There was a certain sort of sound that permeated the Broken Crown Inn after dark.

Neither loud nor quiet. The specific midsound of an establishment providing sustenance for individuals that worked so hard that their relaxation didn’t require a performance – they just did it. Mostly adventurers, along with the occasional merchant or guild clerk in uniform who hadn’t managed to get home before closing. Stone walls, low ceiling, the odor of whatever remained in the kitchen.

I had visited before. It was familiar territory.

And from the flag update that sat in my overlay, I could tell that Vorn had visited this same place twice during the day and that Daren had initiated the latter visit on his own.

I stood outside the Broken Crown Inn and took a moment to confirm flag status before entering.

VORN — CURRENT STATUS

Location: unknown – not on site

Last recorded location: Broken Crown Inn – departed

Daren/Vorn relationship: 128/1000

Next expected contact: tomorrow morning – estimate

Active flags: 4

Redacted flag status: still active

Not on site. Excellent. At least one less variable for me to consider tonight.

I entered.

Daren was at the corner table. The one he sat at after the Floor runs, always, back against the wall, line of sight toward the door, the B-rank’s instinct to never sit with an open back. He had food before him and the casual ease of a person who had just enjoyed a productive run. My UI responded to his presence.

DAREN

Relationship / Lyra: 853

Mood: Relaxation / Satisfaction

Flags active: 2

Relationship / Kai: 849 ▲2

Up two levels again. The childhood friend passive in its usual silent efficiency. I pulled out the chair opposite him and sat down even though he hadn’t offered it since that’s what childhood friends did and it was meter-appropriate.

"Good run?" I asked.

"Clean Floor 5 clear," he answered. "There is a new type of enemy mob on the lower portion – Ashclaw variant. It is slow, but the carapace is harder to break through. Had to improvise." And then the tone of a man talking about a good puzzle he had managed to solve. "You have spent some time underground?"

"Floor 3," I answered.

He looked at me with the distinctive look of one recalibrating. "Floor 3 carries risks for D-ranks."

"Yes," I answered.

He accepted it calmly, as if recognizing there could be reasons behind certain behaviors. "How did it go?"

"Cleared the lower loop bounty," I said.

And he went through his recalibration procedure once again, this time with an even more exaggerated facial expression. His user interface blinked.

DAREN

Mood: Relaxed / Satisfied / Impressed

Relationship / Kai: 849 → 852

Three points gained just by saying something right. The meter liked efficiency. So did Daren. They agreed on that.

"Solo?" he asked.

"Solo," I answered.

He was silent for a second in that way that people were when they were updating their mental model of another person. Then he reached for his drink and kept going the way Daren always kept going after filing away a piece of information.

"Eat something," he told me. "You look like you haven’t."

I waved down the waiter and ordered the remnants of the food, sitting there while I waited. There was nothing from the overlay, either; Lyra’s monitoring display showed 612, 92. Calm, no contact with Vorn. Daren’s interface showed 852. Resting.

Ordinary. Just ordinary on all fronts. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

But then, Daren made the statement.

"Actually met an interesting person today. In the permit queue in the morning and saw him again later here tonight."

I did not betray any emotion with my expression.

"Hmm? Interesting how?"

"He runs the B-ranked circuit. Vorn is the name. Solid read on dungeon mechanics," he told me with the same easy tone with which he said the names of people he had liked. "Discussed floor rotations for a while."

DAREN — FLAG UPDATE

Vorn — voluntary introduction name exchange: noted

Relationship: referenced without prompt

Unprompted. Daren had introduced Vorn without being prompted by me. This was the familiarization phase, when people began coming up in the course of normal conversation after they crossed the point where they were known well enough to be more than just acquaintances. It only took Vorn two days to get there.

I looked at my food and thought about what I was going to say.

The choices remained consistent with previous conversations. Talk to Daren about something he would need a little explanation to understand how I knew it. Stay quiet and let the meter tick upward. Find some sort of compromise between the two.

"What floor does he run?" I asked.

"He said mostly five and six," Daren responded. "A-minus ranking. Strong." After a slight hesitation, he continued: "Why? Do you know him?"

It was the exact same question Lyra had asked at the stall. Just with a different background and an elevated relationship meter.

Lyra’s trust meter stood at 61 when she asked her question. High enough for a considered response.

Daren’s relationship meter with me was 852. High enough to make a considered response stick. Whether I could give a considered response or not.

"He’s around," I said. "He’s been hanging out at the dungeon entrance a few times while I’ve been doing my runs."

Yes, indeed. Purely factual without a need for further clarification.

"What do you think of him?" Daren asked.

I took a bite of the food and waited out the pause to a natural conclusion.

"He’s competent," I said. "I don’t know him very well."

DAREN — FLAG UPDATE

Kai’s response: neutral — flagged

Cross-reference: Kai/Vorn previous interactions flagged

Processing: passive

Neutral. No change in status toward any extreme in either direction. No problem with this response. I hadn’t tipped off Daren in a manner requiring explanation. I hadn’t vouched for Vorn in a manner helping his case. I inserted myself into the equation — Kai has noticed him before, Kai offers an unbiased opinion — and let the passive monitoring do the rest.

Not sufficient. Not by a long shot. 128 points in two days with acceleration means Vorn will reach the familiarity midpoint sooner than even I predicted and I’m eating in the inn and saying "seems competent." But it was all I could do.

He went on about the Ashclaw version for ten more minutes while I nodded at the right places, asked questions, observed the UI stuck stubbornly at 852, tried not to pay attention to the Vorn/Daren meter that ticked away in the corner of my overlay.

Up.

I finished my meal and got to my feet.

"Early run tomorrow?" I asked.

"Floor 3 again?" Daren responded.

"Floor 3 again," I confirmed.

He nodded. "Be careful."

DAREN

Mood: Relaxed / Satisfied

Relationship / Kai: 852 — stable

Relationship / Lyra: 853 — stable

I stepped outside of the Broken Crown Inn onto the nighttime streets and paused there for a second.

852 and rising with me. 853 with Lyra. 128 and climbing with Vorn.

8.1 days until C-rank.

I returned to the dungeon entrance.

CURRENT STATS

STR: 12

AGI: 17

INT: 20

Skills: Friendly Conversation / Moral Support / Observe / Evasion I / Throwing I / Fast Learner / Precision Shot II / Enemy Analysis I / Pattern Recognition II

EXP: 423/1000

Rank: D

Goal for next session: 600

To be 600 by sunrise. That was the goal.

I went underground and began working.