The sun was officially setting when Aurelia and Belle made their way to the surface. The exit they had used out of the hideout was different from the one she had used on the way in. The trap door opened up into a storeroom at the back of a tavern. Belle told Aurelia that the inn’s owner was a member of the group, though Aurelia still wasn’t sure what the group actually was or why they were so secretive about everything.

Belle opened the storeroom into a back hallway of the Orphaned Hen, which apparently was the name of the tavern. They passed the kitchen on their way to the common room, and Aurelia could see cooks and a pair of servers preparing food for the waiting guests. Before they actually made it through the common room door, a barmaid swung the door open, dishes piled up in her arms. Belle almost ran right into the other girl, and swore in surprise.

“Seven heavens, Belle! What’s your problem!” The barmaid hissed angrily at Belle.

“Sorry, Lia!” Belle rushed to keep the door open for Lia the barmaid and Aurelia rushed out of the way.

After Lia had left to the kitchen, Belle hurried Aurelia out of the back hallway and into the bustling common room. It was loud and rowdy, with people sitting down in every available seat. Belle grabbed Aurelia’s arm and took her to the bar where a large man was serving drinks to patrons.

“Hey Ivan!” Belle called out to the man, “Hey Ivan, do you have any rooms available?”

Ivan looked over at the two girls, smiling when he saw Belle. ‘“Ah, Belle! What can I do for you?” Ivan called over another bartender to take over for him, then crossed the short distance to stand in front of Belle and Aurelia.

“I just told you, Ivan! My friend, Aurelia, needs a room for the night, she has nowhere to stay.”

Aurelia opened her mouth, wanting to object, as she said no such thing. But, she stopped as she remembered that she indeed had nowhere to stay for the night. Or any night really. Aurelia looked up at Ivan and nodded, “Hi, it’s a pleasure to meet you Ivan!” She practically shouted the words with how loud it was in the room.

Ivan reached out a hand and Aurelia shook it, Ivan’s hand completely surrounding hers with how big it was. “My pleasure. It’s Aurelia, am I right?”

“Yes, that is correct. Do you happen to have any rooms available?”

The large man nodded, “While I am not a proper inn and I don’t have too many rooms available, I do have a couple open rooms. We usually don’t get much traffic through Rainy Hollow, so it didn’t seem worth it to have a proper inn. Now that our village has a dungeon nearby, I might have to remodel my tavern into a larger inn.” Ivan gave a loud roaring laugh. “Our little village won’t be little for much longer. I am sure Lord Gray has a lot of plans for the dungeon.”

Ivan paused when he saw the look on Belle’s face. “Wait, Lord Gray did claim the dungeon, right?”

Aurelia tried to keep her face even, not wanting to give away anything to either Belle or Ivan. She still didn’t know Belle, let alone Ivan, well enough to share that it was she, rather than this Lord Gray who had claimed the dungeon.

Belle looked around at all the people around them and said to Ivan, “I’m not sure how much I should say here, but I am pretty sure word will get out quickly enough. I told Marge everything I found out, so you could ask her for more details, but basically nobody knows who first entered the dungeon. All we know is whomever it was, they claimed the dungeon before anyone else could enter it,” she leaned in closer to Ivan, “And nobody saw the person leave the dungeon. One moment the dungeon was still closed to any new team, the next, the dungeon was open for up to five teams to enter and the claimer kept their details hidden.”

Ivan’s eyes had grown wider and wider the longer Belle had spoken. He leaned against the bar counter, a dumbfounded look on his burly face. “I don’t believe it. An unknown has taken over the dungeon? That is very surprising. I guess that means we don’t know for sure that the dungeon will be a boon for the village.”

Aurelia cut into the conversation, “What do you mean, the dungeon might not be a boon for the village?”

Ivan and Belle turned to Aurelia, both seemingly surprised that she was still there. Ivan cleared his throat as if embarrassed. “What do you know about dungeons?”

Aurelia almost laughed, “Well I know some things about dungeons, but I am nowhere near an expert on them.”

Belle spoke up next, “A dungeon is usually a huge boon to any nearby city or village. Usually a town will spring up wherever a dungeon is, as it is one of the largest driving factors of any economy. Dungeons provide money, tools, materials, food, treasure, and experience. Adventurers and prospecting adventurers will travel from all across the kingdom just for a dungeon. The lucky and experienced will gain fame and fortune from a dungeon. Basically, everyone benefits with a dungeon nearby. I know you’re not from around here, but having a dungeon near Rainy Hollow would help everyone in town. But, if some unknown guy comes in and takes charge of the dungeon, they might put so many restrictions on the dungeon to where it would be inaccessible to anyone.”

Aurelia finally understood, “So if the dungeon claimer restricts how many people can go in or makes the entry fee too high, it might dissuade people from entering the dungeon or even traveling here in the first place. I could see how that might be unfortunate for Rainy Hollow.”

Ivan and Belle both nodded. Aurelia continued on, “So, in your guy’s opinion, this Lord Gray would do a good job in overseeing the dungeon?”

The two looked at one another before Ivan answered for the both of them, “Yes, Lord Gray is an honorable man. He’s one of the many reasons I settled here in Rainy Hollow. The only bad thing about the area is Duke Gladys, though he’s usually too high up on his precious pony to care about one lowly village. If he were to take over the dungeon, that could definitely spell disaster for Rainy Hollow. The Duke has a claim over three dungeons already, two apprentice and one adept rank. In some ways, a novice ranked dungeon is the most valuable, because it is the best place to train up new users and get a reliable stream of money and goods.

“The Duke might have contested Lord Gray over the dungeon, but if our dear mayor had claimed it first, by the system rights, no one, not even the Duke could have taken it from him. Now, we just don’t know. Let’s hope our mysterious dungeon master is a generous one.”

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Aurelia stared down at the ground, fiddling with the buckle of her belt. She couldn’t get herself to look Belle and Ivan in the eyes, now really conflicted about her hasty choice to claim the dungeon. But, it was the decision she made and she couldn’t change that fact now. It was up to her how she now dealt with the responsibility of dungeon master. Eldria was still a strange world to her, but after meeting some of those here in Rainy Hollow, she wanted to be a help, rather than a burden.

“Aurelia?” Belle called out to her, and Aurelia looked up.

“Yes?”

“Maybe it’s time we get some food and sleep into you.” Belle looked her up and down. “How about that room key, Ivan?”

Ivan nodded and reached under the counter, pulling out a chest of keys. He took a key engraved with the number four and handed it to Aurelia.

“How much do I owe you for the room? I would also like to get some of your food, it smells delicious,” Aurelia looked up at Ivan.

“Ah, tonight is on me. I treat my friends well, and I would be honored to call you one. How about we discuss rates tomorrow, if you would like to stay longer then?”

Aurelia nodded in appreciation, and stowed the room key into her money pouch. Belle spotted a table opening in the corner and rushed Aurelia over to sit down. As Belle and Aurelia reached the table, two other young men had also arrived at the table. Aurelia thought the two young men looked ready to pounce on the table, but Belle just rolled her eyes.

“We can just share the table, there is enough room for the four of us. Besides, Justin, don’t you owe me a drink?” Belle laughed as the four sat down.

“Oh whatever, Belle, I can buy you a drink. But just this once!” the young man named Justin answered Belle then turned to Aurelia. “And who might you be?”

“My name is Aurelia, I’m new to Rainy Hollow. Who are you guys?”

“I’m Justin Ellis, and this is my best friend Zen Baker. We both grew up in Rainy Hollow, but we aspire to join the adventure’s guild and travel the kingdom!”

Before Aurelia could reply, the barmaid, Lia, was at their table. Aurelia smiled at the girl in recognition, noticing how Lia gave Zen a longing look. Lia took their food and drink orders before rushing off once more. Aurelia had ordered the special of the day, which apparently was a chicken stew with homemade bread. Her stomach rumbled with hunger, and her face reddened as her three tablemates looked over at her.

Zen was the first to speak, “I guess you are ready for food,” he laughed. He looked between the two girls, “So, uh, did you guys hear about the dungeon?”

Belle responded with, “Of course we’ve heard about the dungeon! Who hasn’t?”

Zen was defensive as he said, “Well Aurelia seems new to town, I wasn’t sure if she had heard the details yet.” Zen looked at Aurelia. “Justin and I went right to the dungeon entrance, with two of the Mayor's sons. We heard a lot of juicy details about what went down.”

Aurelia examined the two boys a bit more closely, and that’s when she realized that she did indeed recognize them. They were there when she exited the dungeon! She had watched them first with the dungeon master crystal and then again when she went to observe the dungeon entrance more closely. It seemed very coincidental that she was now meeting them in person.

Belle put her chin in one hand, leaning closer to the other two boys. “What, and you don’t think I haven’t already found out everything you two know?”

Justin groaned in annoyance, “But of course you have. So what is it you think you know about whatever we know about the dungeon?”

Lia stopped by with their drinks, and Aurelia started sipping whatever it was they had given her. Was that ale?

Belle scoffed, “Well I know that whomever triggered the dungeon somehow also had the ability to claim the dungeon before anyone else had the chance. I also know that the new dungeon master is none of the Grays and no one here knows for sure who they are or who they work for.”

Zen and Justin seemed to deflate slightly, their news no longer the exclusive bit of information they had thought it to be. “Okay, that’s true. Even Lord Gray and his sons don’t know who it is. They might have learned something new by now, but we don’t know.” Justin answered before taking another sip of his drink.

“So, Aurelia, what took you to Rainy Hollow?” Zen asked.

Aurelia had hoped the conversation would stay away from her, but she knew the other three might be curious about her intentions. “To be honest, I am not completely sure. I needed somewhere to resupply, but for now I don’t have a set goal or anything. Belle gave me an offer to join an adventuring team with her, so I might do that.”

The two boys looked interested in that last bit of information. “So, Belle, you’re actually going to do it this time? Create a real team?” Zen asked Belle. “It didn’t quite work out for you the last time you tried.”

Belle frowned at Zen, “I know that it didn’t work before. Most people in this village at our age have already started working. Jessie was apprenticed as a seamstress, Lia became a barmaid, and Ben is a carpenter. Very few people choose offensive classes, and it is much more economical to become apprenticed to someone over level 25 so they can actually gain skills. My class is a support class, and every other person near our age already has their teams set in stone. Nobody wanted the annoying song maiden as a teammate.”

Aurelia wasn’t following the conversation full, but she got the gist of it. It seems most people already had a job by her age, and those who wanted to fight and go adventuring had a more difficult time getting classes suited for the adventuring life. She looked up as Zen seemed to give Justin a meaningful look. Both young men stared at each other for a second, before Justin nodded and they turned back to Belle.

“I know we were some of those people who refused to join your team, but Justin and I don’t want to wait around in Rainy Hollow for the perfect moment. We are tired of just being normal hunters for the village, we want to actually explore and fight real monsters. Would you be willing to let us join your team?” Zen looked at Belle intently, Justin mirroring the look.

“Wait, are you guys serious? You actually want to be on a team with me?” Belle asked dubiously.

Justin and Zen confirmed with a nod of their heads. Belle turned to Aurelia, “And what about you, Aurelia, is that something you would like as well? It doesn’t have to be set in stone, but we could try it out.”

Aurelia didn’t answer right away, but thought it over again. She was all alone in this world, and still had no idea what she was doing. Her ultimate goal was to find a way home, but what better way to get answers than to go out there and find them herself? Perhaps she could also trust Belle or the boys enough to one day ask for their help. It definitely beat sitting around here in Rainy Hollow with no plan.

“Yeah, actually. I think that is something I would like.” Aurelia smiled at the other three.

“Yes!” Belle punched a fist into the air, her golden curls flying out to the side. “We have a team!”

As Belle brought her fist down, again, she accidentally brushed against Lia’s tray as she came by their table with food. Lia yelped in surprise, the tray almost tipping over, but she thankfully righted the tray fast enough.

“Gloria’s angels, Belle, what is up with you today?” Lia chided the girl. Belle apologized profusely, and the four young adults each accepted their food with grateful hands. Lia reminded Aurelia that her food and drink was on the house tonight, but everyone else at the table still had to pay for their own food. Aurelia thanked her and Lia left the table, off to serve someone else.

Aurelia looked at her tablemates turned teammates and asked them all a question, “So, what kind of classes do you all have?”