"Thanks, inspector. I… really needed that," I finally said, letting go of the old constable. "You are a good person."

"Our town has lots of good people," he nodded. "If you want to get away from Undertown, you can find a place here and pay the rent to a farmer with monster cores. You can use the pilot's room for now. You have more cores on you, right?"

"I have more," I nodded. "I only gave a few mostly depleted ones to the bank to see their worth."

"Thought so," he nodded. "The bankers can smell wealth from a mile away. You might look like a poor adventurer at a glance, but you speak like a noble without bowing your head to those above your station."

"As much as I like your town, inspector… I'd like to see my parents," I said. "Is there a way to get into the cavern system from Lomb?"

"I have the keys to the sewer gate below the tower," he nodded. "And some old maps of the tunnels. It's a long way to go. Are you sure you want to travel… underground? It might be easier, less dangerous to…"

"I'm an Undertown girl, inspector. I am not afraid of the dark. If anything I’ll feel more at ease underground. Everyone up here seems to be judging my blue bruises."

"Do you have an artifact to light the way or a skill for getting around?"

“No,” I said.

“I will buy you a diver’s lantern then and a pathfinder,” he said. “You can power the artifacts with one of your beast cores. Also I’ll make sure that the armacus we get you has a light-spell in it.”

The day had fully arrived in Lomb. Azure, glacier-covered mountains sparkled above the little farming town that sat on the edge of the first ring of the Chasm. Waterfalls cascaded down from above. This place looked rather picturesque and peaceful, akin to Switzerland of Earth.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/972564269390503976/998049001322578010/LOMBTOWN-final.jpg [https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/972564269390503976/998049001322578010/LOMBTOWN-final.jpg]

I did want to stay here, wanted to enjoy the countryside life for a bit. I pushed back against the thrill-seeking part of me that wanted me to move forward, towards the spires of Illatius and the danger-filled darkness of Underntown beneath it.

I decided that a bit of a vacation in Lomb wouldn't hurt me. I needed more time to get used to Grogtilda’s body.

“The artificer will be open later. Would you like to return to the station for now?” Lambert asked.

“Sure,” I nodded. “I could use a sit down or maybe a nap. My muscles are killing me.”

We had returned to the tower and I plopped myself down on a couch in the inspector’s office. Lambert left for a bit to talk to his assistant in another office and then came back with a set of tea and meat sandwiches on a silver tray.

“If I give you a bunch of monster cores, inspector… would you be so kind as to exchange them for cash for me?” I asked the constable as I sipped on the offered tea.

“Not a problem,” he said. “Unfortunately our banking system is designed to keep money out of the hands of debtors. I can open an account for you too, one accessible via a little magisteel plate, but you’ll need someone to access it who isn’t marked with a debitor’s tattoo. Do you have someone like that that you can trust?”

“Yes,” I said, thinking of my chimera body. “Actually… I do. Would you like to meet her?”

“Her?” The inspector raised an eyebrow.

“A dungeon monster that looks like a person,” I said with a sly smile. “Don’t worry, she won’t bite. If you give me the sewer key, she’ll have a way to come up. You can set up an account for her.”

Lambert’s mouth fell open. It took him but a moment to recompose himself. “You trust her that much?”

“I trust her as much as I trust myself,” I said. “Not all Dungeon denizens are bad.”

“Will she let me interview her on the truth sphere?” He asked. “She could corroborate your story. I would love to see a human-like creature in person.”

“Sure, why not,” I shrugged.

On one hand, revealing my chimera body to inspector Lambert seemed a bit reckless. On the other hand, the bank incident proved him to be a kind person that I could trust and the local bankers hated Grogtilda. Using Juni’s body seemed like my one clever trick to bamboozle them.

“She isn’t one of the monsters experimenting on people right?” Lambert asked.

“No, she’s a really nice girl… just like me,” I said.

Showing the inspector my chimera body seemed like a good step towards bringing chimera and people together. I really didn’t like the controlling, invisible spider bullshit that Euncie was doing with her monwai.

After enjoying a bit of tea and some offered sandwiches, I acquired sewer keys from the inspector, went down to the basement and unlocked a gate beneath the tower, promising the inspector that the girl-monster would come up from below to meet him in his office. Then, I excused myself for a nap, laid down on the bed in the pilot's room and woke up as Juni, emerging out of Saccy.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

I used the eye-redirection magic to silently rush downstairs and then appeared in the darkness of the sewers, closed the gate and came up the stairwell straight to Lambert’s office.

The inspector was sitting behind his desk, waiting for me. I saw that his silver armacus glittered on his wrist, ready to unfurl and to strike me down if I attempted anything malicious.

“Greetings, inspector Lambert,” I said, my voice tinny inside of the nightcrawler skull-mask.

Inspector’s sharp gray eyes examined me, dissecting my appearance. Undoubtedly he was using his power of deduction to evaluate me.

“Hello,” he said. “You’re… Grogtilda's… err… Yulia’s friend… from the Dungeon, correct?”

“Correct,” I said. “My people call it the Chasm.”

I slowly stepped towards the metal chair and sat down, facing the inspector.

“You do look very human,” he said. “Kind of hard to see what’s going on under that skull-mask though.”

I undid the belts and pulled off the nightcrawler’s skull, placing it down onto the steel table beside me. I wasn’t afraid of taking off my armor here as a truly enormous, anti-phantom hex-beacon sat right above this tower shielding the entire town of Lomb.

Lambert gasped when he saw my amber eyes, ruby hair, large ears and the cat-like dark patch on my nose. I smiled at him, showing my sharp chompers.

“By the Emperor, you are… real,” he said, his eyes wide. “Is that… crystallized mana?!”

“Yep,” I nodded, shaking my ruby mane. “So, shall we proceed with the interview?”

“Place your right hand on this sphere and speak one sentence that is the absolute truth. Start with your name,” he said.

I placed my hand onto the dim, crystal sphere.

“My name is Juni Tokimorimïtuti and I’m a chimera stripling,” I said, bathing the room in green light.

Lambert’s eyes were hungrily devouring my chimera face.

“Incredible,” he finally said. “A new Dungeon monster species!”

“We aren’t exactly new,” I said. “Chimera have been living in the Dungeon for a very long time.”

“There’s a lot of you?” He asked.

“Thousands,” I replied, the truth-sphere confirming my words.

“Right, um,” Lambert nodded. “Now speak a sentence that is a lie, please.”

“I’m a green shoe and I like to eat leaves for breakfast,” I said and the sphere beneath my hand flashed red.

“Very good,” the inspector nodded, looking at my black, nightcrawler-carapace clothing. “This armor looks handmade… I think I recognize the species. Giant, pure black centipede from level three?”

“Yep,” I nodded. “We call it a nightcrawler. I’ve made this armor myself out of one I’ve killed.”

“Fascinating,” Lambert leaned back on his chair. “Are you the same age as Yulia?”

“Mentally, yes. Physically, no. Chimeras grow up a lot faster than people,” I said. “The Dungeon isn’t a very safe place to live in. Giant bugs and whatnot.”

“Do you mind corroborating… Yulia’s claim?” Lambert asked.

“The Baronies of Illatius are ruled by chimera,” I said.

“Damn it,” Lambert’s face twitched. “I was really hoping that this wasn’t the case. Are there other chimera like you? Willing to work with people without deception?”

“My sister and possibly my cousin are decent candidates,” I mulled.

“How did you learn Basq language?” Lambert continued his interview.

“My Master taught it to me,” I said. “She’s the chimera in charge of our society, and also the one responsible for incepting chimera into humanity. She’s… really old. I don’t even know how old. More than a thousand years.”

“Let me guess, you were the one who found Yulia in a Folding Seed?” Lambert asked.

“I found Grogtilda’s body in a Folding Seed,” I nodded. “My Master healed her broken bones and muscles, but her body will take time to recover fully. I’ve been taking care of her. Our souls are bonded… so I know everything she knows. I trust you because of how you behaved at the bank this morning."

“I see,” Lambert nodded. "When Yulia touched the depictomancy poster… it showed your hair and eye color instead of hers. That's one mystery solved."

I nodded.

“You look too different from a human to blend in,” the inspector pondered. “How have chimera taken control of the Baronies? Mind control magic… or perhaps this soul bond skill of yours?”

“From what I understand, the others captured noble children when they were out on excursions into the Dungeon.”

“Are you controlling Yulia?” The inspector threw in another question.

“No,” I shook my head. “I’m not like the others, inspector. I don’t want to control anyone or experiment on people or eat people’s souls! I don’t want to hurt innocent kids or take their lives away from them. My soul-bond with Grogtilda had been an accident!”

“What do you want?” The inspector asked.

“I want to cooperate with people. I want to live in your city and help improve things. I want to end the vile debt slavery that the Undertown Guilds are putting on children.”

“Two armacus bracelets then,” Lambert said. “If the armacus sees you as a person, then it shouldn't be a problem for you to be in Illatius while wearing your mask or even for me to hire you… or for you to do banking for Yulia. Plenty of adventurers and hunters don’t show their faces in public.”

“I have the System,” I confessed.

“Oh?” Lambert looked at my eyes.

“Right now it defines me as a level five human,” I said. “I activated it with a mathematical answer… four years ago. Back then, it defined me as a chimera. From what I understand Grogtilda’s body will slowly undergo changes because of my soul-bond to her. Her hair will turn red and her eyes will become the same color as mine.”

“Heroes of Humanity, defenders of the realm… found incredible treasures of power deep in the Chasm that slowly changed their hair and eye color,” Lambert spoke into the air, his voice trembling ever so slightly.

I nodded.

“This makes the case much harder to resolve,” he sighed with a frown, his lips thin. “Even if we find evidence of criminality, taking the Heroes down will be incredibly difficult.”

I nodded again. “Are you still in, inspector?”

“I am,” he said. “I’m not afraid of challenging the Heroes. The Emperor is still human. It’s Seven Heroes versus our Empire. If we can prove that the Seven are criminals, then we can take them down. It will simply take a very long time. I’m afraid I don’t know much about the Barons. I’ll have to do some research.”

“Be careful,” I said. “They will kill you if they find out that you’re trying to investigate them.”

“I’ll cast the net wide and probe very carefully from afar,” Lambert said. “Now that I understand your situation much better, I will give both of you full support of the Lomb Constabulary. It will fall to you two to infiltrate the Baronies and collect evidence of their crimes. Are you up for risking your life to prove that the Heroes are evil? To serve as a lawful Agent of Lomb Constabulary under my supervision?”

“Yes,” I said and the sphere of truth flashed with a brilliant green flare. “I will work with Lomb Constabulary to expose the Seven Heroes.”

“Excellent, you can let go of the sphere now, Juni,” Lambert said. “I’ve heard enough. I’ll pay both of your salaries as Free Agents of Lomb into a single account. If the System defines you as a human it shouldn't be a problem for you to withdraw funds from the Banks or Guild offices.”

I smiled.

Hooray for twice the salary! Score one for Yulia vs Debitor’s tattoo.