“Wren doesn’t know about my deal with Annabella, so keep your mouth shut,” Graem instructed as they walked together. “In fact, you should go back to your room and wait. I’ll come get you unless she agrees to call the entire dungeon raid off this week.”

Orrin shook his head. “I’m not stupid. You’ll have her cancel it and never tell her my plan so you can go drink.”

Graem stopped and put his hand over his heart, feigning disbelief. “How could you make such an accusation?”

Orrin chuckled as he kept walking. When the two men arrived, Graem knocked once and pushed the door open. “Sis? Are you in?”

“Graem, you cannot barge into my office. What if I—” Wren stopped talking as Orrin hovered in the doorway. She was sitting behind her desk, stacks of reports littering the top. “Come in, Casimir. What is this about?”

“Casimir is scheduled to go into the Mistwater Lanterns later today…” Graem paused dramatically. “With Rhys Tonsa.”

“I know. I assigned the party.” Wren signed something and picked up another sheaf of papers to read. “What’s the problem, Graem?”

“Casimir’s room was recently broken into and vandalized. My sources have informed me that multiple high-level players are gathering in secret. Enough puzzle pieces are clear to see, Wren. Someone is going after the Tonsa boy. I want you to cancel the dungeon today.”

Wren signed another paper and finally glanced up at her brother. “Is that all? I already know about his incident. I signed the paperwork for the cleanup myself. Although, why I continue to do all your work is beyond me. I’m not worried about Rhys Tonsa.”

Orrin bounced on the balls of his feet and jumped in as she took a breath to berate her brother. “Professor Wren? I’m with you on this. I told Graem we should use this as an opportunity. We can tell Rhys our suspicions and set a trap to—”

“You are not to tell Tonsa anything. Protect him if something comes at him, but that shouldn’t be necessary. The dungeon run proceeds as planned and if I’m correct, you are due at the entrance with your party in just under an hour, Casimir.” Wren pulled a new stack of papers close and sighed. “If that’s all, you can see yourself out. Brother, take that stack to Mindy for filing. Thank you.”

Graem put his hand on Orrin’s shoulder. “Step outside for a moment.”

The general joviality of his voice was gone and Orrin hesitated for only a moment before complying. The door shut behind him. Two minutes later, the tall man opened it again. A scowl marred his face.

“Walk with me.” Graem’s hand fell on Orrin’s shoulder again, steering him down a series of hallways. They passed several teachers and students but all found something else to look at as Graem glowered down at them.

Orrin hopped forward a step when Graem pushed him into an empty classroom, putting a few feet between them. “What was—”

Graem’s staff landed on the stone floor and his sound-bubble spell spread out. “Don’t talk. Listen. There are more pieces moving here than you know and I have no way to contact Annabella quickly enough to figure out if she knows what is happening. You mentioned you have a way to contact her. I need you to tell her what is going on. She likely knows everything already. She taught me most of what I know about information gathering. But in case she doesn’t… tell her my sister put you in Tonsa’s party at his mother’s request. I have actionable intel that someone was hired to enter the dungeon to take out someone but I can’t find out who it is. They might be a holdover group or a single person. I don’t think the elder Tonsa is trying to take out her own son and there is no reason for Annabella to take a target out that she’s invested time in recruiting because I’m sure that’s what you are her doing. Tell her my sister is not actively acting against her, please?”

Graem’s speech gathered steam until he was speaking so quickly at the end that Orrin had to concentrate hard to get each word. He almost pulled the relic out and sent a message based on Graem’s anxiety alone but remembered Annabella’s warning to keep it hidden.

“What did your sister say that rattled you so much?”

Graem realized he was holding Orrin’s shoulders and backed away. “She doesn’t know I’m working for Lady Sanerris. She was paid to put your group together and not ask questions. If Annabella is the spider who controls the country from the shadows, Lady Tonsa is the fox that keeps the wolves at bay. She doesn’t realize she’s in a game between the two of them and everything I’ve found shows your bedroom incident has nothing to do with either of them. Which means a third party. When titans like those two women fight, good people die. I can’t let my sister be swept into that.”

Orrin couldn’t let the man’s worry for his sister’s safety rest. “I’ll let her know your sister isn’t trying to get in her way. And I’ll make sure Rhys is safe. I can heal more than hangovers.”

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

Sharing that extra bit was giving the man more data points for whatever strange analysis he ran in his head but Orrin wasn’t about to let him worry more than necessary. He’d been helpful so far, giving Orrin more of a lead than he’d thought he’d get while a slave to Annabella’s machinations.

Graem scratched the side of his check. “You are going to have to tell me all about your class one of these days.”

Orrin reached up and tugged on the fake necklace illusion that was his slave collar. “Right after you take this off.”

Graem grabbed his staff and with a pop the sound barrier dissipated. “We need to hurry. You have a dungeon to raid and an assassination attempt to prevent.”

The entrance to the dungeon was located in a building half a mile from Mistlight. Graem commandeered a carriage and got Orrin to the building within ten minutes.

“This is a dungeon?”

A short, stone building sat in the middle of a field. Orrin could see the walls of Mistlight behind them, shining in the morning sun. Multiple embankments were built around the squat building, making it appear as if it had fallen to the ground and rippled the earth around it.

“You need to stop acting like a foreigner. Everyone knows what Mistwater Lanterns looks like. It is one of the reasons Mistlight was built here in the first place,” Graem said, stepping down out of the carriage. He pointed to the small hills as they walked closer. “These are built for defense in the case of a dungeon break. A single [Earth Mage] can raise walls in concentric rings, giving us time to defend. Of course, we haven’t had an outbreak from the Lanterns in a century or more. The main entrance is inside and guarded well.”

Orrin took it all in as they arrived at the heavy wooden doors guarded by a single watchman. He nodded lazily at Graem and let them enter.

The inside was barren and unassuming. Another guard sat inside on a stool, whittling a block of wood into something that could have been a dog, a horse, or some four-legged animal Orrin wasn’t familiar with.

About a dozen students waited around a hole in the ground, with a teacher that Orrin didn’t know holding a clipboard.

“Professor Graem, what are you doing here?” the younger teacher ran up at spotting him. Orrin snuck away before getting involved in another conversation.

“Casimir! Over here.”

Orrin sighed as his social batteries were forced to turn back on. Rhys waved at him, holding a big spear. No, that’s a glaive. Orrin remembered Brandt forcing them to try using the heavier spear-like weapon. It wasn’t as popular as a plain spear due to cost but gave the option to slash an enemy with its longer curved blade in addition to the traditional thrust of a spear. Rhys held it with a casual familiarity.

The faces surrounding Rhys soured at the sight of Orrin. Iona glowered as usual but Orrin was surprised to see Hamish giving him an ugly look as well. Only Sloane gave him a polite but tight-lipped nod. She carried a long quarterstaff. Hamish rested a battleax over his shoulder. Iona’s sword was strapped to her side but she also carried a few wands.

They stood close to the hole, which Orrin recognized as another set of stairs going into the ground. A few steps down, a haze covered everything making it impossible to see further.

“Sorry I’m late,” Orrin said as he approached. “Professor Graem needed to talk with me.”

Rhys’s eyes shot to the teacher but swiftly returned to Orrin. “Not a problem. We were just going over our strategy. You’re a sort of [Wind Mage], right?”

Orrin’s Battle Class strategy was paying off. “Of a sort, yes.”

“Sloane is an [Assimilator] and Hamish is a [Bruiser]. Both of them will be our front line.” Rhys gestured, pointing out the two other members of the party. “You and I will be the backline. Iona can fill any gaps as needed between the two positions.”

“How much weight can you push with your wind, Casimir?” Sloane asked, stepping in front of Rhys. Orrin sighed internally at the two still fighting over leadership.

“I’ve never measured it but at least a human? Maybe more, if I have to,” Orrin answered truthfully. He didn’t use [Gust] enough to know for sure but he could always use [Boost]. The spell modifier would likely make his spell strong enough to knock over even this building if he poured his entire mana pool into it. Not that he would admit that to these people.

“We’re still debating going to floor six or nine,” Sloane said, holding up a hand to cut off Rhys. “Tonsa wants to go to floor six. Easier experience, large groups of enemies for farming, and an easy climate.”

“Sounds good,” Orrin answered, catching a smile and nod from Rhys. “Why not go there?”

Sloane smiled. “Floor nine has single enemies that are worth more alone than we could get in an hour of farming on six.”

“What she didn’t say is that the entirety of floor nine is a ledge along a lava field that would take us three hours of running to get to in the first place. We would have only two hours to farm and those monsters aren’t a guaranteed sighting,” Rhys said, leaning against his glaive’s shaft. He looked comfortable in his loose, light-colored clothing, which only highlighted his dark skin. “While I am all for taking a risk, the payoff isn’t worth the work involved. Not to mention, the danger of floor nine.”

“The danger?”

“There’s a monster from a lower level that moved into the ninth floor a decade ago. It sleeps in the lava fields and only rarely comes up to attack,” Sloane added quickly. “The chances of it waking up and attacking us are slim to none.”

Orrin’s mind was weighing the pros and cons of both attacks until Sloane said that. “Floor six it is.”

“Wait! As the tie-breaker, you should know exactly what you’d be—”

Orrin cut her off. “Sloane, it would have been a fair argument until you jinxed it. Floor nine is cursed now.”

Iona finally spoke up. “What do you mean?”

“If we were to go to floor nine after Sloane said it was completely safe, whatever that monster is would attack us. That’s just how my luck works. I’m not going there.”

Sloane made a few more attempts but a beaming Rhys shut her down. Finally, it was their turn to enter. Rhys let Sloan go first, followed closely by the silent Hamish. The Tonsa heir took the middle and Orrin followed behind Iona. The entire time he’d known the pair, she was never more than two steps from him.

As Orrin climbed down the stairs, he saw a familiar message and smiled. It was time to get some experience.

Welcome to Mistwater Lanterns!