Ranus was reading the daily reports and was frowning.

  Silver was the big concern. The Were-plague to the north was contained, but within the areas affected, the numbers of infected were still causing problems. He had managed to stem the flow of silver leaving the city, but it was still trickling out. The lack of silver was now starting to affect the economy negatively. Local merchants hoarded silver to keep it from others who would take it away from the city. The use of copper and gold was increasing. Thankfully, the city had a reliable supply of copper ore and coins.

  Ranus had implemented a policy to stockpile silver as well. He was holding back half the silver gained from mining the vein in the Dungeon every three days. This allowed him to quickly build up a sizeable reserve, which he could turn into coins later on when the plague had burnt itself out. He still allowed half of the silver to enter the economy to try to offset the problems it was causing with its absence. He knew he was losing a large chunk of it to foreign merchants who were shipping it north and selling it for gold. But there was not much he could do, and he felt he had done everything he could.

  He had seen the results of the local aristocracy banning silver sales. At the very best, the local economy crashed within three days. After the source of the silver shortage was resolved, it usually took years, even decades, for the area's economy to recover. He was adamant that this would not happen here.

  There was another primary concern, but he was trying to avoid it.

  The lesser demon that attacked the Dungeon.

  Many were concerned that the Dungeon now had access to Infernal Mana and that this would affect it and the surrounding community. For now, the churches told the population they were monitoring the situation and awaiting what the Dungeon would do. Privately, they were all concerned, but the Gods were telling them to hold back, wait, and see.

  But that did not stop independent priests and preachers from trying to stir up the population to deal with the possible threat from the Dungeon. The Watch and militant orders of the churches ensured that these priests were quickly contained before they started any major trouble.

  So far, the Dungeon has not shown any signs of using Infernal Mana, which is preventing the problem from escalating. The adventurers check daily, and the reports have all been positive.

  Since taking up the lordship and establishing the city, Ranus had been establishing quite an extensive whisper network. A report caught his eye and stopped him from one of his agents. He went back and read through the report again, as this was not the first time he had heard rumours and indications of a new group forming within a city.

  Over the last few months, he had seen one or two similar cases. This one involved a new religious cult growing within the city. Usually, that would not be an issue for him, and he would leave the churches to deal with it. What was concerning was the focus of the cult's devotion.

  The Dungeon.

  He had tried to have it dismissed as just one of those strange little cults that appear now and again. Most of the time, it was an infernal or celestial entity seeking to complete some objective or cause trouble. The churches always dealt with them in the end, but this one seemed to catch his attention.

  Ranus racked his mind, and as far as he was aware, he had never heard of a cult dedicated to a Dungeon. He had not raised the subject yet with the priests, but knew it was coming close to the time he would have to speak to them. According to the reports, the cult was non-violent and preached about respecting the city's laws. In the long run, this meant nothing, as many cults in the past had done the same and, as soon as they had gained enough support, had turned violent and revolutionary.

  One of the other things that had stayed his hand so far was the leader of this new cult: the freed slave Trixis. According to the report, she had barely a dozen committed followers, but they met regularly and became organised.

  Acting on his orders, his whisper network stayed away from them and only monitored their activities. It was becoming time for him to decide whether or not to implant an agent and actually see what they were up to.

  Ranus sighed and reached for a quill. Taking a fresh sheet of vellum, he drafted the necessary orders to have an agent infiltrate the group and see what was happening. He suspected the other churches, as soon as they were aware, would do the same unless they already had.

  "Another day, another ten problems." He muttered to himself. His family was one of the more pressing.

  So far, his family had been relatively passive on the surface. He had watched their activities and saw the standard Goldwind practice, integrating themselves into the local merchant and social circles. His father led that offensive as he always had, while his brother worked to strengthen their merchant ties within the city. His sister and mother perplexed him for the moment as they were still here, and he had become aware of them establishing their own whisper network. No, that wasn't correct; they were strengthening their whisper network, and he often wondered what his mother's role in their merchant clan truly was.

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  He was forced to spend time and resources monitoring them as he could not leave them unchecked. If he did, it would prove a disaster for his reign. He had seen minor Lords become subsumed to the clan's interests while they thought they had the upper hand. His family always played the long game.

  He turned his attention abroad and the matters that concerned him there. Folly's End saw some activity as a few twisted monsters had tried to ford the river. The nation bordering this place had not been idle and had fortified any possible crossing locations even further. As soon as the twisted tried to cross, they were instantly spotted and engaged with long-range magic, destroying them utterly. On the surface, this was a good thing, and everyone was happy, but those in the know were now starting to get concerned that it was only a matter of time before something genuinely horrendous made the crossing, opening the route for the others.

  He went to the next document.

  Many churches that are now open are working with the Magic and Alchemists Guild. They're all working together to find a way to remove what they now understand to be void corruption from those…. "Infected" or "Tainted"? Both terms were being used in the reports he was getting. As far as these reports indicated, it was only with Comus and his corruption-fuelled journey into the Dungeon that anyone had had this dangerous force removed from them. High Healer Selmum had warned him and Comus that several researchers attempting to contain the corruption were coming to view what had happened to him. They were seeking insights into how the corruption was removed.

  Knowledge of this new corruption was spreading. For the moment, most people didn't fully realise how dangerous it was; they just knew they had to avoid those who were showing signs of corruption. Ranus feared the day the people would become fully aware of the danger before them. He had seen similar things with other plagues and knew there was nothing more dangerous than a crowd being driven by fear and panic.

  The number of nonhumans coming to the city has increased massively over the last year. Eight separate races now had trade missions that doubled as diplomatic ones in his city. Only the old imperial capital held more missions, but that might change soon, as he had been given intelligence from several Guilds that more were on the way.

  There had been some problems at the start, but his population seemed to be becoming more accepting of the nonhumans amongst them. There was a small minority that still tried to cause problems, but the Watch normally stomped them down hard or the nonhumans themselves.

  The city's renovation and improvements were going well, mainly through civil engineering projects, even with the silver shortages. Thanks to the platinum coins he had gained from the Dungeon, he still had a healthy reserve to work from, and many merchants knew this, so they were pretty happy to continue to supply him with materials. This also meant he could pay his workers and craftsmen, which kept the projects running smoothly.

  He had limited communication with the Dungeon Core over the last few weeks and had not raised the issue of the Infernal Mana nor the attack upon the Dungeon with it. They had deemed it best not to mention these things until the Dungeon was ready to speak about it or reveal if it was using the new mana it had access to. There were some calls for a full Core inspection to be performed as soon as a team could reach it. All major parties within the city blocked this.

  This was just a brief overview of all the problems he was dealing with, and he sighed again as he returned to work.

  ## ## ## ## ##

  "So, we are sure there is an unknown monster within the Dungeon," Averance said. Albrot was absent, as his superior had sent him away on some mission. The two women were sitting in Elian's office. Averance was sitting in the chair that Albrot normally occupied. Elian was less than happy with her presence, but knew she had no say in the matter.

  "Yes, we have been getting reports of brief sightings of something for years, but now we are certain that there is one," Elian confirmed. "We are classifying it as a wandering type until we know more."

  "What do we know?" She asked.

  "It is small, fast, and manoeuvrable. We believe it was seen emitting a faint pink light, representing illusion magic. With this information, we think it is based on a Pixie from what brief glimpses have been made of it." Elian said, quoting the report she had read from that Dwarven team in a dungeon when the demon attacked.

  "Thrum made the identification of it." Averance inquired.

  "His team is the only one that has seen it enough to describe it accurately. The rest were too brief."

  "Well, it seems like this Dungeon still has a few surprises we are unaware of." Averance mused. "Good. I hate predictable things. Things I hate, I deal with."

  Elian was concerned as she believed her Guild Master was not joking around. Averance was quite possibly the most powerful human on the continent. Not just a political power but also a step along her Path. If she wasn't, she was definitely within the top three. She could easily crush this entire city and the Dungeon without a second thought. There were few who could hold her to account.

  "Do we put out a bounty on it? The Alchemists Guild will be eager to get a sample for testing."

  Averance thought about what Elian had asked, but her answer was firm. "No. There is still too much we do not understand about this Dungeon, and I do not want to make it mad. If, and I mean if, it is killed, it will be by an adventurer group during a run through the Dungeon and not a hunter team. If the Alchemist Guild protests, send them to me."

  "I understand. But with Comus back in charge over there, even with supervision."

  "Good. Do we know when these specialists are arriving to experiment on him?"

  "You mean to study what happened to him?" Elian was concerned by her superior's words.

  "Fine. They will "study" him. Believe that if you want."

  "They should be here within ten days. More will be arriving over the next month or two. Those getting here fastest are using the old empire's teleportation network to cut down on some of the distance."

  "Pricey even for me. They must be desperate." Averance looked thoughtful.

  "Reports indicate things are getting worse regarding the spread of the corruption."

  "Yes. They are containing it with difficulty." Averance was looking at her nails. "Comus is the only person we have discovered who has had the corruption removed. Hence why they are coming."

  "He is not eager for their arrival." Elian grimaced.

  "I would be running right now." Averance mused.

  Elian did not respond to that.