The breach was immediately detected. The dwarves could hear the water splashing, and the special runes inscribed on the tank were glowing, indicating that there was movement in the tank hours after it should have settled.

  The specialist runesmiths and scholars working at the water treatment plant moved quickly to investigate. Even though the signs of intrusion were clear, there was no panic among the identification team.

  This kind of event was common, and everyone knew of dangers outside the hill home. Unless there were signs of a large-scale invasion, there was no need to worry.

  The identification team had a series of methods and comprehensive catalogues for almost every creature in the Yarmae Valley.

  If there was any tension, it was coming from performance anxiety.

  Currently, the team was at the late stages of the identification, and most of the team started cleaning the instruments or started doing routine checks on the rest of the water tanks that are still supplying the mountain home.

  Borin, an assistant investigator, clearly nervous, approached the team leader with the report in hand.

  "Master Gurnark, do… Do you have a moment?"

  He stammered.

  Borin was a young and promising scholar. He was clanless, but that didn't matter much as his colleagues recognised him for his merits rather than his status and treated him fairly. Alas, from Borin's perspective, he felt inferior towards others and thus was meek in character.

  "Yes, what's the matter? You can talk freely."

  Gurnark Eveseer, a low-clan runesmith and the current head of the identification team, replied with a deep and understanding tone.

  He liked Borin because he had very good skills for his age and had an honest and kindhearted personality.

  "I think… No, we have arrived at a conclusion… I think we have identified the creature."

  "Good, do you have the report ready?"

  "Well… not quite…"

  He fidgeted with the report in his hands and continued.

  Gurnark, seeing this, sighed. This wasn't the first time he encountered Borin's self-confidence issues, but he waited patiently for him to finish.

  "You see, Master Rutmor… No, I mean. I asked Master Rutmor if he had any comments on our notes…"

  "Was there a problem?"

  "No! Well, not really, it's just I think… It just seems to me that Master Rutmor wasn't happy about it."

  Gurnark didn't want to startle Borin but couldn't help it. He wasn't that good with these kinds of people. 'What can I do for you? Is being clanless really such an issue?' he thought. He then calmly asked.

  "Was there anything in particular?"

  "Well… No… He looked at the notes and told us to carry on. It just… I think he wasn't happy about them. I don't think… I am pretty confident in our results, but with that I don't know how to proceed…"

  Borin looked exhausted after finishing the short explanation. Gurnark just sighed because he completely understood what happened here.

  Recently the Steelbranch high clan has sent a highly skilled runesmith to advise the identification team.

  This wasn't unprecedented, as inspections from the clan happened once in a while, but this felt different. The expert appeared to be a combatant rather than a typical scholar.

  Rutmor's stoic demeanour and formidable combat skills intimidated the team, making them overly cautious.

  Gurnark was especially annoyed by the situation. The purpose of the runesmith was political rather than a quality assurance.

  He was frustrated that his team's work was being hindered by the so-called inspection. But had to cover for it.

  "I don't think you should be worried. Master Rutmor just doesn't want to interfere with the identification process. I doubt he would let us proceed if we made any mistakes."

  He said so with the best fake smile he could muster. Although he did so to calm down his assistant, Borin took it differently.

  "I understand, master!" I will carefully review the results and submit the report!"

  Borin bowed quickly and retreated back to his desk.

  Gurnark felt as if a huge wave of fatigue had fallen onto him, but he let it slide. This would inevitably result in a poorer than usual report, as investigators will try to cover for their mistakes. Which would mean that he'll need to rewrite it later. A similar situation happened twice before.

  This was all caused because the runesmith arrived with an order from the high clan, giving him temporary authority over the identification team.

  Gurnark wasn't particularly offended that his authority was overridden. He wasn't interested in political aspirations, and his research was more important to him.

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  What bugged him was that this chain of command was supposed to be hidden. Orders coming from the visiting runesmith were concealed under his own name.

  The only saving grace is that the runesmith hasn't abused his authority yet. Currently the only order was to get current listings of extermination teams, their members, assigned duties, and scheduled exterminations.

  This might seem innocuous, but Gurnark was doubtful that would be the extent of it. If that's the only thing he needed, there was no need for secrecy.

  The water treatment facility has a dual purpose.

  Its primary function is to deliver water from the river to the hill home, free of contaminants. Zazarburak has a large food and metalwork industry, which requires a huge amount of water. Even though the hill home has access to the groundwater, it's simply not enough.

  Its secondary purpose is to serve as a military outpost. Because dwarves have long lifespans and relatively small populations, their militaries are highly specialised and trained. This renders every soldier invaluable and makes each casualty significant.

  Dwarven societies have a strict policy of isolation and fortification. This particular settlement is set in a dangerous and uncivilised land. Making any outside expeditions exceedingly rare.

  These factors create a problem of soldiers being inexperienced in real-life combat. And such facilities that interact with the outside world serve as military outposts for training.

  The military stationed in the water treatment plant also has an air of competitiveness. For soldiers, this was one of the few chances to show off and earn prestige.

  The Steelbranch clan sending their agent here doesn't seem to be a coincidence. Especially because the heir of the clan was stationed here.

  Gurnark felt dirtied by the whole ordeal. He would have made a stink about this to his superiors if the plant wasn't mainly owned by the Steelbranch clan.

  The Eveseer clan was a subordinate clan to the Steelbranches, and their elders slept in the Steelbranches ancestor hall. Making their bond strong and deep and preventing him from refusing their orders.

  Later that day, Borin presented the report. It was twice or three times the length it should have been. It was full of meaningless speculation and far-fetched guesses. Borin usually was a very good investigator, but this whole situation had put more pressure onto him than he could handle.

  "The high clans and their politics..."

  He murmured as he rewrote the report. The assistant, trying to be careful, marked the intruder as unidentified, but this was clearly done out of an abundance of caution rather than any substantial evidence. It wouldn't be unfair to call the original report very poor and unfit for purpose.

  'What will I do with you, Borin?'

  It was a hard situation for him to handle. If only he could give him but a crumb of confidence, he would.

  'Maybe I should adopt you into the clan? He is smart enough to follow runesmithing teachings, and if being clanless is the issue, it would be the most straightforward fix. I'll need to consult with the elders.'

  After that thought, he continued to focus on the report.

  The invader was clearly a murkling, a low-medium danger class monster. It was only marked that high because of its paralytic mucus, but if taken precautions, it shouldn't cause any problems. The only problem was that Rutmor wanted to see the report.

  Over his time stationed here, the runesmith hadn't wanted to see any reports before. Thus, Gurnark was extra diligent in rewriting it. The request itself made him suspicious. Why now?

  Gurnark walked to Rutmor's office and delivered the original and revised reports. A blond dwarf with a muscular body was sitting and reading a letter as he entered, completely unconcerned. He only acknowledged him with a slight nod when he put the report on the table.

  Gurnark waited and observed the runesmith. Only then did he notice that Rutmor had a strange jade bead in his beard.

  Beads in a dwarf man's beard signified clan association. Gurnark had a sapphire bead with the Eveseer emblem on his beard and under it a golden ring. This signified that he was a direct-line member of the Eveseer clan.

  Meanwhile, Rutmor had two beads, one made of silver, under which was an iron ring, and a jade one with a missing ring. The silver bead carried the Steelbranch emblem, and the iron ring signified that he was adopted into the clan. While the jade bead had an emblem he could not recognise.

  His thoughts were interrupted by the runesmith's question.

  "A murkling, you say?" Rutmor asked while reading the report.

  "Yes, there is no doubt."

  "No mutations?"

  "None identified, just more active than previous encounters, but the water had clear indications of mucus, and we found a scale that fits the catalogue. Both mucus and the scale have unique features that allow for precise identification."

  "A full scale?"

  "No, it seemed to be damaged, but identifiers are there, making it suitable."

  Gurnark was a bit startled by the nitpicking of unimportant details, but he was pretty confident in his identification.

  "The previous report read, unidentified. Is there a reason for the revision?"

  "Assistant Borin has been pretty anxious because of the inspection. I think you can understand that. So he put it as unidentified out of wariness, but I think we can confidently say that it's a murkling."

  The only reason Gurnark brought the original was because his revision served as a critique referencing the previous report. It would not make sense without it. He also intended to present the pair to Borin for educational reasons.

  "Hahahaha…"

  Rutmor laughed at the situation. Seemingly, put in a better mood because of this.

  "Yes, sometimes an excessive degree of caution can lead to indecisiveness. He did seem a bit pale when he talked to me."

  Rutmor affirmed Gurnark's opinion.

  "I am glad you understand."

  Gurnark felt relieved. It seemed that would be the end of it. The runesmith might have only wanted to verify the report.

  "Right, you can send it out to the extermination team, but mark it as unidentified."

  "Excuse me. I think I misheard."

  Or not. Gurnark was caught off guard. There is no good reason to mark it as unidentified.

  "I said, mark it as unidentified."

  Rutmor repeated it nonchalantly.

  "But it's clearly a…"

  "I find Borin's report more convincing. Gurnark the Eveseer elders had told me you were more humble than this. Don't tarnish your ancestor's words with your actions…"

  Rutmor cut him off with a serious face and what seemed to be a threatening tone.

  This was a clear request to submit or suffer a stain on his clan's reputation. The elders sleeping in the ancestor hall were the best of the best that the Eveseer clan could produce. He could not go against it.

  "I understand. I apologise…"

  "Good that we have an understanding. Leave your half of the report here. We wouldn't want to cause any further confusion."

  Gurnark left the office feeling defeated and confused. He wasn't so self-important to feel insulted when his report was rejected. The problem was there wasn't a good reason given for it. He was a senior investigator and had good reasons to criticise the original report but faced an absolute veto. The worst part was he couldn't raise it as an issue.

  This was a clear manipulation of the system disguised as a report from an overly careful investigator. This could potentially cause unnecessary dangers and stain the team's reputation and his own reputation.

  Identification of a monster is very important to the extermination team. Mostly, the more dangerous the monster, the more prestigious it was to defeat it. On the other hand, having a low danger level monster was more of a chore than anything.

  There was an exception, of course: even a low-danger unidentified monster was really dangerous and thus would reward a similar amount of prestige when defeated.

  He looked through the extermination team list. The next team in the queue was the Steelbranch heir.

  Realising what for his reputation is being tarnished, a slow boil of anger started rising from within him.

  "The high clans and their politics..."

  He murmured again.