Naomi entered the tent of the merchant guild.

  “Good morning, Jolana. Is the grand merchant present? I heard he returned.

  “Greatings, Dungeon Mistress.” Venancijs appeared before Jolana's replay.

  “I’m sorry for not greeting you yesterday, but after opening the tenth floor, things get hectic.”

  “I heard, Dungeon Mistress.” Grand Merchant laughed. “I’m curious about your newest floor. Maybe I will hire adventurers and go there too.”

  “Please, contact me when you decide to go there. I will personally show you around.”

  “Thank you, Dungeon Mistress. Please sit. I will present to you what I managed to achieve.”

  “Of course. Thank you for the help. Do you think I’m rushing things?”

  “I don’t think so, Dungeon Mistress. The town will grow anyway. That is true. However, news about your dungeon is spreading quickly, and more people are starting to consider visiting. Only your remote location saves us all from being trampled.” He smiled.

  “Seriously?”

  “Maybe not that bad. However, if your dungeon were located near an existing city or had good road connections, there would be many more people there. I wouldn’t be surprised if the local lord would be forced to send his army to keep order.”

  “It’s still bad.”

  “Yes, and there is one much more important thing. Your task.”

  “Right. Preparation for war.”

  “Yes. And no one knows how much time we have.”

  “Ok. We deviated from the topic. So, how does it go?”

  “Let me show you.” Then he placed a chest on the table. When he opened it, it was filled to the brim with gold.

  “That much? Who buys it? The king?”

  “His third son. And according to your wish, I ascertained that she uses only his savings.”

  “Uff.” Naomi sighed with relief. “You take your payment, I hope?”

  “Exactly according to our agreement.”

  “And still so much left.”

  “Any changes to your plans, Dungeon Mistress?”

  “No. Just make sure everyone knows, and from now on, it's official help. Go through the numbers and decide how much.”

  “Understood.”

  “And my proposition to the king?”

  “Was accepted. The king and the nobles were ecstatic even.”

  “I bet. Such an occasion to show off.” Naomi laughed.

  “Yes indeed. But the king is looking forward to potential treaties he could negotiate with envoys from other kingdoms.”

  “Wise man, then. That’s good. And when will the gathering happen?”

  “In three years. Runners need time to reach all interested parties. Envoys also need time to prepare before the journey, and for some it will be a long voyage.”

  “I know. You explained everything to me back then. It’s not a problem. It’s a lot of time for me to build more floors and prepare other toy golems.”

  “Any new ideas that have emerged while I was away?”

  “Oh, actually, there is one more thing. Wait, two more things I will need your help with.”

  “I’m at your service, Dungeon Mistress.”

  “So, the first one is relatively simple. I need two people, preferably adventurers, a man and a woman, to help people put on diving suits on the tenth floor.”

  “Hmm. I propose paying an adventurers guild for that. They will find someone and work directly for them. You, Dungeon Mistress, will only provide the money.”

  “I like that. How much will their salary be?”

  “Around five coppers per day. Depending on the list of responsibilities.”

  “They will only check suits and teach the basics of diving. I will teach them everything. They will decide for themselves whether they want to organize any additional services, such as guided tours. Oh, and also they can try to sell fish and other creatures in the taverns. It could be their bonus pay.”

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  “Then I don’t think there will be a shortage of volunteers. It will be an easy job with good pay.”

  “Not right away. Lisusa and the new tavern keeper from the north, who is building his tavern outside the oasis, don’t know how to prepare sea creatures from the tenth floor.”

  “Doesn’t matter. Pay for guiding should be very tempting in itself.”

  “I count on that. I don't want to be stingy.”

  “The pay will be just. Especially because they will work for you.”

  “Good. The second thing, however, will need the presence of grand priests, and maybe also the commander of palladins. I propose talking over dinner. I will reserve a table for us.”

  “Understood. I will go through the register to have an idea of how much money could be spent on different endeavors.”

  “Thank you.”

  Naomi had reserved her forge next to the tavern for this meeting. Around the table sat all four grand priests, the Commander General, and Lady Itylara. The elven lady was still flabbergasted by the knowledge that Dungeon Mistress was working like a common craftsman. That was the most impressive thing for her and the sun elves. They despise nobles from the other kingdom because they rarely fought side by side with their warriors. Yes, Dungeon Mistress wasn’t a warrior, but her pursuit of real craftsman knowledge was equivalent to their way. She doesn’t stop at waving her hands, and things appear. She made them real.

  “So, Dungeon Mistress. What kind of craziness did you come up with this time?” Eriser asked when all the dishes were served.

  “I guess I deserve that opinion.” Naomi laughed. “But I'm learning. That is why I need your opinion.”

  “We are listening, Dungeon Mistress.” Jathur nodded.

  “It’s about my idea of offering a better deal to cultists than archlich.”

  “Oh, you found something valuable enough? The dwarven priest smiled.

  “Yes, but not for cultists.” Everyone looked at her, not understanding. “Listen, according to what you told me and the spy confirms it, all this fight with the gods is a scam.”

  “In which way?” The elven grand priest asked.

  “About their promises to people to join them. It's all a lie, right? Just like this spy. He was promised the seat of the city lord. But I’m sure he isn’t even on the reserve list. He is only a disposable tool. And the same goes for most of the necromancers, warlocks, and the rest of the cultists.” Naomi didn’t say it aloud, but she suspected that even Archlich himself could be just a useful puppet for twisted gods. She wouldn’t be surprised if, in the far future, when the true hero finally enters the throne room, he would find the broken body of the dungeon master, and no trace of twisted gods, who they most likely will be already manipulating someone else to help them destroy the world.

  “While I can agree with your assessment, Dungeon Mistress, it’s hard for me, and I think for all gathered to feel compassion for them. They had their choice.” Serator said, and the rest nodded with agreement.

  “And like you saw for yourself, they are mad and cannot be bribed to stop what they are doing,” Eriser added.

  “I know. That's why we need to go to the source and act there. You see, all scammers target people who are in difficult, sometimes hopeless situations. It’s easy for them to bribe or cheat them. Under the guise of kind words and good advice, they steer them into becoming followers of twisted gods.”

  “Dungeon Mistress, I assure you all priests are doing their best to help those people.” Priestess Pinera said in a weak voice. While she was sure she didn’t neglect her duties to those people, she was also aware that sometimes it wasn’t enough.

  “I’m sorry. I don’t accuse you of anything.” Naomi jumped and started waving her hands. “I’m sure you are doing your best to help them. And I wanted to help you with that work.”

  “How?” The high priest of the minotaur asked directly.

  “It’s a similar situation to my own and my parents. They try hard to help me, but it was us against the world. I wasn’t accepted, and there wasn’t a way to change that. And there are opposite situations, where someone can’t find a place for themselves. So I won’t give them that place. This oasis is a blank scroll. But there are a few problems with that. First, it needs to be discreet. There isn’t a place for thousands or even just hundreds of people. Also, it will cause chaos everywhere, and most of them will die in the desert. And the sun elves won't be happy about that either. And well, while I want to help all of them, regrettably, I need money. The Grand Merchant managed to acquire some gold for me, but it will not be enough for that. So actually, I don’t know if this is possible at all.” Naomi slumped at the end, realizing how ridiculous her idea was.

  “Maybe I started.” Lady Itylara said. “The sun elves aren’t against anyone who wants to settle here. We see mostly benefits from that. There will be some difficult moments, I’m sure of that, but under Dungeon Mistress' guidance, I believe we will find the proper answer.”

  “You all give me too much credit,” Naomi grumbled. “I don’t know the answers to any important questions. I can repeat what others said, but it’s hard to say if this will help at all.”

  “Sometimes pushing people to search for the right answer is equally valuable.” The elven grand priest said.

  “I promise to try not to shout next time.” Naomi jouked.

  “While spreading your message through priests is doable, I’m afraid it won’t stay a secret. People will share that knowledge among themself.” The general of the paladins said.

  “Then we can’t do it.” Naomi sighted. “I guess I will just send normal requests for settlers or something like that, and hope at least some of those people will apply.”

  “I think there is a way,” Pinera said. She was thinking intensively about Naomi’s proposition. The elven priestess agrees with her. There were people like she described, and it was usually impossible to truly help them.

  “Yes?” Naomi asked with interest. The rest of the gathered also looked at her.

  “We will say that an oasis is a similar place to The Citadel of Light, or First Forge. It became a place of pilgrimage. It’s a holy place anyway, so people will start coming here sooner or later.”

  “It could work.” Eriser agrees. “Pilgrims are helped by donations not directly, and anyone who has money pays for himself.”

  “And no one would be forced to stay. Either way, we could help many more people.” Pinera was praying to her goddess, hoping it really could work.

  “And for cultists, it will be much harder to recruit people.” The minotaur priest nodded. “I will send a letter to the Citadel immediately. If they agree in a few months, we will see the first groups of pilgrims.”

  “The sun elves will be ready.” Lady Itylara declared.

  “And the town, too, should have something to offer.” Naomi smiled. “Oh. But make sure that people won’t be worshiping me or something like that. I’m not a goddess.”

  “Don’t worry, Dungeon Mistress,” Juthar answered.

  “Aha. And who is calling this oasis a holy place? You all are already halfway through to worship this place, or even worse, me personally.” Naomi muttered to everyone's amusement.