Chapter 4: Dungeon Mentoring
Lupy followed the morphling to DM’s chamber.
“DM, you’re red! And bigger!”
“…Yes. When I leveled up, I became a T3 tentacle monster.”
DM summoned a chair for Lupy to sit in, but she just walked past it and climbed up his body to sit on top of him.
“…This works too.”
Lupy laughed and asked, “Do you want me to tell you what I think about the dungeon design?”
“…I don’t mind, but that’s not really what I’m after. I just needed an excuse to speak to that priestess privately… and I figured it was a good opportunity for us to all chat one-on-one as well.”
“Oh, okay.”
DM asked Lupy if there was anything in particular she wanted to talk about. She started describing all the things her party had done since the last time she was in this dungeon. She wasn’t doing a very good job of explaining things, but DM had witnessed most of it already, so he didn’t have much trouble following along.
“…Lupy, it concerns me a bit that you enjoy fighting so much.”
“Why?”
“…It’s good to defend your friends, but enjoying harming others could lead you to hurt innocent people.”
“But I don’t want to hurt innocent people!”
DM wasn’t quite sure how to explain this to her. To date, Lupy had only attacked monsters or fought in self-defense. DM had also noticed that she appropriately held back when defending herself from one of the adventurers outside the Upper Gordu Forest dungeon. Still, he was concerned that she seemed to get too much of a thrill out of attacking opponents. When she sought out more enemies, and there were none, would she succumb to violent impulses and harm others?
“…Other than adventure with Kat and the others, is there anything else you want to do?”
“Anything else? Like what?”
“…Well, Bandit has been receiving training from that Guild assassin, and I suspect Kat will be bugging the Church to teach her stuff too. Vulp seems to be involved with the nobility, whether she wants to or not… but you and Shiba currently don’t have any goals or involvement outside of your party.”
“Oh…” Lupy seemed to get the point DM was making but wasn’t sure what to say.
“…Let me put it this way. If the rest of your party needed to go do something for a few months without you, what would you want to do for those months while you were waiting for them to return?”
“Hmmm…” Lupy seemed like she was thinking really hard, which was unusual for her. “Couldn’t I stay here?”
“…Wouldn’t that get really boring? I don’t mean to say you couldn’t visit me from time to time while you did other things, though.”
“Hmmm…” This could have been the most thinking Lupy had done since DM first met her. “I don’t know.”
“…I guess that’s okay. Why don’t you keep thinking about it and discuss it with the other girls?”
“Okay.”
DM was fairly certain there were ways for Lupy to keep herself busy in a world like this if she enjoyed fighting, but he wasn’t familiar with all the options. He would place this topic on the back burner and meanwhile keep an eye on her to ensure she didn’t descend into a bloodthirsty murderer or anything like that.
The morphling returned and requested the next volunteer. Shiba stood and followed the minion into another room, although not the boss chamber. This way, DM could still have a one-on-one conversation with her. He wasn’t trying to have the girls keep secrets from each other, but he thought they might be more frank in this setting.
“Can’t I come to your room?”
“…Yes, I’ll bring you here after we finish our conversation.”
“Okay.”
Their discussion was similar to the previous one. Unlike Lupy, Shiba hadn’t shown many signs of being overly violent. She had taken well to attacking enemies with magic, but she seemed reasonable in her approach. Other than fighting with Kat from time to time, she got along well with the party as well.
“…Other than adventure with Kat and the others, is there anything else you want to do?”
“Are we going to have to stop adventuring!?”
“…No, nothing like that. I’m just talking about other things you can do in addition to what you’re already doing.”
“Oh, that’s okay then. Let me think…” Shiba did tend to be more thoughtful than Lupy, so it wasn’t surprising that she came to an answer fairly quickly. “I want to learn more magic.”
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“…Do you mean, beyond what the Guild already teaches its new black mages?”
“Yeah! I think they want us to learn everything for ourselves, but I don’t know how.”
“…Do you know of a way to study magic in the Twin Cities?”
“No…”
“…I understand. Keep on the lookout for any opportunities in the future where you could possibly study magic. …Don’t be afraid to ask around, too.”
“Okay. Can I come over now?”
“…Uh, sure.”
The morphling led Shiba to the boss chamber. She proceeded to complain that Lupy was hogging him and then climbed up as well.
If I had agreed to become a dragon, I wouldn’t have to deal with kids climbing all over me. Well, no, somehow I bet I probably still would.
“…Who would like to go next?”
Bandit decided it was her turn. Kat seemed to be keeping Vera company, and Vulp wasn’t the type to try to rush to the head of the line. Bandit was led to the same room where Shiba had been interviewed a few moments ago.
This discussion went in a different direction than the previous ones. Unlike the first two girls, Bandit had been operating solo a fair bit. They discussed Thaw, Bandit’s mission, and one other matter.
“…Oh, that’s right. You’re going by Nina now, right?”
Bandit pouted slightly. “You can still call me Bandit.”
“…I see. I don’t really care for how Thaw chose your alias.”
“I knew you’d get it DM!” Bandit’s face lit up.
“…Okay, I’ll use the name Bandit, but you’ll still need to get used to the name Nina. In some fields, it’s common for people to receive aliases for unfair reasons… or for reasons that are out of their control.”
“It is?”
DM thought back to the stories his parents had told him in his prior life about several military aviators they had met for various reasons. Many had insulting, self-deprecating call signs, but they all learned to love them. It wasn’t fair, but it was something they all had chosen to embrace.
“…Nina sounds pretty innocuous.”
“But it’s Nina the Smasher.”
“…I think that’s just an in-joke between you and Thaw. Even if she calls you the Smasher, there’s no need for everyone to know where the name came from.”
“All right…”
“…I don’t think your alias really matters anyway. Like others said, you don’t have to hide a family name from anyone.”
“That’s true… Okay.” Bandit seemed to be feeling a bit better.
DM reminded Bandit to keep their relationship a secret from everyone outside of her party. Although the Guild was finally acting friendly, that could change in the future. In addition, there was still friction between the capital branch of the Guild and the branch in the Twin Cities. Bandit was being groomed by the capital branch to be an agent of theirs. DM couldn’t pass up the opportunity to have spies on both sides of that relationship.
“…All right. Come join us in my chamber.”
The morphling escorted Bandit to the boss chamber, then returned to the waiting room where it collected Vulp. She arrived a minute later in the same room as where DM consoled Bandit about her alias.
“…How are you enjoying adventuring, Vulp?”
“It’s fun.”
With Vulp, DM primarily wanted to discuss her recent interaction with Rufus and his father, the new Lord of the Twin Cities. Although it was a fortuitous turn of events, DM did not want to force Vulp to do anything too difficult or uncomfortable. He explained that he wanted her to go along with the Lord’s idea to adopt her into his brother’s family, or whatever the man had in mind. DM stressed that Vulp absolutely did not need to go along with this if it worried her too much.
“I’ll do it.”
“…You’re sure?” DM was glad she was being cooperative, but also worried that she may not really understand what’s going on to begin with. “…Do you know why Rufus’s father wants you adopted into the family? Do you know why Rufus doesn’t want that?”
Based on DM’s observations, Rufus was all but forced out of his family due to being gay in an era where that was unacceptable. It seemed like Rufus was ushered towards adventuring, either to get the young man out of his father’s hair, or perhaps even in the hopes he’d get killed off due to the danger of the occupation. Fortunately, Rufus seemed to enjoy it, so it wasn’t all bad.
When the previous Lord was killed, DM noticed Rufus was quick to return to his parents. Perhaps the Lord was changing his strategy now that his family had ascended to such a pivotal role in the Holy State. Rufus seemed keen on adventuring even now that his family didn’t want to get rid of him anymore.
Rufus’s father, perhaps somewhat in denial, saw Rufus hanging out with a girl and immediately assumed Rufus was romantically interested in her. Not listening to his son’s objections, he started making plans for how to make the union a reality, at least down the road. DM didn’t expect Rufus would actually go along with it, but he could probably be cajoled into cooperating, at least to an extent.
Based on DM’s questioning of Vulp, she understood pretty much nothing regarding the situation surrounding Rufus and his family. It was kind of awkward, but DM gave Vulp an accelerated course in sexuality, marriage, and political affairs. Only once she seemed to be armed with sufficient knowledge to gauge her current situation did DM finally agree that she would be able to proceed with this plan to penetrate the upper ranks of the Holy State.
The plan was for Vulp to ask Rufus to let her go along with his father’s wishes. Of course, she wouldn’t expect him to marry her, but this way she could achieve a better life at Rufus’s family’s expense. She’d be the innocent victim in all this, so down the road when Rufus refused to marry her, the blow-back wouldn’t reach her, hopefully. Since Rufus seemed insistent to keep adventuring regardless of his family’s circumstances, the hope was that she would be able to do the same.
There were many ways this plan could go awry, but DM thought it was worth a shot.
“…Also, there’s a possibility Kat may learn to use a one-handed crosier instead of a two-handed staff. If that happens, can you help her try out wielding a shield with her other hand?”
“Why?”
“…I’m sure that’s unusual, but I have a feeling it will be a more effective way for your party to battle.”
“I guess so.”
In truth, DM was thinking back to videogames, but he thought it was worth trying.
Vulp was brought into the boss chamber. Kat agreed to go next, leaving Vera for last. DM led Kat into the isolated room.
“…I’m interested in the Church.”
“I thought so! I want to learn how to use that one-handed staff and heal multiple people at the same time.”
“…Later, ask Vera about it. Just be careful. They won’t assist you with those things for free.”
Kat didn’t understand what DM meant by that. Of course, he wasn’t referring to a monetary cost. Kat would be placing herself at risk by seeking instruction from the Church, both with regards to indoctrination and discovery of her secret connection to DM and his dungeon.
DM spent the next fifteen minutes explaining to Kat what he understood about religion, fanaticism, and brainwashing. He wasn’t sure if the Church would really try to pull anything, but he wanted Kat to be armed and prepared. Her mission was to seem open-minded and eager to learn, all the while recognizing that most things she was being told were probably to manipulate her. Anything she was told, she’d need only report back to DM later for further discussion. She was to prioritize her physical and mental health over the gathering of useful information. Kat agreed readily.
“…Good. Come join us.” As DM’s morphling led Kat into his chamber, he mentally prepared himself for what would likely be the most interesting and challenging conversation of the day.