Rok had been very confused after the meeting, understandable, given the fact that even as ownership rights became the topic, both guilds didn’t posture, didn’t show off, didn’t make threats, and overall acted like cordial people. He wondered what happened since his last meeting like this, it wasn’t even branch leaders, just two specific hall masters, and they actually drew their weapons. The dispute was over who would get the corpse of a nesting steelback turtle, too, it just so happened to be on land and it caused them to see red.

So after watching the two branch leaders face each other, and talking to one another like peers, was quite a shock. Maybe things really had changed for the better between the guilds, that was the hope. It might not be the case, it might be simply these two leaders could act like decent beings to one another, and any other branch leaders would have killed the other by now, but he was pleased to not be dragged into a battle between two branch heads.

Their agreement came down to, both the guilds will get access to the dungeon, and a dual hall will be set up on and around the island of Gil. Groups of Amphibians will get priority into the dungeon, and as with all of them, no sanctioned night ventures. Three “First Exploration” teams, as they were now termed, would be sent in, one from both guilds, then an Amphibian group at the end. Rok got his request, and wasn’t required to join any expeditions, though he was offered some very heavy rewards, should he choose to do so anyways.

However, he would be placed in charge of whatever the two guilds decided to make their dungeon town, something that he was nonplussed about to say the least. He knew that he’d been condemned to likely never enjoy any peace, and his protests fell on deaf ears.

Realizing that there was nothing more that could be done, he decided to just make the best of it, and apply for retirement from this too as soon as he was able. And thus, ended the meeting he dreaded so much, and ended up wildly different than anything he expected. Of course, he wound up getting screwed, in his own opinion, but at least it was not the literal war that he was certain of. So, he decided to lead the leaders to the dungeon.

The Atlanteans had no issues following Rok, though the Adventurers had a worse time of it. They hadn’t brought along anything that could be used as a boat, and the leader wound up trying to swim along behind Rok, even though there was some space remaining on the log that was being pulled along behind the two Atlantean assistants.

Now, had the branch leader been a polar bear-kin, or even brown variant, he’d have been rather well adapted to swimming. Instead, he was a cave bear, something that explained his large size, standing eye to eye with Rok. Unfortunately, he wasn’t as well acquainted with the water, and wound up floundering along for nearly two kilometers from the coast before feeling too tired to continue, and being truly at risk of the Burn. He relented his pride and squeezed between his two snickering assistants.

After he swallowed his pride, the group was able to pick up the pace remarkably well, and arrived over Fins Rest in good time. Rok debated going down, but due to the lack of water-breathing relics on the adventurers, and the fact that they are already doing their best to not fall into the water, he decided against it, taking them all to the island of Gil. Here, they were able to stand up and stretch, along with deciding how exactly to develop the island.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

They’d been treating this with remarkable urgency, likely due to the fact that they felt it possible someone else could find the dungeon. They wanted to preserve it, after all, and even if they deemed it useless to adventurers and Atlanteans, they’d have no shortage of people coming to visit.

At this point, the two leaders had already sent out for a group of their own, and the requisite Amphibians, to gather at the island of Gil. They made sure to select people they trusted in this purpose, as well as not informing them of the circumstances, simply to gather. The groups were each composed of A- to A rank members, and the fact that they were five strong in each meant that Rok felt at least partially assured that they would come out, so long as they don’t overestimate themselves, or underestimate the dungeon. He actually felt the Atlanteans, a group of five mer-people, could have it the worst, never having experienced a dungeon before would make them unfamiliar, something that wouldn’t do well to be.

Surprisingly, it took no more than a day and a half for all of them to gather at Gil, and they had sequestered a portion of the island entirely to use. The groups had a similar reaction to the guild leaders when Rok told them of the Dungeon, though they realized he wasn’t joking shortly thereafter when they witnessed the solemn looks on the branch leaders. They were then told that they would be heading for the dungeon, to explore it and relay the ranking, something the adventurers and amphibians had done in the past, but the Atlanteans were unfamiliar with.

In the end, it was decided that they would descend in their own groups, rather than a fifteen strong small army. The adventurers would go first, the Atlanteans second, and the amphibians third. Everyone was still rather cordial with one another, and it was something that surprised Rok. Of course, having a more agreeable team was anything but unwelcome, and he went along with it. It truly made him wonder what happened during his time away from other people, and he’d have to look into it more in the future.

For now, though, he was leading the groups to the dungeon, something made much more difficult by the humans and beast-kin adventurers needing to use a raft in order to avoid the Burn. Thankfully, they weren’t at risk of such phenomena within the dungeon, or even surrounding it, but it made the location one much worse for adventuring parties. He found his way back to the entrance quickly enough, though was shocked to find the entrance an entire eight meters wide, appearing more as a crater than an entrance to any dungeon.

The waters here also appeared nearly empty, any life had made its way into the depths already, and likely hadn’t come back out. This made the more experienced wary, as it now had likely expanded greatly from taking in the mana of this many reef-dwelling creatures, along with the new creatures that would be found within the depths. They had made sure to get every bit of information out of Rok on their way here, and now, it seemed that there wouldn’t be much use to it. The only information they could rely on was that the boss on the fifth floor was some type of starfish, that there was a wyvern in there, somewhere, and that they could go deaf if they weren’t careful.

Rok watched as the three groups of five descended into the dungeon, and couldn’t help but wonder how many he’d ever see again.