We were able to climb back to the surface without any problem. The monsters we killed two 'days' ago have not respawned in quantities sufficient to be a problem. The tunnels seemed deserted compared to how crowded they were. Some bug hives that were pushed out by the more aggressive ones that settled near the entrance returned, but we wiped them out. Maybe our prediction of doom for the town was incorrect. But the bugs from the lower floors will move to occupy the vacuum of the ones we cleared, so maybe we just delayed the stampede.

"Well, it seems that the power-leveling session is over. There are not enough monsters to even keep Mittens fed."

We are feeding the bugs we kill to Mittens, Emory, and the rat squad. They need to power up, and doctor Shraaizar tested-and-true recipe is eating monsters whole. I can't and won't take the pemadras out. It is the most 'nutritious' part.

While they eat I crafted sheaths for Mitten's scythes. I'll later upgrade them to allow some manipulation of objects. Like some claw prosthetics, he can trigger using his muscles. I'll need some thin wires, is it able to be made? I also crafted cute harnesses for the bees with the cloth scraps I had left. They can store small objects in a belly pouch.

"It may be so, but I've never felt so powerful! All thanks to you, big guy!" Marcy punches my flank. It wasn't a friendly punch, she was putting all her power on it.

"Whoa, I felt a tingle. What was it?" I joke. That punch took 2% of my max HP. "The heck! You used assassinate on me!"

"Hehe!"

Everyone is in high spirits from a successful dungeon expedition. The only problem: we surfaced in the nighttime. But we awakened two hours ago, so nobody is sleepy. Being underground and under constant pressure through our sense of time out the window.

"How about we enter Colchester right when the gates open?" I propose.

"It would be nice, but there are a day-and-half of hiking before we reach the gates. Even if we travel straight on, we will only reach the gates by nightfall," Marcy replies.

"Marcy, I think Grendel has something in mind," Helen points out.

"Troll style?" Zahariel nails it.

I take a bedroll out of storage and tie it lengthwise around my waist. If you fold the flap down, it looks like an apron. But I fold it up and tie the two ends with rope forming straps that I pass around my arms up to the shoulders. It is like I have one of those frontside baby-carriers on me. Or a kangaroo pouch.

"Troll style!" I answer the people to later address the monsters. "Bees, grab on Mittens! Mantis, hold onto my back. And no slashes or bites! Whoever let's go stays behind for good."

I pick the girls, rats, and angels and organize them inside the pouch. The insects sense danger and comply with my instructions at once. I hold onto the sides and dash to town. Gotta train those skills.

It was an uneventful night. I didn't even break a sweat, but it was because the night was very cold. It will be winter in a couple days.

Skill Athletics level 5.

Skill Max Stamina Increase level 6.

Skill Stamina Recovery level 4.

Dawn was lighting up the world when we caught sight of Colchester atop a hill. It is better to prepare to enter town here. We have a little monster-to-human-ratio imbalance in our party that needs to be addressed. It is much less than the 0% of every other one adventurer party.

"Helen, how far is the range of your communication skill? I think Mittens and the bees will have to remain hidden outside. I'd stay with them but I bet the guild will want to see Beowulf."

"I can spend some skill points on it until it reaches them. I can't figure out the distances, but I bet level 10 can catch really far. It says the range is level times level."

Does it increase with the square of the level? It should reach really far. "That sounds like a plan. I will go away for a while to change into Beowulf."

Helen goes to give some love to her pets that will remain behind and I slip somewhere safe and hidden to transform. I am afraid of soul vessel damage. From what I noticed, it is linked to point expenditure. I'm glad the [Reduce Costs] is already level 10 before transforming. 497 unspent SP and I still haven't earned a higher tier of skill point hoarding title. It is no good to commit suicide for something that might even not exist. Now the cost of humanization is reduced to 900 points, an 82% reduction. Here goes nothing.

Five minutes of shrinking later, a naked Beowulf lies inside troll clothes. I stand up, and swap clothes using the storage. Normal ones, not the fancy, magical and wise set. A little later I am back.

"Hey great hero, nice timing! The gates are about to open," Marcy greets me.

"Shall we go to town? We should descend the hill from the blind side and join the road. It will be bad if they see us coming from elsewhere."

"Ok. Mittens, wait outside and take care of the bees. And avoid being seen by humans at all costs."

"Tic tic tic!" The man-eating praying mantis salutes its master. It moves to face me. I mean, it came so near I could see the tendrils inside its jaw. It startles me. Mittens are taller than me in troll form, but to a human, this is almost a kaijuu. "Tic Tic!" It waves its sheathed scythes in front of me.

"I got it, let me remove the sheaths." And into storage, they go. "Here are your backpacks, folks. We can't return to town empty-handed. Also, everyone back to their old crappy jobs, including me. I'll unset the titles as well."

We need to block the flow of information. I don't know how much the guild can inspect us, but what if someone has an appraisal skill in that guild? There is no need to reveal I have an item box either. I also take out the subjugation parts for the bosses we have. And here I am again with a bag pile almost as tall as I strapped to my back. It is almost comical.

We have no difficulty in crossing the gates, but the guards give us weird looks. It is almost suicide to travel during the night, and if we had camped this close to town we should've entered it before the gates closed. Or so says their common sense.

"I think it is too early to go to the guild. People will ask lots of questions. We should go to Helen's place through a route that goes far from the guild and rests there until the afternoon."

"Fine by me. I miss my parents. Let's go."

There is a lot of traffic going the other way as farmers are leaving town to tend the fields. But we reach home sometime later.

"Mom, dad, we are home!" Helen cheerfully announces our presences.

Hildegard's voice comes from the upper floor. "Oh, thank goodness, you went missing for so many days, Helen. It is good to see you healthy!"

Weren't we out for only five days? "Excuse me, ma'am Hildegard, but how long have we been out?" She glares at me. And clears her throat. Helen also glares. "Excuse me, Hilde-mother-in-law, how many days we have been out?"

She smiles and answers. "Ten days I am afraid." Damn, we spent some seventy-hour days inside that dungeon. Or it distorts the time.

Marcy takes the lead. "It is hard to tell the time inside the cave, isn't it. But don't worry, everything went just fine. We are back, and our mission was a success."

Azelinus comes downstairs to check the commotion. He hugs Helen and kisses her forehead. These doting parents! But she deserves all the love in the world. There is not much floating around, to begin with anyway. Hilde is already cradling Zahariel on her arms.

"Beowulf, my lad, how good is to have all of you back. Your expedition was a resounding success, I already heard from upstairs. Now, what excellent vestments, if you let me say so. Come, let's have a drink and tell me everything about your exploits." He points to the kitchen.

"It is too early for you to drink, dear. And didn't you have an appointment at the merchant association early today?" Hilde uses wife stare. It is super effective!

"Oh, well. Beowulf, care to follow me to the association? We can talk on the way. Let's leave the women to talk among themselves."

I got an idea. It will be good to go there and get some projects ahead of schedule. "Sure, father-in-law. I might even have some business of my own there."

He taps my back with a big smile. "Ho ho ho! That is the spirit, lad. No delaying profit, let's go out. Leave these heavy bags here."

"Can we continue to use the storehouse? I'd rather leave the stuff there."

"Of course! We got a buyer early than expected, the merchandising that was supposed to go there was already sold!"

I leave with Azelinus carrying all the bags and go to the storehouse. I go behind some crates, drop the bags on the ground, store them in the item box and summon a gnome to watch the empty place. I take out some samples of the geode stones to get them evaluated at the merchant's association.

While going down the main street, I stop at a glassware shop to buy some 5 oz vials. They will work as a business card after I fill them with honey. Back on the streets, I show him some stones. "Say, father-in-law, what do you think of these stones?"

"Gemstones? I don't know, they seem fancy. I never dealt in precious stones, but I know the right person to ask."

After filling several bottles with honey, I leave with Azelinus. The warehouse and the merchant association are in the same district, so it is a short walk. Inside, Azelinus introduces me to a gem trader. "Borus, this is my son-in-law Beowulf, he has some gemstones for you to appraise, can I leave him in your care?"

Borus is a middle-aged man that is bald with a thin strip of hair going around his head from ear to ear. He wears fancy clothes with quite a bit of jewelry on his person. I believe it is more for practical purposes than vanity. He smiles at me, "So this is the valorous lad that snatched the heart of Azelinus' little mage girl! Boy, tell me your secret, this geezer promised he would never let any man near his daughter!" Borus makes a hearty laugh. Azelinus is annoyed, but I guess this level of teasing is proof of their good relationship.

"The boy is a hero, Borus. He saved the town of Mirfield from an orc horde!" Azelinus boasts my credentials to set the bar on who he would let touch his daughter. "And to boot, he just returned from exploring the dungeon that opened near town and already devoured a C-rank party! A deadly endeavor, indeed!" I guess he is talking about the late 'spear lord' Cedric. May he find eternal rest on Mitten's belly.

"A true hero if my eyes ever set on one. Wait a moment, is this boy the 'immortal loincloth gladiator' that defeated guild master Kareena?" I want to dig a hole in the ground and vanish! Enough with that loincloth business. At least the maniac part was dropped.

"True and true! This is my boy!" Azelinus slaps my back. "Take good care of him, and I am sure you will profit! Now, if the gentlemen excuse me." He leaves.

Borus points me to a private room, "This way, hero."

"Beowulf is fine," I answer while taking a seat. The room is bland, there is only a four-chair table. "I would like you to appraise this for me." I take a small piece of purple quartz from my pocket. It is the size of a fist.

"Cursed diamonds and bloody rubies! I have never seen an amethyst this big!" Borus almost drools when he picks the stone. "This stone is almost already cut! There seem to be no imperfections! And the sheer size of it. This thing has at least five hundred carats!"

"How much is it worth?" I ask with eagerness in my voice. This is one of the smallest pieces of 'purple quartz' I took...

"This stone? It is hard to say... maybe... twenty..."

"Whoa! Did you just say twenty gold coins?" I hand the gemstone to him, signaling that I am willing to sell.

"No. I was going to say twenty-five." Close. I would have accepted twenty easily.

"Say, can you cut this gem?"

"I can, this gem should be cut into smaller ones. Or a big gem worthy of a queen. It should be difficult. I could try but to a gem of this much value... If it breaks during the cutting it will be bad."

"I am interested in learning gem-cutting as a hobby. Would you teach me? I would also like to have a set of tools. Is it possible?"

"Yes, it would be my pleasure. But before that, where did you obtain this gemstone, Beowulf?"

"In the dungeon. I took it from the room of the 3rd-floor boss."

"Treasures in the dungeon! Amazing. Is there more of these stones in there?"

"I don't know how many are there, but I have seen dangerous caves where golden rivers flow." As in Honey.

"Golden rivers... gems the size of a fist."

"The dungeon is very dangerous. Remember that Cedric's party fell prey to it, and they were C-rank. The 'spear lord' Cedric."

"This is big news. Huge news."

"Yes, and I want you to spread this news. Say, could we close a deal? I propose you pay me ten gold coins, plus a set of gem-cutting tools and a lesson on gem-cutting. I do have one stone like this one and I'd like to try my luck. Make something pretty with my own hands for Azelinus' daughter, if you know what I mean."

"You don't want to keep this a secret?"

"No. I want people to know that the dungeon brings both dangers and treasures. The boss that was protecting this gem was a B-rank monster. Do you understand now?"

"Yes, I do. It is fair to let news this big spread far and wide."

"Please, make all the merchants that are leaving town these days carry this news on the wind. Before winter closes the roads."

"Hero Beowulf, I can see the value of your character! You are truly a selfless person. It pains me to make a profit out of your kindness."

"But to make this profit. You should only regret profit if you do it without the other party's knowledge or by hurting someone. Be brave."

"Be brave! Such wisdom! Here, I'll arrange for a lesson..." I cut him.

"Tomorrow. Ten gold coins, the tools, and the lesson. I can't afford to lose time."

"Yes, yes. A hero's time is very valuable! Oh, how I thank the day Azelinus brought you before me!"

We shake hands, and I give him a small 5 oz glass vial of honey. "This is the golden treasure of the dungeon. The purest honey. Very good for sweetening a noble palate."

And now will be able to cut my own gems. I don't need much gold and I can't flood the market. But the letters with the news of the dungeon's treasures and a footnote about the dangers will spread and bring treasure hunters here. Maybe the dungeon can be kept under control.

Helen will leave Marcy and her... our loving family behind to come with me. I must do this much to make sure they will survive and prosper. But now the guild, Kareena can't control the information flow.

And flow it will.