The Lord of Ishda seems rather conflicted to see us as we enter the reception room in his manor, announced at the door and led in by his guards.

It's a little hostile, but I can take a certain amount of disrespect. Especially if it's brought on by fear.

The young lady seated beside the Lord, I'm assuming is his daughter Estelle. The once damsel in distress and a cause of worry for her ageing father. They're both wearing strained smiles until Noir and Gren walk in behind the triplets, at which point scowls replace their previous mask.

They may have been smiling, but I know full well the Lord must be shitting his pants now that I've arrived. It hasn't been that long since I killed the King after all and I'm no longer just the savior of his daughter. Now, I'm probably the most dangerous person in our region, if not the whole of Tira.

I've never met anyone who's travelled to another continent before and have no idea what levels they boast. If they're anything like the humans here, however, I've got world domination in the bag. I doubt it will be that easy, but if King Aldus was the strongest person on the planet, then there's nothing to worry about.

Well. Nothing besides the Demons, but that's... Not a right now problem.

"Why are they here!? Lord Aldor stands up and thrusts a finger at not only the traitorous Knight Captain but Prince Loudmouth too. My current problem outranks the Demon one since it needs sorting now. Plus, it also seems easier to deal with.

Clearly, the Lord is upset at seeing the traitor Gren, but he seems more annoyed at Noir's presence. In fact, the redhead Assassin is getting the full force of his glare. Even though he's a dungeon being, Lord Aldor seems furious and it's a nice change seeing someone else annoyed by Noir's shenanigans.

Did he really cause that much damage though?

"I was informed after he left how many mansions, storehouses and other buildings he destroyed. After he had left. I had considered sending you the bill seeing how it ran high into the hundreds of thousands, but... With what you did for my daughter, I consider us even. Now you're back, however, I'm beginning to feel as though some monetary compensation might not be a bad idea seeing as how you are here yourself, in person no less."

So he did cause a lot of damage then.

Lord Aldor studies me, his eyes continuously going up and down my body. If I wasn't so flattered that he basically just called me a big deal, I might take offence to his prying eyes. Instead, I let it slide and wait for the question I know is coming.

"You're a Dungeon Core, yet... Here you sit. As though you could be anyone else. A regular person." That one earns him a frown, but I reel myself in and wait. I'm not here for an argument. Even if being seen as not a real person does sting a little. Plus, with the way he's shivering slightly as he looks at me, I'm slowly coming to terms with that fact now more than ever. "S-So... For what reason have you come here today."

There it is. It was obviously bound to be asked at some point. Why else would I turn up if not for an important reason? It certainly isn't because I've only just reached Ishda and wanted to get shit sorted straight away. Fortunately for future me, I'm trying not to add to her work pile today.

"Well, I do believe it's your lucky day. Even if I do say so myself. I take it you've heard about the King?" I know full well he has. There were travelling merchants in Varona who were stuffed into the dungeon alongside the citizens for their own safety. Some had departed for Ishda not long after the war celebrations were over.

Lord Aldor nods, gulps, and turns pale as I continue. "Good. In that case, it's safe to assume that I'm probably the strongest person on our continent. That said, it's not like I want to rule the world or anything. Could you imagine the headache? Management on that scale would be just ridiculous.

Instead, I intend to purchase the land itself and clean it up so to speak. That doesn't mean mass murder before you start getting any crazy ideas. Believe it or not, I was once a human like you. I died tragically and became a Dungeon Core is about as far as I'm going to expand on that, but yeah. Process that information for a second."

Hiding a yawn behind my hand, I wait as the Lord cycles through a range of different emotions, none lasting more than a second until he finally settles on befuddled. Unable to speak for himself, Estelle takes the opportunity and speaks in her father's stead.

"I... I believe you. Why else would you send someone to rescue me? It makes sense that you would want to help us if you were once a human." Smiling as she speaks, the Lord's daughter can't help but look around for her own saviour.

That was easy. Not that I wanted it to go any differently, but she's wrong with her reasoning. I wanted good future relations with people in power. I suppose that's still a human concept, but not the one she's suspected me of having.

"Yeah, sure. Anyway with what I said, I've already started purchasing the land beneath your city. That alone lets me move wherever I want, whenever I want and it doesn't just go for me. My entire family can travel that way and we can appear anywhere in the blink of an eye. Hence how I'm here today."

"You're... Purchasing my city?" Lord Aldor seems to be unable to move past that part of my sentence. He didn't even flinch when I said I can turn up as and when.

"Not in the monetary way you're thinking of. It's more like I'm purchasing from the planet and your city just so happens to be built on top of those pieces of land. That said, I am going to reimburse you a shit load of gold for the properties Noir destroyed. It will make us both feel better and I want to use them whilst I'm here."

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"You're buying the planet? How can you do that?" Lord Aldor is having trouble following this conversation. Not that I can blame him. Everything I do sets a precedent these days and I'd be blind if I didn't notice that.

"That's not on your need-to-know list, but let's just say it's a special dungeon feature and move on. I'm not staying for long, but I'll do some renovations for you since I'm here. Free of charge too. All I ask in return is for a few of the properties to be signed over to me. After that, I'm going home because it's been a long day. I'll return at some point to check on your corruption levels in Ishda, but, as it stands, I'm still quite full on the people from Tune."

"Full?" The Lord's face pales and, if you added some Mythril tattoos, he looks like he could be Barry's brother. It takes me a second to realise the error in communication and I sigh in resignation. Humans find it hard to believe anyone.

"Not like that. Didn't I tell you before that I don't eat people?"

"No. I do not believe you did. Although, I was asking for a lot at the time. I could have misheard you or just forgotten about it entirely. Not to mention my guard didn't really have my back," he glares at Gren once more.

"Speaking of your guard, Gren's soul has returned to neutral and he truly regrets his actions. He now works for the city guard in Varona and specifically asked to be here so that he could give you an apology in person."

Stepping forward, Gren bows to the Lord he used to serve. "My Lord. I am deeply sorry for what I did. My actions were fuelled by greed and power. However, that is not an excuse for my actions and was only the reason behind my motives. I do not expect your forgiveness as I will never be worthy of it. All I want is for you to know how much I regret the decisions I made."

Gren retakes his place beside Noir and, after doing what he came to do, breathes a sigh of relief. Lord Aldor doesn't respond to him and instead turns back to me. "So, what do you want with me?"

"Honestly? I was just being courteous. Plus, I can summon gold out of thin air so I thought you'd like to see that." That perks his interest and cheers him right up. "Other than that, not much else will change. You'll still be in charge of the city so long as you keep doing a good job obviously. As I made my way here I noticed your city is very well managed. There aren't half as many homeless people as I'd expected to see. That said, you still have a few issues here and there that need addressing.

I'll create a few food-producing features that will supply you with enough food to feed all your homeless and then some. Any orphanages you have will be staffed fully and I might even create a few of my own, your city is bigger than the others after all. As I mentioned before, I'll also be rebuilding the noble district. Mainly for you, but a few of the manors will be mine. Homelessness and food shortages are the first problems I've been fixing on my way around the region." Souls are secondary because reformation takes more time than filling a stomach does.

Lord Aldor pinches the bridge of his nose. That's a lot of information I've just dumped in his lap. Before he can think too deeply about my noble intentions, I decide to make his day and a bar of gold materialises in the air before clanging loudly on the floor. Every human in the reception room goes wide-eyed. Even Estelle, who seemed to have lost interest after she realised Dropper wasn't with us, is now drooling over the source of many a man's death.

Summoning nine more gold bars, which also clang against the ground in a cacophony of noise, Lord Aldor's eyes bulged at the sight. Using Creation, each bar cost 100DP so for all ten it was roughly the same price as one plot of land. It was nothing.

The one human trait I'm glad never stuck with me was the urge for gold. I wanted the shiny material as badly as the next woman when I was still human. As a Dungeon Core though, I have absolutely no need for gold and the points that I do spend replenish themselves daily. That alone has probably skewered my concept of money a little, but it seems like it's for the better so I don't mind.

"So you're going to feed the hungry and shelter the poor, effectively micromanaging the smaller problems that lay beneath the day-to-day bustle of the city's economy. And the gold is... A bribe of sorts? To stay quiet about you being a dungeon?" Lord Aldor tries to wrap his head around my goals, but his eyes don't leave the bars on the floor.

"That's about the gist of it for now. Except the gold isn't a bribe. I can't go around bribing people if I'm trying to make Tironia a better place. The gold is... Think of it more like a salary. Everyone gets paid for working, right?" The Lord nods along although that isn't technically true and we both know it. I was just trying to be clever with my words.

Lords do make a nice living, but they don't get paid by those above to do their job. Their income comes from taxing the people who live and work in their region. Usually, a portion of that flows upwards in tax to the King. With the man in charge out of commission, however, I'm deeming taxes and tributes unnecessary from this point on though as they don't help my overall goal in any way. Unless they come in cute and cuddly-sized packages, I'll happily accept any donation if that's the case.

"From here on, the smaller cities and towns around Ishda won't be sending any gold your way. Instead, they'll be using it to help their own cities grow. On the flip side, you also don't have to send anything to the King as he's... Yeah. I will also be paying your wages in gold which I'll drop off at the start of the month. Your city generates more than enough points to do so unless you don't think it's enough?"

Lord Aldor shakes his head but doesn't say a word. It's safe to say this day isn't going the way he expected it to. At least he's a shitload richer now. That's enough to placate most people, right?

"That's about everything I think. Oh. Don't forget, I'll be back once I've finished cleaning the corruption from Tune. At which point, I'll make a start on the souls in Ishda. Everyone needs to start coming together soon. We're meant to be a species rather than a bunch of power-hungry individuals and it's about time we realised that." Still silently nodding along, I'm glad he understands. It makes life so much smoother when we're all on the same wavelength.

"Clara," I call the Noble Vampire with pink eyes that I've already established as the head of their click. Appearing beside me, she takes in the room before saluting me. Her presence causes the guards' knees to go weak. Not from an aura of power or any skill. No. Every man in the reception room, Lord Aldor included, is shocked by the woman's beauty.

I feel a little jelly if I'm being honest. Where were my fluttering hearts and drooling doofus'? I'm pretty too, right? Fuck it, we'll just say they were too overwhelmed because I'm the Dungeon Core. That's got to be it.

"This is Clara. She and her sisters are staying in Ishda to help with reformation. If you need me for any reason, she can contact me at any time."

I don't think Lord Aldor heard a single word after Clara arrived and, feeling less satisfied than I thought I would, I leave hoping that at least Estelle heard me.

Another city, another problem. Why would I expect anything else? Although there's got to be at least one village, town or city out there that doesn't need my help. The perfect place. A haven amongst dung.

Pfft. Keep dreaming, Abi.

Keep dreaming.