18)

In the dungeon. Pondering.

“Well, that’s unexpected.”

The old woman, who was looking a bit worn out, frowned, then stuck her hand in and out of the fridge a few times. “What is going on now? I turned the notices back on. Is it gone?”

With her that close, I couldn't move up to the core room under the kitchen floor. But since she was the one to approach me I didn’t want to leave her hanging.

So…

The summoning circle for a kobold was much larger than one for a base-rank creature. And the small lizard person, perhaps a foot and a half in size, rose out of the circle with its head up and its eyes locked onto my core. Like the other summons it saluted me right after the circle faded away.

As a copper one creature, it took a whole ten of my one hundred summoning slots. For the moment I assigned it as a scout and send it scrambling up the stairs.

By the time it made it up to the hall and to the side doorway of the kitchen, Iris had crossed her arms, uncrossed them, and had begun nudging the fridge with her foot. Today she had on a set of colorful shoes tied tightly to her feet, a thin set of pants, and a tight shirt without sleeves.

While still out of shape, she was surprisingly muscular for an elderly woman.

"Don't tell me it left. I need levels or it's back to waiting around to die. Come on."

Oh yeah, Iris. I know that feeling. "Knock on the side of the doorway number thirty-four." And yeah, let's go ahead and rename you Envoy.

Iris turned to look a the sound and froze. Buttercup arched its back and began to hiss. Envoy threw his arms back, fingers splayed out with his little claws extended, opened his mouth to expose all his teeth and let out a high-pitched screech.

“Whoa. Envoy, down lizard. This isn't supposed to be a fight, you're a scout. I just wanted you to make her look your way."

Too late.

The cat jumped back, and the old woman took a quick step forward and snapped out a kick that launched Envoy across the living room.

“Ow, ouch. Nice follow threw though. A solid hit. Lady has some moves… and she's down..."

As the old woman snapped off her kick her other leg buckled and she curled up and sort of twisted around so she more or less sat down than fell. Her cat leaped aside with a caterwaul as it got itself out of the way.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Envoy hit the back of the couch, dropped to the seat then, still stunned, slowly slid over the edge to land on the floor between the couch and the central low table.

Iris uncurled enough to look around "Ouch... Wait, where did it go?"

To its credit, Buttercup moved to put itself in the doorway between the old woman and the kobold as the old woman labored to get back to her feet. By the time she did, I had moved myself to a core room on that side of the house.

Which gave me the chance to answer her attempt to start a conversation by adding some material to the wall of her living room. I decided on some ketchup since the red color would show up on the blue fairly nicely.

: You wanted to talk?:

The old woman stared at the writing on the wall while looking a little perturbed. “Is… is that blood?”

Whoops. I reabsorbed the condiment. This time I tried some mustard. Yellow on blue would show up pretty well too.

: Nope, ketchup. Don't worry, it won't leave a stain. :

She let out a little laugh. "Not what I was worried about. So… I got questions. Some of them are more important than others, but right now, I want to know why. Why are you in my house? Am I important or something?" She started to walk forward.

I cleared the mustard away.

: Hang back a bit. I can't clean things up and make words appear if you get within my reach. :

She stopped with a look like she was going to take another step just to prove something, then snorted to herself and took a big exaggerated step back. “Done. Now talk.”

: You have a niece. My wife was assigned to her.:

Iris got a surprised look on her face. And I got a warning.

[ Your old world had rules about talking to the living, this one hasn’t yet. But it will, possibly mid conversation depending on how much you tell her.]

"Clement?" I guessed. Looks like I need to keep it down to what she needs to know.

The old woman was looking a bit annoyed now. "I said what is your wife doing to her."

: Sorry, I was being given a warning. If I say too much, that's it. Me and everyone else like me will never be allowed to speak to the… :

Almost said the living. That would have been a giveaway.

: Let’s say humans, ever again. Don’t ask, don’t try to trick more information out of me, and don't talk to others about it out loud. We are here to help your world transition to a magical one. :

I stopped to clear the mustard again. After all, I could only fit so many words on a wall that someone could read from across a room.

: It’s my job to build a dungeon to help people who want to grow in power. My wife’s job is to directly help your niece in particular. I don’t think I can say anything more. :

Iris crossed her arms. "But what… No, I can't ask that either can I?"

She rubbed her hand over her face before staring at the now blank wall again. “You are supposed to put people in danger while they’re inside of your dungeon. Is your wife putting my niece in danger?"

No, quite the opposite. But I can’t say that.

: No, her role is to guide and give warning. In fact, she's gotten so attached to your niece that she's stuck around long after her job was supposed to be over. :

Iris smirked “So the little lady does things her way. I like her already.”

I sketched out a set of eyes rolled up to their tops.

: It’s part of why I always loved her. Every time I ended up going right along with her plans. :

She grinned. “Good boy. You are a boy, right? I mean you’ve been going around changing things in my house without my permission. You pretty much have to be a guy. Got a name?”

: Tark. I understand you want to level. :

She tilted her head. “Well, yeah.”

: Then finish the job. :

Envoy climbed up to the top of the short table, hissed, and took a running leap off the table at her.

She tried to take a quick step back and half fell over Buttercup who ran off yowling. “Crap!”

It wasn’t much of a fight. Normally adventurers would have a tougher time fighting something as low to the ground as a foot and half tall kobold. But Iris was a martial artist that was used to kicking at people’s legs and Envoy was already half dead from her first kick.

The only bad part was Buttercup got in a hit and got to go up to a second-level Grimalkin.