A follow-up to The Accountant

As always, spelling corrections and suggestions are welcome, especially those related to suspension of disbelief. My primary goal is to explore the real-world consequences and complications that were to arise from such a setup. If you feel that characters have taken choices that are not the best choice they could have made, that's fine. If you feel they have taken a choice that they would have not gotten to had they been rational, thinking beings – that's an error on my part, and rectified it must be.

Before recieving his bishophood, he was told that there was no vacant spot for a Bishop in his current church, and he would need to go elsewhere, where he could lead a congregation rather than be lead.

Throughout the ceremony he mulled over the subject. Years ago, he thought to seek out The Dungeon, but instead he had found himself a home in the Church. The semi-familial relations he had with his fellow priests and other members had come in lieu of the family he never had, and his search for a place to belong was concluded without even leaving the city.

But still, there were others - others that would be now as he was then, alone in the world, and who would be drawn to the Dungeon as he was.

And why wouldn't they be? It was the ultimate meritocracy, enforced in part by Gaia itself and in part by the clan representatives. You may find your death within, but discrimination was hard put to hold out in the face of such danger.

He would speak to the archbishop and attempt to set up a church there. He had understood that the Church was loathe to seek a foothold there, for logistical rather than political concerns - food arrived in vast quantities at the top level, but that was where the central trading hub was, as well. All supplies had to be transported down through all the layers, as teleportation to lower levels simply didn't work, so the lower down you went, the more expensive everything was.

On the top level, the church's influence would be minor, drowned out by the masses of people. Only on the lower levels, where healing and purification were rare and sought after, the church could become a central hub.

And so, as it always did, it came down to cost effectiveness.

But he had a plan, one that had been brewing in his mind since his first years in the Church.

The Church provided free healing - that was a fact, one of the definitive rules of the Church and the main reason for its massive success.

But free always attracted people, and people always had other needs, beyond those that were being freely fulfilled.

Chances were, that anyone seeking healing in The Dungeon would not be in their best condition. Food and board would be high in their list of priorities, and they would be looking for it as quickly as possible - it was a sound business venture, if he could find the right business partners.

And of course, any member of the Church could get a substantial discount by using contribution points instead if money, so even from a recruitment standpoint it looked favorable.

Oh, he knew there were those that looked askance at him for treating the Church as a business. But he had been dealing with the Church's finances for years, and in the end, results came about due to careful planning and calculated decisions and not by flights of fancy. Idealism or not, there was no substitute for two feet planted firmly in reality.

He would discuss it with the archbishop in the morning, and would hope for a favorable result.

And here he was, 3 months later, at floor 90 of the Dungeon. This was where he could make maximum impact, which meant that it was far beyond the safe areas of the Dungeon. He had severely underestimated the cost of what he was attempting. There was a reason that like-minded businessmen had not set up inns at the lower levels of the Dungeon - when a boss monster appeared, adventurers could simply run, but buildings were not so fortunate. It was only by a combination of extreme haggling, personal expenditure, favors he was owed, favors he now owed and the buying power of the Church that he had managed to arrange such a setup. The Church had provided a lump sum for the construction of the church, but that was intended for regular places where you could construct houses industrially.

In the middle of a mountainous chasm, surrounded by dire wolves, such an operation was...less possible.

At least the upkeep costs would be relatively low. The warding experts had suggested an apathy array, since matching the monsters power-to-power would be extremely energy-consuming. Luckily, that still fell under the god's domain of Protection, so it could be powered by prayer.

Most of the workforce enlisted in the construction were from the Dragon kingdom, some 15 levels below. They were high enough here that even adventurers a few levels down would rather come to the Church, risking a few high levels, than trudge all the way down to the Kingdom, which in total was a far greater risk.

The church itself had to be made of materials that wouldn't break after an assault or two - even the best wards could be overcome, and to not have a second line of defence may prove disastrous. The wards had to be weaved into the stones, and of course it had to be built in a way that attacking the building wouldn't disrupt the wards. It was not a simple matter, not a cheap one.

Well, at least the negotiations for the food supplies were going well. He was almost out of capital at this point, and there was still the matter of the priests that he was supposed to get. There was food that needed to be made and laundry, beds and cleaning, and it wasn't like you could get cheap labor out here in the middle of nowhere.

Oh well, they'll manage. And if he had to help out with the menial stuff, that would be good for morale, too.

The church was finally built, and became the last safe haven of the Dungeon - at least for the time being.

Although there weren't that many adventurers passing through - a trek this deep into the Dungeon would take a number of months, not to mention the dangers - but every one that did come this far, invariably came to the Church for healing, gossip and board.

One thing that he did not expect to happen was internal trade - which was particularly annoying, since if he had thought of setting up a small item booth he could have profited far more. As it was, even when the booth was set up, it served more as a general store than a trader's hut, with the majority of trade occuring between adventurers.

One unexpected bon was the amount of information he was aquiring. Only the stronger class of adventurers could make it this far, so the quality and veracity of the information he was getting on a daily basis was worth far more than the money the adventurers were supplying him with. To be fair, though, the information gained him church contribution points and not actual money - which would be nice in any civilized area, but it here the only one who would exchange contribution points for material objects was...himself.

Powering the wards was far simpler than he had imagined - they had placed a plaque outside that anyone who wishes to enter had to give thanks to the god, so that the wards would keep working, and that took care of that.

He had already requested another priest to help out, and the regularly supplies kept the place going, but he did have one problem.

One of the deals he made in order to get the church built was that he promised to house the Paladins of the order for half price.

This, in retrospect, was a mistake.

Once word got out that by joining the Church as a Paladin, you could essentially use the church for pittance, the number of Paladins in the level 90 area skyrocketed. Again, good for the Church, but less so for him.

Although... He was a Bishop now. He could not only five stuff for points, but also points for stuff, and services rendered.

And these Paladins returned to the lower levels eventually, and were pact-bound as he was...

This could be useful indeed.

The church had attracted its own professionals - a cook, blacksmith and tradesmen who wanted to set up shop in the safe confines of the church, to provide services to adventurers.

This would be a net gain, as they both agreed to give a percentage of their gains and they would of course pay for food and rent like the rest, but he was running out of space. Expanding the church's exterior would be as expensive as the original construction, but there were dwarfs in the Dragon King's realm that could dig deep and safe, it was said. He was in contact with them though the Paladins, and he had commissioned a huge cavern, twice the length of the church - he could see where this was going, and he had the means to do this properly all at once, rather that waste time and money doing small installments.

A number of clans already requested permanent rooms for their members - at a price of course - and the number of visitors kept increasing. The were getting hundreds of people a day, whereas when they started they would get that amount per month. It seemed that The Wastelands, the parts of the Dungeon beyond civilization, were now considered by some to begin after level 90, rather than 10 levels earlier. That was...a major cultural change. And all for what, 15 permanent residents of the church? Did they really believe that with that, they had pushed back the boundaries of civilization? A foolish prospect. He knew how many arrived at the church, and how many set out - many of the burial ceremonies he had conducted himself, which had also strengthened the influence of the Church.

That, and the constant prayers. Every adventurer ego reached the church and said 'thank god' was contributing, in part, to the general good of the Church. Although the wards drew power from the god, there were more enough people coming that they were breaking even on the power output, even giving back at times, which was a far cry from their initial condition. He had also instructed the Paladins - him, a quest-giver, hah - to mark the paths and erect signposts where needed, and that the sign if the Church be visible enough that everyone would know who to thank. The easier it would be to get to, the more the church could influence, after all.

A second layer of cavers was dug out. Then a third. Meet of the world's strongest found their way to his church, and so many cane each day that he could no longer get every one of them as he used to in the past. Many of them had even joined the Church - mostly for the benefits, but then again, hasn't he started out the same way?

His job became that of administration. It was said he was more one of the most influential bishops of the church. But it was no fun, anymore. The whole place was commercialised, and was more akin to a mall than the lone building in the middle of nowhere it had started out as.

In short, he was no longer needed here.

But the church here became a waypoint, allowing more and more to travel to the deeper levels, where they would no doubt need food, shelter and healing...

... This is second time I have attempted to stuff this character into the Librarian of Dragons pigeonhole and he has escaped.

Not sure what I think about that.