“There are not many options for what could have happened to you. The most obvious possibility was that the gate inside this cave was activated, and these goblins and orcs entered through there.”

My original plan was not to involve myself too much; I knew half the people present would rather see me in handcuffs behind iron bars. But I had to share some of my thoughts.

“But the gate was guarded.” Said one of the others.

“Yes, it was. So how could they get past the guards? If they had anti-magic armor, anything would be possible. There are things like cloaking spells and items. Maybe these two inside the cave were working with the enemy. Who knows?”

Sami was punching the table and pointed his finger at me.

“One more word, and I will kick you out. How can you accuse my members of working together with these creatures?”

“Take a breath before you threaten something you can’t execute,” I said, smiling dryly. I hated these emotional reactions of humans; in these moments, they were not better than animals.

“I was just speaking out my thoughts. May I continue, or are you too offended to listen to me?” I asked.

“Go on.” He said, staring at me without a blink.

“Thank you. Where did I leave off? Oh yes, the potential betrayal. I don’t think that really happened. Could those creatures have been already in the dungeon before you found the cave?”

“When you consider that they owned magical items, yes,” Sami said, sighing loudly.

“I can at least assure you that these creatures were not there when the gate opened. Our Ministry’s dungeon assessor assured us that the potential danger within the dungeon was no more than Level C. If you like, I can share the initial report with you.” Said the representative of the Ministry.

These first reports are handy. I don’t know precisely how they do it. But these researchers used a magical item that was able to create a scan of the entire dungeon in a relatively short time. That was the only reason it was very rare for a guild to be paired with a dungeon that was beyond their capabilities.

“Maybe the researcher was the traitor? Who says we can trust the Ministry with anything?” asked the magical girl guild leader.

“You should refrain from such accusations.” The representative said, outraged.

“We all should send some of our people to this dungeon and let them search for information again. And we leaders will thoroughly investigate the Ministry. That way, we can fight this mystery on both ends.”

With my suggestions, I didn’t mean to say that I didn’t trust Sami’s people. Still, after hearing his report, I had some doubts about the reliability of his guild.

The old lady who sat beside me started whispering. “Lilith, you can’t be serious…” I simply smiled at her, “Of course I am.”

“OK, why not? But who pays our best members for that mission? The Ministry?” asked the magical girl leader.

The Ministry’s representative started sweating, “I can’t make promises. Of course, it is a matter of the Ministry to clarify this incident, but paying four guilds for that could be too much.”

Suddenly the director of the magic school cleared his throat loudly and stood up. “May I speak?”

Everyone nodded and awaited his words in anticipation.

“I think Lilith’s suggestions are great, and while I got no guild. I got great students and a budget for research that is not entirely used up. I want to say that our school will finance this mission.”

I looked through all the faces on the table. It was rare to see such a mix of emotions.

“Awesome, I will send our most capable girl. Just send us a date, and she will be ready.” The leader of the magical girls said, smiling happily. Money certainly made her day better.

“We will ask around our guild who wants to join this mission. All of them are capable enough to contribute greatly to the course.” The old lady spoke.

“Please give us at least a few weeks to recover before I send some of my people back inside this dungeon,” Sami demanded.

“That is perfect. My members are not available for the next two or three weeks. But they both will be happy to join this mission.” I said, “But we need to talk about the seals on Miko before. I can’t send her inside a dungeon with a handicap like that.”

The guy from the Ministry was gulping. I was optimistic that they would lift her restrictions.

“Or you pause my suspension, and I’ll sort this out alone.” I proposed laughing. But the other ones weren’t that excited by that idea.

“I’ll see what we can do. We should end this meeting and schedule the next one to discuss a concrete plan. I suggest next week. That should be enough time for everyone involved to work out the details.”

“I agree,” Sami said, so the meeting ended after 15 minutes.

“I’ll see you next week.” Said the old lady from the King’s Guild.

She was the first one to leave the room, the member of the Ministry was the second, and right after him, the leader of the magical girls walked away.

That left Sami, the school director, and myself inside the room.

“You have hardly given me time to speak.” Said the director looking at me.

“I am very sorry, but I could not stop myself.”

“I would like to invite you to a cup of coffee in my hotel room. There are some things I want to ask you.”

“Just coffee? I am open for any adventures.” I said, chuckling.

“Although I am still fit for my age, I must decline. I am sure my wife would not accept it, even if it is with you.”

“I am flattered and would love to continue our talk in private. I will ask my secretary to drive us to your place.”

“Oh, you can join us, of course.” The director said, looking at Sami, who was a bit weirded out by the conversation.

“No, thank you, I need to do some paperwork.” He showed us a forced smile and also left the room.

“Be honest with me. You know much more than we do, don’t you?” he asked me seriously, now that we were alone.

I just shrugged.

“Who knows?”