Hours passed as I watched the artificial sun slowly make its way through the sky above me, just waiting for something - anything - to happen. Every six minutes, my mana went up by one single point, leaving me urging for it to just be a tiny bit faster. But there was nothing I could do.
Naturally, I had used some of this time to pray to Cilia again, hoping she would answer my soothing words, but other than sending me a tiny wave of warmth, there was little reaction coming from her side. Still, that much was enough for me, at least for now. I knew the goddess was listening, and so I did my best not to add to her worries.
Instead, I shoved all my attention onto my newest fox, carrying the little thing around to show it the rest of my dungeon and the many monsters living inside of its bounds. While doing so, I explained what exactly I had meant to do by shaping the rooms the way they were now.
The fox in question did not answer to anything I said, its large eyes simply watching the scenery change in front of it. It was only when it got to meet fellow fire element foxes that it got a little more lively, jumping out of my arms and greeting the much larger monsters with a gentle white fire that quickly spread onto their bodies, enveloping them whole.
All of the foxes that were struck by the Liri Fox’s magic showed similar reactions: first they were simply surprised upon being ‘attacked’ by a fellow fox, only too soon realize the white flames were not, in fact, hurting them but rather seemed giving them jolts of energy and euphoria instead. All afflicted monsters wagged with their tails upon having received their share of attention by the little fox, before using their new-found energy to chase each other around or play fighting. This was even true for the otherwise rather lazy lava foxes, who even left their comfortable pools of lava to receive their share of white fox fire.
Of course, doing all of this left the little fox completely out of mana, which meant I had to soak it in fire from time to time for itself to become energetic again. It didn’t take long for the surrounding foxes to notice this pattern as well, and soon all of them seemed to want to join in, leaving the poor Liri Fox buried in a pile of blazing hot bodies. This was especially bad at the volcano room, which had by far the most foxes capable of giving their thanks to their newest friend.
I couldn’t help but laugh as the poor little fox was once again buried by its very eager helpers. They wouldn’t hurt it, that much was for sure, but with a precious ability like that, it was sure to receive a bunch of attention in the future, meaning I needed to summon quite a few more Liri Foxes so as not to have them overwhelmed by the sheer amount of attention they would be getting.
Just when I was about to make my way towards the mass of purring bodies, trying to come to the white fox’s aid, a cold shiver ran over my skin, informing me that I was about to see some visitors. Whether they would be unwelcome or not, only time could tell.
Reluctantly, I fled the scene only to instead make my way down the volcano’s slope and toward the prayer room, where the invaders would most likely be stopping soon. It only took a few minutes for me to arrive at the site and a few moments more to realize that I was in no form of danger at all, as two familiar faces were already kneeling in front of the statue. Alfred and Marisa were both sending a quick prayer to Cilia, before rising and greeting me.
I couldn’t help but run right towards them, before throwing myself at the newly anointed champion. Marisa couldn’t react in time, making us both go down to the ground, but she soon hugged me back, finally soothing the utter loneliness I had felt most of the day.
Marisa gave me a few moments in her arms, calming down my fresh tears with her gentle words, before a sudden cold shiver much stronger than the first one ran down my body, making me let go of her to instead stare at the tunnel leading towards the entrance.
“What is it?”
“So- someone is coming,” I heard myself stammer. “Someone strong!”
A sigh now came from Alfred, who then lifted us both to our feet one after another. “Looks like they couldn’t wait, after all.”
“Wait,” I heard myself ask. “Who is-”
“It’s the commander,” the paladin revealed. “Aspen Lowee.”
“A noble? What is he doing here?”
“He is here for an exploration raid,” Alfred explained before facepalming. “He is bringing about two dozen of the most capable fighters, healers, and mages he could get his hands on.”
“T- two dozen?!”
“He promised us to wait until we finished explaining,” Marisa protested.
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“They will gather at this room to pray and make offerings, before preparing to go deeper. We have all the time in the world.”
Another cold shiver hit me, making me shiver from coldness and fear. Alfred, who immediately noticed this, could only sigh again, before continuing with his explanation.
“They will not hurt you,” he promised. “They are only here to map out your floor, name everything they find, and fight all of its monsters before giving it a difficulty rating so future parties of adventurers know what they are in for before coming here. Think of it as your way to getting officially approved for delving. Should everything be in order, the dungeon’s existence will be publicly announced by both the temple and the king.”
“The king…”
“I will do my best to keep you out of politics,” Marisa promised. “That is why we are here.”
I could only nod to that. Despite only having read and heard about them, I knew that as a champion it was Marisa’s task to not only act both as my mother and my representative but also to keep me in line should my growth and choices not turn out to be according to Cilia’s wishes. Keeping the needs and wishes of kings and clergy from influencing me was just another one of her many tasks, one I was gladly putting in her capable hands to deal with.
“So they will invade my home, kill all of my children, and then tell others how easy it is to do so, just so that more of them can come and do the same,” I summarized it all, sighing after I did so.
Almost immediately all color left the two faces in front of me. Both Marisa and Alfred were staring at me in disbelief, then struggling for an answer only to realize they would fail to find one no matter how long they tried. It was only after a painfully long moment of silence that the paladin finally found something remotely resembling an answer, albeit he quite obviously wasn’t very happy with it.
“That is certainly one way to view it,” he replied, almost whispering his words.
“So it is my job to send them to hell for trying it.”
A loud laughter suddenly flooded the room, forcing me to turn around. In the room’s entrance, right in front of the tunnel connecting my dungeon to the outside world was now a group of unfamiliar faces to be seen, all of them staring at me in disbelief others were visibly amused by my statement.
Amid the group of strangers stood a brown-haired man with a tall and muscular build, wearing richly decorated holy armor. I could immediately tell he was a paladin of high standing, in fact, most of the invaders were paladins, with only about one-third of them wearing colorful, enchanted robes and staffs instead.
The man in question was already walking over to us, still laughing as he did so. “I like you,” he said before reaching out his hand. “Aspen Lowee,” he intruded himself. “Son of Richard 'the Dragon'.”
“Kiomi,” I heard myself answer before shaking the stranger’s hand. “D- daughter of Cilia, Light of Life.”
Aspen whistled upon hearing me say this, before turning around towards one of the wizard-looking men standing further back. The mage in question wore a robe of black and turquoise, which couldn’t possibly look any more different compared to the pale-colored armors of the paladins surrounding him. This was especially true thanks to him having long, grey hair and a wrinkly face that already had seen the best of his days, rather than being at his prime like the other invaders.
“What do you say, Deluc?”
The rather frail-looking man took a step forward, pulled forth a small silvery orb, and took a deep look into it before both of his eyes suddenly widened in surprise, “she is telling the truth!”
Murmurs were now spreading through the group, before, one by one, the men bowed down to me, some of them even going as far as to kneel as if I were some sort of princess or queen. Even the nobleman let go of my hand to take a step back and show his respect, albeit his bow lasted mere seconds before he rose again.
“I greet you, Kiomi, Daughter of Cilia.”
“Tha- thank you,” I couldn’t help but stammer in reply.
“So you are the dungeon’s avatar,” he asked.
“Yes.”
The commander of the paladins didn’t even take a look at the truth-seeing mage. Instead, his eyes explored the giant mithril foxes surrounding us to all sides before they fell on the even more majestic statue in the middle of the room.
“So it is all true…” he said, before once again turning around to me. “Will you grant us the honor of exploring your dungeon?”
I was just about to shake my head and deny his request when Marisa made her way over to me. The fellow fox kin gently slung her arms around me, to then force me into a hug, before answering in my stead.
“She will,” Marisa said, before adding. “I will make sure she doesn’t interfere with your work.”
Aspen nodded satisfied, before ordering his followers to step forward with a single wave of his hand. Soon enough the invaders were already exploring the room, some of them even going as far as to even write down notes and create drawings as they did so. The statue of Cilia and me got by far the most attention, meaning it was only a question of time before people would once again start drawing pictures of the goddess or carving statues with her image. A faint smile grew on my lips as I realized this. This whole raid idea had some good aspects to it - not many - but some.
Still, when the commander was about to make his way to the statue himself, I couldn’t help but call after him: “Don’t touch the nursery,” I almost pleaded rather than demanded.
“A nursery,” Aspen asked, “in a dungeon? Don’t you just… summon your monsters?”
I shook my head, “those two are special.”
Aspen slowly nodded, before once again turning to the statue. “Light of Life, huh?” I heard him whisper. “Must be her work…”