(Premium POV)

Lord Aeyrs seemed to almost crash when he tried landing outside the castle, and Planthra and I had rushed to help. She had cast a dozen restoration spells, and his body slowly mended. His scales were falling from his body and forcefully regrown, one after another, albeit incredibly slowly. His scales seemed tainted with black creeping veins that seemed to latch onto each scale and made healing and tending to his wounds ever harder and more intensive. This continued for little over a minute before Rubidia and Katrine rushed outside to help.

As she ran, she looked in horror, as the first sight of her lord was of him in a deathly state. “My lord! What happened!” Katrina spoke out in a concerned professional voice that she always spoke in, but got no answer.

Katrina was one of Misfortune and Planthra’s shared underlings, and as such, she learned skills from both of their skill sets. She appeared human and wore a classy dark purple suit to match her professional nature. She was a talented healer and assassin along with being one of the smartest minds the castle had. She had small silver earrings with tiny amethyst in the center, and a slim silver band on her left arm. Her hands made bright green spell circles and soon the scales were being replaced at double the speed.

Rubidia placed one hand on the end of her staff and a dozen spell circles of gold and green formed at the tip before she aimed her staff at Lord Aeyrs. She had tears in her eyes and beads of sweat forming above her brow, but she continued to load her staff with healing spells and to use them on Lord Aeyrs for several cycles until she was forced to rest to take a mana potion. Lord Aeyrs twitched his eyes, either in pain or the disappearance of it. His massive body shambled in place, quivering and reeling in pain. He lifted his head from the ground only slightly for a massive intake of air and turned his head to us.

He winced for a moment before his massive eye opened and stared at Rubidia. "Rubidia, you are level 900, aren't you?" He said, his voice mixed with screeches of pain.

She quickly removed the flask from her lips and answered him in a quivering voice. “Y-yes!” Her body shook, as it didn’t know how else to respond.

He blinked a long and painful blink, before saying anything else. “What tier magic can you cast?” The creeping black veins on his scales have been slowly fading but his body still convulsed in the pain of shedding tens of thousands of scales.

She looked at him cautiously, her voice full of worry. “T-tier 24!” She gripped her staff tightly, her knuckles whiter than any cloud, her staff vibrated in her grasp.

He took a long breath and decided what was best. “Go to the library, to Ashen’s desk, and retrieve the scroll of dragon upgrade. Premium, tell Ashen to come home, now!” His head fell back to the dirt, and his body trembled the earth evermore.

Rubidia rushed off to the castle, her feet hurried to not waste a single instance of time. Katrine continued her work, and pulled out small needles filled with blue liquid, and injected them across his body, in critical positions that needed intensive care. I did what I could, and sent a single message to lord Ashen. There was no response, only his appearance in front of me, the Star-Mates and Xylith nowhere to be seen. He ripped his armor and equipment from his portal and quickly equipped all of it in but a blink of my eyes.

His face trembled and a single molten tear leaked from his eye, and he spoke out in a heart-broken cry of pain. “Brother!” To which, his brother only breathed harder, not having the energy to move.

I stepped away from them, as my healing capabilities are limited to myself, and only the dedicated healers could be any use now. He looked at lord Aeyrs with sorrow and a deep concentration. His mind was thinking of some way to mend his wounds, something that we couldn’t do. His mind raced, his heartbeat was audible, and his fists clenched around his staff. The ground seemed to crack slightly around him, but his body was frozen and unmoving. His eyes twitched and the flames from his shoulder grew taller and brighter until he dropped his staff.

His hands twitched slightly before he held lord Aeyrs’ head in his hands and uttered quiet words. “I’m sorry.” His words caused Lord Aeyrs’ body to glow brightly, more so than the sun that was overhead.

Lord Aeyrs kept getting brighter until it all fizzled out in a moment that was followed by a second of darkness. Lord Ashen dropped to his knees as Lord Aeyrs started to stand. Lord Aeyrs’ wounds seemed fixed but in an instant, the black veins erased from existence. Lord Aeyrs managed to stand, no longer affected by pain. Lord Aeyrs let out a massive tear, quenching Lord Ashen’s and creating a teardrop of obsidian. Lord Aeyrs embraced Lord Ashen, surrounding him with his massive body. Rubidia came back with the scroll but placed it on the ground before we all left them alone.

The bright flash of light and the crash had gotten the attention of many maids and butlers, and some of the higher leveled individuals as well. “Everyone, go to the dining hall, we have news,” I spoke out, trying to convince myself that everything was going to be alright.

In fifteen minutes, the majority of the castle had gathered in the dining hall, and they were all informed of the events that took place moments ago. We had a long moment of silence to think about what happened. Our Lord could have died if not for the other lord, we weren’t strong enough to help him directly. We could only ever stall time, and soothe his pain momentarily. Most of the maids wept quietly, some butlers did the same, and the four of us that were there personally cried the most.

Work was resumed, as everyone had a job to do. Kraken prepared food along with the other chefs. Misfortune documented her findings and went back to gather more information. Titan and his group continued their search after returning two red crystals. I continued talking with the dwarves and making negotiations with them. Planthra helped me with negotiations, by increasing the soil quality in one of their shallow farming mountains. Arath was given the job of harvesting the souls of those who perished so they don’t haunt the mountains and to execute traitors and criminals that the dwarves declare as outlaws.

About four days had rolled over since the event, and a few dozen people had ventured up the mountains to find the source of the light, only to be sent back empty-handed. Both Lord Ashen and Lord Aeyrs had separated the same day, talking quietly to one another before parting ways. Lord Ashen has returned to the demon lands, and Lord Aeyrs has stayed at the castle, at the top of the main tower, where he has stayed in solitude, the maids only leaving large heaps of food outside his door which he takes in secret. Hairz had stopped by twice, the first he was looking for Lord Ashen, and the second, he wanted to talk to me.

Today, we had more work planned for us, as we got a trade offer from the dwarves. They wanted to see how skilled our craftsmen were and wanted to see our blacksmith forge a sword before their eyes. I had talked with Abaron, the blacksmith of the castle already, and he was willing to, we only need permission from one of the lords to allow the dwarves inside, or to allow Abaron to go to the dwarves’ domain. Normally I would ask Lord Aeyrs without fear of disturbing him, as he had given me the go-ahead to ask him anytime, but I was unsure as of late, as his condition was still unknown to us.

I could have asked Lord Ashen, but Lord Aeyrs had requested to keep the dwarves away from him as he was always dealing with something more important. I consulted Misfortune and Planthra on whether I should ask, wait, or just go ahead. Planthra preferred the option of waiting, as we should ask one of the Lords, but Misfortune preferred doing the task regardless. She said she would bear any punishment that would come from it alongside me, as she was coming to a heavy decline in information gathering, she thought of moving further away from the castle, to the Beastlands, where she could collect an intellectual gold mine of information of the multitude of species in the world and was going to pursue this on half-stable orders from Lord Ashen.

He said she may gather information from the Bandarainian empire first, then move to another when useful information was too scarce, yet she regularly reported somewhat important information. She took it upon herself as I will too, and permitted for Abaron to visit the dwarves, as that would be less risky than allowing the dwarves into the castle. Misfortune’s last report was something special though, and it was something I have been waiting for too. A wicked smile pierced my face when I heard the news, and a newfound flow of joy had sprung up inside me.

Her last report before changing nations was simply splendid. “In light of recent political instability in the south-eastern part of the Bandarainian empire, several hidden factors have finally been revealed to me while investigating the underground crime ring in the capital. Not only is there a cult, but they seem to worship the demons, and more importantly, the demon lord. Amongst ulterior motives, they have a wish for the demon lord to take over the world. It seems that their numbers are small compared to the empire, but in the capital city alone had several thousand followers.” She too knew what this would mean in the grand scheme of things, and even to someone like me, who wasn’t blessed with great intelligence, this was a great opportunity.

But she continued her report, still having to cover three more invaluable pieces. “On a related note, I heard a name that was not native to this world, and it startled me for a moment when I heard it. One of the leaders had uttered Lord Small Cloud. There was no mistake, his name was said clearly as if they knew of him on a personal level. The context was unimportant, as It seems like they randomly said his name mid-sentence, but still, the smallest chance that another lord is in this world exists, and we must try to find him.” I started to tear up slightly, my eyes were shedding a tear each.

But her report continued, and I waited with bated breath. “Unrelated to Lord Small Cloud, there was talk about Lord Ashen and plenty of rumors thrown around the capital that they started to overlap one another. The majority of the rumors were just that, rumors, which held no truth, but some were actual tellings of what he has done. I heard that beast king Thal Waterfang had started to hear the word of Lord Ashen from the people. He has already heard a word from king Erik Von Ranznedese when he wrote a letter to inform the nations of Lord Ashen’s potential danger to the continent. I am going to investigate that further but the one rumor worthy of mention was something strange. Lord Ashen was killing the strongest adventurers in private, something that we know to be false unless he kept it from us, but they believe that explains why a handful of the best adventurers were slowly going missing.” Another interesting thing to note, but why start a rumor like that when he has shown that he tends to stay far from cities most of the time?

I would have to think about it later, but I still had to hear the last part of the report. “The last thing to report isn’t particularly as interesting or important as the first three, but still noteworthy nonetheless. Some of the wizards in the capital have been observing the sky with extraordinary curiosity and focus before. After digging around for more information, I stumbled across the reason why. The three moons were supposed to align this year, within the next three months, but with the addition of the fourth moon, there is the very slim chance that the four of them will line up. I haven’t found the exact reason why the alignment is so important outside of a single wizard ranting to himself about moon magic. He talked to himself in half-broken sentences, so I had to piece together what he said but I think I got the gist of it. Some very rare individuals can only use the mana that the moons generate, and only these individuals can use the moons’ mana in the first place. Their strength is said to rival a nation’s magical army if they were to train and master their abilities. But the alignment of two or more moons will awaken anyone who doesn’t know they have the ability, and will strengthen their power for as long as the moons are aligned.” I think I got the gist of that too, or at least I hope I did.

She left after eating in the dining hall and left me to my thoughts. The moon casters are unusually potent but restricted to only moon magic. Only these moon casters can use moon mana, and as a result, their rarity makes them even more powerful, as only a master moon caster would be able to take a master moon caster down. Their power is said to rival an entire nation’s magical army too, so they would have no trouble taking over a kingdom should they exist and want to. Though moon casters are strong, their power can be amplified when the moons align and any moon caster that is unaware of their gift will become aware of it? I believe I got that right, but why would the wizards be so worked up over it, they already use normal magic and as such have no chance to be identified as a moon caster, so what is it they are after?

I slowly let it slip my mind, and instead, focused back on the task I was on before Misfortune’s report, and knocked on the reinforced wooden door that led to the blacksmith’s workshop. “Come in,” Abaron spoke in a thick hefty voice, that was deep but not as deep as Arath’s voice.

I opened the door and walked inside, twisting my body to allow for the shield and sword on my back to make it through the door. “Greetings Abaron, it has been some time.” I bowed lightly, and he returned the gesture before dunking a red-hot bar of metal into the water for cooling.

He had his leather clothes with small metal plating sprinkled down his arms and legs on as he normally did, and his beard had gotten thicker since last I’ve seen him. “Long time, no see, what have you been up to lately? Or more importantly, what’s been happening lately? I feel it’s every other week something happens that I’m left in the dark about. Earthquakes, mana pulses, crashes, what the hell has happened out there!?” His thoughts and questions were completely warranted, as he was ordered to stay in the workshop for most of his life at the castle. He was constantly making weapons, armor, and various metal objects for the castle, and as of late nobody has visited him.

I took a deep breath before answering him. “The castle has been transported to a different world than the one we once knew. Only Lord Aeyrs and Lord Ashen remain with us, the other lords have not been found yet. And as of five days ago, Lord Aeyrs has taken critical injury and has been recovering since.” The look of regretful horror on his face clearly showed his feelings.

He slowly recovered and put the rod of metal into the furnace. “Now I just sound like a dick for asking, I should have guessed something awful happened, I felt it in my chest five days ago. I, I’m sorry.” He pulled the rod from the furnace, it glowed brighter than before and he pummeled it with his mallet, flattening it significantly. “I’m not much use to anybody outside of the workshop, so this is all that I can do for us.” His mallet fell once more, his skills allowed for the shaping of the metal to be much faster, and already it started to look like a crown.

He hammered the crown again, it’s shaped much more apparent, and threw it back into the furnace. “Well, the dwarves wanted to watch you work in their workshop for a few days. They wanted to see the skill of our finest blacksmith and you are the best around.” He stopped for a moment, he hasn’t left his workshop in a little over a year, so his first experience with the rest of the world was going to be with foreigners rather than the people he knew.

He pulled the crown from the furnace and hammered once more, the crown’s shape nearly completed. “If that is what I am told to do, then I shall of course obey.” A final fall of his mallet and the crown’s molding was complete, it only needed to cool and to have gems embedded inside.

He sunk the crown in the water, and I spoke up once more, in a softer tone. “The dwarves have a very strong appreciation for great works of metallurgy and great blacksmiths, although, unlike the dwarves you once knew, these dwarves don’t build massive dungeons. On top of that, they seem to have a strong affinity for earth magic, and some dwarves can cast high-tier magic spells. Although the majority cannot utilize magic over tier 6, the best of their wizards can cast up to tier 16. But contradictory to their magical prowess, their levels average out around 80-140, with their highest leveled individual being level 168, and also their king. Their levels should be nothing dangerous for you, considering that you are level 900, but some of their magic could pose a threat if enough wizards use their strongest spells.” He pulled the crown from the large basin of water and started drying it with a white cloth.

His hands shook slightly, almost undetectably, and he dried the crown before setting it down on a wooden table. “I, I see. So I should be cautious just in case, but they shouldn’t be a problem should they act hostile? Well, I’m not exactly a skilled fighter like you or a skilled magic user like Rubidia, but I was taught enough to survive a fight if the time arises.” He started patting his hammer that he put on his belt, and I assumed that was the weapon of choice for him.

My mind was conflicted, only slightly, but still conflicted over how to handle things. “So, Abaron, what exactly have you made in the last four months?” I felt bad for him, not having the chance to leave his workshop, being alone for all this time, not talking with anyone besides the occasional maid that brings him a large stock of food once a month.

He picked his head up for a moment and looked at me with a smile. “Oh, nothing much, just the usual. Let’s see, about 34,000 swords, 12,000 spears, 28,000 shields, 1,200 staffs, 650 door handles and hinges, 6,600 sets of armor, 64,000 random cleaning supplies, a couple of dozen pots and pans for the kitchen, and a few hundred thousand miscellaneous utensils that they keep ‘misplacing’” I was taken aback, the thought of him creating so many things in such a short amount of time was insane.

I gulped and tried to calm my mind of swirling thoughts. “I see, well, what you will have to make with the dwarves will be nothing compared to the workload you would have here. Does the castle seriously go through that many resources in just four months?” If so, there is a serious problem with resource management or the quality of his crafts.

He lowered his head slightly and started shaking it from side to side. “Nope, very rarely will any of them be used, I just make them so we have a surplus to prevent us from not having anything we might need. This year’s workload has been the easiest so far, you wouldn’t believe what I had to make in years prior.” I had an idea if barely anything that he makes is used for the castle, couldn’t we sell or use the already existing items?

I would have to ask one of the lords for sure, but the idea wasn’t half bad. “Isn’t that a waste of materials then? Couldn’t we reallocate the metal elsewhere?” The number of raw materials he would need yearly would be massive, and if most of it wasn’t needed, then it was nearly a complete waste.

He scratched the back of his head slightly and chuckled lightly to himself. “So even you don’t know? Damn, I guess I’m the best well-kept secret of the castle. I can passively generate materials to work with, they just grow from the nearby rock where they can be mined and processed, which is why Charal has been down here with me for all these years.” Wait, who’s Charal?

The look of confusion on my face said what was on my mind, but my mouth repeated my thoughts. “Charal?” His face dropped for a moment.

He stuttered for a moment but eventually got his words out, his voice in utter shock. “Wait seriously!? You don’t even know that she exists? Uh, Charal, the miner? Ring a bell? The one who has been mining for the last six years? Don’t tell me nobody knows of her?” I felt bad like I had offended both their existence by not knowing them.

Before long, a dirty woman walked in, covered in black patches of dust and dirt, and she spoke in a very confused tone. “What’s all the commotion?” She took a long look at me and continued. “Who’s this guy?” At least the feeling was mutual, and if she didn’t know me, then it was even.

Abaron looked even more surprised as if she was supposed to know but acted like she didn’t. “You too? I could have sworn you two have met before.” He started walking in circles and talked quietly to himself.

Her clothes were dirty, but they looked like some standard mining clothes, the only abnormal part was a massive scarf wrapped around her neck, so long it draped three meters behind her. “Right, but you still didn’t answer my question, who the heck is this guy?” She spoke in a stubborn voice, and it made me feel a lot better about not knowing who she was.

I coughed to clear my throat and redirected my attention to her. “I am Premium, one of four level 950 staff members of the castle, and the general of its military.” Something clicked in her head and her face showed what could only be described as her remembering something.

She smacked her hands together and spoke aloud in a shocked tone. “Oh! I still don’t know who you are. Besides, I do not need to know as I have my job to do, and it doesn’t require me to talk to some ‘general’ or really anyone but him.” She pointed at Abaron over her shoulder with her thumb in a rather disappointed tone.

I was thinking for a moment and decided to just go for it. “Well Charon, Abaron was going to the dwarves for a few days, and you are going to go with him. He is going to forge a few items for them to watch him and they also needed a bit of help with their mines as they were a bit short-handed after a series of cave-ins.” She seemed annoyed but shrugged it off.

She sighed after a few seconds and agreed. “Fine, as long as I get good food, I’ll do what you want.” I guess she wants something different than the basic rations they are given.

After an hour for them to collect things to bring, I escorted them to the dwarves and they set off to do their jobs. I will inevitably face punishment for acting freely, but at least the relations with the dwarves will improve and trade can be expanded upon. I even heard that a few dwarves were going to live in Wheatberg, but I didn’t know the reason. Perhaps they wanted to live above-ground for a change or they were just curious about the outside world and cities, or something entirely different even. But before I had much time to think, I was summoned to Lord Aeyrs, and we had a long discussion.

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(Ashen POV)

Although my mind was littered with thoughts and worries of my brother, I still found a way to have fun with Xylith and the Star-Mates. I had to explain to them what happened but now wasn’t the time. I told Xylith though, as she seemed the most worried and didn’t believe me when I said that I only left to grab a few things from the castle that I had forgotten. She knew that I have everything I could ever need in my pocket dimension, so there would be no point to go to the castle, but the Star-Mates would believe that I still had something in the castle that I could have forgotten at the moment. Long story short, Xylith knows about what happened, but the Star-Mates are still unaware.

I had gotten a single message from Misfortune since the incident, and she told me that they told the majority of the castle staff of the event. She also asked to let them know ahead of time before returning, but the details about why were unknown to me. The last few days we spent in Apoctaclass was mostly spent exploring the town with plenty of stops for food at the many restaurants that served basically the same stuff. Since the town relied mostly on the magical crops and very rare creatures that roamed, the vast majority of the food in the town was the same. They had started construction of another ring of walls, with the entire ring planning to be an agricultural area, which means I would have to add more crystals to boost the already existing one’s range.

We stayed at the Gold Tooth Inn, which was a rather cozy place compared to the other towns I’ve seen. The staff was of all different races and was mostly women as far as I could tell. Apparently, the long famine had made most of the races appear as just a general race of demons, but now that most families had access to proper food, albeit not much meat, the differences in each race were much more apparent. It also made me think of what this all meant, as races shouldn’t look too similar because of a famine, so the entire event just screamed: 'something magical is going on'. I didn’t have the luxury of researching it, but now that I could tell the difference, I noticed the huge variety of races that made up what people called: Demons.

There were Devilkin, who had long skinny tails, large curving red horns, and dark red skin. They were innately magical and had a strong affinity towards death magic. There were the Arachnids, who were just half-human half-spider. They were mostly carnivores and had suffered the most from the famine, almost dying out if not for the very rare and massive creatures that they hunted. Dullahans were rare but didn’t look much different from the one I met a long time ago. There were Zallamari, a race similar to Devilkin but the one glaring difference was their massive wings and bright blue bodies.

There were three dozen more races, but most seemed to just have large horns, claws or fangs in different styles that weren’t all too different from the others. There also seemed to be a large number of zombies and skeletons that did most of the labor around the town, which seemed odd, as they were still semi-sentient. They lost most of their brain functions when they died, but their souls still retained some core memories. They were more or less the slave class, but not treated as slaves per se. They did most of the work of building the walls and collecting the lumber from the trees, along with maintaining the farms.

The political system seemed much similar to the castle’s, with the strong ruling over the weak. But strength isn’t uniform, and just being strong physically isn’t enough. The elders that ran the city had their strengths and weaknesses, but overall were the best of the best when it came to the city. Either they were the smartest, fastest, strongest, most magically adept, or whatever else, they were the peak of anyone that tried for the role. On top of being the best, they also had to be fairly good at political affairs and running the city, so that lowered the possible candidate even lower than before.

I needed to refocus on what I came here for, I am only a visitor, and I am not going to affect the town on any major scale. I only came here to get a look around the town and ended up staying to explore the place for a week. We already agreed to head back to the castle when a week had passed, and it’s already been four days. I hoped that Aeyrs would be able to be up and moving by the time of our return to tell them without them fearing his life was in danger. I knew he would survive, my intuition and magic told me he would, but the thought still nagged my mind, not weakening for a moment.

We were going to leave the restaurant we were at soon, all but Xylith had finished their meals. She only had a few bites left, as she savored the taste of the magical crops. I also got a strange message from Vron though, as he was given new orders to watch over Aeyrs and update me if anything happened, for better or for worse, and he could act for me until I arrived, which wouldn’t be that long at all, but knowing the magic in this world, a second could be the difference between surviving and not. His message was something unrelated to his condition, but he told me regardless.

Father, Aeyrs and Premium were talking, and I overheard something, out of line for Premium’s character. This had many strange indications, but I would have to know what was so strange before coming to any conclusions.

What did you hear? I asked directly, as I didn’t have much time before we left and I wanted to get to the point.

He took it upon himself to issue orders to the other guild staff, and Misfortune did as well. Misfortune decided to search for information in the Beast nation, while Premium authorized Abaron to go with the dwarves for a short while. Aeyrs used one of his skills to prevent me from hearing anything else, so that was all I can report. I guess his actions weren’t exactly malicious, but the thought of them rebelling was troublesome, as I didn’t have it in me to fight in a guild civil war.

I thought for a second but responded. Understood, keep up the good work. If you feel the need, you can start working on something in the meantime while watching over Aeyrs, but keep it to a point where you can stop at a moment's notice. He grunted understanding and the telepathy stopped just in time for Amber to ask a question to me.

Her bright and cheerful eyes met my cold and unmoving ones, but she didn’t mind. “So where are we going today, papa?” As of the last few days, and after the story we used to help blend them into the crowd, they started calling me father and variants of the word as to not spill information.

I stroked my chin, acting the part of an old father trying to take his children somewhere they all will have fun, which was a serious challenge, even without acting like it was. “Why don’t one of you choose? We can use magical sticks to leave it up to chance. And don’t worry, their lengths are random and not even I can determine which one’s the longest, so having a higher magical affinity will give you no upper-hand. Random is random after all, and fair plays a big part in randomness.” With my words, eight identical pieces of dimly glowing wire were made between my hands, their lengths hidden between my palms.

The eight of them pulled, and almost like fate, the order of smallest to largest went from Ember to Xylith in the perfect order of the Star-Mates. “This thing is rigged!” Cobalt screamed, her voice cutesy enough to make the other customers amused rather than annoyed.

I just gave her a light chuckle, as did everyone else did, and lightly messed with her. “Sometimes true randomness seems the least random.” She pouted for a few seconds, slowly easing up over time.

Xylith thought for a long time, the group waited patiently though, and she came to a rather interesting conclusion. “We could try dungeon diving if it’s open yet that is.” The way she said it made me think much harder than I should.

Does that mean this town has a dungeon? “Oh? Why don’t we go check then.” We all stood up, their weapons were kept in small one-item rings that I made to not act too suspicious, although it might have backfired somewhat.

Before we left, a Cellair came up to us, evident by its massive horns and thick grey beard and muscular legs, a prime example of their species. “The dungeon is but an infant, but it has some rather peculiar features if I do say so myself.” The old man spoke in a wise but slightly crazy voice, indicating his age to be far beyond a few measly centuries.

I turned to the man simply nodding before speaking. “I see, we will be on the look-out for anything strange, thank you for the heads up.” We exchanged simple goodbyes and we left to go pursue this dungeon.

After we started walking down the direction Xylith started in, I decided to ask her a question. “So Xylith, how did you find out about the dungeon, even I heard nothing of it yet.” She blinked a few times, but just scratched her head.

She awkwardly laughed and slowly spit out the truth. “I uh, snuck out from the inn a few times during the night and talked to a few individuals I knew were trustworthy, and one of them spilled all that they knew.” She knew that sneaking out was dangerous, but she also knew I would be able to save her in most instances, so I guess she felt safe doing such.

I flicked her on the head, once again, it wasn’t hard enough to damage her but just enough to give her a small tinge of pain to make her understand that it was a poor decision overall. “Fine, I guess we all have nightly, ‘desires’.” I looked at Cobalt, and soon everyone did too, and her face turned red rather quickly.

The group had differing thoughts on what I implied, but Lavender had the idea spot-on. “You mean when she was stalking your half-naked body every night?” Cobalts face froze, embarrassment filling every aspect of her being.

She started mouthing words but couldn’t say anything, but I still confirmed her thoughts. “Yes, amongst, ‘other activities’.” Cobalt was no doubt one of the most perverted NPCs, but even I didn’t think she would resort to sneaking into my bed and forcefully laying with me and only moving back to her bed before anyone woke.

Since I didn’t really need to sleep, I was able to witness the entire scene, every night, and she was only now enlightened of it. “Like when she tries to sleep with you?” To which I gave another confirmation.

My head nodded, and cobalt grew redder and redder in the face, nearly matching the color of cherries. “Yes, and that one night when she took it a little, ‘too far’.” Xylith listened intently to what I was saying, as to her, it seemed like things were getting rather intimate between us but she only heard half of the story, and out of context portions at that.

Lavender exposed what said actions were once again, and Cobalt looked on the verge of passing out, her nose already trickling with blood, but not from being hurt. “I presume you are referring to the night she tried to take mana from your mana pool and ended wetting her sheets before replacing them?” It was hilarious the way she said it all with a simplistic voice, which reminded me of my monotone voice without being monotone, and at the same time, I felt bad for Cobalt, since her personal ‘adventures’ were being spoiled to not only the rest of the group but also the passing citizens.

I picked Cobalt up and held her in a princess carry, as it helped conceal the magic I was using to calm her emotions. “Maybe we should leave her be for a while, she’s barely breathing as is.” She calmed down rather quickly, whether it was because of the magic or just because I carried her, I had no clue.

We talked about some minor topics on the way to the dungeons, and slowly but surely we knew we were close, as there were many individuals clad in heavier armor and carrying weapons and staying parties. I found a few buildings that explained their presence, a guild building, albeit strictly for the city, plenty of blacksmiths and shops that focused on adventure goods and even a few magic shops. We didn’t need to go to the guild unless it was required, but we did not need it if it wasn’t. We had enough power to take out any threat we have encountered so far, barring the Puppet Master, but she hasn’t been on the material plane yet.

Upon reaching the entrance to the dungeon, which resembled a massive stone temple-looking structure that barely rose past the surrounding buildings of my make and design. “This looks like…” I trailed my words, pursing my lips to prevent any information from escaping. “We should try to get in line before all the interesting loot is gone.” It seemed like the entrance was mobbed with groups talking and conversing loudly, unlike the organized entrance to the other dungeon I visited a long while ago.

Before we even got close to the entrance some bumbling Zallamari came up to us, its wings ripped and torn and it’s body littered in scars and wounds, leaving a trail of bluish-red blood behind as he limped to us. “You there! Please, please help me! Nobody will help me! I am going to die if not healed soon!” It seemed like nobody paid him much thought, maybe he was an outcast or something. “Please! I’ll do anything! Just please save my life!” I weighed the pros and cons for a moment, to anyone else it felt like an instant, but for me, it felt like ten minutes.

I reached my hand into one of the pockets of my robe and grabbed a small green gem from my pocket dimension under the illusion that it was in my pocket, and held it out in front of me. “I see something in you that I have yet to see in anyone besides my wife and children, so I shall spare you under one condition.” His eyes seemed to fixate on the gem for a moment, and another glob of blood splattered on the ground making him respond quickly.

He winced in pain at losing the amount of blood that he did would cause and grunted his words through his clenched teeth. “Anything!” I smiled, not many saw it, but those that did would quickly look away.

I threw mana through the gem, quickly making it shine and a few more gazes looked at us, but most were fixated on the gem rather than the bleeding man. “You will be mine until you pay off your debt.” The gem slowly vanished, dissipating from reality as small spark-like green pieces of it slowly trickled into his body, through his wounds, mouth, eyes, ears, and nostrils.

The man prematurely thought he would be in great pain, as did many others, but there was no pain, not even the pain he felt before, and soon he looked over himself, patting at where his wounds once were. “T-this is unbelievable! My gods! With healing like that, you’ll put the mad doctor out of business!” Oh great, there’s a mad doctor now?

People were starting to crowd around us, just barely and not many but it was still noticeable. “We are going to brave the depths of the dungeon, with us you will have no fear of the afterlife, that is if you can keep up. Also, we will talk at length down the line when our schedule is freed.” He vigorously shook his head in understanding, but a going of fear for the dungeon still braced his eyes. “Before we move inside, what is your name?” He looked confused slightly, but swallowed any hesitation and answered quickly.

His voice seemed both calm and nervous like he couldn’t decide which at any given time. “Aydren, sir! And if you don’t mind me asking for yours?” He wasn’t the only one wanting to know, as a few others were lending their ears now too.

I stalled for a moment, how many identities should one man have? “Think nothing of it, but I am Ashen Fur” I felt like revealing myself to the public was a slightly, if not absolutely, idiotic move so I made sure only he could hear it, and as such he froze for a moment, he recognized the name but it didn’t click for him, at least not yet.

We continued towards the dungeon, only waiting for a little over four minutes to get inside as the people that saw the show was slowly stepping out of the way, which I could only guess at why, but wouldn’t waste the offer regardless. “S-sir, if you don’t mind me asking…” He trailed off, mumbling to himself in a voice too quiet for even him to hear.

I sighed and decided to help him with anything he needed, so long as it was simple and easy that was. “Out with it Aydren, we don’t have much time before the dungeon.” He seemed to quicken his rambles and breath in a heavy breath.

He built courage, albeit, rather quickly compared to everyone I’ve met in this world so far. “I need a weapon, as I lost my in the dungeon, and was wondering where all of yours were. I see armor and all, but no weapons in sight besides the red one’s book.” It was true, Ember never left her book out of hand, not even when sleeping which was both an odd but cutesy sight to bear.

Ember seemed to tighten her grip on her book, likely annoyed by the title she was given by the strange guy. “Ah, it is but a secret that we shall reveal in the dungeon’s depth, where no prying eyes of mortals can be found.” He sighed lightly, his relief that we were armed was obvious.

Although the attention of everyone nearby was piqued, we gave them no attention before finally entering the dungeon, and what a sight it was to behold. “Since we are inside, should we arm ourselves?” Xylith said, her voice had a hint of evil intent mixed in.

I thought about it, and since I detected only a dungeon’s gaze, I felt it was time to reveal our arsenal. “Yes, it’s time we get ready for combat. Look out for traps and enemies, and most importantly, treasure.” I wanted to sound like a greedy person for the dungeon’s sake, as I knew that they responded differently to people that were attracted to wealth rather than people that didn’t.

And so, Everyone withdrew their weapons, and a long spear of silver and red was given to Aydren, as I just instinctively knew he wanted one, which was odd. He looked rather impressed with its quality and with the Star-Mates weapons, with the Xylith weapon being the most bizarre. It looked like twisting black vines of metal running up a slightly spiral metal staff which had two scythes on opposing sides at the top. A combination of melee and magical potential, just like her. She was both skilled at melee combat and magical versatility, with her death magic being the strongest, with her strongest spell being tier 19. Now, I felt the rush of exploring a new dungeon returning once again, and a wicked grin overcame my otherwise silent and calm face, giving a scare to the dungeon for sure.