Shiina spent the night looking out over Port Gaius. It seemed this place slept just like the other humanoid city, but where her old home enjoyed a deep sleep filled mostly by scuttling animals, Port Gaius was a restless sleeper. Drunks, prostitutes, and guards wandered the night, along with some shadows that were probably thieves. Shiina enjoyed watching the little shows play out.

  The noise of the city waking was a little less enjoyable, so she retreated to under the bed and focused on her books. Sadly there wasn't much time to read before the others awoke.

  Zanya was first, the woman doing some stretches before switching to meditating. Ife woke up next, but refused to leave the blankets, muttering something in her native tongue. Finally Delilah stirred, pulling herself out of bed with a yawn and a long stretch.

  The Ophidian knight seemed to take that as a sign to get moving. "Ife get ready. We're heading to the guild."

  Ife muttered some more things, before forcing herself up. "We'll need to wake Shiina as well. Even if she doesn't need time to prepare."

  "I don't need sleep either!" Shiina proclaimed smugly as she poked her humanoid form out from beneath the bed. "I'm ready whenever."

  Ife blinked a few times then stood and grabbed her dress. "Good, you can take watch for me when we get back on the road."

  "Rule is two watchers whenever possible," Delilah said off hand as she brushed her rebellious hair. Ife gave the half elf a betrayed glare, but quickly returned to her own preparations.

  Now that she was paying attention instead of cleaning up their traveling camp, it was interesting how much the humanoid women paid attention to small details of their appearance. None of them were as observant as her, but they also had to work a lot harder. Ife's careful makeup, Zanya's scale polishing, and Delilah's hair care all spoke to a deep understanding of how appearance mattered to humanoids. Shiina wondered if she'd have enough energy to do all that work if each tiny bit of her transformation required so much effort.

  The humanoid's next destination was the tavern below where they all ate way more than Shiina thought was needed. Though admittedly the adventurers were all eating more than the merchants. Maybe all that ridiculous effort required more food. It didn't seem like it should, since shapeshifting was way cooler, but it's possible mimics were just naturally blessed.

  When her allies felt they were properly prepared she hopped on Delilah's back, getting a smile from the half elf. And with that they entered the streets.

  The trip over is loud as always, though Shiina found it a little easier to tone out some of the worst. The guild hall was close, and it was interesting to compare it to home. Her old guild hall was just a solid two story building. This one stood three stories, and she could tell each floor was about twice as big as her home guild. The decor and facing was nicer too, though the tables and chairs in the public area were low cost. They probably had short lives now that Shiina thought about it. She silently vowed to stick to non furniture disguises while in guild halls.

  To her surprise the guild seemed fairly orderly. Maybe it was because they'd skipped the early job rush. The board did look fairly picked over. It might also just be how the branch was run. She saw ten signboards around the counter, each showing the dungeon floors. Black and white slates were pinned to each section, with a few yellows hanging around.

  Shiina slipped off Delilah's back and rolled along behind the others as they approached the counter. Ife was first to the front, her smile seeming to boost the mood of the clerk there. "Hello. We'd like to do a run of the Gardener's Wing of the Crystal Castle. Is that available?"

  "Gardener's Wing?" The man looked at the board. Following his eyes Shiina could see it was marked in yellow. "It's available, but you'd have to do a clearing run. And since there was a lost run in the Wine Cellars, it'll be more dangerous than usual."

  Shiina blinked. A 'lost run' meant the party that had tried to run the dungeon had been forced to retreat with casualties. So monsters might have wandered out of that location, possibly with loot taken from the fallen adventurers. It also meant that expected levels meant less. She checked the board again seeing the area was supposed to be level sixteen to nineteen.

  "It's fine." Zenya shrugged. "We're overleveled, so if anything bothers our friends we'll kill it." That was true. The duo could in theory kill five level nineteen foes at the same time. Each.

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  "Understood." The clerk pulled out a logbook. "Fee is five gold each for a yellow tag clear mission, and there's a fifty percent tax on glass that isn't sold directly to the guild."

  Delilah and Shiina both gaped at that. "Fifty?" Shiina wondered how anyone made any money on that.

  "Local monopoly," the clerk said with a shrug. "The guild cut is only ten percent. And actually there's a quest for one thousand panels of greenhouse glass, so those have already had the tax paid." He paused. "You do know how to cut glass right?"

  To Shiina's surprise they all looked at her. "I've only done work on thin sheets. Nothing thick." It wasn't easy getting that training in either.

  The clerk smiled. "It's very similar. Just carve a groove into the glass, then use a rod to break it at the line. The important thing is getting solid straight lines."

  She relaxed. "Okay. I can do that." It sounded like there'd be plenty of stuff to practice with as well, so she'd take a few practice tries before trying the work on something really expensive.

  They paid the guild fee and the clerk handed Ife a dungeon pass. The pass here was a slate slab with the dungeon information all etched into it. Shiina thought it was a lot more impressive then the wood tags back at the old guild. Admittedly she'd been in a training dungeon and they didn't give the test takers the good stuff.

  As she hopped back onto Delilah's back she noticed a few people heading to the counter now that they were done. "Why were they waiting so long to apply?"

  Delilah looked back. "They're harvesting groups I think. Probably trying to get the remainder of the quest items."

  Shiina considered that. Harvesting wasn't something that happened in training dungeons, but she sorta remembered the details from the guild employment quiz. "So they're going to follow us and pick up the spare loot. But why not team up and work as the point group?"

  Zanya looked back. "Most harvesting teams are groups taking a break from hard fighting. Because of a team injury, or just to have a lazy day. They don't want to be responsible for a full run." She frowned. "And could you look at me if you're listening, Shiina?"

  Shiina forced her human form out of the pack to meet Zanya's gaze. "I mean, I'm not limited by ears and eyes like you."

  "It's strange not seeing someone's face when you're talking to them," Zanya replied. "And I know your hearing isn't perfect, so you need to give a sign when you're properly listening."

  "Okaaaaay," Shiina didn't like it but it was probably the right thing to do. Humanoids were so limited.

  Zanya led the group through the streets. For a moment Shiina was confused, but after a moment she realized the Crystal Mansion must be inside the city. Most dungeons were formed by people who weren't exactly popular, but a few rich idiots apparently created the things either because they were going into debt or just as part of a power play.

  Which meant that the buildings around them were rich mansions with high walls, fronted by boring looking guards. She tried poking her head out and sticking her tongue out at one, but she didn't get any reaction. At least not one she could notice.

  The dungeon itself at least stood out. The walls were granite, with bits of mica shimmering all over. The guards looked a little more attentive. And the other humans avoided the gate. Shiina watched at least three people cross the street to avoid walking next to the entrance.

  Shiina hopped off just in case the door guards wanted a headcount. That at least got a raised eyebrow and a tiny bite of surprise from the guards, which in her mind meant they were vastly superior to the idiots along the way.

  Still that was all she got. "Token?" the woman on the left asked.

  "Here you go," Ife replied, handing over the slab.

  The woman nodded. "Bottom floor, back of the entryway, furthest door on the left side from the entrance. It will be marked as well."

  They opened the gates, revealing a path cobbled with polished mother of pearl. But a single step brought them past that to the open mansion doors. Inside was a mix of dark and light. Black rugs and tapestries matched dark wood, while glittering crystal and glass served as decorations. Large stairs led upwards, but Zanya led their group to the indicated door, which was marked with a sign and a sigil for those who couldn't read the local script.

  "Okay! Now let's prepare for a proper dungeon run," Ife said. Shiina slipped her dagger out. Time to see how much she'd gotten out of Mali's stories.

  So Mali said countries love having dungeons because they can get all sorts of loot out. But doing that takes a lot of effort. Occasional dungeon runs will help train your guards, but if they're farming gems or whatever they aren't guarding anything except the dungeon. Which apparently is a problem.

  So you need people to go in and grab all that tasty loot for your city. But obviously the people doing the runs want a cut of the profits. Guilds help negotiate and maintain that relationship. They also serve as low level enforcement of basic laws. If someone has a guild card you can be relatively certain they aren't going to just randomly start murdering people, and they'll pay your taxes. Meanwhile guilds make sure adventurers don't get short changed, and prevent groups from murdering each other over the best dungeon runs.

  In general most cities let the guild handle all the taxes and fees for the city. Especially in places where the guild is very strong like here. In fact some adventurers might be more scared of the guild than the local guard....