I Stopped Simping and the Heroines Lost Their Minds

Three days after the cross-squad exercise, Arthur joined Elena and Morwenna inside the academy archive office.

The check took less than ten minutes. A tired clerk traced the closed-mine report through a faded lending register, confirming that Dungeon Logistics had borrowed it five years ago during a massive route-remapping project. According to the clerk, the project had been administrative chaos; thousands of files had been moved, damaged, or rebound, making it impossible to determine whether the pages had been deliberately removed or simply lost.

The missing section might have disappeared during that confusion, or it might have been removed later. The lending register offered no way to distinguish between the two possibilities.

Morwenna closed the book and pushed it back across the desk.

"Then we ask the department that borrowed it," she said.

Half an hour later, Morwenna led them into the Dungeon Logistics office.

Professor Rusk looked up from a stack of supply requests when Morwenna entered with Arthur and Elena behind her.

Arthur placed the mine report on his desk and opened it to the gap between pages thirteen and twenty-two.

"The freight section is missing, and the archive register shows your department borrowed this file five years ago," Arthur said.

Rusk studied the exposed binding. He stood, walked to a filing cabinet near the back wall, and began searching through the drawers.

"We handled reports from every route in that sector," Rusk said. "Important routes and freight entries were sometimes copied into separate project ledgers. If this section survived, it may be in one of them."

Rusk returned with an old duplicate index and spread it beside the incomplete report.

Most of the entries were little more than route numbers, shipment dates, and transfer locations. Arthur followed the closed settlement’s code across several pages until the same destination appeared repeatedly.

Grayroot Quarry.

"It was a transfer point," Rusk explained. "Smaller mines sent their ore there before merchants collected it for the city."

The duplicate records showed wagons travelling from the closed settlement to Grayroot for several years before the mine was abandoned. They did not identify the final buyers, but they proved that Grayroot had once handled the missing mine’s shipments.

Arthur compared the final column of shipment dates with the closure order inside the mine report. The last recorded wagon had reached Grayroot three days after the academy sealed the mine.

"This shipment," Arthur said, tapping the parchment. "It reached Grayroot three days after the academy officially ordered the mine sealed and closed."

Elena leaned over the desk and compared the entry with the closure order.

The shipment could have carried stock already stored above ground, or it might have been delayed after loading. The date alone did not prove that miners had continued working below ground after the closure.

It did prove that Grayroot had received material from the settlement after the order took effect.

Morwenna turned the index toward Rusk. "Would a shipment after closure have required written approval?"

"Normally," Rusk said. "Closing a mine stops extraction first. Stored ore can still be removed if an inspector clears it, but the release order should name the quantity, the wagon, and the official who approved it."

He checked the margins and the entries surrounding the Grayroot shipment. No authorization number appeared beside it.

"That does not mean one never existed," Elena said. "The supporting record may have been kept with the missing freight pages."

Rusk nodded. "But until we find it, we cannot tell whether this was an ordinary clearance shipment or material moved without permission."

Arthur looked at the date again. Grayroot was now the only surviving place where that question might still have an answer.

Rusk turned to a later page. "The lower quarry tunnels at Grayroot were eventually sealed after repeated collapses. The upper route and surface storage yard, however, remained active for years afterward."

Elena studied the dates. "Could the yard still have been used after the lower quarry closed?"

"Legally, yes," Rusk said. "Whether anyone has used it recently is another question."

Arthur looked at the route marked between the settlement and Grayroot.

The missing freight pages had not given them a seller, but Rusk’s duplicate index had given them a place to search.

Rusk looked up at Morwenna. "I am requesting a limited field survey of Grayroot. We need to inspect the surface storage and confirm whether the lower tunnels are actually sealed."

Rusk pointed to two separate areas on the map. The surface yard could be inspected without entering the unstable lower works, while the old access tunnel would only be approached far enough to confirm whether its seals remained intact.

"I am not asking students to reopen a collapsed quarry," he said. "You document the storage buildings, check the barriers, and leave if the stone starts moving."

Morwenna looked toward Arthur. "That last instruction applies to you in particular."

Arthur considered arguing that falling ceilings were generally outside his control, but Elena was already watching him.

"I will make every effort not to personally provoke the quarry," he said.

Morwenna studied the map before giving her approval in principle. Rusk would still have to secure access authority and prepare the formal survey request, but she was willing to assign students once the paperwork cleared.

"Squad 7 will not handle it alone," she said. "Leon and Alicia are joining you."

Arthur had expected Elara and Cedric to join the enlarged team, but both were assigned to an academy exchange exhibition outside Lornfell for the remainder of the month.

The Grayroot survey would therefore consist of Squad 7, Leon, and Alicia.

Morwenna divided the responsibility before Arthur and Leon could argue over it. "Leon will command any open fight. Vance, you will control movement around the storage buildings and the old access routes."

Arthur nodded.

"You leave in one week," Morwenna said. "Use the time properly."

Rusk copied the Grayroot route, shipment dates, and settlement code onto a clean sheet before returning the duplicate index to his cabinet. Arthur took the copied notes and had nearly reached the door when Morwenna called him back.

"One more thing, Vance."

He turned.

Morwenna rested one hand on the Grayroot map.

"Before I send you into another narrow tunnel, you will complete your final close-range assessment."

Arthur looked at the narrow passages marked beneath the surface yard.

He already knew who Morwenna intended to put between him and the exit.

"Emily?"

"Emily," Morwenna confirmed.

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