“We’re recruiting,” Ed said, handi a stack of fliers. “I had a meeting with Magistrate Gerold this m and we’re expanding. If what I’m hearing from Iria about the duergar is true, we o move quickly.”

  “Expanding?” Bernt blinked and looked down at the fliers. “I assume it’s not about improving sewer maintenance…”

  Ed gave him what almost looked like an actual smile. “No. We’re being permaly cssified as a sed city guard force, rep directly to the t. Narald wants someone down iuo keep an eye on general Arice, and we’re in the best position for it, since I was running the defense before the army arrived. Officially, we’re being empowered to manage security in the newly designated “Uy”.”

  Bernt stared at his boss. “Uh… What do you mean by Uy, exactly?” he asked, “And does that make us a branch of the city guard?”

  “Heh, no," Ed coughed out a smoky ugh. "Righmond didn’t want anything to do with this. A few citizens, mostly dwarves and a few goblins, requested permission to take possession of some chambers down iunnels – we might even expand it a bit. This makes us airely separate guard forahe new subterranean frontier – everything below street level, essentially.”

  Bernt blinked, surprised by the news. “So… does this mean we’re being freed from sewer-duty?”

  Ed snorted. “Of course not. It’s tradition. The king himself has occasionally exiled mages to the Underkeepers. He’d probably interfere personally if a lesser noble dared to redefine our order's holy purpose like that. Narald is taking a big risk with this as it is.”

  Bernt started to respond, but Ed interrupted him with a wave, pointing at the fliers.

  “I want you two to pin these up on ntern poles around the city and see if any of the guard stations will let you put them up on their doors. We need capable fighters down in those tunnels, and ideally some people with a bit of engineering skill. It’s going to take some work to make those tunnels livable and I need people knog down the door to help us get it doerday. I already called in everybody else who I could spare. You're starting in the Lower District, but don't hesitate to post fliers elsewhere as long as nobody else has gotten there first.”

  “Yes, sir,” Bernt replied, but theated. “Uh, Ed? Does this mean we have a budget? Are we going to be properly armed for this?”

  If he could get some prhting equipment through the Underkeepers, he’d be in a much better position, overall. He could afford to look into more expensive pces to live, for one. Or, if he really tightened his belt, he might even be able to afford membership to the Mages’ Guild.

  Ed nodded. “Some, yes. Not nearly enough, of course, but it never is.”

  “Great!” Bernt smiled and nodded.

  He headed out the door at a measured pace with Jori on his heels, trying not to look too excited at the news. He didn’t really want to sider it, but there was another opportunity here as well. If he really had to, he might be able to find a pce to live down in this new Uy – o was made livable, at least.

  He shivered at the thought and his stomach twinged unpleasantly. He didn’t want to live underground if he could help it. The memory of being trapped down there, hiding from kobold patrols and desperate to escape, was still fresh in his mind. But it was something. Maybe.

  –-------

  Unsure of where to start, Bernt headed for the guard station o the Underkeepers’ headquarters with Jori. Ed had started sending her out on tasks alone sometimes over the past few weeks, but she still didn’t go wandering around alone in pin sight, where everyone could see her. There were people out there who might react violently to a lone demon wandering around. Worse, they both khat whatever rogue warlock had inally summoned Jori was still out there – and he’d already tried to send something to kill her o was best to be careful.

  They posted two of the fliers at busy-looking street-ers as they went. The guard station was a small building positioned right at the unofficial border between the lower administrative distrid the crafter’s district. Bernt found a man sitting in front of the door when they arrived at the guard station and waved to get his attention.

  “Hey there!” he called, trying to sound friendly. “ I ask you for a favor?”

  The guard didn’t look familiar, which he supposed wasn’t unusual. He’d made the acquaintance of several city guards during and after the kobold invasion a month ago, but there were hundreds of guards iy. This one was a grizzled-looking seniuardsman, probably the one in charge of the station here. He leaned back casually on a stool, back to the wall of the building, but his eyes were alert and flicked from Bernt to Jori and back to Bernt again.

  “Underkeeper.” The man replied by way of greeting. He leaned his head to the side in a nonittal gesture and scratched at his short, scruffy gray beard. “That all depends on the favor. What do you want?”

  Bernt held up the flier. “I’d like to pin up one of my fliers on your door. We’re hiring.”

  The man grunted and leaned forward, peering at the paper to read it. “Well. How about that. Seeking sanitation engineers, military veterans, retired adventurers yadda yadda for perma positions… maintenance, security and w enfort in the “Halfbridge Uy”. What’s all that about?”

  “New expansion project from the t.” Bernt expirying to sound like he knew what he was talking about. “I guess he didn’t want to burden the guard with it, but they’re going to settle part of the former dungeon. The bits that they cim are teically within city limits, most likely.”

  “Hmm,” the man grunted. “Fair enough. But no. We’re hiring too, over here. We lost a lot of people iack. If I let you start recruiting right from my front door… well, that’s just getting in my own way." He leaned back against the wall and adjusted the short sword on his belt to keep it from getting caught on his stool. "Not going to happen.”

  Bernt didn’t really know what to say to that – the man had a point. He him and turo go to find Jori pinning a flier to a ntern pole less thaeps away, behind a small cart that someone had parked at the side of the street. The guard couldn't see her very well from his position. Looking away quickly, he started to walk away. Jori would catch up.

  “Hey kid,” the guard called after him.

  Bernt turrying not to look guilty. "Yeah?"

  He hadn't done anything wrong. This ublic street, it wasn't illegal to put up a flier. There was no reason to feel nervht now.

  “Far as I know the stations in the Upper District didn’t lose a all. Lots of retired adventurers up there, too. You should check with them.”

  Bernt ined his head, thahe man and tinued on his way, breathing a small sigh of relief.

  He was not going to the Upper District, though. That was terrible advice. Why bother trying to recruit wealthy retirees? He would work his way through the Lower District over toward the Gateside Market. He didn’t know where to find unemployed engineers, but there were hundreds of former adventurers iy, and most of those weren’t rolling in gold s like those in the Upper District. Maired out of y, or simply because their families got tired of them being gone all the time and in danger.

  Of course, being an underkeeper wasn’t danger-free either. The sewers regurly spawned mutant creatures and slimes, and served as ary-point to the city for more dangerous things that tried to crawl up the drainage system from the river. Still, it might be a good option for a former advehe stigma that followed the Underkeepers wouldn't necessarily trao non-mages.

  The inal underkeepers had been Mage Academy wash-outs, too inpetent for the military or the guild, but good enough to up the sorts of things that teo cause problems for on guards. From there, exiling real mages to the Underkeepers had quickly developed as a way to retroactively mark them as failures – politically or socially if not truly in practice of their craft. But that wouldn't really apply a washed up adventurer – how could it? Any social or political es who cared about that sort of thing were pletely irrelevant to them.

  And that robably exactly what Ed was banking on.

  “We are going to the market?” Jori said, interpreting his iions through their bond. Bernt nodded in firmation. Former adventurers who weren't already part of the guard would be crafters, merts or even on borers. And the best pce to apply years of adventuring experience while w in some different field was to do so adjat to the adventuring industry – at or he Gateside Market.

  “I think we find more applits around there than in the upper district, at least.”

  “Yes.” Jreed. “We should talk to Grixit!”

  Bernt missed a step and turo look at Jori, who kept walking without him. “What?” He hurried to catch up. “Why Grixit? Jori, he’s not going to want to be an underkeeper.”

  Jori snorted. “The boss said that dwarves and goblins wao move into the underground. If they want to live there, then they will probably work there, too! He show the flier to oblins. It makes sense!”

  sidering it, Bernt couldn't really find fault with her logic. It was a strange idea – there were no goblins in the regur city guard – but why shouldn't there be? It was worth a try, at least.

  “Yea, alright,” he ceded. “But let’s stop by that guard station over by the Adventurers’ Guild first.” They wouldn’t all turn him down, he was sure.

  Bernt had his doubts that goblins would actually want to fight for the Beseri gover. Their people had a long and very unpleasant history with the Beseri military. Oher hand, the Underkeepers were not the military, and if they khey were going to be guarding oblin civilians... Maybe it would work.

  –------

  Grixit stared down at the flier thoughtfully, then looked up at Bernt with furrowed brows.

  “There aren’t any goblins iy guard, you know. Not that I ever heard. Do you think they’d really hire any of us?”

  Bernt threw a gnce over at Jori. “Well, maybe. I think so. We’re not the city guard, so why wouldn’t we? And this new Uy sounds like it’s going to house goblins and dwarves, mostly. Why wouldn’t there be goblin guards?”

  Grixit scoffed derisively, but the effect oiled a bit by the smile that he’d failed to suppress. “You kly why, you big idiot. But it’s worth a try, maybe.”

  “Great!” Bernt said, smiling. This might actually work. Since Jori had suggested it about an ho, Bernt had warmed up to the idea more and moblins were used t underground. And while they weren’t dwarves, they also had experience building underground infrastructure. Moreover, they were treated as an undercss in Besermark, so the prospect of a steady gover job with reasonable wages would probably be a lot more entig to them than your average applit. That, and unlike for everyone else, being an underkeeper might actually improve their social and political status.

  The goblin finished examining the flier a down on his table with a little grunt.

  “Hmph. I’ll keep your flier and show it around a bit. But… you see what the t is doing with this, right?” Grixit said, raising an eyebrow.

  “Yeah.” Bernt replied, nodding. “He’s trying to put us in closer proximity to the army, so he get a better look at what general Arice is doing in the dungeon. That, and he’ll probably want us to try to get first-hand information about duergar activity he city. I ’t imagihat he likes having all of his news filtered through the military.”

  Grixit snorted. “I don’t care about that! No. I mean this new Uy.” He pointed a knobby firaight down. “That dungeon is a new fn border, and it’s directly oy’s doorstep. That’s a real danger for the t’s precious citizens – the ohat pay lots of taxes and have influenow, he’s ‘letting’ a bunch of non-humans move into that new bion. The poorest a important ones, naturally – the ohat don’t own homes or ’t find a better pce to live. Are you getting it?”

  Bernt swallowed. He hadn’t really thought about it like that.

  “You mean it’s meant to be a buffer popution, to help keep the rest of the city safe.” Bernt said slowly, a queasy feeling growing in his stomach. “They don’t want eunneling straight out of the ground with n again. So the t is going to put some people in the eople who he afford to lose without losing face at court.”

  Grixit nodded. “Yup. And while no noble wants to lose bat-capable people, he’s going to dump the cheapest and most politically expendable anization he find dowo protect them – you. And that’s why they might actually let goblins join your new little guard anization.”

  Bernt groaned inwardly. Why did everything have to be so underhanded and, well… screwed up? Did Ed know about this?

  The moment he sidered it, he khe answer. Of course Ed would know. The old man had looked like he just won a hundred gold in a game of cards. He and Iria had probably cooked this whole thing up to legitimize and expand the Underkeepers.

  “Oh, rex!” Grixit gri him. “This is a good thing. It sounds like we’re going to get some actual real estate, and that’s nothing to s, no matter if there are enemies nearby. We know how to look after ourselves.” Then, a little relutly, he added. “So do the dwarves, really. They don’t get along with the duergar, either. And they build great underground defenses.”

  This was about trade-offs. Some people would get a free or cheap pce to live, but if the duergar ever broke through the army’s defehey’d be the first to know. The Underkeepers got to develop the order into a more serious anization, but they’d also be beh the city guard, both literally aaphorically. Separate, but serving the city’s new literal undercss.