I once thought I knew things. Great, terrible things. Things no mortal should ever know. That my knowledge of such things made me superior to others. But such prideful folly got me into a contract of servitude I was not prepared for. The Dungeon Core showed leniency for my plight, but even so I was bound to it and had to fulfil my duties as it saw fit.

Many, many years have passed since then, but I came no closer to ending the contract I have grown weary of. Then a moment of opportunity had presented itself. The Dungeon had unexpectedly become... damaged. It began to wither away, and I could feel it weaken. It was a slow process at first, but eventually it accelerated.

'Only a little longer,' I thought. A year? Perhaps two. The Dungeon would have died, as peacefully as it could. But then she had to come. I had hoped she would understand the dangers, but no. She had to mess things up. She and her annoying friend. The death of the Dungeon slowed.

Then she had to make me act. I tried to not repeat my mistakes, and yet I did. She did not leave, instead she went deeper. The Dungeon had nearly completely withered to nothing. Its Floor 2 was already being scraped on. I assumed she would see the void and reason, and turn around. That she would look for a way to undo my machinations.

Just how did she survive the descent? Certainly someone had to have helped her. Then the worst possible thing happened: she repaired the Dungeon Core, making it her own in the process.

How mysterious that such a thing was possible. But perhaps it makes sense in retrospect. Alas, my journey to freedom had been undone due to her actions. Then, even as a final hope spot appeared, it too was taken away from me.

(I want to hate her. I want to hate her with every fibre of my being. But I cannot.)

I looked around, taken out of my thoughts by Mr. Imp. He actually looked concerned for me even as he pushed the cart containing the very cause of my predicament. An imp, concerned for one such as I. It was laughable.

The afternoon sky overhead was a lovely shade of pale blue as we made our way. I breathed in, eyes closed. The air was clean, cold, but also soft in a way. The faintest smell of pine reached my nose. I opened my eyes as I breathed out once more. The sight of the winter forest around us, its trees and the ground covered in beautiful, freshly-fallen snow, was incredible. I listened to a pair of birds chirping.

"How unusual for there to be birds here."

"Birrrrds... fffffooood?"

I shook my head, realising I should have brought a shawl. Boots would have been good as well.

"I doubt these birds will be easy to catch."

I looked at the tree tops; I could hear the birds, but not see them. They were lucky and got to live another day. More animals appeared, mostly small things that were no danger to me. A fox here, a deer there. Mr. Imp might have struggled against them had we been forced to fight the wildlife. I think I spotted a large shadow between some of the trees further to our right, but it disappeared before I could make it out properly.

I flapped my wings and rose into the air for a moment. The wind felt exhilarating, and I wanted to freely fly around. But I stayed low to not get spotted, so I carefully sat atop a pine tree to look ahead.

The lake beyond was a majestic thing, several kilometres long and wide, its surface made of ice easily over a metre thick.

I spotted several figures in the distance, in front of the smoking chimneys of the village. They were on the ice, gliding in circles around each other.

(What are those? Beastkin, dancing on the ice?)

I dropped down again, thinking of the strange sight. Certainly the lake's ice would hold their weights easily, but it still felt weird to me.

"People are on the ice near the village, we should avoid their attention."

"Yessss. Careeeffful with c-c-corrrrre."

At some point I would have to teach Mr. Imp proper speech. The fact he was beginning to speak at all was already strange, but his attempts felt pathetic and thus were no good to leave as they were.

We reached the lake proper. The figures were still busy dancing, but if they were as skilled as me - unlikely but not impossible - we might have gotten spotted had we not stayed low. We went around the lake with care. A bear found our scent and figured it could have us for dinner. Why it was not hibernating like any sane bear should, I could not explain even if I tried.

"Raaawwwrrr! Groooohhh!"

The animal was big, with large claws and light brown, thick fur. It tried ramming us, shouting loudly all the while.

(Damn you, don't give away that we're here you dumb pelt on legs!)

I took the bear head-on, pushing against its head. It was confused for a moment that I stopped its charge dead, but then it tried to swipe at me with its front claws. I kneed the bear in the chin, which dazed it, then delivered a kick to its side which made it slide a little across the ground.

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It actually survived, but after a short defiant glare got the hint and left us alone. We did not give chase, naturally; we instead continued on our way. The lake was beautiful in the setting sun, the reflections of red evening light sparkling upon its surface in a myriad of shades. I decided to watch it again the next day if I could.

Closer to the village still I could see the figures on the ice more clearly. They were sliding on shoes that were mounted on thin metal blades, doing pirouettes and other complicated movements around one-another. Based on their differing sizes, there appeared to be children and adults alike, though none seemed to be working age males.

(What a curious way to spend your time...)

This too I decided I would have to try for myself.

Eventually the sun fully set, causing the villagers to head home in the twilight. Lights started glowing from inside their houses.

I was quite certain we could find a good spot to start the dungeon somewhere now that less people would be around to spot us.

"We will need to go to the mountain on the left. Can you manage that?"

"Can ma...nage. C-Cooold..."

Mr. Imp started to shiver; hardly a surprise considering he was wearing an ill-fitting coat and not much else.

(Czara better give him proper recompense, or else...!)

Slightly up the mountain trail, we found a small plateau. I was wondering if we could find a mine, or at least a natural cave, but luck would not have it.

"Hmmm... now what do we do?"

I sent a pulse of mana into the Dungeon Core. With the core not being grounded, I could not have used the [Menu] even if I were given such permission; had I been I would have used the tag system that was explained to me as a communication tool. But the infusion of mana worked; the Dungeon Core, put on the ground, rose slightly atop a vine-covered pillar growing from the rocky surface. The process to claim territory had begun.

A light shone, and Czara - wearing a fur-trimmed light blue winter coat - appeared via magic circle. The moment she spotted me...

"Oh my goodness, Malfissa! Thank you... so..."

...she tried running to my position and then fell to the ground, her eyes lifeless.

"Goodness me, I was sure I explained that."

I rolled my eyes. Mr. Imp was more concerned, running to her body and feeling for life signs.

"She... dead...? Why deeead!?"

"She is not dead. She just left the mana field."

I picked up her body and propped it against the pillar. A few seconds later, she breathed in deeply, nearly smacking her head against it. She looked around in confusion, then her glowing eyes focused on me again.

"Uhm... what happened?"

"..."

"Ah, right. Please advise me on the problem."

"Grrr, and I could speak so freely too. Well, my advice is that, since you left the mana field and your body stopped working, make sure not to do that." She dusted herself off. The dust was really snow, but I digress. "You will want to start claiming territory. You should find a ley line or a mana vent or something otherwise rich in mana if you dig a little into this mountain. I advise that you hurry with that so you can dig out at least a room for the core to hide."

"Okaaay~! One-room strat is go! [Menu]!"

(At least she has enthusiasm this time. I wonder what happened inside the core.)

~~~~~

"Hey hey, Czara, how about this one?"

"I think you're wasting DP, you know? We're gonna need it later to make stuff."

Inside the Core Room, Anastelle, Mimissa, and I were having a tea party which then changed into a fashion session. Ironically it was me who thought we should be careful with that because our DP was a scarce 473 already. If you take the cost of even just a single Goblin at 20DP, it was honestly close to nothing. But both Anastelle and Mimissa wanted me to try a couple different outfits, so I obliged.

Anastelle first wanted to see me, err, wearing only the 'bikini' - which is only such since it technically covers something - but at least she justified it by using a measuring tape. Despite how Mimissa had already seen me like this, and so had Anastelle for at least our initial encounter, it still felt embarrassing.

"Hold still, please, or the measurements will be useless."

"Yes yes, sure."

After that, I rolled the moveable wall over and hid behind it when I changed my clothes. Since I had precisely two sets for now, the 'Suit of the Lady Seafarer' and the 'Maid Servant Dress (Dark Blue) (Evening Hours)', Mimissa said I should at least buy a winter coat and boots. I decided on a light blue coat with white fur trim and hood; it covered my arms to my fingers and reached to around my mid-calves. The light grey boots covered the rest.

"Alright, how's this?"

"It's lovely!"

"I agree, it suits you very well." Anastelle stepped over and fixed the coat a little. "With this, you should easily fit in should you ever want to visit somewhere. Would you mind if I sew a bow to the coat?"

I liked the idea, so I handed her the coat after getting dressed in my usual sailor suit.

Some time later, I felt a surge of mana. It was faint, but I knew it must've been Malfissa sending a signal. Since the Dungeon Core had been disconnected entirely, I did not know if I could use the map function at first, and when I tried it I noticed there was nothing on display. I then focused on the outside environment, expressing my will to claim territory, which with some concentration worked out.

The map started displaying a tiny amount of area, but oddly there were no green symbols indicating our allies. This wasn't good, so I foolishly placed myself outside - I should have considered potential enemies.

When I saw Malfissa and Mr. Imp then, I was elated and started running... and my consciousness suddenly stopped as if an old roll of film had a tear. After what felt like barely a second, perhaps almost instantly even, I was in a different position. Malfissa explained that I could not just casually leave the mana field projected by the Dungeon Core.

Thus I started claiming territory to fix that issue...