Tension hung in the air as Arthur made his way toward the alley that held the sewer’s entrance.

As he walked, he could see people turn to watch as they whispered in groups. Jemima and George flanked him, neither speaking as they focused on getting to their destination.

Upon arriving at the sewer grate, he spotted a member of the external security team.

"Sir," the man said, throwing a quick and sloppy salute.

Arthur nodded to him. "What’s your name?"

"Justin, sir." Justin’s voice trembled slightly as he looked at Jemima towering over him. "Mike said you were coming."

"Right. Did he tell you what to do?"

The question earned him another salute. "Yes sir. Don’t let anyone down, but help anyone who needs to get up. I should avoid going down myself if I can."

"Good man, Arthur said as he took a step towards the sewers.

Jemima pushed her way ahead of him and dropped into the tunnels without bothering with the ladder. Arthur and George simply climbed down to find her at the bottom, tapping her foot.

With a shake of his head at her impatience, Arthur turned toward the tunnel that led toward where Dr. Kunibert’s bunker lay. From his current position, he was too far away to make it out the door. However, he could see points of illumination that showed the cleared-off lights.

A hand tugged at his sleeve, and he turned to see Jemima staring down at him. "Come on and don’t fall behind. We don’t know what’s around."

"The Chimeras have made it to the first level?" Arthur asked as he followed her.

George shook his head. "No, not that we’ve seen or that anyone’s reported. Still, it’s not worth wandering on your own."

"Right," Arthur agreed. "I thought I'd seen fewer solo sewer delvers lately. Though I figured that was because I haven’t been working the counter as much."

Their conversation died out as they got to the second floor. As they moved past the stagnant water, Arthur couldn’t help but keep an eye out for any potential movement. While he didn’t see any movement, he didn’t relax.

If a Slagsoul got ahold of a crocodile, there was no telling what monstrosities might lurk in the depths.

His hands twitched, and he wished he had taken the time to get a replacement for his cane. It was another thing that sat on a list that felt ever-expanding.

They kept their pace slow as they moved down tunnels he hadn’t had the chance to explore before. Some were large enough to walk side by side, while others needed to squeeze through. Jemima barely fit in one and needed to hold her breath to squeeze through.

"What are we even looking for?" Arthur asked as they crossed a small, makeshift bridge.

Jemima held up a finger to her snout before she gestured him forward toward a maintenance door. Its lock lay on the ground next to a fist-sized piece of concrete. Arthur figured it had to be the way they broke in.

As he approached, he could smell blood, reminding him of when he’d stumbled on the pile of dead rats. A look at George and Jemima told him he would go in first, and so, with a sigh, he moved over and pushed in the door.

What awaited him caused him to recoil, his stomach churning at the sight as fear and disgust filled him.

"This is not okay," Arthur thought as he forced himself to examine the room. "This is the opposite of okay."

A sickly green tint bathed the entire room thanks to the Slagsoul slime that covered the dangling light bulb. Thanks to that, it took him a moment to see the thicker sludge that covered the walls.

He spotted a few sections that held what he could only describe as sacks. From the few that sat worryingly open, Arthur noticed slime dripping to the floor.

"Does that mean they’re freshly opened?" Are they still in the room?"

His eyes darted about, but he couldn’t see anything moving. Although he spotted the remains of whatever group had broken into the room, they lay in a pile, showing all the signs of fighting a creature made of acid.

While there weren’t a lot of them left, he noticed a few intact fingers. That was good. Their friends could give them something of a proper burial, even if they’d need to go all the way to The Greenhouse to do it.

Dr. Muriler hadn’t wanted to leave his tech behind in his move.

With slow steps, he moved closer to the mess to see if he could spot what they had fought over here. He got his answer when he saw a spear sticking out of a Chimera corpse—one whose sludge body had taken on the familiar shape of a rat.

Inside the Chimera corpse floated rat bones, pieces of flesh, and what appeared to be scraps of metal.

"The remains of its last meal, I suppose," Arthur thought before reaching down to touch it, curious to see what the pop-up would tell him.

Before he made it vanish, he realized the metal scraps he saw were parts of a casing that floated nearby a section of wire and circuits. A blue LED remained attached to one wire and flickered weakly.

Upon closer inspection, he noticed a broken antenna floating in two pieces.

Arthur shook his head and pressed his finger to the corpse, curious about what he’d get from the corpse. He had his suspicions, but he’d let the Head Office confirm them.

"Ow."

Pain flared on his fingertips as they brushed against the chimera’s carapace. As he waved his hand through the air to get rid of the pain, the pop-up appeared.

A sigh escaped him as he read the list; he’d hoped to be wrong about his assumption.

STOCK FOUND

1X SLAGSOUL CHIMERA CARAPACE (Rat Type) - RARE

1X ACIDIC RAT SKELETON - UNCOMMON

2X HUMAN FINGER BONES - COMMON

1X DR. KUNIBERT BRAND RAT SPECIFIC CONTROL DEVICE (BROKEN) - UNCOMMON

1X RADIATION CRYSTAL (RANK E) - RARE

SEND TO STORE INVENTORY

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

ADD TO BAG (UNAVAILABLE - MISSING SHOPKEEPERS BAG)

DISCARD ALL OPTIONS

"So he’s been losing scouts to these things as well," Arthur whispered as he looked over the rest of the list.

None of the rest of the items were unexpected, though he was interested to see the carapace listed as rare. It made him wonder how much he’d get for it from his trade networks. A lot, if the way they'd snapped up the goo was any sign.

Arthur was glad his clothes were stain-resistant as he got back up and started back toward the door. Apart from the control device, the items he’d gotten from the corpse didn’t tell him anything interesting about the creature.

It meant, however, that he’d need to talk to Dr. Kunibert. If he could tell where the brain-in-a-jar had been losing his rats and how many he’d lost, then it might be possible to make some kind of map of the Chimera’s locations.

At least, he hoped so.

As he moved back to the door, he spotted a sack shifting on the nearby wall. He slowed his approach, keeping a wary look in case it was a trap, and was waiting to spring out when he moved near.

To his relief, it didn’t. Arthur took that as a good sign and peered closer, curious to see what it would look like. What floated inside made him wrinkle his nose. A malformed shape twisted and wiggled inside, reminding him of a dreaming dog.

It had no proper shape, and he hoped that meant it was far away from cracking open. With a shake of his head, he left it alone and moved back into the tunnel, where George and Jemima waited for him.

Both turned to him expectantly.

He didn’t bother with any preamble, simply launching into what he wanted done first. They might not have a lot of time.

"Alright, we need to organize a meeting with Dr. Kunibert. George, you’ve dealt with him before, right?" Arthur asked.

"Sure," George said. "But shouldn’t you set it up?"

Arthur let out a dark chuckle. "The last time I met him, he tried to kill me. No, it’ll come better from you. See if he’ll meet me somewhere neutral. I know he still has those speaker rat mounds."

"Got it, boss."

"What about this?" Jemima asked.

Arthur looked back at the room; he was sure he could see the sack wiggling faster.

"We burn it. All of it. We’ll stay here and keep watch in case something tries to escape. George, bring back someone with a lightning gun and some flammable materials. This can’t remain. The last thing we need is for the sacks to hatch."

George nodded. "On it, boss."

As he hurried away, Arthur looked back into the room. He really hoped a find like this wouldn’t become a common occurrence. If it did, well, they’d need a better way of dealing with it than this.

Perhaps Jessib would have some ideas.

***

Arthur could still smell the stink of burning sludge in his nostrils, even after his trip to the box in the basement.

To his relief, none of his heads of department had left while he’d gone. Nyssa and Carina sat together, going over some designs on a sketchpad, while Dr. Lisa snored next to them.

Still leaning on the wall, Mike looked about ready to doze off himself.

"Alright, we have a problem," he said as he retook his chair.

Lisa woke up with a snort and wiped her mouth with her sleeve. Next to her, Nyssa put the sketchpad down.

"What happened now?"

It didn’t take him long to explain the situation, and by the time he’d finished, the faces around the room showed reactions ranging from bored to concerned. Mike was the first to speak, his tone nervous.

"So, we’re going to stop sending people down, right? If it’s dangerous now for even the group, what’s the point?"

Oh, please," Carina scoffed. "Arthur’s plan has caused losses since my brother tried to take over. Why let this stop you?"

"Because we don’t know what the chimeras will do with the corpses!" Mike stabbed a finger toward her.

Lisa raised an eyebrow at that. "Are you suggesting they can make a human-type carapace? Arthur, may I—"

"No." He shut down that line of thought before she got started. "Also, we can’t stop sending people down."

"Why not?" Mike asked. "They aren’t safe, and we have better options. You said Lisa’s new project would allow us to grow far more food than the farms alone."

Arthur nodded along before reaching into his briefcase sitting by the desk. It acted as his shopkeeper’s bag, allowing him access to his stock wherever he was.

The briefcase itself had belonged to Richard Greenwire, the second in command of the demonic cultists who had tried to run him out of the city. It hadn’t worked, as evidenced by his ownership of their store.

With practiced ease, he flicked it open and reached inside. His hand vanished deep into the bag and returned, gripping a glowing crystal.

"We still need these."

Every eye in the room stared at the crystal before he lowered it back into the box. The things powered almost everything they had. From security systems to temperatures in the company's houses.

Without them, he knew things would get dark quickly. Upgrades for the generator were what he’d spent his two perk points for hitting level twenty on. His crystals now lasted longer, but not forever.

Plus, he could now delve deeper into the store technology list when he had more perk points to spend.

Mike shook his head and gestured toward Lisa. "But you can get those from the monsters that attacked the farms, can’t you? The knights are still fighting off her mutated animals."

"But they won’t be enough, and I can’t make more," Lisa said. "That project was before my time. An effective one too."

Before Mike could respond, Arthur held up a hand.

"Mike, do you know how many crystals Diaboli Theatrum alone needs to keep its lights on? A lot. That’s not to bring up the needs we’ll have when we upgrade the company housing or open another store."

Carina’s look turned interested as he mentioned more stores. "That’s an option?"

"Yes. Part of the deal with the housing was that I couldn’t build this place up much more. Thus, I’m going to need to expand differently. But that’s not the point. We were talking about sending people into the sewers."

"Have you asked Frank about why he is sending his rats out again?" Nyssa interrupted, eyes downcast.

The softness of her voice changed the feel of the room. Neither Mike nor Lisa said a word as they looked at him. Even Carina appeared uneasy.

"I have asked George to see if he’ll set up the meeting," Arthur admitted. "At a neutral location. Did you want to be there? No pressure to be."

Splotch squeaked and nuzzled her hand as she stopped petting him. The little elemental could sense her mood like everyone else. Arthur could see the pain in her eyes as she thought about it.

They hadn’t talked much about Dr. Kunibert. There was always something else going on—a state of affairs that he’d hoped would continue. It appeared he wouldn’t be that lucky.

Her tail wrapped around her waist, and her whiskers drooped as she shook her head.

"No. I don’t think that will be a good idea. Besides, Carina needs this work done. I’m sure I’ll be busy."

It was clear from the tone of her voice that she was trying to convince herself. Arthur didn’t rebuke her for it. If that was her choice, he’d respect it. He owed her that and so much more.

"Is that what you’d like me to tell him if he asks for you?"

"Yes. Tell him." Nyssa swallowed her words before she nodded. "Tell him I’m doing well, but I’m busy."

"Will do."

"About sending people back in," Mike said, clearly trying to change the topic.

Arthur nodded. "We need those crystals. However, we can make people aware. Keep the guard by the entrance and make sure people understand the risks before they go down. Hopefully, Dr. Kunibert can shed some light on where he lost his rats."

"Is there anything else we need to discuss?" Carina asked as she stood up. "If not, I should get back."

"No, that should be it. Anyone else?"

Lisa yawned as she looked over at him. "When did you plan on seeing The Assembly?"

Arthur tried not to let on to the fact that his visit to the wannabe superheroes had slipped his mind. "Soon. I’ll make sure you’re contacted before we go."

With everything sorted, he watched as everyone filed out of the room. His gaze followed Carina as she walked beside Mike, the two organizing how she was going to get back home.

Once he was alone, Arthur let out a sigh and leaned back in his chair. Idly, he flicked on the computer and turned on the security camera on the roof. As he watched the elementals flutter about The Orchard, he toyed with a Golden Penny.

For a moment, he allowed himself to relax, as he wished everything could be like this. However, his eyes flicked involuntarily to one of his desk drawers, where the scale and coin from the dusty office sat.

Rathnil’s office, he knew now. The question of how and why he’d ended up there continued to bug him, and as he caught sight of Pydes, he frowned.

The dragon had spent the week dodging his questions, every time mentioning regulations and how Wilth continued to block him. Arthur wasn’t sure he bought it, but there was little he could do.

As he continued to watch the screen, Pydes pulled out a laptop and started typing away. Anger flashed across the dragon’s face before he shut down the device and moved to sit by the lake.

Arthur shook his head, unsure what to make of that. He watched for a little while longer, but the dragon simply stayed by the water, glaring into it.

A commotion coming from the store drew his attention away from the screen, and he signed before switching off the computer.

They would need him, he knew, and so he got up and headed out to see what the next issue was.