Chapter 45

A knock came at Zale's door in the evening as he finished the final chapter of 'Magic Within the Core' and set his tablet down. He rubbed his burning eyes as Mert announced through the door, "Master Sohanaht. Shai would like to speak with you. He is waiting in his office. He said it is not urgent, so at your earliest convenience."

Though Zale wanted to review the book, he decided it was a good time for a break. He stood and glided to the door. "I can go now. Would you mind leading the way," he said, stepping into the hall.

"Certainly."

Shai was neck-deep in papers, binders, and folders scattered on his desk when Zale entered. "My apologies for the mess," he said, looking up from his work, eyes bloodshot.

He instructed Mert to bring them tea instead of coffee. "I've been a rather ungracious host suddenly, I feel."

Shai was haggard. His hair was down and disheveled; he'd clearly not slept much. "Don't worry about it," Zale said, taking a seat on one of the couches in the center of the office, "I've been busy using my time to read the books in your collection. I've made some interesting connections. I think you'd like to hear about them."

"That's good," Shai said with a long sigh.

Zale frowned, expecting a better response to good news. "You called me here, but you don't really look like you want to have a tea party. What going on?"

Shai tented his brow and stared at his chaotic desk for a moment. "Indeed, why did I summo- call you here," he pondered.

"Judging from your response, I assume you don't want to talk about the project. Did you just have new instructions to give me?"

"No, no. Nothing of the sort…"

"Did you just want someone to talk to?" Zale offered.

Shai's brows rose before another long sigh. "I suppose that must be it. I am all over the place, it seems."

"Is it that bad?"

Mert brought the tea in, and Shai moved from his desk to the glass table she set the drinks on. He looked a shade less pale now that he was away from the paper mountain. "I'm afraid the situation has worsened. I've been lobbying for Obelisk to take immediate action against the new dungeon. They are stubborn bastards, though. They say their resources are all tied up with clearing the smaller dungeons, which I assume are appearing as a result of the tier 10 dungeon.

"They should hire a world tier hunter but claim they cannot afford it. I know they are in debates with other countries about the situation, though. I simply don't know what they are discussing. I've tried reasoning with them, but they insist there is no reason to assume the dungeon will become malignant."

"I've read about the undocumented gates in the past. Every one of them ended up malignant. The monsters they spat out were nightmares."

Shai nodded, taking a sip of the tea and letting the warmth soak in to relax him. "So what's next then? There's no way we can afford NOT to take care of this gate. I can't believe they won't even consider it. They have the money and tier 10 hunters that should be able to clean up."

Shai shook his head. "They are talking about selling their teir 10 hunters to other countries to earn money first. They claim it is so they can afford the world tier hunter, but I dont' believe them."

Zale rubbed his face, hand resting to scratch the stubble on his chin. "What the hell are they thinking? In what world does that make any sense?"

"Well, our economy has been struggling lately, with the push of all these gates appearing. Even as a great country, our resources are spread thin to protect other places under our domain. It would make sense that they'd want money. However, not prioritizing our safety is disastrous. The best thing I can do, though, is to drain the coffers and…hire…the hunter…myself…"