Early chapter today! Some matter were resolved and i was in a good mood.

“You have my thanks, it would be unpleasant to have to slaughter your servants. Now then if i may introduce myself. I am Gulagh Aleanth and I am here to have a talk with you about absorbing our spider dungeon.”(Gulagh)

Oh… not good. SHIT!

At his words i felt cold sweat running down my back and most likely my expression gave away my thoughts because Gulagh had a good laugh from it.

“Well, let us start at the most important point. Who helped you to conquer the dungeon?”(Gulagh)

The switch from an amused laugh to dead serious was slightly startling. But his words still caused me to be startled.

Huh? Why should we have have had help?

“No one helped us. Well we lost a good many Soldier Bugs….”(Me)

As i spoke i suddenly felt the edge of the sword dig a slight bit deeper and I went silent right away.

“Please do not take me for a fool, there is no way you could have beaten two Horde Mothers in a straight up fight in their own dungeon”(Gulagh)

The tone of his voice had gained a thorough cold edge as he responded. But his words stirred something inside me. Glancing at their equipment once more the imaginary light bulb switched on above my head.

They put the spiders in there! No wonder that the baby dungeon managed to get two horde mothers so quickly.

This point had already bothered me for a while. How could a younger dungeon without a starting race like me already have such highly evolved monsters. I thought that simply was because it had focused on spiders. But now I understood that it was these people that had pushed the dungeon in their direction. Like this it all made sense. Especially since after closer inspection I recognized part of their equipment to be made from chitin.

They had the same idea as I had. But then it's no wonder that they are angry, we ruined their resources.

“That is not the case, one of the Horde Mothers attacked us here with a large amount of her spiderlings. After that we attacked them to get rid of a threat. We had no idea it was someone's resources center.”(Me)

At my carefully chosen words the other tilted his head slightly in surprise and remained silent for a moment.

“Hmmm that seems more plausible. With three mages and your other forces they could be subdued one by one like that… Those morons ”(Gulagh)

He sighed and waved his hand in a dismissive way after which the edge was finally taken from my neck. I let out an audible breath of relieve and watched as the one from behind me walked to Gulagh´s side. Another one appeared just as he had done before and they were obviously female. If it was not such a dire situation i might have admired their well formed bodies. After all the tight leather did not much to hide their curves at all. Though i did look them over once more and noticed that not only their swords but also their arm guards and boots were reinforced with the chitin material, also the chest plate was made from it.

Seems you can really craft a whole armor from those spiders...

“Did you stare enough?”(Gulagh)

I twitched slightly and could not help myself but smile wryly. At least he was back to his amused tone.

“I apologize for that it was not my intention to stare too much…”(Me)

“Well, our women are said to be pretty mesmerizing after all. But enough of that, there is the fact still that you did harm our resources and we will have to talk about that. ”(Gulagh)

Oh shit, what to do now ? This does not sound too good.

“Indeed, it seems that way.”(Me)

Do i already fall into slavery now ? Shit, shit ...

“Well since the other dungeon attacked you first there was no way you could have left it alone. So how about you just ally yourself with us?”(Gulagh)

“Huh?!”(Me)

I stared dumbfounded at the other party and he had another good laugh at my expenses before he went on to elaborate his words.

“Well basically you have not many choices right now. Either ally yourself with us or you will most likely perish soon anyway without us having to lift a single finger. ”(Gulagh)

I frowned confused at the words that were directed at me.

Huh? they will not do anything? Wait what is going on ? I don´t get it.

“Why would we perish soon?”(Me)

The masked man lifted his hand with a stretched out index finger like a teacher that was about to explain something to a rather stupid schoolboy. Which in some way annoyed me.

“It is simple. The Elves down in the Giant Forest will eliminate you. Do you understand what I am implying?”(Gulagh)

Elves… so those are down there. I guess they would not be happy to have a dungeon next to their home. But something seems off here. It would be easier to simply exploit me with their forces. Why would they want me as ally?

“So, the Elves are your enemies? But… why would you want me as your ally?”(Me)

Most likely my expression gave my suspicions away as he chuckled again and nodded slowly. He suddenly reached up to the hood and face mask that was covering him almost completely before taking them down. His two followers did the same as him right away.

The fuck ? Aren't they Elves themselves? They look… strange, a kind of pretty, strange?

They looked indeed like Elves had been described in my world. For the most part at least. Their facial features were indeed as if a god had descended and made their features to be alluring. All the edges and curves were sharp where they needed to be and soft where it was pleasant to look at. But there was a heavy contrast to it. Their skin was completely white. Not in a ‘i haven't seen the sun in a while’ but more in a ‘ i am a freaking blood drained corpse’ of white. It was of such a degree that i could see the blue blood vessels as pale shadows. Their hair was the same and their eyes were of a deep crimson color. If it had not been for the long and spear tipped ears I would have assumed them to be vampires.

“Drows!”(Gobar)

My head turned around sharply to look at the old goblin when he spoke that word before I gazed back at our guests quickly.

Huh wait aren't drows supposed to have this blue… purplish color ? What is going on here?

“It seems your representative knows of us a bit. We belong to the drows of the iron mountains. A pleasure to meet you, Dungeon Lord.”(Gulagh)

“Wait, aren't Drows supposed to be a of a darkish color?”(Me)

I could not help myself but blurt this out. My curiosity simply overtook me, but luckily it seems like he was more surprised than offended.

“A strange thing you say, legends have it that this was the case for our ancestors indeed. But we were driven into the underground at the beginning of the war. After that we became like this. But i think we should focus on more important things right now, no? ”(Gulagh)

Hmmm… a thousand years of living underground. I guess that would make a race develop a bit of strong albinism. But he is right I should focus more on the important matter.

“Yes you are indeed right. So… the conflict with the elven people is true?”(Me)

“Indeed, we have been at war with them for longer than any of us can remember. Around 700 years ago it started once again. As for your earlier question there are some very simple reasons why we want you as ally. ”(Gulagh)

The drow´s voice had a slight edge to it when he spoke of the Elves.

They really must hate each other. I wonder how our authors were able to portray it that well. But for now let's listen to his explanation.

“First of we need resources. The war with the Elves is draining us. It is not critical yet but it will be soon. For now we are in a deadlock, we cannot enter the forest too deep but the Elves are also unable to enter our mountains carelessly. But as you said, for that it would be a simple matter to turn you into a slave through force.”(Gulagh.)

The smile he had on his last words gave of a more threatening feeling then the conversation till now had let on.

“But there is another matter. We intended to use the spiders from the other dungeon as cannon fodder to pressure their flank so they have to divert their forces. ”(Me)

As he spoke he drew a rough map on the floor with his finger. I knew we were in the east of the forest since we were on the west side of the mountain. In the center of his drawing was a marked area which i assumed were the Elves and to the north was the Drows territory.

“With you as a Dungeon Lord that already has a ego it will be much easier to coordinate such a thing instead of having to tame the spiders and make them do our bidding. ”(Gulagh)

I nodded slightly, this was of course true but also did not tell me why I would be an ally and not some pet that they used as they pleased.

“This still is no real answer, only your goals.”(Me)

At my words it seemed almost as if Gulagh was delighted.

“That is true, but there is another matter. across the mountains to the east are two human kingdoms. They are allied now and growing ever stronger. In a few years to a decade they might consider invading the mountains and the forests. In the other directions it does not look too good either. So you could say we share a mutual interest to get rid of the Elves and establish good relations between us.”(Gulagh)

Hmmm well he is pretty much right there. But I still am not quite sure…

“So basically it would be a military aid pact. But there is still the matter about resources. If I understand this right you are increasingly lacking resources and if it goes on your dead lock with the elves will break in their favor. Which would be bad for me. But what do i get from that ?”(Me)

“Ah i am glad that you understand this much without me telling you. Yes it is true, we can gather some resources, but our mountains and tunnels are not easy to manage with everything that is going on. We expend more energy and manpower on resources gathering than we can afford. You could solve this problem to some extend and of course as allies we will trade you those resources and the future services of your troops. I am sure you are in dire need of tools, knowledge, up to date information and maybe some slaves to work for you ? Besides if the deadlock truly is broken then the elves will be able to spread out their influence again and will surely discover your dungeon. That would be a death sentence as you are now.”(Gulagh)

Gah, he really knows his stuff… Nothing of this is to my disadvantage. But even the trading is in his favor. He wants to make us strong enough to battle the elves with them and then serve as a shield against the human kingdom to the east and he is playing it friendly because it would be a bother to suppress someone that you want to be strong enough to do all those things.

I pondered this for a while and it did not sit well with me. But on the other hand the deal itself was good enough. There most likely would not even be a need for territory dispute. It would be a long time until I even claimed this mountain and theoretically it made no difference for me whether I extend myself into the mountains behind me or the forest in front.

“What tells you that I might not simply ally myself with the elves?”(Me)

This was still a central issue in my view. They wouldn't be really able to trust me and vice versa. But I was answered with an amused smile.

“Oh that is simple, the Elves would never ally with you. They hate beings like goblins and even more so dungeons. They would surely kill you if you tried that. ”(Gulagh)

Hmmm well that might be true as well. Besides I never liked Elves. They always seem that arrogant and holier than you. It might just be really fun to drag those guys from their high horses. Besides…. some elven slaves sound really tempting, i hope there are some with big tits as well. Guess it will be war with the Elves then !

“This deal seems fine for me. But i still have one question. If your situation is that dire, why didn't you use the dungeon for yourself ? Would it not be better to have more drows instead of the spiders?”(Me)

“That is impossible. We would have to forgo our god´s blessing in order to do such. only the gods of the myriad Star Pantheon accept that their followers could join a dungeon and ever there not all of them do unless you as dungeon pledge yourself to them. ”(Gulagh)

Hmmm I see! That is good to know. Well then let's get to the core of the matter. What can I get out of those guys!

“Well then my dear ally. Let us get to the most important point now. What would you be in need of?”(Me)