Explorer of Edregon

"Quick, Phil, take my picture! I don't want to forget how I felt the first time I saw Vin actually come to one of these meetings all on his own!"

Ignoring Spur's comment, Vin nodded to Alice as he took his seat at the round table. The other four councilors were already present, but it seemed Witherson must have informed them he was planning to show up because they'd yet to start the meeting.

"I told you before, if you wanted someone to come to all these meetings, you shouldn't have appointed an Explorer to the role," Vin said, staring pointedly at Spur. "Seems like you brought this upon yourself."

"Fair enough," Spur grinned, his eyes sweeping over everyone and ensuring he had all their attention. "Then without further ado, we might as well get started. Witherson, do you have an update on cleanup? I'll admit, things look like they've been going well. I haven't stumbled upon a body buried in rubble in almost an entire day."

"Thanks to Shia's efforts, the monster corpses were cleared up and delivered to the Sacred Forest quickly and efficiently. It took my team a few more days to finish removing all the rubble and human bodies, but we're finally ready to start rebuilding," Witherson said, her voice hard and powerful as if addressing a large crowd of cadets.

"Good to hear! Phil, updates on the combat classes?"

"The third wavers ended up doing the same as the first two, with far more of them picking up combat classes compared to crafting or support ones," Phil said, glancing down at some reports that had clearly been put together by Myers. "I've got the more experienced first wavers teaching the brand new ones how to hold their own, and I've begun sending groups into the nearby forest to practice fighting against monsters. If wave four comes early like wave three did, I want us to be ready this time around."

"Yes, about that… Golrim, Myers, and I have been trying to figure out what that means," Spur admitted, scratching his head. "I spoke with Captain Reonelli and he confirmed that Earth at least had a warning the timetable was being moved up, meaning the thousand members of wave three knew when they were arriving and still received basic training similar to our own. We were the only ones caught with our pants down. Reonelli hadn't heard anything about the future waves, but I think it's safe to assume something's gone wrong on a godly scale."

"You think the remaining waves will come early as well?" Alice asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I think it's likely," Spur nodded. "The problem is, we have no idea how early. We know when wave three arrived, but that's just one data point. We can't really extrapolate anything until wave four shows up. All we can do until then is do our best to prepare and make sure we're ready for all hell to break loose at any moment."

"Even in the worst case scenario, we should have a few weeks," Vin pointed out. "The time between waves three and four was what, a full thirty days? I don't think we need to freak out just yet."

"You weren't here, Vin, you didn't witness hundreds of our people getting torn to shreds by a sudden wave of monsters that came out of nowhere," Spur frowned, causing him to wince under the colonel's icy gaze. "You certainly had a hell of a good reason for not being here, but believe me when I say you don't quite understand what it was like."

"I wasn't here either, and I agree with Vin," Alice argued, returning Spur's frown with one of her own. "People don't want to live their lives shrouded in fear. You're forgetting that half of us are civilians, we're not used to living under constant threat of attack twenty-four-seven. At least give the new Earthers a week or two to get used to Edregon before telling them they're all going to die."

"Why don't we drop the subject for today before things get too heated?" Phil suggested, shooting Spur a warning glance.

"Fine, fine," the colonel sighed, waving a hand. "Alice, are your traps reset yet?"

"Up and ready to go," she grinned, her tone changing in an instant as she gave him two thumbs up. "Even if I run off again, you'll be able to count on my defenses once more."

"Fantastic," Spur drawled, turning his attention to Vin. "What about you, Vin? Any updates on the world at large you want to hit us with?"

"Might as well start with the big one," Vin said, nodding toward Alice. "You guys know that nearby forest that seems to spawn endless monsters..?"

It took him nearly an hour to explain all about the different dungeons he'd encountered and the strange, other dimensional rooms he'd taken to calling the Underside that they led to, but Vin finally got everything out. Unsurprisingly, Spur and Witherson both looked utterly shocked at the news that people could potentially bypass most of Edregon's environmental hazards and pop out right beside their camp.

Phil mainly just looked excited at the thought of finding a new training ground for fighting monsters.

"Wonderful, just wonderful," Spur sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose and squinting his eyes shut. "Damn, that's annoying."

"Annoying? It's a potential catastrophe," Witherson snapped, her usual calm and cool façade breaking slightly at the news. "All it would take is a single person with the Dungeoneering skill, and an enemy fragment could lead an army through those corridors straight to our doorstep."

"Not quite. You can't access the rooms mirroring the different fragments unless you've visited them first," Alice reminded them. "…unless you have a skilled Dimensional Mage. But even then, letting someone bypass the natural barrier seems to take a lot out of them! An army would be out of the question."

"The Dungeoneering skill seems rather rare as well," Vin pointed out. "I've been all over the place, and I literally haven't run into anyone else that even knows about the existence of dungeons." Other than possibly Forpurt.

"That's something at least," Spur grumbled. "Damn it, Vin, why can't you ever come back to us with good news? Like that you found a fragment where candy grows on trees and it's always a pleasant, summer day?"

"I did find a fragment that was filled with flowers as far as the eye could see," Vin admitted, watching Spur light up at the thought. "…though there were freaky wolf-like monsters whose faces were mostly teeth roaming around in it."

"I hate you," Spur said, glaring at him. "Anything else you want to drop on us?"

"Funny you should ask…" Vin started, unsure if now was really the best time. Part of him wondered if he should hold off until tomorrow, but he did tell Waltz he'd have an answer for him by then. Shrugging, Vin decided to just go for it. "I had a chat with Golrim recently, and then went off to visit his fragment earlier today."

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"The fragment full of prisoners?" Alice asked, clearly surprised. "How was it?"

"Well… We did run into a large group of them that have become bloodthirsty marauders under the name the Red Dawn. Ended up having to kill a few of them to get away. But then we made it to their town proper and chatted with one of the locals. Most of the prisoners have turned over a new leaf and just want to do better with their second chance at life. Turns out, they even have a method of resetting one's class."

"What?!" Spur asked, eyes going wide as he stood up, nearly knocking his chair over. "How?! Is it easy? That would solve so many of our problems! We'd be able to decide how many of each class we needed rather than getting stuck with whatever random classes the fresh Earthers decide on."

"It's not quite so simple, but yeah, we should be able to use their method. I think," Vin nodded, noting the good mood his news had put Spur in. "Like I said, the majority of the former prisoners have given up their old classes and just want to live like regular folk. But because of the Red Dawn, they're forced to live in fear. On top of that, they don't really know what they're doing and need some pointers, as well as basic tools and supplies. People to teach them how to start a town from scratch."

The more he talked, the more Spur's excitement seemed to dissipate, until the colonel looked like he knew exactly what the next words out of Vin's mouth were going to be. "You said you spoke with Golrim before you left… Any chance he made a specific request of you?"

"In fact he did," Vin nodded, taking a deep breath as he turned to look at the other councilors. "Golrim wants us to allow some of the people from his fragment to join our camp. And I think we should let them."

"Are you out of your goddamn mind?" Spur asked, his frown deepening. "This isn't some fairytale where everyone just wants to get along and be happy, Vin. Those people are hardened criminals."

"If they gave up their classes like Vin claims, then they deserve a second chance," Alice argued. "It's one thing to turn away a Pickpocket or an Arsonist, but Farmers and Crafters? I think we should let them come."

"Too dangerous," Phil spoke up, siding with Spur. "Just because they gave up their classes, doesn't mean they've forgotten how to kill. A killer's a killer, regardless of what the System labels them as."

"We're building a brand new society here, I don't want part of its foundation to be constructed from escapees of a high security prison," Spur said, sitting back down and crossing his arms. "Not a chance in hell."

"Not saying I agree, but there is the alternative to consider," Witherson said, looking a bit pained. Clearly she hadn't expected Vin's proposal to be quite so drastic when they'd spoken earlier. "If we don't take them in and their town ends up collapsing, I'd bet most would join up with this 'Red Dawn' in order to survive. A band of a few dozen marauders is one thing, but a few hundred? That would be a serious foreign threat."

"You're not wrong… But we'd still outnumber them rather heavily," Spur argued. "Not to mention by then, we'll have our defenses rebuilt better than ever. This place is going to become a fortress."

"Actually…" Alice said, pausing as Spur whipped around to glare at her instead. Undaunted, she continued. "…General Witherson and I have been talking. Following the camp's near total destruction from the battle for wave three and all our new crafters, we've been handed quite the opportunity."

"I know," Spur said, his gaze hardening as if finally realizing he was losing his hold on the council. "We can make our camp stronger, even more durable. Lock everything down and make sure nothing like this ever happens again."

"Ooor…" Alice said, dragging the word out and glancing at Witherson.

"We don't rebuild the camp," Witherson finished, staring down Spur. "We don't need mile-high walls and people living in tiny concrete cubes, Spur. We need to find a happy medium. People don't want to live in a high security military facility, they want a town to call their own."

"You think we should build a town," Spur said dryly, as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Have you seen the monsters that exist on this world? They'll tear something like that to shreds!"

"I'm not proposing we build a suburban neighborhood like on Earth, but we need something less dreary and oppressive than a large-scale military camp to spend the rest of our lives in," Witherson argued, leaning forward as she finally played her trump card. "People aren't happy with the way things have been, Spur, even before the battle for wave three. I'm personally aware that there are at least three hundred people currently considering leaving the camp entirely and finding somewhere else to live if things don't change."

"What?" Spur asked, blinking in shock. Witherson's surprising news seemed to completely douse his anger, and he looked more hurt than anything. "Are you serious? How do you know?"

"I've been checking in with the new crafters, and many of them are part of the group," she admitted. "Most of the group is made of third wavers, but a good chunk are second wavers. There are even a few from the first wave who have volunteered to protect the others during their journey."

"I don't believe it. Myers would have informed me of something like this," Spur argued, shaking his head.

"I asked her to let me bring it up," Witherson admitted, looking only slightly apologetic. "You need to understand, most people accepted Sender X's message back on Earth because they wanted to start over, to live a new life. Not a lot of people want that new life to be within a military compound."

"Like she said, we're not saying abandon the walls or traps or anything like that," Alice hurriedly added, realizing the colonel was wavering. "But we should take the time to build actual living quarters, maybe set up some restaurants, or parks, or other reasons for people to actually stay within the walls. The entire reason so many people died in the surprise battle for wave three was because practically everyone was outside. Nobody wants to be within the camp, Spur. Put bluntly, it's soul sucking and depressing," she said, wrinkling her nose. "If we turn this place into somewhere people actually want to live, we won't have that problem again."

Spur sat there, taking in everything the two women said as he stared at the table, deep in thought. To his surprise, Vin watched as aid came from a completely unexpected source.

"Morale is critical in any war," Phil said slowly, throwing his lot in with Alice and Witherson. "I still think taking in the prisoners is a bad idea, but I agree with them on this one, Spur. I've even heard some of the combat classes whispering similar things when they thought I couldn't hear them. Keeping the troops happy is vital to longstanding success."

The room seemed to wait with bated breath as the four of them watched Spur mull the idea over in his mind. Despite the fact that they could just out vote him, it was clear that everyone wanted such a gigantic decision to be unanimous. Finally, after what felt like a lifetime of silence, Spur slowly nodded.

"Okay… It's not what I envisioned turning our new home into, but if even Phil thinks it's a good idea, then clearly I must be in the wrong." Looking thoroughly defeated, Spur turned his attention toward Vin. "And if we're going to be building a town from scratch, I suppose we might as well bring in those ex-prisoners, because who cares about making the safe decisions anymore, am I right?"

"Spur, we don't need to go that-"

Spur cut Phil off with a raised hand as he called for a vote. "In for a penny, in for a pound, Phil. If they truly have given up their old classes like they claim, then I'm willing to let them join us. In exchange, I have another mission for you, Vin. I'll only agree to let them in if you're able to deliver on this."

"What do you need?" Vin asked as the vote passed with everyone for the motion except Phil. He silently prayed whatever Spur was about to ask of him wouldn't end up being anything too difficult.

"We've gone beyond want by now. At this point, I need some method of truth-detecting magic if we're going to make this work," Spur decided, giving him a hard look. "You want those prisoners to join us? I need you to find us a way to know without a shadow of a doubt that they're not planning to stab us in the back."

"I can make that work," Vin said slowly, picturing Madam Trebella's magic bell in his mind. Looks like we're heading back to the infernals' fragment sooner than I expected.

"Great," Spur sighed, leaning back in his chair and staring wearily up at the ceiling. "Unless anyone else has anything they want to hit me over the head with, I think we're done here. Oh, and Vin…" Spur grimaced, rubbing his stomach as if he was suffering from indigestion.

"…forget what I said earlier. Going forward, you're welcome to skip however many of these meetings as you want."