Pov Ace

"Stop being so glum. None of the pirates were stupid enough to attempt another attack, even if you offered them so much gold. If you were in their shoes, would you have done it?" My wife made another reasonable and completely logical statement, and I just looked at her, still in complete denial.

"I understand that, but still, it would have at least made the return trip worth it. That meeting was literally just a dick-measuring contest, and we weren’t even part of the main competition."

After that, silence returned to the room as we both got busy working, once again going through the reports we had missed while we were gone. While I mostly think that meeting was quite useless for us, even if I did manage to get a few important pieces of information and a few more contacts, the main reason we were invited—like anyone else who wasn’t part of the big four—was to make sure that we understood where we stood relative to them, and that was beneath them in every way.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t disagree. They were way too powerful, and their mind readers scared the hell out of me. Fortunately, my dear wife has spent decades teaching me how to be in the moment and not think about things I shouldn’t be thinking about.

At least one thing is clear: although they might act like they are united and holding this world together, the big four will take any opportunity that doesn’t lead to fighting to hurt each other. It's fortunate that they don’t choose the fighting option. If they did, well, you would need a fortress-like those from the second and third ages, made and constantly run by the dungeons.

That was the most fascinating thing I actually learned during that meeting. Some old diamond rank in the beast faction—I don’t know how he managed it—but he actually got drunk and was quite chatty. The way he marveled and talked about fortress dungeons was like an old castle enthusiast and historian talking about castles.

In the end, I was the only one left at the table with him, as everyone else had gotten bored, which I don’t know how that was possible—every single word that came out of his mouth sounded like gold to me.

Yet even with everything he told me, I still couldn’t imagine a world so dangerous that the only safe place was behind impregnable walls—walls that actually weren’t impregnable as the dungeon purposely built itself to keep anyone inside safe.

I once again took a piece of paper that was on the edge of my table, laid it over my current one, and started to write where I left off. "Honey, you can work on your own projects later. I do not want to be here for three weeks; let's get this done."

"I’ll just finish this sentence." When I did finish the sentence, it was hard for me to put the paper away, but I did. This was my report to ETG on everything I learned about Fortress Dungeons. He should be able to take some inspiration from this because I believe someday we are going to need him to become something like that old beast described.

Stolen novel; please report.

It only took us two weeks to get to the most recent reports and decisions we needed to make to run my nation, and I finally finished the report I was working on for ETG. I entered the dungeon entrance underneath my mansion, and I was pleasantly surprised when the dungeon's focus didn't immediately come crashing into me, but instead, it was a more controlled and measured increase of attention.

"You are doing really well with accepting a diamond rank’s presence. I’m glad to see that our training is working well. Here’s a report for you I think you’ll find interesting." A moment later, I felt a voice through our connection. It was still weird to hear a direct voice speaking in my own language because before, I was only able to get ideas from the connection, not speech. He’s really getting strong, which is good and bad at the same time.

"This is interesting. You’ll have to tell me the story of how you got this kind of information." And so I did, and because he wanted it in increasing detail, it took about an hour before we were finished.

"This is valuable, and I thank you for it. You should also perhaps consider locating your main operations that you can still hide from the Big 4 and move them inside my dungeon. When the time comes, and it will come—be sure of that—I will have a place where you could bring your entire nation. Unfortunately, I can only help by making more entrances and giving you some personnel, but it would be up to you if you want to do that and how many you want to give that opportunity to."

"Wait, what do you mean exactly, and how long?" He didn’t answer back in words, but I got a sense that there was still time, though not as much as I thought. I know that he's keeping a lot of secrets; there's too much life down there. Since he thinks that he's a part of my nation for some weird reason, my talent—as I keep getting stronger—is telling me more and more about what's down there. The only reason I haven’t asked is because it's better for me not to know the specifics.

"Do you perhaps know someone who can help me get rid of some of my skills and perhaps get some new ones? I was forced to take a lot of bad skills during my rank-ups." His presence didn’t return, and I was about to step out when I finally heard his words again.

"You should perhaps get to know the powers inside the dungeon a bit more, especially the clans that have developed. Being on friendly terms with them and the other powers inside the dungeon is as important as pleasing your district leaders, perhaps even more so."

Immediately, I felt my brain go into overdrive as his presence disappeared once again. Did he just tell me that there was someone who could help me, someone who was a member of those clans that have popped up?

He was also correct: while I was maintaining connections and keeping the recommended path under my nation's management, perhaps it's time to think about the other powers inside the dungeon as not just some adventurer organizations, but actual proper organizations that don’t belong to the adventurer guild.

It seems that I was thinking about this so deeply that I didn’t realize I had walked into my wife’s office and only realized it when she came over and touched my hand. "What has happened? Is everything alright?"

I looked into her eyes, those beautiful eyes. "We are going to have a lot more work to do. It's time to expand our political power down below, start gathering the knowledge of this world, and begin making a lot of plans in secret." Her eyes were momentarily confused, then I saw them clear, showing determination and excitement. Damn, she was so perfect.

"How did I get so lucky to get someone like you?" She giggled at that. "You're silly sometimes. You did get lucky. The first moment I saw you, when you walked into my throne room, I knew I wanted you. I just never thought things would go the way they did. I am glad too. I like living here with you a lot more than being in that stuffy palace." We held each other like that for a little while before we really needed to start figuring things out.

Getting better diplomatic connections was going to be incredibly easy inside the dungeon, but making friends like proper allies was going to be a lot harder. In fact, we might actually need to do that in secret; otherwise, it would show too much favoritism.

"Hey honey, what do you say about us creating our own party, just the two of us? We could disguise ourselves completely and enjoy what this dungeon has to offer while making friends." She gave a hesitant nod. "We'll workshop it," was the immediate response I gave to her nod, which she seemed to agree with.