As it was, only Donna and Frey would be of much use up on the wall being constructed. They could stick Fergus up there, too, but his buff magic didn't work nearly as well on people he's never made contact with.

  His power was strange like that. The more familiar he was with you or the more he had healed you, the stronger his buff became. Plus, it could throw off a frontline fighter unfamiliar with the empowerment.

  We could stick Alex up there, and she could chuck rocks, but her aim wasn't perfect. It'd be best for all of us to stick together. We all know how to work together.

  *poke*

  Frey poked Damian's side. Looking down, he stared at her hateful fingers that always gravitated toward his weak points. Her hand slowly moved and pointed at one of the figures building the wall.

  Is there something wrong with him? Is he suspicious? Should we be prepared to take him down?

  Looking back at Frey, Damian wore a dumbfounded look.

  "Psh! Hahaha." She cackled after looking at his face.

  "What?!"

  "Ahh, you're too much~" She leaned in on the clueless, silly man.

  "That's the guy you hauled out of the hospital like a sack of potatoes. I suppose that it would make sense that you wouldn't recognize a potato from the rest~." Frey hummed.

  "Oh! Do you blame me? Things were moving so quickly back then."

  "No, no. I'm just wondering if it was a pretty girl you saved, would you have remembered?"

  "! Of course not!" Damian exclaimed, unsure if his words actually rang true.

  Frey leaned in and kissed him on the cheek, and then leaned toward her other side to wrap Donna in a hug. The woman was chuckling at their conversation, but became sullen once Frey gave the kiss.

  It was probably best that she didn't have too much time to think. Best to stay busy when there's a wraith lurking in the back of your mind.

  'sigh'

  Leaning forward, Damian looked past Frey and Donna and toward the other couple. The two of them had their arms around one another, although their sizes were terribly mismatched. Alex's arm was around Fergus's neck, and his own could only wrap around her upper back.

  I want to protect them, all of them.

  Shuffling to his feet in a gruff manner, he announced to the group that he was going to take a look around.

  Walking back to the entrance of the Spire, Damian peered inside. Higgins was no longer being accosted by her superior. Instead, the older man had left the tower and was speaking into what appeared to be a communicator.

  Communicators were very expensive, very, very expensive. You could only expect to find them with nobility, the military, very wealthy merchants, or adventurers tier 6 and above. All communicators had a limited range, but you could go to one of the Mage Towers to speak with people much further away.

  In terms of cost, it was significantly cheaper to have your messages sent by courier or even by various trained birds. You could also find people with the skills to communicate over vast distances, though they weren't much cheaper over the long run than using a communicator.

  Although communicators were powerful, they did have a fatal flaw. They couldn't penetrate any dungeon. The second you entered, your link to the outside world would cut off. Even being in the same room wouldn't allow for a communicator to work.

  Should I get Fergus? Could he overhear what the officer is saying?

  Cupping his ears, Damian tried to listen in. Can't hear a damn thing!

  "He's speaking with his commanding officer and asking about reinforcements."

  Damian practically jumped at the sound of Fergus's voice by his side.

  "Wha... How can you tell? I can't hear a single thing coming from his direction."

  "I know how to read lips. You don't need to hear if you can see what someone is saying."

  "!" How could he be hiding this skill from everyone!

  Still keeping his eyes trained on the commanding officer's lips, Fergus stated, "I didn't hide it if you were wondering. I told everyone one time at a tavern. After finding out, Alex had asked me to repeat a conversation between two very animated patrons. You were off in your own world, thinking about something at the time."

  Pausing for a moment, he followed up, "Both Frey and Alex said not to tell you about it since they thought it'd be funny."

  Should I dig myself a hole and crawl into it? Maybe someone else should be the leader instead.

  Fergus bumped Damian's side. Shaken out of his own thoughts, he could see that the officer was already heading back inside the dungeon.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  "Let's go back. I'll fill you all in on what I overheard."

  A short jaunt later, and Fergus began to inform everyone about his findings.

  "Ok, so first he asked about receiving reinforcements to the Earthen Spire. From the way he was grasping the communicator, we're unlikely to be seeing any significant amount of guards, or any at all."

  "Right after, he requested to be reassigned to the defense of the royal castle, but it seems he was cut off abruptly. Lastly, he stated that he'd do his best to get their attention, probably the Valkyrie."

  "So nothing much has changed. We're just stuck playing a waiting game for when all the undead from the rites chamber wake up?" Alex snarked.

  "Um, there are still those people who started those explosions." Donna reminded everyone.

  "What use do we have to worry about them? I doubt that the leftovers here would be one of their targets. Maybe the Valkyrie could be, but that'd be a fool's errand. Nothing short of a tier 8 could probably put a scratch on them." Alex continued to snark.

  "So, waiting it is then? I think we're mostly in agreement that the Spire would still be too dangerous. If we see the Valkyrie leave, we could consider entering. They would probably only leave after it's safe, well, back to its normal level of danger." Damian finalized.

  Just as they were finishing their conversation, Damian could see that the adventurers were starting to crowd around the other side of the tower.

  Standing up and looking around the bend, he could see that anxious people were gathering around the merchant's caravan. Several hired guards surrounded the carriages, making sure no one tried to swipe at the goods.

  Running out in a hurried jog, the commanding officer rushed over toward the ruckus. His guard followed closely behind him, including Higgins.

  Better see what happens.

  "We've got sharpened enchanted weapons! Potions of all kinds! And Arrows that can hold mana without needing a skill!"

  "What use is your money when you're dead! Only double the standard price!"

  "Other merchants would be asking for up to four times the price during this disaster!"

  He wasn't wrong... but he was still charging double the price during a disaster. Likely more if we knew the actual quality of the goods, we wouldn't have the safety net of an appraiser.

  Damian sized up the people from the Craftsmens Guild. One of them probably has the right skill, but I wouldn't want to buy from these merchants in the first place. Damian patted a pouch at his side; it was flat, and no potion could be felt.

  He had used his last one in the tower, and the rest of his group was likely down to one or two each. They had planned to use their spoils from their first dungeon run to buy new stock.

  Who needed excess potions when you had a Fergus and were only fighting enemies that could be taken down quickly? Although it always pays to be careful.

  'sigh'

  Damian was about to approach the crafters, but thought better of it. If any of them had goods to sell, the adventurers already here would have snatched them all up.

  *Tap* *Tap*

  Damian looked over, then up at a smiling Alex. "We're going to try something with those crafters. Let us know what happens with the merchants." The giant oaf then dragged Fergus and Donna away.

  Huh? Whatever she's up to can't be good. It seldom is.

  Although given that Alex had likely saved their lives twice that day, it was best to leave her to her own devices.

  Focusing back toward the merchant and his wares, Damian could see large amounts of gold swapping hands and bundles of potions and arrows being handed out. The elven assistant was at the head of the group making the transaction.

  Is the Adventurers Guild buying up the stock to hand out?!

  Not long after, Damian could see the balding officer approach the merchant next, shoving aside numerous people to get to the front.

  "This is a lawful order! I am enacting the Quartering Act upon the Merchants Guild!"

  Everyone looked shocked at the man's brazen declaration. He was basically telling the Merchants Guild to house him and his troops for safety. Just running away from the current disaster happening all around them!

  "Ah, yes, sir officer, may I ask your name and rank so that I may tell my superiors who to expect?" The merchant smoothly followed up without even flinching.

  The balding officer hesitated for a brief moment before continuing, "I am Captain Algee Tier 5."

  "Ah, yes. It is an honor, Captain Algee, but if I am not mistaken, the Quartering Act can only be enacted by military personnel of Major or higher."

  "I am just a simple merchant from the P'Ure Merchant Group. I do not have a say on who can and cannot enter the Merchants Guild at this time. Before leaving, I had been strictly ordered not to bring anyone back. The Guild fears that people would try to ransack goods during the disaster. Not that I would ever assume you would, dear Captain."

  A vein bulged on his forehead that threatened to recede his hairline further. Captain Algee declared next, as if it were his ace in the hole, "I have direct communication with the castle! I'm sure that we could work something out."

  He was holding up his communicator like it was a golden ticket into the most exclusive of clubs. "I am sure that you could allow me passage to speak with your higher-ups."

  Taking a moment to think it over, the merchant smiled and had his guards usher the Captain and one other soldier into the back of the cart. It had already been completely emptied of its goods. Adventurers were already carrying some off toward the wall, now almost complete. The elven assistant no longer looked very assistant-like.

  "We'll be off now~ I'll speak to some of my fellow merchants to see if they'd be willing to sell their wares~." The merchant said happily while jingling a heavy sack of coins.

  They continued in only one carriage this time. Ms. Elf had bought the other two carriages along with their goods.

  Looking over to Corporal Higgins, she and all of her fellow guards looked stupefied. They had been abandoned by their Captain, without even a single order left behind.

  That damn Captain Algee didn't even pick one of the remaining guards to be in charge. Who the hell was the one who went with him? Was he his Lieutenant? What the hell?

  Did he think that there would be no consequences for his actions? If he was well-connected enough to get away with this, why didn't they take him into the royal castle to defend it? Is he simply hoping that we all die?

  As Damian was still processing things, he noticed that Alex came back and appeared from behind Corporal Higgins. Grabbing one of the clueless woman's arms, she raised it in the air and declared, "With the departure of Captain Algee, I declare that Lieutenant Higgins Tier 4 is now in charge of the remaining guard!"

  ""What?!""

  Alex! You can't just do that! Oh goddesses, what should I do? She just promoted the clueless woman by two ranks to give her some authority. Do we skip town for this lie? How do we skip town when we're as far away as possible from the outer gates?!

  Damian felt lightheaded from the madwoman's antics. But to his surprise, the guards who came along with the newly crowned Lieutenant clicked their feet together and gave a salute. "Orders, ma'am!"

  Some of the guards who were already here looked confused. One even bumped someone beside him and asked, "Didn't she say she was only a Corporal earlier?" The guard who said that got a bump to his stomach and quickly fell in line.

  ""Orders, ma'am!""

  Did that work? Won't we still get in trouble? Is this the power of momentum at work? A force in motion stays in motion?