Chapter 2: Unintended Consequences
The party wasn’t entirely closed in. The swordsman made a quick decision not to try their luck against this intimidating enemy. “Run! Go around it!”
The four attempted to bypass the beefed up tentacle monster. They gave it a wide berth as they ran toward the chamber’s exit. Unfortunately, a new challenger waited for them at the door.
A wyvern poked its head in. DM loved the ‘wyvern at the door’ trick.
“Wha!?”
“Gods!” the white mage shouted from the back of the group as he nearly banged into the other party members who came to a stop in front of him. Looking over his shoulder, he saw the red tentacle monster closing in, too. “We’re surrounded!”
“Don’t give up!” the black mage shouted.
The spear girl turned to face the odd guy who was still standing by the console. “Help us!”
For the moment, the tentacle monster and wyvern stopped moving, simply staring down the party from both sides. Footsteps echoed through the chamber as the mysterious man sauntered over to the wyvern, approaching it from the side. He placed a hand on the side of the wyvern’s face, caressing it.
“You…” Only then did it click for the swordsman what was going on.
“Who are you?” asked the black mage.
“…First let me ask you all a question.”
They waited for the man to elaborate as one member of the group gulped.
“…Back when you entered this dungeon the first time, the tentacle monster ran away and then tried to disarm you without hurting anyone. Did you ever think about why that was?”
“Back then…?” The swordsman searched his memory.
“It was odd…” the girl with the spear admitted.
“…It hurt like hell, I’ll have you know.”
“What!?” It was the white mage who reacted first.
“…That was me. I’ve since gained the ability to talk.”
“Monsters can talk!?”
The man turned toward the black mage. “…Normally, no. I’ll admit I’m a bit of an exception.”
“Why didn’t you try to signal us back then!?” asked the swordsman.
“…How did it go? I believe it was, ‘Ew, look at it! Don’t let it trick you! Take it down?’”
“Well…”
“…And then, ‘It’s running away! Don’t rush! Corner it!’”
“But, how we were supposed to know!?”
“…Young man, I will answer you by taking your sword and eating it."
“What!?”
A tentacle sprouted from the ground just in front of the swordsman and wrapped around his sword, yanking it out of his hands.
“My sword! Not again!”
It sizzled but soon ceased to be.
“…Hm, I thought you said you improved your sword, but it doesn’t seem to be worth anything to me.”
“Damn you!” Before he could finish shouting, the swordsman stumbled. His ally with the spear had smacked the back of his head.
“Behave yourself!”
“Guh…”
“…In all honesty I realize it was hard for you to recognize me as anything except for a monster back then. …Still, as you explore the unknown, it’s important to keep an open mind, no?”
“Yes!” the black mage declared. “We’ll remember that, always! Thank you for your wisdom!”
“…Do you know what has happened with this dungeon since you left last time?”
“No… We’ve been traveling,” the white mage answered.
“…I basically promised the Guild I wouldn’t kill foolish young adventurers so consider yourselves lucky. Go to the Twin Cities Guild and submit yourself for a lecture.”
“We’ll do that!”
The man nodded to the black mage. “…And get him a better sword. He seems to have lost the last one.”
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“You—” Once again, he was smacked before he could say anything else.
“…Ah… closure.” The man walked back over to the console.
The girl with the spear looked back and forth between the man and the wyvern that was still blocking the door. “Um, Mr. Dungeon Master, could you asked the wyvern to move aside?”
“…Hm? Oh.”
The wyvern lowered its head to the floor for a nap.
“…You can just climb past it.”
“Uh…” Neither she nor her comrades were too eager to climb all over a sleeping wyvern. “I don’t think we should step on a wyvern…”
“…Oh it’s fine. You’re all so fun to tease.”
“N–No, it’s not quite fine…”
“…Either climb over the wyvern and get out of here, or stay in this chamber until you starve. It’s not a difficult choice to me. …Oh, I guess you could try eating the wyvern, too.”
As the party ever-so-carefully creeped over the wyvern to escape the chamber, the man called out to them one final time. “…I’m not even angry. I’m being so sincere right now.”
The white mage, who was trailing the others, paused to look back at the man over his shoulder.
“…Even though you broke my heart and killed me. And tore me to pieces. …And threw every piece into a fire.”
He didn’t get the obscure reference from Earth, of course. Shaking his head, he completed his climb over the wyvern’s body and escaped the chamber.
For the party of four, somehow, the journey out of the dungeon was much more exhausting than the descent had been, and not just because they were down a sword.
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With his revenge complete, DM tracked down Kat’s party. They had just arrived at the Upper Gordu Dungeon, where Grace escorted them to Grummanonth’s chamber.
“Ah, you’ve returned.”
Kat stepped forward. “We completed our mission.”
“Yes, DM told me. Good work.”
“Thank you.”
“And now for your reward.”
The girls’ reactions varied, between giddy and cautious. They waited for Grummanonth to announce what they would get.
“Another mission.”
“Huh?” Kat had one of the more cautious reactions to the promise of a reward, but even she wasn’t expecting that answer.
“This one comes from DM. He needs you to intercept Daphne as she travels from the capital to the Twin Cities.”
“Oh, that doesn’t sound hard,” said Kat. “What do we do after that?”
“You must warn her.”
“That’s not a reward!” Lupy complained.
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DM checked in on Sasha. She recruited new party members somewhat effortlessly. Apparently, word of her and Ardreth’s involvement in the recent conflict within the Empire had spread quickly.
On the surface, their mission was to travel from Guild Branch to Guild Branch around the Empire, notifying them of recent events in Gazahanar. After all, word did not travel so fast—especially to the southern region.
In truth, their goal was to learn more about the location and types of dungeons throughout the nation. They hadn’t revealed this to their new party members yet, but they planned to share the information with DM so that he could conquer the dungeons and bring them under his control.
DM already held two dungeons in the Empire: Guluk Dungeon near the border with the Twin Cities and Nabilgat Dungeon, the former ‘wyvern dungeon’ in the central region, sandwiched between Nabilgat and Zarukthuzun.
Ardreth was aware of at least one dungeon in the south and another southeast of Zirar and Adzah near the coast. There could be more; nobody they spoke to in the capital was certain. Even within the Guild organization, they were often tight-lipped about the presence of dungeons. Ardreth suspected dungeons were less well-known the more unsuitable they were for beginner adventurers.
Their journey would bring them clockwise around the Empire. First, they’d travel to the area around Zirar and Adzah, where a group of monsters had remained motionless at the coast for a good while during the recent war. From there, they’d continue along the coast, collecting any information they could from the coastal cities.
At some point, hopefully after receiving good hints, they’d turn inland to the unpopulated mountainous region. Most likely, the dungeon was there. If they were lucky, there was more than one dungeon in this region.
Whenever they finished up their business in the region southeast of Adzah, they’d proceed further south into the southern region and plan things from there. Even the maps they currently carried were limited when it came to the southern region.
Sasha and Ardreth exchanged knowing looks as they finished briefing their party and set out on their journey.
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After a short stay in Ereacht, Daphne set out along the main road to the Twin Cities. What surprised her was how often she encountered work crews surveying the area or preparing the path for paving. She had heard the Holy State began a major project to pave a nationwide network of roads, but the rate of progress around the capital was staggering. Considering how often she found herself traveling east and west across the country, she’d certainly appreciate a better road between the major cities. Regardless of this project, though, the path between Shroures and EarthGlen was going to suck regardless. The elves wouldn’t let someone pave a road right through the forest, she figured.
The first leg of her trip was uneventful, with one exception. She just so happened to encounter a couple robbers attacking an unguarded buggy. Just as one of the robbers raised his rusty blade to strike down an elderly merchant, he took an arrow to the knee.
The other robber glanced at Daphne and then ran in the other direction.
“Wow, I thought he’d just laugh at me and charge.” It felt kind of nice being taken seriously for once, but Daphne didn’t intend to let the hooligan escape. She released a second arrow, catching the fleeing man in the calf, before approaching the victims of the attack. “Are you two all right?”
“Yes… Uh, thank you! Thank you so much for your help!” The elderly man cradled his granddaughter or whoever she was in his arms.
“It’s just the two of you?”
“Yes, just us and ol’ Bella.”
Daphne glanced at the horse, who seemed to have survived the affair unscathed. “Good. I’ll make sure these fools don’t follow you. Are you able to continue your journey?”
“Yes! Thank you! Thank you!” The old man tossed a small sack to Daphne in thanks and then snapped the reigns, driving his horse forward. The wagon trundled away.
She strapped the sack to her waist for now and approached the two robbers who were still writhing on the ground. “Whatever gave you the idea to attack travelers along the main road in broad daylight?”
”Shut up you bitch!” The first robber with an injured knee used his good leg to lunge at Daphne.
For a fraction of a second, Daphne felt an urge from deep down, but she wasn’t sure what it was. It was like a separate will from her own desired to take action. As strange as it was, she didn’t have time to worry about it.
Daphne effortlessly sidestepped the man’s attack, causing him to slide face-first through the dirt as his legs rose up while he came to a stop. It looked rather comical.
The second robber was trying to hobble away in the other direction, but he wouldn’t get far like that. Daphne decided to kick the more violent robber in the head. That shut him up for a while. She walked after the other one, eventually overtaking him. She aimed an arrow at him, causing him to finally stop resisting.
“L–L–Leave me alone!”
“First, tell me why you two decided to attack that wagon. Isn’t that really foolish?”
“The roads!”
“What?”
“With the kingdom rebuilding all the roads, workers and guards are everywhere! We needed a payout while we could still get it! Now let me go!”
Daphne guessed that this anomalous attack by robbers was just an unintended consequence of a major road construction project.