded. "Either the enemy is being extremely cautious, or they snuck in and out so flawlessly that the people there haven't had any time to react"

"There's always the possibility that they were the ones who kidnapped you and dropped you off here to avoid suspicion." The commander pointed out.

Que refuted it calmly. "No, you know how accurate my intuition is. I haven't sensed any hints of malice from them. Not only that, but I tested them earlier when I revealed the truth behind the mountain.They seemed completely unaware and horrified by the situation at hand. "

The commander shook his head. "Regardless, I'm going to have someone inquire into their background, surface level at least, to make sure that we're not being fooled."

Que made no response, agreeing with his plan of action.

After all, you never know when someone is wearing two faces.

Even if they did save you.

----------------------------------------

"Damn, so suspicious of us. Even though we saved his ass!" Panda complained, recalling how he'd carted the man's friends all the way here.

No one else was surprised however.

After all, in this situation, it was hard to determine who was behind this, especially since they themselves weren't exactly a public group. Sure, one of them was a seasoned adventurer, another a priest from a renown church alongside a sister from the church, but Richard's current body was merely a newly registered adventurer, and Alexandria.

She technically had a registered identity, but it was one likely centuries ago. Lamia may have lived longer lives, but not that much longer. At least not without changing a little.

And Que didn't know any of that, merely knowing that a weird group of misfits had saved him.

If he hadn't suspected, it would've been weirder.

The observation spell ended, with the commander and Que deciding to come down and meet them.

Of course they played dumb, pretending to be patiently waiting, and not peeping into their conversation.

The commander entered the room with a pleasant smile.

"Thank you for helping us find Que. He told me about how you found him. If you hadn't, who knows how badly it could've gone." The commander said gratefully as he stepped forward, extending his hand.

Sister Alexandria as the one with seniority stepped forwards and accepted the handshake."It's no problem, we happened to encounter him in the midst of our own investigation. It's only natural for someone to help someone in danger." Alexandria responded.

"Of course. Actually, we were hoping you'd be able to expand on your investigation of that mine."

"Of course, we'd love to cooperate with you on that"

SHe said, as she discussed what had led them to investigate the mine, omitting a few details, only to be interrupted by the humming's deepening sound.

Whrrrm-

"The hell is that?" Olivia asked as a loud sound began to go off throughout the whole of the base.

People could be seen organizing furiously in the background, running back and forth in organized groups.

"Is dropbear squad ready?!"

"Dropbears in the appropriate hangers sir!"

"Move the g5s!"

"Yes sir!"

"Someone message the dwarves and warn them about our inbound flight!"

"Right away sir!"

"DId someone say flight?" Panda asked, and everyone turned to look at the commander.

The commander smiled. "You know, this room is the guests room, but we call it the special guest's room. Do you know why?"

Alexandria pursed her lips, with no one able to figure out why.

Seeing that no one had a response, Que responded, turning to look at a window that had inexplicably opened. "Its because this room has the best view in the mobile fortress."

Click

click

chick

chek

thoom!

The sound of whirring gears intensified. THe window, which had initially gazed straight into a wall changed sights, as the wall shifted, gears turning and walls sliding out, revealing a sight of the ground.

"Initiate liftoff!"

BOOOOOOMM!

A loud explosion could be heard as the view changed, the green overtaken by blue, and the land they stood on shook, forcing most of the people there to sit, minus Alexandria and the commander, who seemed indifferent.

BUt for mot, this was an amazing sight, one that would never be easily forgotten.

The sight of a fortress lifting off into the air.

Seeing the look in all the guests present, Que chuckled. "Told you it was the best seats"