The next morning Mash had planned to visit the library and colosseum, but both of those options ended up falling through. His ruckus last night had caused quite the commotion, and it seemed like the city was having a late start today. Mash felt bad about that, but that wasn’t what kept him locked up inside.
He had actually gone outside earlier today but returned after a short escapade. There were a lot more eyes on him and his friends. The events of the past day had been made public to a degree, and the people were treating their group as young heroes. Each look made Mash’s gut churn, and he returned home quickly as it became too difficult. Mash didn’t know if it was the looks themselves, or the fact that they were missing a large part of what he did. They didn’t know about what he needed to do to get the people out, and instead just heard that their family was responsible for saving hundreds of people. It was a large reduction of the events, and Mash knew that if they truly understood what had taken place, they would not be looking at him with admiration.
Furthermore, his ruckus from last night had forced his brother to stay out last night, and that only made Mash feel worse. So, he sat inside the training ground just getting a better feel for using his new thunder-wood. It was mainly using it without his transformation skills, relying instead on the creation skill itself. He wasn’t expecting any stat gains and was unsurprised to see any changes in his abilities. Keeping up the act of training he had been visited by his friends once.
They had arrived early in the morning and said they were going to visit one of the dungeons today and probably tomorrow too. One of the city’s dungeons was for their rank, and he would not be able to enter it anymore. Thus, they decided that the three of them would enter and return before the tournament started. They weren’t planning on clearing it but would try if they thought it was easy. Mash hoped that they succeeded, as that would let him enter the other dungeon sooner. At first, Mash had been a bit worried for them, but after reading up on the dungeon he realized that it should be fairly easy for them.
The biggest enemies were these hybrid creatures, which were a mix of birds and bears. Though it was a low magic dungeon, they could easily overpower the creatures with magic. It was a lot harder for classes that were low on magic, but still on the easier side of dungeons. There was some time variation but in the reverse of their previous experience. They would be able to spend almost an entire week in the dungeon before returning and he figured they would have reached his level before the tournament. Honestly, he wasn’t sure though as the last dungeon had given them levels far too easily. Mash left it to them, giving them the key, his brother had handed him earlier.
Speaking of which, a servant had come down and Mash looked at her with trepidation. Honestly, his presence within the house had not grown much better even after yesterday’s events came out, and he had made it significantly worse through his training last night. So, he was surprised to see one for the maid’s head towards him.
“Your brother has arrived!”
She yelled the words, her voice breaking a little as Mash started to run towards her. Mash had stressed the importance that he is informed of his brother’s arrival and was glad to see that they were taking it seriously. The maid had spoken informally to him, but he realized he much preferred it that way and made a note to tell the butler to allow them to talk that way.
Mash ran towards the main hall at first but guessed that he was already speaking with Luna somewhere. Instead, he stopped one of the staff and asked the man where his siblings were. The man quickly led him towards a smaller room on the second floor. Mash hadn’t been in there before, but he did see his siblings sitting inside when he opened the door. The mana in the door and walls of the room told him that it was meant for important discussions and was designed similarly to the appraisal room in the guild.
On the inside, there was a table big enough to fit five or six people around its circular top. Mash took a seat beside his siblings, a bit surprised to see that Luna was wearing the clothes she slept in. They were extremely big and made of thick cotton. It looked like it would keep her warm through a snowstorm, and he wondered how she managed to sleep in that. Originally, he planned on bombarding his brother with questions but seeing his sister in the room caused him to hesitate.
“Don’t worry. I got permission to inform Luna of most of what you have learned.”
Arthur spoke, reading the expression on Mash’s face. Mash only stared, wondering how he got permission for something like that but decided that was unimportant. He wanted to ask him about the dungeons.
“What was the situation with the dungeons? We got levels quickly while inside, and it was clearly unnatural.”
His brother nodded as Mash spoke. Thankfully, his brother actually had some answers for him.
“The dungeon was made by the creatures inside. I believe you fought one of the higher beings, and I fought the supposed mother and father. They were the creators from what I could guess. However, that’s not what you’re really asking about.”
His brother let out a long sigh, taking a big sip from his tea before continuing.
“Well, you’re right the class system was giving us a lot of bonuses while inside. After having a discussion with my superiors, I learned that this was the method the knights used to gain high leveled combatants. Unnatural dungeons are a foreign group of invaders, and the class system is designed to combat such forces. So, when we were fighting within such a dungeon it was giving us bonuses to incentivize killing the beings, though we didn’t need encouragement for those things.”
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His brother finished and seemed to wait for Mash’s response. Luna seemed content with listening for now, and an angry-looking Alex was glaring at Arthur. Apparently, she didn’t like the fact that Luna was finding this information out. However, Mash realized something from his brother’s response. Arthur knew that the class system was created by whoever owned this world. Thinking back, Mash realized that the vice guild master didn’t know, his lectures made that obvious.
Mash thought about what to ask his brother about but held himself back as he noticed the look on his brother’s face. He looked tired, and clearly showed signs of distress. They were subtle and he doubted that anyone other than Mash or Luna could see them. Mash changed his question while speaking.
“Wha- Are you doing alright?”
His brother looked at the two of them for a moment, before asking Alex to leave. At first, she looked like she was going to protest, but a single look around the room got her to leave. She was probably just waiting outside, but it was enough, and Arthur shared his experience in the dungeon. Mash felt his insides turn as his assumptions were confirmed. His brother had needed to kill one of the knights to reach the next rank, and Mash shared his own experience and the people he killed. They talked like that for a while, finding a small amount of comfort in sharing their experiences with one another.
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Jill’s P.O.V
The dungeon was not what they expected, and they had two reasons for the inconvenience. It wasn’t made harder, instead, the opposite had occurred. They ran into Niviss inside, who was clearing the dungeon with the help of a single bodyguard. She had clearly stayed at her level solely to help the princess and had ranked up as soon as entering the dungeon. At first, Jill and the others planned on going their separate ways, but the offer of clearing the dungeon with the princess was too good to refuse. Having a member of a higher rank in their team would be a huge benefit, not to mention the Princess’s class was incredible. She had already reached the first advancement after receiving the mask, and Jill realized that she might outpace Mash at this rate. Though it wasn’t necessarily the same as Mash didn’t have others to help him in the same way.
The second reason the dungeon was easier was the incredibly dense mana in the air. It only took a few moments for them to recover their mana, and Jill was confident they could clear the dungeon within a week. Mash will be surprised when they have all reached the next rank and were adorned with new items. Even if what he had to do was gruesome, Jill had been a little jealous that he had advanced so quickly. His “chaotic fate,” as he put it, was a huge blessing for him. She wouldn’t fall behind though and was determined to keep up.
Her family debts had been cleared away, and she thought that would make her lose her determination, but it did the opposite. The freedom that she gained from the removal of those debts had spurred her to want more. Maybe it was Mash rubbing off on her, but she wanted to be free from the class influence too. The world was finally open to her, and it made her crave more of it. She wanted to be able to see dragons and speak to supreme beings. It was a little petty and she knew it, but she was determined to stick to Mash if meant that she would have those opportunities.
They had told Niviss about Mash’s class advancement and she had been very interested in hearing about it. Now, she was determined to clear the dungeon before the tournament too, eager to see Mash’s newfound power. Idly, Jill wondered if that would remain the same upon their return. No one had mentioned it before, but Mash looked a lot better now than when they first met. On top of his body becoming more muscular, his face had become more sculpted, and his eyes grew sharper. They were not drastic changes like Jill had experienced but were more minor like Red’s. A few small changes compounded to make him significantly more attractive, and she was curious to see how the Princess would react upon seeing him. It didn’t seem like Red, or Luke noticed the changes as much, and they didn’t mention them either when talking earlier.
Jill watched as the girl fought the monsters. She was wearing the odd mask and using some kind of purplish magic, at least that was the color of her mana. Jill didn’t know exactly what it did, but it seemed to be a curse of some kind. The creatures would slow and decay, or grow ill, and vomit. It was quite gruesome, but it had made most of the large packs of monsters unable to fight.
The monsters were covered in feathers but stood on two legs and their wings were as thick logs. Their bodies were thick and blocky, and she would think they were bears if not for the beak and large eyes. Strangely she had seen a few of their heads turn almost entirely around, and she wondered what the purpose of that kind of magic was. It didn’t matter much as the curse hit the group and disabled most of the monsters. Jill singled out a group that was relatively clumped and used her magic to kill them. She didn’t gain a level even after killing the group but figured she could make it. The path they had taken was filled with monsters, and endless amounts seemed to be covering the open plains.
The bodyguard for the princess had a lot of information on the dungeon, and she explained that it was an invasion-style dungeon. Their group would act as invaders and must push past the enemy army to kill the general and claim the city. Knowing that this was really another world, she guessed that this dungeon was an actual invasion organized by whoever owned their world. She hesitated slightly at first but realized that this was the only path for power and all dungeons were like this. However, the worst part was that she knew that those thoughts might be because of the class system but couldn’t find a good reason against them.
The potential freedom of the next advancement was what made her attack groups of monsters that were too far away. She wanted them to come towards them, to gain levels. Jill knew that she was not a hero, but she never wanted to be one. The sickening pleasure started rising in her like it did when she killed the bandit. The feeling had become a constant thing, happening whenever she killed anything, mindless monsters included. She was worried about becoming a psychopath but trusted her friends to keep her on the right path. Eventually, she could trust her own emotions, but for now, she would trust the other’s judgment.
The bodyguard had done it once before and provided a lot of information for what they needed to do. That bit of information shocked Jill since you could only complete the same dungeon once a year. Without Mash around, Jill guessed they wouldn’t find any treasure troves. She had long accepted that it was a combination of his fate and magic that let them find treasure and would be happy to receive only the dungeon reward.