One guard left to go get a special cart that I could lie down on.
"There is no other way?" I asked Gnomish Councilor of External Relations Baldeenk Zickleseckle.
"Unfortunately, no. It is a completely closed off series of chambers."
He explained that they had made all entry and exit points gnome-sized. I carefully laid down on the cart in the opening I had made.
Ozy was riding in his own cart right behind me. There was a slight risk he would get squished if he were on me.
Borwass Spryclick was staying behind to fix the hole I had made in their tunnel system while the guards and Baldeenk were going with me to their settlement.
"Breathe out, close your eyes. It will be rougher for you, since you are bigger."
Baldeenk pulled a small lever, and we quickly began to move. My Spatial Sense and stomach were going crazy.
After ten minutes I felt ill as we came to a stop. Opening my eyes, there were lots of gnomes looking at me.
I dragged myself off the long cart and stood up. Ozy flew up to land on my shoulders. He used Cure on me to help me steady myself.
"How are you feeling?" Baldeenk asked me as I looked around at what could only be called a warehouse.
There were multiple cart tracks above us. There were small wooden crates everywhere.
"A bit roughed up, but okay."
"The cart system is unpleasant, but we went through several layers."
"Wait, we went through layers without a passage?"
"Yes. We don't even know on which layer our settlement is. Now, come. The doorways are small, so mind your head. Crawl through the ones that are industrial scale."
At least it was completely cramped since the gnomes liked high ceilings.
"This is our key transportation hub through the dungeon. We can have six operational cart lines at any time. Our brave gnomish adventurers go out, get supplies and return. We rotate through thousands of rail lines and make new ones if we connect to a portion of the dungeon that we haven't connected to before."
"Wait, these connections move? How do you control that?"
We eased through the major transportation hub, which was also a warehouse.
"We anchor this location to the neighboring locations. Sometimes locations break apart, and a gnome gets lost, but it rarely happens. We have a 97.8% safety standard, which is quite good."
"So, every 100 trips, you lose two or three gnomes?" I could say the word now, apparently. A location-based skill, another interesting facet of this secretive society.
"On an incident. Encountering you would count as an incident. In about a tenth of those incidents, we lose a gnome. So, for every 1,000 trips, we lose two to three gnomes. But the trips are long, about a year. And we run about 20 per year. So not that bad of a safety percentage."
We made our way through an extensive set of doors into a dimly lit chamber. The buildings were quite tall, and it reminded me of Undercraft to a certain extent. Only here did the buildings go all the way from floor to ceiling. The gnomes had clearly maximized their space as much as possible.
"It is nighttime, which is why the lighting is on dim. Also, it will give everyone some time to adapt to you and you to adapt to us. I am your official liaison while you are here as the Gnomish Councilor of External Relations."
"I am guessing you get little work."
"Nope. Which is why this is so exciting. While gnomes are right to be so secretive, it also makes any kind of cultural exchange incredibly difficult. We have a guest building for larger individuals over here. Three rooms, but everything should be your size. I will have to ask your pet to stay here."
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"I wasn't told that."
"We won't enter or bother your pet, but a monster would disturb the populace."
"What of my equipment?"
"You are welcome to keep it, and you can check back. But I will give you my word that your living space will not be disturbed. I know you are trusting us quite a bit, but we are doing the same."
"I understand," I lied. I understood nothing that was going on. Our Soul Link would tell me if Ozy was threatened. While everything might have seemed like it was moving quickly, it was because I wasn't objecting or fighting back. If I had, things would have turned nasty quickly.
The building that was going to be my home was near their transportation hub and was two gnome stories tall. That made the accommodations have more than enough room for me to stand up easily. I checked everything, and there didn't appear to be any traps or spying methods.
The building used the standard enchanted lighting and fixtures I had grown up with so it felt very comfortable. The warm neutral colors were inviting, and it was clear they had gone all out to make guests feel welcome.
"What do you think?" Baldeenk asked me.
"It is very nice, thank you."
Ozy flew over to land on a human-sized chair, claiming it for his own, and Baldeenk nodded at him. I also noted that the guards who had initially come with him hadn't followed us.
"Now you rest. A meal is being brought over. Feel free to change into something comfortable. If you need anything, there is a bell by the door. A gnome will assist you. While you are welcome to visit our settlement, we will have a tour and introduce you to everyone once they wake up."
"When will that be?"
"Half a day from now, when the bell tower chimes seven times. Also, they will turn the lighting for the chambers to day settings."
"I will wait patiently."
"Thank you," he replied and then left my new residence.
The Mana density was shifting slightly, and my Depths Sense was being thrown off by this place. If I had to guess, I would say we were somewhere in the 5th layer, but I couldn't be entirely sure.
I took the time to fully explore the three rooms I had and change into more formal attire. Less armor, more colorful cloth. I also kept my sword and spatial pouch with me as well. While the gnomes seemed trustworthy, I wouldn't make it easy for them to cause trouble.
There were occasional soft chimes as I lay down on my bed and waited. When there were seven chimes, they were louder, and the environment outside my window began to brighten quickly.
There was a knock on my door, so I got up. It was a good sign if these gnomes were being this polite. I opened the door and Baldeenk was there by himself, no guards.
"Good morning, Justin," he said.
"Good morning, Councilor Baldeenk. Do you want to come inside?"
"For now, yes. I am going to explain what I have planned while we enjoy a stout gnomish breakfast. If anything is not to your sensibilities, let me know."
A gnomish woman pushed a cart behind him. There was a table set up with mixed seating heights so we could eat together.
There was fresh bread, butter, and even a small bit of bacon.
"Meat, how?"
"We have animals down here. We ration them carefully. You are being allocated the rations of two gnome adult workers for your stay."
"I appreciate that, but I am wondering how you have animals in the dungeon. The Mana alone would cause issues for them."
"Ah, we maintain a reduced Mana environment for our animals. We don't want them to be transformed into monsters. That, combined with careful breeding, makes everything run like clockwork."
"What about your population? How do you keep things stable?"
"Couples may request child certificates, and we maintain a 3% resource surplus for unexpected situations like your visit. While we have considered spending, our current space utilization is only 74.3% in the last settlement analysis."
"How many gnomes live here in this place?"
"There were 128,342 gnomes in the last census." I almost choked on the water I was sipping at that amount. "We use four caverns, with three for food and industrial production, and the last one we are in is the primary residence. You seem surprised."
"It is a large number. I wasn't expecting there to be so many gnomes."
"Ah, it is our settlement. We have only a 'Y' shaped road through our main settlement area. The settlement builders constructed the rest compactly. There is a large open meeting area in the center, but the depth of buildings that you can't see is immense. We pack in tightly,"
"And you gnomes are happy like this?"
"Mostly. It is what allows us to continue as a society. For the more adventurous gnomes, they become cart riders. Checking the tunnel system and occasionally killing a monster if they are lucky."
They couldn't kill monsters properly in the dungeon. They attached themselves to their cart system to get back. If they fought and killing monsters, then they wouldn't be able to return once they left the chamber where they got in and out of their cart system. And even then, it was risky.
Once the gnomes left, it was too easy to never return, which meant their levels were terrible. I suspected as much but hadn't checked the gnomes beyond the first one I had encountered, Borwass. But with my sensory skills, they seemed weak.
For them, inviting me here was a sign of trust that I wouldn't go on a murder rampage, killing them all. I felt more at ease now that I understood the situation. I knew they had weapons and skills, but with only crafting experience, they would struggle to get beyond level 20.
Also, with the low risk and no threats to their life, their skills would stagnate as well. There didn't seem to be any pressure in this place. My arrival would likely excite them and cause a flurry of leveling, which probably explained why they invited me to liven things up a bit in this insular culture.
They knew I wouldn't stay forever, but it would allow the gnomes a controlled way of dealing with the outside while stimulating their populace. There were probably politics as well. Some gnomes wanted to be more aggressive in dealing with the outside, and letting me visit and learn about me was probably the compromise position.
"Now, I am curious about yourself. Can you give me some highlights?"