As they make their way down the main street, Lord Aldor can't believe the sights passing before his eyes. The rumours that he'd heard of a mountain town were true and in the same place as the last known location of Dungeon Categoriser Elric no less.

After he had received differing reports from multiple sources regarding a spontaneously-growing mountain with extremely-strange vegetation, a new town springing up and information about his missing Categoriser, Elric Highgrove, the Lord of Ishda took it upon himself to investigate the far-fetched yet-interwoven claims.

Assembling his private guard, consisting of more than three-dozen veteran-warriors each over level 30, Lord Aldor also summoned Elric's only remaining Apprentice Anon. He then had his space mages open a portal directly to Orad, the village closest to the mysterious mountain and the steady stream of strange reports.

Upon their arrival, a heavy storm was raging down over the small farming village. The Lord and his men took shelter inside the Mayor's building. His intention was to gather as much information as possible before setting off anyway. Knowledge is power as they say.

However, without having to converse with anyone, the Lord and his men all gathered at the North-eastern window. No one said a word as the eye-catching phenomenon that was said to be growing and changing faster than naturally possible was easily visible to them in the distance. Even through the horrendous weather. If anything, it was hard not-to-notice the multicoloured work of beauty and fear combined, looming over the land in the distance.

Pink and purple. Black and red. Green and blue.

After speaking with Orad's chief and waiting for the storm to pass, Lord Aldor, second-apprentice Anon, the Lord's space mages and his guard detail all set off toward the terrifyingly-beautiful mountain, which somehow looked bigger than it did during the storm.

It took them almost half the day to reach their destination. The Lord and his men noticed that they'd begun to see less and less monsters the closer they got. Eventually they stopped seeing traces of them all together.

"My Lord. There are quite a lot of buildings up ahead but no wall. It would seem there is a town here." A scout reports as they edge closer.

After cautiously approaching with his entourage, unsure of what he might find, Lord Aldor was lost for words. When he heard mention of a new town founding itself beside the new mountain in the forest, he was expecting something the size of Orad or smaller. Maybe twenty buildings max with a chief, a few guards and a shit-load of farmers.

Instead, now that he is viewing the size for himself, he's looking upon a magnificent city with hundreds upon hundreds of buildings. Some with the craftsmanship almost matches or beat his own city's. Granted the masons and stoneworkers in Ishda do some amazing work, but there are a few buildings here that catch the Lord's eye due to their uniqueness. In terms of size, this city is almost close to that of Ishda. It's hard for them to tell without a good vantage point.

As they head further inside the wall-less mountain city, the residents of Varona go about their day-to-day activities whilst paying no mind to the stray Lord or his men. A friendly smile or a passing wave is all the reception they receive until they hear the sound of horns blaring from the other end of town. Immediately, men and women start closing up their businesses and rush past them toward the direction of the noise.

Now caught up in his own curiosity, Lord Aldor follows the streaming crowd of people through the strangely-laid-out-streets until they reach a large circular building. White-stone pillars are connected together by stone archs which make up the outer wall. Inside, tunnels and hallways lead to plentiful seating areas that overlook the arena below. The host's box can be seen from the seats that Lord Aldor has chosen and inside it he spots a few odd-looking individuals that catch his interest.

Before he has a chance to make his way to the obviously-more-important seating area, two holes appear in the centre of the arena before platforms below them rise up. Each one carries a different contender to the surface and as they step off the automated device, the ground seals back up and they face each other.

Each person shows respect to the other as the event isn't just a savage fight to the death. They also bow to the Ringmaster in charge of the event in her box and they make one final show of recognition in Lord Aldor's direction before they commence their match.

"I should have come here sooner," Lord Aldor whispers to himself, captivated by the thrilling fight and magical displays, completely unaware that apprentice Catergoriser Anon disappeared, shortly after their arrival.

I'm not oblivious to the group of people that arrived in my city all at once. In fact, I've been following them ever since they entered due to the unnecessary headache that everyone else was giving me. I know they were only being helpful but I had to open up all my connections shouting, "Stop!" to get them to cease the bombardment of repetitive information. I can feel them too, you know!?

I'm going to get Mira and Hana to explain to me how they operate. I know I said I'd leave handling guard-duty and city-watch to them but after my mind has just been information-blown, I may need to keep a closer eye on things. I've got to stop brushing my problems off. Especially when they keep coming back to bite me in the ass. I also had to end my brief reunion with Anya due to their arrival.

Anyway, the fact that regular people can't see or hear me is actually working well in my favor today. Or at least it was doing until I spotted the young boy in the entourage. He's clearly the youngest of their group and this lad's obviously on the road to becoming a Categoriser. It gave me a bit of a shock if I'm honest. Even though you can tell his profession by the design and colour of his robes, the same ones Katrina arrived in, it still caught me off guard when he locked eyes with me.

It could be because I've gotten used to floating past my own citizens unnoticed that it semi-startled me. Either way, the short meeting of eyes has become a problem that now needs taking care of.

As they pass through the next building's shadow, still following the crowd, no one notices the dallying apprentice as he falls through the ground and disappears from sight.

I didn't do anything malicious to the curious youth with wide eyes, in fact, I did him a favor. Within the many voices notifying me about the arrival of new visitors, Katrina's was easily the loudest and had the most information included with it. She knew the identity of some of the people and I was a little nervous at first when she gave me the details.

It was right after her explanation that the apprentice caught sight of me. I did the first thing that came to mind and had one of my Assassins teleport him off to Katrina. Problem solved. Easy work.

Although I suppose I'm just palming that problem off onto someone else as well. Has that become my M.O? My go-to solution? Let's be honest, it's working so far even though I suppose being more diligent on my end wouldn't be a bad thing.

OK. After this I won't pass my problems off to anyone else.

Hoping that she will be able to talk some kind of sense into him, I decide to follow the Lord whilst also trying to figure out his reason for coming here.

There are so many and not all of them are good. In fact, would he think any of them are good? More importantly, is he here because of what happened to Elric? Or, are the nearest towns or villages scared about my growing mountain? Wheeler may have gone to Ishda at some point and the Lord could be here because towns of Varona's scale don't just spring up within the span of a few months. Not without his knowledge anyway. There are so many different reasons. Hopefully he just wants to establish some sort of we-take-your-money tax and I'm probably fretting over nothing.

Hopefully.

For now, I'll just follow and listen to see what he's got to say.

Unfortunately, it wasn't much. All the way to the Coliseum, Lord Aldor didn't utter a single word. His eyes, however, were everywhere and as I followed him, his curiosity was evident. It was only when the crowd reached their destination, with Lord Aldor and his men still following behind, that he spoke his first word since entering Varona, "Amazing!"

I gotta admit though, I was quite pleased when he did finally speak. I mean, I hear the same words from my own citizens time after time, but it somehow seems different when a person in power compliments your shit.

After that, he didn't speak again until he was sat down. Fully immersed in the entertaining spectacle below. I also enjoyed my time. It was quite fun watching my own guys fight each other without worry of death.

The Coliseum:

Any training undertaking in this location will boost skill growth by 25% and level growth by 35%

Fully engaging in combat and holding nothing back whilst in the ring will improve the chances of earning new titles and skills

Let death no longer weigh you down as anyone that's signed up to combat training is unable to die while on the Coliseum grounds and will be revived with no penalty

Any skills, stats, levels or titles earned whilst in the Coliseum are permanent

Although, I'm not quite sure how they avoid pain. I'm pretty sure that part is a given but I suppose they're levelling up faster than they were before and it's not like anyone's complained yet.

Anyway, the Lord seemed to enjoy himself watching my town's entertainment and in my head I'm chalking that up as a point to me.

It's quite strange in a sense. Not the fact that he enjoyed the death fight but that he stuck around for two more afterwards. He's obviously come here for a reason, but instead it looks as though he has gotten caught up in the moment.

Should I make the first move? I mean, he obviously sent the Categoriser here in the first place. Right? If so then that means he knows there's a dungeon here. The Academy does a great job of hiding it but that apprentice should have known where he was the moment he entered the city!

It's hard to answer that without more information but you always manage to work things out in the end. Somehow.

That's true, I think as thoughts of the Hay Bale flash through my mind.

Screw it. Let's do this.

I search for a good vassal to speak through but before I can call out to anyone, Lord Aldor's belly rumbles almost as loud as the crowd's cheering.

That settles that then. Killing two birds with one stone, I summon Ali. Ever prepared, as sometimes I wonder if she'd make a better Core than I do, The Gourmet arrives in the hallway that leads to the stands with multiple dishes lined up on a tray.

Ali approaches the Lord, but is stopped by his guards less than ten feet away. I knew that would probably happen though. Lords and Kings are always well protected from assassination and poison attempts.

"Let the lady pass. Can you not smell that divine aroma rising from the domes on her tray?" Lord Aldor orders.

Wow, just like that, huh? Maybe I should send Ali on Syndicate missions? So much for caution.

"But.. My Lord, you... We are here to..."

"I know why we are here. Now. Let her pass." The dejected guard does as he's commanded and lets my chef through.

"My Lord." Lowering her head, Ali uses the correct etiquette and places the tray beside Lord Aldor before taking up the seat next to it. Much to the dismay of his personal guard.

"What is that heavenly smell?" he asks, salivating a little.

"It's the special of the day. To start with you have Eton forest soup, followed by slow-roasted boar with a selection of fresh vegetables. For dessert there's freshly-made ice-cream and berries." Ali smiles whilst proudly announcing the three-hit combo.