Thank you everyone for the patience with the story!

It will still update rarely for now!

Lair

Volume 2, Chapter 044 – Saving A Village, Losing A Village

By Skalsar

How could it have come to this?

A Dungeon, born to be fed.

Servants, created to serve.

Minds developed and thoughts emerged.

Yes, it had been long.

How long exactly had never been important to the beings of the dungeon and the dungeon itself.

Adventurers fought over the thought of wealth, a [Hero] fought over the thought of good and evil, a [Paladin] fought over what he called divine punishment.

In between, a [Goddess] was slain by the other deities, which forced them to revert time for whatever reason they might have, at least saving a little girl in the process.

But the dungeon stands not only victorious, but stronger than ever.

A whole city, the [Great Necropolis], emerged from the [Magic Power] of the defeated [Paladin], overshadowing [Mafay Village] easily, which was simply a small dungeon village.

But so many questions seem to remain unanswered still.

The Villagers felt overwhelmed by the damage done.

Asking themselves why the deities allowed something like this to happen.

Why a [Hero] had slaughtered so many and tried to burn the village.

But as much as they asked, no answer appeared.

>At least, the fire is stopped..He was at the end of his endurance.

Bodies were being dragged to the center of the village, to line them up for identification.

>It's only because of his daughter..A rumor had already started about Lily being the cause of all this.

Nobody understood why, only that she was said to be corrupted.

But humans always had a tendency to blame someone in situations like these.

>Don't speak ill of children.

>Please, dear people of [Mafay Village], calm down.>As far as we know, the man that attacked the village, seems to be gone.

People started to calm down by these words.

Feeling the tension fall from their shoulders.

>We don't exactly know what happened yet, but we will find out.

For now, we have to organize help for those in need.

Many houses were burned too much and can't be used anymore.

If any of you have space to house people while we start rebuilding, please help.

>That won't do!>How can we rebuild with all that damage?!>And what about burying the dead?

They were worried and still unable to comprehend the situation that happened.

>You won't need to.

At the sound of the voice, the people turned around to see who had spoken.

Before them, Odas had returned.

He looked a bit pale, but alive.

Rego finally felt relieve about that.

He had feared his lord to be perished at the hands of the [Paladin], but here he was.

Lily holding on to his hand with all her might, as to not let him go ever again.

>My Lord!

>People of [Mafay Village]!>We have been beaten. We have been forsaken. We have been punished.>What good has come to us for trying to live a upright live?

Walking past some of them and looking them into the eyes.

>Being punished by the gods, for what? For living near a dungeon?

Judged guilty without doubt? How many died for the crime of what? Corruption? By a dungeon?

Is it corruption to live? Is it corruption to build a live for your family?

The people weren't able to say much about it, they were still shocked. Exhausted. Angry.

And their anger was growing.

>Why them?

>Whatever it is that [Paladin] tried to punish.. I will be the first to spit on his ugly corpse and curse the god that declared him to be the measure!

People nodding their heads.

What had the gods even done for them?!

Making them blame a little girl?

>Was this how the gods were supposed to be?Others nodding at his words.

Some seemingly being unsure of what to think about all this.

Their homes being burned down, friends and family of some being killed.

>I say FUCK THIS!>Let all of this burn! Let it be eaten by the gods for all I care!

You see that tower?!

>This is our liveline.

It is what killed the [Paladin] and saved us.

Something that spared and provides for us.

Yes we call it a dungeon.

But it is a living being, only that few know about it's intelligence.

After being nearly destroyed and seeing our home being burned down, it didn't attack, no.

It send me a messager.

A messager that offered us help!

Being hunted down, being attacked again and again for being alive, it offers help to us!

The people seemed frightened now.

A dungeon?

Being intelligent?

>If this is the corruption they speak about, I feel I'm better off being corrupted!

>Trust me or not, decide for yourself.

>A whole city has emerged from the dungeon.

Look at it for yourselves if you want to, or leave it be.

But I for one, will accept this help.

With this, he turned around.

Leaving the people shocked for what to think.

A dungeon being a help?

>But.. a whole city..?!

Nonetheless.. they followed.

They just had to see.

What else was there left to do?

Any life was better than dying in this ruin of a village.