The bunker was a cooling-off place.

Of the fourteen ‘buildings’, each one belonged to one of the Bandit groups that operated out of the area. Each one had pledged their loyalty to Sipher by some magical pact, which was why he let them in. Most of the Bandits we saw avoided us, probably because of something Sipher had said to them. We were able to make short little conversations with some of them which was how we had learned what we had so far.

We were still exploring when Sipher walked up to us with a bald, white-eyed woman in a plain brown robe with golden trim and tassels.

“Out and about I see!” The brown-haired Bandit opened his arms, but it was apparent that he wasn’t offering a hug. "Do you like what you…” He looked around. "Where’s the rest of your group?”

“They didn’t feel like walking.” I nodded in the direction of the Warehouse. "So they stayed behind.”

He shrugged and then motioned at the woman next to us. "I would like to introduce you all to your new teacher’s aid, Glima Derst.”

She bowed slightly.

“Glima here is a Summoner.” He pulled a purple book out of his crystal band. “My wonderful new partner has promised to get me crystals from the first few floors of a lot of dungeons around the world!” He handed the book over to Gesai. "Your job for the rest of the semester is to teach these kids how to defeat all the monsters in this book.”

Gesai gasped as she began looking over the book. I looked over her shoulder. Each monster had a crystal embedded into the page. The Summoner could “simply” pour magic into the proper section of a page and they could summon one of what looked like over a hundred monsters.

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“You expect me to teach them all of this?” The redhead looked at him. "I’ve never fought some of these monsters!”

He held up his hands. "This is what Trent told me. You can take it up with him at the end of the semester when I’m Tier Six and you’re out of here.” Sipher started to walk towards the lift. “Glima has their gear in her crystal band!” he called over his shoulder. "Teacher doesn’t get one!”

Gesai growled as she handed the book over to the weathered woman. If I had to bet, I would have placed her in her late forties, but the faint scars on what I could see of her body, she wasn’t a stranger to combat.

“How did you get roped into this?” Gesai looked at the other woman.

“I’m his wife.” Her voice didn’t hold as much affection for the word wife as I would have expected. “One of many among the many places he calls home.” She gestured across the bunker. "At this one, it is me.”

Gesai started to say more, but the older woman cut her off. "It is late, and we must get you to bed.” She looked at me. "We have cleared the bunker, so you will have better accommodations while you’re here.” She pointed at the building I had designated number thirteen. “Collect your friends and meet us there.”

She walked away without waiting for us to acknowledge her.

I looked at Gesai. "What do we do now?”

The redhead put her arm around Ren, who winced, but didn’t pull away. "Now we go get the rest of my class and go to our kidnapper’s house.”

I had a feeling that it was going to be just as uncomfortable as it sounded. I looked around, but during our whole outing, I hadn’t been able to spot Rix, so I doubted that I’d be able to do it now. Somehow, I knew that she’d meet us where we were supposed to be.

I started walking to the far end of the bunk. "Let’s go get everyone.”