Chapter 12: Eat Metal
A squad of soldiers camped outside the entrance of a dungeon at the heart of the Empire. They perked up when they heard approaching footsteps, hopping to their feet and grabbing their weapons.
“Woah! I think we took a wrong turn at Nabilgat!” Four people, including two woman, a young hunter carrying a spear in his left hand and a falcon on his right shoulder, and even an elf, approached at a casual pace on foot. The younger of the two women seemed to be the leader.
“Halt! This area is off limits!”
“Sorry! Which way should we go? Wait, is that a dungeon!?”
The soldier eyed the swordswoman before responding. “Yes, but it’s dangerous, so you’ll need to turn around and go back north. Also, don’t tell anyone about it, or they may try to enter and get themselves killed.”
“Ah, okay. Wait, can we continue south to Zarukthuzun instead?”
“What? Uh, sure…” The soldier trailed off. “But go around!”
“Okay!”
The group of four gave the soldiers a wide berth as they bypassed the dungeon, all the while staring intently at the entrance. The soldiers watched them go, unmoving.
Once the adventurers were out of sight, another soldier addressed the one who had spoken with the swordswoman. “You think they knew what the story was with this dungeon?”
“I’m not sure. They seemed very interested in the dungeon, but they are adventurers after all.”
“It would have been a pain if a wyvern escaped during all that…”
“Yeah…”
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The older of the two brothers tiptoed to join back up with his party and retrieve his spear. His younger brother handed it over while he addressed him.
“So, what did you hear?”
“After you four left, they said it was a good thing no wyverns escaped while you were there.”
“Wow!” Sasha cut in. Ardreth’s plan worked!
“We were quite lucky,” said the elf.
“Nonsense!” Sasha disagreed. “It was a great plan. I can never get over how devious you are deep down.”
“Please give me a break.”
“Okay, Ardreth. So, we’ve confirmed that wyverns seem to be originating from that dungeon, at least. What do you think that means.”
“I can think of two possibilities.” As Ardreth explained, the other four members of his group listened intently. “One is that the dungeon has naturally evolved in a way that produces wyverns, and they just happen to be escaping in a way that is inconvenient for us all. The other is that the people in charge of those soldiers are somehow manipulating the dungeon, and the wyverns escaping and causing havoc is simply an unintended side-effect.”
“It’s obviously the first one,” the older brother insisted. “Right?”
“It’s possible,” Ardreth acknowledged. “But I think the second possibility is more likely. The way they are keeping the dungeon a secret and keeping people away without so much as an explanation is incredibly suspicious.”
“But why would they…” the hunter muttered to himself, trying to make sense of what they just learned.
“I have overheard some rumors about experiments on this part of the continent, but…” Ardreth glanced at the two brothers and thought better of finishing his theory. “Probably not.”
“So what should we do?” asked Sasha. “Observe that dungeon some more?”
“Let’s investigate the other nearby towns,” Luna suddenly proposed. “Maybe we can learn more about this from other locals?”
Nobody objected so they continued their investigation, all wanting to learn the truth for different reasons.
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DM was keeping an eye on Sasha’s party, interested to see what else they would learn about the strange happenings in the Empire. Meanwhile Lord Davidson’s caravan returned to the twin cities, and Daphne’s party neared EarthGlen on foot. Kat and the other girls had visited the Ereacht Guild to take on some requests.
Just as DM was wondering what would happen next, he received an alert. Three men soon entered, pausing in the first chamber. Olivia was not around to greet them. DM took a closer look and noticed he recognized the well-dressed man from the throne room back in the capital. The other two men seemed to be guards.
“Hello!?” the man shouted, not attempting to proceed further into the dungeon.
A few minutes later, a morphling ascended the stairs to greet them in the form of a random adventurer from the Union, still. “…Yes?”
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
“A–Are you associated with the master of this dungeon?”
“…Yes. I speak by using this body, but I’m the dungeon master.”
“Please help me!”
“…With what?”
“My son, back in the capital. You see—“
“…Wait. Why are you coming to me for help with your son in the capital?”
“I recently learned of your knowledge and wisdom during a meeting back in the capital. Please, help my son!”
DM hadn’t noticed, but perhaps the gentleman was hiding his concerns during the several days of meetings in the throne room. He hadn’t stood out, mostly lingering in the back of the room. “…I’ll at least listen.”
“Thank you! You see, my son is ill. Very ill. We cannot figure out the cause. He normally eats plenty of food, gets plenty of rest, and drinks the same water as everyone else! The healers say they’ve never seen such a strange mix of symptoms before.”
“…I can cast basic healing magic, but I’m not an expert on helping sick people. What exactly do you want me to do?”
“Please! I’m sure one blessed with such unique knowledge will know something that can help! I journeyed all the way here for that very reason!”
“…Uh, okay. What are the symptoms?”
The man went into detail about everything strange happening to his son. In particular, he was losing his appetite recently, fatigued, often nauseas, experiencing awful muscle cramps, behaving like an entirely different person mentally, unable to see at all at night, and most recently his gums were horribly inflamed.
“…How long has this been happening?”
“This started a couple of months ago, although the gums being so inflamed is only a recent development.”
“…Some of those symptoms sound familiar… Could this be a simple nutrient deficiency?”
“What do you mean? Most of these symptoms began back while he was eating plenty!”
“…But was he actually eating the same foods as the rest of his family?”
“Well…” Eventually, the man acknowledged that his son was in fact an unusually fussy eater: a luxury only possible for particularly well-off families. It seemed the father was trying to convince himself the diet was acceptable since the son compensated for lack of variety with a good quantity of food.
“…My guess is, he’ll recover from most of those symptoms quickly if he eats the proper foods. Many people are malnourished simply because they can’t obtain adequate food to begin with. …He’s fortunate to have access to the foods that will help him.”
“Then I will force him to eat the foods that will cure him! What does he need?”
“…I’m not certain. Honestly, those symptoms you listed sound like he’s suffering from multiple deficiencies. …Inflamed gums, you said? Did he stop eating fruits more recently?”
“Yes… As he’s grown weaker he’s stopped eating even the couple of fruits he likes. Is that why his symptoms have worsened?”
“…It could be. Citrus fruits contain vitamin C which should help.”
“Vitamin C?”
“…The personality changes are probably the key to identifying other deficiencies. I don’t think that’s from vitamin deficiency. …It’s probably a metal? Like, iron or magnesium or zinc? …I think magnesium but I’m not sure.”
“Metal!? Why would I feed my son metal!?”
“…Uh, never mind. Try a combination of nuts and seeds, beans, leafy vegetables, and various fruits. …Whatever you can obtain. I think that will hit most of the nutrients.”
“He… He won’t be pleased.”
“…If you do not feed him those foods, then feel free to return later on so I can provide suggestions for how to decorate the Church at his funeral.”
“I—I will force him to eat those foods if necessary! Nuts and seeds, beans, leafy vegetables, and various fruits!”
“…Take it slow…”
“Anything else I should try?”
“…Uh, fish oils, I guess? I don’t know, my main body doesn’t even have a mouth, you realize.”
“I… I beg your pardon for asking about something beyond your own experiences, but I’m optimistic that your advice will be helpful. I must journey back home immediately. I will not forget this!”
The man jogged out of the room flanked by his two guards.
“…You never even mentioned your name…”
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DM could have infected the man in order to keep an eye on the son’s recovery, but he decided not to. If the boy died or otherwise didn’t improve, DM would actually feel pretty guilty about it. While he didn’t do anything wrong, offering medical advice when you weren’t a properly trained and certified practitioner seemed wrong.
Obviously, this world’s standards were quite different than DM grew up with as a human. Also, DM was up front about the fact that he was just spit balling, so the man wouldn’t have any grounds to complain if the advice didn’t help. Still, it would be inconvenient for DM if he made an enemy of some influential man from the capital because his advice wasn’t helpful.
DM turned his attention to Daphne out of curiosity.
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Since this was Daphne’s second time bringing guests into the village, things went smoothly. They made arrangements for her fellow party members to stay in a guest house reserved for such purposes. While Daphne escorted them to another location where they could eat, Alenia intercepted them.
“Daphne, dear, come with me.”
“I was just bringing them to—“
“We’ll take care of that.” Alenia signaled with her eyes and another elf gestured for the three human companions to follow them. “Come.”
Daphne shuddered, experiencing déjà vu. Regardless, she followed Alenia into the same room as where Alenia had interrogated her last time she visited. Daphne attempted to sit opposite Alenia, but once again, Alenia wanted Daphne closer.
“Come sit next to me.”
Reluctantly, Daphne complied, tense all the while.
“Word of your deeds preceded you.”
“Really? I’m surprised…” Daphne wouldn’t have expected word to travel from the humans to the elves so quickly.
“Yes, our communications with the humans are more robust than you might realize. We learned exactly of your deeds in the Twin Cities. Your… deeds.”
“That’s why I came back home,” Daphne explained, her mood becoming sad and somber. “I…”
“We know what happened, Daphne. But do you really realize what you’ve done?”
“Huh?”
Alenia produced a dagger from somewhere nearby. “Do you have any idea how much this pains me?”
“What are you…?” Daphne couldn’t even make sense of what was happening. She hopped up from her seat, but Alenia reached out with her unoccupied hand to grab Daphne by the shoulder, pinning her in place with superior strength.
“In a way, anything that’s happened is my fault, so it’s up to me to take responsibility.”
“What do you mean, what’s happened!?” Alarm bells were going off in Daphne’s head. More was going on here than she could see on the surface, but all she knew for sure was that Alenia was pointing a dagger at her. “Did I violate some custom without knowing it!? Is this some prank of yours!?” Daphne was shouting now.
“I’m sorry, Daphne.”
Up until now, Daphne could have written it off as teasing or taking a joke too far, but she could clearly see the dagger coming toward her, albeit in slow motion. Time must have slowed for her as she heard happens sometimes when you are nearing death. With her momentarily heightened senses, she could probably twist to dodge the attack somehow, but what was the point? Alenia was still so much stronger and faster than her overall. She couldn’t escape.
Daphne just watched as the metal point approached her midsection. She counted down the moments until it pierced her. Three. Two. One. It couldn’t penetrate her elven tunic. Surprising. No, that wasn’t it. Raising her gaze, she saw Alenia’s arm held back by a tentacle.