Dungeon Status:

Tier 2

Level 25/100

Heart 2,250,000/2,250,000

Experience 179,987/562,500

Workers 30/157

Monsters 11/159

Traps 118/384

Food 7,945

Timber 7,322

Iron 2,292

Steel 905

Mithril 870

Mithril Ore 0

Adamantine 916

Adamantine Ore 0

Charcoal 3,658

Mana 160

Rock 1,330

Gold 22,580

Leather 216

Leather Sludge 215

Lava 501

Ice 10

Glass 483

Explosive Runes 30

Triggered Explosive Runes 0

Triggered Explosive Runes (repeating) 0

Long Guns 30

Bullets 400

Black Powder 400

Poison, Greater 500

Deadly Scorpion Venom 76

Sulfur 708

Quest: Kill 100 city dwellers.

Quest: Half populate your dungeon: Workers 30/66 | Monsters 11/67 | Traps 118/162

Quest: Delve to the bottom of a dungeon with at least 20 floors.

Travis felt on-edge. Two days had passed while Astrid woke her pack one by one. In all, eight had chosen to die on their feet, which left her with just four of her family remaining. There was Hreti, Njal, Trygve, and Liv. Of the four, Liv was the only other woman.

What he hated most about the whole thing was that he'd gained experience for the eight wolves that'd been killed which, along with the daily dose of experience from townsfolk visiting for food, put him over the edge into level 25.

They'd also been mining gold. Lots of gold. As much gold as they could—and then a bunch more. He'd been shipping gold out to the dungeon's tradehouse in the city until it had the required amount to pay the relief army. And even that had become a source of contention.

In the city itself, there was a lot of animosity from Northridge for the army that'd arrived. The city, seeing a few bad apples roughing up its merchants, had led to Northridge retaliating against the whole army in a similar manner as it had against Tannyr, so the relieving army moved to establish a garrison outside.

With Northridge angry like a mother hen sensing danger, it was Breeze that mentally tackled Travis into a hug. He was genuinely surprised by how good it felt to share emotions with Breeze, and didn't hide that it made him happy to have her attention. "Something fun?"

A flicker of sight, of networks growing, spreading, and becoming mushrooms. "Oh! Are the mushrooms Breath of Spring took growing?"

Another giddy wash of excitement spun Travis into a mess of joy that he didn't try to fight. "I'll be arranging for a lot more seeds and animals to be brought up from Far Reach, then. There's no reason to hold back anything that you might find useful to grow."

It was now he was sure she could understand language, because there was no way such a complex idea would have worked as simple emotion, yet she felt excited and eager. She… "Breeze, are you a girl or a guy?" Her confusion pushed him to clarify. "Uh, Brayden is a guy and Fife is a girl."

A single mental flash of imagery was all Travis got from her in reply. The image was complex, yet simple: a dungeon. "Right. I should have guessed. Hey, the big meeting is starting. Pen, you can still hear me, right?"

"Travis is watching now. Sorry, he was dealing with other things," Penelope said, sitting up proudly in the town center with a half-ring of tables before her. Present was the council of the city, several merchants, a few other crafters, both the religious leaders of the city, Breath of Spring, Huntress, Penelope herself, and Stephan. "Most importantly, we have the gold to pay this army to go away."

Brolly wasn't the only member of the council to sigh with relief. "They want twenty thousand gold." It was an astronomical number for an army to take a two-week ride.

"Twenty thousand, nine-hundred and fifty. His quartermaster wanted more, but I brought up the cost of dealing with their less-desirable element." Christine grimaced at that before nodding to Penelope. "Thank you, again, for dealing with that problem."

"We're all in this together. Fife wouldn't have let me hear the end of it if that guy got hurt. She probably would have marched into their encampment and demanded to fight them all to the death." Snorting a laugh, Penelope added, "At least that would have reduced how much we owe them."

"It would have cost Travis more, though. But, let's move on. What are our plans going forward?" Christine asked.

"Travis has some ideas of his own." Stephan stood up from his seat, mostly so more people could see him beside Penelope. "The following are the main points. We will be adapting the dungeon to allow adventurers to delve and fight as they wish, with payments granted based on how far they get. Training courses and, of course, weapons will be sold.

"Though, we will sell them through the merchants of Northridge. There is no point in us keeping all the gold when we are perfectly happy sharing the profits. The cost of weapons and armor will be set at one half market value. You will be free to mark up from there as you wish.

"The next project will be to build another outpost. That southern exit we built to get our messages out will be convenient, so we'd like to reinforce it and propose it as part of our third major project.

"A railway. We've discussed this before, and I believe you talked with some folks about it, but we would like to push this forward. We'll use that fort as the station, widen the entrance there and link it up with the city directly to allow swift movement to and from it. Gold, iron, and steel can be provided."

All three council members visibly stiffened. A project that fit perfectly within each of their purviews. It was Brolly that spoke first, though.

"Tannyr will be helping with the construction? We can provide the labor as well as the stone." Stone was obtainable from nearby, a quarry had been established along the south road and it only took a lot of strong backs to drag it where it was needed. Brolly had plenty of strong backs. "With the location being in the south, that'll be closer to our quarry. Have Tannyr speak to me and we'll see about getting started. As for adventurers, I'll push advertising in Far Reach with Christine's support?"

Christine nodded to Brolly, happy to assist with bringing more people into the city.

"I too can vouch for some workers toward that. You will be providing raw materials to trade too?" Howard was practically salivating at securing access to the raw metals that older cities only dream of.

"Of course. Raw materials will be provided at a similar half the market value." Stephan didn't even need to glance at his notes. He'd memorized all the required information and gone over it several times to ensure he had it right. "You won't want to export them. The city isn't going to be hungering for gold." Laughs, some nervous, spread around the tables. "I believe Breath of Spring has something to add?"

Breath of Spring stood up, too, given her stature sitting was barely of a height to see above the table. "I know you want more crops and meat animals. We are starting to produce mushrooms in our darker areas, though mostly for our own food resources, but specific crops can be planted elsewhere, as well as animals added to my home. We can either make a deal where you provide the samples for free, and harvesting costs will be minimized—or we can buy the samples ourselves and you will be paying a higher fee to harvest those locations. It is your choice."

Christine nodded to Breath of Spring. "Seeing as I've been in charge of food supplies thus far—because no trade meant I had little else to keep me from annoying my fellow council members—I believe we can afford to buy any crops or animals you wish, and perhaps even make suggestions as to what might be good to plant."

Brightening at the level of cooperation, Breath of Spring smiled at Christine. "Thank you! I'll wait around after this so we can discuss it." She waited for Christine to nod before sitting back down.

"We need our fort finished," Huntress said, standing up. "You can use the tunnels from Travis to Northridge, and then through our home to the fort. We will pay for this. Also, I believe it would be a good idea to get a cannon for Travis."

Everyone froze, realizing that was something they had, collectively, forgotten about. Penelope finally broke the silence by raising a claw in the air. "I will also recommend that."

Laughter, from everyone at the table, filled the square as they all appreciated the fact they'd almost let the item slip from the agenda.

When the mirth died down, one of the merchants beside Christine stood up and turned toward Penelope and Stephan. "Once again, I'd like to thank you both and, I understand, Travis too. The entire siege was a most dreadful event for a merchant to be part of, and to have myself threatened further—by supposed allies—was unbearable."

Rumbling softly, then suppressing the purr that was bubbling up inside her, Penelope nodded to the man. "I was relieved I could act in time to stop them. While I know it would be a great boon if Travis could watch the streets constantly for such threats—particularly with more people arriving as we seek to expand—the fact was he can't watch every inch of the city, his dungeon, and keep all our projects on track. We will always do what we can, but only if we can see it."

"Thanks, Pen. I am glad I don't have to talk to people," Travis said.

Stephan did his best not to laugh at Travis. Instead, he let his humor play out into a smile for the merchant. "You're welcome, of course. I would like to talk to you later, since you are a weapon merchant, about establishing a line of gun sales."

Everyone present could see the raw excitement in the man's eyes. He nodded vigorously and sat back down to let the meeting continue.

"One more thing, and though it's part of my own purview, I believe it will affect us all," Brolly said, remaining seated. "I'd like to expand the city walls out. Increasing the maximum distance from the center of the city, of each corner, by at least three times. We will need far more stone, and I want to make this a wall to end all walls, that will only need expansion long into the future."

"You'll need to time that with gaining more citizens," Penelope said, her mind running over the simple facts. "There was only just enough to man the walls as it was. If you finish this, and haven't got the people to defend it, that wall becomes a trap."

Howard, planning all the wonderful wages and taxes for his members, cleared his throat. "Which means we should prioritize the already built fort, the new southern fort, and the railway. Such a connection will ensure we have a steady flow of new faces in the city—many of which will decide that such opulence is for them."

"That last bit reminds me." Christine winced as she had to figure out her phrasing. "We're going to have some distinguished guests here soon. They will not be invited and they will not leave an avenue open to force them to leave, but they will assume they can take charge of things. What I'm saying is, we're going to have nobles start sniffing around."

Stephan mentally winced at the assessment, and also agreed with it. "They will seek to evaluate first; then, when they like what they find, they will find ways to insinuate themselves into control structures; and finally they will worm their way up the structures until they are sitting where you three are now." He nodded toward the three city council members. "You'll see a lot of them coming, but the one that you don't spot is who you will find yourself sharing a council seat with, and eventually answering to."

When he saw he had the full attention of the three council members, Stephan tapped his claws on the table. "Which is why I have some suggestions. I'll present them to you each tomorrow, if you have time for a short meeting with me?"

Looking at each other, Christine Sellswell, Howard Tailor, and Brolly Windchime all nodded.

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This story is released under the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license. If you are paying money to see this or the original creator, Damaged, is not credited, you are viewing a plagiarized copy of the story.