“So, that’s all we know.” I finished explaining the situation to all of my girls.

The Knights that Lord Reign was using to maintain his power were all inflicted with a demonic curse. The purpose of that curse couldn’t be completely predicted, but it was clear that someone was planning to take control of the army and perhaps have them do something they wouldn’t be willing to do otherwise. Whether this was orchestrated by Lord Reign, or whether it was some plot that was using Lord Reign’s naivety, that was unknown.

“My interactions with my former Master were limited. He was a greedy man who didn’t value life.” Raissa explained. “Going so far as to work with the demons, though. I can’t believe he’d be so bold.”

“We also have to consider that this might have some relation to the Widow’s Dungeon,” Shao added.

“Huh? Why the Widow’s Dungeon?”

“It was a curse located so close to the city. In normal circumstances, he would have destroyed it. However, just as he was pressured to get rid of it, Orichalcum seemed to randomly show up. It also seemed designed to ensnare the King, something that only benefited Lord Reign. Demons have a strong connection to curses, so with these mysterious coins showing up so closely nearby, I just thought that maybe we should consider that.” Shao explained.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

I nodded thoughtfully. I recalled back to the first time I had ever met Lord Reign. At the time, I had handed him an enchanted necklace, which had caused him to react oddly. I had originally figured his odd behavior was because necklaces in this world were a symbol of betrothal. However, I asked a bit more, and while giving a woman a necklace was associated with marriage, it wasn’t to the level the girls had insinuated. They were, more or less, making a mountain out of a molehill. No guy would have thought a magic necklace as a visiting gift would have been so odd.

How did Lord Reign react back then? He had thought I was suggesting I knew something. Shortly after, he tried to keep me from entering the Widow’s Dungeon, and then he turned around and tried to have me killed once he realized I was in there. I had completed the lore, so I thought I was done with the place. Was it possible there was still some secret buried in that dungeon that I had missed?

Stories didn’t always match reality, and at its heart, a dungeon was the telling of a story. Besides the inevitable degradation of data, the spiritual equivalent of the telephone game, dungeons also could get some details wrong, especially when they took a story from only one point of view.

The more I thought about it, the more confused I grew. There was some deep mystery afoot, and I couldn’t make heads nor tails of what it all meant. Furthermore, it had to be something that even the dungeon master wasn’t aware of. If the Queen knew about it, then I would know about it. That’s not to say she’d honestly tell me everything, but that the lore was downloaded into my head the moment I cleared the dungeon.

“Master?” Miki asked worriedly as she saw me sitting there with my eyes closed.

My eyes snapped open. “We have only one choice now. Our next heist… we’re going to break into Reign’s keep!”