Strangely enough, Violet was left waiting for so long that she fell asleep. When she came to, the sun was starting to set and it was no longer raining in the wildflower meadow room. Violet rubbed her eyes drowsily as she tried to focus enough to watch the other entrance once more.

Soon enough, David walked through with Alice. The young girl looked excitedly towards the slime and David nodded to her as he said

"Go ahead and enjoy yourself. Make sure to collect flowers in your basket while waiting for the slime to respawn and don't leave this room. I'll be busy sparring with Violet today and I don't want you to get hurt if there are [Traps] we don't know about yet."

Violet sleepily called out to interject

"I don't have any [Traps] in the dungeon yet, but I do have a new puzzle you can try out in the next room, if you want to try that out later. It'd be useful to have someone test it out for me."

David looked warily at Violet as he replied

"We'll consider it, but I still don't actually have a guarantee you aren't tricking us so I don't want her going anywhere by herself."

Violet just shrugged in response. It wasn't like she would be able to convince David to trust her with words alone. So there was no use in trying to change his mind.

"Instead of tribute, I brought an extra sword for you to use in our training sessions. You can absorb it and recreate it after we leave, if you want. I don't really care. Just consider this a sign of my goodwill in terms of our arranged agreement. I've been informed that your assigned Dungeon Diplomat will be here tomorrow. So we can finalize things soon enough anyway."

Violet raised her eyebrows in surprise as she replied

"How? It's only been a few days? I would have thought that it would take a while to send notice to your guild, much less for them to get in touch with Theodore."

David shook his head as he answered

"I don't know how you think things work, but it rarely takes that long to send mail. I just got one of the locals who can use magic to send the letter for a small fee. From there, the adventurer's guild was able to get in touch with the Dungeon Diplomat association and sort things out quite quickly. I received confirmation earlier today and came to tell you after I finished running errands for the day."

Violet supposed that made sense. She was in a world of magic now, so she really needed to stop thinking everything would take longer just because things seemed medieval in nature. Besides, even that impression was largely due to the attire she saw everyone wearing and not because she had any way to actually confirm anything.

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"Alright, that makes sense. Could I ask you another question, though?"

David nodded, so Violet continued

"Three zombies entered my dungeon earlier today and I haven't had any other adventurers show up today at all. I was told that some guards were stationed outside the dungeon, so I don't quite understand what happened."

David frowned before replying

"I did notice that there weren't any guards outside today as well. There was some sort of commotion going on in the village, so it is possible that the villagers who were guarding the post either died or were scared away by the [Monsters]. Regardless, it is against the dungeon accords to prevent adventurers or [Monsters] from entering a dungeon.

The guards are free to provide information on the dungeon, ask for a fee, and even report any strange occurrences, but they can't actually deny entry to your dungeon. If someone wants in and can't or won't pay the fee, they still have to be let in. It's just that most people prefer to do so since the guards are more likely to ensure they don't get ambushed on the way in and out of the dungeon. Plus, some guards sell maps or other helpful hints for conquering the dungeon.

Part of what separates the illegal businesses that camp outside of dungeons is the high fees, but denying entry is certainly another big part of it. There are some other differences as well, but those are the big things the adventurer's guild teaches new recruits to look out for."

Gregory hadn't mentioned that tidbit to Violet when he had mentioned it, so Violet found this information surprising. It would seem that the guards weren't actually helpful to Violet at all. Well, maybe they could pass on Violet's preferences, but that was most likely just in an attempt to lessen the number of deaths in the dungeon that were a direct result of annoying the Dungeon Master rather than out of kindness and respect for Violet herself.

Deciding it wasn't worth continuing to talk about anymore, Violet decided to just drop the subject. She'd have to be more careful about attacks from both [Monsters] and adventurers from now on, but that was all that she could do. Violet gratefully accepted the simple iron sword from David, even uttering a small "thank you" before beginning to spar with David.

However, Violet wasn't expecting David to immediately swing the sword down and cut deep into her shoulder. She loudly screamed out in pain before accusing

"What the heck? Are you trying to kill me?!"

David smiled innocently as he replied

"Dungeon masters never truly die unless the dungeon core is destroyed. It isn't even against the dungeon accords to kill you. If I hold back now while I am training you, it would only hold you back. You need to be able to keep fighting through the pain and without fearing death. Just think of it as motivation for you to learn quickly."

Violet groaned, but was only met with another slice from David's sword, this time across her side. Shaking her head, Violet gritted her teeth through the pain and tried to prepare for David's next strike. However, David's strength was far greater than Violet's and it was nearly impossible for Violet to parry. Violet was starting to regret her choice to sign up for this Hellish training...