The door into the office was already ajar slightly, which meant the two let themselves in while Olivia continued to sit at her desk muttering to herself. The giant closed the door when they were both inside, making her finally look up at them. “What forms are going to be our headache for tonight then?”
“Over at that shelf, take one of each that starts with ‘RH-17’ and there should be another one directly to the side that says ‘AH-13,’” Olivia listed off without a pause, years of civic duty making her memorize the names better than most other people currently alive. Aleksi was sent to find the papers mentioned, while Elijah found a pencil that was deemed acceptable. “I’ll have them sent to the castle for archival purposes. If they think it’s weird that you’re in the dungeon before even being instated properly, which I’m guessing they will, you’re going to have to fill out some more forms tomorrow. Not my mess though, so who cares?”
“Always a positive attitude to have,” Elijah commented dryly, accepting the papers from Aleksi and sitting down to fill out the different sections.
Most of it was incredibly repetitive, and included him just ensuring whoever was going to be reading the documents that, yes, he was actually Elijah Caede, yes, he was doing this on his own volition, and, yes, he wasn’t planning to kill any Royalty or cheat in taxes by going into the Dungeon outside of registered times. It was much the same with Aleksi’s documentation, though the giant likewise had to fill out how he’d been ‘hired’ to follow Elijah into the Dungeon and what type of payment was being used. Not a fun time.
“Having a positive attitude right now isn’t very easy,” Olivia replied after spending a minute focusing on writing a letter. Elijah narrowed his eyes at the sight, when it was put in a sizable pile of other letters like it, and especially when some more paper was grabbed to start on a new one. “It’s letters to the family of the deceased if you’re wondering. The standard protocol is to just use the standard ones, but… doesn’t feel right when there are this many at once. Have to make it personal.”
Elijah didn’t offer a comment, just sitting in place for a moment as reality settled in. He could count some fifteen letters already written and prepared for send-off. Fifteen letters to fifteen different families, all caused by a guard who died in the battle the day before.
From what he’d heard, only one had survived through it all, all other guards on duty during that afternoon shift having sacrificed themselves to delay the horde of monsters for just a second more. A valiant effort, one that had killed them in the end, but it was what they had signed up for in the end. To defend the people from the horrors beneath them, to give them a chance to flee when the beasts thirsted for human blood, and to allow the city to take what they could from the Dungeon without paying for their wealth in blood.
“I’ve gotten written confirmation that we will have a group of Royal Guards watching over the entrance for a day, in two weeks,” Oliva mentioned after finishing the next letter in record time. “We’re drinking ourselves stupid that night, in honor of these idiots. The others have asked me to invite you if you’d be willing.”
“We’re never one to turn such things down,” Aleksi promised before Elijah could open his mouth. “Where is it being held?”
“The Pig’s Inn two streets down,” Olivia said, nodding her head in the direction. Elijah recognized it easily as the one Grace’s mother owned. “They offered it to us for free, though we would have to buy the alcohol ourselves.”
“Very nice of them,” Elijah commented. It wasn’t too surprising. Many of the long-term customers there were the guards, and honoring the fallen wasn’t limited to just those who took up the sword. “I think that should do it for the paperwork. Want a look?”
“I’m legally not allowed to see all the details, but I can’t find myself caring,” the guard captain said, accepting the papers from them both and skimming through them. “Letters aren’t properly spaced out, your signature isn’t consistent, and everything else is about the same quality.”
“Is that a problem?”
“No, it’s far better than whatever drivel I usually have to look at,” Olivia answered. She pulled out a few wrappings, put the documents inside, and called in one of the guards. By the time a minute had passed, a courier had already been sent to deliver the papers to the castle. “That should be everything you need to do. Thanks for doing the bare minimum.”
More rude comments than normal, the stress starting to put a strain on the woman. It wasn’t as serious as it had been in previous years, where she’d gone entirely non-verbal and communicated through glares, but they were reaching levels rarely seen nowadays.
Elijah went to leave the seat, intent on wishing her farewell and returning to the shop to work on setting up traps for a few hours, until he saw Olivia take the finished letters from the desk and reveal the ancient paper lying beneath it.
It was a map with added notes on it, one outdated by a lot of years from what he could see. And the added red circles…
“What is this supposed to be?” he asked, making Olivia momentarily freeze as she saw what he was holding. She didn’t instantly rip it out of his hands, but nonetheless put it back down on the table with a clear showing of what would happen if he tried to resist. “That map has to be matching your age, with how it has the original layout for the upper-class district.”
“... It’s not far from it,” Olivia confessed, seeming to deliberate on whether to kick the two out instantly or give it a minute. A second of thought seemed to make her decide on the latter. “Ever heard of the Dungeon having a second entrance?”
What?
“No?” Elijah answered. It wasn’t an outright lie, as he’d never heard any official source say as much, but recent times had revealed it to be a possibility. Jack and Sasha, though their memories of the experience weren’t too consistent, had described coming into this world inside the Dungeon, before being brought out and walking through the slums. And, with how the Dungeon had further shown images of them being inside there, it made more and more sense how they’d been able to do it without being noted down as going through the official entrance. “Is that what this map shows? Another entryway?”
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“It does, along with several letters and documents from around that time discussing it,” Olivia said, pointing to a stack of just-as-ancient papers that riddled the desk on the other side. He hadn’t taken notice of them before, but the old scribblings on them began to make more and more sense. “You’ve never heard about it because it’s not meant to exist anymore. Too expensive to maintain, and its position in the early slums meant that it would be too much of a headache to operate. There was an entire operation around filling the entrance up with rocks, putting a small hill on top, and then making everybody forget about it.”
And going by recent events, that hasn’t happened as hoped.
“How did you find out about this?” Aleksi asked, skimming through the letters and frowning deeply. “I’m not sure why all of this wasn’t burnt years ago.”
“Blame laziness and guard captains that refuse to clean up,” Olivia offered as an explanation for the latter comment. “And… Do you remember the case about the posters from a few days ago? The man and woman who’d killed a Royal Mage out in the slums?”
Irony wasn’t as fine to see when it hit Elijah right in the face afterward.
“I remember it well, yes,” he answered. “What about them?”
“Having to send out all the men again to remove the posters made me slightly angrier than normal, so I went to my superior to complain about how none of it made sense,” she continued to explain. “He wasn’t any help at all, ordering me to shut up and follow the instructions. Not a common response, so I looked into the guard’s archives myself. Found the Royal Mage’s robes in there, cut in half horizontally and covered in a very familiar green pollen.”
The pollen from Greater Sparrow Flowers, known for its ability to stick to anyone and anything, and known for its ability to keep up these traits for some twenty-four hours before drying out and becoming closer to simple colored dust.
“He’d been inside the Dungeon recently,” Elijah concluded. “But you hadn’t entertained Royal Mages at the entrance that day?”
“Not for a full month, which in itself was a weird event,” Olivia said. “It meant that he’d either been growing the flower outside of the Dungeon, which he had no reason to do, or he had gone into the Dungeon without going through the main entrance. Knowing which was likelier, I spent a day digging through the old documents, found this garbage, and went out to investigate the location myself.”
“And what did you find?”
“An old house on top of a small hill that looked ready to crumble,” she answered. “And a magical ward that tried to make me instantly turn back by making me extremely fearful. Powerful, and would’ve worked on most others, but I pressed on, got to the front door, and it was locked. When I tried getting in by brute force, some giant came from the side and threatened me until I left. About the same size as you, Aleksi, though there wasn’t a speck of hair on top of his head.”
Looking at the giant, Elijah was greeted with nothing but a shrug. The description didn’t match anybody they knew, though it did connect another set of dots. During their first time talking to the two young adults, Sasha had mentioned somebody escorting them through the city who had also looked like Aleksi, to the point where she thought the two were the same person.
It’s connected.
“Have you figured out anything else since?” Elijah asked.
“Nothing worthy of being noted down,” Olivia replied. “The lot that the house is on is owned by the royals, though that’s because nobody wanted to pay property taxes for it. There’s no paperwork for the house either, which means it was built illegally or nobody deemed it important enough to note down after it had been built. Regardless, there’s little we can do other than knowing that something is wrong.”
That was true, Elijah supposed. He would likely spread the news of the discovery to Cleo, to see if her people could figure out anything, but it would likely end up without anything truly new being discovered. So many years of no documented activity usually meant there was truly nothing there to be found, or whoever was there was good enough to not leave a trail of any kind.
The extreme option was to have a look at the property himself, but Elijah nixed that notion instantly. Too much of a risk, even if Olivia had been thick-skinned enough to do it herself.
“Do let us know if anything new pops up regarding this,” he said, getting a grunt in reply. She’d already settled down again, writing out another letter. Elijah would’ve thought she'd be more willing to dig deeper but she seemed to have pushed the investigation aside. A consequence of the Dungeon Break perhaps? With so many dead from the monstrous things that came from the depths, maybe that was for the best. He dreaded the idea of losing Olivia as well. “Not sure if we’ll be seeing each other again soon, but we’ll be there in two weeks.”
“I’ll save you a seat,” was the best farewell that Olivia could manage in that moment, making the two see themselves out. Fred wished them a good night when they left, Elijah replying in kind before they walked down the street at a brisk pace.
The moon was steadily reaching its peak above them, the blue light shining on the city brightly. It made it hard to see the stars around it.
“The situation is becoming more complicated,” Aleski commented when they’d traveled down a few streets, the giant seeming sure that nobody was around to hear them. “Maybe it’s time to reconsider our options.”
“In what way?” Elijah asked.
“Fleeing,” the giant said. “Not just away from the shop but away from the city.”
Elijah kept silent, keeping his words to himself until they reached the shop. Going inside, the door was locked, the curtains were drawn, and the only light used was the one from candles.
“The two up there don’t want to flee,” he finally replied. “One has the vain hope of getting back to the other world, and the other is loyal enough to support it. They’re not leaving this city until they’re either dead or they’re sent back the way they came.”
“Their deaths will likely include ours,” Aleksi added, making Elijah grow silent for a moment. “I know what we’ve done to save them from their fates, but I want to make this clear. Are their lives more important than ours?”
…
“I don’t know,” Elijah confessed. “Maybe I thought that when I saw them on the street. They’ve got the potential to live for many more years, while we might not make it for much longer. You were supposed to be dead decades ago from your body shutting down. We’ve had too much borrowed time, and… it just feels right to pay it back in some way.”
He couldn’t believe he was talking like this. Where was that pessimistic voice inside his brain, ready to cut his losses and preserve his life over everything else? It was what had kept him alive for so many years, what had allowed the duo to move on from so many fights that should’ve ended with their demise, yet now it was just silence. It was gone, leaving nothing behind to replace it.
“I’ll take that as an answer,” Aleksi said, his voice quiet and nowhere near as giddy as when the prospect of this had first come about. It made sense, in a way, as Elijah wasn’t the only one who had started feeling regrets about their past. “We can stay, and we will do our utmost, but if there comes a time where they are certain to die from being within the city walls, we are leaving with or without them.”
Elijah didn’t reject the idea. It wasn’t as if he wished for death, just wanting to help the two who needed it so much.