The dungeon made out of caverns was dimly lit, any movements would echo sounds, from the drip of the water from the moist, blowing of the air and the footsteps of the two dungeon divers. But didn’t sound like a steady step.
Simon was supporting the old man as they climbed up the ravine slowly. The old man finally gave in when the boy persistently offered his shoulder for support. Together, they limped back near the dungeon boss room and began climbing up again.
After a day of nonstop walking, they were back in the spot where Simon fell. Their things were still there.
“Simon… you are in charge for now until I recover… I want a medium-seared frog leg,” the old man jokingly said.
The boy smiled and immediately started preparing, the old man slept for a while as he lay down on the cold stone. His consciousness was taken away by the tiredness and soreness of his feet.
<--->
“Old man!! Let’s eat!!” Simon woke up the old man.
The old man sat up. He noticed that there was already a blanket over him. He didn’t deserve it… he thought.
“Here!!!” Simon pointed out the frog leg meat, the old man’s knife was already near the stone slab Simon used to cook.
The 2 began eating now.
“Hmm… juicy… you are getting better,” the old man said.
“I see!!!” the boy smiled and began eating happily.
Contrary the old man shuddered… he had been trying to savor the food in his mouth, feeling the savory juice on his tongue… he couldn’t actually taste the meat at all.
“Simon, we will rest here for a while okay?” the old man said.
“Okay!!!” Simon nodded while stuffing food in his mouth.
The spot was not a safe place, monster could appear anytime. The old man noticed Simon’s hand that was ruptured… he remembered that the boy called it Puncration. The old man proudly nodded, the boy had a knack for naming things.
After having their fill the old man rested and Simon was now on duty. He was worried that the boy hadn’t slept for 5 or probably 6 days now, he was probably nearing his limit.
<--->
After a few hours of sleep, the old man felt refreshed. He woke up seeing Simon practicing his footwork.
“Simon… you can rest now… I got the watch,” the old man said… the boy nodded and lay down near the old man… he took his bag and took out his clothes to be used as a blanket… he lay down his head on the bag as a pillow and tucked in… in a few minutes, Simon was already asleep.
The old man was sure since he could smell the burnt-salt smoke that was coming from Simon’s hands that was healing… he should forbade Simon from using the technique again.
…
Their travel upwards was longer this time, the old man had to rest pretty much every day. He was slowly recovering, the problem was his knees and sometimes he would lose his appetite for food which troubled Simon greatly.
“Simon… let’s stop for a while,” it was the old man’s 2nd rest for the day.
His knees were starting to give up. Simon slowly placed down the old man. They would take another few hours until the old man could move again.
“Boy… don’t make that face,” the old man said as he noticed Simon staring at him.
“Old man… your breath smells weird,” Simon said.
“Really? How so?” the old man asked but he knew what Simon was smelling, it was probably the Dragoon Blood extract.
The boy just stared for a while.
Sometimes the old man could not understand the boy’s thought process “I’m going to sleep boy… rest your body but be alert.”
…
Days passed. Finally, they reached the 21st floor. The old man had recovered enough to walk, though he still took frequent rests. However, they were now traveling much faster. Occasionally, a monster would appear, but Simon could handle them alone. He had grown by leaps and bounds since the first day they dived.
More days passed. After a few more weeks, they finally emerged from the dungeon. It had taken them five and a half months to come out, and it was already the end of spring.
<--->
The town of Pharsha was still the same. From afar a silhouette drawn by the haze of the falling sun. It was of a tall and short shadow. The guards on duty immediately noticed who they were.
The guild master requested to notify him of their arrival. One of the guards went to do that.
At the guild house, the guild master and some of the Pam were waiting for them.
The guild master of the adventurer’s guild was so happy to see them, he actually teared up.
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The old man didn’t waste time and immediately called for the guild master for a private talk, he was in tatters but still, he had to report what happened in the dungeon, and it's best when it's fresh. He let Simon go to the well to clean up himself and probably get food after.
…
Then the two old men found themselves in the guild master’s office.
“Alphecca… are you sure you don’t want to do this tomorrow?” the guild master asked just to be sure, the old man was pretty worn out.
“Take a look at this!!!” the old man took out something from his bag and slammed it on the table.
“I’ve never seen something like this!!” the guild master of the adventurer’s guild exclaimed as he touched the shard of the dungeon core.
“Somebody call Sam!!” (Sam = Examiner) the guild master screamed at one of the staff.
The old man was sitting on the guild master’s sofa and the shard in the middle on the table. The room was decorated not lavishly but the trophies of the guild master were there, the head of a Winter Deer, a dragon’s tooth, and the web strings of a large black spider, these monsters are known to live on the deep levels of some of the most dangerous dungeons in the frontier.
The old man nodded and was quite impressed with the guild master.
In a few moments, Sam came and sat with them.
“This is a shard of a dungeon core but… it's somewhat mutating,” the Sam offered his insight.
It was releasing some kind of magical aura… it was of the shadow alignment.
“It actually got absorbed by a doppelganger,” the old man answers.
This explained why they were tattered when they arrived.
“Just a question, this is mine, right? I don’t have to give it to the Elford right?” the old man was asking it in a way that he was hinting something, the guild master knew it. The Sam looked at the guild master.
“What are you planning?” the guild master asked.
“I would need you to send a letter for me, to the Trist Port-” the old man requested. “-Elway Sen-ran, you should know him,” the old man added.
The guild master knew that the old man and Elway were way back and were part of the legendary 8 man party that the old man led. The guild master sighed, no point thinking.
“The shard is yours, leave the letter on the counter,” the guild master answered.
“Can I also have a Tar Silk to cover the shard” the old man requested, the Sam looked at the guild master and the guild master just nodded, the Sam left to fetch a Tar Silk cloth.
“Well… the dungeon core has been culled that’s good, now tell me all that happened in the dungeon,” the guild master said, the guild master has pieces of paper already on the table and an inked pen.
Thus the old man began reporting about the dungeon.
<--->
After a night of full rest the old man was feeling good, Simon was already awake and was just staring at the window of the room. They were still in the adventurer’s guild.
“Boy, you could have awoken me… let's take it easy for today,” the old man said, the boy just nodded. The old man went back to the bed to sleep a bit more.
After a few minutes the old man didn’t hear any steps or feel any movement, he opened his eyes and saw Simon still staring at the window… “Growl” and his stomach growling. The old man sat up… of course, the boy didn’t know anything to do other than train, fight, eat, and sleep.
“Simon… let's go down and get some food,” the old man said, Simon smiled upon hearing the word food.
…
After eating the old man and the boy went to the guild master’s office to get some money, the 2 were practically rich now, that’s how much a shard of a dungeon core is worth, and more than that, actually the old man has much, much more money that was deposited in credit on his account on the adventurer’s guild.
“Give me all the denominations of the lower coins, only one of the gold ones,” the old man requested, the guild master called for a staff.
“You could have gone to the counter you know,” the guild master said.
“Nah, waste of time to get into line, I use my privileges whenever I want,” the old man said.
In a few moments, the coins arrived.
“Oh… Alphecca, we have to talk later if you have time,” The guild master notes this to him.
“I will bring you some Sirloin and wine of course,” the old man said in return.
“We have to be alone,” the guild master added in a solemn tone.
The old man smiled at him and nonchalantly waved as the 2 exited his office.
<--->
Where the 2 headed was the market. The old man ordered Simon to close his eyes while going around, the boy hadn’t been there even before. The market was located on the west side of the town. Since it was an easier access to the main roads.
The old man gave Simon 3 pieces of Silver and 40 pieces of bronze.
“You can buy anything you fancy, let's see if you learned anything at all,” the old man said, it was always a test.
“…You said go easy today,” Simon suddenly said so with a doubtful look on his face.
The old man smiled “Don’t worry about anything just go around and have a look,” the old man said. Simon nodded and left.
…
The old man was checking out some vegetable store when he noticed Simon walking closer to him and what the boy was carrying. The bag of money he gave him was gone and one of the boys that was following him was juggling it purposely making a sound.
6 pieces of skewered meat on a wooden stake, a knife of poor quality, goat milk and cheese… at the least it was fresh but too expensive, and all of his money was gone, Simon smilingly returned to the old man.
“Old man they said they want to meet you!!” the boy said as he brought along 6 boys in their teens who in all and all looked like thugs.
“Old man! I heard you have the money to spend… mind you talking with us?!!” one of the 6 thugs said so.
“Of course, thank you for taking care of my boy here… Simon… didn’t you feel strange when you brought the things you brought?” the old man then faces the boy.
“Yep… hmm… they can’t be trusted… I don’t even know how much this cheese was but it is good,” Simon innocently said.
“Simon… my boy, trust your instincts, don’t trust the words of merchants,” he then tapped the boy on the shoulders.
“And money is just something you use to get to an objective… everything else is greater than money… don’t forget that,” the old man said as he stood up.
“Come on old man!! I know a good place to talk!!!” the same thug that was talking at him from the beginning said.
“I know you do,” the old man answers smiling.
<--->
The 6 thugs were kneeling down, each one with a broken finger, specifically the smallest finger, the pinky. It was their punishment for tricking Simon.
“Old man, someone has been watching us,” Simon suddenly notified the old man as the old man was thinking of what to do with the 6, he already had noticed the girl that had been watching them ever since they entered the small alley.
“Girl!!! Come out now… we won’t hurt you!!!” the old man said, he could tell that the girl was somewhat related to the thugs.
“Sorry!! Sorry!! It was all my plan, I wanted more money!!!” the girl shakily came out of the corner she was hiding.
The way she was dressed was familiar… she was an orphan.
“You fucking idiots… you picked the wrong target didn’t you?” the old man said threateningly.
Simon noticed that the girl and the thugs were skinny, so he started giving them the skewers… that’s why he specifically brought 6 pieces of skewered meat, the girl he just met was not accounted for so he just gifted her the cheese.
“I’m not going to give you the milk,” Simon said as he gave the girl the cheese.
The 7 who was kneeling down was now totally confused.
“See… my boy here knew you were hungry… Simon, fix their fingers so that they will totally learn their lesson,” the old man smiled menacingly.
The boy started snapping back their fingers even though they tried to protest and they screamed in pain, the little girl shuddered in fear.
“You lot… you know we are supposed to be resting for today and now we got something to do!!!!-” the old man said angrily “-Come with me!!!” he said.
Simon immediately followed but the 7 was really confused.
“I said COME WITH ME!!!” the old man threatened them again and finally the 7 followed.