Chapter 67

  Fools

  The return to sunlight is a welcome relief after the hardest dungeon we’ve ever done, even without the Phantom of Corruption’s attack. It feels like we’ve been down there for ages, though it’s only been a matter of hours. We left town in the morning, and now the sun is starting to hang low in the other side of the sky. And I know it’s still the same day because we didn’t make camp inside of the dungeon.

  Still, it’s weird to have to use that kind of justification to reason it all out. I have to do an actual accounting of just how much time we really spent to wrap my head around just how little has passed. Sure, it’s a lot of hours. Marking off the time it took to get to the dungeon from the village, it was probably six or so.

  … Gosh, even putting a number to it makes it feel too small. In fact, the more I think about it, maybe even six hours is too generous. It had to be longer than that, right? We did so much, and it wasn’t even a full work day? Heck, we’ll be getting Korrigan home in time for supper!

  I go through the layout of the temple-like dungeon again in my head, even though I just did it to estimate the time. It’s actually shockingly short, just looking at the number of rooms. Many of those rooms are incredibly huge and busy, but it really only had about ten of them.

  Admittedly, that’s much bigger than the Forest Cavern, but it’s smaller than the Desert Cove. Again, only if we’re going purely by room count. Desert Cove has a lot of wandering caves that make it seem bigger than it is, while the only space of merit is the ship and the zone the pirates patrol. In terms of content, Ogre’s Grotto trumps anything and everything we’ve seen.

  Maybe that’s because it’s a Silver-rank dungeon. All of the others Ayre and I have done were Bronze. That had been deliberate, thanks to Yorin’s planning. It means our route has been a bit looping, and we had the advantage of starting in a relatively low-threat area, so most of the dungeons were naturally just that weak. This approach has given us a chance to grow before dumping us directly into a Silver dungeon, even though we’re technically ranked appropriately for it.

  Of course, if Ogre’s Grotto has taught me anything, it’s that there’s more to dungeon diving than being the right rank. The success Ayre and I have had on our own up until now hasn’t been because we’re a well-rounded, experienced team that covers each others’ weaknesses. In fact, we’re exactly none of that. No, it’s solely because we were just horrendously overleveled.

  Korrigan would be a great boon to any party if she picked up some support spells, but for this run, she was just extra firepower in a party that honestly already had too much of it. But Leuke? We couldn’t have completed Ogre’s Grotto if he hadn’t come along. Heck, we may not have even survived it to chicken out. Ayre was right, our party balance is in the toilet.

  If we want to continue the way we’ve been going, then we’ve only got two real options. One, we have to diversify our party. Unfortunately, this not only puts more people at risk, but increases the likelihood of the boons of traveling with a Hero getting out to people who would abuse them. Otherwise, we’re going to have to ensure that we continue to be horrendously overleveled for whatever we face. The latter can be done in the short term fairly easily, especially with the pity points and the rewards from our first Silver-rank dungeon, but I don’t feel like it’s sustainable over the long haul.

  As we're all making idle conversation on our way back to town, I'm mentally compiling a list of desirable traits to filter party candidates. Obviously, far and above, the best candidates would be other Heroes. I've only had the one dungeon with Leuke, so I haven't been able to verify it, but the biggest advantage with a full team of Heroes likely isn't the lack of worry over all of the secrets, or even the enhanced combat performance. If we all benefit from each other's aura boost, then the growth of a full Hero party would be meteoric, nevermind that we'd all be learning to fight together, so our synchronization would be peak.

  It makes it all the weirder that we're shotgunned all over the Empire, since the Temple, at least, seems to know about this unlisted bonus. Either I'm seriously overestimating the dissemination of that information among those responsible for making deployment decisions, or someone is knowingly impeding our growth.

  I don't want to jump to any conclusions about that, though. There are absolutely plausible reasons for something like that without it being malicious. Even separate, Heroes still grow fast, and I don't know the state of the greater Empire. It's entirely possible that there's enough smaller fires that it's a matter of making sure the Empire is stable enough to put a unified front toward the Western Demesne.

  Maybe the monster nests and bandit cells Leuke is being sent around to beat down are splitting resources needed for the war effort. Or, heck, I'm not blind to politics. Maybe it's a tit for tat to curry the support of the nobility. I can practically hear it. “Oh, you have those mighty Heroes, they will surely banish the Darkness! Of course, I would be glad to give what aid I can, but it is so small for my troubles, won't someone rid me of these troublesome bandits?”

  Bleh. I can understand it, but it doesn't mean I have to like it. Especially since, if politics are anything like back home, these are probably issues they should have been handling, themselves, all along, and, would you look at that, all of the anti-nest money went to the noble's private soldiers. And lining their third wall safe, most likely.

  When the oni village outside of Giri comes into sight, I pull my head out of the depressing line of thought. There's nothing I can do about systemic corruption. I'm just a girl with a gun. I can go around and shoot all of my problems, but misuse and overspending is just going to come right back the moment I turn around. Better to let the Empire's own systems handle that and focus on what I can actually do something about. Besides, I'm sure that all of those suddenly with problems now will be getting investigated for how they let them get so bad after the Corruption is dealt with. The smart ones would have quickly mobilized to handle the problems, themselves, the moment they heard about the Hero summoning.

  As for my filter list, it's actually surprisingly short. First and foremost, they have to be both trustworthy and reasonably competent. Everything else after that is fairly secondary. A dedicated healer would be nice, but isn't necessary, and I'm a better scout than anyone we might bring on. Support is even optional with my Essence goods, though I wouldn't turn down not having to burn consumables for it.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  What we really need is a tank to keep the trouble away from Ayre and my beautiful face again. I hold no illusion that we'll be able to get anyone as good as Leuke, but anything would be better than the nothing we've got now.

  Maybe Yorin knows someone who's looking for a party and won't sell us out to the lowest bidder, or, more likely, we'll have to ask her to vet people from the Guild. I should write to her after we get back; she did ask for an update in her latest letter. I'm sure she'll be happy to hear from me after a landmark dungeon like this, though she'll probably need two pots of mint tea to get through the part about the Phantom.

  My first sign that something is wrong is in the way that the oni we pass look at us. There’s the talking and pointing that normally goes on as many of them recognize us from when we left this morning, but there’s a sadness in their eyes, a disappointment. A few women point openly to the large tear in my dress over my abdomen, and I self-consciously grip the edges to pull it shut. Suddenly, the way they’re acting makes me feel like I’m flashing everyone I walk by, or something.

  A few younger people are sent running ahead of us toward the center of the oni village, where Chief Ronolo’s longhouse is. It’s not hard to guess that they’re going to let him know his daughter has returned.

  I try my best to put the worst of the stares and gossipping out of my mind, telling myself that, surely, Ronolo will be able to straighten any such confusion out, whatever it’s about.

  A part of me wonders if something might have happened to him while we were out. Before I can squash it, my imagination grabs the thought and runs with it. Did a pro-Imperial faction avenge Lord Mayor Oshu by eliminating the figure seen as his opposition? Did one of the merchants want him out of the way to try to push the stripmining quarry through anyway? Did Lady Regent Noya only ask me who I thought would be a good mayor so she would know who she needed to remove to retain control?

  All of these thoughts are completely baseless, each one more so than the last, and I tell myself as much, but I’m still relieved when I see his towering form stepping out of the longhouse.

  Korrigan clearly had no such deep inner spiral of conspiracies and paranoia, because she throws aside all ceremony the moment she lays eyes on him. “Grandpa!” Her shout splits out just before she starts running for him.

  The chieftain comes down on one knee with his arms wide as she crashes into his chest. He immediately folds those massive limbs around her like he’s never going to let go. “Ah, my beloved little flower, home again! You have no idea how much I’ve worried for your safety every moment since you left my sight!”

  “I’m fine, Grandpa, really,” she insists back. “It was rough for a while, but everyone else got hurt way more than I did.”

  He raises his head to look at us, though he still keeps his granddaughter in his embrace. There’s confusion in his eyes as he looks us over. “Were they?” he asks her. “They seem alright to me. I’d assumed you all fell back when things grew too dangerous.”

  Fell back? Did he think we bobbed in and out of combat? No, obviously, we surveyed our enemies first before we ever committed to any fight whenever possible. But his confusion clearly seems to be over our lack of wounds, so I raise my hand.

  “I can heal,” I provide. “We patched everything up before we came back.”

  “Oh,” he declares, nodding with the new information. “Yes, that makes much more sense. I didn’t realize your abilities were so diverse. Thank you for prioritizing her safety.”

  “That’s what we’re supposed to do,” I reply with what I hope sounds like humility and not bragging. “She’s the mage, we’re the martials. It’s our job to make sure she’s free to do her job. In fact, she was quite helpful, and we even picked out a few ways for her to grow going forward. Didn’t we, Korrigan?”

  She leans far enough back from her grandfather to nod energetically. “Yeah! I’m going to learn curse magic to weaken enemies and make them easier to fight to go with my new staff! And support spells to aid the group in emergencies, starting with Slow Fall!”

  That puts a confused look on the old man’s face. “New staff? What new staff? Did they buy you one for the dungeon run?”

  She laughs that off. “No! The dungeon had several lesser lords that we had to fight to get to the true dungeon lord! One of them was a mage, and he dropped it!”

  His confusion deepens. “Are you saying … you did reach the dungeon lord?”

  Now, it’s our turn to look confused, and we exchange glances between each other. Korrigan even twists in his grip to look back at us.

  “We … cleared the entire dungeon,” Ayre answers for us. “It’s been culled.”

  “... You four culled the entirety of Ogre’s Grotto … in half a day?”

  I give an uncomfortable shrug as I share my earlier count for lack of a better answer. “... It was only ten rooms … kinda … One of the rooms was a really long hall that could probably be called half a dozen rooms, and some of the rooms were really big, but … still …”

  Ayre decides to change the topic before I embarrass myself even further. “And not a moment too soon, either. Without anybody allowed to go in, the arcana level had already gotten high. If the mining talks had dragged on for several more weeks, you’d have been looking at an expansion event.”

  “Oh my,” Ronolo intones, and for a moment, he looks his age. “That would have been very bad. If such an expansion wouldn’t have reached the Oni, it almost certainly would have swallowed the mine site, and then all of our bickering would have been for nothing …”

  He regathers himself admirably, however, and clears his throat, his voice returning to that booming megaphone he so proudly broadcasts. “But it was not to be, thanks to your fine efforts! And to think that you young sprouts actually cleared the entire dungeon, and in such amazing time, as well!”

  Suddenly, all of the whispers click in my head. “Wait, is that what everybody thought? That we were coming back early because we’d lost?!”

  He belts out a big belly of laughter and returns to his feet with a nimbleness that denies his age, Korrigan scooped up in his arms. “We underestimated you all, and have been made the fools! Nevermind that! Come! Join my family for dinner! I insist! We will celebrate my granddaughter’s first dungeon culling, and you will all tell us all about it!”

  Ayre’s the only one not looking excited at dinner with the oni. “... Can we hold off on the spirits this time?”

  But Ronolo’s answer is just more laughter.

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