Chapter 7

Princess Rhinese walked away from the boy; back down the hall with the guard Glen following her. Crimson was a young man with short hair the darkest black she had ever seen; his eyes had been what really caught her though: they were silver. Not the blank silvery hue of metal, but a glimmering and shifting silver; almost like they were made of quicksilver. When he stood he was about a head taller than her and he was built lean.

It had not been hard to convince him to accept the position of a Delving Guard. When she had offered him a job the black-haired boy had stared at her blankly for a second. After that second had passed she could almost see things clicking into place in his brain as he figured out what she was talking about.

It was apparent that his memory loss wasn’t permanent based of that little moment; it just appears that he needs stimulation for it to come back to him.

A Delving Guard was the proper term for a kingdom contracted dungeon explorer. Among adventurers they were considered little more than an amusing joke. Their job was to enter the dungeon on the kingdom’s behalf; they are not allowed to keep any of the drops or money they gain from the dungeon and are paid 20% of the profits they get from the dungeon. The only way they are allowed to keep a drop is in the event that an authority figure decided that they got to keep it as a reward.

To most this is a system of complete downsides, but there are a few things that make it attractive. First: you are given free room and board for as long as you are meeting your quota. Second: you can receive free training. Third: the position isn’t permanent you are given the option to resign every five levels or, if you failed to meet that, every six months. Fourth: the fatality rate is lower.

This system offered a huge advantage to someone like Crimson who literally has nothing to his name but, his name. The system for adventurers requires payment for lessons and has a higher fatality rate due to improperly formed parties and lack of experience.

While it is true that the monetary gain for Adventurers is much higher Princess Rhinese thought the Delving Guard system was better. What use is money if you’re dead? It’s not like Delving Guards give up 80% of their dungeon gain for no reason. Most of it is funneled back into the program itself paying for their room, board, food, training, equipment, repairs, and medical treatment.

There is one other advantage that Delving Guards hold over Adventurers: they are taught how to fight humans, not just monsters. Adventurers spend all their time learning to fight monsters: adapting to their attacks and learning party positioning. None of that prepares you for fighting a human.

People aren’t like monsters; they don’t have glowing or glaring weak points, you can never be sure what they are capable of, and they are far more intelligent and adaptive. All of these combined factors mean that the adventurers can easily be crushed in HvH (Human vs Human) fight. They rely far too heavily on their high stats against monsters.

Princess Rhinese personally believed that being able to fight well against both man and monsters was one of the best ways to survive as an adventurer. There was always the possibility of teammates betraying each other or of a group being ambushed by a jealous party.

Not being able to fight against humans was a huge detriment not just as far as skill and tactics, but mentality as well: killing a human is very different from killing a monster.

She had experienced that personally when a party she had temporarily joined had been ambushed for their party leader’s magic sword. Naturally these kinds of things are forbidden in the Adventurer’s Guild, but it’s difficult to regulate a dungeon. It’s even been known to happen when a spy has joined another party to help an ambush go well.

It’s because of that reason specifically that it is usually hard to join the Delving Guards. There is a huge vetting period for anyone that wants to join. The only reason Crimson was able to join easily was because of three different reasons. First: he had not told Princess Rhinese a single lie.

The glowing orb that Inquisitor Glen was carrying was a skilled called [Truth’s Reckoning] it temporarily gave an object the ability to tell lies from truth by changing the color it was glowing. [Truth’s Reckoning] hadn’t flickered once during the entire conversation. If he had told a single lie it would have been dangerous for him. The one downside to [Truth’s Reckoning] is that it won’t catch lies that the speaker BELIEVES to be true. Case-in-point when it didn’t turn red when Crimson had told her that the last thing he remembered was dying. If he didn’t truly believe he died there it would have turned red.

The second reason Crimson was offered the position of Delving Guard was because of the spell [Healing Light]. Not only does it deal heavy damage to undead but it also has different effects on people depending on their alignment. People who are evil will experience pain. It will still fill their health and heal their wounds, but it will hurt like crazy. People who are neutral aligned will feel discomfort. Finally people who have the good alignment will feel good.

Crimson had not flinched in pain nor twisted in discomfort, but relaxed when the spell was cast. That simply means that he had a good alignment; one of the requirements of being a Delving Guard. Having the good alignment is one of the other reasons that the fatality rate is so low: the guards are more likely to look out for each other and not turn on each other.

The third and final reason why Crimson was offered a position as a Delving Guard was simply because Princess Rhinese was the one who interrogated him. If it had been anybody else he would have been simply tossed out into the street with an apology for locking him up, but she’d had a feeling that offering him the position would be…beneficial for her.

Princess Rhinese walked up the stairs leading out of the prison and into the sun. She shaded her eyes as she looked at the partially cloudy sky. It was a very beautiful day right in the middle of spring. There was still a bite of cold in the air making it slightly chilly, but not unbearable. The sun was a little over the horizon indicating that the time was approximately nine in the morning.

The castle wall was shaped like a hexagon from the top and extended over forty feet in the air. The prison was situated on the south western side just outside the main wall. There were another two walls creating a triangle with the main wall and the two external walls. The design was such to prevent any escaped or revolting prisoners from getting to the castle and to prevent them from escaping. It would keep them trapped.

Princess Rhinese walked back to the portcullis and waited as it was slowly raised into the air. There were hundreds of little runes engraved onto it; one on each rivet and bar to strengthen and reinforce it. Individually none of the runes were very strong, but together they made a gate that could stand up to siege equipment. When it comes to prisoners: you never take chances.

She passed under the wall and reached the other side; taking a moment to appreciate the courtyard garden. The courtyard itself had a pathway leading from the castle in the center to each one of the sides of the hexagon shaped walls. There were three pathways that formed the same shape as the wall: one on the outside right next to the wall, on in the middle, and one going around the castle. In-between all these pathways were gardens planet with a wide variety of plants.

Princess Rhinese took in the sight and scent of the flowers before walking along the path to the center of the castle. As she neared the center path she noticed a young man right off the path tending to some bright red flowers. He glanced over at her, then stood up and brushed the dirt off himself. He smiled warmly before walking over to her.

“Rhinese! Dear sister how are you doing this fine day?” The man inquired pleasantly.

“I…am in fine health, Kaine,” responded Princess Rhinese, “What are you doing out here on this rather…cold spring morning?”

“Why, Rhinese! I am simply tending the flowers. Since I lost the position of Crown Prince I have had a great amount of time to pursue ALL my interests. Botany and floristry just happen to be two of them,” Kaine told her with a bright smile.

“I must as that you address me as Regent Princess, and not by my name, Kaine.”

“My deepest apologies Regent Princess Rhinese. I was acting out of habit. I still have precious memories of the days when I got to watch you tot around as a child and keep you out of trouble. It is due to these memories as well as our familial bond that I refereed to you by your name. I meant no disrespect.”

Kaine told her all this with a remorseful expression on his face. She and Kaine shared a very close resemblance to each other despite the seven year age gap; the same brown hair the same hazel eyes. Although he wasn’t a handsome man to her beautiful woman he was still considered very good looking.

She glanced over at Inquisitor Glen seeing that he had long disengaged his [Truth’s Reckoning] skill.

Princess Rhinese gazed at Kaine for a long moment. “So long as you understand; I will over look this.”

He bowed to her with a bright smile as she walked away.

Those so called precious memories of yours would mean more if you actually felt anything.