Akahana needed assistants for the rituals she was to cast, which meant at the least Kazue, Moriko, and several bunkin and rabkin, but often required Mordecai to step in as well. These were not easy rituals, even for the experienced druid.

  The first ward Akahana raised took a day-long ritual to cast, with help, would st only a week, and still ore than a det magic on without any special abilities. And that was for the actual cost of materials, so it cost the duwice that. But it locked the tral area dowy effectively, bnking out sg sensors and creating another yer for a teleport to try and punch through, which would be dangerous without a sg lock. By Mordecai’s estimate, the dungeon would o have eight floors before he was even ready to try that ritual, and it still wouldn’t be quite as easy for him as it was for Akahana until they had a few more floors.

  The ritual was a binding ritual. Or the several actually, and it was even more expensive just to get to the iating stage in addition to the day-long ritual, with no guarahat the iment would pay off after the potential ally arrived. While Akahana erf the summoning and binding ritual itself, Mordecai, Kazue, and Moriko were the oo iate services and payment for the individual pnar creatures that answered the summoning. They spent a total of three weeks in this process, rest the warding ritual twice during that time.

  The service being asked for was to spend one year as reserve guardians for the dungeon. If the dungeon were assaulted, they were to defend the core itself ao aly if all the dungeon’s other defenses and guardians had failed. If they did have to a the dungeon’s behalf, then their traly sted for one day after that bat fio give the duime to recover from the assault.

  During their period of service, they would have free access throughout the dungeon as if they were a guest or inhabitant, and when there were no delvers present that lower floors o be reserved for, they were free to challehe dungeon floors starting at the fungal forest or lower, though Mordecai and Kazue held the right to veto a challenge if they felt that the pnar creatures had formed to a group for the floor they were starting on. And that meant it would be a while before they could challenge in more than pairs, which was going to be difficult enough to cope with. Especially as the dungeon would gain no mana from the exge, ara energy going to the tempuardian instead.

  In addition to this, those who did accept a binding pact each had their own particur price to be iated.

  The celestial agent was the easiest to iate with. He was ied in saving and guiding souls, so he inteo i with many of their visitors, and any time a new animal was brought to the dungeon with the i of making it an inhabitant, the dungeon was to also present the option of being awakeo sentience by the deva’s power instead. He served Fisaga, a sylph and the Primogen Goddess of Air, but saw no fli his general duties if he were to temporarily focus his guidance here.

  The three Einherjar shield maidens were almost as easy. While their personal is were in having an unlimited amount of feasting and drinking avaible to them, as well as the occasional dungeon run and challenging visitors to battle, they were also going to receive the fi ons and armor that the dungeon could produce for them at the end of their service. Plus a bottle of Golden Opalfire Mushroom Elixir. Each. And that was to go, they were to have access to some every day to enjoy while they were here. The three of them were sisters-in-arms and servants of Diasthian, a Risen human goddess of prote, unity, and loyalty.

  Mordecai was amused that such a raucous lot of spirit warriors served a goddess more only associated with knights and plex codes of honor, but there was still that strong bond of camaraderie and fellowship.

  The first of the trio had been the link to make sure that the dungeon could call up her friends directly, but thehree of them decided to help guide the ritual to a specific Shield Ar. His expression when he saw who helped call him specifically to the mortal realms was that of a long-suffering, often tormented older brother who possibly took his role a touch too seriously. He still demanded appropriate payment in ented ons and armor; if he was to be unavaible for a year then he should at least returer able to carry out his duties but his motivation to agree to the pact came from a sense of obligation to keep them out of trouble. Or keep them from troubling others, as the case may be.

  The most powerful py they were able to summon and were able to iate into staying was a genie. Specifically a Zuhra, a geh a strong affinity for metal. They had beeiating hard with the genie, who might have been more willing if Mordecai hadn’t pced restris on the zuhra’s ability to grant wishes three times a year, when Li wandered into the room where they were iating. When the genie reized who the ratling was, he became much more amenable, and ter admitted to Mordecai that he was certain that Li’s simple presence would cause at least as mutertaining chaos as any three wishes he could possibly give.

  While Mordecai was gd that things worked out with the Zuhra, he had been trying to keep Li eained and away from the summoning. He had been trying to specifically avoid taking advantage of Li’s luck. It was what had kept him occupied for most of the three weeks' worth of summoning rituals.

  Eighteen summoning rituals. Six successes after iation. If they’d been after simple tasks or favors, Mordecai would sider it an abysmal rate of success, but given that they were asking for a solid year of dedicated time he sidered it to have goher well.

  Unfortunately, they weren’t proper tractors, which art of the reason that they were the very st line of defense. Unlike a simple summon spell, they were fully present and empowered, and as such they could actually die. Being a tractor was a different process, and was usually indefihough it did not e with the level of mental influehat being an inhabitant would.

  If all went well for the year, however, there was always a ce that some of them would want to bee a tractor after that. The deva and the genie seemed the most likely, given that the genie was not a divine servant of any sort, and the deva’s duties might be suffitly carried out through his presence here.

  During the three weeks that they were focused on the summoning rituals, the dungeon finished ing up its business with the caravan, and most of them moved on to Riverbridge fairly quickly. The st to leave were the oeag stru, and ohe first few small buildings were up the ganthro s were fident they had a handle on the basid were ready for the challenge of w on their own for a while. It’s not like the caravan had professional carpenters with them, so there wasn’t much more to pass on anyway.

  Messages had bee out as well, the fastest one being a bird Akahana ented to send word directly to Aia about what happerusting that the Matriarch had the means to directly tayone she o at the capital. An airship with royal markings and a military appearance was sent to gather the prisoners, and they came prepared with their own ented bindings to prevent magic use and other tricks. It was seemingly expensive, but speed was always a factor in security. And it was a bad look for Kuic that their ally had gotten attacked so quickly after the treaty was signed.

  Once Akahana was the st visitor left, the dungeo about g a new piece of territory, expanding to include the region surrounding the tunra was a strange experience, and by Mordecai’s estimation cost a little more mana than g a new floor iraditional method. Only after that was firmly established did Akahana feel secure in leaving to catch up with her husband.

  Now, a floor always needed a boss, or two bosses in this case. Mordecai and Kazue had agreed upon ahat fit the theme of this vilge. During the teag process, a pair of sparring rings had been put up he entrance. was uhe auspice of a bunkin named Kuni, and the other was run by a rabkin named Seon. Kuni was a mistress of arms, and Seon was a mistress of magid a new rule was implemented by the dungeon: Those who wished to take the battle path o submit to being examined, and possibly tested, by the woman whose skills most closely represeheir own. Several signs to this effect were pced around town, but not by dungeon magic.

  To maintain their desired facade, not a single piece of stru was going to be crafted by dungeon magid eveential rewards for how one hahis ‘level’ were going to be crafted by someoher than simply maed. It didn’t seem likely that a casual iion could tell the difference, but dungeon-made items teo be missing things like tool marks.

  As for the rest of the challenges, well, creating more types of creatures didn’t seem truly necessary, but there were some other options. They now had the space to have a stable and pasture area, and other spaces appropriate for some of the animals who had bee part of the dungeon but had not yet been evolved for a partieed. Instead, all the animals were slightly strengthened and were simply pying whatever role might be required of them as the vilge expanded.

  While it was certainly going to act as a trading post, it was also ideal to act as a training ground of a more formal variety. Horses could be ridden to train people how to joust or how to fire a bow from horseback. Visitors could learn how to hunt with a pack of hounds, or the dogs could be used to train against being hunted by a pack of animals. Care had to be taken to treat it the way a non-dungeon group would, with wooden ons ed iher being used most of the time to avoid any serious injuries.

  bined with so many optional shopping experiences and adorable bunkin trying to hawk their wares, there were a variety of hurdles to potentially overe. And while most of the bat-reted ones were teically optional, there were a lot of tests being offered. Archery, axe throwing, sparring, and more, each with an almost token cost of entry and a prize if you win.

  They had e up with the scheme well before the territory was cimed and had tested their cept and io ehat it fit the purpose behind their dual path even if it did not match the physical yout. They tested it one more time, and it still felt right, so they began having it implemented by their inhabitants as soon as possible.

  This left them with little to d the stru of the challenges, so once Akahana had finished helping them with the rituals, Mordecai decided it was time to turn their attention to Kazue creating a fully ied avatar and finalizing the travel pns for Moriko and Kazue. The three of them gathered in their bedroom for this, which is when Mordecai hahe two women packages that had been delivered several weeks prior. “I had these issioned in anticipation of this time. I wasn’t sure if we’d have the proper materials to craft clothing for Kazue’s ied avatar, and I thought the two of you might enjoy something in a matg theme.”

  The basics were the same for each of them, with the primary difference being color. The tops were tunigth, closely fitted gsam-style shirts made from heavily embroidered silk brocade with high slits reag nearly the hips. The cap sleeves wouldn’t impede arm movement but were still just wide enough to protect their shoulders from any bags they might be carrying. Kazue’s was green, embroidered with gold and purple featuring rabbits dang amongst moons and stars, while Moriko’s was red, and her gold and purple motif featured rabbits and bees hidden behind and within flowers. The nifit difference was found at the high colrs of the shirts. The frog closures were modified with designs oher side: Kazue’s colr had a dragon head on one side and a rabbit oher, while Moriko’s had a dragon head and a fox head. The surprisingly hard-wearing fabric had been magicked to repel light precipitation, but anything stronger would require a cloak.

  Soft bck linen breeches were paired with the shirts, the material magicked to repel rocks, dust, and rough wear. They fit just tightly enough to outline shapes Mordecai had quickly grown fond of, but loose enough for easy movement and with short slits at the ao allow boots to fit under or over, as preferend weather dictated. The bottom hems of the pant legs were embroidered with feline forms crouched as if to pounce, in atg their respective top to make them easier to identify wheing dressed. The sharp trast between the bright tops and matte pants was striking.

  Both outfits also came with reversible hooded cloaks. One side was raw bck silk; matte and slightly textured, so as to not stand out. The other side was magicked to be able to switch from either purple old silk brocade, the embroideries carrying the same pattern as their individual shirts. However, there was an addition to the full patterns: when the space between the embroidery was viewed as a whole, a dragon could be seen dang. The hooded capelets were removable so that they could be worn with or without the long cloaks, giving the women more versatility so that they’d be better geared for aher they might e across.

  Kazue was additionally provided boots and bracers to match the ohat Mordecai had previously ented for Moriko, and her outfit had a little extra magic to aodate shape-shifting and tails, or ck thereof. Both women received sarashi, breast s ented to fit quickly and reduce bounce, which for Kazue had the potential to be quite painful. And of course, the efit was woven through with entments for durability, fort, roofing, and liness.

  Moriko and Kazue loved the outfits, but oail was starting to nudge a suspicious thought in Moriko’s mind, and she eyed the colrs a moment before turning toward Mordecai. “Did you get an outfit made for yourself as well?”

  “Of course.” He replied while giving his best sincere smile. “I used mostly the same design as the semi-military outfit that Kazue had made for me before. I had to alter the colr a little bit of course, and it now sports a fox head and a rabbit head.”

  Kazue beamed at their wife as Moriko’s eyes narrowed in suspi. “Why, you ran back to us so fast that you had to take care to not lose your pursuers. And you know, foxes just adore chasing and catg rabbits. They are very … tasty.”

  And that was how Moriko found out that her spouses had decided that she was going to be represented by a rabbit, and had been iing her symbol into their motif for a while.

  Zagaroth