Chapter 22: Real Negotiations
DM compared his current LVL 8 stats to the dwarf assassin’s LVL 26 stats.
Name Dungeon Master Species Tentacle Monster (Tier 2) LVL 8 HP 625 MP 1625 STR 84 DEF 61 MAG 57 MDEF 49 AGI 37 LUCK 1
My stats haven’t changed for a while. Now for hers…
Name Thaumaturge (alias) Species and Class Dwarf Assassin LVL 26 HP 834 MP 1693 STR 155 DEF 155 MAG 52 MDEF 52 AGI 155 LUCK 17
On paper, she had him beat by almost every measure. His sensing magic couldn’t reveal her abilities. Most of all, he was fearful of her combat and adventuring experience. He had what he believed to be a unique and abusive style of fighting, but he had no experience fighting against strong people. The wyvern was his toughest opponent so far, and she was likely much tougher.
He had to decide quickly what to do. She raised an eyebrow at the morphling while waiting for a response. DM weighed the pros and cons of opposing her.
Opposing her successfully meant he didn’t need to reveal any more information, such as why he’s an intelligent monster. Also, besting her in combat would send a clear message to the outside that his dungeon was more trouble than it was worth to attack.
The cons seemed much more compelling. She was actually willing to talk, demanding as she was. Likely, she would keep what he said private, only sharing it with a select few in the Guild. Based on what DM had overheard in her conversation with Bandit, she probably wouldn’t share anything too useful with the local Guild Master at all. Thaw would report privately to the capital branch Guild Master later on, DM suspected.
In addition, losing to her might really mean he’d be brutally killed repeatedly, if her threat was anything more than a bluff. On top of the other cons, there was one key reason why he was leaning towards agreeing to her demand. This dwarf was scary. He did not want to make an enemy of her. In his prior life, DM did not encounter people like Thaw. Thaw was a trained killer. A true badass. So far, nobody in this world gave DM the shivers like her. He only hoped she’d be sympathetic to his circumstances.
“Well?”
“…Very well. Please keep information about my circumstances close to the vest.”
“Oh? A monster who wants his private information kept confidential? So? How did you become an intelligent monster?”
“…I was human in my previous life.”
Thaw brought a hand to her chin and remained quiet for a while with a puzzled look on her face. “Really?”
“…Really.”
“You’re a tentacle monster, right? How did you go from human to tentacle monster?”
“…I died. Somehow, I think my soul and memories transplanted into this new body.”
“Reminds me of the legend about the monster who became a human, but in reverse…” Thaw kept her hand on her chin while she thought. “If you’re lying to me, I really will come down there and—“
“…I’m not. I wish I was. …You can hardly imagine what this is like, I bet.”
“True, not sure how happy I’d be as a tentacle monster. Then again, I don’t want to be a human either. Hah.”
“…I’d settle for just about anything else at this point.”
“Where did you live back when you were a human?”
DM hesitated to answer that one. Revealing he went from being a run-of-the-mill human to a tentacle monster was probably not that big of a deal, especially if Thaw kept the information private. Revealing he came from an entirely different world, and especially one that was much more advanced, had the potential to cause chaos. He decided to risk annoying her.
“…I think it’s a really bad idea for me to answer that.”
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Thaw narrowed her eyes. “Why?”
“…I believe only harm will befall both of us if I tell you about my previous life.”
“I won’t go around telling everyone about you, so you can answer me.”
“…Please, my instincts are telling me it will be a huge mistake for both of us.”
“Hmm…” She brought her hand back to her chin. “I really doubt there’s anything you could tell me I couldn’t handle, but I do sense that you at least believe what you are saying. Fine, whatever.”
Perhaps tired of standing, Thaw suddenly plopped down into a sitting position on the ground. She gestured towards the Ardreth look-alike to have a seat as well. At first, the morphling awkwardly tried to lower itself to the floor, but it couldn’t figure out how to do it. It looked like someone playing twister and trying to figure out where to place his or her limb, only all the legal spaces for touching the floor were already taken.
“…Please wait a moment.” The morphling stood there motionless, staring into space. A simple chair appeared a meter to its right. It walked over and awkwardly sat down in the chair. A second chair appeared a couple of meters away from Thaw. The morphling gestured towards the chair.
The dwarf tilted her head while staring at the chair designated for her. “If it’s all the same to you, I’ll remain right here.”
“…Suit yourself.”
“So, what do you want?”
“…You mean, in general?”
“Yes. You wanted to talk. I believe you that you used to be human. What do you want to happen from here?”
“…My primary goal is to stop the flow of people into my chamber trying to kill me.”
“I can probably help with that. That Guild Master is no friend of mine but he can listen to reason. If you can somehow make it worth his while, he’ll cooperate.”
“…That was my intention.”
“The Guild Master isn’t who you should be worried about.”
DM thought back to the other assassin that had patrolled the surrounding forest alongside some knights not too long ago. He also knew there was friction between the local Guild branch and the local Lord.
“…Are you referring to other people of the Twin Cities?”
“Yes. I’m not sure how much you know about the city, but the Lord’s even worse than the Guild Master. Between one of the Guild employees being accused of some type of corruption, and the Guild subsequently refusing to provide access to the dungeon crystal, the city is basically treating the Guild like an enemy.”
“…Will the adventurers get caught up in that conflict?”
“Oh? Worried about the adventurers? Well… From what I heard, no adventurers have been lost in this dungeon yet… To answer your question, they very likely will. This isn’t my city, so I’m not totally tied in to the day-to-day happenings, but if the Lord’s isolation from the rest of the nation has made him even nuttier than he was in the past, anything can happen.”
“…The Lord has various innocent people working for him too, right?”
“Yes. Between the city guard, the knights, and others, a lot of innocent people on both sides could get hurt or killed if things go south. Adventurers don’t take wrongful incarceration sitting down, you should know.”
“…Is there some way we can prevent that?”
“With all due respect mister tentacle monster, that’s not why I’m here. Anyway, it may just be up to you.”
“…What do you mean?”
“I told you that you need to be worried about the Lord and his people, right? They probably still think there’s a sorcerer or whatever causing discord over here northwest of the city.”
“…I did see some people poking around the forest, but none of them entered the dungeon.”
Thaw lowered her face slightly and looked at the morphling as though she was glancing over reading glasses. She did not appear amused. “How did you observe people in the forest?”
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“We’re sorry!” The four adventurers bowed their heads to Kat’s party after learning of what their thief had done.
“I should have known he’d try to pull something…” the black mage pushed out between clenched teeth.
“Our goal was only ever to teach you the ways of adventuring and perhaps recruit you to join us for more missions in the future,” the man with the kite shield explained. “What a surprise it was that you were all at an even higher level than us!”
“I’m so embarrassed I could die,” the fighter muttered as he clenched his fists.
“Don’t worry about it,” Bandit replied.
“It’s okay!” Kat added on in a surprisingly cheerful voice. “You do have more experience with adventuring than us. Please teach us.”
“It—It would be our honor…” The male adventurers all grew up, just a little bit, following this event. With renewed vigor, they pushed on through the dungeon, forming a well-organized party of 9.
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“Gah, there were no requests to go west,” Daphne complained to her party as they sat at a table on the first floor of their inn.
“It may be a few days…” the white mage predicted.
“Want to do some simple local quest, Daffy?” asked the fighter, trying to cheer her party member up.
“Fine, but let’s not go too far. It’s not worth the risk.”
The white mage and the swordsman turned the other way to whisper to each other.
“Is that really Daffy?”
“That dungeon seems to have had more of an effect on her than we thought…”
“More like, a certain dungeon master.”
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“…I sometimes send monsters out into the nearby forest to scout.”
“I had no idea a dungeon could do something like that,” Thaw admitted. “Of course, monsters escape dungeons all the time, but not as part of any strategy like that.”
“…Perhaps I am unique.”
“Of that, I am certain. Anyway, I don’t know what the Lord will do next. Will he declare open war against the Guild? Will he try to eliminate the threat that is a sorcerer living northwest of the city? Who can say?”
“…How about we share information?”
“Tempting, but I don’t know you well enough to commit to anything right now. Sorry.”
“…I see…”
“Oh. Do you know what happens if intruders defeat you and then gain access to that strange structure, those dungeon controls, in your chamber?”
“…The console? Uh, I’m of the understanding that only I can interface with it.”
“That’s kind of true and kind of false.”
“…What?”
“Look, it’s not my place to say. I’d definitely need the permission of the capital branch Guild Master to tell you about it. All I’ll say is, whatever you do, don’t let your enemies get their hands on it. Especially if they are well connected.”
DM didn’t like the sound of that, but he saw no reason to object to what she said. “…Very well.”
The dwarf stood back up. “Alrighty, I’ll report back to the Twin Cities Guild Master. As promised, I won’t reveal your secrets, but I will encourage him to negotiate with you. I don’t think you’ll harm the Guild if you’re treated decently.”
“…Thank you.”
“Whaddaya gonna offer the guy anyway?”
“…I was thinking I could reorganize the first few floors of the dungeon to be safe for adventurers to level. So long as they didn’t come down to my floor, they could level up in an environment set up for maximum efficiency.”
“You’d do all that just so people won’t try to kill you? Or… do you want anything else?”
“…Apparently, the dungeon and I can both level up by absorbing equipment. Instead of killing adventurers for experience, perhaps I could receive spare gear from time to time.”
“Hah. You should just take it from the adventurers who perform poorly so long as you don’t kill them unnecessarily.”
“…You’re even harder on your own organization than I am.”
“I didn’t become who I am by getting breastfed by a dungeon master.”
“…Fair enough.”
“Anything else?”
“…I’d love to learn more about the Guild, the Twin Cities, and the world as a whole.”
“I’ll post a quest back at the Guild that a tentacle monster is looking for tutoring.”
“…I guess it is weird if you don’t know I used to be human.”
“I get the gist of it. I’ll pave the way for you, but don’t get your hopes too high. Times are tough right now.” Thaw turned towards the exit. “Good luck. Oh! And beware of female elves. Or don’t.”
“…Female elves? Why?”
Thaw laughed to herself as she ascended the stairs.