On that weekend, Matthew and his party returned to the Labyrinth of Enkidu. Despite their history with the Tower of Ryvylin, that was the most profitable dungeon for them right now. They were defeating Dust Devils much easier this time, since Vanessa bought some ice enchanted daggers with the money she got from the gold tiara she sold.

They also found another couple of Lightning Lions again. That dive was being much smoother and much more profitable than the previous ones.

"So glad you're out of the hook man." Michael said to Matthew while they sat a bit to rest.

"I knew he would. Vanessa was always a great lawyer." Paula said while petting Lumi on her lap.

"Thank you, Paula. But you know my forte was never criminal law." Vanessa said while checking her daggers' edges.

"I trust her very much." Matthew said. "But I was still a bit worried."

"What was your focus?" Michael asked Vanessa.

"Tax law." She said shyly taking a huge laughter from Matthew and Michael.

"Tax?" Matthew asked incredulous. "You?"

"What's wrong with it?" Vanessa asked as a challenge.

"Nothing…" Matthew recoiled. "It's just I don't picture you working with something so… Dull?"

"Shut up." Vanessa said getting up and dusting her jeans clearly embarrassed. "We should move."

"You think we'll find another Shedu?" Michael asked following Vanessa.

"I hope not." Matthew said. "I don't want to deal with that creep again."

"Claudio?" Paula asked.

"Yeah. I don't like how he looks at me." Matthew said.

Despite their worries, that dive was uneventful. They left as soon as they ran out of time. They were all in a good mood. They got plenty of mana crystals, they had no injuries. It was finally a normal dive for Matthew, how it should've always been.

However, as soon as they stepped outside, their mood soured. Claudio Antares was outside waiting for them with a smile that sickened Matthew.

"No Shedu for me this time?" He half joked.

"No." Vanessa was dry passing him without stopping.

"Wait." Claudio ordered making the party stop on their feet. "I wish to discuss a business proposition with the four of you."

"Do we have a choice?" Vanessa asked looking over her shoulder.

Claudio just smiled and gestured to the administrative building, to the room they were already used to.

They begrudgingly walked towards the room with caution. What did he want with them now?

"First I'd like to congratulate you on your acquittal, Matthew." Claudio said sitting on the couch opposite to them. An elven woman dressed in a suit, who was standing behind him, gave him a cup of steaming tea before he continued. "I had no doubt about your innocence."

"Thank you." Matthew said squeezed on the couch between Vanessa and Paula. Both with stern faces starring daggers at Claudio. Michael was behind them all leaning against a book shelf.

"You two don't need to be so protective of the boy. My business is with all of you." Claudio smiled. "It's a legitimate business."

"What do you want?" Vanessa asked brusquely.

"Oh, Vanessa, you don't need to treat me like that. We're piratically friends by now." Claudio teased with her.

"What do you want?" Paula was the brusque one now.

Claudio laughed drinking his tea.

"Ok." He said setting the tea on the table. "I want to hire your party. I want you to guide a survey team inside the Labyrinth."

"Why us?" Vanessa asked rubbing her chin. "We're not a powerful party. You already know our levels."

"You do have an Ice Phoenix as a familiar." Claudio said pointing at Paula's ring. "But the reason I need you is not how strong you are. I need you because the two times an anomaly happened in the Labyrinth, you and Matthew were in there."

"So you're trying the recreate the conditions for a real Shedu to appear?" Paula asked while instinctively hiding Lumi's ring from view.

"Exactly." Claudio said. "And now that I found out about Matthew's particular soul problem… I think we can get some pretty good data from an incursion."

Vanessa stared at Claudio like she wanted to kill him when he revealed he knew about that. But of course he would, she thought. Even though she asked for secrecy on the trial, it was very easy for someone to leak that information.

"Then it's not a guiding mission, but you want to study Matthew." Paula hissed at him.

"I mean the boy no harm. I just wish to know if he has any effect on the dungeon." Claudio said raising his hands. "And I'm going to pay. You know I pay well."

Matthew took Paula's hand and squeezed a bit:

"It's alright. You don't need to be so protective. I'm not a kid."

"This is dangerous Matt." Michael said from behind them.

"I know. But, if he wanted to do us harm, he wouldn't come with such a roundabout way of doing it. He could just ambush us inside the dungeon." Matthew was the only one being rational, for once.

"Thank you, Matt." Claudio was quick to adopt his nickname. "The kid is right. I'm trying to really build a symbiotic relationship with you all. I'm not going to lie to you and say that I never got my hands dirty. But things are way easier when I can just pay for what I want." He laughed.

"Can we bring another person?" Vanessa asked.

"Sure. As many as you want. We'll close the Labyrinth next weekend. It will be just you, me and some of my aides." Claudio explained pointing at the elf behind him who just nodded politely at them.

"Is this just because you learned about Matthew's demon soul problem?" Vanessa inquired.

"Not only." Claudio licked his lips thinking if he should share more information and then decided that yes. "The artifacts. The snake and the tiara, they were part of the same item. We think it is some kind of crown. We deciphered the runes on them and it says something about a door and a key. The leading theory at the Tower is that the crown will be the key to open the door to the dungeon boss."

"And what is your theory?" Matthew asked.

"I don't have any. The snake and the tiara have powerful magic in them, but not even our best diviners could identify their effects. I believe that it will only reveal out its mysteries when the crown is complete." Claudio explained. "So I need help investigating the Labyrinth and Matthew is the best clue I have."

A moment of silence passed while everyone digested what Claudio said.

"How much you're paying?" Matthew broke the silence.

Claudio wrote a number on a piece of paper and handed it over to Vanessa.

"Plus all the crystals we find inside." He added.

Vanessa looked at the paper and then said:

"Very generous. We want the pay in advance."

"Half up front." Claudio counter-offered.

"Fine." Vanessa agreed.

"Should I write the contract, councilor?" Claudio smiled at her sarcastically.

"Don't abuse it." Vanessa gnarled. "And no. I'll send you a contract later today."

"Ok… As always, it's a pleasure doing business with you." He said getting up and extending his hand to shake theirs.

Only Matthew took his hand, but was quickly pulled out of the room by Paula.

"Is this wise?" Paula asked when they were already far away not to be heard.

"No. But the money is too good not to risk it. And it is as Matthew said, he could do way worse than hiring us." Vanessa explained her reasoning.

"Who do you want to bring with us?" Michael asked while putting his bow in the trunk of the car.

"Eric." Vanessa smiled at them. "With him and Lumi we'll be safe against Claudio."

"Eric is level 25, isn't he?" Matthew asked making head calculations if he could defeat Eric at full power.

"27." Vanessa corrected him. "He's leveling up fast."

"We should focus on leveling up too." Paula said. "I'm pretty sure I'm close to level up to level 14."

"I leveled up in the Tower of the Undead. I'm level 11 now." Matthew said.

"Fuck, kid." Vanessa exclaimed. "You already passed me?"

"Because of the Dullahan you told us about?" Michael asked.

"Yeah. Almost lost my arm." Matthew said rubbing his new muscle on his arm. "Still not at full power."

"Then I think the three of us should focus on leveling up this week." Paula said. "Matthew has classes, he'll level up with the school, I'm sure."

Nobody said anything, but Paula usually was very lazy on putting the effort to level up. She preferred to let Lumi do all the work when she was not with the party. Seeing her eager to level up was something new. Which also showed them the risk they were taking on trusting Claudio and the Tower of Ryvylin.

"See you all Saturday then." Matthew said when they took him home on Eric's car.

He showered and watched some idol videos with Sarah before going to sleep. Despite the looming danger of Claudio's curiosity. He was feeling great that day.

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