"...and then I clipped its wing as it flew by, dodging the stinger at the same time!" Tiana explained, her perspective bobbing as she mimicked the action she'd used to defeat the queen dire bee. "It could still fly, but not fast enough. On the very next pass I skewered it, stinger to eyes, on my dagger – bee-kabob on a stick."

Cayden just smiled, not giving a response. Tiana didn't need one – hadn't needed one for the last five minutes she'd been recounting her victory over the boss monster.

While Cayden's initial [Taunt] had been enough to attract all the bees, there hadn't been enough space for all of them to get at him at once, resulting in those trailing the swarm – including the queen – to veer off after alternative targets. Jeremy had intercepted a few of the dire bees but had left the queen entirely for Tiana.

"One stab! All the way through! It didn't stand a chance!"

Which she had defeated entirely by herself. And was now exulting in that triumph.

"You better help Jeremy with the rest of the crystals if you want to get your portion," Cayden gently reminded her, screwing the top onto the second full jar of honey from his place on the edge of the empty hive, pulling a third jar from the bag of supplies next to him to resume filling.

In the wake of their victory over the dungeon, Jeremy had reactivated his [Share Senses] skill as they began the grisly work of pulling experience crystals – the resource that could be consumed to increase one's racial level – from the corpses of bees. But Cayden wouldn't have been able to easily locate the tiny crystals in the bees' bodies without someone constantly looking over his shoulder, so he'd been assigned the job of collecting honey from the hive at the center of the dungeon. It wasn't exactly expensive, but the dire bees' honey could be used as a substitute for other alchemical ingredients in popular potions. It wasn't in Cayden's nature to just leave money lying around, regardless of how little it might be. Especially since they wouldn't be making anything else from the delve.

Jeremy had already agreed to give all the collected experience crystals to Tiana. She was still only level three, and the F-ranked dungeon's haul would be enough to push her up at least one – possibly two – levels. For Cayden, with his racial level in the late teens, and Jeremy, whose level Cayden assumed was similar, the entire collection of crystals would be nothing more than a drop in the bucket toward the next level.

Cayden filled up two more jars, all that he'd brought with him, before securing them with their supplies so that they wouldn't shift and break in transit.

"You two almost done?" he called to his sister and Jeremy as he walked back to where they'd fought the swarm.

"Just about," Jeremy responded.

Tiana had stopped recounting her fight to Cayden via [Bind Minds], but he could still see the small smile on her face as she pantomimed a stabbing motion with her free hand. At least she was using her other hand to search for the experience crystal of the last dire bee corpse in her section – a section noticeably smaller than the one Jeremy covered. The older boy didn't seem to mind the extra work, though.

"Let's go get cleaned up, then, and pack up camp," Cayden said. "If we hurry, we should make it back to Valtane before dark."

----------------------------------------

Cayden had been a bit optimistic in his estimation of their travel time, but not by much. The sun had set less than thirty minutes earlier by the time they spied the glowstones topping the walls of Valtane – a welcome sight.

"Ugh, I can't decide if I want to shower first or just go straight to bed," Tiana complained as she stumbled along in the dark. Her earlier enthusiasm had faded over the long hike back to the city, her endurance and strength not enough to handle the trek as well as Cayden and Jeremy. Though even Cayden was feeling a twinge of tightness in his thighs now that he didn't have [Walking] to help him along.

"Shower first and change, always," Cayden said. "You'll regret it otherwise."

Tiana grunted noncomittally.

"I'm serious. I can't tell you how many times I thought I was clean after a dungeon run, only to find some monster remains wedged in a forgotten crevice. Not something pleasant to wake up to."

Jeremy and Tiana both looked at him.

"Gross."

"Yeah. You didn't have to get that descriptive," Jeremy seconded.

Cayden shrugged. "It could’ve been worse. Ignore my advice at your peril."

Jeremy chuckled before facing forward again.

"Um, guys? Do the gates usually close at night?"

They paused, Cayden focusing on Tiana's perspective.

"...not usually," Jeremy replied, his smile turning into a frown. "They'll occasionally close them for construction or maintenance. Or if they've got a caravan coming through they'll make other people use a different gate. But they wouldn't close the gates entirely for that, and there shouldn't be any caravans using this gate."

There were over a dozen gates leading into and out of the city, and they were heading to one of the smaller ones, the lower western gate. It opened almost directly into the Lost Forest, meaning its primary use was for workers who made use of the forest's resources: adventurers, alchemists, hunters, and the like. Any caravans or traders heading to nearby cities would use one of the many other, more direct gates.

"Should we go around to the central western gate?" Cayden asked as they slowed to a stop. They were at the very edge of the Lost Forest, where the trees were closer together and there was thicker undergrowth. They looked at each other in silence for a few moments.

"Let's go check this gate, first. Maybe they're just doing maintenance and it's not closed all the way. We should be able to talk to some guards, regardless."

Cayden nodded. Though it had many gates, the city was big. The nearest was over a mile away, and he knew Tiana at least would prefer to avoid the extra walking. But despite the inefficiency, something within Cayden hesitated at the sight of the closed, nearer doors.

They were silent as they walked through the darkness toward the gate, all of their earlier joviality gone. The rest of the city looked normal as always – no ominous trails of smoke, with the main streets still obviously lit with glowstones from the way they could see the shine over the walls. But something about the closed gates was foreboding.

They didn't let that stop them, though Cayden did loosen the straps that held his sheaths over his claws, while Jeremy activated the third part of his trio of powerful skills, [Three-fold Cord]. The boost to his stats wasn't as strong as it would've been had Jeremy been with his adventuring team, as the increase was based on the average stats of those linked together. But it was still something, with Tiana getting the lion's share of the benefit.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

Twenty yards from the gate, their advance was interrupted by a shout.

"Halt! Who goes there?"

They glanced between each other quickly before Jeremy stepped up.

"Adventuring party! Returning from clearing the Honeyhive Dungeon!"

There was silence for a few moments, during which Cayden shifted nervously from foot to foot.

"Do you have your badges?"

"Yes, sir! Well, two of us. The third is just starting out. We're hoping to get her her badge, soon."

There was another pause before a small slit opened up at about head height in the gate.

"Deposit the badges you have."

Once again they glanced at each other before shrugging, and Cayden started to dig through his bag. He was just glad he'd brought his adventurer's badge with him on this delve; he'd fallen out of the habit after spending so long delving academy-owned dungeons. Jeremy's was a silvery color, reflecting his C-ranked adventurer status, while Cayden's was still a burnished bronze, the color of E-ranked adventurers. He'd been on the cusp of upgrading it before he came to Valtane at the start of the semester, but had never gotten around to it after enrolling at the academy.

Cayden handed his badge to Jeremy and then stepped back, remaining next to Tiana, while his friend walked forward and dropped the two badges into the slot. A moment later, the slot disappeared with a bang as the metal slid closed, leaving them once again in silence.

"What do you think happened?" Jeremy asked.

"I don't know. But it can't be good."

They didn't have to wait long. A minute later, the large gate opened inwards. By its size, Cayden would have imagined that it would be noisy and ponderous, but it opened quickly without a single squeak. But after opening two feet – just enough for them to squeeze past – the doors stopped moving.

"Come inside," the same voice commanded.

With a last glance at each other and a final mental confirmation, Jeremy led the way.

The street beyond the gate was well-lit from the glowstones topping the wall, but aside from a few legionnaires and a single fairy, the road was empty. Which wasn't necessarily a bad thing...but it was unusual. The sun had set, but it wasn't yet that late, not late enough for a typically well-trafficked area of the city to be so abandoned. Cayden only had a few seconds to examine the road from Tiana's perspective before a couple of legionnaires directed out of the tunnel and into the guardhouse that was halfway built into the walls. They followed silently, stepping through a doorway into a narrow hallway, the legionnaires’ wings brushing against the walls on either side, until the leading legionnaire turned and pushed open a door to the side, gesturing them forward.

The room was narrow and spartan, with a long table set up in the middle with three empty chairs on one side. And on the other side of the table sat a high elf, who stood upon their entrance and gestured them to the empty seats.

Cayden stiffened at the sight. The elf was old, with silver streaking his hair and cleanly trimmed beard – an unusual sight for the [Long-Lived] race. Cayden didn't recognize him, but high elf was by far the most popular race for nobility. And in Cayden's experience, any unexpected encounter with nobility was a bad sign.

"Please, sit," the high elf requested. His voice matched what Cayden would have imagined for the man: deep, smooth, and confident. After another moment's pause, Jeremy led the way to the far chair, Tiana and Cayden following a moment later. Behind them, one of the legionnaires stepped inside as well, closing the door behind him and taking position in front of it with his hand on the pommel of his sword.

On the table in front of the man were his and Jeremy's badges, which the elf casually fiddled with as they filed in. "Sorry about all this – we just have a few questions for you, and Parron, here will need to examine your bags."

After a quick mental back-and-forth while they handed their bags to the watching legionnaire, Jeremy was nominated as their speaker. "I've never had to do anything like this before. Has something happened?"

But the high elf waved away their concerns. "I'm sure you'll hear all about it later...Jeremy Cobbler, Cayden Johannson, and...I don't believe I have your name, miss?"

Cayden stiffened. He knew their adventurer badges included runes that could be used to identify them, including their names, but hearing the elfin man speak them out loud somehow felt threatening, even as his tone remained perfectly normal.

"Tiana Johannsdottir, sir," Tiana responded in a quiet voice.

"Ah, relatives! Siblings? Nice to meet you all. I am Sir Albert Vignoy, you may call me Sir Albert or Sir Vignoy. Now!" He leaned forward, hands clasped in front of him on the table as if he were simply chatting with friends. "What were C- and E-ranked adventurers doing delving the Honeyhive dungeon? Bit below your weight class, no?"

"Don't lie," Tiana hurriedly messaged. "They'll likely have something to detect falsehoods. If it's something you must hide, be vague or speak around it – but do not lie."

"I was recently handicapped," Cayden explained, hurrying as the silence grew awkward, gesturing to his bound eyes. "This is my first delve after my injury, and I did not want to push myself." He paused, hesitating. "And this was my sister's first delve, so we did not want to push too hard for her, either. She is considering becoming an adventurer like me."

"Well, congratulations!" Sir Vignoy responded with a smile toward Tiana. "The first delve is always an exciting one! I still remember my first delve – terrifying experience. Probably was longer ago than all three of your ages combined! And a long way away from here, too." He waved his hand as if brushing away a fly. "Are you from Valtane? Or done much traveling?"

"I am, sir," Jeremy said. "I've traveled a bit for dungeons, but never far. I've always been based out of the capitol." There was a small pause. "Should we tell him we're students at the academy? Would that get us out of here faster?"

"No. Volunteer nothing. We don't want to be associated with nobles," Tiana immediately replied, while simultaneously speaking out loud. "My brother and I are from Avernon. Came here...was it a year or two ago? I haven't left the city since, aside from this delve."

Sir Albert casually looked at Cayden, who nodded along with his sister's statement.

"That's a shame. There are so many interesting places around the kingdom to visit! But you're still young, I'm sure you'll get there." He paused. "Where in town are you currently living?"

"I've got a room in the crafter's district, near the adventurer's guild. It's shared with one of my teammates."

Sir Albert nodded before looking at Cayden and Tiana. "And how about you two?"

Cayden's heart was pounding in his chest. He couldn't lie, but neither could he think of what he could say that wouldn't reveal their noble ‘connections’. Any responses involving the academy would likely invite more questions, which would inevitably lead to the princess. And while he had no idea what the interrogation was for or who was pulling the strings behind it...

That was the one topic he was keen to avoid, regardless.

But before he could even start to think about a clever way to spin the truth, Tiana was speaking.

"I live with my brother. He's got free housing on the southwest side of town – got a good deal from another adventurer after he saved her life in the Lost Forest. Which was what triggered him to come to Valtane in the first place." She paused, smiling slyly as she lowered her voice. "Although, to be entirely honest...I think the offer was mostly just because she wanted him close...for other reasons."

Sir Albert's laugh was loud and boisterous, startling in the previously quiet room. The legionnaire standing guard by the door – who had finished rifling through their bags, evidently finding nothing of note – didn't react, but Tiana giggled along with the high elf as Jeremy nervously chuckled and Cayden attempted a smile. He didn't quite manage it – it looked more pained than embarrassed when viewed from Jeremy's perspective – but Sir Albert evidently didn't think it was off. He just continued laughing, uncaring that Tiana was the only one who seemed to be genuinely laughing along.

Eventually, the elf managed to control himself, before he pushed the two adventurer's badges across the table to Cayden and Jeremy and gestured for the legionnaire to return their bags. "Well, I wouldn't want to keep you from your 'landlord'," he said with a wink toward Tiana, who giggled even harder. "Unfortunately, there's a curfew in place. It's not the most comfortable, but we've got a room for you to stay in tonight – you'll get to see her tomorrow."

"Wait, a curfew? What's going on?".

"If there's a curfew, can we not just leave the city? We've got camping equipment," Cayden and Tiana said at the same time as Sir Albert stood.

"I'm sorry, but I can't allow that, either. You'll be free to go tomorrow at second bell once the curfew lifts," Sir Albert replied with a commiserating grimace before turning to Cayden. "And I'm sure you'll hear all about it then. Goodnight!"

The legionnaire opened the door for the high elf to leave, waited a few seconds, and then gestured for them to follow.