Chapter 164

His Royal Majesty, King Ferrigualt rode in comfort along with the head of his close protection detail, Tomas. They'd grown close over the years and Fair had come to rely on his advice at times. This was not one of those times.

“I'm just saying, are you sure that was wise your Majesty?” Tomas begged one more time.

Fair shook his head, “Not only was it wise, it was the only way forward. Jay isn't of Eden and he's a special kind of Traveler. My father used to tell me stories of them that his father had passed down from his father's father. Not the stories people tell little children either, but real factual first hand accounts. In all of the tales my father told me, when Travelers from the Void inevitably came in to contact with royalty, it always ended badly. Do you know why?”

Tomas did not but he was sure that he was about to learn why. He shook his head in the negative.

“Where they come from they don't bow and scrape before kings – they rebel against them, raise armies to fight them, they overthrow them. Before you ask, no, I am not kidding! Can you imagine how their interactions with hardcore royalty on Eden went? In exchange for forcing them to bow and kneel the Crown gained absolutely nothing except for a new and powerful enemy!”

Tomas looked a little surprised. Jay did not look as if he could overthrow anything, let alone the Crown. He internally revised his evaluation of Jay's abilities in light of the King's new information.

“Not me. I'm not going to repeat my ancestor's mistakes. My reign will be the one that aligns with the first Traveler, not against them. History has shown that going against them gains a kingdom nothing. So how do you handle someone who is rabidly anti-king?” Fair asked reasonably.

Tomas looked worriedly at the King. “Get rid of them?” he asked but knew it was the wrong answer. “I don't know, how?” Tomas asked wryly.

Fair grinned and pointed at Tomas, “You make them a king too! Not a major King, just a tiny king, of a tiny parcel of land. You let him feel the weight of a crown, even if it is a tiny one.”

“And his lack of respect for your Crown?” Tomas asked with a raised eyebrow.

Fair laughed, “I assure you that he meant no disrespect and that the Crown can handle the embarrassment. What is more important? That Jay bows to the crown, or that he merely nods while also agreeing to do what I need him to do?”

Tomas nodded, “I understand your point, but others may not. They may not take kindly to Jay's lack of respect. Many of them are probably already thinking about making a move against him.”

Fair grinned and laughed, “Oh no! In that case Jay will turn to the one person that can help him out of a situation like that – me. Which will only draw him closer to me and make him even more willing to do what I need him to.”

Tomas nodded, “Couldn't you just...ask him?”

Fair sighed, “I wish I could, truly, I do. He would most certainly say no though and if I'm right there is too much at risk. I'm not kidding you when I tell you that many Travelers from the Void are strongly opposed to royalty. Jay seems like he's on the fence – I'd like to push him over to my side first before asking anything of him.”

Tomas nodded. The King looked tired – being so charismatic around others required a focus that drained Fair quite a bit physically and he often ended gatherings quite exhausted even though he had barely moved the entire time.

“Any other points you'd like to make?” Fair asked with a grin as he rubbed at his eyes. Goddess he'd love a good nap right about now.

Tomas nodded, “Others may hurt him before you get a chance to draw him in,”

Fair shrugged, “I made it as clear as I could at the ceremony that Jay has my favor. What do you suggest?”

Tomas went still. You had to be very careful when suggesting anything to a King. Things could and often did get rapidly out of hand otherwise. “I can see to it that it is discreetly made known that the Glimmerhides are friends of the Crown?”

Fair smiled, “Wouldn't that make things even worse for him?”

Tomas chuckled. Some people would hate a king just because he was a king and needed no further reason. They might not be able to hurt the king but they could hurt the king's friends.

“Assign him a guard?” Tomas offered.

Fair laughed loudly, “Right! As if he'd accept that! Besides, doesn't he already have someone following him around?”

Tomas nodded, “An agent, I believe the briefing papers mentioned it in passing.”

“So he's already watched after.” the King pointed out.

Tomas thought it over. “In that case I'd recommend overwhelming violent retribution to the first person that attempts to move against him.”

Fair looked at Tomas in surprise, “Tomas! You? Recommending violence? I'm shocked!”

Tomas smiled but refused to take the bait. “That is the best way to let everyone else know to stay away. Make the price for playing against Jay too expensive for your enemies to bear.”

Fair looked tired and muttered to himself, “As if our current enemies weren't enough We have to worry about entirely new ones possibly on their way.”

Tomas looked confused, “What's that?”

Fair waved it away, “Something I saw in a dream. It's probably nothing. Let's do your rumor campaign, friend of the Crown bit, and pair that with some violent retribution to the first offender. How's that sound?”

Tomas nodded, “Perfect, your Highness.”

Fair frowned, “Didn't I tell you to call me Fair in private?”

Tomas sighed and nodded, “Yes, Your Highness.”

“Goddess damned it,” the King muttered to Himself.

*****

Jay and his friends remained in the room as the more important people began to filter out. Jay wasn't sure where they were all going but wherever it was he hadn't been invited.

Soon they were almost alone in the room save for a number of church guards who had been roping off pathways from the entry door to the dungeon entrance. The room really wasn't set up very well for through traffic. Anyone looking to enter the dungeon had to walk through the prize reward terminals area that took up the entire center of the room.

The guards had finished setting up a cordoned off line that ran from the room entrance to the right wall, then along the wall a bit, and then it curved back towards the dungeon entrance. They left the room and Jay eyed their work.

Brother Orin returned and a line of people followed along behind him. Adventurers. Brother Orin led them through the roped off area then along the right wall and then stopped in front of the swirling portal.

“Don't we have to pay to get in?” a man wearing full plate armor asked. His voice was muffled due to his helmet.

Brother Orin smiled and pointed at the portal. “One silver will be removed from your inventory when you enter the portal. If you don't have it the portal won't take you. Easy!”

It certainly streamlined things – if they had to take each silver by hand from people It would have slowed things down dramatically.

Instead all the first group had to do was follow their tank through the portal. After their last member had passed through the portal slowed and stilled its constant swirling motion for a moment. A second later it sped up back in to motion again, ready to take the next group.

“Next group!” Brother Orin yelled and the next group stepped in through the portal.

There were guards there as well and after they had watched Brother Orin manage things the operation was turned over to them and they managed the seemingly infinite line of adventurers.

Jay and his group wandered over to the prize terminals so that they'd be out of the way. As Brother Orin was relieved by the guards he walked over to Jay's group to speak with them.

“Great job, it seems to be working!” Brother Orin said with a wide smile as he took a seat across from Jay and his group.

Norri laughed, “You weren't sure it would?”

Brother Orin shrugged, “This hasn't been done in as long as I can remember. I didn't even have the right ceremony set up. Thank Goddess the King arrived and knew what He was doing and I double checked. That would have been embarrassing.”

“What would have happened?” M'redith asked curiously.

“Nothing,” Brother Orin replied, “Nothing at all. The dungeon just wouldn't have activated.”

“So that entire ceremony wasn't just for show?” Jay asked.

Brother Orin laughed, “Not at all! Your authority as Patron has a lot to do with how it was granted. Your authority has been granted by a King. As it turns out I do not have the authority to grant you Patron. It seems that there's more to making a dungeon instanced than I had anticipated. Sorry about that. All worked out in the end thankfully.”

Aiden looked like he wanted to complain but didn't. He asked instead, “So how long do we need to remain here?”

Brother Orin blinked and grinned, “You can go! Only Jay needs to remain. How long? Until the first group returns. The King mentioned that you would be needed then. Wouldn't say why, said you'd know what to do.”

Jay looked skeptical, “Well that is encouraging because I've no idea right now.”

The others chuckled before Brother Orin looked around. “Should be a few hours. Would you like me to send something over to eat?”

Everyone nodded emphatically. “I'm starving,” Aiden said.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“Right! I'll have some sent over. I'll be back to check on you all as well. I have to go check on everyone else now as well as make sure things are running smoothly. See you all soon!” Brother Orin said brightly with a wave as he walked out of the room with the assistance of his cane.

Norri looked over at M'redith with a worried look, “HOURS??”

M'redith laughed. “If you get bored you can always head out. The head monk said we don't all have to remain.”

Being told she could go home made her want to stay, even if it was boring. “No. I'll stay.”

The long line of adventurers continued to jog through the portal, one group at a time.

“Why don't you watch the adventurers? Check out some of their gear? See if anything stands out you might be interested in?” Aiden offered reasonably.

Norri made a sour face before she began to entertain the idea. After a moment she popped up and turned before sitting down again so that she could face the people that entered the room. She now had a great view of anyone who walked in.

The line moved at a good pace and some groups were managing to get their entire group inside the dungeon in 10 seconds or less. One of the guards had been given a stopwatch and notebook and had been timing the groups as they entered. The idea being that those who managed the dungeon could use the information to better plan out the entry process. Thirty seconds ended up being a reasonable amount of time to get a group through the portal.

Some groups wanted to talk. Ask questions. Gossip. Those were the ones that took thirty seconds. Then you had the more intense groups. They tended to already have found answers to all their questions and only wanted one thing. Entry to the dungeon. They would easily make it through the portal in ten seconds or less.

A half hour went by before a young man wearing a church tabard walked in with a tray of food. M'redith grinned, “What a wonderful charcuterie board!”

Jay shook his head, “A what now?”

It was Aiden, not M'redith, that answered him, “A charcuterie board is a board covered in cheeses, meats, fruits, vegetables, crackers, and dips! They're delicious!” he said as he thanked the young man vociferously before Aiden took a cracker and slathered it with cream cheese. “Oh Goddess this is good,” he said as he chewed.

No one else had even had a chance to look at everything on the board yet but Aiden was already eating.

“Dig in!” Aiden suggested helpfully.

Jay laughed as he and his group dug in. It wasn't a replacement for lunch but it definitely took the edge off of their hunger.

As everyone ate Norri suddenly jumped up and ran towards the entry door. She approached an older woman with white hair that she had braided in to a crown in to which she had then tucked in a few flowers. The woman carried a serious staff that looked as if it had been grown out of a single branch. There were no tool marks on the wood and its surface was pristine and unmarked.

As Norri spoke with the woman the woman nodded excitedly and held the staff out with one hand. She offered it to one of her group mates who refused to take it. She offered it to Norri and Norri shook her head insistently. The woman then held the staff in both hands out in front of her and it bloomed, winding vines of green and purple, the vines curling and turning with speed before gradually thinning back to nothing. Plain, unmarked bark.

Norri jumped up and down excitedly and waved her staff about dangerously before she calmed down and began to quickly recite a story that Jay and his group couldn't make out. The old woman nodded in places just to let Norri know that she was listening but she didn't interrupt.

Finally the woman nodded happily and Norri and her exchanged a quick hug before Norri skipped back to Jay and the group.

“I met a druid!” Norri said excitedly as she began to talk at a fast pace and describe her new friend. “She's going to take me gardening!”

Jay looked a little surprised, “She's going to what now?”

“She said that druids grow their own staffs. I told her about the witch we saw who said I shouldn't be using my staff and Alize said druids have to grow their own and that druids shouldn't 'use other people's wood,' isn't that wonderful!” Norri let out in a rush.

“Wait, her name is Alize?” M'redith said, barely keeping up.

Norri jumped up and down, “She's a druid and she said she'd take me out to help me grow my own staff!”

Alize and her group passed through the portal but Alize kindly waved to Norri first. Norri waved back with a wide smile.

“I'm happy for you!” Jay said. “That sounds exciting!”

It had been hours by that time and it was growing towards early afternoon. Norri was telling Aiden all about the staff she was going to grow and M'redith was sitting next to Jay as the two watched the never ending line snake through the room.

Portal Collision Error!

Exit Terminated Due to Portal Blockage!

“Uh oh,” Jay said as he got up and dismissed the notification that had just popped up in front of him.

M'redith rose to her feet as well and looked around the room as she tried to figure out what had spooked Jay.

Jay walked up to the guards who were managing the line. “Hold up guys, we have a problem.”

The guards had been informed that Jay's instructions should be followed as long as they were dungeon related. Another guard from the detail left to retrieve Brother Orin. Jay spoke quickly with the guard in charge of the detail.

“Looks like people are trying to get out but can't. We have to stop entries for a bit.” Jay said to the guard but the crowd of adventurers around him heard and began to groan and complain.

The guards dutifully held the line and a moment later people began to pop out of the portal. They were all breathing heavy and looked excited.

The problem was that they didn't leave. Why would they? They had points to spend and the rewards terminals were in that very room! The issue became that the room just didn't have enough...room!

Brother Orin arrived as people continued to exit the portal. The room was quickly filling up. “Jay! What do we do!” the head monk asked Jay a little worriedly.

Jay stood there for a moment as he thought. The King had said that Jay would know what to do when the time came.

He didn't.

Jay figured that his best bet was to Inspect the dungeon and see if that gave him any answers.

People were beginning to become angry and more guards arrived to help pacify the line.

“Any time now would be great Jay!” Brother Orin begged him worriedly as the room became crowded.

Jay stared at the dungeon portal and waited the requisite ten seconds.

He was presented with an overwhelming amount of menus. Being in charge of a dungeon meant that he had control over nearly every aspect of it and that was too much. Jay flipped through tabs until he reached one marked Restructuring & Management. He drilled down through that menu until he found a tab labeled Modify Construction.

Jay looked at the map that popped up and immediately saw the problem. This room was intended for a single group in a single day. The map showed the dungeon door with an error label. He selected the label.

Collision Error – recommend discrete exit portal

The room itself had a label as well. Jay tried that one.

Room Congested - recommend discrete entry hall, discrete prize hall, increased prize hall size

Terminal Utilization 100% - recommend additional prize terminals

Looking at the map Jay could plainly see that the level they were on had no other rooms to speak of. They were underground and a series of stairwells led down multiple levels until reaching their current level. The stairwells emptied in to a small room that led through a door and in to the combination prize hall, portal entry, and portal exit. It was too much to ask one room to do for hundreds of people a day.

It was time to do some construction. Jay made some changes. He designed a series of rooms. The stairwell would now let out in to a central room with chairs and benches along the side. The room had multiple sets of double doors leading out.

One set of double doors led to a room with a dungeon entry portal and a desk off to the side where the guards could sit and manage adventurers entry from there.

He created a new prize hall, a much larger one. Two rows of four pylons now lined the room, four on each side. Each pylon held enough terminals to handle one entire group.

He added another room with an additional portal. He set the portal to exit only. The exit room had two ways out – one led to the prize hall, the other led to the central room.

He'd designed it so that people would exit the stairs in to the central room, follow the hallway to the dungeon entrance room, run the dungeon, exit in to the dungeon exit room, and proceed either to the prize hall or to the central room and then back up the stairs they had originally descended from.

Jay had been silent this entire time and his eyes had been and still were unfocused. M'redith had been trying to get his attention and finally poked him. “Jay! You alive?!”

Jay smiled, “Sorry – this dungeon management isn't as straightforward as I had originally thought. Give me another minute, I'm almost done,” Jay said before he returned to the notification screen.

M'redith sighed as Jay's eyes unfocused once more.

The screen had all the changes Jay had made and Jay selected apply to save the changes.

A new notification screen popped up.

!Multiple major changes made!

Total Restructuring Price: 21 Gold

Required Time(hh:mm:ss): 00:01:53

Do you wish to pay now and apply your changes? Yes|No

Jay wasn't sure if he had enough gold yet for that. He tried to do the math in his head. Five silver per group, one group every thirty seconds, two groups a minute, ten silver per minute, 600 silver or six gold an hour. It had already been hours. He'd only make 70% of 6 gold every hour but that was still in excess of the 21 gold he needed for his changes to take effect.

Jay selected Yes and he was asked again,

Pay 21 gold from First K'tharkle Bank account? Yes|No

It was a ridiculous amount of money. Jay selected Yes and was given a new notification.

Purchase Successful. Please empty dungeon room of occupants to continue...

“Crap,” Jay said. “I think we're going to need the church guards to help us out with this,” he said and explained what had happened.

He was surrounded by Brother Orin and his friends and group mates. “We need to empty the room so it can be altered. It says it should only take two minutes for it to do so but it won't start until we empty this room first.”

“You can make changes just like that? Never mind, not the time for that. Right. I'm on it.” Brother Orin said as he grabbed two church guards and had them begin removing people from the prize terminals and shuttling them out in to the adjoining room as well.

The room had quickly cleared out as the line had already been stopped and the portal had been halted as well by the system due to the pending changes. Everyone was shuttled in to the adjoining room.

The adjoining room wasn't large enough to hold everyone so some of the people who had been at the prize terminals walked up the stairs a bit before sitting down to wait.

Once that was done Jay and his friends left the room as well and Jay paused for a moment to figure out how to continue. Thankfully he needn't have worried as another notification appeared without his intervention.

Dungeon room occupants: 0

Beginning restructuring...

(00:01:52)

The notification stayed up and the timer continued to count down.

“Two minutes and this should all be fixed,” Jay said to Brother Orin next to him.

“I hope so, this setup was awful and we have people in the dungeon still waiting to come out!” Brother Orin pointed out.

Jay had forgotten about that in the mix of things. Hopefully that wouldn't cause any problems...

The timer continued to slowly count down to zero.