“Would you like to take a seat, Inspector?” the woman, Himia, asked as I stared at her from the doorway.

  My mind was processing what she just said, but wasn't doing a very good job of it. I reached for my Dimensional Pocket to grab a weapon, only to find that I was no longer wearing my coat.

  “Apologies, Inspector,” Himia said, watching my movements. “Your gear is not on the list of topics. Would you like a seat?”

  My clothes had been changed to a white linen shirt, brown trousers, and black shoes. Nothing I wore was something I recognized. Anger started to well up from my chest, but I took a deep breath, quelling the feeling before it could intensify.

  “You will return my gear to me, Himia, or so help me I will tear this place down to find it,” I threatened, not letting my mood consume me but channeling it nonetheless.

  The woman blinked. “I am sorry, Inspector, but—”

  “No buts,” I said sternly. “You will not bring me into your office and hamstring me by removing my means of protecting myself.”

  Himia remained silent for a moment as if processing my words. “If you keep your gear, then this—”

  “Return. It,” I interrupted, taking a step forward to lift the chair she had previously offered me a few inches off of the ground. It felt sturdy; it would make a decent improvised weapon.

  This time, she closed her eyes for a few seconds before nodding. “Very well. It will be returned by the end of this conversation.”

  It wasn’t ideal, but it was better than nothing. Whether she would keep her word or not still remained to be seen. I set the chair down and glanced around the office, making sure to keep Himia in my vision at all time. “What is this place?”

  “Please be at ease, Inspector,” Himia said. “I am not sure how much you would be willing to believe of what I tell you, given what I know of you.”

  “And what do you think you know of me, Ms. Himia?” I asked. I didn't make any moves to sit down, instead hovering behind the chair.

  “Of course, I suppose I should answer your questions before we start the talks properly,” she conceded. “I am the secretary of The Dungeon Master, Master of Dungeons.”

  I groaned. That really was this guy's full title, wasn't it? “So he's here, then?”

  “He is in every dungeon he owns, but I suppose I should be more specific than that as you likely need more pertinent information.”

  The way she spoke was strange, like every word was crisp and new and was still having a definition attached to them. Clinical, even.

  “The dungeon cluster you know as Razorbeak's Caravan has been linked together to create a dungeon unlike anything your world has ever seen before,” she continued, smiling and showing off a full mouth of straight, white teeth. “But getting into that will be entering spoiler territory, Inspector, so please forgive me when I say I will not be discussing it in detail at this time.”

  “So he is here,” I said, wanting confirmation.

  “You'll find him in the lead caravan, which won't unlock until the other dungeons have been completed,” she stated. “Would you like to have a seat?”

  “No,” I said. “I'd rather stand. You still haven't answered all of my questions.”

  “Ah, once again, please forgive me, sometimes I answer questions in my head and forget to say them out loud,” Himia confessed. “You wanted to know where we were first, to which I will tell you that we're in a nexus hub connecting the four caravan dungeons. Think of this as a dungeon office of sorts.”

  I thought about that. Serto had said they were all connected somehow, so that gave me a possible answer. “Are we in the obelisk?”

  “An interesting observation, Inspector, but no,” Himia said. “And, since the next logical question is what the obelisk is for… well, you do not have access to that information yet. Shall I move on to your next previous question?”

  That had been my next question. “My… next previous question,” I repeated slowly, trying to digest the order of the words. “Was ‘what do you know of me, Ms. Himia?’”

  “Of course, but the answer is nearly everything,” she said, causing me to freeze. “Not from spying or anything so mundane. I use a simple mixture of magical aura imprint deep dives, soul reading, and surface thought gathering to learn everything I can about a person. Your life has been very interesting despite its brevity, Inspector.”

  The hair on my neck bristled. I couldn't tell if she was lying to me with her monotone voice and the look of nonplussed, patient politeness plastered on her face. What was worse was how she called that mixture of highly invasive magic simple.

  “You know that soul reading and mind reading are illegal magics, right?” I tried not to raise my voice, but my anger was spilling out. “And why are you commenting on the brevity of my life? As a Human you barely look twenty years old. You’re basically a child.”

  The privacy breach would normally be enough to make me lash out in anger, but this situation required more finesse than that. She was not the one trapped here, after all. I took another deep breath.

  “First, I recognize that pointing out the youthful looks of my chosen appearance is a compliment, so while it is ultimately unneeded I will thank you for it,” she said, still smiling.

  “That wasn't my intention,” I said flatly.

  “I understand,” she claimed. I wasn't sure if she did. “Now we have two more questions. The first of which is that I did not know those forms of magical information gathering techniques were illegal, and I will not perform them on you again without your consent or the express order of the Dungeon Master, Master of Dungeons.”

  “That sounds suspiciously like you're still going to use it on other people,” I said.

  Instead of replying to that, she moved on. “For your second question, I am not a Human, but an artificial intelligence made to help my boss with various tasks.” When she noticed my confused look, she shook her head. “Apologies again, Inspector. If it helps, then think of me as an Information Elemental. I am intelligent, living data.”

  “So you've… been around for a while,” I guessed.

  “Yes, but I understand that it is rude to ask a lady her age,” she said. “So while I am not an actual lady, I would appreciate it if you did not ask.”

  “So if I have this right, then,” I began. “We're in the dungeon, it's all connected, you've used illegal techniques to gather information, you'll do it again, you're the secretary of the guy running it, you're actually just information in the shape of a lady, and you want to discuss the dungeon?”

  “A roundabout explanation, but not incorrect,” Himia said. She dropped her smile, taking on a more serious look. “The biggest thing I would like to discuss is you, however. It is a shame about Tegril, though. For a god of justice, he really did not do right by you. I mean, all you did was—”

  “And that's enough about that, thank you,” I snapped, not holding back my anger. “I don't want to hear that from anyone, let alone you.”

  “Of course, Inspector, please excuse my lack of decorum,” she said. I could almost believe it, but it was spoken just as mechanically as the rest of her speech. “The problem lies thus. The Dungeon Master, Master of Dungeons, has taken an extreme liking to the Dragon, Oristrella. Then, your junior comes walking in with her blessing and he wants to show his favor to her. That includes all present company.”

  Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

  “Why?” I asked skeptically. “We're here to raid Razorbeak’s dungeons and destroy them. Why help us if we’re subjugating his seat of power?”

  “Getting stronger is what dungeons are for, correct?” Himia asked in return. “My boss is not malevolent. Not towards the Department of Dungeons, Adventurer’s Consortium, or Mage’s Guild, at least. He is actually very eager to meet you at the end of your adventure so that you can hear his side of the story.”

  That was nice to hear, but I didn’t completely trust it. “If he's not acting with malevolent intent then why did he go through with dungeon takeovers through improper channels?”

  “Ignorance, mostly,” Himia said, a serious look appearing on her face. “Which pains me to admit for reasons I am sure you can deduce. We have not been awake for long, and our interactions have, thus far, mostly been limited to dungeon dwellers.”

  “Okay, sure, let's say that is the truth, then what's the end goal for you two?” I asked, crossing my arms. “What's the point?”

  “That is something he would love to discuss with you once your group has arrived to meet him,” she claimed, once again smiling.

  “I don’t find that to be an acceptable answer,” I said with a scowl.

  Himia nodded as if my reply was an obvious one. I’m sure it was. “All I am allowed to tell you is that his goal is to strengthen the adventurers of the continent. His plans have already been set in motion, and it is not anything that will be lead to mass casualties or anything of the sort.”

  “Of course,” I muttered. Looking up at the ceiling, I thought it over. I still hadn’t detected any lies from the strange woman, but that meant little when she had access to so much illegal magic. Taking a moment to center myself and check in on my own mental well-being, I found nothing out of the ordinary. Shaking my head, I gestured towards the woman. “Then let's get on with it. The sooner this is over, the faster I can meet this Dungeon Master guy.”

  “Of course, Inspector,” Himia said with a nod. “It has been decided that you four are going to receive what we have started calling a tier two class upgrade. I know your culture has concepts like fighter, barbarian, rogue, ranger, wizard, sorcerer, and more. Some like to make up fancy titles, like Junior Dungeon Inspector Ferrisdae calling herself a Star Sorceress, but this is just a sorceress with the Starborn bloodline. Are you with me so far?”

  “With you enough,” I grunted, folding my arms. I could tell this was going to get complicated.

  “Excellent, these are all what we would consider to be tier one classes. Basic, even,” she explained. “We had a whole system in place to facilitate quick advancement, but when we showed it off to some early entrants they were scared off by 'floating numbers' so now it all works in the background.”

  Brackenhorst had said something about that during the briefing. He mentioned the official he sent didn't find anything out of the ordinary, but there had been some adventurers complaining about being attacked by math.

  Tiers were a concept I understood at the very least, but every statement led to more questions. Like how that was even possible, for starters.

  “Okay, but you can’t really change a class,” I said. “That’s an intrinsic part of who somebody is. What they learned is what they learned and you can’t just change who someone is.”

  “You are, of course, technically correct,” she conceded. “The magic we are using is much closer to a Dragon’s blessing than a class upgrade, the tiered classes are just the terminology that we have decided on.”

  “You can hand out strength comparable to Dragon’s blessings?” I asked with a frown. If true, then that was problematic. Especially if this guy was just planning on handing it out like Himia said. There would be no end to the unsavory sorts that would want to join in.

  Razorbeak being a prime example, and I grit my teeth at that thought. Anything that made him harder to subjugate was going to be a major pain in my ass. She moved on before I could comment on it.

  “It is based on a person’s magical affinity, which everyone has whether they are trained to use it or not,” Himia continued. “For Ferrisdae, it is ice because of Oristrella, though that did not factor as much into her class upgrade. Cojisto's affinity was force, and Moose's affinity is holy.”

  “Wait,” I said. I couldn't have heard that right. “The moose has a magical affinity? It’s holy? Like, divine holy magic?”

  “Oh, yes,” she confirmed. “It was just one ability, but he had a calming aura power that increased natural recovery speed. Quite remarkable, really.”

  I couldn't think of anything to respond with at the news that Moose was actually a magic moose like Cojisto had been claiming all along, and Himia took that as a sign to keep going.

  “Moving along, a tier two class will allow them to grow even more powerful than one normally would as time goes on. Depending on how things pan out, the Dungeon Master, Master of Dungeons will be rolling out tier two upgrades on a wide scale, and maybe someday even introduce tier three upgrades if the right conditions are met. By that time, he is hoping that the dungeons will facilitate that on their own.”

  “Pull the other one,” I said, shaking my head.

  “I believe that means you don't believe me,” Himia said slowly. I frowned at tripping her up with a common saying. “It really is that simple. Unlike a normal Dragon’s blessing that can be taken away at will, the power cannot be taken away provided you continue training and don't become stagnant. The problem we are running into is, well, you.”

  “Okay, sure,” I said with a wave of my hand. “What does that have to do with me?”

  “The issue is that you are already as strong as a tier two individual,” she claimed. That gave me a good baseline to use between tiers, then. “That's why I mentioned your very eventful life. Your current profession aside, you have a very storied history as an adventurer and even a dungeon owner at one point.”

  I ground my teeth as I was reminded of the explicit breach of privacy on my personal history. “Get to the point, Ms. Himia,” I urged impatiently.

  “Right now, the only thing we have are mere add ons, which is embarrassing in its own way,” Himia said. “However, the goddess of community, Cheroske, has been keeping a close eye on you. Gaining another deity sponsor would—”

  “I'll pass,” I said immediately. I would not be beholden to the gods. Especially not with this woman acting as some sort of middleman.

  “We thought as much,” she said, not perturbed in the slightest by my quick dismissal. “Instead, we propose that your job title would become your new class.”

  “And what would that mean?” I asked. “Keep in mind that I’m not agreeing to anything.”

  “Your class would be Dungeon Inspector,” she replied. “It makes sense, given that your magical affinity is for dungeon magic. An odd one, but not unheard of. You would gain abilities based on meta knowledge and exploration, but retain your fighting experience.”

  “Just had a Dungeon Inspector class on hand then, did you?” I asked dryly.

  “No, this one was tailored for you specifically given your past,” Himia answered.

  “Okay, sure, but why?”

  “Since you all will be receiving these upgrades, in order to test the balance of the dungeon, we have confiscated all of your belongings until you either leave or enter a zone that is closer to your experience level,” she said, ignoring my question.

  “But why?” I asked again.

  “Because he wanted to give you all gifts, like I had previously stated,” she answered.

  “But to what end?” I continued.

  “To make this continent stronger. You will have to meet him at the end for more answers,” she said with what I think should have been a coy smile, but it just looked arrogant.

  “And if I demand to speak with him now?”

  “Then you will, unfortunately, be disappointed.”

  “Disappointed, angry, annoyed,” I listed. “I’m sure you can understand my frustration.”

  “I cannot, Inspector,” Himia said. “But you are the last of your group to grace my office. The others are already in the dungeon. Perhaps being kept in stasis has made you a tad bit more temperamental than the others.”

  “The last? I was the first one in,” I protested, ignoring her jab at me.

  “The others were easier to deal with, even Moose, so I started with them,” she claimed. “There was much deliberation on what to do about you. You were quite more surprising than a holy moose by far, Inspector.”

  “So what now?” I asked, crossing my arms.

  “Now you may leave the way you came in,” Himia said, gesturing behind me. “And explore our dungeon at your leisure. Or, I can send you back to Oristrella’s dungeon where you can return to the Department of Dungeons and make your report.”

  I chewed on the side of my cheek as I stared at her. “Just like that? No further information? You’re just tossing this... 'gift' on us and throwing us into the dungeon? What if we don’t want it?”

  That made Himia tilt her head. “It is, unfortunately, a requirement for entering this particular dungeon. My boss hopes you understand.”

  I scowled. This was not at all what I expected when I was sent up here, but there wasn’t any path in front of me other than to go through with it.

  “You said that Ferrisdae is already in the dungeon?” I asked, wanting confirmation one more time.

  “She is.”

  “Then I guess I have to go, then, don’t I?” I scoffed. “Like I said, not much of an option at all.”

  Himia nodded at my point and gestured behind me. “This first one is going to be a little on the easy side for you all with your class upgrades. It is meant to give you time to get settled into your new powers. I do hope you have fun.”

  I turned around to see that the large wooden door was still open, but now there was a swirling portal in its frame like the one I used to get into the dungeon. The only thing I had to go on that it would lead me to Ferrisdae was the woman’s word, but I didn’t put much stock in it.

  “I still have more questions for you,” I said.

  When I turned to ask Himia about what was going on, I found that both the woman and the desk were gone, leaving me in a room with two empty chairs. The one I had been standing behind had my clothes neatly folded on it. They looked like they had been cleaned.

  “Great, this is a fantastic turn of events,” I muttered sarcastically as I picked up my coat from the top of the pile. I frowned as I looked at the outerwear tunic, socks and shoes. “Why didn’t they return my pants?”

  In a huff, I took off everything except my trousers to put my clothes back on. My attention turned to the door once I was fully equipped. With a sigh, I approached it and stopped just inches away. “Well, here goes nothing.”

  I stepped into the portal.