The magma men and lavaskips were just as easy to run past on his way out as they were on his way in, and it wasn't long before Vin found himself walking out of the dungeon and back into the uncomfortable heat of the Crater. As promised, Myndra was nowhere to be seen, but Nohral was sitting on a chair made of stone, waiting patiently for him. As soon as Vin appeared, the dwarf stood up, giving him a hopeful smile.

  “Well, I must say seeing you back in one piece is certainly a good sign. Did you figure out where the hairy being came from?”

  “Yeah…” Vin said, wondering just how much he should tell the dwarf. Part of him felt like he should keep the existence of the dungeon network running underneath the fragments a secret, however thanks to that random capillan that may or may not be Forpurt, Nohral did already know about them. In the end, he decided to be honest with the dwarf, telling him all about the series of other-dimensional corridors running throughout the various dungeons and connecting all the fragments.

  The only part he left out was his surprise meeting with Lumel. It wasn’t really his place to mention the pulmon or her plans anyway.

  For his part, Nohral listened carefully, hanging on to his every word and not uttering a sound until Vin was finished with his explanation. It wasn’t until the very end that the dwarf let out a tired grunt, slowly sitting back down on his stone chair.

  “Well then…” he paused, lacing his fingers together and letting out a long, heavy sigh. “…Despite my best efforts, it would appear as though Valdora is going to be thrust into this new world whether I want it or not. If everything you say is true, even if I were capable of sealing the entrance somehow, that would go directly against the will of the Gods. They made these corridors for a reason after all, and who am I to question them?”

  “If it makes you feel any better, I don’t exactly think you’ll be getting very many visitors via the dungeon,” Vin said, glancing over his shoulder at the lava-lit tunnel. “From what I’ve gathered, you need either the Dungeoneering skill to access these corridors in the first place, or be skilled in dimensional magic. And that’s just to open the door, that doesn’t even take into account all the monsters roaming about within the dungeons.”

  “Even so, that just means whatever visitors we do get will be either remarkably powerful or incredibly skilled,” Nohral pointed out, shaking his head. “However, that is a matter for myself to worry about. You fulfilled your end of the bargain, and I thank you for doing it so quickly. As promised, the fire resistance relic is yours to keep.”

  “Thank you,” Vin grinned, absentmindedly touching the smooth amulet safely secured around his neck. “So what now?”

  “Now, I lead you back to the house we picked out for you and we wait for Deorer to finish whatever he’s doing with your golem friend,” Nohral said, unable to keep the frown off his face. “I doubt I need to tell you how I feel about one of our own making a weapon for an outsider, but she did pass the trial.”

  “Speaking of my friends, one of them would actually love the chance to check out this dungeon for herself,” Vin added. “Would you mind if she came here on her own?”

  “Perhaps in the future, but until I decide how I want to handle the comings and goings of outsiders, the cave will remain off limits from this point on,” Nohral declared, motioning for Vin to follow him as he muttered to himself. “…Maybe I should invent a trial for that as well…”

  While Nohral melted through the stone wall and led Vin back to their rooms, Vin had plenty of time to contemplate exactly what kind of trial survive in lava really was. Were any of the three people that passed the trial over the years actually heroes, or like Alka, did they just have their own various means of making themselves immune to lava?

  While he was busy imagining a frantic Water Mage desperately trying to keep the lava off their legs as they reassured the master smiths that they were totally a Hero, the two of them finally made it back to the house.

  Nodding at the two dwarves standing guard in full suits of armor, Nohral knocked once before walking inside. After glancing at the two motionless guards and wondering how they weren’t burning up alive inside their metal coffins, Vin walked in after him.

  Just in time to spot a heavily breathing Shia lounging on the hard metal couch like it was the most comfortable thing in the world with a book in hand.

  Vin stared at the elf in confusion as she smiled at them, her face flushed like she’d just been running around the house. Glancing at the book, he immediately realized it was written in English of all things, and currently held upside down.

  “Vin!” Shia said, jumping up and tossing the book off to the side. “Glad to have you back! Things were just so quiet and uneventful with you gone, that I thought I’d catch up on some reading.”

  “I can see that,” Vin chuckled, only just now realizing he’d never really witnessed Shia try to seriously bluff anyone before. The elf was a horrible liar, and he wasn’t surprised in the slightest when Nohral frowned, his eyes darting around the small house as if searching for what she’d really been up to.

  “Where are your other companions?” He asked, his eyes sweeping across the floor as he remembered Scule and Reginald’s sizes. “The tiny man and the rodent?”

  “What, Scule and Reginald?” Shia asked, her voice just a little too high pitched as she shook her head. “Those two were all tuckered out from the journey. They’re sleeping in the next room over, you probably shouldn’t wake them.”

  His frown deepening, Nohral ignored Shia’s feeble request to let them sleep as he stomped over to the side room. Throwing the door open, the dwarf blinked as a yawning Scule walked out with a droopy eyed rat at his side.

  “What’s all the shouting about?” Scule asked, smacking his lips and looking up at Nohral in confusion. “Is it time for breakfast already?”

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  “No…” Nohral grunted, narrowing his eyes at Scule. “Would you be willing to answer a few questions under truth magic?”

  “Sure, so long as I don’t have to go back out into that oven you guys call a town,” Scule shrugged, reaching over and scratching Reginald. “Reginald is too, but you’ll need to hire a really good interpreter.”

  Vin heard Reginald squeak in what he swore sounded like the rat’s attempt to mimic a mouse of all things. Nohral’s eyes flicked between Scule and Shia for a few seconds before he grunted again, shaking his head.

  “Never mind.” Clearly deciding this wasn’t worth his time, the dwarf walked back to the front door, turning to look at them all over his shoulder. “I doubt I have to remind you, but you are to stay within this building until your friend has finished her business with Deorer. Please don’t try to go anywhere.”

  Giving them one final look, Nohral finally left them to their own devices, letting in a blast of heat as he walked out before closing the door behind him. Immediately, Vin turned to his companions, raising an eyebrow at the grinning petian, annoyed rat, and relieved looking elf.

  “So, want to fill me in on whatever the hell you three were up to while I was gone?”

  -----

  Vin leaned back against the metal couch, doing his best to get comfortable. He twisted his new amulet this way and that as he went over everything he’d missed.

  Apparently, after he’d left with Nohral, it hadn’t taken Shia long to confirm Scule and Reginald were no longer in the house. She’d then taken it upon herself to go find them and bring them back before they got their entire group into trouble. In order to do that however, she first had to get past the two guards.

  Shia revealed to him that along with her supply of rancidweed, she also had seeds to an incredibly potent flower that caused severe drowsiness called dreamknell. And after using her magic to force it to grow, she was able to use the plant to knock out the two dwarves standing guard outside before they realized what was happening. She then used a few thin branches wrapped around the inside of their armor to keep their unconscious forms propped up and looking normal.

  Luckily for her, dwarves didn’t seem to move or fidget very much.

  Once she’d dealt with the guards, Shia had done her best to stealthily make her way back toward the impressive building they’d been in earlier, remembering all the random objects they had on display just ripe for the taking. Finding the building again without getting spotted had taken her a lot longer than she’d expected, and by the time she’d finally managed it, it was only just in time to discover Scule and Reginald sneaking their way back out.

  After quietly throttling the petian for taking on such a risk, Shia had vetoed Scule's plan to creep around town for a bit and get the lay of the land, instead forcing the three of them to make their way back to the building they were supposed to be staying within. Shia had been just about to wake the two guards up when she’d spotted Nohral and Vin turn the corner, and she’d barely managed to get back inside and make herself look busy before they followed her in. In fact, Vin had been shocked to learn that the two guards had still been asleep when they entered, and it was a small miracle that Nohral somehow hadn’t noticed while he was here. Vin could only assume the dwarf was lost too deeply in his own thoughts surrounding the dungeon and the impending change to his once isolated town to waste time checking in with their guards.

  Or far more likely, his suspicion that Nohral knew exactly what they were up to was correct, and the dwarf was just turning a blind eye so long as they didn't hurt anyone. Either way, it seemed they’d gotten away with breaking the rules for the moment at least.

  Shaking his head at their Rogue's recklessness, Vin sighed.

  Scule wasn’t the only reckless one after all.

  “A dungeon? Here?!” Shia had gasped after he explained what he’d found. “Tell me where!”

  Despite just having torn Scule a new one for putting them all at risk and ignoring the dwarves’ instructions, Shia had proceeded to rush out on her own after receiving directions to the dungeon. Vin had been instructed to stay behind in the event Nohral came back, as the dwarf would be more willing to listen to any excuses Vin came up with than anything Scule tried to tell him.

  Vin didn’t even know how she planned to get past the solid stone wall Nohral had reformed when they left, but Shia had just grinned and told him not to worry about it.

  And so it was that Vin found himself alone with Scule and Reginald, nervously waiting for Shia to come back and praying she wouldn’t end up running into Nohral by accident.

  “So… What did you end up snatching anyways?” He asked, glancing over at Scule. The petian was standing on the coffee table, slowly grooming Reginald’s fur much to the rat’s delight.

  “Oh, nothing much,” Scule grinned, leaning closer to Reginald and gently tackling a small knot in his fur. “Just one or two things I thought might come in handy one day. How was the dungeon?”

  “Oh, nothing crazy,” Vin said, too tired to launch into yet another explanation about the strange corridors and extradimensional spaces at the moment. He’d wait for Shia to come back so that he wouldn’t have to repeat himself for a third time. “I feel like I should be annoyed at you for risking our safety like you did, but seeing as Shia’s currently doing the same thing, it feels kinda moot at this point.”

  “You could always point out how she’s motivated by her love toward her master, while I just want to steal stuff,” Scule offered.

  “We all have our own motivations,” Vin sighed, shaking his head. “I won’t pretend like I understand your desire to steal stuff, but I know there are plenty of other people who don’t understand my own desire for exploration. Now, that’s not to say I think what you’re doing isn’t wrong. But I’ve long since given up on trying to keep you reined in. So long as you don’t go crazy and make sure you don’t take anything people truly need, I’m willing to look the other way. For now.”

  “If it helps, I prefer to think of it as taking an unoffered reward,” Scule pointed out, gesturing about with his comb. “We went through all the hassle of bringing news of those dead brothers to these people, and what did we get to show for it? Nothing, that’s what!”

  “I mean, they agreed to take The One That Paints In Red off our hands. And Alka’s getting a new sword made by some master smith even as we speak.”

  “Sure, but what did I get out of it?” Scule corrected himself, clicking his tongue. “They clearly forgot to give me my reward, so rather than bug them about it, I’m just saving us all a bit of time and taking it for myself.”

  Rolling his eyes at the petian’s logic, Vin stopped fidgeting with his new amulet and turned to his own projects. Scule had promised he wasn’t planning to leave again, and Reginald had confirmed he wasn’t lying, which meant Vin had plenty of time to work on learning his newest spell.

  Slipping into Introspection, Vin pulled up his Iron Mind snapshot of Sense Dimension and got to work.

  Time to take his first step into the deadly field of dimensional magic.

  did pass the trial, but we all know she's not actually a Hero)

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