Chapter 74

The tension in the group only increased as the sun completely set. We weren't far off from the dungeon but because of the visibility and the strained situation, everyone seemed a lot more standoffish. Even Tarklin had reprioritized keeping watch for monsters at our side. The church adherents seemed as worried about us as they did about the monsters, like it was us that was going to stab them in the back.

So like that our group more or less split into three. Half of the Tamin church people had started walking ahead of us and half of them were a short distance behind us. No one trusted each other and it was this behavior that really put that on display. The feeling was also clearly mutual.

Bella's mother had moved to the forward group and was finally done boring holes into the back of our head with her eyes. I wasn't sure exactly why she had been staring at us but it had made me pretty uncomfortable. I wasn't sure if she was aware of some kind of connection between Bella and herself, or if it was just because they suspected us to be lying about the dungeon in the first place. Truthfully this whole situation was quite sketchy. Why would the church exert so much pressure on the guild master in the first place unless they had some ulterior motive. It was just lucky we had such high level adventurers as our guards because I really didn't trust these people.

We were finally approaching the place we had mapped out the other day. There was a stake in the ground with the guild logo, likely some sort of marker for where we were headed. The church adherents that had been walking ahead waited for us to catch up before they started leading us through the forest. This was a much more direct path through the forest than we had originally taken but I already recognized some of the landmarks I had originally noted down on my map as we passed them.

Fifteen or so minutes later we had come up to a huge camp with maybe a hundred or more people near the now inert entrance to the dungeon. It was rather remarkable just how much this place had changed in such a short amount of time. A lot of the trees in the immediate area around the dungeon has been cleared and there were lots of large tents and tables set up all around it. It looked like a completely different place in the short time that we'd been gone.

Our two guards visibly relaxed once we approached the camp. While it was unlikely that the church adherents would have attacked us before we got here, it was even less likely they would attack us in such a large camp of other adventurers. Tarklin waved and joked with some of the passing adventurers but a glance at his belt showed that despite being more relaxed, his hand hadn't left the dagger that was strapped there. Nora didn't look too much different, her eyes scanned everyone that walked by and sometimes even looked past them as if she were looking at something else instead.

A huge human man dressed in armor fashioned from leathers and giant insect carapaces began walking up to us, he was like seven and a half feet tall. Despite how intimidating he looked, he was quite handsome in a rugged kind of way and had deep laugh lines that made him look cheerful. Most of the Tamin church adherents tensed but Tarklin's hand left his dagger for the first time since the sun had set and he happily greeted the giant man.

"Yefen! It's great to see you again my friend!"

"Tarklin! What are you doing here? You were never one for dungeon work." The giant man's eyes swept over the group of Tamin church adherents before settling on Nora. "Nora too! It's nice to see you again. Are you doing well?"

She nodded. "As well as I can be. Trying to get back into the swing of things."

"Ah, that's good to hear. Things haven't been quite the same around here without you. And... right, well. You know."

She nodded and looked at the ground quietly.

Yefen cleared his throat. "Anyway, looking by our guests this is more of a business visit. Lets go to my tent."

The large man led us through the clearing and into the largest tent in the camp. The tent was some kind of big army tent with a sizable square table in the center. This one just held stacks of documents of different kinds but it seemed like it would be right at home hosting a large map of unit positions and the like in war time. The twelve of us and the giant man sat down around the table, the division in our groups was clear. Not that a party full of Beastfolk and demi-humans would ever really work with Tamin church adherents normally.

"So I take it the Tamin church members are here to inspect the dungeon?" Yefen asked.

One of the male paladins that had taken off his helmet nodded. "Yes, we'll send in a team of four to scout out the dungeon and see what kinds of monsters we can find in it. It shouldn't be too hard to confirm the presence of demons, if there are any."

Yefen nodded diplomatically. "Of course, when dealing with the destruction of a dungeon it is important to see it first hand. We have a few demon corpses set aside if you would like to look at them before entering the dungeon."

"Why would you bring back the corpses of demons? Wouldn't that be dangerous?" Bella asked. I was a little surprised she spoke up.

"I agree that it is dangerous but it's important to show some of the people in the dungeon teams what we're dealing with. While we have been concerned about demon spawning dungeons in the area this is the first time we've been able to directly confirm it and it's important to train any of our new recruits that don't have any experience with them. It's unfortunate that this dungeon was spawning demons, if it wasn't for that it would be a very useful find."

I quirked an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

Yefen smiled. "Dungeons that have time acceleration in them are really useful for preserving certain things. If the factor was truly two to one initially, it would have been good for storing certain perishable goods. And the nature of the dungeon as a kind of stronghold could have made the dungeon useful as a military installation. While it's not as useful for that reason as it could have been, it might still be usable for that purpose depending on how the dungeon degenerates over time as the magic is completely released from it."

The paladin spoke up again. "Does that mean the time factor has waned since the core's destruction?"

"Yes, the time factor has reduced from two days for one, to a day and a half for one. At the rate it's going we expect it to be one for one again in a week or two."

"I see. Then as we discussed with your guild master we'll be sending in a team right away." The paladin signaled to Bella's mother and she handed over a wax-sealed letter with the guild's insignia pressed on it.

Yefen broke the seal and quickly scanned over the letter before setting it aside. "Looks good. I know that you wish to keep an eye on these four but if it's not any bother do you mind if I show them around? I'm confident you'll be satisfied with what you find in the dungeon and I'd like to start introducing these four to some of the people around here since they're going to be joining the dungeon team in the future."

The paladin hesitated for a moment but quickly relented. "I suppose that would be alright. Priestess Corrine and I will be the ones staying behind so I'll continue to coordinate with you once our scouting party returns."

Bella's mother, Corrine apparently, suddenly looked angry. "You're going to roll over and put your trust in this half-breed Sorak!?"

"ENOUGH." The paladin gave her a withering glare. "Sir Yefen is a well respected liaison for the adventurer's guild who I have personally worked with a number of times before. Do not insult him in my presence." He turned to Yefen. "I apologize for my priestess' poor decorum. I have no objections to you showing your new recruits around but please do not let them leave this camp until my scouting team has returned."

"Of course" Yefen nodded.

"Then we'll take our leave." All six of the church adherents stood up and walked out of the tent. No one spoke again until they had all left and walked away from the tent.

Yefen suddenly slumped in his chair. "Oh god that was stressful, I hate working with those damned priests."

Tarklin suddenly leaned forward with a huge grin. "Sir Yefen?"

Yefen laughed. "I was as surprised as you were! Sure I've worked with the guy a few times before but I didn't think he thought so highly of a demi-human like me. My jaw almost dropped in the middle of that exchange."

Torien tilted her head. "You're a demi? I thought you were just a big human."

Yefen laughed merrily again. "You're not the first to say that and definitely not the last. Seemingly the only people who can ever tell are those damned bigots. My father was a bear beastkin that ran off when my mother started to swell up. Other than being huge the only way anyone ever knows is if they see my stubby tail when my armor is off. I think the only reason Mellana makes me deal with them every time they insist on getting in our way is just to give me shit." I was surprised to hear him address the guild master so casually but this guy does seem important.

The giant demi-bear sat up straight and cracked his neck. "Alright, back to business. As you've heard by now my name is Yefen and I'm the leader of the guild's dungeon search and exploration branch. We both know those Tamin church guys are going to find demons in there so there's nothing to worry about. Even if they pick a fight, Nora and Tarklin will run circles around them. Hell, if I'm around I'll knock them on their ass myself. Since that's the case it's better if you get to know some of the other people you'll be working with now. Mellana told me you'll probably be headed to the capital to get cartography training before you properly join my branch but you'll be back soon enough and it's better to start a working relationship sooner rather than later. Before we head out and meet everyone is there anything else you want to know about? If you guys have more questions about the dungeons I'd be happy to talk about them."

A sudden thought struck me, "Actually yes. You said earlier that you already had suspected there was a demon spawning dungeon in the area. How come?"

He lightly frowned. "There have been sightings of demons in the area and all kinds of rumors. We weren't sure there were demon spawning dungeons in the area but the chances were pretty high with the number of reports of sightings we've gotten. The worst part is that all of the different kinds of demons we've confirmed in this dungeon don't match any of the sightings we've received. It's likely there are even more demon spawning dungeons around. On top of that there have been lots of rumors going around of actual demon summoners flocking to this area as well. As much as the guild master and I dislike them, that's probably why the church is so involved right now. These church members are the grunts collecting information for the actual demon hunters."

Morrigan leaned forward interested. "Supposing the rumor is true, what would cause so many demon summoners to all come to this area? From what I know most of them avoid each other because of this exact situation with the church. Even if the Tamin church doesn't find all of them, some of the demon summoners are bound to get caught if they gather."

Yefen nodded with a grave look on his face. "That's the most worrying thing. We know for sure there are more dungeons in the area and now that we've confirmed this dungeon the likelihood of more demon spawning dungeons is also rather high. Especially considering that none of the ones we've found in this dungeon match the descriptions of the demons we've gotten reports about in the area. Whatever is compelling all of the demon summoners to congregate in this area can't be good.