Back in town, I first dropped my pets home. With them secured, I wasted no time before checking the Guild archives on Dungeon reporting rules and guidelines, then hitting the City library for laws on the subject.

The good Baron would be pissed if I didn't let him know first but I had to cover my bases.

What the law said was that any Dungeons discovered had to be reported immediately to the Lord. Only the Lord could own a Dungeon and the land in which it was found was subject to eminent domain forfeiture. A substantial bounty was paid to the finder. Anyone found hiding a Dungeon from the Lord was guilty of a crime whose punishment was immediate death.

That settled it for me. I saw three choices before me It was either a solo delve and gamble with my life for ultimate power, recall Alice and have her take me to crush the Core, or report it to the castle immediately.

What if Alice didn't have a second main Class already? Would she take it from me? Damn. The promise of doubling one's power was so tempting I couldn't trust anyone.

What if the Lord killed me to keep the secret? Reporting it as a lawful citizen might place me square on the lawful stupid quadrant.

It all boiled down to who I could trust with this information. The answer was nobody.

Just to put it in perspective, if I shouted the Dungeon's location in the middle of the Guild Hall, every single Adventurer would rush there. No questions asked. They would even murder each other in a twisted battle royale because there could be only one. One Dungeon Breaker, that is.

It was the one achievement everyone knew of and nobody who had it talked about it. Because even small children dreamed of being the hero who slays the evil Dungeon.

But a well-managed Dungeon was also a bounty for a community. Experience, monster parts, endless resources. All for the price of a few lives here and there. Our city would be half of what it is without the Dungeon.

A lot of organizations abhorred Dungeons and claimed they should all be killed. The Dragon Goddess' Church was adamant on keeping a close watch over every "domesticated" Dungeon. Any sign of irregular behavior meant a visit by the inquisition and the destruction of the Dungeon. By one of them, of course.

A lot of scholars also debated on why the System created such an achievement. Those against the System said it was to turn the people on one another. The ones for the System said it was a way to help a few chosen to ascend.

No consensus existed and the System never revealed the truth.

I needed backup. I couldn't completely trust anyone. No. I had a hunch I could trust Kara but she was also as weak as I was. It was paradoxical at a first glance but one could be strong against ants and weak against dragons.

My anxiety spiked, just like the day of my father's funeral.

If I had to trust anyone…

I could also do nothing. Ignore the Dungeon, go on my merry way and move on with my life. Then another monster would find its way to that island. Or the Dungeon decided it had spawned one monster too many and send some outside. To have fun, you know? Dungeons were sentient and immortal unless their core was broken. So, it might get a little boring in their underground holes with nobody to murder.

But I digress. Doing nothing was stupid. I didn't erase my tracks and any ranger worth his bushcraft would see that I visited the spot. And then, to the executioner's axe with George.

Fuck. I shouldn't use one of Alice's special arrows unless I was in mortal danger but what was this if not mortal danger? Not from a monster or bandits but from society's wicked ways.

I went back home. There, I climbed to the rooftop. Then, I fired another of Alice's arrows. In my defense, I was freaking out. So, Don't hold it against me when I reveal that I fired the arrow straight up with a full draw from Scout's Oath.

It was the dumbest thing I could do with that arrow. Because the higher it went, the wider the range in which it would alert Guild personnel that a crisis was underway.

At my current Strength score, Scout's Oath draw strength was close to six hundred pounds. No idea why it was in pounds and not kilograms. Or Newtons. It could be some ancient tradition that have survived the test of time.

Long story short, the arrow alerted every Guild officer and high ranked Adventurers two towns over. It caused all sorts of trouble later on.

Wallowing in my own misery, I sat on the stone with Sleepy on my lap and William by my side. Without anything better to do, I waited as I freaked out on the inside.

*

*

Hours later, Josephine and Alice arrived, the latter under her own magic and the former riding a big-ass Griffin. They landed on my rooftop. I had forgotten, among many things, that Josephine was also a Guild Master.

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"George!" Alice shouted as she rushed toward me. "Is everything alright?"

I got on my feet. Alice looked at the broken horns and antlers of my pets and the wounds Sleepy still hadn't healed properly. The bite marks were unmistakable.

"Did something try to eat Sleepy? Why did you use the arrow?"

"Long version or the short one?" I asked with an exasperated sigh. "Can we have a privacy ward? It is fine for Guild Master Josephine to hear."

"Appreciated, George," Josephine said as she approached.

Alice chanted and a bubble surrounded the rooftop. "Speak."

"I found a wild Dungeon."

Alice shrieked with excitement. Josephine rubbed her chin and crossed her arms. Then she remembered something and shifted her expression with concern.

"Who else knows it?" Josephine asked. She was a bit too forceful in her tone.

I flinched. "Only the three of us."

"You didn't report to the castle?"

"Of course not!" I protested. "Who knows if they wouldn't make me disappear only to keep the secret. I looked up the law. I have until midnight to report and it wouldn't be a crime."

Alice turned and gave Josephine the puppy eyes. "Josie, can we?"

"Absolutely not!" The senior Guild Master replied with a tempestuous reaction. "You might as well take over the government and kill the current Lord!"

"You don't want the Dungeon Core for yourselves?" I asked.

Alice laughed and Josephine grunted. "Kid, everyone over level two hundred has the Dungeon Breaker achievement. Alice helped me get mine."

"I did. Because I am a goooood friend," Alice said in Josephine's face.

Josephine deadpanned. "A good friend who made more than a thousand civilians homeless in a temper tantrum. Not to mention a poor woman's house."

Alice gasped and turned back to stare at me.

"I already know you wrecked Kara's house."

Alice gasped and then fidgeted.

"And that she broke up with me because of that."

Alice whimpered.

"It doesn't matter. The past is in the past."

Alice cheered.

"You owe Kara an apology. I bet you didn't do it yet."

Alice sighed. I sighed and moved on.

"Dungeon. Let's get back on track."

"Where is it?" Josephine asked while Alice sulked.

"In Baron Montmour's lands. I found and killed a level 38 Redscale Basilisk there. A Cored one."

"Was it the one who bit Sleepy?" Alice asked, trying to pet the Wolfertinger.

"Yeah. Nasty bite, almost impenetrable scales."

"Do you still have the monster core?" Josephine asked. "I want to buy it."

"Deal," I said to gain some goodwill. Because I knew I was fucked.

Alice clearly wanted to take me there and have me break the core. I bet that those seventeen hundred points of Intelligence were working on overdrive to find a way to do that and not need to take over the city because she didn't want the trouble of ruling the city.

"Is there any drawback from taking the achievement too early?"

"Yes, if you aren't yet awakened and without a Class. It doesn't count," Alice replied.

"Some Kings present their children with a Dungeon delve and core rights as a gift before they gain their first level," Josephine answered.

"Can a core be taken out of its Dungeon?" I asked.

"No, they explode."

"We should go there now!" Alice said.

"We should report it to the Lord," Josephine said at the same time. "Alice!"

Alice groaned.

"We will have other opportunities," I said.

Alice looked at me like I had strangled her kittens. She didn't have any kittens.

"Look," Josephine said. "We can milk the lord for all sorts of concessions. And we can make sure he pays George the real finder's fee for the Dungeon."

"Instead of making me disappear so he doesn't have to pay shit?" I asked.

"Touche," Josephine replied with a wink.

"He wouldn't dare!" Alice fumed.

"It has happened before," Josephine shrugged.

"I want to at least confirm the Dungeon!" Alice demanded.

"The System gave me two thousand Class Experience points."

"There you go. You are forbidden from getting anywhere near that place," Josephine said. "We are going to the castle immediately. The army will want to know why we violated the flying ban."

*

*

Escorted by the two Guild Masters, we went to the castle. On foot.

An army officer was already waiting for us at the gate. His presence expedited the entire process and within minutes of arriving we were at the Lord's throne room.

"What is the emergency?" Hector's father asked.

"Classified," Alice replied. "Is everyone present trustworthy?"

"Leave us," he replied with a command.

I guessed that people knew whether they were trustworthy or not but it made no sense because why would the Lord have these people in his throne room to begin with but then I thought that it was protocol to disclose sensitive information.

Once the room was secure, the Lord continued. "What is it?"

Alice grabbed my shoulders.

"George here found a wild Dungeon!" She proclaimed like the parent of the spelling bee winner.

The Lord's demeanor changed radically. He went from annoyed to serious to tense and angry in a few seconds. The few advisors who remained in the room were scared and anxious, like they too believed the Lord would kill them for hearing it.

"Is it true?"

"Yes, my Lord," I replied. "I returned from my latest expedition this morning."

"Say no more," he commanded. "You did well to come to me, George. I will not forget your loyalty."

He looked at the two Guild Masters. "He will be rewarded as the Law demands."

"You better," Alice whispered without moving her lips.

"I wish to grant the honor of removing this Dungeon to my son, Hector."

It was actually a surprise that he would grant Hector the honor. Some advisors almost protested. The Lord's expression was murderous. I could see he was as conflicted as I was before calling Alice. It clicked. The Lord didn't have the achievement. He had to weigh his choices carefully. And he decided to bet on the future and sacrifice personal power for his son's benefit.

It was noble. And also dumb. Unless the Lord had a terminal disease, he should take the Dungeon Core for himself. He would gain enough lifespan to…

Let's just say I had no idea how much a parent would sacrifice for their children. My father would do the same for me but if what Josephine said was true, he had the Dungeon Breaker achievement too.

A door opened and several knights entered, led by one of the generals. "My Lord?"

"My faithful advisors," the Lord started. ",You understand why I have to maintain secrecy regarding this news. I hope you do not make a fuss. General, these people are to be treated well but kept incommunicable until second order."

The General seemed confused for a moment, then saw the dejected faces of the people. Without a choice, everyone played their part.

I felt vindicated. If this was how the Lord treated his inner circle…

Once the room was empty save for the four of us, the Lord continued.

"Now, give me all the details." He demanded.

Alice nodded to let me know she agreed. I told him everything, about the island, the monster, and the Dungeon.