Aster woke up to pale blue twilight filtering through his tent. Deep, faint red light glowed low on the horizon. Is the sun just rising? He rubbed his eyes, then crawled to the opening and peered out.

A dark boss room greeted him, twinkling with blue crystals. A few fire slimes wandered around near the door, the source of the red light.

Oh, right. Aster yawned and stretched, checking his watch. The little hand pointed at the six. 6 AM? It’s about time to get moving, then.

The floor near him twitched, and Aster jumped up, grabbing for his hammer. Lumpy shapes sat upright, and Milo looked at him. Dark bags hung under the priest’s eyes, his white robes rumpled and stained, his shoulder-length hair a complete bird’s nest from a night of twisting and turning on the stone. He stared at Aster with dead eyes, his mouth half-open.

Aster cleared his throat. Oh, whoops. That’s right. Milo can’t exactly leave on his own. Although priests can destroy monsters, their magic always requires a chant and a long build up. They can’t fight on their own. Milo doesn’t seem the warrior-priest type, either. He’s skinny and pale, and his hands are soft.

In the end, he’s nobility. The third son of a noble is still a far cry from a commoner. He’s not used to roughing it or fighting for his life all by himself. I bet he’s a great healer, but he wouldn’t stand a chance against the giant snakes one room over.

Slightly embarrassed, he gestured at his tent. “Feel free.”

Milo grunted something incoherent and half-crawled, half-wobbled over, practically collapsing into the bedroll.

Aster chuckled under his breath and turned to go.

“You’re going?” Stella asked.

Aster turned. Stella sat on one of the larger crystals, perched high above him, nearly halfway to the ceiling. Scrambling to her feet, she hopped down from the peak and dropped toward the floor.

“Stella!” Aster shouted. He raced over, arms out. I’m too far. I won’t reach. Stella, why—

Stella thumped down. She bounced up and dusted off her dress, then looked at Aster. “Huh?”

Oh. Right. I forget that she isn’t actually a human child. She’s sturdier than most children. Most adults, too, if that fall is nothing to her.

He frowned. Actually, if I trained her the way I was trained, wouldn’t she quickly surpass any individual adventurer?

It’s not a one-and-done fix, but it’s a great idea, if I say so myself. Even if Stella’s stronger, she’ll still need to strengthen her dungeon, true, but if she can take care of herself, I can leave her behind without constantly fearing for her life.

Stella shivered and sneezed. Rubbing her nose, she tipped her head. “You’re leaving?”

“Yeah. I’ll be right back.” There’s less risk of someone coming by this early in the morning, and Milo’s effectively out of the picture. He’ll be sleeping for a while yet, after all. Aster paused. “The snakes… are they still causing trouble? I can knock them out before I go.”

Opening her mouth, Stella suddenly paused. Her eyes glazed over, and her body went limp.

“…Stella?” Aster asked, concerned.

Her eyes lit up again, and she straightened up. She nodded. “Snakes are fine! I helped their baby, so they’ll overlook me passing this once.”

“Is that what they said?” Helped their baby? When?

“Mhm. I only have to get past them, and then I can talk to Viki. She can help me through the labyrinth to Daiyo’s hallway. I’ll be fine!” she insisted.

“And you have Milo. Have the monsters beat him up if he gets aggressive, but if he doesn’t, you can have him heal you if you get hurt,” Aster suggested. He hesitated again. “What about the labyrinth traps? Should I go with you? I should go with you.”

“I’ll be fine! I figured out how to control the dungeon.” Stella pressed her lips together and frowned at the floor, then grinned. “Kind of!”

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Aster bit his lip. I can’t help but be nervous. But at the same time, I should trust Stella. If I baby her forever, she’ll never learn how to be a proper dungeon.

Besides, like I just saw, Stella isn’t as weak as an ordinary kid, and she can turn intangible for a while if she has to. She’ll be fine. Probably. Maybe.

“Are you sure?” Aster asked, not sure himself.

Stella nodded. She patted his hand. “Be quick.”

Aster smiled. “I will be. As quick as I can. Remember to talk to Daiyo and Viki.”

“Mmm,” Stella agreed, nodding vigorously. She bounced in place, then patted Aster’s hand again. “Hurry back. I want cookies.”

“Yeah, yeah, you little ragamuffin.” Aster laughed, waving as he walked off.

He looked back one last time, then took off at a run. The dungeon vanished under his feet. Without Daiyo or Stella to look out for, he sped off at full speed and quickly left the dungeon behind. He paused at the exit and looked around, scanning for people. I don’t see anyone… but then, I didn’t see Silas, Milo, and Alice last time, either.

He turned back, looking at the dungeon. It doesn’t look particularly closed. Maybe I need to make that clearer, and then people will stay away.

So thinking, he walked around the forest for a bit until he found some fallen logs, then dragged them in front of the dungeon. He dusted off his hands, looking over his handiwork. Well, it doesn’t exactly look closed, but it doesn’t look open now, either.

Aster paused and stretched, looking at the sky. The early morning sun hung low in the sky, already climbing. Pale gold light colored the horizon, reaching thin fingers through the trees. Good. It is as early as I thought. It’s easy to lose track of time in a dungeon, but one day isn’t enough to lose track any more. I’ve gotten used to delving. Compared to when I was a kid, and I’d fall into the five-hour-sleep loop every time I spent more than a day’s trip in the dungeon, I’m much better at keeping time, now.

It's not my fault it’s so easy to sleep every five hours if there isn’t any sun! My mentor was the mental one who always knew exactly what time it was, even in the depths of the darkness.

Chuckling under his breath, Aster shook his head at the old memories. He hurried on down the mountain again, back toward the town. Alright. Let’s go get the ingredients for the tea and cookies.

“Hey!”

As he walked into town, a familiar voice called out. Aster turned.

Fontea and Jaro approached him, Fontea with her hands on her hips, Jaro neutral, his arms crossed. As they approached, Aster found himself looking up, up, up. Although Aster wasn’t short or skinny, easily six-foot-three with broad shoulders and a firm build, Jaro still loomed over him and made him feel small. Heavyset in a way that implied strength, he didn’t need to stand aggressively to intimidate Aster.

Well. I’ve got to say, I didn’t notice that when he was sitting in the bar yesterday, Aster thought, subtly swallowing. His hand drifted toward his hammer.

Fontea, on the other hand, stood at about Aster’s shoulder height and rippled with muscle, her body dense with power. A blunt jaw and brutally-cut short hair finished out the look. She scowled up at Aster. “Where’s the others?”

“Who?” Aster asked, bluffing. What do I say here? I can’t exactly tell the truth… can I?

“Silas, Alice, and Milo. Where are they? They said they were heading to the dungeon last night, but they were just going to run to the end and collect the rest of the boss’ body. They shouldn’t still be in there,” Fontea snapped, annoyed.

“They shouldn’t have entered the dungeon at all,” Aster replied.

Fontea lifted her lip. “So they entered the dungeon, then?”

Aster took a deep breath and crossed his arms back at her, looking down at her from his full height. “Entering a closed dungeon is against the adventurer’s guild’s rules. Whatever happened to them in there is their own fault.”

“What would you know about that? It took me a minute, but I recognize you. Aren’t you that guy that got thrown out of the capital’s guild? The fake S-rank, or whatever? Stopped by the guild, and saw it in the postings.”

“Self-declared Dungeon Keeper, not ‘fake S-rank,’” Aster clarified, rolling his eyes. “I haven’t been accredited by the guild, but it doesn’t mean I don’t have the skills.”

“Yeah, well, either you tell us what happened to the rest of our party, or I go tell the village elder that he’s trusting a fraud,” Fontea replied.

Aster sighed. “I told him I’m not a Dungeon Keeper. He already knows.”

Fontea narrowed her eyes. “Why won’t you tell us what happened to the party?”

Jaro stepped forward, putting a hand on Fontea’s shoulder. “Maybe he doesn’t know. The dungeon is a large place. Even if he’s been staying in the dungeon, he might not have run into them.”

Scowling, Fontea pushed him away. She pointed at Aster. “I’m keeping my eye on you. I swear, you’d better not be hiding something. I’ll find out, and I’ll make you regret it.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Aster said, waving his hand. He walked away. You know what? I’ll let Milo handle this one. I don’t feel like explaining what happened to Fontea. She won’t listen to me, but she might listen to him.

“Where are you going now?” Fontea demanded, moving to follow him.

Aster turned back as he walked. “To buy flour, sugar, butter, eggs… oh, and tea.”

“Huh?” Fontea asked.

“He’s making cookies,” Jaro explained gently.

“No, I repeat: huh?” Fontea said.

Aster waved cheerfully. “Anyways, see you later! This self-proclaimed Dungeon Keeper has some cookies to bake.”

Fontea stared after him as he vanished around the corner. She looked at Jaro. “Cookies? Isn’t Aster Zwei supposed to be an S-rank threat?”

Jaro shrugged. “Maybe to the adventurer’s guild, but he doesn’t seem particularly dangerous to us.”

“I still don’t like him,” Fontea muttered, twisting her lips.

“I don’t think he likes you, either,” Jaro replied, grinning. He patted her on the shoulder. “I bet the others are just fine. Calm down and wait. We could even try asking him nicely to look for them, instead of confronting him right out the gate.”

Fontea spat. She shook her head and walked away. “One day. We’ll give him one day.”

Nodding, Jaro followed her.