Chương 37: A New Discovery

Ch. 37 - A New Discovery The next morning when Wyatt woke up, he was alone in his bedroll. It was a fact that he was quietly disappointed about, regardless of how difficult it had been to fall asleep. He turned his head, looking around the tent, but there was no one in sight. Wyatt was about to call out, when he heard voices, speaking softly from outside the tent.

"… it's just not as simple as that, Lady Inari."' Just Inari, if you please. It is too cumbersome otherwise.'

"… I'll try." Wyatt frowned, listening harder. The tent flaps were shut, but he could see slivers of light from outside, so the sun had risen. Wyatt debated letting them know he was awake, feeling uncomfortable with the appearance of eavesdropping, but what Kit said next stilled his tongue.

'I'd appreciate it if you did. But back to my main point, I think you should tell him. He won't betray your trust.'

"It's not that I think he would. But it's not my secret alone to share. I can't decide for everyone."

'He would keep your secret, I have no doubt of that.' A tart tone entered Lera's voice.

"Does that mean you've told him all your secrets, Inari?" There was a long pause, then Kit replied with grudging respect, tinged with amusement.

'That's a point to you. You're admirably quick at losing your reverence, Lera.'

"Respect isn't reverence." Wyatt listened for a few minutes longer, but neither of them spoke. His mind was whirling, trying to figure out what exactly they were talking about. Secrets? Wyatt was honest enough with himself that he wanted to know, but he also didn't want to pry unnecessarily. They'd both helped him out so much, it would be a poor way to repay them. Wyatt sat up, the rustling of his blankets alerting the two outside that he was awake.

They called out their good mornings, letting him know that they had made breakfast. After they'd eaten the three of them set out for the dungeon portal. The mood was relaxed, and Wyatt saw no sign from either Kit or Lera about what he'd overheard them talking about. Instead, Wyatt asked more questions of Lera about how the guards at the dungeon entrance checked to see if you were carrying anything of value out. He had an inkling of how he could get around it — if it did indeed turn out to be an issue.

Wyatt only had a handful of gold coins left, and he really didn't want to tithe a percentage of the value of the fruits to the city — not if he could help it. Not to mention that he didn't want to advertise what he was doing. There was a line of people waiting to get out of the dungeon; a fact that made Lera raise her eyebrows. When they crossed the portal, they saw the cause.

There were far more officials and guards on duty than when they had entered, all arrayed in front of small desks, taking down the details of every Adventurer who exited the dungeon. There were lines of people waiting for their turn to be processed, and the city square had never looked busier. Lera grimaced, and led Wyatt and Kit to one of the faster moving lines. Wyatt looked curiously at everything that was going on.

"Is this usual?" Lera shook her head, perplexed.

"Not at all. Something must have happened." They tried asking the people before them, but they didn't know either. The line moved steadily, if slowly. When they reached the guard at the end of their line, he gave them a look that was a mixture of bored and officious. He had a number of crystals and metal objects on the standing desk in front of him, as well as a large ledger.

"I'm Guard Ambrose, and I will be processing you today. Please provide any information requested as quickly as possible. First of all, your guild identification, please." Lera stepped in front of Wyatt, going first. She was still dressed casually, in only pants and a loose cotton shirt. Wyatt noticed that a number of people around them were eyeing her covertly. Lera pulled out her Adventurer tag, holding it out to the guard, who instantly straightened up at seeing she was Silver rank.

Lera gave the guard a small smile.

"Adventurer Lera Delu'Amarr." The guard consulted a large crystal on the right side of his desk. He poked at it, muttering something softly, and it started to glow a gold colour.

"Adventurer Delu'Amarr, The artefact has detected items in your bags of holding of considerable worth. Are you carrying anything that you have looted form the dungeon, be it items or gold?" Lera sounded relaxed and confident.

"Only my own gear. I am carrying nothing from the dungeon." The guard hesitated, then frowned in confusion.

"A Silver Rank, and nothing to declare? Let me just check … you were on the first floor?" Lera shrugged at his suspicious tone, completely at ease.

"My team and I, Veiled Legacy, were returning from the fourth floor. They would have exited yesterday, as I'm sure your records will show."

"And you were on the first floor, why?" Wyatt looked curiously at the guard as he questioned Lera. This was nothing like what he had experienced when he'd exited by himself earlier in the week. The lines of people waiting to be cleared, the record taking … it all spoke of a change. Lera was still very relaxed. She smiled.

"Personal reasons." The guard stared for a moment, but Lera didn't even blink. He cleared his throat, looking down at the ledger in front of him. He asked again, sounding a bit hesitant.

"And you really have no loot, monster parts, or items to fulfil a guild request? I remind you that we are using artefacts to check." This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Lera shook her head.

"Not a one. They were all taken out by my team. Any fees or dues would have been paid yesterday." The guard flicked through the pages of his ledger, mumbling to himself as he ran his finger along the entries, reading out loud.

"Veiled Legacy?"

"Yes, that's right." The guard laboriously added a notation to his ledger.

"The records check out, your team has paid all their dues, and …" The guard looked at a small silver disk on his desk, the top set in a variety of different coloured gems. He prodded it with his finger.

"… no subterfuge detected. You're free to enter the city." Lera's eyes had narrowed slightly at the implication that he'd thought she was trying to cheat somehow, but her voice remained pleasant enough.

"Thank you, Guard Ambrose. Truly you are a credit to the city." The guard flinched slightly at the subtle rebuke in Lera's voice. He looked a little shaken when Wyatt stepped up.

"Name and identification." Wyatt held out his Bronze Adventurers tag.

"Wyatt Eckhart." The guard noted this down. He tapped the same crystal he had used on Lera, and it started to glow. It reached yellow, then faded almost immediately, wavering. The guard tapped it again, and this time the crystal barely moved to a light blue colour. It held the shade for a moment, then flickered—going dull then glowing again. The guard looked confused.

"Any loot or gold to declare?" Wyatt kept his face pleasantly calm. Now was when he would find out if he was right or not.

"No. Nothing." Wyatt saw Lera go still in the periphery of his vision, but she didn't otherwise react. He continued to smile pleasantly at the guard. Guard Ambrose frowned, tapping at the crystal a little more insistently. It lit up again, but the variation in illumination kept flickering.

"It's registering … something." Wyatt shrugged.

"I was on the first floor. Exploring and levelling. There isn't much there to find." The guard checked his logs, noting that Wyatt had indeed returned from the first floor. He looked at Wyatt suspiciously.

"You say that, but there is something of value on your person."

"Are you sure? Maybe it's broken."

"No, it's not broken, it was just working—" The crystal dimmed and didn't light back up. The guard blanched, and looked around at his colleagues worriedly. He quickly moved it to one side, and instead slid the metal disk covered in different coloured gems forward.

"Let's try this. I warn you not to attempt to lie or deceive—this detector will register any falsehoods. Every day we get Adventurers who think they can sneak something past us. Now—are you carrying anything, Artefacts, loot, or gold from the dungeon?" Wyatt eyed the magic device, hoping he was right. Lera was standing outside of the guard's field of view, subtly shaking her head at him.

"No, nothing like that." The guard peered at him searchingly. He repeated himself.

"Are you carrying anything of value that you have retrieved from the dungeon?" Wyatt smiled confidently.

"Nope, nothing." Guard Ambrose seemed almost surprised that nothing on the device lit up. He tapped it, then actually shook it.

"It should be registering something, even if it—the crystal did show items of value, and a Bronze rank shouldn't be carrying gear that would set it off." Wyatt mirrored the guards confusion, then let a slow realisation dawn on his face. He spoke slowly, like he was just trying to be helpful.

"Well … I did resupply on food in the dungeon. I got a fair bit of it—you know, to save on silver. Beats buying food in the city! Would that explain it?" The guard's wary suspicion faded somewhat, and he sighed. He held the disk in his hand, keeping one eye on it, and one on Wyatt.

"Is it valuable?" Wyatt shrugged.

"I suppose you could sell it. But we've been eating it every day." Nothing showed up on the disk to alert the guard that Wyatt was saying anything other than the truth. He placed the disk back on his desk, muttering about a waste of time. The guard made a note in his ledger, and regarded Wyatt.

"Alright, I'll put you down for miscellaneous items from the dungeon. It's a flat fee of eight silver, or you can dump the food. Sorry, but we are under a lot of scrutiny at the moment." Wyatt pretended to consider it, then affected a sigh.

"It would cost me more than that to buy more supplies. I'll pay." Wyatt paid the fee, and watched as Ambrose noted it down. His theory had worked. Wyatt kept his voice casual.

"You know, I didn't go through all this a week ago. The guards didn't even check what I had." Guard Ambrose glanced up at Wyatt as he wrote.

"You new? Yeah, we have always had the main sensors at the entrance, but they only light up when something of great value comes through."

"And that's enough?" The guard grunted.

"Word will get back to your guild if an Adventurer starts throwing gold around without explanation. But with everything that's happened this last week … well, now we have to do everything by the book."

"What happened exactly? Is it the Goblin sightings?" The guard squinted up at Wyatt.

"Goblins? Oh, no — not that. A sub-dungeon has been discovered on floor three. It's early days, but some powerful artefacts have been recovered already. No one wants to miss out on a cut, so of course that means we have to be extra diligent." Lera had been drifting closer, but at hearing the guard's words, she hurried back, leaning on the desk.

"I'm sorry, what was that you just said?" Guard Ambrose leant back, as Lera invaded his personal space. He looked at her with consternation, and at the other Adventurers in line who had perked up at overhearing.

"You'll have to ask your guild, they have all the relevant information. Adventurer Wyatt, I'm done processing you. Next!" Lera was visibly excited as she led Wyatt and Kit away from the dungeon portal.

"I can't wait to ask my team about what's going on! They would have found out yesterday. A new area! Ah, and we were wasting our time on the fourth floor! If we'd waited only a few more days … we missed the rush!" Wyatt looked between Lera and Kit.

"So it really is that big of a deal? I mean, enough to warrant all of this?" Wyatt gestured back at the huge lines processing all the Adventurers returning from the dungeon. Lera nodded vigorously.

"Oh, completely. I mean, it's a pain to deal with, but no one wants to miss out on taking a cut of potential profits. A new area being discovered means it will have artefacts. It could be the next big break for any team lucky enough." Kit flicked her ears, thinking.

'Could be dangerous for anyone who isn't prepared.' Lera sobered somewhat.

"Oh yes, there will be deaths. There always are. But it's worth the risk. Putting that aside for now though, Wyatt — how'd you do that?" Wyatt smiled broadly.

"Do what?" Lera pushed him gently.

"Don't be an ass. How'd you get through the test? I was listening, and you were being careful with what you said, but you should have been picked up on a lie. The crystal showed you had something valuable, and you knew what the fruit was worth. You can't use wordplay to get past an artefact like that." Kit sounded curious as well, if less concerned than Lera.

'Yes, how'd you do that?' Wyatt couldn't help but feel pleased with himself. It might not be fair to cheat the city and the guild out of their share of any profits, but it wasn't like he was smuggling magical items out. Just food.

"Kit, I'm surprised you haven't figured it out. When Lera told me that it was a magical test, I wondered if my —" Kit broke in, speaking over the top of him.

'Your [Advanced Resist Magic]!'

"Yeah. I figured it might let me get past any questions. I mean, it's not like they were specifically looking for food, but I thought it was worth the risk. Lera blinked, looking surprised and a bit reserved. Wyatt realised that he hadn't actually told her about that specific skill. The Protean looked from him to Kit.

"You have a resist magic Skill?"

"Uh, yeah?" Lera hesitated, glancing around them. She grimaced, and lowered her voice.

"Listen, don't spread that around. Trust within the guild depends a lot on being able to pass those magic tests when needed. If they know you can get around them …"

'I take it that would be bad?' Lera nodded grimly.

"Yes, Inari, very bad. Wyatt, don't ever let yourself get caught out in a lie. You'd probably have your Adventurer status revoked, at the very least." Wyatt hadn't realised it was that big of a deal. Even if he wasn't particularly attached to being an Adventurer, it would mean that he wouldn't be able to get back into the dungeon.

"Got it, I'll be careful." Lera nodded firmly.

"Good. Now, I'm going to go find out more details about this new discovery—and I need to track down my builder friends I told you about. Are you both fine with meeting me at the inn later? You remember the directions?" They told the Protean they remembered, and she hurried off to find her team. Wyatt looked down at Kit.

"Is there anything you want to do? I want to find Isaek and offload the fruit, but apart from that we are free for a few hours." Kit shook her head.

'Not really. Although I wouldn't say no to something tasty.' Wyatt smiled.

"Sounds good to me. Let's get to it. If Lera pulls through with her builder friend we are going to need gold, and I'm fairly certain I can get even more out of Isaek this time around."