Delilah was exhausted when she finished her healing work, so Graves offered them a tent to stay the night. As her new friend recovered her mana, Shiina looked over some of the books on adventurer rates, just in case. "So, what do you think about the offer?"

  "Hm..." To Shiina's surprise Delilah was a little more hesitant now. "It's worth a look. But I think we should do a bit more research before agreeing to anything. It's not that I think they're bad people, but there's a few warning signs we should investigate."

  "What do you mean?" Shiina closed the book. "The only really weird thing is the size of the group. But I hear some guilds can get pretty big. Especially those that double as mercenary groups."

  Delilah nodded. "Yes. The strange thing is, they're a large group that has only two mages, and no women."

  "Uh..." Shiina considered that. "I guess that is weird. Men and women are a fifty fifty split for most humanoids aren't they? And spellcasters are a little more rare than warriors, but not that rare. So what does that mean?"

  "They're probably a military unit that's gone mercenary." Delilah stretched. "Most armies keep their units gender segregated, and they group based on specializations, with a few auxiliaries to make sure there's always a few mages or fighters around."

  Shiina looked over at Delilah. The woman's reasoning seemed good, but there was no judgment. "Aren't soldiers who go mercenary usually terrible people?"

  "It depends on why they deserted." Delilah looked over. "A lot quit over pay disputes, which is hard to fault them over. There's also units who desert because the leader had a family member who committed a crime, and they were forced to resign. Or because they backed the wrong person in a civil war."

  "Hm... so you want to figure out the reason. That makes sense." Shiina looked over. "But will we be able to figure that out? It's gotta be something people try to hide."

  "I'm sure someone in the guild will know." Delilah rolled back into her bedroll and pulled the covers close. "Anyway if he's a good guy he won't mind. And if he does mind it's a bad deal. But now I need more sleep."

  Shiina grinned. "Smart! Well you keep resting. I'll stand guard or whatever."

  Darkness fell as Shiina waited, listening to the sounds of the camp moving around her. It was a lot easier to handle than the manic energy of the town, if still a little louder than the average dungeon.

  Still as the activity quieted down, Shiina considered doing something more. She'd let Delilah do all the human interaction stuff, but there had to be something she could do on her own.

  After a bit of consideration she decided to do some information gathering. After all, what better way to learn about this group than listening in on their conversations? With that thought she slipped out of the tent, changing her chest form into a match to the supply boxes that were littered about.

  Once outside she scouted the area. There were a couple of campfires where people were chatting, but they'd be hard to approach from this side. She'd need to go the long way around the camp to listen in. But as a bonus there was a large tent illuminated from inside along that route. An excellent place to get more info as well.

  She began her slow crawl to her first objective. As she moved she honestly wished she could get better burst speed without deforming. Sure movement was easier to see at night, but a slow crawl meant she was moving over a longer amount of time.

  Halfway through a march a tent flap opened up, and Shiina had to freeze. A bearded man with a knife in hand looked around, frowning. There was a long moment of silence, before the man slipped out and looked behind her, before sighing. "Must have been a rat or something. Need to get a dog to keep them in line." He headed back into his tent.

  Shiina waited a long moment before continuing her march, this time working harder to be quiet. Finally she arrived at the large tent and parked herself outside. From this close she could recognize the silhouettes inside. Yagi and Graves.

  "-Commander. They could turn against us," Yagi said.

  "Which is why we'll tell them the truth. We admit we're an army unit from the Kingdom of Gaius. They join or they don't. But any duo that can kill a level 25 necromancer are worth trying to recruit." Graves chuckled. "You really need to learn how to use the truth if you're gonna be a merc Yagi."

  Well that was an interesting piece of information. But didn't that mean they were currently still in the army? Shiina continued listening.

  "And if they learn we're part of this little undeclared war over the dungeon that popped up here?" Yagi pressed.

  Grave's shadow leaned back. "The only people who know the plan are you, me, the Count, and the King. And after the Arbiters get rid of the Count and the King the matter's dead and buried."

  Shiina froze. Wait, weren't the Arbiters only involved when someone reopened a dungeon? She tried to remember everything Mali had taught her yesterday.

  "Will the Arbiters get them?" Yagi asked quietly. "Seems like we're betting a lot on a bunch of boogiemen."

  "Yagi." Grave's voice was very serious. "There's a reason I told them this plan was stupid. Yeah some people have managed to avoid the Arbiters after popping open a tamed dungeon. Some people have managed to set up a dungeon and become the dark lord of the surrounding lands. And for every one of those, there's ten thousand more who tried and ended up a rotting corpse while adventurers pawned off their clothes. To pull off that nonsense you have to be smart, skilled, and damn lucky. And neither of those 'nobles' have any of those qualities."

  Shiina shuddered as the pieces all fell together. The dungeon attack, Mali's death, both had been orchestrated as part of a stupid fight over resources. And those two men knew! They knew that mad necromancer had been sent to ruin her life and kill her friend!

  She felt the hard edge of Mali's knife slip out of the bag. But after a few long moments the fury cooled to something more reasonable. She couldn't attack them now. Which meant she should return to Delilah and tell her friend what she'd learned.

  The conversation inside had swapped to logistics and bargaining with merchants, so she began to sneak back to the tent. It was a long journey, but soon she was back at her own tent.

  To her surprise Delilah was up and awake, a small supper in front of her. The woman looked at her. "You didn't go out and surprise people did you?"

  Shiina took a moment to collect herself and shift into human form. She knew her expression was an exaggerated mess, but at least she could convey how serious things were. "I went out to get more information. And... They, they're connected to the people that broke open my dungeon. I heard Graves say they knew all about it."

  There was a crack as Delilah's grip broke the wooden spoon she was holding. "What? These people helped kill Samuel?"

  "They're working for some King. An army unit." Shiina explained what she'd overheard. "They said there's a dungeon here that started this whole mess."

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  Delilah clenched her jaw, then after a long pause she said, "Do you want revenge too?"

  The half elf's words dripped with venom, and Shiina felt the knot of anxiety inside her melt away. "Yes. I wanted to stab the two right there. But I figured you should know first." She paused. "Also I don't think I could beat them both."

  "They'll have to sleep sometime," Delilah said quietly. "We just need to find an alibi so it can't be traced back to us." She quickly choked down the rest of her soup before slipping the hardtack into her pouch. "Let's go find this dungeon entrance."

  "Are you sure you want to go? You, uh, aren't very stealthy." Shiina knew expecting humans to meet her standards was impossible, but Delilah was pretty bad in general.

  Delilah stood and gathered up the few belongings scattered about. "Why does that matter? I'm going to relieve myself. You're keeping me safe from monsters. And we don't want any men about."

  "Oh!" Shiina blinked. That made sense? Probably? She'd trust the humanoid on this one.

  She shifted to backpack form so Delilah wouldn't have to wait up for her, and kept an eye out as her friend walked out towards the forest. Sure enough the guard gave them a nod and a wave before continuing their watch.

  As soon as they made it to the treeline, Delilah started moving along towards the hillside. Shiina tapped her shoulder. "Go on a little deeper into the woods so they don't see you."

  They quickly arrived and sure enough there was a cave mouth sitting there. Now that they were closer, Shiina noticed the pull of the dungeon. As well as a slight taste of magic. "That is a dungeon alright. Now we know where all the wyverns came from."

  Delilah moved closer and held out her hand. The magic in the air hummed revealing guarding runes. "There's a barrier here. That explains why their healer nearly burnt himself out. They must have sealed the place after killing the lord, so the stronger monsters starve."

  "And so they aren't attacked in the night by a pack of wyverns." Shiina nodded. "Well that makes sense. So now what?"

  "Now I break the barrier."

  Shiina blinked. "Uh, shouldn't I do that? And how does that help us?"

  "Breaking a seal is much easier than making one. And if I do it, they won't notice someone sabotaging the barrier until it collapses." Delilah began tapping on the seal. "Meanwhile a surprise attack at night by hungry wyverns is much more dangerous than we could ever be." She closed her eyes. "We'll just have to hope that Graves won't get away."

  After a moment, an idea came to Shiina. "I can make sure of that. How long will it take to break the barrier?"

  Delilah took a deep breath. "Half an hour."

  Shiina tried to estimate the time. "Okay. That should work. I'll be back when you're done."

  She moved as fast she could to the treeline, before getting low to the ground and shifting across the field towards the camp. The lights were dimmer now, and the guards less attentive. They were relying on sound and movement to make them alert, and Shiina's slow shifting didn't draw the eye.

  Soon she was at the tent. She pulled the knife from the bag she was holding inside her and made a small cut in the wall. Nothing a human could use, but her morphic body easily slipped in.

  Graves was sleeping on a cot, a makeshift desk covered with papers. She considered for a moment looking for proof of what she heard, but dismissed it. She didn't have time. Instead she moved over to the man. With precision she let her upper body assume Mali's form, adjusted her grip so she wouldn't drop anything, then dragged the knife across the vein in his arm.

  He awoke with a start, but before he could get his bearings the poison kicked in, locking his joints in a shuddering wave. His eyes flickered over to her, and Shiina vaguely wondered if he could make out who had caught him in the dark. She couldn't tell from the surprise and terror that wafted off him. But it wouldn't matter. He was doomed and a single cut wouldn't stand out among the injuries he was going to suffer when the wyverns arrived.

  The deed done she put the knife back into the bag of holding and slouched down to a short box form, then slipped out. She moved slowly out of the camp, then put on a burst of speed to enter the woods. It was time to leave.

  She did her best to scurry back to where Delilah was, as she arrived the half elf mage was finishing up her ritual. It took a few minutes, but the hum quickly faded, and Delilah stepped back. She looked tired, but she held out her arms to Shiina. "We need to leave, fast." The rustling from the inside the dungeon as the wyverns started to react to the change in airflow emphasized her words.

  "I'm done," Shiina replied, swapping to backpack form and swinging onto the woman's shoulders. "Let's get some distance and then you can rest some more."

  "I'm fine." Delilah's words were a lie, but she managed to get moving faster than Shiina could, so the mimic didn't contradict her. They pressed on into the forest, the moonlight giving both of them enough light to navigate.

  Their travel through the forest was finally interrupted by a magical flare from back in the camp. They'd gotten far enough that the sounds of battle didn't make it to them, but the blinding light told them that battle had started.

  For a long moment the two stared at the flare, then Delilah turned and continued on, Shiina giving her attention to the forest around them instead of the mess behind.

  The moon had shifted a fair amount across the sky when Delilah started tripping and bumping into things. Shiina decided this was her friend's limit. "We should stop here."

  "It's not good to rest in the middle of the forest," Delilah muttered. "And we have a bunch of wyverns and mercenaries around."

  "They're a long ways back," Shiina said. "And I'll look after you." She slipped off the half elf's shoulders. "You burned through nearly all your mana twice and you haven't slept enough. I know I'm fuzzy on what half elves can do, but that can't be healthy."

  Delilah looked like she wanted to argue, but she leaned against a tree and sighed. "You're probably right."

  Shiina nodded, then shifted herself to a long hollow box. She couldn't keep her humanoid head and torso up, but she could still vibrate out words. "It won't be soft, but I figure you can stuff your bedroll in here and I'll hide you from any monsters or beasts that'd be roaming around here."

  "It looks like a coffin," Delilah muttered, but she pulled out her bedding and followed Shiina's suggestion. As the half elf settled in to sleep Shiina added a 'lid' to the box, leaving a few air holes while concealing her fleshy friend. That should be enough.

  Soon Delilah was sleeping, though fairly restlessly. Shiina wasn't sure if that was bad, but there wasn't much she could do to help. The best she could think of was practicing her 'soft form' exercises for later.

  The night passed slowly as various forest creatures came to sniff the new arrival in their forest, interrupting Shiina's reverie. However nothing bigger than a raccoon came to bother them, so she called it a success.

  It was an hour after dawn when Delilah roused herself enough to push on Shiina's lid, so the mimic opened up to let the woman get out and refresh herself.

  When the half elf returned Shiina had shoveled out a small fire pit. "I think we can risk breakfast."

  "Good." Delilah summoned a tiny flame to some wood chips, while Shiina added more branches, snapping them into proper pieces so the fire could handle them easily.

  As she put in the last of her offerings the snap of a branch to the side caused both her and Delilah to look over quickly. Shiina felt her heart start racing as two women, obviously adventurers, walked towards them without a care in the world. The dark skinned woman leading the two smiled, her large vulpine ears twitching. "Well! That was harder than I expected, but you also saved us quite a bit of trouble."

  "Who are you?" Delilah asked quietly."

  "We," the woman replied, "are agents of the Arbiters. And we're looking for the people who've helped us complete our job here."

  Shiina blinked. She wasn't sure what she was expecting, but it wasn't that.

  The other adventurer's slit eyes scanned the campsite, before holding up a side of bacon. "We have some food to share."

  Her eyes flickered over and met Delilah's. They both nodded at the same time. "Sure."

  If nothing else she really wanted to hear how the two women found them.

  I asked Mali what keeps creatures from wandering out of the dungeons. Apparently the answer is : Nothing at all! So doesn't that mean there are distant dungeons out there pumping out monsters constantly?

  The answer is : Yes.

  Of course it's not as bad as it sounds. So long as the dungeon is inactive, most monsters are just dangerous animals. Without the dungeon's aura supplying some of their basic needs, they either integrate into the local environment or die. If there's a lack of prey in the immediate area, a lot of creatures will return to the dungeon and thin out numbers there themselves.

  So a dungeon isn't good for the locals, but it's not a world ending event.

  Intelligent monsters (like me!) are different, but in general they either set up a town and keep the dungeon clean or tell others about the place and let local adventurers clean things up.