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|[Wait. Hold on a moment you two.]| I stopped the serpents who were about to drag Arsinoe into the hole. |[Don\'t enter there for now.]|

I couldn\'t believe they were travelling to and from the Middle Stratum so easily. What if they encountered a serpent from the snake clan or worse!

What were they even doing there?

And as I approached, Cassio and Andromeda stared at me in confusion, but Arsinoe took that distraction to strike out against Andromeda with a water blade that was enough to push her away, but not enough to cause any real damage.

And with the two now fully drenched, Arsinoe slipped between their curls, quickly making a break for the surface.

Unfortunately, she didn\'t get very far before tripping over a sudden gust of wind.

Morgana, who positioned herself behind me, shot Arsinoe down rather ruthlessly, enough for Cassio to catch her in a single bound.

[Let go!] Arsinoe shrieked, confused as to why she was suddenly on the ground. [It was an unfair trade, and you know it!]

[Why? Because you lost?] Cassio chuckled. [Nice try, but I don\'t agree.]

[You must have cheated somehow!] Arsinoe argued back as she struggled to free herself.

[How can we cheat when we were here with you?!] Andromeda hissed in anger. [Don\'t be unreasonable!]

[I don\'t care! It\'s still unfair!] Arsinoe whined.

Rather than pay her any attention, Andromeda joined Cassio to restrain her thoroughly, and Arsinoe\'s struggling ceased as her mouth was sealed shut.

While this was happening, Morgana kept giggling from behind me, like it was all an amusing scene. 

If she did not accompany me to see the Nymph, I would have thought she was behind it all somehow.

|[Stop fighting. All of you.]| I frowned at the four of them. |[Nobody goes anywhere until you explain what happened here.]|

Cassio grinned at me, seemingly more than keen. [Do you want to know what we found near the worm?]

|[Worm?]| 

Ah. 

Were they talking about those precious metals inside the purple worm?

I vaguely recalled asking them to retrieve some of it a while ago, but I completely forgot that matter.

However, two more serpents came into the underground, and seeing Arsinoe in distress, they rushed to defend her.

[Captain! What are they doing to you?] Otreia said in alarm.

[Don\'t tell me…Did we lose?] Oteiza exclaimed in shock. [D-Does this mean we have to give them all our food?]

Yet, as her team members looked to her for answers, Arsinoe doubled over with her eyes closed, making me glare at her limp figure. Was she seriously pretending to faint?

With no one to ask, her team members could only panic as their realities sunk in. Seeing they were both devastated, Cassio and Andromeda exchanged a look before smiling like sharks.

[Don\'t worry, we\'re not interested in what you hunt.] Cassio said. [You can keep your food.]

[Just pay us back with your bodies instead.] Andromeda echoed.

But this did not garner the reaction they hoped.

[No, no. You can take all our food!] Oteiza cried out, backing away from the two surprised serpents, and Otreia seemed to wither away, much like her captain as she too also collapsed.

Both serpents soon began to plead for their lives, much like Arsinoe earlier and I was getting more confused.

Just what was going on here?

Nevertheless, the sorrowful mournings of Otreia and Oteiza only seemed to make Morgana more upset, and she nudged against me, eyes wet with tears and clearly hurt by them, which made me feel conflicted.

Things were really getting out of hand and the disgruntled atmosphere in the underground was getting more chaotic, forcing me to address the issue to keep the peace.

|[What sort of trade did Arsinoe make?]| I questioned Andromeda.

[There were several!] Andromeda happily replied. [She said Morgana wouldn\'t return, because you were going to kill her in secret. She also said the nestlings you took weren\'t coming back because you were going to give them to the Queen Mother as payment for protecting us. She also said you and the Queen Mother have a strange relationship and that you two are plotting to eat us all.]

What the hell!

It was quite a string of ludicrous statements, and I was quite shocked as Andromeda listed them out.

What was Arsinoe thinking?

[We said Morgana would return.] Andromeda continued. [And that none of those other things would happen. So since everyone came back, we clearly won!]

Cassio also grinned. [She was so confident she wouldn\'t lose, she agreed to do anything we asked in return, including helping us dig.]

The underground fell to silence, and I couldn\'t help staring at the speckled serpent that was trying so hard to remain immobile. Her team members were quite horrified to hear everything, and they trembled where they stood, unable to look at me.

It seemed they had no clue of the extent of her bet either.

And I sighed. |[What do you have to say for yourself?]|

I directed my question to Arsinoe, but since she was still pretending, Otreia apologised on her behalf. [We made a mistake – we didn\'t know any better.]

While Oteiza could only tremble beside her, far too afraid to speak. 

But I was much too exhausted to care and I just wanted it to be over.

Clearly, Arsinoe had made a bad wager and lost terribly. As for her team members it wasn\'t really their fault, so it was best to remove them from the consequences.

|[Release Arsinoe for now.]| I said to Cassio. |[From what I see, Otreia and Oteiza didn\'t do anything, so they shouldn\'t be included in this wager.]|

[Really?] Oteiza looked up, excitement written all over his face, but a single look from Otreia made him fall silent.

Andromeda seemed reluctant, but Cassio released Arsinoe without any hesitation.

[Done.] He replied. [So what are we to do with her now?]

Together, we stared at the limp figure of Arsinoe, who was trembling slightly as she kept her eyes closed.

|[What do you have in mind?]| I asked both serpents.

[We plan to make her dig for us, mostly.] Andromeda replied.

[There\'s too many precious stones.] Cassio added. [We need plenty of helpers to help us bring them up.]

If that was the case, I could see why they wanted to rope in Otreia and Oteiza too, but I let them know tricking them through underhanded means wasn\'t the best way. If they wanted help, they could simply ask me.

Realising things weren\'t going her way, Arsinoe could no longer pretend to faint.

She snapped awake with a jolt, her jewel pink eyes searching the room, past Cygnus\'s angry figure, to land on Artemis whom I realised was quietly sneaking away with the Veladrys.

[They want me to enter a really smelly place, help me out!] Arsinoe yelled at her former captain.

She seemed desperate to appeal to her last lifeline, but Artemis didn\'t seem to care.

I found it quite funny that he was pretending she didn\'t exist.

[Don\'t ignore me!] Arsinoe complained. [Or I won\'t help you grow your plants anymore!]

Hearing this, Artemis sighed before turning to look at her in anger. [Who told you to make such a stupid bet?]

I could see he wanted to help her out, but didn\'t know how to, so I gave him an out.

|[Take the Veladrys with you.]| I instructed him. |[They have plenty to work on and I want you to show them around.]|

The Veladrys were more than happy to create the things I requested, including the fluffy cushions the Nymph had, and they left together with Artemis. Personally, I was looking forward to a good rest when I returned from the Middle Stratum, and daydreaming about it put me in a good mood.

Unable to stop him leaving, Arsinoe could only glare at her former Captain\'s back.

[You should know better.] Andromeda tutted at Arsinoe, and Cygnus shook his head in disappointment.

[Er...I think I\'ll go over and help them.] Apollo muttered, and I let him leave, watching him speed out of the underground.

[Keep an eye on him until I come back.] I said to Cygnus who looked shocked to hear my voice in his head. [Don\'t let him leave the cave, and tell Typhon that I\'m going with them.]

Cygnus nodded and left with Delphine.

I also gave Otreia and Oteiza permission to return, and they were reluctant to leave Arsinoe behind, but they didn\'t have much choice than to obey. 

However, rather than showing remorse, Arsinoe pulled herself up with a huff. [You two can go. I\'m not afraid of them anyway!] 

Her dismissive tone made Andromeda laugh. [Good. I\'m sure you\'ll love it there. Your team is so lucky to have such a willing captain!]

Arsinoe scowled at her, but Andromeda didn\'t seem to notice.

With Arsinoe\'s team members gone, I was left with Morgana who continued to cling to me, alongside Cassio and Andromeda who flanked Arsinoe on both sides.

[Shall we?] Cassio said, and I followed them through the tunnel down to the Middle Stratum, where we began the tedious climb. 

At the top, the rocky ground was still scorched with the remnants of the battle with the purple worm, and I was brought to the large tunnel where Typhon and I had hidden away its body.

The creature was already quite rotten and the stench it gave off was enough to keep every other monster away because of its foul blood. Yet, the lower we went, it quickly became apparent we were dealing with far more than two serpents could handle.

The tunnel went on far longer than I was comfortable with, and at the end was an even deep channel where more than four enormous purple worms could fit through comfortably.

The place must have been used as a lair by different purple worms over the years and it stunk dreadfully with creature remains and other grisly deposits.

[Great.] Arsinoe scoffed with a grimace. [I\'ll never get the stink off me now!]

Nonetheless, amongst all the crap was real treasure.

The walls of the channel were worn and rough, but incredibly shiny where all kinds of precious stones that shone in the dark were embedded.

The entire lair was really an enormous cache of metal ingots, gold, brilliant gems, and other things I couldn\'t yet identify.. Enough to make a gold mine look pitiful in comparison.