The next nomad tribe visited her eight days later. And it was a very special visit. They were sun elves. What Naomi read about them, it looks like they were like high elves from Tolkien books. High and mighty, and everyone was below them. They treat the desert as their kingdom, and in the past, there were a few wars between them and kingdoms that tried to claim the desert. They won all of them because they knew every secret of the desert, and they were great warriors, too. They were split into three groups each one was led by the main family. Every one hundred years, they meet, and a new king or queen is chosen. Candidates from each family face each other, and only one can win. The winner is appointed as the new ruler.

  Naomi was nervous to meet them, but she went anyway.

  "Good day, please allow me to catch my breath." She said after some running. They surprised her a little and weren't waiting like earlier groups. They confidently entered the oasis. And now, in front of her stood tall, dark-skinned, proud sun elves. "Thank you. Please excuse my being late. However, I must admit I was a little surprised and unprepared for your visit." Naomi tries to talk officially and seriously. "Welcome to dungeon Oasis On Taram. I'm a Dungeon Mistress appointed by The Lady and The Smith, and this is my path." She greeted them.

  The warrior in front watched her and her path for a moment and then answered her.

  "I’m Warrior King Aiduin of the Sun elves, and this is my path."

  "Nice to meet you, sir, and your clan. Can I have a question?"

  "Yes." He answered simply.

  "I don't know proper etiquette, so can you tell me how I should properly address you, sir?"

  Naomi once again unknowingly stunned her guests. Officially, the dungeon cores and kings were equal because the gods chose them to lead and guide the people. Both have their domains to rule, and there is rarely, if ever, direct interaction between them. The problem with seniority shows in situations like now. Usually, it ends with both sides ignoring each other. However, this dungeon mistress didn’t do that. She was even polite and acted professionally. Well, she was trying because he saw her nervousness and uncertainty for some reason. After a moment, King Aiduin decides to stick to what the law is saying.

  "As you know, my lady, we are equal by law. So, sir or your Highness should suffice. You don’t need to use my full title."

  "Thank you. Please do the same for me. A lady is enough for me."

  "As you please, my lady." He answered, this time positively surprised. As the ruler of her kingdom, she does not use her right to show her dominance but prefers to act as an equal.

  "May I present to you, sir, and your warriors my dungeon?"

  "Please do. We are curious about what happened with the oasis, my lady."

  "Everything in these walls is a safe zone. Prepared for travelers to properly rest and get ready for further journeys. In towers are basic preserved food and medical supplies that you can take with you. Like you see, sir, I have stables for animals. Here on this grass field you can camp for time your stay. From the orchard, you can eat every fruit as much as you want. I even have bee hives, and under them are bowls with honey if you are interested. In the middle is a temple dedicated to The Lady. If you are afraid about the old statue of the goddess, sir, I assure you that I left it intact."

  "Yes, my lady. It was something I wanted to ask. However, I have another question."

  "Ye,s sir?"

  "Which tower is your dungeon? We are interested in seeing your guardians and fighting them."

  "My apologies for forgetting about that, sir. The rest of my floors are underground. The entrance is near the south tower. However, my first floor doesn't have any living creatures, only traps. Seeing how experienced you are, sir, and I have a feeling that your warriors are not far behind you, I think they wouldn't be too challenging."

  "I don’t want to be rude, my lady, however, you should choose your safety before the comfort of others."

  "I understand, sir. However, you must know that I was tasked by gods to help travelers and those who live in the desert. A normal floor with only one or two dangerous animals will indeed be good enough for a typical adventurers team guarding a caravan or warriors of any tribe. But sir. What about those who can’t fight? A week ago, I was visited by a tribe with two pregnant women. What if they need to seek shelter? I understand that in the desert, there is no place for the weak, but this is an oasis place for rest and a place for those who can’t fight. And I am not concerned about bandits. The desert will kill them before they reach my walls. And even if they manage to do that, they will not find a haven here. And I believe that my final floor is prepared enough. I don't want to be disrespectful to you, sir, and your men, but I don't think you are prepared for it."

  King's eyes smiled. There it is, a challenge, and there is only one answer to that.

  "I admit that it looks like you spend a lot of time preparing your dungeon. And more or less, I agree with your reasoning. However, I want to ask permission to see for myself your final floor.

  Naomi visibly hesitated for a few moments.

  "Only on one condition, your highness," She said. "You and your men, before leaving the safe zone, will stop and think for at least fifteen minutes whether you are sufficiently prepared. I don't want to see some foolish heroic stunts."

  "I, King Alduin, swore that we would do that."

  "Thank you, your highness. I believe that because you, sir, are interested in my undergrounds, the best place for your tents will be next to the southern gate. Can I show you the way?"

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  "I will be honored by my lady."

  Before sunset, the king's closest family members and seven best warriors gathered.

  "My decision is as follows. We will stay here for seven days for now. Tomorrow, I and four of you will descend and see Dungeon Mistress's creations. Even the simplest traps could be useful for our kids." Everyone nods, agreeing with the king. "We also will see what is in the Dungeon Mistress on the last floor. She is young and inexperienced, and I think there is a chance that she is wrong in her assessment. If so, I plan to ask her for permission to venture through two or three rooms. Maybe some of our warriors will find suitable companions there."

  "I agree." Said one of the warriors. Others agree, too.

  "And it looks like it will be a proper ritual, too." Said the grand priest. "Candidates will have an opportunity to show their skills to future companions."

  "It’s decided then," Aiduin said at the closing meeting.

  In the morning, after breakfast, the king and his four best warriors were preparing for the delving when Naomi appeared in the return ring.

  "Good morning, my lady." King greeted her.

  "Good morning, sir, and to all gathered." She politely smiled.

  Something happened, my lady?"

  "No, sir. Everything is in order. I just want to say good luck and be careful to you and your team. No matter how good you and your warrior are, accidents happen."

  "Thank you for your kind words, my lady."

  "You're welcome. I will be waiting for you all in the safe zone."

  "We shall meet shortly."

  "I don't know how fast my first floor can be traversed. I'm still waiting for the adventurer guild and their teams, sir."

  "True, they are not here yet." Nod king. "Can I ask for a meeting this afternoon, let's say? I want to discuss some things with you, my lady."

  "Yes. That will be convenient because I, too, have two things that I need to tell you, sir, and your grand priest."

  "If it’s something important, I can postpone our delving, my lady."

  "It is important, but it can wait until the afternoon."

  "So be it, my lady."

  Reaching the end of the floor took almost one hour. Traps maybe weren't deadly, but only stupid ones were hasty in dungeons. Some of the mistress' creations were cunning, and the king and his warriors needed time to properly resolve them. Their mundane character adds to their complexity. Many scouts use mana to detect danger and understand what kind of trap they are facing. Here, this was impossible. Generally, the king and his men were pleased by what they saw. It was a very good place for youngsters to train.

  However, when they descended to the final floor, they stopped trying to understand what was before them. Their stupor broke the dungeon mistress, who was playing in the water with crocodiles and some fish with very big, very sharp teeth.

  "I apologize once again for my appearance." She said after drying her blue dress with magic. "I’m afraid that I spoiled my guardians a little, and when they saw me, they started demanding my attention."

  "I understood," King said after a moment of hesitation. "As you see for yourself, we also have animal companions, and we share a very close bond with them, my lady."

  Next to the king was sitting as big as a wolf, a desert fox. Two other warriors have hawk and rattlesnake.

  "I see that, indeed. But you don’t have them upstairs, you don’t get them as prizes from me, and they are not real animals either. They're more like souls, but souls need bodies." Naomi gets close to the fox. He sniffs her extended hand, licks it, and allows it to be petted a little.

  "You are very observant, my lady. They are our spirit companions. In the past, we proved to them we are worthy, and from then on, we can call them if their assistance is needed."

  "You take good care of him, sir. You all three. I can feel their happiness and pride in being your companion. I must confess I don’t like it when animals fight instead of people. However, they chose you, and I feel that you, as proud warriors, fight side by side with them."

  "We are." King nods. "I don’t want to be rude, but you also choose animals to fight for you."

  "Yes. I sound like a hypocrite, isn’t it." Naomi smiles sadly. However, I tried to make this floor as scary as possible. I believe that it will be enough to stop people from harming animals. But sadly it won't work with other floors. It's a conundrum I still don’t know how to resolve. Probably, I will be forced to forget about that and send them to fight and die for me."

  "I assure you that you're not a hypocrite because you are aware of your dilemma, and you are looking for an answer. I'm afraid of this dilemma facing every commander. They often need to send soldiers to fight a fight that cannot be won, but their sacrifice is needed to achieve victory."

  "Yes, I know about that too, sir." Naomi nods. "Anyway, what is your decision about this floor, sir?"

  "I can say that this time, you achieved your goal, my lady. We are indeed not prepared to face the dangers of this floor."

  "Thank you, sir." Naomi sincerely bowed.

  "I hope we can still meet each other this afternoon."

  "Of course, sir."

  Right after they returned, the king called a general meeting. Everyone who didn't have important duties like guarding was called.

  "I call this meeting to let you know about our findings in the halls of this dungeon," King said with a loud voice. As usual in those kinds of meetings, warriors who were there with him stepped forward and spoke first.

  "Despite the young age of this Dungeon Mistress, she managed to build a decent first floor. Our kids and younger warriors should face its dangers. The last floor, I vote to be off limits."

  "I agree. I only add that all warriors should go there. The traps there may not be particularly deadly, but they are very unusual and should be seen by our scouts."

  "I only add that I want to go there to find answers on how to open other rooms. Because our paths don’t lead through all rooms for some reason."

  "I have nothing to add to what was said."

  "And so, I, King Aiduine, declare that we do exactly that. Organize teams. This afternoon, I will speak with the Dungeon Mistress for exact arrangements, and from tomorrow, we should start. Questions?"

  "I have a question, my king." Speak the grand priest. "Why did you call the last floor off-limit?"

  "Our Dungeon Mistress may lack experience but no knowledge. Her last floor is not a maze but one enormous cavern with an artificial sky. She created their marshy jungle. Yes, we can normally fight in that kind of environment, but not this one. The waters are full of crocodiles and fish with big, sharp teeth. And the jungle itself is your enemy. Every plant, every creature, no matter how small, probably even air itself, is deadly poisonous. There wasn't any path or any way to tell in which direction you should go. And there should be a champion, her last guardian, and we didn’t see him. It could be anything."

  "I understand, my king, and I agree with your decision." Priest nods. Hearing that, he was pleased. The New Dungeon Mistress looks very promising and worth the attention of the gods. He can’t wait to hear how she managed to attract the attention of four gods besides her original patrons so early, but the gods' judgment was final.