Noseen shimmered at my touch, but then he blinked. "Fine, just dealing with a couple things all at once."

"Just making sure," I said, hesitantly stepping back.

"Lenna's people visited your territory," he said with a smile. "Any messages to pass along?"

I wished I'd asked Lenna if she had anything to say to them.

"I don't think so. She ranked up, but it was necessary since this world is a higher rank. Maybe let them know that. Her class is a little different, but cool. I know she also misses Dengu."

Noseen's head tilted in a way that didn't seem possible. "Different how?"

"It's called Pathfinder," I said with a shrug. "I still don't understand it, but she hears whispers from the stars."

"She hears the voices of the great ones!" His black eyes went wide, and his lips parted like a fish just for a second. Then his normal, calm look came over his pale face. "Still, you are both squishy, too squishy. Work on that!"

"I…" My voice cut off as he booted me from the dream.

I woke up with a jerk.

Lenna stared at me. "Are you okay?"

"Just Noseen being Noseen. Your parents visited Lakeside." I rubbed my eyes, trying to resituate myself.

"What?"

"He said they visited, that's all I know."

Lenna frowned, but then shook her head. "We can't dwell on what's happening there. We need to focus on what's happening here."

"I agree." This time, I stood up and stretched. "Let's find out what our next steps are."

I opened the wooden door and found a group of people around the campfire. Most of the worktables were also filled with various people and projects.

Kabi smiled as I approached the fire. "Ah. Rested, I hope?"

"Very much so. Between that and soaking in the hot spring, I feel like a new person." Being clean was amazing, and so far this had to be my favorite dungeon. "So, what now?"

"That is up to you," said Rees. "Though, I'm hoping that you can lend a hand with removing some collars."

"I can do that after I eat something. I'm thinking some more noodles." I blinked at the elder, then slowly nodded. "Then we can discuss the next trip."

"This isn't far," said Kabi. "They have a bunch of people they saved from the outpost in the south."

"Oh, that's amazing…" I connected the dots. "Anyone you know?"

"I'm not sure yet. They are being kept in a different area, since we discovered Fiko."

I snapped my lips shut, realizing what he meant. They didn't know who was an actual slave, and who might be a spy.

"Alright. Noodles, then I'll get to work."

Lenna didn't follow, and I stopped to look at her. She smiled.

"I need to work on my profession if I want to keep up with you."

"We'll meet up later?" I asked.

"Of course."

I wished I had asked more about what she'd picked as her profession, since I knew she hadn't decided before now.

A quick stop at Crass's booth, where Rees paid for my noodles, then he led us to a very different part of the dungeon. This wasn't around the market area, and we walked for longer than I would have expected before we came to a platform.

[Would you like to enter the first floor of the dungeon?]

"They're inside the dungeon?" I asked, seeing the notification.

Rees shook his head and motioned toward a doorway. "This area is normally used for people to find groups to enter with."

Three armed Water tribe members stood near the doorway. One faced the dungeon, while two faced inside the room.

"We had someone try to get out yesterday, but we think it's because of the rumors of the forest tribes instead of them being a spy," explained Rees as I eyed the guard. Both were level 120.

"Alright, let's get to work."

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

Kabi entered the room first and gasped. "Auntie!"

A tall blue woman leaped up from where she'd been sitting on the floor. Kabi rushed to her and picked her up in all four arms.

Others on the floor started muttering to themselves, while several people stood up. The presence of so many crystals made me blink. Yet, some felt different, though I kept that to myself for now.

"Let's start with you," he said, bringing her to the front. He smiled at a couple of different people, who smiled back with joy at seeing him.

Kabi's aunt was quick work. The collar was the same as the others I'd removed. The muttering in the room grew louder as the collar came off, but people waited their turns and I started working through them. As soon as they were freed, they were asked to keep to one side.

Rees brought a stool for me to sit on, and one of the guards stood next to me as I worked. Cekta and Shelli entered the room, and both rushed to people they knew. After a little while, Kabi joined the guard next to me as Cekta and Shelli took over bringing people up one by one to have their collars removed.

The first several were the same, and then the next one was different. Kabi must have noticed something, since he greeted the person and started talking to them.

I ignored the chatter and tried to figure out what had changed with the crystal. After a few seconds, I realized it didn't have the same weight. They used less crystal for this one, and the presence inside was less active. The connection to the ring in the distance was also weakened.

Removing this one was easy, and the next bunch all were thinned. The connection broke with almost no effort. I lumped the crystal together into a different pile than the normal one. It distracted me, and almost caught me unaware as the next person arrived.

He spoke with Kabi like they knew one another, but as soon as I touched the collar, I knew. While it looked like a slave collar, it wasn't.

It was purely made of fire crystal, and housed some runes that I didn't know. It melted easily in my hand, and I touched the marble in my pocket, sending a quick message to Kabi.

Cekta approached and brought him over to the side with the other freed people, but stayed with him.

The next several people were all the same as before, with a lesser quantity of crystal. Each of their levels were lower as well. All were under 100.

Finally, my stomach growled and I held up a hand. "I need a break."

I didn't know how many I had freed, but it was most of the room. Enough so that I could feel the individual crystals left. Three more felt strange, and not just weighing less, while the others were 'normal'.

"We will get you some food," said Kabi. "And water."

He turned to everyone else. "We will resume after a short rest. Then everyone will be free to meet up with the others."

People nodded, though a few with collars still looked uncertain.

I stepped out of the room and past the guards. We headed back toward the market.

"Did you tell the others?" I asked.

Kabi frowned.

"What?" asked Rees.

"One freed person didn't have a slave collar. Kebi knows which one, and a few of those left have strange crystals," I explained as we walked back toward the market.

"There is a food place I think you'll like up ahead." Rees took us down a different path. "You can rest while eating."

This food booth had benches and long tables where people took their food. Rees motioned for us all to sit and went up to the counter to order.

"Are you sure about that guy?" asked Kabi. "I grew up with him."

"He had a fire crystal, not a binding one," I said, tracing several runes into the air. "Cekta, these are the runes that I saw inside the stone."

Cekta frowned. "Can you draw them?"

He pulled out a piece of charcoal and something like paper. I quickly sketched what I remembered about the runes.

"This rune is for strength," he said, pointing to the first. "This second you might have wrong, I don't recognize the base rune at all. The third is for honor. I can ask Fiko after lunch and see what he says."

"That doesn't mean he's a spy."

"But it does mean we should monitor him," said Rees, sitting at the table.

Another person dropped dishes full of dumplings at the table, and my stomach rumbled again.

"No way, you have dumplings!"

"Somehow, I knew I'd find you here," said Lenna, approaching the table.

"How is your day going?" I scooted over on the bench for her to join us.

"I'm learning much, thanks to Rees." She bowed her head in his direction. "He found a few people for me to learn from, and I'm gaining levels quickly."

"That's good! What profession did you go with?"

"Ambassador."

"Oh, you mentioned your grandmother is a leader…"

"This works well with what I've already been taught, and it synergizes with my class."

"That's lucky," said Kabi, passing plates out to everyone at the table. "Many try to line up choices for it."

"The stars are guiding me," she said, taking a plate.

From there, we quickly loaded up on dumplings and a sweet drink that reminded me of iced tea, but more fruity.

It didn't take long before we headed back to work, yet, as we approached, some of the people from Kabi's tribe milled around outside the room. All were freed from collars.

Rees frowned and headed to the guards.

They were letting people out one by one after talking to each.

He spoke with them for a couple of moments before waving us closer. "Let's get this done."

I took my place on the stool, and the rest of the people lined up. The guy I'd asked Kabi to watch remained in the room, at the back of the line of people leaving.

Then there were five people left. Somehow, four of them were ones that felt weird. Kabi chatted with the group of them as one approached.

I smiled and reached for the collar. As soon as I touched it, everyone blurred into motion, attacking me.

Kabi blocked two of them, while one of the guards held off a third. The last was the one who had the collar on in front of me.

His knife slammed into the scales that covered my side.

"That was a mistake," I whispered before digging my claws into his left side.

His eyes widened at the sudden pain.

"We don't have a choice if we want to save our families," he mumbled as he tried to jerk back. Blood dripped from the wound.

"You always have a choice."

"Please save them," he whispered. "They took over our festive grounds. Ask Kabi."

He stumbled back, tripping. I reached out to grab him, confused at what he'd said, but his knife came up. I blocked, but I wasn't the target. He slammed it into his own chest.

[You have gained experience from combat.]

[You have leveled.]

"Are you okay?" asked Kabi.

"Yeah, I'm not hurt." I glanced down at the blood coating my hand, and then back at the guy on the floor. "Did any of them survive?"

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.