When the light cleared away, Aurelia and the group of escapees were no longer in the Gray home. Instead, they stood in the entry room of the Dungeon of the Wild. Aurelia still held the clear dungeon crystal in both hands. Wanting to check on the others, she put away the crystal into her spatial storage.

A second later Sabin collapsed to the ground nearby, no longer able to support his brother. Robin, who was still unconscious, fell atop Sabin, so Corbin rushed over to help. Justin seemed to have taken the teleportation all right, only stumbling slightly before gently laying Samantha on the ground. Aurelia looked around the room, noticing that unlike before, the exit to the dungeon was not there, only the door leading into the dungeon. That sight worried her, but she would deal with it in a moment.

Taking out a handful of healing potions, Aurelia began handing them out to the group. Corbin drank one himself before feeding a potion to Robin. Sabin was able to get into a sitting position, taking a potion for himself.

“Is Samantha alright?” Sabin asked Justin.

Justin paused from helping feed Samantha a potion and looked over at Sabin. “Yeah, I think she’ll be alright. Aurelia, what happened to her?”

“Captain Northwood is what happened to her,” Aurelia frowned, “He punched her in the head, but I think he used a skill when he did so. With his high level, that attack should have killed her rather than just knocking her out.”

“Nine Hells!” Sabin cursed, “I wish I had the chance to kill him myself.”

Aurelia paused at the words, before deciding to go through her waiting notifications. Something in her made her believe Sabin would still have that chance.

User [Neran] Level 26 defeated.

Experience earned!

You have reached level 13!

Stat points allocated!

You have 9 free stat points remaining.

Aurelia felt bile rise in her throat just reading the words. She had in no way ever considered that she would one day take an actual human life. And just a couple of days in this world, she had been forced to kill a man. Even if it was to help save her new friends, it still didn’t make her feel awful inside. One thing that made her concerned though, or perhaps relieved, was the fact that there was only one name listed. She had expected to see two names. “Justin, did you get credit for killing the Captain?” Aurelia asked aloud.

Justin turned pale, “I thought you got the credit… Are you saying the Captain didn’t die?”

Aurelia frowned, “I only got credit for killing one of the guards. I knocked out three of them with the sleeping smoke, but I didn’t get any credit for doing anything else.” Aurelia looked at the group, “That means both the Captain and Duke Gladys are both still alive.”

Corbin looked upset at that, “I can’t believe this. The duke just walks into our village and takes it over. Now that he has reinforcements, there is no way we are getting to them again that easily.”

“Before I was knocked unconscious, I heard the Duke mention some of the Baron’s men would be coming as well. It seems they had no intention of letting our father take control of the dungeon at all. Even if he had claimer’s rights.” Sabin said.

Aurelia had to look away at that. She had no intention of hurting anyone by claiming the dungeon for herself, but it seemed by claiming the dungeon, she had caused trouble in Rainy Hollow. This was all so confusing to her, and she had no grasp on the politics of Eldria or this kingdom.

“But, you,” Sabin turned to Aurelia, “somehow we traveled from the middle of the village into what looks like an entrance to a dungeon. And I would bet my life that we are in the new dungeon by the meadow.” Sabin got up, letting Corbin continue to help Robin, and started walking towards Aurelia. “Are you the one who claimed the dungeon?”

Aurelia swallowed, suddenly nervous by the look on Sabin’s face. She kept her hands by her side, even though she wanted to pull out her wand for comfort. “Yes, I claimed the dungeon.”

“HOW?” Sabin practically yelled the words. Justin looked at the two of them with worry on his face. Aurelia motioned for him to sit still. Before Aurelia could answer, Sabin had more questions, “I don’t even know who you are. You are a stranger to us and you could be some noble’s spy for all we know.”

“What do you mean?” Corbin protested, “She literally just saved all our lives.” He left Robin on the ground to stand by the two of them, “Besides, Aurelia isn’t just anybody, she is a member of my team.”

Sabin turned to his brother, “You joined the adventurers guild? That’s difficult to believe…” Sabin looked surprised, “Well, that doesn’t matter right now. How do you know you can trust her?”

Corbin looked to Aurelia, “For a number of reasons. Most of which I cannot share with you right now, but if you can’t trust her, just trust me instead. I have faith in Aurelia that she means no harm to anyone in Rainy Hollow.”

Sabin looked like he wanted to argue but stopped when he saw Corbin’s face, “Well alright if that’s what you want of me.” He folded his arms, “It still doesn’t make sense that some random girl with a simple mage class completed the dungeon and claimed it. You don’t even have the right rank to do so.”

Aurelia shifted in place, “I know you may not trust me, but I have my reasons for keeping who and what I am a secret. I don’t exactly trust you either, but I don’t wish you or your family harm. I think my actions today proved that. What I will say is that I have a skill that hides my real rank and class, and I have no desire to share that information with everyone I meet. I understand now that claiming the dungeon was not the best decision, but I don’t know what I can do about that now.”

“Don’t feel too bad,” Corbin said, “Honestly, I believe the dungeon is in safer hands with you rather than in the hands of anyone else. If Robin had claimed the dungeon like he was assigned to by our father,” Corbin hesitated, “Well, the duke would have done far worse to us to get Robin to hand over his claim. With you as the dungeon master, he has no idea who to threaten.”

“That’s true, at least,” Sabin added.

“Okay,” Aurelia agreed, “that is true enough. I do want both of you to know, that I will do what’s in my power to help your family and the village. I know my time here has been short, but I have no desire to see the fate of Rainy Hollow in the hands of that bastard.”

The two Gray nobles gave her their thanks, but their conversation halted when the sound of coughing could be heard. The three turned to see Robin sitting up on the ground. Sabin rushed over to his younger brother, a hand outstretched to help Robin up. Aurelia identified Robin to see that his health was almost back to full again.

“How are you feeling?” Sabin asked.

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“I feel like I was just beaten and dragged through the street,” Robin got out.

Corbin winced, “Yeah I only saw part of that, but I’m sorry you had to go through that.”

Robin suddenly looked frightened, and said, “What about my teammates? Are they alright?”

Justin walked over to join the conversation, “The last thing I heard was a group was going to go and help your teammates after we got you all to safety.”

“Who was going to help them?” Robin stood right in front of Justin, “What are you talking about? Why weren’t they helped sooner?”

“Yeah, how were we saved by just two people? There were at least a dozen guards around the mansion when we were brought in,” Sabin added.

Corbin looked between Aurelia and Justin, with a questioning gaze, before sudden realization crossed his face. Aurelia nodded at Corbin, before addressing Robin’s questions. “You see, we weren’t alone trying to get you all out. We were working with the Moon Raven’s.”

“Wait, there was a faction of the Moon Ravens here in Rainy Hollow?” Robin questioned.

“I see,” Sabin said, “Father mentioned this to me.”

“What?” Robin cried out.

“You knew?” Corbin echoed.

Sabin sighed. “You two may have had some training from father, but I was meant to be his successor. I know a lot more about what is going on regarding politics, especially concerning the Moon Raven rebellion group. Father had his own connections to the faction here, which is why they even continued in Rainy Hollow. It seems they have exposed themselves here in order to try and save us from Duke Gladys.”

“Unbelievable,” Robin muttered.

Corbin looked to Aurelia, “I am glad Belle convinced them to help us. Was she a part of the plan at all?”

Aurelia got flustered, not knowing what to say. Thankfully, Justin stepped in, “Actually, it was Aurelia who came up with the plan. She had the escape route, after all.”

“Oh,” Corbin replied, before just nodding his thanks at Aurelia.

“Well, what about my team?” Robin repeated, “Why did the group wait to save them.”

“Because we wanted to get you four out first,” Aurelia said, “We were worried what would happen if we tried to help Maia and Eagan first, as it would tip off the duke a rescue might be on the way for you as well. Most of the people involved in the rebellion in Rainy Hollow aren’t actually fighters. For the most part, they are the normal farmers, tailors, and shopkeepers you all grew up with. When I introduced my idea of getting you out, my first thought was to do an all out assault on the mansion. That might have ended badly for many reasons, one being with so few combat skills, the guards would have defeated us easily. We were also worried they would just kill you out of spite knowing we were on the way. With a more stealthy approach, I could get to you without the need to fight everyone on the way. We had another group ready to help Maia and Eagan once the rescue on the mansion began. Thankfully, Justin and I were able to get you out safely.”

“And we are extremely grateful for your help,” Sabin said.

“Well, can you get word to whoever is out there to find out how my teammates are doing? Maybe we can go there ourselves to make sure they succeed,” Robin cut in.

“Well our plan was to meet outside the dungeon once everything was over. We knew our group would end up over here, so the others agreed to make their way here as well,” Justin said.

“Wait, let me check something,” Aurelia pulled out the dungeon crystal and felt the gazes of the others on her. She used the feature of the crystal to look at the outside view of the dungeon, just as she had before. A second later, she was looking over the dungeon and the surrounding area with a birds-eye-view. Her heart sank when she saw who waited outside the dungeon. It wasn’t other members of Moon Raven. Instead, she saw the red and gold of members from the duke’s personal force. Thankfully, she didn’t see any bodies that might indicate a fight had taken place. Whatever happened, the members of Moon Raven were nowhere nearby.

Coming back to herself, she looked at the others with a grim look on her face, “It seems we are surrounded.”

“Wait, what!?” Justin cried out. The others echoed the sentiment.

“With this,” Aurelia held up the crystal, “I can see what is happening directly outside the dungeon. And what I saw was a bunch of the Duke’s men camped right outside. I didn’t see anyone else from Moon Raven.”

“Wait,” Sabin walked closer, “that crystal. What exactly does it do?”

Aurelia answered, “I got it after claiming the dungeon. It is what helped get us teleported here and it can teleport us outside the dungeon as well. I can teleport from anywhere in Eldria to this room, but I can only teleport out a short way.”

“So that’s how you got out…” Robin muttered under his breath.

“I knew the crystal had to be connected to the dungeon somehow, but I never expected it to be so powerful. Dungeons can produce artifacts like this to aid their dungeon masters, but I have never heard of one producing a teleporting crystal like this.” Sabin said.

Aurelia shrugged, “I don’t know a lot about being a dungeon master, but it has definitely been helpful to me.”

“Okay, okay, enough about the crystal,” Justin said. “Let’s go back to the fact we are completely surrounded by the Duke’s men. What are we going to do about that?”

“I could get us into the forest, away from view,” Aurelia offered.

“Maybe,” Sabin said, “but we still have Samantha to worry about.”

The group turned to look at the unconscious girl. Aurelia noticed that she was at full health, but she still hadn’t woken up. Her suspicions that a skill had knocked her out seemed more and more plausible.

“That’s true, but I still want to get out and save my team. We can’t stay in this room forever.” Robin said.

“Is the only way out with the crystal?” Robin asked.

Aurelia looked at the wall that should lead to the outside, “Yeah I think so. Last time there was a path leading to the exit, but this time there is only the door leading into the dungeon. We are safe in this room, but if we want to leave without completing the dungeon, we have to use the crystal.”

“As a dungeon master, can’t you change that? What is stopping you from just forcing the dungeon to create and exit?” Justin supplied.

“That’s not how it works,” Corbin scoffed. “Dungeons are ultimately ruled by the system. Dungeon masters have influence, true, but without having the actual dungeon master class, she can only stop who comes in or institute a tax.”

“Hold up, there’s an actual dungeon master class?” Aurelia’s mouth dropped open.

“Of course! There’s a class for basically everything,” Corbin laughed. “You should know-” he stopped talking at Aurelia’s look. “Uh, yeah, there’s a dungeon master class. If you have an open class slot, I’m sure you’d get offered it.”

Sabin and Robin looked confused at the exchange, but Aurelia didn’t care much. “Okay, that is good to know. So yeah, if you want I can teleport us out right away, or we can try our hand at the dungeon together.” Aurelia said.

“Wait, we could actually do the dungeon?” Justin looked aghast. “We don’t even have our full team together.”

“Yeah, let’s wait to go off adventuring,” Sabin interjected. “We have bigger things to worry about.

“Well I don’t want to wait around and do nothing,” Robin looked upset, “If something happens to my team while we wait around safe and sound, I could never live with myself.”

“We can’t leave our sister!” Sabin looked upset.

“Then let’s just split up for now,” Aurelia said. “I can teleport Robin and you,” she pointed at Sabin, “into the forest, while Justin and Corbin stay with Samantha.”

“What about you?” Justin asked.

“I want to go out and search for the rest of our team. Belle and Zen were with the group trying to save Maia and Eagan. With my ring, I could stay undetected while keeping an eye on them. If anyone gets into trouble, I can just teleport them back to this room. I would have to head back out on foot, but that’s no issue.”

Sabin looked down at Robin, the two brothers stared at each other for a moment before Sabin nodded his agreement. “Alright, we can do that.”

Corbin looked hesitant, “What happens if you don’t come back, Aurelia?”

Aurelia tilted her head, “What do you mean?”

“If the only way out is with the crystal, what if you don’t come back? We would be stuck in this room,” Corbin continued.

“Oh,” Aurelia said, “Well then if worse comes to worse, you might have to try going through the dungeon all by yourselves.”

“You can’t be serious!” Justin looked aghast.

Aurelia folded her arms and looked at her teammates, “I started this dungeon at level four and finished all by myself. I’m sure with you two, you could finish it in half the time.”

Their disbelief at her words was clearly written on their faces, but Aurelia could only laugh. “I promise to come back within three hours, if not sooner. I’ll leave you guys with some supplies until I can come back.”

As Aurelia began pulling out food, blankets, and a couple of extra knives for the three left behind, Sabin and Robin got ready. Before exiting their father’s study, they had been able to take back their stolen weapons. They were now strapping those belts and weapons back on, Corbin following suit.

“I don’t like this, but I trust you guys,” Corbin said. He went up to his brothers and hugged them both. “Please be safe.”

“Okay, okay, we need to get going,” Robin said.

Aurelia took another look outside the dungeon and found a safe place in the forest to teleport to. “I’m ready if you are,” she said.

“Good luck,” Justin told them.

Sabin and Robin gathered close at Aurelia’s instructions and placed their hands on the crystal. With a flash of light, the three of them disappeared from sight once more.