Chapter 132: Recording the show

In order for the entire rouse to have any validity, there had to be some kind of fake backstory behind the entire thing. And as weird as it could be at a first glance, by sipping on a tea, a considerable distance away from the dungeon, I was currently making up that backstory.

Documented by ample amount of photos, videos and even streams. 

Using the insane capabilities of modern technology, instead of just camping out in the wild, I even conducted some moral lessons on completely random topics. And while the rest of my group either cleaned their equipment or fried some sausages on the grill, I was just lazing around on a tourist bed.

"Hey, no sights of them yet!" 

From the outer end of the camp, a powerful and cheerful voice sounded. As of now, the forward group should be already returning from the dungeon. Compiling its usual behaviours from the reports of several scouting groups, it was easy to calculate how long would those soldiers take to lure out some monsters. 

But that was the truth that only the people in the camp knew. Everyone else, watching now and in the future through the scopes of the many, many cameras around, would be under impression that the four of them just went to get some more drinks. 

Obviously, the story wasn't that simple. 

Their entire party was disguised as a group of lackeys from one of the companies supporting Boruta's cult. Accompanying the group as the one who bought their services, I was on a mission to survey the dungeon and provide information for the scientific research on it. 

Something like this, combined with the huge event of the 'summer lessons' that I streamed over the past three days from this place would make up a more or less believable story. And from the delicate shaking of the ground, I could tell that the climax of the said story was fast approaching. 

"Oh, they are back!" 

From the same direction, the voice came once again. But all at once, the eerie atmosphere of the summer camping turned solemn. A narration would later tell, that only thanks to being experts did those men manage to sense that something was amiss. In reality though, they were perfectly aware of what was about to happen.

After passing of a single moment, the nearby line of trees exploded. Chasing out to the open, a huge group of skeletal warriors rushed after the escaping group of the four men. 

"RALLY!"

Not wasting even a single moment, the soldier at the forefront called out. His hand already wielding an old-type looking fire-arm, closely resembling a musket instead of a modern, thin gun.

BOOM!

A cloud of smoke escaped from the rifle's muzzle. In a flash of red, a small crater filled with mashed bones and destroyed vegetation appeared amidst the ranks of the skeletons. This was the power of a second-grade expert. 

Watching the action from the comfort of his tourist bed, I was barely capable of stopping a giggle from escaping from my mouth. 

By the time all the skeletons got to the open, my private army already lined up, well-prepared to take them on. In fact, the hardest task in this entire situation laid on the shoulders of the forward group. They had to pretend to be actually threatened by those low-strenght monsters!

"Let's go."

Not wasting any time, my soldiers rushed forward. With their fists, swords, hammers and yoyo's smashing into the group of weak opponents, the fight was decided in a single breath. Not even breathing heavily, the group of soldiers confirmed that no monster remained before returning to the camping as if the entire encounter was nothing to them. 

And what they left behind, was a huge area of devastated land where the fight took place.

"Magnificent!"

Prompting up, I stood up from the bed. Walking a few paces forward, I gestured at the cameraman sitting in a special centre of electronic command. Noticing my waving, this young and plump man cut the feed from the cameras, effectively putting the show to an end. 

"Okay, I need like fifteen minutes or so." 

After waiting for a short moment in complete silence, Pavlo took the flash drive from the cameraman. Containing the records from all the mobile cameras, it still needed some gentle touches in specific places. 

Seeing that at least this part of the plan was progressing well, I stepped away. While Pavlo was cutting, buffing, darkening and hastening the video feed, I pulled out my phone and dialled a new addition to my contact list.

"Hey, what's up?"

Hearing Ayda's voice through the transmitter of my phone was a first for me. For some reason, without her ample charms storming my sight whenever we talked face to face, both of us seemed slightly more relaxed and casual about talking to each other.

"Hey, I'm calling about the obvious. What's the progress?"

As much as I would love to just waste some time chit-chatting with the girl, we both knew that there was no time for that now. 

"I'm barely done. To a degree, he could start already… But I think he still needs some practice." 

Even though I couldn't see her, I could tell that her lips twisted slightly. Sadly, Penne ended up living only to the… lowest expectations of the two of us. 

There was a chance that our judgment was clouded by what I achieved with witchcraft. Even though I took more to comprehend the basics, my results instantly brought me to the top-tier level. On the other hand, while Penne was faster to grasp the fundamentals, his years of experience and inborn nature of keeping his emotions to himself, posed a great challenge in awakening his real power as a witch.

Thinking about it, I could only imagine what kind of experiences Ayda was putting him through in order to release those hidden emotions of his.

"Eh, whenever I think about your training regime, I can't help but get worried…" 

With this thought popping up in my head, I felt a huge sting on my soul. Even though I was perfectly certain that nothing would ever happen between the two, just imagining the possibility…

"Oh? Wanna see it?" 

Hearing Ayda shorter her sentences in an earthy way, I felt the sting in my soul suddenly exploding. But at least this time, it turned into a joy rather than worry. It was superbly pleasant to notice my woman assimilating herself into the earth. 

"See it?"

As happy as I was, a hint of confusion still lingered in my voice.

"Yeah, give me a moment."

With the voice from the phone changing into some distant noise, I could guess that Ayda was fiddling with her phone.

"Great, look!"

The screen of my phone flashed as a huge black square appeared on it. Coming out of the loudspeaker, the voice was slightly changed. 

In a moment, the black screen was replaced with a live feed from Ayda's phone camera. And seeing what was on the other side of the screen, I couldn't decide whether to laugh or cry. With the girl's cute face appearing with a huge grin on the side of the screen, the miserable fate of Penne was exposed in all its glory.

Covered in a bucketful of slimes, insects and all sorts of repulsive animals that could be found in the local stores or caught outside, he was trembling from the cold. The sight of several empty buckets by his side and a few more filled with water and ice only served as a testimony to what he was going through.

With the live feed getting cut off, Ayda's voice once again crispily sounded from the main speaker of the phone.

"Now, do you have any other worries?"

Leaving the question unanswered, I smiled at my thoughts before shaking my head. 

"No, I'm perfectly fine. Try to push him a little, we will need him in two days."

After exchanging well wishes and saying goodbye to each other, I ended the call. The sound of the meat sizzling right above the burning coals already returned, with a delicious aroma spreading through the air. 

Casting a longing glance towards the fire, I swallowed a mouthful of saliva. Just as I was about to go and steal one of the sausages, Pavlo called out from the electric truck. With all the necessary computers and cables mounted safely on the truck's wall, he managed to finish his task relatively quickly.

"Here, I burned the footage on the flash drive. Also, the land deed just arrived. I sent called my father while working on the vid. He said the construction company already sent the materials."

There would be no adventurer's guild without the guild building. Given how the entire area around the dungeon was nearly completely abandoned, I couldn't just buy a house and set the office there. 

No, on this god-forsaken patch of land, everything had to be built from the scratch. All the media that modern people were so used to, had to be either pulled all the way from the lands of my faction or organised locally.

Just the initial estimates showcased that the cost of establishing the guild near the dungeon would near all the costs that construction on my faction's compound consumed to this point. In other words, while setting it up was still within the means of my supporters, if this project would fail, we would be sapped. 

Nodding my head to Pavlo, I took the flash drive from his hand. Without even saying a word, one of the level two experts rushed to the car, bringing it closer to me. 

"Let's go."

It was time to force the nearby town into accepting the new reality!