It has been two days since Ceres and I went to talk with Inari, and we have come up with no better solution on a way to help Dyson find Madam Erin. We have even tried using our network of dungeon cores, without giving up too much information, that way if the traitors are listening in they won’t know what Dyson is up to.

Since I had nothing else to do, I got to see a bit of Lilah’s training on the new bunnies. Lily and Levi, are both normal beastkin, but as far as age and height, they don’t appear any different than Leveret. Lilah does seem to be a bit more critical about Leveret’s abilities however.

I wouldn’t think Lilah would discriminate against him because he isn’t a normal beastkin, but it has happened often enough in the short time I was watching that while they are occupied I pull Lilah to ask her what the deal is.

“I have noticed you seem to be quite a bit harder on Leveret than the other two, is there a reason for it?”-I ask her trying to give her the benefit of the doubt.-

Lilah: “Of course Lilah is harder on Leveret. His race was a bit of a surprise when Lilah summoned him, but that only meant his abilities were far higher than the others, so Lilah expects a lot out of Leveret.”

“Alright…But just remember, you summoned them quite young, and with his difference of appearance, and being harder on him than the others, he might not see it that way.”

Lilah: “Lilah, didn’t think of it that way… She will be more careful in the future.”

“As long as you understand.”

Lilah then pulls Leveret to the side to talk to him. Leveret has a concerned look on his face and his nose is constantly twitching as Lilah speaks with him. I don’t know what she said to him, but it seems to perk him up a bit before he rejoins the others and Lilah continues their training.

After a while I return to Ceres’s dungeon to check to see if she came up with anything to help find Madam Erin, but to no surprise she hasn’t. While I am here I decide to check on the progress of the xp gathering groups.

For the amount of time they have been training, their progress has been exceptional, but when their party leaders are around level 50, I guess it is understandable that they are able to level much quicker. Bandy’s new group is slowly gaining a lead on the others, but Ceres said they are still a long ways from reaching the imitation crystal.

After that we check on a few of the dungeon cores that we have been assisting, but before we check over them all I receive a message from Dyson.

Dyson: (Emergency meeting of the dungeon core Elders, the neutral zone is not able to meet the needs for this meeting, so everyone is to arrive at my dungeon immediately.)

As Ceres starts to message the next dungeon core I stop her, and tell her of the message from Dyson.

Ceres: “I can take care of the rest, you should go.”

I thank her and leave, but I don’t immediately head for Dyson’s dungeon, I instead head home first. Not only to tell Belinda where I will be going, but also, Dyson’s message seemed strange to me. For him to ask us to his dungeon rather than the neutral zone is rather unusual.

Not to mention he has been out of contact for a few days now, and has been dealing with a dungeon core that might very well be one of the traitors, so I decide to take a few precautions beforehand. I have sent a few messages to him the last few days with no reply, so I had assumed he was under the effect of one of the traitor’s items, but no justicar points have been used, so he apparently didn’t need to teleport out.

There have been no [Menu] messages about any dungeon core deaths, but if he was under the effect of one of the traitor’s items, there wouldn’t be. I check out his information in the [Archjusticar Menu] and right off hand nothing looks out of the ordinary, but there is so much to Dyson’s information it could take days to search all the details.

When I look in on his location, I see a great deal of deal of things that leaves me to question if this is really Dyson or not… The room is in Dyson’s dungeon, so it isn’t like it is exactly new, and I do know Dyson, has said he uses torture when the situation calls for it, but to actually see Dyson torturing someone, is a cruel side of Dyson, I can’t say I have seen before.

He has Bless strapped to a table, she is completely nude, but her modesty is preserved by the straps holding her to the table. Not that is much comfort due to the fact the table itself is almost completely submerged in a liquid that is mostly clear, but has a reddish hue.

The table itself is at an angle, thus leaving nothing but her head above the liquid. I am not sure what the liquid is, but it doesn’t appear to be dangerous because as Bless struggles against her bindings, it splashes in her face and mouth causing her to choke.

A dungeon core isn’t required to breathe, it is more a by-product of the race we resemble, but it is still something we do involuntarily, and even though we wouldn’t drown, that doesn’t mean we don’t choke and get the feeling of drowning while being held underwater.

If a dungeon core is completely submerged for a couple of minutes, there might be a point in which their body just shuts off the act of breathing, but with the manner in which Bless is being held, I don’t see that being the case.

Dyson is standing near the “bath” soaked enough that it looks as he was wading in the water when torturing Bless. He is currently cleaning what looks to be implements of Bless’s torture, and although they all look to have been used quite a bit, Bless doesn’t appear to have a single wound upon her body. Angela and Desiree look to have entered the room just before I looked in on Dyson, and they are talking.

Angela: “You didn’t do anything…sexual, to her did you?” –She says while seeming to be uneasy at the situation.-

Desiree: “If that is what it takes to get her to talk, then Master wouldn’t hesitate.”

Dyson: “Unlike Dionyasus, I use torture as a means to an end, not just for the sake of enjoyment, and although Desiree is right about me using torture of that nature if necessary. I don’t find it the least bit enjoyable, and was able to get Bless to talk with much simpler means.”

Dyson then tells the girls to get the meeting room ready for the appearance of the Elders, so they leave the room again, although Angela does so a bit reluctantly looking back at Bless strapped to the table. Dyson then grabs another torture implement and wades into the “bath”.

I don’t care to watch so I close the screen, but it appears that Dyson did return home alright, and by the sounds of it was able to get some information from Bless, so I cast [Gate] and head to Dyson’s dungeon. I am send a message about my arrival and it isn’t long until Angela greets me at the gate.

She still seems a bit upset over the situation with Bless, so I ask her if everything is alright, and she just nods and takes me to the meeting room. Even though I went back to the house and looked through [Archjusticar Menu] before arriving here, I still seem to be the first to arrive.

Angela says Dyson will be with me soon and leaves before I get the chance to talk to her any further. I sit there for what seems like an hour before the door opens again and Desiree leads in Laura. Desiree doesn’t stick around long either, leaving Laura and me alone in the room.

“Aaron met with Gowen’s King yesterday, didn’t he? How did it go?”

Laura: “It went fine… What, do you expect me to thank you for asking Rondsom to meet with Aaron?” –She says suspiciously.-

“…I was just making conversation.”

An awkward silence then fills the room for a while, but Lucille eventually arrives, and even though the room is still silent it doesn’t seem as awkward as it was when it was just Laura and me. When the door finally opens again Desiree and Angela walk into the room, but they appear to be alone as they step forward.

Desiree: “Dyson apologizes for not arriving to greet you himself, but he will be along as soon as he can.”

Angela: “Until then, we are supposed to catch you up on the information regarding Madam Erin’s disappearance.”

“Has Dyson found her yet?”

Desiree: “Unfortunately no, but it appears for whatever purpose the traitors want her for, they want her alive, so at least for now her life doesn’t seem to be in any immediate danger.”

Laura: “So Dyson found one of the traitors?”

Angela: “Yes, Dungeon Core #313 Bless, has admitted to being the one to alter Madam Erin’s dungeon under the orders of the other traitors.”

Lucille: “I haven’t received a message about her death, is she still alive?”

Desiree: “Dyson is questioning her more, as we speak, but it seems that Bless is only still alive because the information she has about the traitors is limited.”

Angela: “She told Dyson that to join the traitors you have to turn over your crystal to them, so if they felt threatened by what she would be able to tell us, they would have already killed her.”

Lucille: “That is impossible, a crystal can’t be removed from you dungeon!”

Desiree: “Bless wasn’t entirely sure how it works, but they are required to provide an imitation crystal to take the place of their real one, and they manipulate [Menu] allowing them to remove the crystal from the dungeon.”

Laura: “Then where is Bless’s crystal now?”

Angela: “Dyson isn’t sure that Bless even knows that, but if she does, she has been tight lipped about it so far. It does seem like they keep all of the crystals in one place though, or at least all the dungeon cores like Bless, so if we could find them it would deal a huge blow to the traitors.”

“Bless wouldn’t allow someone to just take her crystal, surely she has to know something.”

Desiree: “Bless apparently promised the traitors that she could deliver Madam Erin with a bit of their help, and in exchange she wanted to join them.”

Lucille: “If she has only just joined the traitors, how could she possibly be strong enough to pose a threat to Madam Erin?”

Angela: “We are not quite sure on that part, but apparently Bless had information to hold over Madam Erin’s head, and it lead to her being able to turn her over to the other traitors without so much as a fight.”

Laura: “What could she possibly know that Madam Erin would turn herself over like that?”

Desiree: “Like Angela said, we aren’t sure, but the traitors seem to want to turn Madam Erin rather than just kill her, because Bless’s instructions were to place the floors on Madam Erin’s dungeon, in an effort to take control over it rather than just destroying it.”

“What about the other traitors, what has Bless been able to give up on them?”

Angela: “She apparently only dealt with one other traitor. Dyson hopes that to mean that whatever Bless started with Madam Erin’s dungeon is important enough that they haven’t killed her yet, or they don’t think this other traitor is going to be able to lead us any closer to them either.”

Lucille: “Who is this other traitor?”

Desiree: “You will have to ask Dyson that one yourself…”

Lucille: “I would if he decided to show up and speak to us himself!”

Angela: “He is trying to get more information from Bless, but he thought you would all at least like to know what he has found out so far…”

Laura: “I didn’t come all this way to receive second hand information from one of Dyson’s “things”.”

“Does it really matter who gives us the information, this is more then we have been able to learn about the traitors all year!”

Lucille: “It is the fact of the matter! We should be hearing this from Dyson himself.”

Dyson: “Very well!” –He says appearing in the room dripping wet, while tossing the naked Bless down at our feet. He makes a gesture as if wrapping something around his hand and pulling it tight, causing Bless to pull back on what seems to be some sort of invisible rope around her neck.- “If my presence is all your require, then perhaps I can pick up things right here.”

Lucille and Laura quickly take a step back, in fact so do I, because Dyson’s sudden appearance seemed to startle us all, and although I probably have an uncomfortable look on my face, Lucille and Laura have one of disgust.

Lucille: “What is the meaning of this?! First you call us here only to blow us off, and then expose us to your vile fetishes.”

Dyson: “First of all, I have no such fetishes, I find consenting women to be far more enjoyable, second of all wasn’t it you that insisted in my presence? Besides, I have heard some information that you might want to hear.” –He says while pulling the invisible rope taut causing visible discomfort to Bless as she tries to stand up while wrapping her wings around her body.-

Bless: “You are all going to regrets this! He will kill you all!”

Dyson: “You don’t even know who “He” is, so why should we fear him?” –He says while flicking his wrist down causing Bless to drop back down to one knee.-

Bless: “The truth is, it doesn’t matter who is at the top, as long as they do away with the all of you!”

Dyson: “You are foolish to give your own crystal to someone you don’t even know. Now, tell them what you told me!” –He says while twisting his wrist and causing Bless’s face to contort.-

Bless: “I was prepared to die the moment I joined them, so as long as they removed the Elders from the picture! The fact I was able to assist them in obtaining Madam Erin was just icing on the cake!”

Dyson: “And their plans for her?”

Bless: “I told you I don’t know, but unfortunately they don’t plan to kill her anytime soon. All I know, is they have to keep her alive long enough to take over her dungeon, which is the process I started when I added the floors to her dungeon!”

Lucille: “How is that even possible, to take over another dungeon core’s dungeon?”

Bless: “I don’t know the details, but I do know they tried altering their appearance to that of another dungeon core, but even though it seemed to fake out [Menu] enough for them to have limited control of their targeted dungeon, when the real dungeon core died, the dungeon started to break down, even when [Menu] didn’t display their death.”

Laura: “That still doesn’t explain how they expect to it to work this time.”

Bless: “They had me separate Madam Erin from her dungeon, so they could make another attempt at taking over a dungeon. This time I think they are trying to place one of their own crystals in Madam Erin’s dungeon, and use their manipulation of [Menu] to remove her crystal, effectively taking over her dungeon.”

Lucille: “That can’t be possible.”

Bless: “I don’t know if it is or not, but all I know is that is what they are trying to do.”

Laura: “And who is this traitor that told you all of this?”

Bless starts to answer but Dyson pulls on the invisible rope, which causes a pull on Bless’s neck and she quits speaking.

Dyson: “This is our only lead into finding higher ranked traitors, so forgive me if I want to keep that information a bit close to the vest. They might want to keep Bless alive for whatever purpose they have with Madam Erin’s dungeon, but that doesn’t mean they won’t kill the dungeon core she was answering too, so the less people that know her name the better.”

Lucille: “If something happens to you we will lose our only lead!”

Dyson: “I guess you will have to make sure nothing happens to me, then.”

Lucille: “This is preposterous! We have the right to know!”

Dyson: “I was the one to delve into Bless’s dungeon to capture her, I was the one to extract the information from her, and I am the one that will deal with this other dungeon core, so no , unless you plan on helping me delve into another traitors dungeon, then I don’t think you do.”

“Is there at least something we can do this time? I can’t continue to sit by and do nothing…”

Dyson: “There actually is something you can do.” –He says while making a wrapping motion around his hand. He then shoved something into my hand, and as he does a long slender metal cord appears extending from my hand down to wrap around Bless’s neck.- “I’m not about to let her go, and we can’t kill her just yet, so I need someone to watch her until we find out if the others know we have her, and what they plan to do about it.”

“What am I supposed to do with her?!”

Dyson: “As long as you keep her bound with that, she will be unable to use her magic, or call for help, but that doesn’t exactly mean she is defenseless either. I would suggest throwing her in a hole somewhere in your dungeon that she can’t get into trouble where you can still keep an eye on her.”

“I’m not sure I am comfortable with this…”

Dyson: “You asked for something you can do to help, so unless you have gained two hundred levels in the last few days, this is how you can help.”

“What if the other traitors find out I have her, and they come after her?”

Dyson: “Yes, that would be quite unfortunate, I suggest not advertising you have her, and no one should be the wiser. Now that I have filling you all in, and taken care of what to do with Bless, I think all that is left for me is to prepare.”

“Can I at least put clothes on her or something?”

Dyson: “Well she certainly isn’t much to look at, so I don’t see why not.”

“And what about this cord, you said to throw her somewhere in my dungeon, but do I have to sit with her the entire time and hold this rope?”

Dyson: “Of course not. As long as you wrap it around your hand distance doesn’t matter, but I would still keep an eye on her if I was you.”

I sigh and wrap the cord around my hand but it doesn’t appear to become any shorter, and even though I wrap it tightly around my hand I don’t actually feel it touching my hand. I then ask Angela for some clothing for Bless, and she appears to summon some for me. I then hand them to Bless who snatches them from my hand.

With the fact that Angela summoned them, by default they were summoned to fit her, so there is a place for Bless’s wings, but Bless’s body is very child-like so to stay they fit her loosely would be an understatement, she is at least no longer nude, so it is at least a bit of an improvement.

As Laura and Lucille leave the room they complain about being called for a meeting without more information, but Dyson ignores them while watching me help Bless get dressed rather curiously, and even though Angela and Desiree can’t possibly be stronger then I am, he sends them out of the room to prepare.

They could use [Menu] to be ready here in an instant, so I feel it is more of an excuse to have them step out of the room, because as soon as they do Dyson says: “You know she is your enemy, you don’t have to show her so much care.”

“Laura was once my enemy as well, and although I don’t exactly count her a friend, I can’t exactly continue to hold a grudge if we are to continue working together. Besides, even if we were to decide to kill Bless tomorrow, I still feel even your enemies should be showed a fair amount of decency or what makes us any better than them?”

Dyson: “Just don’t let that decency of yours sway you into letting her go… And don’t relax your guard around her, even with her magic bound she is high enough of a level to still cause you significant harm if you underestimate her.”

“Compassion and decency doesn’t mean stupidity, I have no doubts she would tear me apart the first chance she got, but do you really expect me to hold her in my dungeon until you return?”

Dyson: “About that…” –He says looking to the door.- “I would like to ask you another favor as well.” –He then shows a face of concern that seems to make the torturer I seen through my screen earlier to be a lie as he says.- “This next dungeon core isn’t like Bless, and I don’t feel the girls are up to the task, so I wanted to ask you to look after them while I am gone.”

“You left me behind when you went to Bless’s dungeon, so surely you left them behind as well, so shouldn’t they be able to continue to wait for you here.”

Dyson: “They actually came up with a compelling plan that allowed them to assist me in capturing Bless, but that won’t work for this next dungeon, and I would feel much safer with them being in your care while I am gone. You can use them to keep an eye on Bless if you wish, but would you do me this favor?”

“I don’t mind, but are you sure you should be doing this alone? You don’t sound like your normal confident self… It almost sounds that you are not sure you can handle this next dungeon core on your own…?”

Dyson seems to ignore my question as he covers his concerned face with his armor as he equips it from [Menu].

Dyson: “I am sure Desiree already has figured out the reason for me sending them from the room, and once Angela realizes it, things will become far more difficult, so I will part from you here. Just take care of them for me.” –He says turning to face the door. I don’t know the expression he has now because of his helmet, but just by the way Dyson spoke, it makes me quite worried.-

Dyson then teleports from the room leaving me alone with Bless, but it isn’t even a few seconds later that the door bursts open with Angela entering the room in her armor and a concerned look on her face, while Desiree follows behind her, likewise in her armor, but wearing a expression of guilt rather than concern.

Angela: “Where is Master?!” –She asks quickly, but after looking at my face she turns to Desiree, and after seeing the look on her face she says.- “You knew he planned on leaving us behind, and you didn’t say anything?!”

Desiree: “Out of respect for Master, I won’t say what I felt from him, but yes I knew, and although I don’t know if I agree or not, I feel it might have been for the best this time.”

Angela: “What are we supposed to do until he returns?!”

Desiree: “I believe Two-Twelve has the answer to that.”

“He asked me to look after you two. I might ask you to help me keep an eye on Bless, but for the most part, I guess you will just be guests at my house until he returns.”

Angela: “Why would he send us to Two-Twelve’s dungeon? He left us behind when he went to Madam Erin’s dungeon. Why not let us just wait for him here?” –She says as her voice becomes more concerned.-

Desiree shakes her head while Angela looks at her, and she then forces a more neutral expression on her face as she steps forward while saying. “I guess we will be in your care until Master returns, but don’t get any ideas. We belong solely to Master.”

“Not that I had any intention… But that seems like a strange statement coming from a succubus.” –I say half-jokingly just to try to improve the mood.-

Desiree: “If it makes you feel better, chalk my eccentric behavior to the fact I was summoned from your dungeon. But if that isn’t good enough an answer for you, then I'll say that Master provides for all my needs and more, so to lay with a lesser man would be nothing but a disappointment.” –She says quite seriously, and even a bit condescendingly.-

“I was just trying to lighten the mood, and I didn’t mean to offend…”

Desiree: “Master is risking his life. I was born of your dungeon, so I know as much about you as one possibly can, and as to why Master puts so much faith and trust into you I can’t understand, but he does, so I will do has he asks, but making jokes while he risks his life does nothing but solidify the fact that I truly do not like you.”

“We should probably head back to my dungeon now…”

Desiree: “That is probably for the best.”

I don’t know how Belinda will feel about Angela and Desiree’s presence in the house. Especially with Desiree being a succubus, but they seem to be exceptionally loyal to Dyson, so I don’t think it will really bother her, though I do wonder how she is going to react to holding Bless in my dungeon…