POV Luana

Everything was so hazy. I tried to open my eyes, but everything hurt, and the intense light wasn’t doing me any favors. I tried to recall what had happened, but all I could remember was casting spells and then darkness. It took me a few moments to orient myself to my surroundings, but I found myself in a room that smelled like a healing potion.

As soon as my vision cleared, it all hit me at once: the boss, the last fight. Wait, did we win? I opened up my achievement page and was bombarded by numerous notifications. I quickly scrolled to the recent ones and sighed in relief when I saw the dungeon completed notification, along with some free points and the trait I had wanted. However, it was a superior version compared to the one I had written down.

How had that happened? A few moments of reflection led me to the realization that I didn’t really care. We had achieved something we shouldn't have been able to. Of course, it was Rich's fault, but right now, I felt more inclined to thank him than blame him for pushing me so hard.

I wanted to go find him, but just the act of sitting up, fueled by the excitement of completing the dungeon, drained me so much that I had to lie back down. A few moments later, someone entered my room and introduced herself as my nurse.

The subsequent hours were filled with tedious tests. My irritation would have been lessened if they had answered my questions, but eventually, one of the nurses relented. I learned that we had been out of the dungeon for four days now and that everyone had made it out, though most seemed to be in a condition similar to mine. They mentioned I could have visitors later that night, so I wasn’t overly concerned anymore.

Going through all the notifications, I was so glad to find out that I wouldn’t have to level up a single time for the next two years to keep up with school standards. However, it would probably still be a good idea to focus some time on it.

I was able to eat dinner, which helped me recover quite a lot, and then I was finally able to see Horus. "Look who's finally up," he said when he opened the door. His arm was still in a cast, but that was to be expected as we all went over our every limit for healing and potion consumption.

"You look like you've been hit by a cart," I answered, which brought a smile to his face. "Everyone else is healthy. I know that the people here don’t want to say just in case they give bad news, but we all made it, and every one of us was able to get an incredible reward," Horus explained, and I couldn’t have been happier.

"So, how did the fight end? Did Rich manage to outlast the hydra?" I was expecting a story, but instead, Horus's face lost some of its happiness. "Unfortunately, I wasn't able to meet Rich when I woke up. He left a letter, but apparently, he needed to leave urgently because something had happened in his nation."

That news floored me. We had been together for two months, and while it seemed like a short while, it felt like I was going to miss someone special, a true friend. Was this what he spoke about when he said that fighting makes lifelong friends, and it hurts whenever you separate?

We sat quietly for quite a while before Horus spoke up, "You know, Arabella is quite mad. She didn't get the reward she wanted, and apparently, Rich was supposed to answer some questions. It was quite funny to see her reaction when she found out that he left."

We laughed at that, and I guess I needed it because afterwards, I felt better. "Wait, what about the loot?" I asked. "He said that he's already taken the important pieces when the normal item picking happened. He wants us to inform him about what we discover, but he said he'd most likely just want the items meant for him to be shipped to some compound in Verdia. We probably won't meet him for quite a while," Horus answered. With those words, we switched the conversation to more casual topics just to fill the time.

Stolen story; please report.

POV Rich

The questioning was annoying, but since no one suspected me of any wrong doings, I was able to leave the dungeon guards offices without too much trouble. Visiting them in their hospital beds was a weird experience. I wasn't going to wait until they woke up, so I just wrote a letter explaining a few things to them then went to find a way back.

I was pleasantly surprised to find out that in the market, they sell teleportation crystals that are keyed to certain locations, and the ones most sold were the ones back to Verdia. They were a bit expensive, but I had the money for it. Luckily, I didn't have to announce any loot, so I was able to get back to Verdia easily and without any problems.

I didn't waste much time, so I practically ran towards our compound as I needed to get back home as quickly as possible. There was a significant battle that was going to happen soon, and while I was certain we could win, there was no need for extra casualties if I could get there to help. But that would be the real question; to my knowledge, I wasn't sure if that was possible.

Approaching our compound, I found it to be completely changed. The streets around it were larger, but now the entire area that we owned was walled off, making it a lot more secure. I approached one of the entrances where one of the guards recognized me, but the other didn’t. "Stop right there, no entry unless you have a pass," one of them said.

Of course, I didn’t have one, as that system wasn’t implemented the last time I was here. "Don't worry, Rich, I will get everything sorted out as fast as possible. And Mika, be nice to him," the guard who recognized me said while running off, while Mika seemed incredibly confused.

It seems that we have a lot of new blood, but the guard seemed incredibly professional. While I could see the curiosity in his eyes, he didn’t speak up. Soon, the other guard returned, and following him were a few more official-looking people whom I also didn’t recognize.

"Rich, it's great to meet you. Roger has told me much about you. You have arrived at a fortuitous moment. Please, quickly, follow me." And even before he could introduce himself or any of the others, I was quickly ushered further in, where I soon started to hear some yelling. I did recognize one of the voices; it was Roger.

"We need to get them through as fast as possible. We have 400 trained soldiers here who could swing the upcoming battle in our favor in an instant if they're there," Michael said. And even before we made it to the large area where they were, I heard another voice answer.

"I understand this, but you have to realize that this is something new, and I haven’t been able to optimize it yet. It will require a significant amount of energy, and while we could get enough from the soldiers here, that would diminish their effectiveness by quite a lot."

When I rounded the corner, I saw a group of soldiers numbering 400. They were heavily armored, and what was most interesting about the group was that half of them were dwarves, while the other half were humans or other similar sapients.

"Then there's the problem of me only being able to get them to the capital. From my understanding, it will still take a while for them to get to the battlefield, so there's literally no way we can help them," said a scrawny-looking dwarf.

When Roger saw me and the others who brought me, he sighed in relief. "Thank the water you are here; you have no idea how much I've missed you," Roger said as he ran towards me to welcome me back. He filled me in on what was happening and who the soldiers were.

Apparently, the scrawny-looking dwarf was one of the pioneers of portal technology that used energy as a power source. However, he was owned by a merchant company that wasn't willing to release him from his contract, at least not for a reasonable amount. So, what Roger did was buy the entire merchant company, then fired all the leadership, and offered anyone else a new, more reasonable contract, which almost all of them accepted, including the new portal engineer.

I was impressed. The fact that the merchant company's previous leadership wanted almost as much for the portal engineer as Roger needed to buy their shares on the open market just showed how inept they were. We had been discussing this for a few minutes while everyone looked at me, trying to figure out who I was.

Unfortunately, Roger noticed this, and while turning around, he addressed everyone, "I am sorry I got a bit caught up, but allow me to introduce the High General of the United Freeholds, Rich Dirt." What followed was confusion, as no one knew how to react, which was a bit amusing. I wasn’t, however, sure about the new title I apparently had.

I pointed towards the portal engineer. "Can you portal me back to the capital?" He nodded in response. "That's great. Michael, there’s no need for everyone else to come; we need people to guard this place as well. I will go by myself, and that will be enough. So, let's get this started," I said, and quickly everyone sprang into motion from my words. It seemed they had done this before, as the portal engineer took his place at the center of the room and began to weave energy, much like I had seen Luana do with mana.

Soon, people started to approach him, offering some of their energy, which made the spell grow larger and larger. After about 70 people had approached him, a portal appeared, and through it, I could see what was presumably the capital.

"I appreciate the lift," I said as I walked through. I was greeted with a rush of power that being on my nation's land gave me. I soaked it in as guards surrounded me, but I soon heard commands for them to stand down. I was back home.