Dungeon Day 56 - Continues
After the fight came to an end, Dan took stock of his new minions. They were all mostly on the weaker side, though still able to fend for themselves against the weakest of monsters. Luckily, not all of their D-rankers were killed during the fight. And out of the eight rankers that they had, four of them were still alive. They had been injured during the battle, but now that they were within Dan's lands, the doe’s could regen their mana, and the bandits were quickly healed.
With night soon approaching, Dan did not want to just leave the bandits. Additionally, he did not want to send his monsters toward the village and have them arrive at night, as that would make things a bit more complicated. A group of monsters arriving in the dead of night would raise more suspicions than anything. As such, he would have his group of monsters spend the night with the bandits. The bandits were still a bit wary of his monsters, but once they had surrendered, nothing really made a move on them, so they moved to one side of the ruins and left his monsters to do their thing.
In this new spot, they had picked a new leader, a human woman who looked as rough as anyone could look by living out in the wild. She had her brown hair in a ponytail and was very well-muscled. Dan imagined she was picked as the leader because she was the strongest person left alive. Not that it really mattered to Dan, and soon enough, the night passed without issue. The only really new development was the creation of two new D-rank teams.
Dungeon Day 57
Not wanting to leave the bandits completely undefended since they were technically his minions now and would be attacked by the invaders. Dan decided to leave behind one of his teams to help them fend off any possible attackers. The other two teams headed out towards the village early in the morning as Dan wanted to get the whole situation over with as fast as possible. Of course, Dena also joined in the journey towards the village since she would be the one introducing them to the villagers.
Getting to the village only took his monsters a couple of hours. The village was much closer to the bandit area than the bandits had been to the druids, so it was only natural.
Just like with the bandit area, Dan once again took a much closer look at it as they approached. It was not that the layout of the village mattered too much at the moment, but it was still nice to take in the details.
The whole thing was made up of three dozen or so buildings. At its center was one massive building, which Dan assumed to be some sort of town hall. The second largest building, which was three stories high, was likely an inn of sorts. Outside of those two buildings, all the other structures didn't really stand out to Dan, except for a few. To the north of the village was the farm area with wheat fields and some other green vegetable things that he wasn't sure what they were, though they looked like cabbages. This farm area had two windmills along with what had to be granaries and one large farm structure with some sheep. There was an additional third windmill, but it was to the southeast corner of the village, and its respective fields were empty. Then, west of the village were two lumber mills, at least if Dan had to go by the amount of wood outside these buildings. And the basic cranes that were being used to haul them around. The last notable place was beneath what Dan still assumed was the town hall. The spot was filled with tents, which could only mean it had to be some sort of market area. However, Dan wasn't just going by that alone, as the whole place was buzzing with activity.
Now, even if he didn't spot them, Dan still assumed there would be a smithy, a stable, and definitely a guardhouse. He did spot two wells, one between the town hall and the markets and the other behind the town hall. The last notable thing that Dan could think of was the stone road.
To call it a stone road was a bit much as it was more like gravel mixed with some larger stones. Still, he expected dirt roads, so he guessed that was an improvement, not that it would stay that way for long as when he made his dungeon, the whole place would receive quality upgrades.
Either way, looking back at his monsters, they had approached from the east, so they were near the windmill with the two empty fields. They were all being watched with curious eyes by the few villagers that were around. Dan had fully expected the villagers to run away, but they recognized Dena, and with that recognition came acceptance of the odd animals. As his group of monsters made their way to town, they received more weird and worried looks from all the villagers, but once again, with Dena at the lead, they didn't do much. Speaking of villagers, there was a large variety of them: humans, dwarves, gnomes, elves, and even a few beast kin. And they all still looked like normal-looking folks, as you would expect from a very typical medial-like village. They were simple clothing, some of them looking a bit rougher than others. The town had to definitely be from the middle of nowhere, and there was nothing truly dazzling about it.
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So, with stares, the party made their way towards the middle of the village where the presumed town hall was. Word had gotten ahead of the party, and when they arrived at the small circular town square that formed around the well, they saw a group of guards waiting. Though calling them guards was a bit much. One or two had proper metal armor on, while the other three or four members of the group wore mixed-match armor sets, much like the bandits had worn. The other important and noticeable feature was the way they stood. The ones who were actual guards were ready for anything and were watching his beasts with calculating eyes. Unlike their untrained counterparts, whose stares showed worry and fear as they toyed with their arms and armor.
The most impressive out of all of them was the seven-foot-tall individual wearing half-plate armor. The armor itself didn't seem to be anything special, but more than likely, it was enchanted. Just because Eagle couldn’t detect the magic, it didn’t mean it wasn’t there. This individual was also clearly the dragon knight that Dan had heard of. Not only did he look impressive and ready for battle, but it was rather obvious that he was a lizardy humanoid, at least if his tail and snout were anything to go by. Due to his tail, it was obvious that he was of some fiery dragon descent. The scales were deep dark red, matching his slitted draconic eyes. Another obvious thing was that the knight was also the only reason the guards seemed to hold as much confidence as they did.
The party kept approaching, and Dena motioned for his beasts to hold on and let her walk forward on her own. Now, Dan wanted this integration to go as smoothly as possible and had told his monsters to follow Dena’s commands on this particular mission.
As the druid approached the dragonkin, he gave her a rather creepy smile, at least by Dan’s standards. It was just hard to give a good smile when you also exposed the rather sharp teeth underneath. Still, it was definitely something Dena had seen before, and she didn't seem to mind.
Dan wasn't sure why Dena and the dragonkin began to whisper, but he wasn't worried. Not only were they all D-rank, but she had to know he would be able to hear them or more like one of his monsters would, and of course, he was listening through Kinetics cat's ears, which didn't miss much. However, since he had decided to trust Dena to handle this, he waited while listening to the conversation.
“Mistress Dena, it's a pleasure to see you again.” The dragonkin responded, his voice rugged like a veteran, though much more gravely, probably due to his draconic nature.
“A pleasure to see you as well, Sir Drax,” Dena responded, curtseying to the knight's quick bow.
“May I ask what brings you to our lovely village this fine morning? And if those mighty beasts are truly with you?”
“Well, I bring some news I wish to speak with you about, and yes, they are with me. They are the reason why I am here, to begin with.”
“Hmmm, I see. Well, you have done right by us so far, so I can hear you out at the very least.” Drax said as he glanced at the relaxed group of beasts.
Hearing this, Dena gave the dragonkin a genuine smile before speaking again, “Would you like to take this inside then?”
This time, the dragon knight answered with a shake of his head before explaining himself, “Mistress Dena, as you know, I am the real power behind this village, and I simply wouldn't feel comfortable losing sight of such mighty creatures. I do apologize, but you must understand.”
“I understand, Sir Drax, and I will be straightforward,” Dena replied before pausing to put her thoughts together and starting again, “As you no doubt can tell, all of these beasts are D-rank. Now, not only is that impressive, but there are more of them. Last time I checked, it was at least 50.” Dena lied as she actually didn’t know how many ranked monsters Dan had, but she imagined there were a lot. Not like it mattered anyway, so she continued, though a smile crossed her face when she saw Drax’s surprised draconic face.
“Now, not only is that impressive, but their master has already helped us and you without you even knowing.”
“How is that so?” Drax asked, puzzlement showing on his otherwise neutral draconic face.
“Well, their master is in the process of conquering these lands and, with their strength, has already dispatched your bandit problem.” A sentence that brought understanding to the knight's face as everything clicked into place for him, and he spoke up, stopping Dena from continuing.
“And let me guess, we are next in their master’s plans?” Drax asked, receiving another smile from Dena and a simple nod before she answered the question properly.
“Yes, but do not misunderstand. Though their master wishes to conquer these lands, he does not wish to spill the blood of the innocent. This is why, instead of simply ravaging this town with its forces, it has tasked me with convincing you to submit of your own free will.”
Hearing Dena’s reply, Drax grunted as he went silent for some time, supposedly thinking things over. Thankfully, it didn’t take long before the dragonkin spoke once again.
“I understand. It’s not like there is much we can do. We are clearly outmatched in combat prowess, and I would rather avoid having the villagers be killed without good reason. I do have some questions before doing anything, and Dena, since you serve this master, it would be best to ask you. So far, you seem to be a force for good, so I do trust your judgment, but I would like to know your thoughts.”
Dena nodded, and Drax asked, “Why do you serve this master? Do you think they are truly a force for good? And what exactly will change for this village under their rule?”