Fontea tapped her foot, arms crossed. She strode through the first chamber again and peered into the next. “Still nothing. Where are they? What are they doing?”

“Patience,” Jaro said, standing at the door.

“Patience? The time for patience is over! Isn’t this dungeon a danger, on the verge of boiling over? We can’t wait any longer!” a villager said from behind Jaro.

“Yeah. If I’d known how dangerous this thing was this whole time, I would’ve gone and destroyed it long ago!” another said.

“How many people died in the ‘trapped tearoom?’ Ten? Twenty?” another asked, shaking his head. He hefted his torch. “Burn it down!”

“No one died. It was an emergency evacuation, but everyone got out safely,” Jaro said evenly.

“But they could have died,” Fontea growled, glaring into the darkness.

“That’s right!”

“It’s too dangerous. Let’s go back to being a logging town!”

“All this dungeon has done is bring in outsiders and danger! Destroy it!”

“That’s right,” Fontea said, striding into the dungeon’s first chamber.

Putting a hand up to stop the villagers at the dungeon’s entrance, Jaro followed Fontea into the darkness, putting some distance between them and the villagers to give them a bit of privacy.

Fontea frowned over her shoulder at him. “What?”

“Have we even seen monsters since Aster went inside?” Jaro pointed out, keeping his voice calm and reasonable.

She whirled. “Whose side are you on? Ours?” She jabbed her finger into the dungeon. “Or theirs?”

Jaro put his hands up. He glanced over his shoulder at the pitchfork-wielding mob standing at the entrance to the dungeon. “I’m on yours. The dungeon is dangerous, and we don’t know what Aster Zwei is doing to it. I agree that we can’t let things lie as they are. But… it isn’t right to stoke these rumors.”

“Who cares? Isn’t it better to nip this in the bud rather than wait for people to actually die?” Fontea argued.

Jaro narrowed his eyes. “Fontea, I understand that you’re upset. So am I. Still, we shouldn’t kill innocents.”

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Innocents? He’s working on the side of the monsters. How many adventurers have they killed? Aster Zwei is a known agitator. He hates the adventurers’ guild, and now he’s fighting on the side of monsters. How long before he leads a monster army to take on the guild? How long before we have a repeat of the Demon Wars?” Fontea said.

“Fontea, don’t be ridiculous. The Demon Wars are a myth. A children’s story,” Jaro replied, shaking his head.

Fontea scowled. “Just because we tell children about it doesn’t mean it isn’t true. Isn’t it part of the holy book, too? When the Most High God came to this land, he found the heathen land gods exploiting the people. He led his men to trample them in the name of justice and righteousness, but they fought back, leading their monsters against humans, enacting countless atrocities—”

“Yes, yes. I go to church as well. But that’s all… that’s ancient history, at best. It isn’t a real danger,” Jaro said.

“It isn’t? Isn’t this exactly what happened? Someone incites the land gods to battle… back then, wasn’t it the ancient followers who—”

Jaro grabbed Fontea by the shoulders. “You’re talking about myths and ancient battles. Religion, not reality.”

Knocking his hand off her shoulders, she gestured. “Are you blind? It’s happening, all around us! This is exactly what happened back then. It might be a myth, but it’s passed down for a reason! To warn us about exactly this! Warn us to nip it in the bud!”

“Fontea, you’re being hysterical,” Jaro said.

“Hysterical? What is Aster doing? He’s raising the dungeon. Making it stronger. Working with the monsters. Teaching them. About adventurers. About humans. About us. He calls her his daughter! That monster! It’s ridiculous!” Fontea raged.

“Monster? That little girl? She looked harmless,” Jaro said, shaking his head.

“He said himself that he found her in the dungeon,” Fontea replied.

Jaro put his hands up. “Fontea, please. Milo’s in there. Do you think he’d agree to go along if Aster was really—”

She whirled and jabbed her finger at Jaro’s chest. “Milo? Don’t talk to me about Milo. He’s happily healing Alice’s murderer right now. These people have killed one of our party members, brainwashed another, and somehow… somehow restrained Silas, and you’re still acting like they aren’t the villains? We need to wipe them out! Not just for our safety, but for the safety of the entire village! Maybe even… the country.”

“Fontea, you’re being ridiculous—”

“Ridiculous? You’re the one who’s ridiculous! Turning a blind eye to all this…” Fontea pushed Jaro back, away from her. “If you don’t want to fight, then go. But I won’t pretend I can’t see where this is going!”

Jaro stumbled a step back, then caught himself. He shook his head at Fontea. “I’m not going anywhere. I’m not leaving you alone, Fontea. If this is what you’ve decided… I’m not going to leave you to die alone in this dungeon. But… I don’t think this is the right idea.”

“If you aren’t going to leave, then shut up and follow me,” Fontea said.

Jaro opened his mouth, then shut it. He lowered his head.

Fontea watched him for a beat, then snorted. “That’s what I thought.”

She turned and stomped toward the entrance. Standing there, the lone figure illuminated by the sun in a sea of darkness, she raised a hand. “Everyone, listen up! It’s time we storm this dungeon. We can’t allow it to overshadow our town any longer!”

A roar went up from the crowd. Pitchforks and torches jabbed into the air.

Fontea clenched her fist. “We’re taking our town back. Even if it means going back to logging, so be it! This dangerous dungeon can’t be allowed to exist any longer! Now that it’s being hijacked by that man, that villain, Aster Zwei—”

“Well now. What’s all this?” Aster asked, stepping out beside her.