==========

  [Sigurd]

  The blood drained from Jason’s face in an instant, soon matching the sickly pallor of his son on the doorstep below. He fell against the door frame, the strong walls of his house the only thing keeping him up.

  “Oh God…” he whispered. “No, no, no, no, no, no. Ardoi! My boy!”

  Tears fell freely now, and Jason made no effort to hide it.

  Sigurd crouched down and looked Indry in the eyes.

  “Dungeon?” he whispered, knowing the answer before he asked it. Indry nodded.

  Goddamn! Sigurd thought to himself.

  Despite all his warnings to the boys, despite it all, they just had to go and look. Delving required training, dedication, and luck, and still you would get surprised, caught off guard. Heck he’d just gone for a delve with the best team he’d ever encountered, and they’d nearly lost one. Why? Why did they have to go?

  Sigurd sighed. He knew the answer. Gold, silver, and riches. For all the good it does for the dead! He thought bitterly.

  Jane came to the door and Sigurd closed his eyes. Knowing the next minutes were going to suck.

  ==========

  [Friar]

  The friar clenched his sweaty hands, nervous as always. Devor was off pursuing the young girls of the town, and that meant an opportunity to contact master. He had found nothing, Curate Lucilla had proven useless, and so too had all the others. And though he hadn’t failed his task – which was to search for information – he felt like he had, and that was not a good feeling when contacting the master. No, no, no, it was not a good feeling at all.

  As he cast the scroll, he dug his nails into his palm. With a crackling surge the scroll combusted, and the pale white face of the master appeared.

  “Friar… how nice to see you” the master crooned, his raspy voice unnerving the friar. “I hope you have good news?”

  “I’m afraid not master, it appears he failed, Curates Lucilla, Averly, Brickhaus, Martes and Rhanel had no-one turning up for healing. It seems safe to conclude that he has perished.”

  “So it would appear” he commented. “Acceptable work friar, keep looking into it in case he appears, but I think I’ll have to send another to complete the job.”

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  “Of course, master, is there anything else I should be doing?” the friar asked.

  “No, for now, just keep looking into it.”

  Friar cancelled the spell, smiling, for once the master had not ended with a death threat. Perhaps he was warming to him. Friar snorted at the ridiculousness of the thought. No, that would never happen. Master had ice flowing through his veins.

  ==========

  [Sigurd]

  *** 9 Hours later ***

  The town meeting had just finished, and though there were lots of tears from the three families who had lost loved ones, the story had at last come out.

  The boys had trekked up to the mountain in the evening and entered the dungeon around the time Sigurd was starting the last floor. Apparently that day was cursed after all, for they didn’t make it far, the trees having taken two of them and some kind of big bird the third.

  It was news to him, having not seen the eagle in the few times he had been in the first floor and he was surprised there was such a supposedly dangerous creature up there. Though when it came to dungeons there was no rule book. Each and every one was different and there were plenty that were nigh on impossible to delve, the first floor being too dangerous for anyone.

  And though he had thought the first floor relatively tame, it had taken three lives already. What was once a coming boon to the town would now be marred in the minds of the villagers.

  Sigurd sighed, sitting down in the pews of the church. It was where they had all the town meetings. Littlebrook being far too small for a town building, and so they clustered amongst the pews and talked for happy and for sad. More sad this time though.

  Of course, he felt bad for the families, but it was John who had his sympathy the most. Sigurd knew his pain after all, having lost plenty of team members and friends in dungeons throughout his life. It was part of delving, the loss, and you grew to accept it and cherish the time you had with people.

  From what he had told Sigurd, John hadn’t wanted to go. Had known it was a bad idea, but had felt he couldn’t let them go alone. John knew the most about dungeons, he’d been at Sigurd’s door for the longest time, asking questions, stories, anything he could coax out of him. So, to not give his knowledge to his friends was unthinkable, no matter how stupid an idea he thought it was.

  Sigurd could understand it, had experienced similar things, and knew how it hurt. He’d known since the first time John told him about the dungeon that John would be going inside it. He’d just hoped it would be after the guild was brought in and John had had some proper training. For all the kid’s incessant badgering, he hadn’t trained him. John had wanted him to, had begged for it, but Sigurd had always told him no. Hoping to prevent him from running off and doing something stupid. How well had that turned out? He thought sarcastically to himself.

  Sigurd sighed before lapsing into silence to say his prayers to the Goddess.

  Standing, he stretched his back out and turned to walk home, the morning light showing the way. As he shuffled along, he felt numb. He soon reached the door, pushing it open and locking it with the ease of someone who had done it countless times. Sigurd walked the familiar path to his bed, slipped in and fell asleep, the weight of the night’s events pushing his head firmly into the pillow.

  The next day, he awoke late, as one might expect for someone who had been up so late the night before. Getting into bed a scant few hours before day truly began meant waking up in time for a late lunch. A very late lunch.

  Jenna and the others were awake, helping themselves to some food from the pantry. Jenna must have woken sometime around noon.

  “Hey, good to see you’re awake, Jenna. I see the rest of you found my food ok. That’s good, I was ever so worried.” He commented sarcastically.

  “What’s mine is yours and vice versa mi amigo, I’m just glad it’s all yours and not mine” Kael replied laughing as he took a big bite of food.

  “You’re such an ass Kael” Sigurd said cracking a laugh too.

  “You’re just catching on now? My God you’re slow” Lore muttered with a snort.

  “Fuck off” He replied with mock indignancy.

  “So, what’s up?” Sebastien asked, sincerely.

  “A group of the boys went up last night, entered the dungeon.”

  “Oh dear”

  “Yep, went as well as you’d expect. Three dead.”

  “Three? Shit!” Kael commented. His compassion evident.

  “Fancy going up again to help search for their bodies before we head back?” he asked.

  “Sure, least I could do for raiding your food my man.”

  “Thanks Kael” Sigurd replied with a laugh. “The villagers would like to give them a proper burial. Would make them much more well disposed to you if you wanted to make this dungeon your main.”

  “I guess, we’re going, since Kael volunteered us and all.” Sebastien replied with a smile letting us know he was cool with it.

  “I guess we’ll go after I eat some of MY food, you didn’t prep me any by any chance?” Sigurd asked.

  “Nope, what do you take me for, your servant” Kael responded laughing.

  Sigurd just shook his head and walked into the recently stripped pantry, sighing as he went.