Shiina decided to answer Hafsa's question. "We're gonna run the dungeon and loot it. Why are you here? You can't be thinking of trying to solo this place."

  "Why not?" Hafsa replied, tail bristling. "I've got the experience from their damned blood arenas. I've got the swords. I've got magic. I'm gonna carve my way through this dungeon, deck myself out with the sultanate's special gems, desecrate their stupid corpses, and then head out of this sandy dump to make my fortune."

  "Rule one: Solo adventuring is a quick way to die, not a path to wealth," Shiina recited. Mali had drilled that one into people fast. "Do you even have trapfinding experience? Much less a way to heal?"

  The catgirl's ears swept back. "What do you care? You offering me a job? Because otherwise I'm not interested in your platitudes. I'm getting out of this place one way or another."

  Shiina blinked a few times and looked over to her friends. Delilah was hanging back, while Ife and Zanya were looking more dismissive. They'd probably seen a lot of half baked adventurer proclamations. Shiina was used to them as well, from all the people who failed the mimic test. But for some reason Hafsa felt a little different.

  After a moment Shiina remembered why. "Uh actually Ife, I think she has the Assassination skill. She was hacking down guards pretty well."

  Ife's eyes widened as they flickered over to Shiina. "Hm. That's a fair point." She looked back to Hafsa. "Would you mind letting me do a deep scan?"

  Hafsa seemed confused now, but after a moment she shrugged. "If you tell me what you find I suppose."

  Ife concentrated on the catgirl, and Shiina noticed Delilah doing the same. Maybe seeing how well she could match Ife's skill? After a few long moments Ife's tail began to wag excitedly. "Oh my. Level 18 already? And B tier Assassination with magic knight potential? I wasn't sure that was even possible. Maybe you do have something we can work with." She looked to Zanya. "Your thoughts?"

  Zanya's inner eyelid blinked. "Hm, so why do you want to become an adventurer? There's safer ways of making money. I know you have skill as a performer."

  "Ha!" Hafsa sneered. "More like skill at shaking my tits. You know that's all people cared about." Shiina thought that was fairly dismissive of her abilities, but the woman continued. "I know how to seduce people and how to cut things, and I'll be damned if I spend my life as entertainment or serving like a soldier. I've had enough of being other people's toy. I'm gonna carve my own way. If you people are willing to work with me, sure we can team up. Otherwise I'll do it myself."

  Zanya considered the woman's weapons. "And you plan on using two swords?" It was an uncommon style. Most dual wielders preferred a smaller off hand.

  "There a problem with that?" Hafsa asked. "It's how I trained."

  The warrior looked to Ife. "What's her strength?"

  "Eighteen, in the ninety second percentile," Ife replied, causing Zanya and Delilah to both roll their eyes. Shiina wasn't sure what that was supposed to mean, other than high. She wasn't even close to memorizing all the weird notification systems humans used for themselves.

  "Huh. So she can actually pull it off." Zanya gave Hafsa a considered look. "Shiina, Delilah, are you two willing to give her a shot?"

  Shiina spun to look at Zanya, while Delilah started at the question. "What do you mean?" Delilah asked.

  Zanya shrugged and focused on Hafsa. "Your judgment isn't the best, but you do have skills and drive. Soloing a dungeon is stupid, but the three of you together should be able to make easy work of this place without Ife or I stepping in. How about we try that and decide if we're willing to work together more in the future?"

  Shiina perked up. "Oh that sounds cool!" She spun back towards Hafsa. "What do you think?!"

  Hafsa blinked a few times as her ears twitched. "That's... Well, having a healer and a trapfinder will help a lot. I suppose if you're all okay with it."

  Delilah slowly smiled. "That sounds good to me as well." She moved forwards and offered her hand to the catgirl. "We didn't have time to do much more than introduce ourselves before sending you out to help Shiina, so let me properly greet you. I'm Delilah, half elven support caster and traveling adventurer. Pleased to work with you."

  After a slight hesitation Hafsa shook. "Uh, Hafsa. Catfolk sword dancer and I'm hoping to become a magic knight. Good to meet you."

  Shiina offered her own hand after. "Shiina, cutest mimic rogue in all the land. Looking forward to another bit of fun!"

  That got Hafsa to smile as she shook. "Likewise. I do have to admit that was a fucking hilarious mess we started." The woman closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths before turning her gaze to Zanya and Ife. "Right so if I'm doing this proper, I suppose I should grill you for what's in the dungeon. I know it's got bugs and corpses, but not much past that."

  "A very good question to ask, but sadly we can't say," Ife replied. "If it's like most tombs that have Sun Tears you should expect some nasty traps here and there. Probably some kind of tomb guardian as well. Either stone lions or real ones guessing from the inscriptions. But the Forbidden Tombs have been, well, forbidden for some time."

  Shiina considered that. "So we'll want to move carefully. I'll have to do a lot of trap spotting." She wasn't sure how traps figured into the luck stat or levels yet, but a big rock falling on your head was usually lethal. It was her job to make sure that didn't happen.

  "Bet some of the treasure will be trapped too," Hafsa muttered. "Sounds right for those fuckers. Guess I'll be asking you to check shit a lot Shiina. Better than poking it with a stick I guess." She looked to Delilah. "I need to worry about fireballs or some shit too?"

  "I don't have aggressive magic," Delilah admitted. "But I'll be giving you full heals and buffs. Actually let me do that now." She concentrated. "Strength of Courage. Aid of Life. Blessing of Beauty."

  Shiina felt the magic wash over her, but she had to ask about the last one. "Don't you usually use Blessing of Friendship?"

  Delilah looked a little embarrassed. "Well this is a trial to help prove we can be friends, so casting a spell reliant on that is dangerous. The magic would get twisted easily."

  "Very smart move," Ife said. "Never 'test' your magical bindings."

  Hafsa gave a half amused half annoyed snort. "Beauty though? Kinda on the nose. Though I suppose that's what makes it work."

  She turned towards the door and gave her swords a half twirl before pointing to the carvings. "So one thing I do know; the first fight's gonna be a giant centipede. You see the whole 'centipede chains' thing they've got going? Apparently that's how the rulers of the dead mark their slaves. So centipedes guard tombs."

  Shiina considered the carvings. Sure enough a giant centipede surrounded the whole door, while the lowly catfolk and humans were bound with centipede links. The pattern on the animals looked familiar too. "Oh, I bet those are blood lightning centipedes. The ones that have paralytic poison. Mali taught me about those. Her favorite paralysis poison."

  Delilah chewed her lip. "Right. I know that one. I'll get the poison cure just in case."

  Hafsa's tail swished in annoyance. "I'm gonna just murder it, but I suppose it's better to be prepared."

  The catgirl pushed against the stone door, causing it to open with a grinding rumble. The first proper dungeon room had two pillars with cheap stone coffins lining the sides. And each pillar had its own four foot long centipede on it.

  Shiina shifted in front of Delilah, while Hafsa dashed into the room. The first centipede was just getting off the pillar when two swords lashed out cutting off its head and a chunk of its body.

  With a quick twirl Hafsa faced the second centipede as it scuttled forwards. Her first cut went straight between its jaws. Shiina couldn't tell if the blow had pierced through the exoskeleton, but it stopped the centipede long enough the second sword could slice off the front chunk of the monster.

  All in all it was pretty cool! Even if it was just killing some bugs.

  They waited for the dead insects to stop thrashing before fully entering. Shiina checked the room, giving the coffins long looks and occasional taps. None of them had any corpses inside which was good. One was trapped with some kind of falling object that she didn't want to deal with, and one rattled nicely.

  "So is the door trapped? Some kinda puzzle?" Hafsa asked as she shifted impatiently.

  "She's probably looking for treasure," Delilah said.

  Hafsa's ears went back. "Treasure? Here? There's no-"

  Shiina opened the coffin, revealing an ivory scroll case. "Rule two : There's always treasure in the first room," She said smugly. The scroll inside looked just like some art, but she stashed both. If nothing else she'd be able to add to her collection.

  "Is that really true?" Hafsa asked, looking at Ife and Zanya incredulously.

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  Ife shook her head, ears flat. "Do I have proof? No. Is it foolish? Yes. Has it been true every single time someone who believed it checked? Also yes."

  The catgirl peered at them all to see if it was a joke, but Zanya's amusement and Ife's defeated look seemed to convince her. She shook her head and turned back to Shiina. "So any traps on the door further in?"

  Shiina did another check. The door had a mechanism, but it was very simple and not dangerous. She shook her head. "Nope! Just push the eye of the person there to move on."

  "Get ready." Hafsa stretched her arms, waiting for Delilah to get to the back of the formation before pressing the button.

  The door slid open into another chamber that had two large stone reliefs covered in dazzling lights. Shiina's attention however was on the group of foot long scarab beetles that turned to face them.

  Once again Hafsa rushed forwards. The beetles took to the air, the drone of their wings filling the room. There seemed to be seven of the creatures, and while Shiina didn't think they'd be a danger to her, her friends would probably have a harder time.

  She ignored the four zeroing on Hafsa and faced off with the other three. The insects had started further back, so she started off thinning the numbers. "Fishing strike!" Her arm hooked the closest insect drawing it straight into her shield. The beetle hit with a solid crack and she slammed it into the floor with a hefty squish to make sure it was dead.

  Shiina turned her attention back to the others, but before she could do anything else Hafsa rushed in and cut down one of the remainder. The three survivors from her rampage all turned to follow as she kept her scimitars weaving a web of steel. The woman was bleeding from a ragged bite, but she'd taken center stage.

  "Targeted Heal," Delilah intoned and the blood started to slow. Well that was handled at least. Shiina considered matters for a second before pulling herself closer.

  The three insects had pushed Hafsa back to a wall and were darting in and out, preventing her from focusing on any target. But they had to commit to an attack to actually hurt Hafsa, and that would leave them open for a counter. In addition sand was whipping up around the catgirl, making the insects' flight uneven. Neither side could get a good blow in.

  Shiina simplified the math. Her knife lunged out as one of the insects recovered from dodging Hafsa's cut. It pierced the shell and injected spider venom into the bug. Between the wound and the poison the creature fell.

  With only two targets up Hafsa used one blade to harry a bug, while lashing out at the other. She clipped a wing and sent it to the ground, where Shiina did a followup stab. Meanwhile the last insect was hit by a rock. Shiina saw Delilah looking happy as Hafsa finished off that one.

  The battle done, they all checked their weapons. "No sling? You're just tossing rocks?" Hafsa asked incredulously.

  "It's easier to aim," Delilah admitted. "I still have trouble getting the sling to fire right."

  "Suppose I don't know how to use one myself," Hafsa admitted, tail calming. She looked to the walls, "Anyway, looks like we got a good haul!"

  Shiina turned her attention to the reliefs. They looked like the creation myth, with teardrop shaped gems in place of the stars. The stones were no bigger than the tip of her pinky finger, but they were quite distinctive. "No traps," she said after a moment.

  She carefully pried one out of its niche. The smooth gem felt warm to the touch, and glimmered with inner light. It wasn't hot, and the light was small. But it turned the yellow gem a pleasant golden hue, reminiscent of the sky at dawn.

  "Sun's tears," Ife said, kneeling down to look at the item. "A little small, but good quality. "I bet with all the ones in this room, we could get something crafted that would double the number of people Delilah can buff."

  "That seems pretty powerful!" Shiina said. She rolled the gem around in her hand enjoying the unique feel. "Why can't they boost other spells?"

  Delilah looked up from where she was holding a few gems. "Hm, they feel like they can only be used in slow and steady growth. Sudden spells won't work. I probably couldn't use them to boost healing magic. Unless it was a long term ritual."

  Ife smiled and nodded. "Exactly. Some healers use it for minor diseases, but in general it's used for long term projects or equipment for enhancement spells."

  "Eh, given how small these are they'd probably be best as lighting." Hafsa shrugged then grinned. "Oh, maybe a low class bar. That'd be a great place to put the 'royal gems' of this city."

  "I have a feeling the first gems are probably going to go to actually useful things," Zanya said dryly. "Though then again we got a lot of gems already. We'll have to see how common they are here."

  "Yep!" Shiina smiled, pocketing the gem before looking over the door. This one had some kind of magical nonsense on it. "Well. Trap time. Let's see. Poison gas, so...." She started work to press further into the tomb.

  The next several rooms fell into a pattern. Hafsa would charge in and get in a huge fight, usually taking some wounds. Shiina would draw in as many enemies as she could to keep the fighter from getting overwhelmed, and Delilah threw out healing and, occasionally, a rock.

  The traps had started to get more involved too. Right now Shiina was trying to organize the lineage of some dead dynasty, with the promise of a shower of darts if she got it wrong. Fortunately while no one knew anything about the people listed, Shiina could tell which person went where based on the trap's mechanics.

  Finally she slid the last ruler into place, causing the door latch to release with a click. She scribbled down the names on a spare sheet of paper then moved back. "It's all safe."

  "Why'd you bother with those loser's names?" Hafsa asked, her tail snapping back and forth.

  "I like knowing things," Shiina replied. "Besides it might come up later."

  That seemed to placate the woman. "Fair." She took front position. "Ready for another scrap?"

  Shiina nodded, while Delilah raised her staff. "Ready," the half elf said. "Be careful. This looks like a midpoint room." Which usually meant a tougher fight than the lead up rooms.

  "Right" Hafsa pushed open the door.

  This room was an elaborate funeral chamber, with a halfling sized gilded sarcophagus sitting in the middle. Two stone lions sat as honor guards, but as their party moved into the room the statues stood up with a grinding of stone.

  Shiina raised both her shields and made a note to get a hammer or something for monsters that were stab proof. She'd have to play defense here for a bit.

  Meanwhile Hafsa once again ran in blades flashing. Her first cuts scored lines in both lion statues, the steel clawing into the stone with unnatural grace. But the wounds wouldn't have taken down a real lion, much less these animated monsters.

  Unfortunately that got both the monster's attention. Hafsa danced away from their return swipes, but while playing tag with both the enemies she couldn't focus to deliver a solid cut with her power. Shiina edged forwards as close as she dared but she couldn't leave Delilah open.

  A swiping claw caught Hafsa's stomach and the woman staggered back. "Targeted Heal" Delilah called out, keeping the woman's intestines inside, but the second lion was lining up for a pounce.

  "Fishing Strike!" Shiina lashed out and grabbed the stone lion's hindleg yanking the monster back towards her. The tug sent it tumbling to the ground next to her, so Shiina grabbed a rock and started hammering on its head. The lion's claws raked out but her shield kept the blows at bay.

  The stone lion rolled to its feet, one ear chipped off by Shiina's attacks. It lowered itself to pounce, so Shiina shoved her shield right in its face. Much like its living counterpart, the lion lashed out at the shield biting at the rim and scratching at it. The beast's fangs and claws searched for Shiina's arm behind the metal, but she let her appendage weave and dance to avoid the blows.

  After a few nerve wracking minutes Hafsa appeared behind the stone lion and brought her blades down. This time the blow cut deep into the construct, and the construct could no longer hold the magic animating it within. The stone froze then crumbled from its exertions.

  Shiina took a deep breath. She didn't need to but she found it helped calm her down and refocus. As her attention spread out she saw Ife and Zanya relaxing too. They must have been ready to jump in just in case.

  "Thanks," Hafsa said to Delilah, rubbing her stomach. "Been a while since I've been hit that bad."

  "About that." Zanya stepped forwards. "Hafsa you're going about this wrong."

  "What?" the catgirl bristled. "Aren't I a frontline fighter? I go in and fight!"

  Delilah folded her arms. "You're a fighter but you're taking on too much! You're trying to battle everything in the room!"

  Shiina blinked. That was true. "Yeah, you haven't really been leaving anything for me to fight."

  "That's the magic knight's job," Hafsa spat back. "Do you want me to ignore monsters trying to kill you?" Shiina frowned. That was a bad way of looking at it.

  "Normally you'd be right," Zanya said.

  Shiina and Delilah turned their focus to the more experienced warrior. "Uh, what do you mean," Shiina asked. She was pretty sure what Hafsa was doing was stupid.

  A smile flickered across Zanya's face. "Hafsa, your mistake is you're treating Shiina like a rogue, expecting her to run around the battlefield and harry creatures while you have to keep enemies focused on you. But Shiina's not a frail thief who can strike from the shadows. She's a mimic, and she's going to have the best defenses in the party." Hafsa's anger faded into confusion while Shiina felt pride at the declaration.

  "So for our party you should move around. Don't worry about staying between Shiina and the monsters." Zanya motioned towards the spacious room. "Sure you should keep some focused on you, but you don't need to play defense for others. You get to dance around and harry everything. Only stick around for a brawl if you want to or need to. And if something goes to annoy Shiina, let her handle it until it leaves a nice big opening for you."

  The explanation seemed to invigorate Hafsa. "Well shit. I suppose I was making a mistake." She gave Delilah a smile. "Sorry. Guess I've been forcing you to work extra hard." She looked down at Shiina. "And suppose I should have asked how you'd do in a fight. Shouldn't have assumed."

  Shiina felt happy she'd rated an apology, but she just nodded. "My fault for not explaining. We're all new here."

  "This is my third dungeon," Delilah said. "And that included the training mission that I only beat on a technicality."

  Shiina considered that. "Actually this is only my third dungeon too. But I lived in the first one for several years."

  "Sounds like an interesting story. Probably more fun than mine." Hafsa shouldered her blades. "But first we gotta clear this dungeon out. Think it's worth peeling the gold off that coffin?"

  Shiina focused on the gilding. "Hm, it's pretty thin, but it shouldn't be too hard."

  "You know there's some rewards that aren't worth the effort," Ife said walking over."

  Shiina glowered at the declaration of heresy. "It's an adventurer's duty to steal everything not nailed down."

  "This is petty vengeance too," Hafsa said. "I'm defacing everything I can."

  "I at least want the turquoise," Delilah, said, testing the gems. "It's a lovely color."

  Ife sighed, but moved to help them finish the looting.

  Something I was always curious about is 'why do dungeons form treasure?' The point of a dungeon is to be a self contained fortress, so obviously things that are valuable will form. But there's no real point in having pouches of gold, gems, and magic items appear in hidden locations. That just attracts adventurers. Mali kinda shrugged it off, but apparently Zanya's mom studies dungeons and offered a few theories.

  The first is that treasure is the gods reacting to dungeons forming. Each dungeon is a wound in creation, and the gods either consciously or unconsciously form treasure in the area like an oyster forming a pearl. That brings in adventurers to clean the place. This is the most popular, even if the gods aren't usually so direct in their meddling.

  Second is that its the dungeon bleeding off excess energy. Dungeons are innately unstable and have frequent energy fluctuations. If the dungeon's power is low monster replacements and repairs just take longer, but if its high the power has to go somewhere. It's known power can go into reinforcing a 'boss' but some think power fluctuations also go into treasure formation.

  The last major theory is that it's related to the dungeon's formation. Dungeons are meant to hold things the creator desires, and so the dungeon forms items the creator would desire as well. This one is least popular, mostly because it's hardest to prove.

  If you want my opinion, I think it's to draw adventurers towards traps and mimics! We have the best kill rates after all. Nothing gets people's guards down like a pile of shiny gold.