The Dungeon Fairy: Two Choices: A Dungeon Core Escapade (The Hapless Dungeon Fairy Book 2) by Jonathan Brooks (free e books to read .txt) 📗

A few of the Merchant groups tried to “buy” a spot on the list by offering up gold coins to the Raider groups, but after the dead group was found, Jesper put a stop to that.

“No Raider group may exchange their place on my list with another, unless specifically allowed to do so by me.  And I’m not planning on switching anyone, no matter how much of an…incentive…is presented to me.”  To Sterge, that sounded pretty final and without any type of ambiguity attached to it; the Merchants, however, took advantage of a loophole.  Instead of switching groups around, they paid quite a few Raider groups to withdraw their names from the list, which inevitably moved them up in the timeline.

“I don’t understand; isn’t the reason they’re here at all so that they don’t have to pay strong groups of Raiders to usher their young Merchants through more difficult dungeons?  Doesn’t that defeat the purpose?” Sterge asked Gwenda, but Jesper just happened to be nearby and overheard his question.

“The savings between paying even a hundred groups here a few gold to withdraw their name and a single run through a harder dungeon is immense.  Last I heard, a group of 4 Raiders escorting a single low-Leveled Merchant through a mid-difficulty dungeon would run them at least 100 gold. Granted, the benefits from that delve would net the new Merchant Raider anywhere between 6 and 10 Raider Levels because of the difficulty, but it is an expensive investment – and there is still a significant danger that they could perish with one wrong move on their part.

“And keep in mind that is for one new Merchant Raider.  Multiply that by how many you’ve seen here, and you might be able to understand why they would come all this way in order to take advantage of this dungeon being here.  The prospect of controlling access to this place is probably a big draw, as well.”

Gwenda snorted in acknowledgement.  “That’s for sure; I get approached every day by that Minister about securing the lease for this land.”

Sterge didn’t know she was still being approached by the Merchant, though he had mentioned that he wasn’t giving up.  Regardless, he knew Gwenda and the others were determined to hold onto what they had and weren’t willing to give it up – all the more so, now that they had been successful in keeping their livelihoods through all of the changes recently.

“See that you keep your autonomy, girl; the last thing we need is another major conflict here.”

“You’ve mentioned something like that before; what exactly do you mean?” Sterge asked the Clan representative.

Jesper shut his mouth and appeared guilty, as if he had said something he shouldn’t have.  After almost a minute of a visible conversation he was having with himself, he finally relented and shared something with them.  “I really shouldn’t have said anything, because it doesn’t really involve you…right now.  Just know that the only safety you have here is your relative independence; the lands around almost every other dungeon on the continent are controlled by either the Clan or the Merchants.”  He paused for another moment.  “Let’s just say that confrontations between us haven’t always been the nicest, and it just seems to be getting worse for some reason.”

That didn’t sound good to Sterge, nor Gwenda obviously.  “Then…wouldn’t it behoove you and the Clan to try to control this land, as well.”

Jesper just smiled sadly.  “Ideally, yes; however, neither I nor Trevelyan want this land to become a hotbed for conflict, which it would inevitably become.  Brand-new dungeons are a rarity in and of themselves, and for one to be so accommodating as this one has been is even rarer.  This is arguably the most popular place to be right now, even if it’s primarily for Raiders just starting out on their journeys.  Because of that, neutral control is the ideal situation here to avoid bloodshed; even better, that control is backed by an ironclad lease, which not even the crown can withdraw without good reason; otherwise, such a precedent could endanger all of the dealings people have with the crown.”

Sterge hadn’t realized how big of a deal all of this was, even when he was warned by the Clan Outpost leader weeks ago.  He looked at Gwenda and saw some of the same feelings he currently possessed reflected on her face as well, though not as much surprise.  She must’ve known some of this before; where have I been?  Jesper wandered off shortly afterwards, probably afraid they would ask more questions he wasn’t supposed to answer.

“Well, we’re in the thick of it now; no going back, I guess,” Sterge told his long-time friend with a shrug.  She just smiled back at him and gave him a side hug on the bench they were sitting on.

“We’ll just have to make the most of it, that’s true.”  Her voice sounded a little strained, before it softened somewhat.  “I’m glad you’re here with me, though…have I told you that lately?”

“No, but you don’t need to; I know that already.  I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”

A group of Raiders was approaching them, looking one part angry and one part confused.  It didn’t look urgent, but Sterge could tell they were wanting to complain or ask Gwenda some questions.  “Well, I guess we better get back to work – those Inns won’t build themselves!”  He skipped out before he could get roped into having to talk to them.

Sterge looked back at her as he got to the construction site of the newest Inn, number 10 if he was counting right; she looked strained already talking to the Raiders, but she also appeared in her element.  It was as if she were made for this kind of work,