Island Greendew had mixed feelings about his own luck as he left the unnamed dungeon run by the human-turned-arachne Fia Rush. Something about her, or the dungeon, or her situation felt… off. He’s had dealings with many Fated beings before, even had a dryad as a childhood friend, so he was sure it wasn’t the fact that she was an arachne that bothered him. He had been in the Deepdark, the endless caves below the surface, some of which were empty terrifying tombs of stone, some of which were glowing ecosystems full of life. Spiders are common down there, and he’s never been particularly scared of spiders, large or small. So it wasn’t that, either. He’d also been in a couple of dungeons in his sixty eight years of life, neither was it that. She was lower leveled than him, and sure she could have him killed by virtue of the monsters she commanded, but it wasn’t that. Greendew was used to being weaker than people much lower leveled than him. It came with being a scholar and crafter, rather than a combat-classer.
He was not sure what it was. Maybe some touch of Fate? Divine intervention could be a cause. Thinking on it some more, he had a feeling that he was witnessing the infancy of something big, something world-changing.
A new Calamity? It was possible, he supposed. Calamities were infrequent and rare throughout world history, having no set time between them. The last one had been over eight hundred years ago, the One Thousand Nights. It was said that a World-class or Epic-class spell had caused the sun to darken and the moon to turn red, plunging the entire world into darkness for almost three years. It had caused climates to shift, mass extinction, and naturally led to a rise in power of races like vampires and other undead. The Undead Lichdom of Fellwood was founded during that time. Maybe something this Fia Rush would do in the future would cause something similar? If not a world-threatening Calamity, then maybe the uprising of the arachne race, and the founding of a new kingdom? It is hard for new kingdoms to be formed without a very powerful backer, but she has the foundation set for her, from what he can tell. As far as anyone is aware, the level cap for a Dungeon Master could be Adamantine tier or higher.
Maybe she was to become a Demon Lord? He was no expert in the matter, but it was known to most people with any sort of education that there were currently six Demon Lords alive in the world. The maximum is seven, one for each Sin. That would be a matter for the various churches, and nothing to concern himself with. A Demon Lord would have a level in the thousands and might as well be a god to him. Let a Hero deal with it.
Whatever or whoever she may become in the future, he’d make some money off of her, and maybe further his classes if she had some interesting deepdark creatures as part of her monster summons.
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The town of Suttern was a fairly unremarkable place, and a fairly unkempt place. Despite sharing a similar namesake, it was not the capital of the march that it was in, and the margrave of the territory didn’t seem to care much for the town. There was another, larger, town north of Mount Causafell after all, and that was the town adventurers stopped by when heading to the Firegrove Dungeon. Suttern was a border town, nearest to Abeatia, and southeast of Mount Causafell. Convenient, as Fia Rush’s dungeon was at the base of Mount Causafell facing southeast, right towards the town of Suttern.
Maybe if Fia’s dungeon became successful one day, Suttern would be the resupply point for the dungeon, and more adventurers would lodge in the town, Greendew mused as he finally reached a point where he could barely see over the walls. Despite being a run-down town, it still had large stone walls. Every town and city did, and even some villages. It was necessary, you never knew when Awakened monsters would attack. A town without walls wouldn’t last a decade.
Funnily enough, from Greendew’s vantage point, he could see over the walls and into the city. The area was very hilly and the town itself was built at a low point. It would be incredibly susceptible to siege equipment, but no one would care enough to lay siege on the town.
The town itself was built in an almost figure-eight shape, like two circles merging together. In one of the circles, the one further from the volcano, was the residential district, filled with houses, from [Merchants] and low-ranked [Nobles] to slums filled with less fortunate souls. Typical of any town or city. With Mount Causafell at his back to the northwest, Greendew was nearest to the “mercantile” district, a much more open area meant for all sorts of businesses, from inns to shops, bakeries to cobblers. There were several stables around, but much of the district was also grassland, parks, and empty plots, areas that could be expanded into in the future. Parts of the wall in this district were crumbled, aged by time, as the town is too poor to properly maintain the entire wall and prioritizes the residential district. Naturally, enchanting the wall like a major city would is right out.
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It would suffice. It would maybe have been better to head to the larger town north of the volcano, Manton, but that was where he embarked from with the now-deceased adventurer fellowship he entered Fia’s dungeon with, so he’d prefer to avoid going back there for the time being. He’d have questions to answer there.
He had a list of things the arachne wanted him to get, starting with things that were more important, such as various forms of lighting, and ending with things that were ‘nice to have,’ such as furniture. He had written the list on some paper he had in his backpack he had left back at his camp originally, so he wouldn’t forget anything. Not that it mattered, the stuff she wanted was all pretty mundane, and judging by the state of her dungeon from what he saw, she could really use just about anything.
Weren’t dungeons supposed to be able to just magically create furniture and lighting? There was no way some of the exorbitantly decorated dungeons of the world imported all of their structures, like massive pillars and grandly decorated boss doors. Maybe it’s an ability they get with class ups? Greendew was a scholar, yes, but dungeons were not his area of expertise.
The first thing Greendew did was seek out a place to stay for the night, renting a room at an inn for the night. Then before sundown approached, he went to the post office. Post offices were common in many towns, and nearly all cities, and Suttern was no different. Well, it was very different. In a larger town or a city, the post would be filled with [Messengers] running in and out, [Tamers] and their bonded animals, from pigeons to drakes, sending letters from place to place, and [Scribes] writing down letters dictated to them. Illiteracy wasn’t as big of a problem as one might expect, as most Awakened individuals had system notifications to read, but it was still a problem among un-Awakened.
Suttern’s post office was decidedly less chaotic and more quiet. When Greendew walked in, a [Messenger] was calmly leaning against the counter, flirting with the single clerk, who seemed to double as a scribe. They both straightened up and turned to look at him when he entered, wooden sticks hanging by twine above the door clattering to make noise as the door opened.
“Hello, welcome to Suttern’s Messenger and Mail Service, I haven’t seen you around here before. Are you planning to send a letter or are you expecting to receive one?” Asked the [Clerk]/[Scribe], a Fiendling, Greendew belatedly realized. Fiendlings all looked very different, with some being much more obvious with their demonic heritage than others. Her slit-pupils with literal fire inside her irises and small black horns hiding inside of her hair were clear indicators, though she looked otherwise human.
“I was wondering if I would be able to rent a horse-drawn wagon to deliver some goods to a nearby place.” Greendew stated, intentionally vaguely.
“If it is a nearby town or a major city, we have prices available. If it is a village in the immediate vicinity, that is also an option. But if it is too far, or not a population center, we do not offer such a service.” The clerk said with one eyebrow lowered and another raised, her literal fiery gaze piercing Greendew.
“Major cities can afford to send guards along with a carriage in case the end destination is a bandit ambush, but we only send ours along established routes. No offense.” The messenger said, looking Greendew up and down with a tinge of suspicion.
“Ah, no worries, I completely understand.” Greendew sighed and turned to leave.
“How far are you going and how long do you plan to be gone?” The messenger asked, surprising Greendew.
“Uh, only about a days’ travel.”
The messenger was silent for a few moments, seemingly thinking about something, before he finally spoke. “I have a [Bag of Holding] I can lend you, if that’s enough for your needs. I’ll charge you rent for it. Say, 25 gold?”
Greendew blinked, processing the offer. 25 gold was a lot. His night’s rent at the inn was only two silver, and even that was a little on the expensive side. He could afford it, though, with the over-100-gold he had on him to spend. Not to mention getting this job done will afford him an extra 100+ gold coins. The real issue was that a Bag of Holding normally sold for around 500 gold, so lending it for such a cheap price to a complete stranger would be dangerous. The messenger seemed to pick up on his line of thought, because he spoke again.
“It has tracking magic on it. I’ll be able to find it, and believe me, I’ll come looking, if you aren’t back with it tomorrow.”
“I was planning on leaving tomorrow, actually. Could I rent it then, and bring it back the day after?”
The messenger shrugged. “Sure. I use it for work, but I’ll be taking a few days off anyways starting tomorrow. But if you don’t return it, I’ll get the guard involved. I’m not walking into some bandit ambush alone.” The messenger shrugged.
Greendew sighed once again at the casual accusations, but it made sense. If bandits needed to resupply a hidden base in the woods, they’d probably be doing what he was doing. And they’d keep the carriage, or salivate at the opportunity to steal a Bag of Holding.
Greendew wasn’t stupid though, and he paid the messenger the 25 gold up front, promising to meet the messenger here again tomorrow to borrow the bag.
He had planned to spend most of the day shopping tomorrow, but it seemed he had a lesser time limit than before. He’d get half done today before sundown, and the rest done in the morning, before heading back to Fia Rush’s dungeon.
Maybe she’d be able to copy the bag of holding the same way she could with the gold? That would be a nice bonus. It incentivized him even more to take this job seriously, despite his benefactor’s odd and perhaps sinister circumstances.