Ruby leaned over a table, palms flat on its surface, eyes scanning the multiple reports and drawn maps spread in front of her. She was inside her improvised office, set up in a secluded area of the dense forest neighboring the crab's pond, out of sight from most who passed through the road or plains.

Her eyes narrowed behind the red-tinted lenses of her glasses as she followed the line drawn around a map of the region.

Under her instruction, a party of lower-level birdwatchers had performed an experiment recently. They traveled far from there and captured a number of wild birds in cages. These were of course not the kind of birds their group was created to watch, as those would require far more than simple cages to capture. They were merely common birds, the kind that sing, eat seeds, and fly around ruining people's hats from above.

Then, they proceeded to test the boundaries of the strange restriction zone that had emerged around the newly-formed Semla Volcano and its dungeon. And Ruby's theory was proven right. No matter how much they tried, the apprentices were unable to make a single bird fly into the general vicinity of the mountain. It was as if an invisible barrier prevented any bird from going anywhere near the dungeon, and subsequently the pond.

Which she hypothesized was the reason no manager action had been taken regarding the sudden appearance of an unregulated dungeon in that area after the activation of Amil's Astrolabe.

The birds could not act on it, because they could not go anywhere near the dungeon to begin with.

Ruby adjusted her specs and traced a finger over the rough circle drawn over the map, which her scouts had outlined across their three days of bird testing. It spanned the entirety of the Semla Mountain, it included the crab's pond, the section of the main road that passed in front of it, a slice of the plains, and even a section of the Black Forest—including the Birdwatchers' current hideout. Interestingly enough, the enchantress noticed the town of Ardville was not included in this restricted zone.

A power like that, capable of keeping the ones in control of the world's system unable to act, was something they had never come across before. Something not even her mentor, Amil, had ever even come close to finding.

Whatever was at the bottom of that dungeon was powerful. Maybe even world-changing, if her deepest hopes about it proved to be true. It could be the very answer to their faction's entire mission.

Perhaps it would finally pull down the curtains around that world, and reveal why they were all brought there and stripped of their old life's memories. Reveal who was behind that whole scheme, and what their intentions were.

They needed to get to the bottom of it. She needed whatever was at the core of that dungeon.

"Ruby," a low voice said as the figure of a man entered the enchantress's office.

"Ah, Jasper," the woman in red said, lifting her gaze from the maps and looking at him over her glasses. "What news do you bring?"

"The scout you tasked with infiltrating the dungeon has returned with a full report," the nomadic adventurer said as he handed her a rolled-up piece of parchment.

"He finally managed to get inside?" Ruby said while taking the scroll and quickly opening it. "What of the drake guarding the entrance?"

Jasper gave a slight shrug with his left shoulder.

"According to him, he checked on the entrance one morning, and the drake was simply gone, leaving just an empty cushion behind. Maybe it grew tired of guard duty?"

The robed woman exhaled a quiet scoff and shook her head as she lowered her eyes to the written report.

"That's what happens when a wild animal entrusts an important duty to an untrained wild beast."

Ruby's gaze scanned through the lines on the page quickly, reading each paragraph with growing focus as her brow rose further up her forehead.

"Interesting," she muttered after finishing. "Did you read this?"

Jasper gave a single nod.

"So it seems the crab is working with the skeletons from that low-level tutorial dungeon to create some kind of… custom dungeon? Either way, mostly irrelevant to our interests. But the part about the next floor, what do you make of it?"

The enchantress's right-hand man crossed his arms.

"The Semla Mines? The scout didn't give us much to work with. I told him he did the right thing, turning around and leaving. A single level 33 adventurer in an area filled with unknown beings above level 40 would likely not last long, and then we'd have no report at all."

"But from his description, do you have any guesses what might inhabit that floor?"

Jasper shook his head slowly.

"Hard to tell. They're almost certainly not undead like the previous level. Whatever they are, they appear to be numerous, fast, and well-adapted to dark and cramped spaces. Faced with such unknown factors, my approach would never be anything less than a party of at least five, all well above level 40, to explore the area and learn more."

This time it was Ruby who shook her head.

"We can't afford to send so many of us there right now. Too risky. Both because of what we might encounter down there, and because of what we could end up having to deal with behind us if the crab's friends discovered our incursion. As much as I loathe the waiting, it's wiser to wait and let them do the scouting for us, take the risks, and uncover more about those mines."

The warrior walked around the table, eyes scanning the maps strewn across it.

"What if the crab and his friends succeed too much and get past the mines before we can react? We still don't know how deep the dungeon goes. We'd risk them possibly reaching the core first."

Ruby frowned, the light of the lantern hanging above the table reflecting off her gold-rimmed spectacles.

"We need to ensure they make it through the mines, but not too far," she muttered in thought. "We need something that gets in their way and keeps them busy."

The nomad narrowed his eyes at the enchantress. "Do you have something in mind?"

"Yes. Remember the strange fissure our builders found when looking for a suitable place to make camp?"

"You mean the one leaking foul purple fumes and a stench of death?" Jasper said. "Hard to forget. We left it be and relocated, since it was a danger not worth dealing with for our mission here."

"Indeed," said Ruby with a scheming smile. "I had one of our mages inspect it further, just in case." She produced a page from under a book on a table and offered it to the other adventurer. "This is the report on what he found. I think it would work well as an obstacle for the crab and company."

Jasper's eyes scanned rapidly through the lines on the piece of paper, his left eyebrow arching sharply up as he got to the end.

"Devious, and unorthodox," he said, looking at the woman in red again. "But these are unusual times. I will gather some guys and work on making it happen."

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

As the man left, Ruby called for her apprentice. "Amber?"

"Y-yes, Madame Ruby?" the young girl said as she hastily stumbled into the office.

The enchantress frowned slightly at the novice birdwatcher.

"I thought I told you that hat had no useful enchantment and to get rid of it?"

Amber jumped in place and quickly pulled the straw sun hat on her head down, hiding it behind her back.

"S-sorry, I… I forgot. Sorry. I will get rid of it. It was just that the sun was so hot this morning and—"

The older adventurer cut her off mid-sentence. "In the middle of winter? Either way, that is not important right now. The crab. I want to know what he has been doing. Do you have your latest report yet?"

"Oh, yes, right here, Madame Ruby!"

The girl hurried to retrieve a scroll from her satchel and hand it to her mentor.

Ruby adjusted her red glasses closer to her green eyes and began reading Amber's report on her observations of Balthazar's daily comings and goings.

The further her gaze went down the page, the deeper the crease in her brow grew.

"Why is a crab trying to teach a goblin how to read?!"

***

"Alright, here comes one. Go, go, you got this, just breathe and do your thing," Balthazar whispered to Tristan as they spotted an adventurer entering the bazaar.

The human merchant nodded, slicked his graying hair back with one hand, and after straightening his undercoat, walked behind the counter to receive the arriving customer.

Balthazar watched from behind a shelf, out of sight, as the younger man carrying a large backpack lazily approached the counter. He had the raggedy hair of someone who had been on the road for days, and likely had woken up next to one too. His dazed look betrayed lingering sleep, as did his heavy-lidded eyes and parted lip.

Nice. The crab thought. This should be easy for Tristan. Even a wooden plank would have enough charisma to sell almost anything to this guy.

"Good… Uhm, good morning, adventurer!" Tristan exclaimed, in a voice that was clearly far louder than he had intended at first.

"Morning…" the groggy traveler replied, the focus of his gaze undecipherable from behind his heavy eyelids.

Both merchant and adventurer stood facing each other with the counter in between for an awkward few seconds of silence until Tristan finally spoke up.

"Uh… What can I get you this fine morning?"

After a couple of seconds where Balthazar could swear he heard the sound of rusty cogs turning and grinding inside the younger man's head, he spoke in a drowsy tone.

"I thought this was supposed to be the place with the crab merchant?"

Tristan's gaze darted to the shelves in front of Balthazar for a moment before refocusing on the client.

"Ah, right, my partner, Balthazar," the two-legged merchant said, pulling gently on the collar of his shirt. "He's a very busy man—I mean, crab! He's currently tending to other… business matters. I assure you that I'm perfectly able to assis—"

"Yeah, whatever, don't really care," the adventurer lazily interrupted. "You got any energy tonics?"

"Certainly!" the nervous merchant said, quickly reaching under the counter and producing a thin and tall glass vial filled with an electric blue liquid. "Is that all?"

"Uhhh…" the adventurer drawled. "Yeah."

Tristan glanced at the shelves with a nervous plea in his eyes. Balthazar gestured wildly from behind the shelves' contents while trying to avoid making any sound.

"Go on!" the crab muttered.

The other merchant cleared his throat and turned his attention to the client again.

"Uhm, for 2 more gold you could have the special limited edition clay cup to go with the tonic."

The half-awake young man stood motionless in front of the counter for a moment, jaw slack and gaze distant. The only sound Balthazar could hear was the sluggish breathing coming out of the adventurer's mouth, and the crab half expected a line of drool to start dangling from the corner of his mouth at any moment.

"Yeah, alright, sure," the groggy traveler finally replied.

"Really?!" Tristan exclaimed, visibly excited. "I mean, certainly, here you go!"

He reached under the counter once more and retrieved a small, cheap cup made of clay and placed it next to the glass vial.

"We have a special offer today where if you buy a second energy tonic, you get a 5% discount on the first one," the crab's business partner said.

The adventurer blinked lazily a couple of times. "Uhh… Alright."

Tristan placed a second vial on the counter.

"And if you purchase one more tonic, you can have everything for the price of three."

"Sounds good," the younger man said with a half shrug.

A third vial went on the counter.

"Would you like some fries with that?"

"Sure."

"A salad too?"

"Mhmm."

"Mossy brick?"

"Huh?" the adventurer mumbled with a slight arch of an eyebrow.

"Special promotion we're doing in partnership with a local dungeon," the merchant promptly explained. "For just 5 more gold, you could take home a one-of-a-kind brick from Tudor's Hall that is covered in organically grown moss from said dungeon."

"Uhhhh… Yeah, sure," the client said with another shrug.

"And for just 12 more gold and a monthly payment of only 20 Crowns, you could also add a subscription for premium access to the Ruins of Battnaware, which comes with a complimentary pocket knife and toenail clipper combo, as well as a cap that says 'I Went to Battnaware' on it."

The traveler paused for a second in apparent thought, swallowed slowly, and then spoke, "What?"

"But you will need to be available for a two-week trip to the Faracell Woods within the next month in order to be eligible," Tristan added, matter-of-factly.

"Oh," the adventurer muttered. "Yeah, alright then, I can do that."

"Perfect! For another 4 gold and the two top buttons of your shirt, you could also take home the full box set of the book series The Scrolls of Mild Peril by the famous bard Eglantine Featherpickle."

"I'll take it."

"Excellent. 7 gold and you can also adopt this novelty miniature tree in a pot."

"Uh-huh, I accept."

"Hmm, what's your class?"

"Warrior," the adventurer absent-mindedly replied. "Why?"

"No reason. Just chit-chatting while I finish writing down on the ledger over here." the merchant answered. "For just 125 gold coins more, would you like to take our special Dungeon Tea-Time Deluxe Kit offer?"

"The… what?"

Tristan took a deep breath.

"It's a kit with all the essentials a refined adventurer could possibly need to hold a proper five o'clock tea break while exploring a dungeon. It contains an enchanted self-cleaning porcelain set consisting of teapot, five teacups, respective saucers, and a sugar bowl. Indestructible blacksteel teaspoons, too. A miniature kettle and portable campfire for preparing your tea, obviously. And, of course, a complimentary set of tea samples to try, such as Elven Grey to clear clogged sinuses, Dwarven Chamomile for the deepest of sleeps, and Necromancer's Nightshade if you need something that can really wake you up."

The adventurer stared at the smiling merchant with an addled look on his face.

"Does it come with the sugar included?" he asked.

"Naturally!" Tristan replied cheerfully.

"Yeah, alright, then I'll take it."

"Oh, one last thing, sir," the merchant said. "Would you have one or two spare gold coins you'd be willing to donate to help the sick children of the local orphanage up in town?"

The traveler clicked his tongue lazily. "Nah, man, sorry, I got nothing right now. Maybe some other day."

"Well, alright then," the older man said with a hint of disappointment as he hastily jotted something down on the paper. "In that case, your total comes to one hundred and sixty sev—Ah, what the hell, firs time customer, right? Let's just round it to 170 gold, why not. And the two buttons I mentioned before, of course."

After much shuffling of items and some confused looks from the groggy adventurer, the crab and his partner watched the young man sleepwalk his way out of the bazaar with an open box in his arms and a puzzled frown on his face.

As he exited, a system notification appeared in front of the crustacean's eyes.

[Shared trading and tutoring experience gained]

"Tristan! That was great!" Balthazar exclaimed as he joined the man behind the counter. "You're natural at this."

"Oh, the sales pitch is all yours," the other merchant said, lowering his head in slight embarrassment. "Besides, I didn't manage to close the whole deal all the way. I failed there at the end, you noticed?"

"You mean the donation part?" said the crab. "Pfft, don't worry about it. You've got a clear talent for sales, but you seriously need to work on rebuilding your confidence. That is what's hampering you."

Tristan lifted his gaze from the floor and a faint smile curled his lips. "You really think I've got what it takes to be a proper merchant again?"

Balthazar patted the back of the sitting man with the side of his pincer and grinned.

"I don't just think it, partner, I am sure of it. And there comes another adventurer with a bursting pack. Let's practice some buying now!"

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