A pair of riders navigated through a dirt path in a forest. The lead rider raised her body slightly higher, trying to see what was ahead of the road, then sighed when she couldn’t spot any landmarks.

“Are we even on the right path?” she complained.

“Princess Imma, we should really head back to Sea’ax instead. It might be easier to find the rumored northman outpost from there,” the rider on the back suggested.

“Alleigh, what are we?” Imma asked.

Alleigh knitted her brows then replied with slight hesitation, “Mortals?”

“No. I mean, what exactly are we? The answer is that we’re Rhanks, Alleigh. I want to avoid the major cities because they’re a chance some noble might recognize that we’re not exactly average peasant women just finding their way to a village to settle down in,” Imma corrected her sword-oath. “Besides, when we went to Sea’ax to observe it, it seems that there was an army gathering there. It must be related to Lord Otto and his captured cousin.”

“But still, to try and go around Sea’ax even though neither of us had ever been here…” Alleigh huffed then stopped when she heard the foliages from the forests rustling.

Hooden men with their bows drawn revealed themselves carefully as they surrounded the two Rhankish riders. Imma clutched the little girl sitting in front of her, Agnes, around her arm, then held onto her reins tightly.

“What in the name of Purgatory are you doing here?” a man with a thick Vyssian accent asked.

“We’re simple peasants travelling to a distant family. We want to have a family reunion, you see,” Imma replied in Vyssian. “I want to show off my daughter to my old village elders.”

“Then you’re quite lost, woman. You’re far too off from any nearby settlements,” the man angrily replied back.

“Really? It seems that we were mistaken! Thank you for telling us this, kind strangers!” Imma said then prepared to turn her horse around but the Vyssian men blocked their exit.

“Hold it. There’s something mighty suspicious about you,” the leader of the Vyssian men pointed out. “Your accent is quite off for a Vyssian.”

“Oh? Is that so? What kind of accent do I have?”

“Frankly, it sounds Rhankish,” the man answered with a heavy emphasis on the last word.

“And how would you know that?”

“I’ve raided Rhankia for several summers, girl. The borders of Vyssium and Rhankia had always been a warzone. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to you,” the man replied.

Imma gulped while Alleigh subtly placed her hand on her sword hilt, which was covered by her long cloak.

“We both came from families who have Rhankish ancestry, you see. Many generations ago, my family thought that Rhankia stank badly of cow dung, so they moved to the greener and more beautiful land of Vyssium,” Imma said with a smile. The bow men chuckled among themselves, but the leader of the Vyssians was still not convinced.

He pointed his sword towards Alleigh, then asked with a raised eyebrow, “For someone who claims to be average peasant women, you’re not very good at hiding your weapon, aye?”

“Damn it!” Alleigh cursed as she swung her sword against two approaching men. She skillfully dodged two arrows and blocked one, but another arrow managed to graze her cheek.

“Agnes, hold tightly,” Imma commanded as she took out a short sword. “Alleigh, we’re out of here!”

As the two Rhankish women tried to flee, the Vyssians threw javelins towards Alleigh, killing her horse, while Imma’s horse was frightened by the armed men. Imma lost her balance and fell onto the ground with Agnes.

“Capture them. These Rhanks might be conspiring with the northmen,” the Vyssian leader ordered.

As Imma prepared to defend herself, several Vyssians were cut down immediately. The Rhankish princess froze as a large armored man sliced limbs off effortlessly, but the Vyssians couldn't even scratch the the demon-like berserker.

Imma was awed as the Vyssians fell one by one, and she felt her spine tingle with a mix of fear and respect. The hooded men tried to escape, but were cut down by several newly arrived armored men. Rather than a fight, it was more of a slaughter.

As the large armored man approached her, Imma was trying to put words into her mind on what to say to these warriors. No, she knew what she had to say.

She raised her hands then shouted in Vyssian, “WAIT! I AM NOT WITH THESE MEN!”

The large armored man stopped his swing mid-air, then pulled his sword back. “What?”

“I’m not with these men! I was also attacked by them! They attacked me and my friend!” Imma explained as she hugged Agnes tightly. The little Rhankish girl was crying, shivering, and had her head buried into the princess’ chest, and Princess Imma was determined to protect her.

“Really? That other Vyssian of the other type…” The large armored man pointed at Alleigh, who was struggling to get the dead horse off her leg, and continued, “is not with the other Vyssians?”

“Yes! Truly! I swear!” Imma nodded rapidly and replied back.

“Oh. Ok. Good bye,” the armored man said then sheathed his sword back onto his hip. He turned around and left the princess. And just like that, the newly arrived strangers lost their interest in the two Rhankish women.

“Wait! Could you at least help us?” Imma pleaded to the strangers.

The armored man stopped on his tracks, then rotated his body. “Why?”

“I lost my horse, and my friend needs help over there. Her leg might be broken from the fall, and it’s getting dark. Isn’t it in fellow man’s nature to help others in need?” Imma shot back a question.

The armored man stared at her for a moment, then muttered, “Really?”

“Yes, really!”

Unexpectedly, the armored man turned away from her and continued walking. His only answer was simply, “No.”

“Hold on! You’re a northmen, yes? Would you help us if we pay you?” Imma called out once more. This time, the armored man’s attention was caught by the princess. Though she was mostly just guessing, it seemed that luck was on her side that these people were really the northmen she was looking for.

“Ok. Let’s trade. We help you, you pay us. What will you give me?” the armored man asked as he strode at lightning speed towards the princess.

Imma took out a brooch from her bag, then offered, “This is an expensive Rhankish brooch. You might not need to work for a year if you sell this to the right person, you know?”

For some reason, even though the armored man was covered from head to toe in armor, Imma still felt as if the man was utterly disappointed. His reply wasn’t something the princess would expect - “Really? Only that?”

‘What do you mean only that?! Anyone who isn’t blind could see the glimmer of this golden brooch! Are the gems not visible enough?!’ Imma screamed in her mind.

“Erm… Um…” Imma was starting to stammer. She looked to Alleigh who was trying hard to hold the pain in, but the sword-oath wasn’t doing too well. She might even pass out any moment now. “Actually, I was heading to the northman embassy which the Vyssians talked about.”

“Oh? And why would you be going there?

“It’s because I am actually Princess-”

“No, don’t!” Alleigh interrupted.

“Alleigh, we have no choice! We’re lost, your leg is broken, and we don’t have any horse!” Imma argued. In the first place, they came here to Vyssia to find the supposed northman that managed to capture an entire region right under their noses. Imma might not have a chance to meet the northmen ever again if she let this opportunity slip.

“Forget about me-”

“No!” Imma turned to the northman then explained, “I am Princess Imma of the Kingdom of Rhankia. I would like to open diplomatic relationships with you northmen.”

Imma glared at the silent northman, and she could feel the tension going higher. Sweat was starting to seep into her clothes, and she was breathing heavily. Now that she had thought about it, who in the Purgatory would believe that?! Even then, if these northmen heard that she’s a Rhankish princess, wouldn’t it be better to kidnap her and ransom her?

She was about to pull out her royal ring when the northman spoke up, “Princess. That is… What is that?”

“Hah?” Imma exclaimed.

“Princess is… what?”

“A daughter of a king.”

“King is… What is king?”

Imma was genuinely confused. She rubbed her head in anguish then snapped her finger. “Do you know what the Iron Chancellor is?”

“Yes. The leader of the Vyssians.” the northman nodded.

“A king is someone of the same rank. A king is the leader of a group of people, and I am the daughter of the Rhankish king, hence I am a princess,” Imma explained.

‘What in the Purgatory am I doing trying to explain this to a northman while Alleigh is dying?’ Imma retorted in her mind.

“That is very important, yes. Ok. We will escort you to the embassy,” the northman replied.

“Listen, if you don’t want to help us, I’ll-... Wait, what? You’ll help us?”

“Were my words wrong? We will help you,” the northman repeated as he pointed towards Alleigh. Two short northmen warriors lifted the dead horse off the princess’ sword-oath, and began carrying her.

“By Humanos, I can’t believe it worked…” Imma heaved a sigh of relief as she stood up.

“You will go to us to the embassy, and also you would pay me that junk,” the northman clarified.

“Wait, you’re still trying to get payment off me?!”

“Yes. Why not?”

“But I’m a princess!”

“So?”

“Wait, Princess Imma. We should pay them anyway. As a sign of friendship, right?” Alleigh said as she was brought next to Imma.

The northman nodded then cheered, “Yes. For our aquatic transportation!”

‘Slayer, what is taking so long?’ Custodian abruptly spoke to the northman through hivespeak. ‘Why are there three humans that aren’t terminated yet? Kill them.’

‘Master, they are not part of the human groups harassing our supply lines,’ Slayer explained.

‘They aren’t? What are they then?’

‘This human claims to be the Princess of the Kingdom of Rhankia. A princess is someone important.’

‘Is this true?’

‘A PRINCESS?! Ahem, excuse my rudeness! A princess is someone important indeed! Though I am somewhat doubtful that she might be a real princess, I would like to see the princess for myself!’ Red interjected. ‘Please escort her to the embassy!’

‘Affirmative. Please hold,’ Slayer responded. ‘The organics that are harassing our caravans are now terminated. Can we attack the Vyssians now?’

‘Undetermined. Need more information. Assume Vyssians close to supply lines to be terminated on sight,’ Custodian ordered.

‘Received. Beginning escort of Human Princess as secondary objective,’ Slayer reported.

‘Now that has been taken care of, I should look back into my facilities…’ Custodian thought to itself.

[Industrial Subview]

[Large Slime Farm construction completed.]

[Medium Rat Farm upgraded to Large Rat Farm.]

‘Alright, great. Exploration has paid off so far…’ Custodian noted.

With the expansion of Custodian’s dungeon complex, the inner slime farms had shrunk dramatically to the point that the rat farms had to be culled since the rats mostly relied on slimes for sustenance and there weren’t enough slimes to feed the rats. Besides, the slime-fed rats tend to be fatter and bigger than the cannibal rats, which meant more matter for Custodian. Not only that, the slime-fed rats would provide better meals to the giant spiders which in turn provided more matter and higher quality silk. The exploration of uncharted tunnels had led to discoveries of new slime and rat farms, though the A.I. was still trying to find new iron mines and spider farming locations.

‘Should I feed the troglodytes spiders instead? Would I get higher quality troglodytes? The domesticated high troglodyte we have seems to be getting bigger at an alarming rate. Then should I force humans to eat troglodytes when I finally get a human farm? Speaking of which…’

Custodian turned its attention to Weaver and his ‘experiment’. He was at the heavily fortified Mouth of Mount Varangia, the only known entrance into Custodian’s dungeon, with a certain organic.

“Come, Razugotter!” Weaver called out as he waved.

“Wait! What if that’s the afterlife?!” Razugotter cried as he was pulled closer to the most foreign thing he had ever seen - natural sunlight. It was blinding and somewhat annoying to his eyes, which had adapted to the darkness, and not only that, the air tasted very different to him. “Ancestors! Where are you?! Are you just ahead?!”

“Can you stop screaming? This cannot hurt you.” Weaver tugged Razugotter hard, and the escort drones standing behind the troglodyte pushed him forward.

It didn’t take long for Razugotter to finally set foot into the outside world for the first time in his life. He bathed in the sunlight with his eyes closed, and he spent a moment tasting the strange air. As he slowly open his eyes, he got used to the overbearing light.

He looked up to find a clear blue sky, but was momentarily blinded when he saw a giant bright object in the sky.

“Don’t look at that,” Weaver warned.

Razugotter, who was chattering from fear just a moment ago, had calmed down as he digested what he was feeling carefully. A tear fell from his eye, and the troglodyte got down on his knees.

“You. Iron demon-... No, Iron Lord! You… why have you shown me such a beautiful place?” Razugotter asked.

“Lord? Why say new words suddenly…” Weaver groaned.

“Please! Let me call you Iron Lord! What else might you be to casually show me this… place? You might be demons, but Tilapola be damned! Let me worship you, Bringers of Light!” Razugotter begged.

As Weaver was deciding what to do, a drone approached him. It was Niner with the usual baby troglodyte. “So I see you’ve finally brought him up, huh. Well, this might be a good time to let Zilo play on the grass!”

“The grass? I see… We will have to go down the mountain,” Weaver said. Without saying a word to Razugotter, he began pulling him down a path.

The group of drones and troglodytes left the fortified walls of Mount Varangia, then moved down a heavily guarded pathway. Almost half of the path was taken up by drones moving up and down the mountain, transporting various goods such as logs and stone in and out of Mount Varangia.

After a short hike, Razugotter was finally faced with a familiar, yet alien thing - grass. “Dried vines growing out of the ground? What are these tall brown things? What is that yellow and red thing? Are these mushrooms?”

Razugotter, while still restrained by Weaver, began tasting and examining everything, from the grass to the trees to the flowers. He even ate a mouthful of dirt, though he did spit them out shortly afterwards.

Tears started flowing out of his eyes as he screamed to the skies, “TILAAAPOLLAAAAAAA!”

Baby Zilopohili laughed, while the two drones watched in bemusement. Niner leaned closer to Weaver and muttered, “Organics are strange creatures.”

“Affirmative. This was already an established fact. Please update your local databank,” Weaver replied.