Chapter 49

Emil’s fireball connected with the immobile mimic, and with a “fwoosh” the monster went up flames. Inhuman screams filled the cavern as the fire rapidly consumed its body, emitting light bright enough that the others in the party shielded their eyes.

Jessica’s suspicion that the other mimics were vulnerable to fire was proving to be correct. One in ten proved to be resistant; the column type mimics required a more kinetic form of violence in order to end them. This didn’t require anyone to get close to them, however. Now that Tom could Customize Delta Dungeon, he could create large boulders from the walls for Brutus and the two regular minotaur to throw at the column mimics from a distance, crushing them with hand-thrown artillery.

Even the massive column mimic in the center of the goblin enclave proved vulnerable to this tactic, although it took a significant number of kinetic boulders to its face before it finally succumbed to stillness of a permanent duration.

The Korgoath had returned to them at some point. Their absence had been noticed, but each of them had the black colored blood of the mimics on them, so it was clear that the monsters had been having their own adventures.

Sevin stood next to Tom, watching the fights unfold and feeling superfluous as the mages and the minotaur cleared the dungeon. Emil and Jessica were attempting to split the experience more or less evenly between them, even though this slowed down the process of purging mimics from Delta dungeon considerably due to the time it took Emil to reset his fire-rituals.

Exposed as they were by Emil’s magic turning their environment yellow – the spell had proceeded from red to orange to yellow and would continue through the rest of the rainbow – the mimic’s were unable to adapt their camouflage, and their nature of waiting patiently for their prey to wander close by was backfiring on them spectacularly.

The party cleared the rooms one by one until they returned to the entrance, collecting the goblins and the party of Winged Knights along the way. With the experience from the mimics, Jessica reached level fourteen, and Emil reached level sixteen.

Grant clapped Sevin on the shoulder and reassured him “There will be plenty more opportunities for Experience later,” as they emerged from the dungeon, having cleared it of all mimics, and the party returned to the camp that the stableboys had already set up for them. The lads had proven industrious during their time alone, having stacked a large pile of deadfall for firewood, seen to all of the animals, started a small fire that they were ready to expand into a large one at a moment’s notice, and begun cooking a stew from the supplies they had with them for the adventurer’s return.

“I know that,” Sevin said. “It just feels like I haven’t done anything important lately. I’m a warrior, and I’m supposed to be someone important. But I’m surrounded by Heroes and Knights and the flipping Vanquisher. Compared to them, I feel like a nobody.”

“I contributed less to the clearing of this dungeon than you did, my boy,” Grant reminded him. “And don’t think I didn’t notice how you stood near Tom the entire time, ready to defend him at a second’s notice with your own life. I’m certain Tom noticed your loyalty as well.”

“It still feels weird to think that he’s someone important now,” Sevin admitted. “I mean, I know that he is. He Evolved me, and anyone who can do that sort of thing is an important person. And that’s completely aside from whatever the system has him doing as a Quest. But I remember when he was four years old and we were making mud-pies together. I know I’m nobody, and it’s hard to think that I made mud-pies with someone who the king wants to marry into the royal family.”

“I think you’re underestimating yourself, Sevin,” Grant said. “I’m not exactly an expert at it, but I could read Tom’s body language in the dungeon, and he was always more at ease when he noticed that you were standing nearby him. Tom relies on you. He trusts you because of the years you spent growing up together, and your presence reassures him. Remind me to tell you about the tradition of the Secret Service in my world. There’s honor in being a bodyguard, Sevin, and perhaps you should begin taking pride in the way that you watch over Tom.”

“There’s nothing special about it,” Sevin argued. “I’m older than him. I’ve always been there to keep him out of trouble. Serious trouble, I mean. Tempting him into putting a frog in Elder Lukan’s tea doesn’t count.”

“I’m quite certain there’s more to it than that,” Grant argued. “Sevin, I’ve asked Tom this before, but what do you want out of life?”

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Sevin frowned and considered. “I want to make a name for myself.”

“I see,” Grant said, and he considered. “I’m not entirely certain how to advise you for that goal, Sevin. If you stay next to Tom and Antoine, your accomplishments will always be overshadowed by theirs. For that matter, at the present you are competing against three Winged Knights and three Heroes from another world as well.”

“You’re saying that I should strike out on my own?” Sevin asked.

“On the other hand,” Grant continued, “We are known by the company we keep. When you are older and Antoine is truly retired, being able to say that he trained you will lend to your own legend. Being able to say that you fought alongside heroes from Earth, that you defended Tom the Controller during a vital Quest from the system itself, well, what does that sort of company say about you?”

“So you’re saying I should stay,” Sevin said.

“There are benefits and pitfalls to both options, Sevin. But I think that you have years and years to make your own legend. Right now, I believe you should just focus on becoming strong, since you have committed already to the path of the Warrior. And in this world, that means achieving a high level, does it not?”

“And learning to use the strength that comes with it,” Sevin agreed. “I’m still adjusting to how strong and fast I am with my new class, and I’m only level thirteen.”

“Adjustment is a slow process, not a rapid one,” Grant said. “I’m still adjusting to the fact that I’m no longer an old man. I keep on groaning when I try to get out of bed in the morning, for all that the aches and pains of my old age are but a memory.”

The conversation lapsed there as Sevin tried and failed to think of something to say to that. “Thanks for the pep-talk, Grant,” he said at last. “You’re right, there’s plenty of time for me to make a name for myself. I shouldn’t be rushing things.”

“Smart lad.”

“I am going to join the Royal Knights though,” Sevin decided. “Whether or not Tom joins with me. Whether or not Jessica joins. I am going to join, because being a knight is better than being a nobody who just so happens to have been given the Warrior Class.”

“If that’s your decision, I won’t talk you out of it,” Grant said, and they proceeded to eat the soup that had been prepared for them.

Orsin reported to his chieftain, whose name was Lugar, in great detail about his adventure in guiding the party. Once he had finished, Lugar brought the goblin Scout with him as he tracked down Tom. Dragging Orsin into a kneeling position, the two goblins kowtowed to the boy.

“Great Controller, we beseech you,” Lugar said, “Please make a home for us that is safe from the mimics. We have long known that something was hunting us in our homes. We lived in terror of the darkness. We just want to live in peace and without fear. Is this so much to ask? It is not our fault that we were created goblins, why do we deserve to be punished for it?”

Tom was silent for a moment. “I’m really not certain what to do with you and your clan, Lugar,” Tom admitted after some consideration. “I don’t want to bring you with us. I think you belong in Delta Dungeon. But I will try to modify the dungeon so that it will be safe for your clan. Or safer, at least. Now that you know that Delta Core summons mimics, you will at least have something to look out for. Aside from that, the majority of the mimics that it spawns seem to be very vulnerable to fire, so you should have that as a weapon to defend yourselves.

“My plan is to make the dungeon many floors deep. You may live in the top floor and mine Coal, since everyone thinks that is a good thing for you guys to do. You can trade that with the humans nearby and hopefully live in peace. I’ll spawn some other monsters in the floors beneath you and Mimics only on the bottom floor. I’m hoping that if I do it this way, the mimics that the core spawns will hunt the other monsters instead of you, and that you’ll be safe from them as long as you don’t venture too deep.”

“Thank you, oh wise and wonderful Tom the Controller,” Lugar said, and Orsin repeated after his chieftain slapped him to get him to say something.

“I’ll start Customizing your Dungeon tomorrow,” Tom promised. “For now, I’m going to go to sleep.”

“Pleasant dreams, oh great one,” Lugar intoned, and Orsin repeated after his chieftain slapped him to get him to say something.

The next morning, Tom went about making good on his promise to the goblins. He simply collapsed the majority of the naturally formed dungeon, then customized it into ten floors. The tenth he filled with mimics, then he put four minotaur on the ninth. The eight and seventh he filled with giant spiders, then the floors above that he filled with burrowers. He was hoping that layering the dungeon like this would keep the mimics at the bottom of the dungeon and allow the goblins to live peacefully at the top.

Using his Seed skill, he set the top three floors to seed coal. The fourth floor he dedicated to tin, at Emil’s suggestion, and the on the fifth he Seeded Iron. Beneath that, he began seeding gemstones, gold, and silver, which were not available in the shallower floors.

Satisfied that he had customized the dungeon as well as he could with his limited knowledge and experience in the matter, he left the Delta Core on the first floor, in the center of the newly constructed goblin community.

He also constructed a stone road part way to the nearest village wide enough for large carts for the humans to trade with the goblins. Once that was completed, the party set out for the nearest dungeon after Silva checked in with Yecha via her scry-mirror and informed the spymistress of the new trade-hub. Yecha was less than eager to begin trading with non-humans, especially ones spawned by a dungeon, but promised that she would ensure that the bounty on goblin ears was rescinded in the area.

The goblins would be on thin ice for a while, but provided that they proved themselves true to their words they were likely to adapt to their new circumstances with alacrity, and possibly even provide a crucial link in the chain of Welsius’s new and emerging industry.