Chapter 23: Putting Down Roots in the Empire
Thaw snuck out of the forest, most likely evading the Lord’s eyes. DM returned his attention to the dungeon where Kat’s party was receiving tips about the do’s and don’ts of exploring a dungeon. They were now on floor 3.
He really appreciated the opportunity to see what another dungeon looks like. What immediately stood out was how random the floorplan and monster arrangements were. Similar to when he received a new floor via leveling up the dungeon, the layout of the rooms, doors, hallways, chests, and everything else was illogical and not thought out at all.
The types of monsters Kat’s group were encountering were pretty similar to the monsters DM had access to as of when his dungeon reached LVL 5. There were a couple of bug monsters he didn’t recognize, suggesting different dungeons offer different enemies at the same level. He didn’t like bugs and he wasn’t envious.
Coincidentally, Sasha and Ardreth were providing their report to the Guild branch in Gazahanar, capital of the Empire, at the same time. DM decided to shift his attention over to that event instead. He’d be sure to check back on Kat’s group when they were ready to engage the dungeon master.
“Thank you for your report,” said the Guild clerk. “Are you going to return to the Holy State, or perhaps remain in the city for a while?”
“We’ll stick around for now,” Sasha responded. “We’ll decide later.”
The two departed the Guild, unsure of where to go. As they wandered aimlessly for a few minutes, a woman came up behind them, just as they were passing through an unoccupied alley. She appeared to be in her 40s and was a noncombatant by all appearances.
“Were you two involved in the battle with the wyvern?”
“Yes,” Sasha answered. “We were lucky to survive…”
“Did you see what happened to the other people the wyvern killed?”
Sasha briefly summarized the events, sticking to the story that Ardreth had concocted. However, she was honest about the events leading up to the death of the other adventurers. Ardreth subtly tried to slow Sasha down or stop her from explaining so much, but he wasn’t assertive enough and gave up.
“So… you left him to die?”
“Huh?” Sasha wasn’t expecting such a question, but Ardreth was less surprised.
“I figured this would happen…”
“He died because of you, didn’t he?” The woman pointed at the two adventurers, her tone suggesting things would only escalate from here. Just as she took a deep breath, likely to scream out her emotions, a tentacle rose from the ground next to her and wrapped around her head, covering her mouth.
“Mmmph!” The woman briefly struggled, then her arms fell limp to her sides. The tentacle released her.
“DM…?” Ardreth asked warily.
“…Yes. I wanted to talk to you and I didn’t want to listen to this woman anymore.”
Ardreth responded, “To be fair, her outrage is understandable.”
“…Maybe, but I don’t have time to worry about that. I thought you acted appropriately in the battle with the wyvern.”
“Thank you…” Sasha’s tone showed she appreciated the excuse to feel a bit less guilty herself. “What do you want with us?”
“…What do you plan to do now?”
“Honestly, we haven’t decided yet,” said Sasha. “We already worked out with our, uh, former comrades that they don’t need our help to return west. We can stay here as long as we like, but we’re not sure if there’s a reason to.”
“…I suggest you keep away for now.”
“Why?”
“…Conflict may be on the horizon between the Guild and the city government. I overheard the Lord is considering violent action.”
“Really? That’s insane!” Sasha yelled while Ardreth brought a hand to his chin.
“Does this involve you somehow?” the elf asked.
“…Most likely. If I see that burglar and that archer I’ll make sure they hurry through back to the west without lingering here. …If they aren’t adventuring anymore, they should be relatively safe.”
“Thank you, from both of us.”
“…Ardreth, you’re one of the least incompetent people I’ve met since the dungeon spawned. I’ll help you when I can.”
“And? Do you need us to help you?”
“…Would you be willing to adventure in the Empire for a while? I’m interested in seeing more through your eyes about the situation here.”
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“Sasha, what do you think?”
“I don’t want to do anything too exciting for a little while. You can probably guess why… I’m okay with adventuring here in general, though…”
“I am as well, especially with what we just heard about the Twin Cities.”
“…I imagine you’ll need to recruit some new party members in order to do this.”
“Yes, Ardreth and I will take our time doing that.”
“…Good. Also, Ardreth, do you know of an elf named Daphne?”
“Daphne!?” Ardreth dropped his staff, fell down to his knees, and grasped his head from both sides. After a few seconds, he asked in a small voice, “Is she an elf a little younger than Sasha with a small body, a bow she barely has any experience using, and a desire to get herself killed or worse?”
“…I see you’ve met her.” Jokes were hard to detect when listening to a charmed messenger, but this time was an exception.
“Ardreth, who is she?” Sasha asked.
“She’s from my tribe. Before I departed on this journey, the spirits told me she was not ready to do the same, but it’s fair to say everyone in the village already knew that. DM, how is she?”
“…She seemed fine until she entered my dungeon. After a nice chat, it seems like she’s planning to return west now.”
“Oh, thank goodness. I’m sorry you had to put up with my fellow clansman.”
“…I will try to keep an eye on her. Hopefully her party will depart before anything too crazy happens in the city.”
“What should we do about this angry woman?” said Sasha.
“…I will release the charm effect. She’ll likely be confused, but that’s better than her going berserk.”
“Sasha and I will, uh, prepare ourselves for that. Until next time.”
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Kat’s party stood before the entrance to a large chamber. The black mage reviewed the strategy with all present.
“Now remember, the dungeon master is a minotaur. Watch out for its ax. Everyone with a non-physical class must remain in the back row. Well, you girls would probably be fine either way…”
“We want to do this the normal way!” Kat insisted.
“Very well. Just like we discussed.”
The group entered the chamber, which seemed fairly similar to DM’s boss chamber. A minotaur sat on the floor in the rear left corner of the room. When it spotted the party, it grabbed its ax from the floor next to it and stood. At two and a half meters tall, limbs bulging with muscle, it was an impressive monster.
The party approached cautiously in formation. The minotaur’s first strike was repelled by a decorated kite shield. Lupy and the fighter stepped forward, counter attacking from the left and right respectively. Shiba and the black mage party leader both lifted their staffs over their heads to get a better angle at attacking the minotaur, then shouted, “Fireball!” The magical attacks emitted from the tip of each staff struck the minotaur’s neck and shoulders.
Bandit had already circled around behind the dungeon master and launched several poisoned bolts from her dual one-handed crossbows. She kept her dagger sheathed. Since the poison was not magical, it wasn’t as effective as a successful application of the status effect, but it still weakened the enemy over time.
The minotaur roared then swung its ax even more violently than the first time. The swordsman stepped in front of the target, the fighter, and absorbed the attack with his shield again. This time, he was knocked back, falling down along with the fighter and landing on top of him.
“Rufus, you’re heavy…” the fighter complained to his ally.
“Haha! Blame the armor!” He climbed back to his feet while Lupy and Vulp unloaded with their axes and sword from either side. “If you would prefer to be on top next time, say the word!”
Rufus did not say the word, and the girls had no idea what they were talking about.
The minotaur took two more fireballs as well as several more poisoned arrows to the upper body. Its HP reached zero and it collapsed, defeated.
The black mage mused, “I’d say that went much easier having the girls with us, but our tank got tossed aside like yesterday’s news…”
“I merely dropped my guard for a moment,” the warrior said in his defense. “I’ll need to have my crest painted again as well…”
“I’m surprised your family even lets you do that.”
“Who said they do?” Rufus winked at his leader.
“Please don’t ever wink at me again.”
Lupy was offered the minotaur’s ax since she was an ax specialist but she declined. Not only was it so big that it would look ridiculous for her to equip it, the ax would require two hands and she was in love with the idea of dual wielding. She claimed she’d consider dual wielding axes like the one the minotaur was wielding, but nobody took her seriously. Perhaps in the coming years, she would grow big enough to make good on that threat.
They retained the ax to sell later. In addition to a couple of potions, the minotaur dropped three frozen globes. The white mage scooped them up and added them to the current collection of five frozen globes. “That’s eight. It should be enough.”
The black mage nodded. “Well, we’ve done everything we came to do. Shall we begin our return?”
“What about that?" Kat pointed at the dungeon console.
“Oh, that? Didn’t the Guild tell you not to touch it?”
“Oh yeah. Didn’t the woman at the Guild say something about that when we accepted the request?” said Shiba.
“You forgot that already?” Kat mocked.
“Huh? Why did you ask then!?” Shiba countered angrily.
The male observers turned to look at Kat, wondering what her answer was. As Kat began to feel sweat drops forming on her skin, not wanting to reveal that she was fishing for information about the dungeon console, Vulp rescued her.
“So why does the Guild tell us not to mess with that thing?”
“Well,” the black mage answered, “I’m not sure. It’s dangerous to mess with it, supposedly.”
This time Lupy asked a question. “Can you use it to change the floors and monsters?”
“I’ve never heard of being able to do anything like that. Probably not. You can ask the Guild about it later, but I doubt they’ll tell you anything. Maybe when our parties are higher level they’ll trust us with more information?”
Nobody responded to the black mage, and they began their trek back to the surface.
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Sasha posted a flyer at the Guild indicating that they were recruiting members for a temporary party. They already had the vanguard and healing positions covered, so they likely just needed some more offense. Sasha wasn’t going to be too picky provided any candidates seemed like they were reasonably competent and would be easy to work with.
A few other parties had also posted similar flyers, but Ardreth recommended they avoid inquiring about those requests. Their circumstances were fairly unusual so it made more sense to be up front to any interested candidates about their intentions. Specifically, they were looking to adventure entirely within the Empire, despite being from the Holy State. Further, the party was expected to be temporary in nature, only. Not just anyone would want to join a party under such circumstances. Having a somewhat unusual female vanguard, as well as a rare elf adventurer in the mix, might draw more attention than typical, or so they hoped.
“We should also make it clear we want to start off with some lower-intensity missions due to recent events to the south.”
Sasha nodded.
“Excuse me.”
The pair turned in the direction of the voice. A woman approached from the board where recruitment notices were posted. Her arms and shoulders were surprisingly muscular, making even the athletic Sasha seem dainty by comparison. In contrast, her lower body did not seem all that bulky. Her bright red hair extended halfway down her back in a ponytail.
“Are you still recruiting?”