...

Place: Private lounge, Wintersleep Hotel

Time: Hours after Makol's announcement (Dungeon finding)

After a lively discussion, only murmurs and whispers would now permeate the private lounge with the occasional hastily scratching of fountain pens on paper and equally hurriedly turning of pages.

It became a place of study, though one that reminded every student from Earth of a phase shortly before their exams, filling the air with sweat, tears, and anxiety. However, they had well-cooked monster meat instead of a cheap nut mix, and the equivalent of the energy drinks, the tea, was ten times stronger.

How did it come to this? One of the camp representatives mentioned that they found a dungeon, a blessing, and a curse simultaneously. While usually celebrated due to its undeniable positives, it came at the wrong time in the wrong place, making the already risky operation more complicated.

Therefore, they had a more extended break and were now in the evening hours, with everyone else present, too. They needed everyone to be here, as such an opportunity would require the collective mind of their group to try to find an adequate solution.

Aurum called for Ariana and Quill, while Helena did so for Lila. Alexander needed Ocilia here as an assistant, and Makol called in William, who usually was great at information gathering.

All those groups sat in their couch corners, with many letters and reports before them. Fortunately, Jorsh and Petra did a fantastic job gathering information and copying everything they could while sneaking through the Essence Alliance outposts.

The collected facts described how a low-level commander at those outposts communicated with her loyal underlings, wanting to use the information about a dungeon to gain a more prestigious position. There were many discussions about when to tell it and to whom, but primarily, they were all about crazy ideas about wealth and prestige.

Furthermore, there were reports about expeditions to the dungeon, describing it in fine detail. Reading it, Alexander naturally compared the report with others he read about known dungeons and wasn't amused, 'It's fucking large.'

Describing the dungeon as big would probably be underestimating it since the expedition, which included experienced adventurers, some at Tier 4, was only there for a month and did not see its end.

Alexander nervously bit his lower lip, continuing to read it, 'Not good at all.'

The entrance was inside an unsuspicious mine, hidden at the end of it. It was a tin ore mine, barely used since the metal was cheaply available and barely bought due to the abundance.

However, when the report mentioned the layout, Alexander almost sighed with annoyance. Apparently, the dungeon had multiple layers, going down and upwards, with no end in sight. This meant that it had been there for a long time, able to grow and expand massively.

Was the size the problem? Of course not. The report made everyone tense because it described that the dungeon had many resources like rich ore veins and weak monsters who were equally hardy, if not more, since they seemed to eat the ore.

Due to not being fully explored, the report only mentioned signs of numerous other seemingly valuable ores and monsters. It was perfect for adventurers and a treasure trove for every ruler who wasn't retarded.

If this was a kingdom-building game and one wanted to create a country on very easy mode, the player would start with such a dungeon available to them. There was nothing easier than having a cave that would spawn endless resources.

Because of that, the air was tense inside the room. The topic was complicated, made more complex by the seemingly endless possibilities and the troubles caused by such.

Seeing this scene, Makol was confused at how they reacted, not wanting to disturb their initial panicking, but now needed to ask, after waiting enough for them to calm down, "What... is happening? Isn't a dungeon a good thing?"

Narsiz answered him immediately, not looking up from the letters he was reading but stopping his chat with Sarah and Linuel, who looked as clueless as Makol, "No."

Aurum, though, was of another opinion. He stopped his writing of something akin to a mindmap and answered solemnly, "Yes."

Helena shrugged, "I am for yes."

Alexander was ambivalent about the question, "Who the fuck knows..." Closing his eyes and rubbing them with his palms, he sounded annoyed, "...it can become a shitshow, on a scale of two kingdoms having a major conflict, or it could bring us great benefits, akin to... well, winning a major war against another kingdom."

Makol nodded, unsure if he should ask, which he did either way, "Why?"

"Well..." Alexander started his explanation by trying to explain the problem roughly, "...It's a neverending place of resources and more. Is that enough of an explanation?"

All camp representatives and Sarah looked confused at Alexander, clearly not understanding the meaning behind his snarky answer. Unfortunately, he saw this and prepared himself to explain it in more detail.

Alexander leaned back, sighing, "Fine, it's..."

Like many things in this world, a dungeon was an enigma to Alexander. It was a neverending treasure trove that renewed itself periodically. Ore, monsters, and various plants were only the more well-known resources that would always appear in the same place, even after being taken away, but after a certain period. Besides those, there were also more abstract things to gain, like skills, spells, and friendships, due to going through Outer Circle together.

After saying the last thing, Alexander looked at everyone for laughter, but nothing came. He cleared his throat and continued, "Ahem! However..."

It was impossible to rate dungeons since they were all very obscure in size and worth from the perspective of sapients (sapient races). There could be tiny dungeons that gave a skill after a trial but were only valuable to sailors.

Was such a dungeon good or bad? It was impossible to know, but there was a rule of thumb. A big dungeon was usually more worthwhile because it had a higher chance of generating valuable resources.

However, smaller ones were similarly valuable, but mostly investment-wise. They gave little to no resources, and the monsters were too weak and had little variety to care about what they were made of.

That wasn't important, though, as an investment wouldn't need an immediate return. Dungeons habitually expanded spontaneously, be it after hundreds or thousands of years. It was unpredictable.

There were also cases of them becoming unimaginably large, pushing away villages and towns, or growing into cities. Yet, everyone tolerated them because of the great value they brought.

They were also the reason why gold and other noble metals acted like free-flowing currency on Earth, constantly inflating in worth. Goldmines were inside dungeons that replenished infinitely after a specific time. Analogically, it was as if someone mined literal dollars.

However, rulers were just some of the ones seeing great value in those. If one wanted to become an adventurer, they would usually enter dungeons, kill monsters, level up, and sell those parts to numerous guilds and unions.

The material of dead monsters was highly precious, be it meat, chitin, bones, blood, or whatever one wanted to extract from them. Those would then be sold and processed by various professions like alchemists.

As such, even respected and influential commoner organizations pushed their kingdoms to acquire them, sometimes even financing wars. Alexander couldn't even say that the numerous deaths weren't worth the dungeons. Economically speaking, they were.

As such, and for other more obvious reasons, kingdoms desired dungeons, with it being a neverending treasure on a timer. Because of those circumstances, rulers guarded their dungeons more than their families.

Count Moorgrel was no different, desiring those, but he also was too unfortunate. Their territory was more or less fucked when it came to dungeons. Half of theirs produced wild demons and demonium, which was useless to everyone but the guard households. They could only make so many armor and weapons, which only they could use. Even the material from those wild demons was tough to process and pretty useless.

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As such, nobody really adventured into them, and monsters constantly came out and killed their subjects. Therefore, they mostly closed them entirely by destroying their cores.

So, what would happen if there was a dungeon that was not useless? It was a miracle. However, what did it mean that it was close to their border? It simply meant it was time to increase their territory until the dungeon was in their territory. Easy as that.

Makol interrupted him, "So, it's good, right?! Wouldn't it make your fief much more prosperous?"

Alexander smirked at him, "Will it, though? Fine..." He stood up, walked to Sarah, and took her wine bottle away, which made her angry. She was slightly drunk, growling at him, "Give it back."

Alexander returned the bottle to Sarah by throwing it toward her. She caught it and held it like a baby. He turned to Makol, smirking, "We are not the only ones who see dungeons as a precious resource, and like her with alcohol, others would do far worse than just threaten someone for a dungeon..."

He returned to his seat, plopping down, sounding worried, "...which means that the island will become a giant battlefield, with everyone sending their strongest soldiers there, which means..."

He made the ok-sign, looking through the hole at the camp representatives, "...you will be toootally fucked over by all those powers there. Now you can survive, but once someone appears who is Tier 5 or 6, shortly before their first body modification, they will simply eradicate you on a sunny morning, as a nice workout and all our plan is gone..." He chuckled, "...with you."

Makol and the camp representatives looked at each other, becoming more depressed by the moment. What Alexander said was harsh but the truth. When the dungeon would become known, they would be nothing but pebbles.

His Mother would need to take over, and the Count would need to send some more help. Other guard households may intervene, trying to help since it was that valuable. Whatever was about to happen, a dungeon appearing on their island meant that their fun little game was over, with the adults taking over, and a genuine war would start with them having now increased pressure in another theater.

'Would be known, huh...'

Alexander suddenly closed his eyes as an idea came to him that he needed to think through. Fortunately, Narsiz started to talk with them, sounding worried, "I understand your worry, but maybe we can put you on some island a little further away? While initially inconvenient and of not much worth to us, we gave you our word and will also provide help so you can defend a little non-strategic island and maybe..."

William interrupted him, smiling sadly but still somewhat amiably, trying to hold back his frustration, "What about destroying the dungeon?"

Narsiz shook his head. "You read the report and letters. Excellent adventurers investigated it for a month, and even with the help of a commander, they couldn't find an end..."

He sighed, sounding less hopeful, "There is no way for you to destroy the core, and if you try, it will probably end in your demise. Besides normal monsters..." Narsiz turned the page of the report to a drawing of a three-headed crocodile made out of the ore inside the dungeon, "...there are also stronger ones, as mentioned. Two Tiers 4's couldn't kill whatever it was, and neither will you. This much I can guarantee."

Listening to Narsiz while still in thought, he described boss monsters. While it wasn't like in video games, with one protecting a treasure chest alone in a room, it was nonetheless that they had their area and wandered around, trying to secure it for some reason.

Sometimes, dungeons, at least if Alexander trusted the writings of certain scholars, had more complex tribal societies. Therefore, a patrolling giant lizard boss monster securing their area was still relatively trivial regarding the complexity of a dungeon.

Other than that, Narsiz was too adorable. The camp wanting to destroy a core inside a dungeon like that was a moronic idea, and he reacted to it nicely. Alexander would just call them idiots and egotistical, wanting to steal a significant economic source for him.

Jorsh interrupted Narsiz while talking to William, sounding equally depressed but more realistic as he considered their perspective.

"You can't expect them to destroy such a thing, right? Beside the Leonandra household, there are also those two..." He nodded toward Lila and Helena, "...the Eros Alliance will probably work with them together, trying to acquire and share the dungeon by all means necessary."

Helena nodded toward Jorsh, her mood becoming severe, "Excellent analysis. We, or rather our clan, will most likely not try to claim it since it is simply unnecessary..."

Lila continued for her, sounding more uncaring, "Our clans would obviously like to profit from it, but there are just too many circumstances that have priority. Us trying to meddle in this will just mean that we will make a loss."

Helena agreed, smiling at everyone else, "The partnership is far more suitable. Other than that, we have already agreed that you will help us conquer the island with the dungeon specifically suited for our race."

On some small island, which the Essence Alliance heavily guarded, was another dungeon but apparently heavily specialized and only fitted to be used by fire-djinns specifically. As such, they already decided on it as their price. It would be a great bonus if they also acquire access to the discovered one. Ultimately, having a source of limitless resources beside them was also a great boon.

They made it apparent that they would be against trying to do something treacherous, like taking over and sounding highly arrogant. It was a very unlikely possibility. However, they had their pride, and as long as it stayed as words, Alexander cared little.

Helena sighed, "I obviously don't want to be obnoxious, but there needs to be an agreement about our access to it."

Narsiz frowned aloud, rubbing his temple, "Will do, but..." He looked at the camp representatives, sounding defeated, "...we will find another island, don't worry. One where we can still work together since losing you will be such a..."

Alexander suddenly opened his eyes, his ears pointing upwards from all the excitement he experienced while formulating every possibility. His face was still reddish as he calculated all the risks he could, breathing aloud with little steam coming out.

He looked around, his tail under him, propelling around in excitement. He drew everyone's attention toward him, saying, "Who knows about it?!"

After he screamed into the room, there was a deafening silence, with everyone looking at him in confusion. However, after the initial bafflement was over, the first one reacted, understanding what he meant with his question.

Linuel laughed out loud, "Haha! You are like my Dad. It's incredible!"

After another moment of silence, everyone understood what was happening and what he meant when asking aloud in such an excited way. However, not everyone found it as funny as Linuel.

Narsiz closed his eyes, probably doing the same as his brother, trying to think it through, "I see, but will it not..." Alexander nodded, "Of course. We should start in a week at the latest."

Looking at the camp's representatives, they were still somewhat confused, but Alexader had no time to be cordial, "We need to..."

However, before he could say anything, William stood up, bowing down and smiling from ear to ear, "No need to say no more, Mr. Alexander! I understand, and we will prepare appropriately, but..." Alexander finished his sentence, "You will get multiple hundreds of kilos of black powder. This much you will need if you want to do it as fast and efficiently as possible..."

He looked around, seeing Ocilia frowning beside him and staring at him. "What? You need to prepare the..." She interrupted him, "Of course, Master, but I need you to fulfill the promise."

Alexander raised an eyebrow, confused, "Aren't they?" She shook her head, "No, it's time, and please do it as soon as possible."

Alexander nodded toward her, not really liking it, especially at such a time, but he had promised it to her a long time ago and still needed to fulfill it. He looked toward Narsiz, who noticed it, opening his eyes and glaring at him.

However, Alexander only smiled at him, "So... you will help me out, too? You know about the..." Narsiz's glare intensified, which was enough confirmation for him, "...great! I will send everything you need later to you!"

Alexander started to speak to his retainers and the camp representatives, trying to find ways to expedite the whole process. Still, while collecting ideas, he peeked at his older brother.

Narsiz seemed to be the most stressed of everyone in the room. Seeing it, Alexander asked him sensitively, "You look like shit, everything fine?" Or at least tried to.

Narsiz glared at him, visibly trying to hold back that he was about to rip his head off, "I wanted to visit the island in a couple of months, after my first mating season, but this will be impossible now, with everything going on."

He sighed, visibly nervous and stressed. Linuel saw this, rubbing his back and trying to calm him down. While it was a lovely scene, Alexander saw her blushing and smelling a particular scent from her, the one when one became sexually excited and wet at a specific place.

Alexander wasn't the only one noticing it, with Sarah even glaring at her, but she had the same issue with Narsiz's pheromones going wild. It was a giant problem he didn't discuss, hoping his brother would have an easier time than Lorient, who had the Leonandra [Divinity Line]. It was obviously not the case.

He felt terrible putting them in such a situation, 'Should I send them back?'

Narsiz and Sarah were premature and going through a stressful phase of their lives. While Alexander wanted them to take a break and rejoin later, he knew it was impossible. His brother, even though partly feverish-looking, was highly motivated to continue.

Narsiz looked at Helena and Lila, smiling charmingly at them. They only knew about his situation but could fortunately not smell his scent, as it was unbelievable how intrusive it was. Even Alexander felt how it tried to make him horny, slowly irritating him.

"I will visit your clans, trying to forge some relationship since we need to rush our timetable a bit."

They immediately straightened up, becoming overly excited, with their arrogance suddenly gone. With Narsiz visiting them, they would gain more prestige inside their clans. While not the heir, the Leonandra nobility had much more power than most clans in the Eros Alliance, including the ones of Lila and Helena.

Their clans were somewhat lower than the average inside the Alliance. However, that also depended heavily on how one measured them. Still, their fief and economic output could be compared with those of 20,000 and 10,000 large towns in the Leonandra territory.

Besides that, their clans were much less centralized, with only two or three having the same power as the western and northern knightages in Moorgrel.

Narsiz straightened up, looking at the camp's representatives, "I will take you with me, or at least a good chunk so you can do your thing, got it? I will stay there for no longer than a month, and by that time, you can decide how to sort yourself out. We will try our best to create some route to deliver supplies to those staying there."

Alexander nodded, "That's fantastic. We can first solve the issue and slowly build up your base..." He suddenly frowned, seeing the report before him, "...though, there are those adventurers and their aides or whatever."

William smiled widely at Alexander, "Don't worry, Mr. Alexander. We will do it as secretly as possible!"