Painstakingly the man counted out all of the parts. He scrutinized many of them and finally nodded his head. "This is appropriate. Here is your payment." He took out a sack of gold from below his desk. Cerone took it and checked. Sixty gold. The exact amount they deserved.
"I would also like to report the appearance of a dangerous creature." Cerone spoke. The man had become disinterested after handing the money over, but her words caused him to raise an eyebrow.
"And what creature would that be." He seemed quite skeptical.
Alyssa spoke up. "A fungal brood mind." The man froze upon hearing that.
"Are you certain?" He spoke with fear in his voice. The trio understood that it was dangerous, but their didn't realize how dangerous a fungal brood mind is.
"Yes, we are quite certain." Cerone spoke up in defense of Alyssa.
The man in the booth nervously shifted around trying to decide on something. "Mmmm, please wait here. I need to report this. The manager will most likely want to meet with you." He then left the booth and with a very quick pace walked over into the manor and disappeared for a moment. Seconds later he returned with another man, who was dressed the same as him.
"This is head butler Gorsen. He will take you into the manor to meet with the manager." He bowed and the then returned to his booth. Opening the gate for the trio as he went. They stepped into the grounds. Gorsen led them inside into a waiting room. On the far wall a servant could be seen quickly leaving. In his place three outfits awaited. Gorsen turned to the three. "Please change into the provided outfits and clean up over there. You must be presentable to meet with the manager." Gorsen held his head high, but the disgust over their bloody and filthy clothes was obvious.
The three of them looked over at the gold trimmed clothing that sat out neatly for them. Gorsen nodded his head and left, speaking as he walked. "I will come to gather you shortly."
The three were left alone in the room. They took in the surroundings. It was just a waiting room, but the excessive luxury was obvious. Firstly, the room was spotless, and the furniture laid around was clearly of the highest quality. The wall also was adorned with numerous paintings of different people and landscapes, clearly hung to show off the wealth of the manager. They quickly found a bathroom like structure. The toilet was simply a hole into an abyss, but the bath was already filled with water and at a warm temperature.
Rys looked to the two girls. "I'll give you both some privacy." He stepped out of the bathroom, allowing the two girls to bathe. They didn't hesitate either. Ever since coming to this world modern amenities had been a rarity. Most people bathed in a river or lake and only if they had access to that. For people farther in land the rain was the best they could hope for. Slipping off their ruined clothing, they sunk into the warm water. A scent whiffed up from the water. It smelled like lavender, but much sweeter.
Both girls sighed as the tension from crawling through the sewers and constantly fighting left their bodies. They used the scented water to wash away the dirt and other contaminants from their bodies before reluctantly leaving the bath. Rys still needed to wash up after all and while they dreamed to own a bath of their own it would have to wait.
They left the bathroom wrapped up in robes that had been provided for them. Rys entered and they changed, quickly followed by Rys. Just as they had finished figuring out the complex button arrangements of the outfits they had been provided, Gorsen returned. He looked at them with a much more amiable expression now that they looked like they belonged in the mansion.
"I hope you enjoyed the amenities." He remarked, clearly trying to put them down with the status he enjoyed. "The manager will now see you." Gorsen turned and looked behind him, waiting for the children to catch up.
They traversed the mansion, its luxury apparent at every turn. White and gold lined every wall and numerous expensive looking items were on display in the hallways. The manager was clearly a showman, going all out to impress his guests. They eventually entered a rather large room.
Despite the size of the room, it was incredibly barren. Only in the center was a rug, two sofas and a desk centered in front of both sofas and on the edge of the rug. A rather short man with a snow-white complexion and tuffs of white fur poking out of clothing sat behind the desk.
"Gorsen, you may leave. My guests please take a seat and tell me what you know." The manager spoke. Gorsen bowed and left, closing the doors behind him as he left. The trio took seats on the sofas. Alyssa and Rys on one side and Cerone on the other.
"Gorsen gave me a quick briefing on what you claim, but I want to hear the story from you three before I send a team." He motioned to the three, encouraging them to talk.
Cerone sat up uncomfortably in the sofa. The size of the room in comparison to the amount of stuff in the room made an uncomfortable scenario. "Umm, so we spotted the fungal brood mind deep in the sewers. We ran into a large group of toxic rats that had been infected and after dispatching most of them we chased the remainders deeper into the sewers. Eventually we lost them, but as we continued to push forward, we were ambushed by the fungal brood mind. It was spherical in shape and was made of a mixture of various creatures tied together with fungus. We didn't get a great look at it as we had to run immediately." Cerone narrated their journey.
The manager's eyes squinted as he looked at them. "So how do you know it is a fungal brood mind. Have you seen one before and how did you come to know what it is?" He questioned.
Cerone hesitated. Speaking about Uvolia and potential Yevelian may lead to trouble for her, but greed pushed that down eventually. "We ran into another person down in the sewers. She told us it was a fungal brood mother, but we separated after we met. She also mentioned something about Yevelian?" Cerone mixed in some lies to create a semblance of the truth while also concealing Uvolia's identity. It was the most she was willing to do for her.
A first the manager seemed far more skeptical than before at the mention of a mysterious adventurer, but the name Yevelian caused him to slam a fist on the desk. Vibrations shook the room. "That bastard!" He shouted. His white complexion shifted to a bright orange. The originally short height also increased, and he became twice the size he was before. He was now twice as tall as Rys.
The manager noticed that he had scared the kids and relaxed some. Returning to his normal size. "I apologize. I didn't believe you at first, but the name Yevelian confirms something. You see the mayor has been abducted. The captor left a note saying he would find the truth beneath Afeerbah and a name. Yevelian. We have been searching for him for a long time. We assumed he meant the history of Afeerbah's founding, we didn't realize he meant literally beneath. I believe you three now." His face looked desperate as he sighed and leaned back into his chair. "This is bad though. Would you three be able to lead a team to the approximate area you saw the fungal brood mind in?" He sat up.
"I left a trail, so I believe we should be able to get back, at least for the next couple of days." Rys spoke, estimating how long his plant trail would last in the sewers. The manager bite down on his nails, nervous about something. Cerone picked up on it.
"Sir, if it's not to forward, why are you so concerned about this monster?" Cerone asked.
The manager looked back at her with mockery. "Fungal brood minds are both extremely rare and also disasters when they appear. They barely form naturally and only two occurrences have ever been recorded. The first was thousands of years ago and it destroyed a number of cities. The other was defeated by the recently deceased hero near the center of the continent. If another has appeared than it is clear this Yevelian has found a way to create them."
"Fungal brood minds allow the parasitic fungus' that take over creatures to take strategic movements and give a hive mind aspect to any creature that had even a single spore in their system. If it is allowed to amass power, it could very well consume the entirety of Afeerbah." The manager explained. "We need to slay it now, while it is still in its infancy. The longer they live the more it learns and develops."
Cerone instinctively rubbed the wound on herself from the rat before. She had burned the wound, but concerns began to rise in her. "How fast do the parasitic fungi spread?" She asked, feinting interest in the creature for cities sake.
The manager looked at her for a moment. "Normally it takes a few days for the rats, but now that it is gaining power all preconceptions of how it operates are off the table. It could lay dormant for years or simply take over in seconds now." The manager spoke, gauging her reaction.
Cerone felt his probing and gasped. Pretending to be concerned for others. "That's terrible sir. We would be proud to lead a group to go find it to prevent something like that from happening."
He seemed to buy it. At least for now. "Good. Please stay the night here. I will work on getting some powerful individuals together and we will strike out tomorrow morning. Please be prepared. Gorsen will get you three any standard equipment you may need." The three of them nodded. "Go take a deserved rest. I will have Gorsen deliver a message if anything changes." They left.
Gorsen was waiting for them in the hallway. He led them to some guest rooms and took an inventory of items they would be needing. They went all out for themselves, requesting a full set of weapons for each of them and light armor, but that didn't even make Gorsen flinch. Once he left, Rys and Alyssa laid down on the bed, relaxing. Cerone though, looked at her wound with concern. She could swear she saw small dots of green, but when she would blink, they would disappear.
'Am I infected?' She thought to herself.