Myria says "You are taking us with you?"

"Yes, all of us are going, including the rest of the guards."

Kitara says "Good! We have been sitting around for way too long!"

Kechara says "Us too?"

"Yes, you and Asuna as well."

Myria says "This isn't like you? Normally, you try to do this kind of thing on your own!"

"Would you prefer I did that?"

Myria says "No! Of course not!"

"Then just take it as me trying to be better about things. Now, we have two goals in the city. One is to figure out what the spiders are up to, that will mainly be my job. The second is to recover materials that Yui needs."

Kitara says "What kinds of materials?"

Core says "All sorts. Everything from raw ore to lumber."

Kitara says "How are we going to transport it?"

"Each group will have a bag of holding to use."

Myria says "How are we splitting up?"

"First group will be Kitara, Asuna, and four guards. Second group will be Kechara and the remaining five guards. The last group will be you and me."

Myria says "This whole you being sensible and me not having to argue is going to take some getting used to!"

"If it's too difficult I can always go back to my old ways."

Myria says "No! Don't you dare!"

"Anyway, Myria and I will head out first and scout things out. The other two groups will follow after a bit and head for the resources. Kechara, Asuna, your job will be to watch their backs while they gather resources. If you get attacked, fight your way back to the barrier."

Kechara and Asuna say "Understood."

"Any questions?"

When no one says anything I tell them all to head to bed, we will leave in the morning. When Kechara, Asuna, and I head to bed we find Ekard and Haku sound asleep. They are really cute when sleeping, so the three of us are careful not to wake them as we go to bed.

In the morning, during breakfast, we all do our best to keep Ekard and Haku from knowing anything is going on. As soon as they are done eating Windy takes the two of them off to play. Once they are gone the rest of us quickly finish eating and start getting ready.

Luckily, I already talked to Zamart, so he is ready to shrink Kechara so she can fit through the teleporter. She could go out and fly down to enter the mountain through a tunnel, but this way we stick together. With that we are all able to teleport down to the city and start getting ready.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Core says "Welcome everyone! Here is a map of the city, the red dots are the storehouses."

"Alright, where is the library?"

Core says "Right here, in the city center. Why?"

"I still plan to clean it out. Myria and I will head there first, see if we can trigger whatever trap the spiders have."

Kitara says "What should we do?"

"Give us ten minutes, then head the opposite direction. In the past the spiders have always focused on me. If they do show up I will be the distraction while you guys get the materials."

Kitara says "What if that doesn't work?"

"If the spiders attack you with heavy numbers, abort the mission and fight your way back to the barrier."

Myria says "That isn't much of a plan!"

"I thought you hated it when I made plans? Now you want me to?"

Myria says "Well, it just seems like you are skipping a whole bunch of stuff!"

"That's because we don't have enough information. Trying to plan based on the little we know would actually be worse than going in with no plan."

Core says "You are saying it is better to react to the situation at hand rather than try to stick to a plan?"

"Exactly! We don't know what the spiders are up to or what they are planning. All we can do is react once they make their move."

Kitara says "And if they don't move?"

"Then we strip the city of materials and give them to Yui."

Myria says "What about after that?"

"We will decide at that point. Now, let's get going."

Myria looks like she wants to keep arguing, but when I get up and walk out she follows me. She stays quiet as she follows me down the stairs around the tower and through the barrier. As soon as we are outside the barrier she stops glaring at me and starts paying attention to our surroundings.

We head straight for the library, the streets are empty and the city is completely silent. Myria is obviously on edge, but I am actually not feeling anything, it is just an empty city. If the spiders are planning an ambush, they are certainly well hidden.

Then again the spiders have tried to ambush me before and failed every time. They are intelligent, I don't expect them to try something they know isn't going to work. So the question is, what new trick are they going to try this time?

Myria says "Do you see anything?"

"Nope, as far as I can tell there are no spiders or driders anywhere near here."

Myria says "This place is giving me the creeps."

"It is just because it is a city and you expect there to be the normal sounds of a city. Since you don't hear them it clashes with what you expect and puts you on edge."

Myria says "Oh, and how do you know that?"

"Because the same thing happened to me the first time I was in here. But then driders tried to kill me, now the silence feels safer."

Myria says "I thought nothing bothered you?"

"Just because I don't show it when something bothers me doesn't mean nothing bothers me."

Myria says "Just how much are you hiding from all of us?"

"That's not important. There is the library. Here, take the backpack."

Myria says "What about you?"

"I have some space in my pouch I can fill up."

Myria says "Alright, what are we looking for?"

"Just take everything. It would take longer to sort through them, especially since you can't read elven."

Myria says "Okay."

We enter the library together and both stop at the same time as we stair around in awe. The library is three stories tall, but the inside is hollow with bookshelves going all the way up. There are thousands of books, probably tens of thousands, way more than I was expecting.

Myria says "This is going to take a while!"

"Yeah, but if the spiders don't show up we have plenty of time. Just think how happy all these books will make Yui. Even Core doesn't know everything in these books, so she will probably be happy as well."

Myria says "Do you think all these will fit in the backpack?"

"Probably not, but we can make multiple trips if we need to."

Myria says "Are these books that important?"

"Knowledge is always important. Even if it isn't something we can use right now it should still be preserved."