Rolland POV

  As we all split up inside the guild, I step outside and begin making my way home. It's already late—the moon is out, and the stars are starting to dot the sky. I take my time enjoying the cool night air after a long day of slime-hunting quests and an unexpected dungeon delve, thinking about what books on dungeons, if any, I have at home.

  I'm sure I have at least one, but it's probably collecting dust on some forgotten shelf or in a box somewhere. After a few more minutes of walking, I arrived in front of a rusting iron gate. Reaching into my bag, I pull out a small ring of keys. Flipping through the identical copper ones, I grab one, hoping it's the right key.

  It is not. After five minutes of trying key after key, the last one finally does the trick, and the gate creaks open, squeaking loudly in the quiet night. I close and lock it behind me, then head toward the stone tower—my home—that's fallen into some disrepair after years of neglect.

  It’s not quite as grand as the house my parents had near the capital during the good days, but it’s mine now, and that has to count for something. A short hike through the overgrown lawn brings me to the front door, where I fumble with the devilish ring of keys again until the lock finally clicks open. I step inside, kicking off my dirty boots.

  As I enter, I glance toward the small console table by the door. I lean my staff against the wall, my eyes settling on a lone framed photo resting on the table. In the picture, a tall man with shaggy brown hair and a neatly trimmed beard stands beside a shorter woman with long blonde hair that flows out of sight.

  My gaze lingers on the photo for a moment before I speak softly, to no one in particular.

  "I'm back, Mom, Dad,"(Rolland) I say, my voice barely above a whisper.

  I linger for a moment longer before finally tearing my eyes away from the photo.

  Climbing the tall spiral stairs, I search through dusty bookshelves and unopened boxes brought from my moving into the tower a few years ago on any books I can find in dungeons. After an hour of looking, I walk towards my desk, carrying a small stack of books that I drop onto the desk, kicking up a small storm of dust in the process. Breathing heavy from the effort of carrying them, I start to organize them from most relevance to least relevance.

  “Let's see… ‘Dungeon Delving 101: Survival Tips for the Unlucky Adventurer’, sounds important considering I have zero experience dungeon diving. ‘Dark Paths: A Traveler's Guide to Famous Dungeons’? Less important, but I’ll still read it later. And finally, ‘Soulbound: Dungeons and the Creatures Within’. I’ll need to get more books later, do they even sell these kinds of books in town?”(Rolland)

  Opening a window, I light a candle and start to slowly go through the books. A few hours of reading and intensive note taking later, I snuff the candle and go to bed. Waking up the next morning from the blinding rays of sunlight, I staggered my way down the stairs to grab a quick bite of something to eat. Two hours later, I exit the tower and start heading towards one of the few bookstores in town.

  Last time I checked, there were only two bookstores in town, and I might as well start small and save the best for last. After a bit of walking and definitely not accidentally skipping past it at least twice, I enter the shop and browse the book shelves. Not finding anything that interesting, I leave shortly after and head towards the only other bookstore.

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  After looking around the bigger bookstore, I found two books that fit what I'm looking for and bought them for only a few copper, a steal! Taking the time to drop them off at home, I then start heading to the enchanters shop on the other side of town.

  I walk into the shop and then exit a few silver poorer, like, seriously, how was I supposed to know that enchanting a few pairs of glasses would cost so much! It was practically a robbery!

  Walking down the road, sulking, I happen to run into May and decide to run up and strike up a friendly chat.

  “Hey May, Where are you off to today? Preparing for the dungeon?”(Rolland)

  “Hey Rolland, yeah, I put in an order for a bunch of arrows yesterday from the smith and I'm on the way to pick them up now. What about you? Buying more paper again? I thought you got some a few days ago?”(May)

  “Nope, I got some books earlier and just got a few pairs of glasses enchanted, I was on my way back and happened to see you, speaking of, any idea where Liam is? I want to talk to him about what he got after stalking at the store before I buy anything else.”(Rolland)

  “He should be at the guild right about now, so go check there first”(May)

  We continued walking and talking for a few minutes until I split off to find Liam. Finding him was easy enough—I spotted him sitting at a table in the corner of the guild, writing a letter to his mother in the next town over. Not wanting to interrupt, I decided to look around for Leah instead. Everyone in the party, except for me, has rented rooms at the guild. It’s mostly because we can get better jobs since May, Leah, and Liam are all so close.

  When Liam and I first arrived in town a few years ago, I let him crash at the tower my parents left me, while May and Leah stayed with their own parents since they're from this town. After we completed a few guild quests together, they moved into the rented guild rooms because they could all afford it by then.

  Not seeing Leah anywhere, I considered knocking on her door but decided against it in case she was still sleeping. It's the middle of the day, so I don't know why she would be, but you can never be too careful. The last thing I want is to get punched—she’s a lot stronger than she looks.

  Instead, I wandered over to the quest board and looked at the long list of available quests. We all agreed not to take any quests and to focus on preparing for the dungeon instead, but it doesn’t hurt to browse. There are more quests than most people would expect, but that’s mainly because adventurers either head to the nearest dungeon or travel to the capital to make a name for themselves.

  Once the new dungeon is announced and the news spreads, people will start flocking into town and quests will be snatched up faster. I kept scanning the board until I noticed Liam had finished his letter. I walked over and sat down at the table with him.

  We talked about what items he bought at the general store, discussing what supplies we already had and what we still needed. Two hours passed as we worked through our list, and by the end, Liam said he’d use our group fund to get the remaining supplies.

  Afterward, I returned to my tower and spent the rest of the day reading the books I’d dropped off earlier. I eventually fell asleep, only to be interrupted later the next day by the groaning sound of the rusty gate. Looking out the nearest window, I saw Leah sprinting up to the front door.

  Closing my book on intermediate magic theory, I rushed downstairs to meet her. I had given everyone in the party a key to my front gate, so her arrival wasn’t surprising, but her frantic energy was.

  “Rolland! They’re going to announce the dungeon to the guild tomorrow, but Dorin told us he sent scouts to check it out, and we’re free to enter early! Liam and May are already getting ready!” she said, almost breathless.

  Hearing this, I dashed up the spiral stairs to grab my gear, and once suited up, Leah and I headed to the guild to meet Liam and May. It was finally time to delve into the newly discovered dungeon.