Calista's party ended up lucking out and found the Dungeon Master in the hallway of the second floor inn the next morning. They hadn't been expecting to see anyone else on the floor and had even dismissed the woman as another random adventurer until they saw her walking out of one of the rooms that they themselves were locked out of. Cassia had thought it worthwhile to ask about it and they had approached the woman cautiously, worried they would frighten her due to their large group when she was by herself.

"Excuse me, miss, but could you tell us what's in that room? Is it a special inn room or...?"

The woman looked irritated by their presence as she replied

"It's just a cleaning closet. Why?"

Cassia was a confident leader, but even she was a bit thrown off by the woman's attitude. Still, she soldiered on as she pressed

"You wouldn't happen to work here would you? We were actually hoping to meet with the Dungeon Master for an interview. The adventurers' guild hired our party to map out the dungeon this year and that's all we have left before we can leave."

The woman's annoyance seemed to decrease momentarily before her expression morphed to one of frustration. Her eyebrows were creased and her voice bored as she replied

"Well, you've found me. I'm the Dungeon Master, Lady Veronica. I didn't realize I'd have to worry about people mapping out the dungeon on top of everything else. Do I really have to sit through an interview? I highly doubt this will benefit me and I'm rather sick of dealing with entitled adventurers this week. Bad enough an ill-tempered bull feels the need to come through and kill me every few days..."

Calista barely caught the last sentence as it was muttered under Veronica's breath. Cassia gave the woman a half-hearted smile as she further tried to coerce the woman.

"Oh! I apologize for not recognizing you, Lady Veronica! I understand that you likely have your own circumstances, but it would really mean a lot for us if you'd just hear us out."

Bellarth cleared his throat before stepping forward, holding out two pieces of parchment, as he explained

"Here, you can keep these, they're copies of the maps I've made for the first and second floor. I realize it may be upsetting to hear your dungeon is being mapped out, but there are actually more pros than cons from it. The dungeon accords stipulate that the dungeon can only be officially mapped once a year, at most. The adventurers' guild is in charge of choosing the party to do the work. They require all of the floors built at the time the request is made to be mapped and pay extra for any information we can provide about challenges and for samples of the rewards on offer. Maps are usually sold for a high price, alongside information about the dungeon, so it's rare for anyone but nobles and high-ranking adventurers to obtain a copy, but they likely wouldn't have much trouble conquering the lower floors of a dungeon anyhow."

Bellarth paused for a moment to give Veronica time to process what he was saying before continuing

"The adventurers' guild uses the information we provide to ensure the relationship between Dungeon Master and the adventurers is handled better than it otherwise might be. As part of our time here, we have been instructed to ask a few interview questions of you and to ask if you'd be interested in having your portrait drawn. The finished painting would be hung in the adventurers' guild and would make it easier for people to recognize you so that they recognize you more easily and can give you the respect you deserve. The interview questions are just to help ensure everyone can better behave themselves in your dungeon and avoid upsetting you."

The explanation was a bit wordy and Calista couldn't help but worry that her brother was going to bore the Dungeon Master and ruin their chances altogether. However, from the way Veronica's posture relaxed and her lips tugged upwards at the corners, a faint smile adorning her lips, it was clear he was getting through to her.

"Alright, I will give you the opportunity to interview me and I will approve of someone taking my portrait. However, I am only willing to answer five questions, no more. I have things to do and I don't want to be here all day."

They all nodded their agreement and Bellarth sorted out his notes, trying to decide which questions were the most important. The guild wouldn't penalize them for receiving less information than they had been hoping for. Dungeon masters were known for being impatient and simply getting them to agree to cooperate at all was already quite good. It didn't take long before Bellarth was asking his first question.

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"Tributes are often used as a way for adventurers to show their appreciation for the adventures in a dungeon. However, different Dungeon Masters have different preferences for what they'd like to receive as tributes. Is there anything that you'd be especially happy to receive?"

Veronica seemed unimpressed as she boredly replied

"I already set up a corkboard in the tavern downstairs. I regularly update the list posted there to include what tributes I'm most looking for at the time. I only include the [Items] I actively need in order to work on the next upgrades for the dungeon. However, in general, I need as many ingredients and textiles as I can get so that I can create unique tavern menus and furniture for each floor. Anything on that list is also guaranteed to be worth a minimum of 10 points and a maximum of 35 points for both the inn and tavern, assuming you're the first to trade it in."

Calista looked worriedly at her brother. It wasn't like they hadn't seen the tavern downstairs, so it almost seemed as if he had wasted a question. However, that was a fairly standard question and the clarification didn't exactly hurt. The explanation of the points was a nice bonus that she was sure the guild would appreciate as well. Still, she hoped his other choices for questions were a bit more strategic. There was no guarantee Veronica would be willing to agree to another interview the next time they were hired to map out the dungeon.

"Can we expect the addition of resources like plants or new [Critters] to be used on the lower floors or will we have to wait until you start work on the upper floors before we see that sort of thing?"

Bellarth asked. Veronica seemed to mull the answer over for a moment before casually answering

"It might take a while before I get around to that. I'm not entirely sure what the benefit is and I don't want to waste my precious resources on it right now. However, eternity is a long time, so I might consider it in the future."

Calista furrowed her brows, feeling a bit unsure whether to speak up on the matter and clarify things. Technically, the dungeon accords required that they not influence the Dungeon Master, so it was questionable whether it was actually a smart move. It would be one thing if they had been directly asked about the matter, but that wasn't the case here. It would seem her brother thought similarly as he cast a glance at their team leader who shook her head in the negative. Flipping through the notes in his journal, he took a moment to determine his next question before asking

"Could you explain your thought processes behind the challenges you've designed and the rewards you've chosen for them? They're a bit different from what we're used to, so there have been quite a bit of theories that have been going around."

Veronica looked confused as she replied

"Well, half of my dungeon is an inn and tavern, so I've been trying to include rewards that are related to that. I made sure to use quality materials and offer luxury versions so that it will be worth your while. However, honestly, I don't want people progressing through the dungeon too easily. The dungeon core didn't like me making the challenges too difficult so I had to scale things back with the later challenges, but I'm mostly just trying to defend the dungeon core. Surely you don't want the dungeon to disappear because it's too easy for intruders to get in, right?"

That checked out. Calista could certainly see how the rewards were all related to the inn theme, even if they were typically available at the inns in their world. Things like towels and robes were useful when one took a bath. However, inns outside of this dungeon typically only offered a room and a single meal for a set price per night. Any extra food or alcohol had to be paid for separately and there were no extras available to purchase or otherwise.

"That's certainly true. That actually brings me to my next question. There has been a noticeable amount of disturbance in the dungeon. [Monsters] being incited to stampede and tremors throughout the dungeon. It seems like things have been calm during our time here, but we were warned about the issue before we got here. No one at the guild knows what is going on, so we'd like it if you could explain. Maybe something could be arranged to sort the problem out?"

Veronica's eyes seemed to light up and her posture straightened as she eagerly replied to Bellarth's question.

"Can you really do something about it? I've been having a bull Shifter named Bo coming through on a regular basis who feels the need to challenge me to a life-or-death duel. I keep dying and nothing I do seems to discourage him for long. I'm starting to lose hope that there is anything that can be done. Seraphina, my assigned Dungeon Diplomat, said that nothing could be done about it since the dungeon core isn't corrupted and it's his right to challenge the dungeon."

The silence was deafening as their group exchanged worried glances with one another. None of them were willing to risk doing anything about the problem. It would be a shame to see the dungeon affected by one man's actions, but they couldn't risk their livelihoods being affected for some random town they didn't even have a connection to outside of their work. After far too much time passed by, Veronica huffed, seeming to get upset as she demanded.

"Fine, you can just consider this interview over. I'm no longer in a good mood and want to be left alone."

They were supposed to have another question they could ask, but it would seem they had ruined their chances of getting any further answers. It was a shame, but there was nothing they could do, so they simply packed up and left. Hopefully, this didn't ruin their chances of accepting work here in the future. None of them wanted to risk losing their lives just because they ended up on bad terms with the Dungeon Master.