Pov Vivian’s Grandfather

I had given him seven days to find out what had happened to my granddaughter, yet he was here on the 6th day looking confident, even though I still had not heard from my granddaughter. He seemed to have climbed pretty high for the amount of time he’s been in platinum. He seemed to want to serve and has done so distinguishably so far, but something is starting to feel off about him.

“I am sorry that it took so long. It was a bit more trouble to get the information to you than I expected. So I would like to start out by saying that your granddaughter is completely fine, but there are some extenuating circumstances why she has not been able to contact you, and she’s actually working on solving the problem right now.”

Well, this seemed a bit more curious than I expected. Still, this better be a good excuse. I indicated for him to continue, and he promptly did so.

“That dungeon seems to be a lot more aware, so to say than the reports seemed to indicate.”

He wanted to continue, but I immediately stopped him. “Explain that further.”

He looked a bit taken aback and took a few moments to reorient himself. So he probably rehearsed that speech he was giving me multiple times to speak as confidently as possible. I should not take it easy on him, just in case something is wrong.

“Yes, Vivian didn’t seem to realize this in the communication I had with her through her own agents, but it’s quite clear to me that this dungeon is a lot smarter than normal. While it is chained, it’s still fighting back. And because the control necklace is no longer there, they need to go by the contract, and it’s smart enough to find loopholes to continue doing things as it likes to do.”

I realized that I was smirking, but I quickly stopped. I’ve always liked when dungeons fought back, and dealing with diamond-rank dungeons was so reminiscent of arguing some trade contract that I often got the two mixed up. “So the dungeon is pushing back—that’s to be expected. That still doesn’t explain anything.”

I could see it in his eyes that he wanted to say he hadn’t gotten to the point yet, which I knew he hadn’t, but he didn’t say it. The struggle was fun to watch.

“So yes, the dungeon does things to the letter of the contract, which has allowed him to stop adventurers from abusing an item that allowed them to teleport out of a fight they were going to lose.”

“Apparently, the dungeon allows it up to a certain point, but the deeper you get, the fewer areas you can use it in. It doesn’t do it actively, which Vivian first believed, but instead, it seems to have changed the dungeon stone composition, making it impossible for signals like that to travel too far.”

“If Vivian was further up than she currently is, she could get a signal through, but with so many layers of dungeon stone that help block signals, she can’t get proper communication through. Another thing stopping her from coming out—as I can already see you wanting to know why she just hasn’t used a gateway—is that otherwise, she would need to start from floor 20, as the dungeon doesn’t allow anyone to just skip to the last floor, at least not yet.”

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“So what you’re saying to me is that she hasn’t done our usual confirmation whenever she gets out of a dangerous situation because it would be too inconvenient for her at this moment because it will take too long to get back to where this new type of dungeon stone is located?” He immediately nodded.

I sit back in my chair to think about this. There was some logic to it; she does get quite fixated if she finds something truly interesting. The dungeon is big, and I could understand that if she had a tight time limit. She, however, didn’t have a tight time limit she could stay as long as she wanted.

I know the master’s did not like it much when the city lord and the minder offered her that option. That was weird in of itself. She could have just gotten out, and while it would take her a while to get back because that dungeon is truly large, in the end, I don’t think this makes enough sense to me.

I looked back at him, and I think he could see the suspicion I had. I didn’t understand what was going on exactly, but something just didn’t add up. I kept looking at him, trying to understand what I was missing. Then, to my surprise, he actually spoke up.

“They warned me that there was no chance of this working. I truly hope that I am not the first domino to fall.”

It was hard to hold back, but my chair cracked where my hands held tight to it. I watched as his posture changed—it was like a completely new person, a sneaky person, a secretive one, and someone who was not on my side.

I could feel my power gathering, but he was still only a platinum rank; he could do nothing to me, and it seemed he understood that. Yet, he didn’t seem scared—all that he did before was just an act.

“You know there are worse things than death, don’t you?” I asked him as calmly as I could.

“Yeah, you don’t have to tell me that twice. Fortunately, there’s nothing you can do to stop me from killing myself, and yes, I would prefer not to die.” His words made me pause, and I watched as he reached inside his breast pocket and pulled out a letter. “This is for your eyes only.”

It had a curious design; unlike anything I had seen before. It was immaculate and a bit of an oval shape for some reason. The seal was unbroken, showing an orb surrounded by broken chains. Well, that wasn’t ominous at all. I opened the letter and started to read.

“So my granddaughter is a hostage. Are you working for the Pixies or the Masters? Who do you serve? And this nonsense about her being unharmed no matter what—do you really think I would believe that? I know how everyone operates; those are just empty words.”

“Oh, believe me, I do not work for anyone you know, and if that letter says your granddaughter will be unharmed, then she will be unharmed. But did it really say ‘no matter what,’ like ‘don’t kill the messenger’ wasn’t mentioned, perhaps?”

I blinked away my confusion and looked at the letter again, then at the seal I had broken. “No, that was not mentioned.” I looked back at the man in front of me, who seemed to sigh in defeat.

“Yeah, I can see why they wouldn’t include that. It’s unfortunate. I would just like to say that I would never betray the one I serve. I accepted this mission long ago, knowing that I might die at any moment, but I am enjoying this job even if it’s just a cover for me. So why don’t we make a deal?”

I kept my eyes on him as I didn’t really get his angle. From what I can understand, they will not harm her. I still don’t believe that. While I’m starting to get an idea of who that might be, it was hard to imagine it being possible.

“What deal?”

“So, I will stay as your employee, I will get you a direct communication line with Vivian, and you won’t say anything about what's happening to anyone else?”

No, why would I ever accept this deal? It’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. In fact, why was I even keeping him alive? Because no matter what they said, they still had my granddaughter hostage, and if they can keep her subdued, that means they have diamond ranks.

Oh, and he’s just started smiling. I was letting my emotions control me too much if this young pup could actually read me so easily. Time to stop being an idiot.

“Fine, I’ll take that deal, but I want to talk to her today.”

The deadline didn’t seem to discourage him at all. Instead, he pulled out some sort of crystal, unwrapping it from a leather pouch that was keeping its power hidden.

“You can speak to her immediately.”

As soon as he finished saying those words, I could hear my granddaughter’s voice.

“It’s the dungeon. It’s completely free.”