Monte Charmace proved to be a more interesting figure than Nick had expected after their first meeting.

  Tholm had quickly gone off with the elderly lord to discuss important matters, and Raphael was given overall command of their camp until his return, which led him to quickly delegate tasks to everyone.

  Since Nick was the youngest, he was stuck with making nice with the new guy.

  He would usually have protested that he wasn’t the type of person fit for such duties, but he had noticed something about Monte that made him pause.

  Martial classes were usually easy to identify, since their mana seemed to gather around their major muscles and tendons, providing passive enhancement.

  That was how he’d determined the older Lord Charmace was a knight, but it wasn’t the impression he got from Monte.

  No, the older teenager had a pretty unique mana composition, and his presence in the ether reflected this, being more fleeting than any knight, yet more tangible than most mages.

  The only thing he could compare it to was what One-Ear felt like, but it was clear that while the information broker focused solely on stealth, Monte took a more direct approach.

  “I hope you don’t mind roughing it for a while,” he said, gesturing vaguely to the base camp that was gradually coming together. It was nothing short of luxurious compared to what most adventurers had to endure, as could be seen by the surprised reactions of the four they’d brought along, but for a noble scion, it might as well have been an insult.

  “Oh, don’t worry about me,” Monte replied, curiously watching the other apprentices as they transmuted dirt into smooth stone, summoned nearby plants and turned them into cloth, and quickly transformed the unremarkable patch of farmland into a proper camp. “I’m used to being out in the wilds. My mother was a huntress, and she took me with her until she died.”

  He spoke matter-of-factly enough that Nick decided the matter was old and settled, so he didn’t bother offering his condolences.

  “How much have you been told about what we are doing here?” he asked instead, trying to steer the conversation away from awkward topics.

  Monte turned to him with a half smile. “I would think I know more than you,” he said, “given how fast things have been moving, I doubt you’ve been fully informed, especially considering your age.”

  That was true. Nick had only heard of the dungeon’s existence from One-Ear, and even that was mostly guesswork on his part. Tholm hadn’t confirmed anything yet. But that didn’t mean he’d let a country noble embarrass him like that.

  I've grown a lot over the past year, but that’s still not enough to come across as mature enough to be taken seriously by those who don't know my reputation. I suppose I should show off a little.

  “We’re here to take control of the dungeon, stop House Hone and their allies from profiting off it, and support the remaining locals in holding onto it, since the Royal Court ordered it not to be cleansed,” he replied calmly.

  Monte opened his mouth, then closed it a moment later, stunned. “Alright, you might know enough,” he eventually muttered.

  Internally, Nick breathed a sigh of relief, but outwardly, he kept a calm exterior and waited for the other to explain further. Just because he’d gotten the gist of things on his own didn’t mean he didn’t want to know the full facts.

  Snapping his fingers, Monte did something to enclose them in a bubble of silence, something that was not an actual spell, as Nick hadn’t felt any form in his coils, yet it was clearly effective, since the air didn’t carry any sound beyond five feet from them.

  A skill? He might have a martial art similar to the [Stalking Gait], if that’s the case. He said his mother was a hunter, not an adventurer, which means she was specialized enough to have class-specific abilities.

  “You got the gist of it right, so I don’t know how much I might be able to add, but I suppose I can give you some of the details now, even if you’d learn them later with everyone else,” Monte sighed, and Nick refrained from smirking in victory.

  Having a high enough CHA sometimes felt like a cheat code. Even people who should have some resistance to being charmed went along with his whims if he so much as gave them a reasonable explanation.

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  “I suppose I should start from the beginning,” he said, sitting down on the new stone flooring that Willow had just finished transmuting.

  Nick joined him, still carefully mapping their surroundings for abnormalities and getting used to the lay of the land.

  The sudden teleportation had been less unpleasant than he had feared, but while it cut down on days of travel, he hadn’t had the chance to study the magical and physical layouts, leaving him essentially stranded in the unknown.

  Not that the Sunlands seemed much different from the environments he knew, since there were mostly farms surrounded by hills of muddy clay and hardened dirt, but he knew better than to let his guard down. He’d seen what could hide in seemingly harmless patches of land.

  Especially since there's clear evidence of powerful nature magic sustaining these farms, the land here is too dry and sun-baked to support such high productivity. There's more than meets the eye.

  “As you said earlier, you are here to prevent House Hone and their allies from enriching themselves from the new dungeon, though you lack the full context. The northern part of the Sunlands has always depended on trade from Alluria, with a smaller share from the larger cities of the south. House Hone has maintained a stranglehold on everything coming down the Valis and has been the dominant power in the region for a century because of that," Monte explained, and Nick nodded along, fitting the new information into the mental map he was building.

  He knew that many resources flowed up to Alluria, such as wheat and various foodstuffs, but the same was true for the south, which could not produce enough refined goods to support an advanced civilization, let alone noble houses.

  The intermediaries involved in this trade were no doubt making off like thieves, which was why he didn’t hesitate to rob the Southern Valis Consortium of their gold.

  “But then the war in the north began, and every household with a surplus was expected to contribute some help. House Hone is just a Viscountly family, despite the influence they wield and the power they claim to hold, so they weren’t expected to give much. But to everyone’s surprise, they did, because their greatest ambition is to be elevated.”

  “Ah,” Nick nodded. That made sense and could explain why Archmage Hone would even have enough influence on the northern front to get Lasazar away from the Tower.

  If his family was disproportionately supporting the efforts there, they would only have something to gain since everyone knew it was only a matter of time before the kingdom could fully untangle from their commitments in the east and assign the necessary powerhouses to eliminate the dwarves.

  It was a low-risk, high-reward situation. Unless, of course, something monumental like the discovery of a new dungeon happened in their neighborhood, and they ended up overstretched to the north.

  Since the forces had committed to the Royal Army, they couldn’t back out or pull away, or they’d have to give up their dream of becoming Counts.

  If Nick didn’t know for sure that dungeons were completely unpredictable, he would have thought this was the work of a mastermind planning against House Hone, but sometimes, things just happened to fall into place on their own.

  “Yeah, you can see why that was a problem. And worse, the King interfered before Archmage Hone could leave the Tower, and he sent the Tower Master to handle the monster waves, supposedly as punishment for something else.”

  Nick nodded, listening intently, but inside, he already had a clear enough picture of the forces at play here.

  Now he just needed to figure out Tholm’s angle. Vengeance was surely part of it, and he would no doubt take great pleasure in plotting the downfall of his rival’s house, but that couldn’t be everything.

  If he wanted to, Tholm could have used the influence he had as the top artificer of Alluria to do just that from the comfort of the Tower. That he’d come personally, alongside everyone he considered "his," meant something.

  “The thing about the monsters of the Sunland is that they are hardy motherfuckers,” Malik, one of the adventurers who would serve as their guides, said casually, before Yvonne, his companion, slapped the back of his head for cussing around nobles, not for the first time that hour.

  “Pardon, milords,” Malik muttered, before returning to his rambling explanation as they trudged through the hills in search of something to bring back to the camp.

  Tholm had been sure they would find signs of foul play since one of the nearby farming villages reported the slaughter of a herd, but they’d been searching for hours and still hadn't found the Grumbler the villagers were sure had done it.

  “Hardy in what way?” Nick asked. “The monsters of the grassland were nothing to scoff at,” he said.

  “I’m sure they were, milord,” Malik replied in an obsequious tone that barely masked his disbelief.

  “What he’s trying to say,” Yvonne interrupted before he could dig himself further into the ditch, “is that monsters from the sunlands have developed more defensive behavior than anywhere else. Even simple insect-like ones, which are often among the most aggressive, prefer fighting from sheltered ground and at a distance.”

  Nick hummed, filing that away. He was a little surprised they hadn't been attacked yet, but that would explain a lot.

  “It’s also the case that when they eventually decide to fight, they tend to do so without regard for their own safety,” Monte quickly added, giving the two adventurers a disparaging look.

  Clearly, he didn’t think highly of them and was even somewhat offended that they were tagging along in the first place, believing he could be a more effective guide.

  Nick suspected he might have been right, but he believed this was another move by Tholm to prevent over-reliance on the locals, and he was determined not to make a mistake that would bring his mentor shame.

  They finally crested another hill and reached their last target for the day, the one place Nick was sure they’d find something, given the tracks they’d found along the way.

  A cave had been carved into the clay side of a taller hill, and it looked quite unusual thanks to the large claw marks all around it.

  Whatever creature had done it, it clearly didn't want to be disturbed. Unfortunately, that was exactly what they were about to do.

  “Tell me again why we are attacking a Grumbler’s cave without preparation and with just two kids?” Malik muttered, just low enough to be overheard by Yvonne, if it hadn’t been for Nick’s supernatural senses.

  She stomped on his foot, and he took it dutifully, but still waited for an answer.

  “This has to be a test of sorts,” she replied eventually, just as quietly. "The Archmage must know they stand no chance, but wants to see how they behave themselves. He’s probably watching us right now, so keep up your most heroic behavior.”

  That wasn’t a bad assessment. It was wrong because Tholm knew perfectly well that Nick could handle himself, but given the information the adventurers had, it was easy to see how they could misunderstand things in that way.

  Tholm’s orders were to fulfill the request from the local villagers, which was to eliminate the Grumbler, a large goblinoid similar to an Oni, known for being extremely noisy when disturbed.

  That, at least, was the official mission. Unofficially, Nick’s task was to examine the monster’s mind for signs of influence, since this area was supposed to be too far from the dungeon for such incursions.

  Tholm suspected House Hone might have been behind it, attempting to weaken their rivals, and, given what Nick sensed, he might have been right.

  45+ chapters: