1. Chapter 32

Lo rested in his new den, content. It was the third of the five floors that his master had added to the dungeon, and it was specifically designed for the comforts of korgoath. It lacked only prey, although Tom had begun spawning burrowers on floor one, so Lo and his pack needed only travel up a few floors when it was time to hunt. In time, the Core would learn to do that itself, but having been recently uprooted the Alpha Core would be disoriented and confused for some time. Hopefully this core would never begin spawning the hated gnolls, or, if it did, Tom would convince it to stop.

The second floor was occupied with the rock spiders, which were less interesting to Lo now that they were not being served up as fodder to distract the enemies of a foreign dungeon. If he were starving, perhaps he could subsist by chewing out their innards through their eye socket, but he would rather bypass the second floor in favor of the easy prey available on the first.

Below Lo’s floor was a copy of the Beta Core’s dungeon. Not a copy of the floor plan, just of the ambiance and inhabitants. Lo had little interest in delving through the spiders and the asps that resided there.

And beneath that floor resided the final boss of the dungeon, the minotaur which had faithfully served as a pack-mule for the last leg of the journey.

Lo snorted at the thought of it. The minotaur was barely a challenge to him any longer. If anything, Lo was the boss of this dungeon, for all that he had no interest in occupying the final floor. It was too far from the easy prey.

No, Lo would be content to ignore any potential delvers and remain a hidden boss. Perhaps the other Korgoath would attack the human adventurers foolish enough to delve this dungeon; Lo had no interest in that. Perhaps if he had a mate, he would deign to protect her from the avarice of humans seeking to gain experience from the slaying of his kind. But the only female in his pack had spurned him, and his pride still stung from that.

Perhaps she would come around in time. If she selected one of the other males as a mate, of course, he would have to kill that poor fool. If she were a clever female she would know this, and perhaps it would be interesting if she attempted such a political ploy. For all that he intended to ignore any invaders into his new territory, he would have to keep a close eye on his pack.

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Tom washed his face before handing the towel back to Nigel, his new valet. He was a little uncomfortable with the idea that he had a valet, a butler, and an entire household. His somewhat austere upbringing forced him to believe that he didn’t require such personal attention, and he’d be much happier residing within his dungeon itself.

Fortunately, simply sensing Alpha Core nearby was enough to relieve the anxiety he normally felt while on the surface. Or at least, it had been once he planted the core in the ground. Perhaps it had been the core’s anxiety which he had been sensing before and not his own. He didn’t feel the dungeon as a pseudo extension of himself while he wasn’t actually holding or touching the core, but he still felt the connection.

Nigel was granting him a quick rundown on dining etiquette in the circles of nobility as he refreshed himself from his explorations with the king. Tom listened with one side of his brain and reflected on the last few hours with the other. The king was not what he had expected at all. Instead of a domineering force that threatened to bowl him over and dash whatever plans he had for his future, the man had come across as a kindly grandfather expressing interest in the well-being of his favored grandchild.

He had known Antoine for longer, and he trusted the Hero with his life. But was perhaps the old soldier’s opinion clouded due to something that was outside the king’s control? Fenard hadn’t been the king when Marshal, the Controller before Tom and the man who had summoned Antoine to this world, had died. Fenard couldn’t be held responsible for the former king sending Marshal on a difficult mission, could he?

Tom sighed and tuned Nigel out entirely as the valet escorted him to the dining room, where the others from his party, as well as Silva of the Winged Knights, were already seated. Silva stood when he entered, the others did not.

They all stood when King Fenard entered except for Antoine, who continued to clean his fingernails with a knife, and Sevin, who realized he made a faux pas after a moment and hastened to correct it after the fact.

Once they were seated, the king encouraged them not to worry about whatever their tutors had filled their ears with about etiquette. “This is a private meal between friends, not an official banquet. You may practice whatever table manners you wish and it will not count against you.”

Antoine responded by blowing his nose loudly with the napkin. Fenard shot him a glare, and the man returned it with a smile.

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“Do you think that I’ll be invited to a lot of high society functions, thanks to my class?” Jessica asked.

“Whether you had emerged from the portal as a Heroine or not, being from Earth will ensure that the nobility and upper class will be fascinated by you, my young dear. In truth, I fear that you may be driven to delve dungeons simply to get away from them,” the king said, intending to flatter her. Instead he got a look of stern consideration.

“I’m not certain I’d like that, to be honest. Will it be a problem if I turn the majority of them down?” she asked.

“That depends on which ones you accept and which ones you decline,” the king admitted. “Accepting one invite may imply that you are entering a relationship with the host. Refusing another may be seen as a snub. Unless you accept all invitations or decline them all, the nobility will read perhaps more deeply into your schedule than you would wish them to. Or at least that is how things are for me; I am often quite surprised at the gossip my spymistress shares with me over whom I have supposedly entered into a new alliance with or whom I am currently spurning. I doubt it will be nearly so severe in your instance, of course.”

“Right,” Jessica said.

“What about me?” Tom inquired. “I don’t think I want to leave my Core’s Territory for a while now. Will I be forced to accept invitations to events I have no interest in?”

“You won’t be forced to do anything you don’t wish to do, Tom,” Fenard said, although that was already false because the boy had been forced to leave Tilluth Valley and his family behind. “The truth is that I’d prefer to keep your identity, or at least your Class, a secret as long as possible. If that is alright with you, and with Jessica. When the presence of a Heroine is announced, the search for the Controller who summoned her will begin, so the longer you both remain in obscurity, the more time I will have to prepare you for the limelight.”

They both agreed that was acceptable for now.

“There is the matter of your Dungeon, Tom,” The king admitted. “You would gain more experience if you were to permit adventurers to delve it than you would allowing it to sit idle. I understand you have gotten attached to some of the monsters you Spawned during your journey; there is a chance that if you open the dungeon to the public those monsters will die.”

Tom nodded. “There’s also a chance that the adventurers will be the ones to die. I’m not certain how I feel about that. I mean, everyone knows that when you walk into a dungeon you’re risking your life. But as a controller, it’s different for me. I’m controlling the dungeon, and benefiting from the experience that the Core generates. If a person dies challenging Alpha Dungeon, then I gain experience. It’s not the same as if I intentionally murdered someone, but I’d still be benefiting from their deaths, and that makes me feel … uncomfortable.”

“As it should,” King Fenard agreed. “In legal terms, you would not be held responsible for anyone who dies in Alpha dungeon, or any other dungeon which you manipulate. Unless you intentionally manipulate a surface Core to make it more dangerous to the Commoners who dwell nearby; I will be forced to take a stern view on such matters should they be uncovered. Of course the matter of the events in Tilluth Valley are excluded from that rule, as you can’t have been expected to know how the village core would react when you leveled it.”

“Wait,” Tom said. “What about my home?”

“Were you not informed?” King Fenard said, growing concerned. He glanced at Silva, who quickly assumed an abashed look.

“I did not think to trouble him with the news, you majesty,” she explained. “Shall I tell him or would you prefer the duty?”

Fenard showed a moment of anger before schooling his expression and turning back to Tom. “Tom, the Tilluth Valley Core has begun spawning a monster which has never been seen in your valley before you Leveled it. While it is fortunate in many ways that your first act as a Controller was to level the core which granted you the class, as doing so led us to you before you could make any more serious mistakes, interfering with stable cores like the one in Tilluth Valley almost always results in unfortunate side effects like this.”

Tom grew pale at the king’s words. “Has anyone been hurt?”

Fenard turned to Silva, who took the cue to answer.

“The monster in question is called a Flame Lynx. While it is a predator and very dangerous at high levels, it does not typically prey on humans. Certain vulnerable members of your former community will be required to carry a deterrent on their person at all times for the foreseeable future in order to keep themselves safe from this type of monster, but the records agree that this is a very effective method of dealing with this particular breed of monster and there should be no need to abandon the valley or destroy the Tilluth Village Core.”

“You didn’t answer the question. Has anyone been hurt?” Tom insisted.

“The last I heard, a young girl was badly frightened when she spotted the monster. It is thanks to her bravery which we identified it. Otherwise there have been no casualties,” Silva answered, and Tom breathed a sigh of relief.

“When you are older and more experienced, you may wish to return to your village and correct the issue,” King Fenard suggested. “For now, the measures in place should be enough to keep your friends safe.”

Tom nodded, accepting the sage advice. “What about the dungeons we conquered along the way? Beta and Gamma dungeons?”

“They were untamed dungeons, correct?” King Fenard asked for confirmation. When he received it, he simply shrugged. “Then delver beware. Wild dungeons are known to evolve on their own unpredictably; the wise course of action when a dungeon begins acting unpredictably or suddenly shifts its layout or which monsters it spawns is to retreat and request the crown’s efforts in mapping the changes. But there’s no law requiring that adventurers leave such matters to the professionals. If someone perishes because they challenged one of the dungeons you passed by on your way, then it is their own fault for refusing to back out in time.”

Tom frowned, but didn’t argue with the reasoning behind the king’s pronouncement.

“Now then,” the king said. “I believe that is enough talk on the subject of dungeons. Jessica, it has been decades since we last heard news of Earth. Tell me, how fares your old world these days?”