Chapter 102 - Surfacing for Air

We made our way through the labyrinth of tunnels before finding an access ladder that would take us straight to the surface. None of us really had any idea of where we were, and we just hoped that we were going to emerge somewhere without any kind of major trouble.

We'd had enough fighting for one day, and the idea of an ambush at this stage was more annoying than anything else, and none of us wanted to deal with that headache.

I volunteered to go first, and no one really protested. I was guessing they were still a bit miffed with me, which made sense. Eira, at the very least, wished me luck.

I climbed, my sore muscles griping at me from the effort, but I lifted the hatch and peeked my head out.

I felt the cool air hit my face, and it was the greatest relief I had felt in what felt like a figurative eternity. I pushed harder, the hatch opening all the way, and looked around to get an idea of the situation. Before I could really get a good look, I saw a spear point in my face.

"Identify yourself immediately!" A voice barked at me. I looked up and saw a vaguely familiar face. It was Captain Salandra Vesht, leader of the town guard, who was very much a welcome face.

"Hello, Commander Vesht," I said, in as casual a tone as I could manage at the moment. "I'd hold up my hands, but I'm currently clinging to a ladder right now and would prefer not to fall to my demise after everything else I've been through today."

"Marchesi? I heard you were down there. Good to see you're alive. I hope the rest of your crew is, too." She said, holding her hand out to help me up.

"Oh, we're doing fairly well, all things considered. We have a bit of a present for you, too." I said, peeling my mask off and breathing in the air.

Which was full of a lot more smell of burning than I liked. I was really going to need some filling in, and I doubted I was going to like it.

Salandra looked down the hole and said something to the others that I couldn't quite make out. I decided that I really wanted a sit-down at that moment, and found a nice patch of grass to flop on.

I looked around, and there were signs of absolute chaos. Burnt buildings, hastily constructed fortifications, healers running around tending to wounded individuals, guards taking statements from people, and a gaggle of knights stripped of their armor and bound in a big group in the plaza we had found ourselves in.

In another pile were mages, in mana suppression chains, and mouths gagged. They were surrounded by guards who looked very intensely put out, and were more than likely looking for a reason to have to summarily execute someone. Could really say I blamed them.

Soon enough, my allies were each pulled into the daylight, and Felestil and Carter were unceremoniously added to the groups of prisoners. It felt kind of satisfying to see them all in chains.

My comrades eventually joined me, eventually joined by Noah and Adhara. We all just sort of sat there on the grass in silence. The whole of the day had been a lot.

"Yeah, I'm gonna be honest, folks, after today, I really do not regret giving up on dungeoneering. This life sucks, and I hate it." Myth sighed, just flopping backwards in the green.

"Yeah, I can't say I blame you. This was a lot for me, too. But I did make a really cool improvised weapon. I knew hording trap parts would work out." Cori smiled confidently.

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"Yeah, what exactly was the deal with that thing, anyway?" Eira asked, genuinely curious.

"Oh yeah, I used a glue trap solution to stick it to the beastie, as that stuff will stick to anything without the proper solvent, added some wire anchor trap spools to help bind the thing, and set a clockwork timer to the deployment mechanisms on those weird canisters Danica gave us. I figured if the herbicide was anything like what we use to kill weeds back in my village, it would be super flammable, so I added a gas trap striker. If you let the gas spread a bit, it turns into a super-powerful fireball. Didn't expect it to blow up that hard, though." Cori said with a nonchalant shrug of her shoulders.

"I hope you remember exactly what you did, that could prove useful," I said.

"I really doubt it. In a typical dungeon, that thing focused down a tunnel would liquify a dungeoneer's insides. No, thank you very much!" She laughed. "That said, the mask and goggles worked out pretty well. I might keep tinkering with that. Might turn out handy in the future."

Cori then just muttered to herself for a while.

Mariana just sat there quietly for a while before saying, "It was nice to go on another adventure with you all. Even if this was a nightmare of a shitshow. But I'm also excited not to have an adventure like this for a while. You all get in the craziest situations."

I couldn't really think of a response to that, so I just gave her an encouraging pat on the back.

Eira was also quiet, but pulled me into a tight hug and just held me.

"I'm glad you didn't die, and I'm also glad you didn't get knocked unconscious again." She whispered.

"Hey, I'm learning. I only got a few bruises and cuts, too." I said, squeezing her back.

Noah looked like he was about to say something, but someone came up to him, saying something quietly to him.

"Sorry, ladies, but Adhara and I have to take off for an important meeting. We'll catch up later, I suppose." The two stood and were escorted away.

We waited till they were a ways away before I decided to say anything.

"Between me and you lot, I'm never working for the knights again. I don't care if they threaten me with house arrest again." I grumbled.

"Wait, they what now?" Myth said.

"Did...did I forget to mention that too? I must've said something." I said.

Everyone shook their head.

"Gods dammit, I'm bad at this communicating thing." I buried my head in my hands and groaned.

"In her defense, she told me about the house arrest part," Eira said, a gesture which I appreciated.

I looked up and saw Lord, Walther, and Farina approaching, with some other familiar faces in tow. I saw Salandra, Kasckina Vect, who I vaguely remembered as the Grey Balance representative from the meeting that roped me into this whole stupid mess. There were others I didn't recognize, but could tell from their outfits and bearing that they were undoubtedly very important. And then I saw that Sasa and Lele were with them. I was glad to see they were still well. Sasa had her egg cradled in her arms protectively.

"Hey everyone, I think this is about to get complicated, so get ready. Hopefully we'll be able to get wasted later after this nonsense is done." I said, keeping my voice low.

"I'm glad to see you all alive. And you captured Felestil and Carter, who are two thorns in my side I'm more than happy to see dealt with." Lord rumbled at us in his deep voice.

"You all did great! I'm going to go ahead and just clear you lot for the rest of the semester. You went above and beyond, proving your competence in your lessons so far. You should rest up for next year, and have a little extra summer break to do just that!" Walther said with a bright smile and a hearty laugh.

"All praise aside, we do need to discuss the details of what happened. This entire situation has us deeply concerned, and we'll need all of your testimony to get to the bottom of this." One of the new people said firmly.

"If you all would come with us, we're going to need to discuss what went on, and everything you all know leading up to this entire incident., Farina said, back to her usual demeanor.

"Yeah. I have a lot of questions too." I said, pointedly looking at her. There were a lot of things about what had gone on that I didn't like, and even more that just didn't make sense, and I wanted answers, or at least some kind of closure to all of it.

"You'd all better have that money ready for us. Lots of people owe us lots of money, and I'll be thrice damned in the deepest and highest hells before I let you all forget that." Cori said firmly, standing and dusting herself off.

"We'll get accounts settled after we get your accounts," Vect said, with a slight grin playing at her face. Great, the goblin had puns.

Interrogation and a side of bad jokes. That was just plain grand.