Companions, in misery and worse, that is what we all are, and to try to change this substantially avails us nothing.

--Franz Liszt

==Zidaun==

The next morning came quickly, sleep barely leaving a hint of memory. Whatever dreams I might have dreamt vanished like fog, burned away by the light of awakening. The dungeon was no longer refilling our food. I assumed it was only doing that until we could acquire some of our own from the dungeon. We ate and talked happily anyway. We particularly enjoyed being able to have some fresh fruit. We would probably use the door that lead directly back there periodically.

The loot we had scavenged from the dungeon the night before, as we returned to the safe zone, wasn’t anything special. It was just more coins and some dried food goods, nothing that was too valuable. We knew why it gave us food now at least. I am sure a party that actually struggled to defeat the boss would have been happy enough with the coins, however.

“Today is the last day of diving before we take a break. Standard protocol,” I said, “even if the area we are going through is very easy for us.”

The others just nodded as they ate their own food. Gurek said something that might have been a grumble, but that was normal enough. I kept talking as the others ate.

“The other party should finish their tests soon, so we will take the time to talk with them about what we have found so far. That way they will know what to expect. I don’t expect them to take too long to catch up with us, given our information. The dungeon is large enough that we can should be able traverse sections in multiple ways. Hopefully some collaboration will allow us to be more thorough. I know we will have specialists coming in, but our information will still help them to decide where to focus their efforts.

“Honestly… this place is huge. I have no idea how long it will take us to reach the end. We might eventually get to areas that we cannot traverse. The dungeon core is probably ancient, just based on all the artwork, but the new dungeon is not that old. So, we might actually reach the end sooner than would be expected. If that is the case, we can expect the dungeon to continually shift and grow. It will be recreating its old dungeon, most likely.

“I didn’t want to mention it before, but there is a chance that the dungeon will keep rebuilding for a long time. We have seen two floors already, though we still need to explore the rest of the meadow area. I only mention it now because the dungeon is so large.”

I hesitated, while the others looked at me curiously. They ate absentmindedly, the habit of eating during briefings sufficient to keep them going.

“If,” I said, “this place is large enough, I can probably get you guys assigned here permanently.”

Gurek swallowed and was about to speak. I cut him off.

“However,” I said, “that requires that the dungeon really continue developing. And you guys would need to agree, of course. I am going to be in charge of the Adar here for a while, so I’ll have some diplomatic pull, but I don’t want to force it on you. And, I will have responsibilities to deal with among the Adar, so those will always have to come first.”

I was going to try to delegate as many of my responsibilities as I could though. I might have the final word, but I absolutely did not have the training to deal with all of this on my own. At least I had as much time as I needed to learn.

“I’d be happy enough to be assigned here,” Gurek said. “As long as this place ends up with more amenities. This building is nice, but I want a place I can go grab a drink at the end of the day.”

“That… will actually be an interesting challenge,” Inda said. “This dungeon is much deeper in than most. Even just from our side it will take a brisk walk to get outside within an hour. And that is with our advantages. Most starting adventurers will take an hour and a half to two hours. And that is not even considering the other entrance, normal people will take most of a day to travel that one.

“So I’m not sure where the usual outposts are going to go. There will almost certainly be one at each entrance, regardless, if only for the military. And merchants will be flocking to make use of the tunnels through the mountains. There simply isn’t a more direct route. The escarpment means that moving large amount of goods to the ocean is difficult, and the terrain of the delta below combines with that to make a proper coastal city impractical.

She gestured toward me.

“The only ones who really live there are the Adar,” she continued, “and they use their dungeon as a base of operations.”

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“The most direct route was to head northward around the edge of escarpment and then to the coast. Then a merchant could take a ship southward and head into Tsary from the coast. Not even including the time by ship, I am pretty sure the over land portion of that route between the two capitals is longer than the total path going through the dungeon offers. Sure, the distance is an inconvenience to us, but a straight path has been literally cut through the mountains. And the sea route is only available less than half the year anyway. The rest of the time people have to travel far to the west and head through the pass.

“Ha,” she shook her head with a laugh, “the other pass. There isn’t a chance in hell that this isn’t going to become the main route. The other route takes a very long time. And this route is even going to go underneath almost all of the snow.”

“Ah, yes,” Gurek said. “Always a pleasure to hear you lecture us. Please, share your wisdom wise sage.”

Inda colored, her mouth snapping shut with a click.

“I probably will need all this information,” I said with a sigh. “Like I said, I am going to be managing the Adar here for a while. Part of my new role. Ugh… there are going to be thousands here soon. Probably within days. There is no way they won’t have gotten a copy of my first report by now.”

“As I was saying,” Inda said primly, her eyes daring Gurek to interrupt again, “this actually is relevant to us. This place is going to become huge. Even if the dungeon had only offered a safe route through the mountains, it would have been more than enough. Trade routes are going to shift; massive amounts of money will be invested in infrastructure.

“As for where people are going to build…”

Inda looked outside the kitchen window, the light of the interior barely allowing the outside lights of the road to be visible. She gestured outside.

“Inside a dungeon,” Gurek burst out, “are you crazy?”

“The Adar build their enclaves into dungeons, right?” Inda said to me.

“Yeah, we do, we shape the dungeons so we can live there,” I said.

“They’re Adar, we’re human,” Gurek said. “Who would agree to live here?”

“We would,” Inda said. “And so will the people who want to make money off of us. This space is mostly empty. And this entire place has been perfectly shaped around adventurers. You heard Zidaun earlier, it is likely this place has already been shaped by the Adar. And this place is so valuable, there is no way the Adar will be able to buy out the other countries interest in it. And I don’t know of any other dungeon with such large connected safe areas.”

I couldn’t exactly tell her that my claim of the Adar shaping it in the past had been a lie.

“Other adventurers are going to think the same way,” she said. “I am not sure if there is really enough room here to build a major city, but, at the least, a full adventurer’s guild will end up here. Merchants will do the same. Some nobles are almost bound to stick their noses in too. Ugh… and the military will want to build an internal outpost.”

Inda looked outside again. Her eyes scanned the darkness.

“Huh,” she said, “maybe their isn’t enough room here. Both countries are going to be setting up here. It is going to get crowded. And the Adar, too. I suppose the Adar will be able to go and make their own area, but that still leaves things crowded for the rest of us.

“The point though, is that we can reasonably expect all the amenities of a large city to be available. Eventually.”

“The church will build here too,” Firi mused, his eyes distant.

“Both churches,” Inda said. “The two countries are almost certainly going to try to outdo each other. I suppose my training in politics is proving useful for something. I wouldn’t have thought of a dungeon as being proper neutral ground, but it is.”

Inda looked me in the eyes.

“I don’t envy you your job,” she said. “At least with you being Adar, people will know better than to mess with you. I suspect you will still have a lot of headaches, however.”

I massaged my head. I was already starting to get a headache. I knew that Ancients had to deal with a lot. However, most new dungeons, even properly awakened dungeons, were well out of the way. There were a few that proved more valuable than the Adar’s offers to buy exclusive access. Each dungeon was always available to the kingdom it was inside for fifty years, even if the Adar made their claim. This wait had proven to be a wise policy, so kingdoms knew exactly what was inside the dungeon. They couldn’t claim they were cheated if they had access to a dungeon for fifty years and accepted an offer to purchase it.

However, this dungeon was priceless merely due to its location. And it was priceless to two separate kingdoms. That meant politics. And, as a neutral party, I was almost certain that we would be called upon to adjudicate between the two different kingdoms. I could just imagine endless meetings with ambassadors, the hours crawling away to die as I forced myself to listen. And I was immortal now… I would never be able to get away from it all.

Nope, nope… I would absolutely be delegating. I hoped the dungeon continued to expand for centuries. That would give me a reasonable duty to see to that didn’t involve dealing with so many other people.

“I’m not exactly looking forward to it myself,” I said, speaking with completely fervent honesty.

“Don’t worry,” Gurek said. “As long as I get some creature comforts I am happy enough to stick around.”

“If the dungeon keeps expanding,” Inda said, “I will be happy enough. Exploration is what I really like, and this place seems perfect for that. And with such an incredible series of environments, mages and scholars are both going to be drawn here. So I won’t be stuck only talking to Gurek.”

I turned to Firi, giving a soft smile.

“What about you?” I said.

He returned my smile, his eyes flickering downward a moment after meeting mine. A faint blush colored his cheeks.

“Yeah,” he said, “I am sure I could do some good here. I would love to stay a while, if it works out like you hope.”

My smile was radiant, even as we headed off to explore for the day.