A few minutes later, as I stealthily crept back into camp, I spotted Sarah sitting outside my tent, her silhouette illuminated by the soft glow of the campfire. Her sharp eyes caught sight of me almost immediately, and she stood up, crossing her arms in a gesture that clearly said she had been waiting.

  "Where were you?" she asked, her tone a mix of curiosity and mild reproach.

  "Nature called," I replied nonchalantly, trying to keep my expression neutral.

  "That must have been some call for it to take over three hours." Sarah countered dryly, one eyebrow arching skeptically. "Wanna try that again?"

  "I just got lost on my way back," I said with a shrug, attempting to downplay the situation.

  "Sure, and I'm the Queen," Sarah chuckled, clearly not buying my excuse. She sighed, her expression softening slightly. "Listen, Melissa, we all know you're not telling us everything. Nick might be the most vocal about it, but we've all seen things—that was even before we came here."

  "Then why did you guys agree to come?" I asked, genuinely curious about their motivation. The only reason I’d had sought them out in the first place was because the Guildmaster had made it a requirement for access to the Guilds Archive. However, after running the dungeon, I was glad he had. It was nice having a group to watch your back; some of the monsters we’d encountered would have been tricky to take down solo. Well, that was without resorting to using weapons that didn’t exist on this world, which wasn’t a habit I wanted to form.

  "Because from the little we could verify, you were clearly telling us the truth. Or at least a version of it. Plus, who'd turn down a chance to explore a dungeon no one has been in for millennia?" Sarah's smile was wry but warm. "Anyway, can you at least tell me if you were able to do whatever you came here to do?"

  I hesitated, weighing my words carefully before sighing. "Yes, but it will take a few days. Also, it's not like I was intentionally misleading you; everything I told you was the truth. It's just that some secrets aren't mine to tell."

  "I understand," Sarah said, and her tone suggested there was a depth of personal experience behind her words. "Some of the others might not, but I'll talk to them. In any event, what I'm hearing is that we should plan on being down here for a few more days and that, at some point, you're going to do another disappearing act."

  "You could say that," I admitted.

  "Okay, then, I can work with that," Sarah said, her eyes holding a glimmer of determination. She opened her mouth to say something else but then closed it, shaking her head as if deciding against it. "Never mind. Anyway, I was trying to find you in the first place because..."

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  ~ ~ ~

  The scent of wet earth and fresh pine combined with the lingering smell of breakfast to create an energizing atmosphere. As we gathered near the crackling campfire, Dominique leaned in, her enthusiastic expression brightening her face. “What’s the plan for today?” she asked, her voice punctuating the soothing sounds of nature around us.

  I briefly met her gaze, but before I could reply, Sarah spoke up. “Mel and I were discussing this earlier. According to the clues she’s gathered, the entrance to the dungeon’s core is so well hidden that it seems nearly impossible to find. This might actually serve as a defense mechanism against intruders.

  “But Mel is confident there’s a way in. Still, I wouldn’t be surprised if it takes us a few days to find it. Given this, I suggest we post a watch at the entrance of this floor, just in case any monsters lurking above get curious while the rest of us search for the entrance.”

  “Also,” I added, drawing everyone’s focus, “the entrance could be anything. It might not be a hidden tunnel, but something completely different. Consider the checkpoints that can transport us between floors. Who’s to say the core’s entrance doesn’t work similarly?”

  My words seemed to make the group pause. After a moment, Sarah assigned our tasks. “Jacob and Nick,” she said, “you two will monitor the floor entrance. Keep a watchful eye to ensure nothing comes down from above. Andrew and Dominique, you’ll search along the left wall by the entrance while Mel and I check the right.”

  ?Well, that wasn’t so bad,? Gem remarked as we headed to our assigned spots, ?At least Sarah seems to be helping. Now we just need to keep them all distractor for the next few days so the maintenance bots can do their thing.?

  ?Yeah,? I replied distractedly as a thought that had been nagging at me bubbled to the surface.

  ?What?? Gem asked, noticing my distraction.

  ?I don’t know, I just have this feeling about Sarah,? I said.

  ?Ooh,? Gem teased, drawing out the vowel, ?Tell Aunty Gem about this feeling. Are you feeling butterflies in your stomach, or maybe heat is pooling somewhere down below??

  ?What! No, nothing like that.? I quickly say as I could feel myself blushing, ?It's just that I feel like Sarah might know more than she’s letting on. It wasn’t just our earlier chat; there have been other times when it seemed like she wasn’t surprised by some of the phrases from your creator's homeworld that I let slip.?

  ?Well, why don’t you just ask her??

  ?How about not? She hasn’t mentioned it, and I don’t want to bring it up on the off chance that I’m wrong, and she’s put two and two together and come up with five, so to speak.?

  ?Okay, I see your point,? Gem conceded. ?Still, my earlier point still stands.?

  ?And I'm not actually disagreeing with you,? I say. ?Anyway, I'm a bit surprised no one jumped on the idea that the checkpoint might lead us to the core. I hesitated to use it as an example, but it seems no one caught on.?

  ?Because everyone knows the checkpoints only transport you to the entrance and every fifth floor.? Gem explained, ?It’s the concept of hiding something in plain sight. People who believe something to be true are less likely to consider an alternative explanation. Plus, no one else on the planet has a security class with access to the core, so no one has seen that option.?

  ?True,? I concede as I joined Sarah.