“Ugh, that’s fun,” Ferrisdae said hoarsely. She placed a hand on her head and tried to steady herself. Teleportation sickness was common, but something that could be acclimated to with repetition. Ferrisdae, obviously, was not used to teleporting.

I looked around the room we found ourselves in. It was quite large; big enough to hold four raised stone platforms that, at a glance, could fit nearly twenty people on it. A nearby sign designated the platform we were on as New Frausta.

Curiously, no one was here to greet us. The only signs of movement were the flames above us lighting up the room and Ferrisdae’s vomit, which suddenly started to move off of the platform as the self-cleaning magic started kicking in.

Crystal Snows was far from the central regions, but the silence filling the teleportation room was not what I was expecting. Hubs like this one were required to have at least one attendant no matter how unpopular the destination, but there was no one in sight.

"Come on," I told Ferrisdae. She was still checking her robes for any errant sick. A spiral staircase was set in the far corner and I headed towards it.

Once she was sure she didn't have any puke on her robes, she began following. "Where is everyone?" Ferrisdae asked.

"Hopefully, hungover like Sophia claimed," I said. Honestly, I didn't mind. This just meant we could move on to our objective all the faster.

We ascended the stairs and into the lobby. The walls outside were the same as the ones back in New Frausta and we could see the white and gray landscape outside. There was one inhabitant in this room, a Snow Elf man with pale skin and white hair was sitting at the reception desk and scribbling away on something. He looked up at us and nearly jumped out of his seat.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Ferrisdae said sweetly. "We didn't mean to startle you. I'm Junior Dungeon Inspector Ferrisdae, and this is Dungeon Inspector Badger. We teleported here from your New Frausta branch. We were scheduled, but no one was there to greet us so we came up here."

"All teleportations should have been canceled," the Elf said, frowning as he looked between us. "The guild is closed today. I'll take your names and report them to Mr. Helfredalker upon his return."

"Then we'll take our leave," I said, heading towards the door.

"What happened to everyone?" Ferrisdae asked. I sighed and came to a stop.

"One of the researchers detected an anomaly in the Thousand Year Blizzard," he explained. "So it was all hands on deck. Except me, I have to watch the lobby."

"Thank you," I said, resuming my walk to the door.

"Do you know what kind of anomaly?" Ferrisdae asked. I stopped again. I was so close to the door. Could just leave. She'd catch up.

"No," the receptionist replied bitterly. "They don't tell me anything. Just because I got my degree in advanced magical structure from a community college doesn't mean I have to be the receptionist. I'm just as qualified as anyone else."

This time I waited. Ferrisdae was a people person. I don't know why that took me so long to figure out, but the late revelation only made me frown. Perhaps Sophia was right, she had been sent to chaperone me because I was not a people person by any measure.

I dismissed that as soon as I thought it; there was no way I was going to seriously admit that Sophia was right about something like this.

"That's really rough, friend," Ferrisdae said in a compassionate tone. "What's your name?"

"Hellisby," he answered.

"That's really rough, Hellisby," Ferrisdae repeated. "Did they at least tell you what direction they're going in? We have business at the Ice Caverns of the White Wyrm, but if we're going to disrupt their research…"

Hellisby shook his head. "The cavern is on the outskirts of the blizzard in the zone we call the Ground. They were heading deep into the storm, passing the Whiteout Wall."

"That is quite deep," I said.

The Ground was named so because snow didn't fall from the sky in that area; any snow there was all kicked up by the heavy winds and made it look like a blizzard was occurring. It was bearable when you took the entire storm into consideration. Miles deep into the storm was the Whiteout Wall and it was exactly as it sounded. You wouldn't even be able to see a person standing next to you.

"That sounds very exciting, I'm sorry that you have to miss out on it, Hellisby," Ferrisdae said. "Though you may want to get word out, a dangerous land pirate named Raitheus Razorbeak was tracked going into the storm. He might have some trick up his sleeve."

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"The only way to reach them would be to go and physically get them," Hellisby said. "The magic of the storm interferes with any kind of magical communication going in or out of it."

"We need to get moving, Ferrisdae," I said. "As interesting as this is, we have a job to do."

"You're right, sir," Ferrisdae conceded. She sighed, then made eye contact with Hellisby. "After talking to the White Wyrm we were planning on heading into the storm. If we find the mages we'll let them know the dangers."

"I'm not too worried, the chances of them running into each other are astronomical," Hellisby said. "The storm is quite large, after all." My frown deepened at his words. That kind of talk jinxed everything.

Ferrisdae just smiled. "Thank you for talking with us, Hellisby," she said before ushering me out of the door with her. Might as well have picked me up and took me outside.

The world was gray, white, and had a biting cold that wouldn't take its time reaching your bones. Snow blew down from the north, but it was a gentle covering. It could, and would, get much worse.

"We have to get moving. Right now," Ferrisdae said. She immediately started conjuring her Skymirror Carriage.

I watched her carefully. She fumbled over her spell, groaned, and then performed it perfectly. This time the carriage was cloud-gray and enclosed in glass for visibility. Ferrisdae stepped onto it and sat down, looking back at me. "Well? Come on, Badger."

"Don't rush me," I said, keeping my tone even. The moment I stepped into the carriage it took off at speed, forcing me to stumble into my seat. "Do you know where we're going?"

"Yes," she said, determination in her voice. "Since I'm the one with the carriage, I spent some time last night picking out the fastest route to the cavern."

I looked at Ferrisdae's face carefully. She was turned around in her seat and staring out of the front window. "And… How long will it take us to get there?"

"About four hours, but I can probably shave off an hour from that." As if to give her words meaning, the carriage started to speed up.

"Do you plan on staying vigilant the entire time?" I asked.

"What if those researchers decide to go into Razorbeak's caravan?" Ferrisdae asked. "We have to get in there."

I sighed. "Ferrisdae, I'm about to give you the most important advice you'll ever get as a member of the DoD."

The Elf blinked at me slowly, then shifted in her seat so that she was sitting properly. "Okay, hit me."

"I will do no such thing," I told her. My deadpan delivery made her snort. "My advice is this: you are not an adventurer."

Another slow blink as Ferrisdae processed that, then she looked at me with an angry expression. "With all due respect, that's a load of crap," she retorted.

"Oh?" I asked with an arched eyebrow.

"Yes, Badger, that's a load of crap," Ferrisdae repeated, crossing her arms. "But I'm going to give you the chance to elaborate before I get mad at you."

"You're already mad at me based on what you think I'm going to say," I told her. I could see the anger in her eyes and the way she clenched her fists.

"Yes, but I'm being diplomatic and giving you a chance," she said. Her tone was anything but.

Now it was my turn to snort. She looked so serious. "Our job is not to save people," I said. "Our job is to deal in dungeons."

"Those people might be going into a dungeon that we have a responsibility to destroy," she countered. "So, that makes them our responsibility."

I shook my head. "And what if we go into the blizzard and they're nowhere near Razorbeak's caravan?" I asked. "Are you going to go out of your way to find them?"

"No," Ferrisdae said quickly. "It would be nice to find them but we have to take care of the dungeon."

"Exactly," I said, snapping my fingers and pointing at her. "I know you're worried about them finding the caravan, but the odds of them doing so are really, really low. The dungeons are our responsibility, yes, and we are taking care of them as fast as we can, but our job is not to dive into dungeons and rescue people. That's adventurer work."

"Our job is to protect people by regulating dungeons so that the least amount of people die," she said. "In this case, there's a dungeon that poses a safety hazard to anyone who comes close to it. If they die, then that's on us."

"How many people do you think are going to die because of your decisions about a dungeon?" I asked. "How many new adventurers are going to die in Krad's dungeon? Or against Sevensleg? It's not going to be zero."

"Well, that's-"

"Exactly what our job is," I interrupted. "Our job is to even the odds and make sure that if people die or get hurt, it's because it's their own damn fault. Our job is not to save people with questionable judgment like jumping into an immensely powerful magic snowstorm and boarding some random wagons that shouldn't be in there."

"You mean the strange random wagons in the storm that has abnormal signs?" Ferrisdae spat. "The ones that may be causing the change? The strange random wagons that they might investigate because they're new and therefore worth researching?"

I frowned. That made a lot of sense. I wasn't thinking of this from the perspective of a curious magic researcher, but my own as a Dungeon Inspector. "You're right," I admitted. "There is a chance they'll find and enter the dungeons."

"Yes, and-" Ferrisdae started angrily. The steam left her face as she realized what I said. The wagon slowed down in accordance to her shift in mood. "That's right," she finished softly.

"But my point still stands," I said. "Our job isn't to save people like adventurers do. We'll go do our job, without a doubt we will, but if we are late that's not on us."

Ferrisdae exhaled, and the carriage ride became supernaturally smooth. I hadn't realized how fast we were going. "But if they need it and we can, we're going to save them, right?"

"Of course," I said. "That's just the decent thing to do. I'm mean, not a monster."