Kazue and Moriko spent their st two days at the capital pleting all the purchases that they needed more leverage to make than they had easy cash for. The solution was easy enough; they dressed up in the expefits they had been gifted with and a properly notarized court official traveled with them to the stores to verify their identities, along with a suitable retinue of guards and a carriage to drive them to their destinations. Properly identified, they could make purchases with an agreement for the purchases to be delivered to the dungeon and be paid for upon arrival. Not every mert was ameo this idea, and Kazue retty certain a few of those were just being stubborn because they kly who she was and they were petitors with her father, but that was life.

  They had intehis to be only a single day of purchasing, but it took even lohan they expected and it deyed their departure by one more day. This public show of their identities also meant it would be a lot harder to travel through the capital inito uhey actively disguised themselves. Oh, most people would still nhem when they were dressed in their normal clothing, but it would only take one person to notice them and decide to say something.

  The day after they pleted their shopping, the two slipped out the western gate in the predawn, with a little bit of assistance from Lady Yuriko who seemed very familiar and adept with esc young women out of the castle while keeping them unseen by others.

  Realistically, this trip was their st ce to travel Kuic in a manner mostly like normal people. They had the dubious distin of being officially 'fn nobility' and 'national celebrities' at the same time. So they set off walking the road to the port city, determio get in as much as they could during the remainder of summer and early fall. They doubted that they'd be bae before the first snows hit, not while traveling on foot to experience as much of the journey as they could, but they'd adjust their pns as the weather demanded. Winters were not terribly harsh in Kuic, especially along the southern border which is where they would be traveling for the st leg of their trip.

  They were determio be home before snow made it too hard to travel, and they were going to stay home until a few weeks after the spring equinox and celebrate their first anniversary with Mordecai.

  While they walked, Moriko had plenty of time to amuse Kazue with tales of what was going on back at the dungeon. Stories about the trio of teenagers were eaining of course, but there were some other events of i, such as the arrival of more kobolds.

  Mordecai sighed as the old kobold shaman finished expining why they were here. "So, you wao be your retirement pn?" He couldn't help but wonder if they had stolen this idea from the townsfolk having brought older pets to him.

  Crizdirk ughed softly, "I would not have thought to put it that way, but yes. There have been geions beyond t since our aors st thrived in your territory, but we have retained copies of their knowledge. Not all will want to do this of course, but those who have traveled with me today are all in agreement that they want to. We did debate for a while to decide whether this would be an allowable course to follow. If the tribe had decided against it as a whole, then we would not have e to you." The kobold grinned, clearly amused at Mordecai's disfiture. "My lord, we know what we are of ourselves, the texts were clear about that. And even with severed bonds, they remembered you fondly when the books were written. We ask this of you freely."

  With nearly three score elderly or disabled kobolds to host, Mordecai had elected t the group deeper into the dungeon rather than try to find spa the trading post. They were currently all in the observation room above the arena and enjoying foht in by the bunkin. "This is a fairly signifit decision," Mordecai replied, "and not mio make alone; give us a bit of time to discuss it. Now, just to be clear: while my inal territory may have overpped where this territory now is, the rightful first cim is Kazue's. She accepted me into her home and core when I was reduced to a spirit boo Moriko alone. As such, despite our history, this makes your junior to the ganthro s."

  Mordecai's greatest was making sure that her Kazue nor the ganthros felt dispced. This was closely followed by his with fully sapient beings to have their free will promised. When it came to creatures rising to sapience as part of their bond with their dungeon, he had no problem with just accepting that as part of the nature of the world. This was in part due to the fact that they didn't have aablished identity and sense of self to alter.

  A person from outside the dungeon did have a personality and sense of self established, and making them an inhabitant made alterations to their personality to guaraheir loyalty. He'd only been willing to make that offer trim and Nainvil because of the nature of the situation, as a possibly less bad option. Indefinite tractors were a much more limited resource, and he wouldn't have really wahem as such.

  Ironically, he'd be more willing to sider those two as an option for tractors now, but they were settled in and apparently happy in their new roles as part of the Riverbridge militia.

  "Hmm," Kazue said over their link, "I uand why you are ed, but isn't this also their will to choose to serve? That seems pretty reasonable, and not too different from people choosing to serve a ruler."

  "In some ways not," Mordecai agreed, "excepting my key . But you are right, they are choosing. We also have the right to not accept that choice, as it involves reement to make happen."

  Moriko sent a mental sigh before speaking, "It's sweet of you to be so ed, it reflects part of what we both appreciate about you. You are very careful about not pressing your will on to others. But I think here you are making a mistake. They are choosing to serve as part of the unity of the dungeohe option of a well-earned afterlife that would not be subject to that sort of o serve. From what you two have shared, it doesn't sound like any of them are afraid of death. In a small way, it is a death, or at least a separation. I only imagihat they and their families have already gohrough grieving of sorts. Even though they see each ain iure, those who join us will not be quite the same, and this will be their new home. They've already prepared themselves for this."

  "Love," Kazue added, "this should be fihey are choosing to follow what feels right to them. They know our rules, they know this dungeon will not be like the duhey've been told stories of, but still, they have e to us as supplits."

  They were right, but he still felt nervous about accepting the kobolds. It took a little while more to pull apart the threads of his tangled emotions to find the root of it. Having kobolds as inhabitants felt like it might be going back to how he was when he made such poor decisions before. Like it might be easy to backslide into making arrogant decisions. But he'd only let that sort of pride rule him when wrath was ruling him as well. The rest of his past life held much that was good, and he had people from that life who still saw him as a good person.

  "Very well," Mordecai said out loud, "but I o make sure you uand in your hearts what yiving up. A simple test for you: don't fight my will. If you 't accept my power in this way, then being an inhabitant would break you." He gave them a moment tister what he'd said, and then he pushed his will out.

  This wasn't a simple release of i and presence. Mordecai pressed his will on them with raw power, a silent but irrefutable demand of surrender and aowledgment of his victory and superiority. An aura of fear was ohing, but this sort of domineering aura dug deeper and was more likely to provoke prideful resistance.

  This presence didn't touch the bunkin, they already beloo the dungeon. It was the outsiders who o bow.

  And they did. Every one of them. Surprised, Mordecai released them immediately. He'd felt a few sparks of pride initially fre, but every one of them had quickly been quenched as those kobolds focused on their desire to bee part of the dungeon, as their aors had once been. "I was expeg at least a few of you to not be able to resist fighting me."

  He shook his head to clear his thoughts. They had passed the test, and proven what they already khat they were ready to accept the dungeon's will over their own. "Very well." Kazue's hologram flickered to life on a nearby ptform, and Mordecai cast an illusion in the image of Moriko on one side of the ptform as he took up position oher side. "The three of us stand as one. Swear your loyalty and lives to all of us, and be weled as inhabitants of the Azeria Mountain Dungeon."

  The kobolds didn't o approach to swear their oaths, Mordecai simply wao make sure that the images of his wives were in their minds as well as his own. And it only took moments more for all of them to swear their oaths from where they stood or sat.

  The sudden influx of over fifty new inhabitants rippled throughout the territory as their minds and souls became lio the web of the dungeon's mana and core.

  Mordecai smiled as he looked over the group. "Wele to your new home."

  Kazue beamed at them. "I'm always happy to make new friends! So, you have less than twelve hours until our sed refresh hits. There's no reason for you guys to take up any duties at all before then, and even after you are restored to your healthiest selves, I want you to take it easy for a while and just get to know your new home and make friends with the other inhabitants. Still, I know some of you will itch to be doing something, so let's go over the rules Mordecai and I established. We want everyoo have a very full life, and for everyoo be capable of defending their home. So, if you already know how to fight, your first task will be to learn to do, well, anything that is not reted to fighting but supports the dungeon. If you are not a skilled fighter e or whatever, then you report to Captain Keelina in the m to join iraining regimen."

  She pondered for a moment before adding, "Oh, if any of yood cooks or have some iing recipes, you should probably find some time to teach Head Chef Dairell what you know. Pywright Briant would be happy to learn all of the stories you know so that he turn them into more pys and sketches so we tio surprise uests. Um," she gnced over to Mordecai to see if he had anything to add.

  "Well," Mordecai said, "we want to know many things, but another specifie that would be good is if you scribe a scroll of any spells you know. I know most of them will likely be duplicates of spells we have, but even knowing how you struct your spells and scribe your scrolls will potentially add variety. One of the roles we have given ourselves is to bee a repository of knowledge."

  Kazue nodded, "That sounds good. But! You will do nothing but rex until the refresh restores your bodies. And after that, you will still take it easy for a while, everyone o get to know each other." She giggled suddenly, "Besides, we should get a couple of groups of delvers ing through before then, it might be amusing to see how they react to running into a bunch of kobolds. Oh, you don't have to stay here to be clear, but if you aren't up for a lot of wandering, then this is a fine pce for you to stay until you feel better."

  And with that, the dungeon had a whole ribe of inhabitants.

  Zagaroth