Fabulosa watched Charitybelle with interest. “I’m game. What’s got you so worked up?”

  Charitybelle grabbed a piece of blue rock and fidgeted with it before speaking. “Remember how the riverboat crew complained about river tolls?”

  I didn’t recall the conversation but realized I’d slept through much of our upriver trip.

  Fabulosa nodded, and I did the same, not wanting to break the flow.

  “What if we could establish a trade route across Miros—on land—over the route we just crossed? If we could somehow secure an area here, build an outpost, and keep the kobolds away, we could start our own village.”

  Fabulosa and I exchanged puzzled looks. We’d planned for a hunting lodge when six of us agreed to hit the wilderness, but a village seemed farfetched. Charitybelle and I researched building practical things like how to craft creature comforts and erect basic defenses. But enticing NPCs to join us seemed like a different enterprise.

  Charitybelle continued. “Think about it, Fab. If we can keep the route between east and west safe, this big rock could become a rest area for merchants and travelers. And that probably requires clearing out hostile monsters.”

  Fabulosa leaned back on her elbows. “I dunno, C-Belle. That boat ride seemed awfully nice. Assuming we could keep the varmints off their caravans, why would merchants haul goods across the land? Isn’t water transportation cheaper?”

  Though I knew the answer, I let Charitybelle field the concern. This was her show.

  “Water transportation is normally twelve times cheaper, but that’s the problem we found in our research. The Grayton River is the sole trade route. It’s a given that traffic goes through Arlington, so the city strangles everyone with tolls. And they’re taxing merchants in both directions. And then there are the oceans. Tidal effects wreak havoc on seafarers, and irregular lunar timetables are a constant source of scheduling problems. When fleets seek shelter, Arlington rakes in harbor fees. And they monopolize maritime magicians and shipping in the West.”

  I connected the dots. “So, you’re saying paying guards to keep the kobolds off isn’t such a bad alternative.”

  Charitybelle bounced her ankles in excitement. “Exactly! And we could ferry people across this river to the eastern cities.”

  I looked at the river. Building a ferry big enough to hold a horse and wagon wasn’t something we researched. We found almost no nautical engineering in Belden, and this river spanned a quarter-mile across. It didn’t seem feasible, and none of us knew how to sail.

  “I’ve been talking to Chloe about the area, and she says it’s only a couple of days east until you hit another river. She says there’s a human fortification, and it sounds like Fort Krek. That means we’re at the midpoint between Basilborough and the East!”

  Fabulosa stretched across the rock, squinting into the sky as she spoke. “Okay, that’s cool, C-Belle, but I thought we were fixin’ to kill monsters and explore dungeons. The game is called The Book of Dungeons, and Patch is the only one who’s seen one. I’m not saying it’s a bad idea—but how does that fit into the battle royale? Didn’t we come out here to hunt and level up?”

  Both Charitybelle and Fabulosa looked to me for support.

  Even without diplomacy skills, I knew the importance of not ganging up on Fabulosa. “There’s no reason we can’t do both. Right?”

  Being Charitybelle’s boyfriend made me biased, but her proposal made sense. Salt fetched precious prices in the West, yet it barely seemed worth mining in the East—or so I’d read. Commonplace grains and spices in cities along the Grayton River went for lots of money in exotic eastern places like Malibar and Torzda.

  When reading through myths and histories in Belden, I found no references to teleportation. While this world played with time, no cheats existed for distance.

  Charitybelle jumped in before Fabulosa could respond. “We can search for dungeons. But if the hunting lodge grows into an outpost, we’ll have something to invest our money in. If we’re playing the long game, there isn’t anything longer-term than base-building.”

  I liked the idea even though it called attention to ourselves. Anonymity might be challenging regardless, especially as we leveled up. Powerful people earned reputations, and Familiars inhibited hiding. Chloe covered broad sections of the continent, and Tardee’s hound tracked Fabulosa long distances without error.

  If we outed ourselves to other players, it made sense to do so in an environment we could control.

  This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Miros was big, but I didn’t see how anyone could live in a log cabin and expect to be left alone. Even I planned to drop in on Sune Njal. A settlement would keep Charitybelle and Fabulosa busy while I could look for the Pentarch. I had many reasons to endorse the plan but didn’t want to jump onto the bandwagon without Fabulosa’s endorsement.

  Charitybelle smiled nervously. “It could be something to do on the side while we hunt monsters. If we’re taming the land, then we might as well profit from it.”

  Fabulosa reached over to grab Charitybelle’s wrist. “Well, sure. But you’d still adventure with us, right?”

  Charitybelle nodded. “Absolutely! We would do everything we normally would do to establish a base camp. As we harvest goods and craft reagents, we could use them to buff up our settlement.” She stood up and swung her arms. “This big rock clinched it, but I didn’t want to say anything until I could be sure.”

  At this point, my girlfriend lost me. “Sure of what, babe?”

  “This place is perfect. We can quarry stone and build a castle right here!”

  Fabulosa raised her eyebrows.

  I expressed the same disbelief. “Uh—a castle?”

  “Yeah! A castle is a living, breathing entity. We could staff it with guards and repel attacks from kobolds and goblins. Oh—and we could also defend ourselves against orcs. They have siege engine technology and live across the river!” Charitybelle grinned as if counting this last bit of reasoning as a selling point.

  I raised an eyebrow. “But won’t it take a lot of money and time and people to build something like that?”

  “I’ve been thinking about that since I first saw this rock through Chloe’s eyes. We could start small with our lodge and add buildings as needed.”

  The resuming rainfall hurried the discussion to a conclusion, and Fabulosa gave in. “I reckon that makes sense, but I can’t make any promises. It sounds like a lot of work, C-Belle. Just don’t be too disappointed if it doesn’t pan out.”

  I shrugged. “If it doesn’t work, we can still use it for a base camp.”

  Charitybelle clapped her hands. “It could be so cool. We can call this Hawkhurst after Chloe—because she found it, after all. Hawk is for Chloe—and hurst means a hill, and this rock overlooks the lake.”

  Comparing this rock to a hill might be a stretch, but it didn’t look like Fabulosa wanted an argument. Instead, she shrugged. “Hawkhurst? Sure, why not? The double-H sounds cool, anyway.”

  Charitybelle pounced on her friend with a tight embrace.

  “Hey, where’s my hug? Come on, C-Belle, share the wealth.”

  I only half-joked. Charitybelle and I hadn’t shared physical contact since we lost half our friends and started sleeping in the dark room. When it became my turn for a squeeze, I wondered if we would renew our intimacy soon, now that Fabulosa was on the mend.

  My girlfriend’s libido wasn’t the only reason the transdimensional space cramped my style. Even I had to admit that it wasn’t the most romantic atmosphere. Even though the wind wafted in from the trapdoor opening, the interior air smelled artificial. It felt weird despite its comfort, convenience, and safety. The sooner we slept in tents, cabins, or castles, the better.

  Charitybelle rendered unsolicited opinions about recruiting tradespeople as we reconnoitered the region. She babbled about several topics, covering ship-building, defenses, storehouses, roads, drainage, farming, and long-distance communication methods. She speculated on our chances of finding a financial sponsor to help fund it. Nobles from the West or East might want to invest in the trade route venture.

  A wind swept in from the lake, making it challenging to understand all of Charitybelle’s details. It howled in our ears as it buffeted the shoreline.

  The rock’s elevation peaked at the river’s mouth, looming over the surface by three stories. To the west, the rock’s height diminished the next few hundred yards to the waterline, where it disappeared beneath a thick covering of lily pads.

  At the highest point of the ledge, we spotted evidence of occupants—a shoulder-high cairn. I feared it was a burial site or, worse, a place of sacrifice. Placing my hand on a stone, I cast Mineral Communion and scanned its memories.

  The magic conveyed vignettes of goblins stacking stones into a pile. The cairn served as a turnaround marker for patrols. Like dogs with fire hydrants, the scouts used it as a toilet, fouling it with their scent to signify their domain’s extent. Kobolds and orcs hadn’t knocked it over, attesting to the boundary’s legitimacy.

  I pulled my hand off the rocks, wiped it on my robe, and made the mistake of informing my friends how the goblins used it.

  “Eww, gross!” Charitybelle wrinkled her nose in disgust.

  “Ugh. That’s a boy thing.” Fabulosa shook her head, exchanging looks with Charitybelle.

  I laughed at their reaction. “Hey, don’t blame me. I’m just the messenger. To dispute their claim, do you guys want to leave our scent?”

  Charitybelle flapped her hands. “Oh! Get away from me.”

  Fabulosa shook her head. “Men are all the same.”

  I chuckled as I shifted back into my stone sense and picked up colored spots on the rocky ground. The footprints circled the cairn and doubled back north toward goblin country.

  My companions couldn’t see the glowing prints on the stone, but they appeared clear as day to my magically empowered eyes. “I see footprints here. They circle the stones and then go back north. Goblins are patrolling the riverbank.”

  Charitybelle and Fabulosa trailed behind me as I followed the glowing footprints. The double vision from the spell dizzied me, so I stepped gingerly, taking care to avoid falling into the water. I stalked the shoreline north until we ran out of rock. The invisible trail aligned with a vague parting of weeds along the river’s edge. It made a subtle divot in the vegetation, but we would have missed it without the benefit of my stone-sight.

  I pointed out the trail. “The goblin patrol goes up there, along the river.”

  Jokingly, Charitybelle waved her finger north. “Well, I’m sorry for them. This rock is our castle now.”

  Not joking, Fabulosa crossed her arms. “Bring ‘em on.”

  We followed the path north along the river until Charitybelle cried in alarm. “Chloe spotted someone lying under a pine tree a few miles upstream. I’m sending her back for a closer look.”

  Minutes later, Charitybelle gave us a more detailed report. “I see a person clothed in leather skins. It looks as if vines grew over their face. The body isn’t moving, although it could be sleeping.”

  We walked along the bank for hours before reaching the shelter of riverside trees. The hawk led us straight to the body, proving again that she’d become indispensable. The figure lay close to the forest’s edge, away from the goblin’s path.