After asking such a bold question, Xin at least had the good sense to look a bit embarrassed. Her cheeks blushed slightly and she distinctly didn’t look my way.

“I may have… previously erred in judgment.” She responded stiffly.

I raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

“I’ve been… in this dungeon for many many years. I’m not used to dealing with real people. I mean, people free of the influence of dungeons.”

“And?”

A flicker of irritation formed on her face. “And… I may have acted a bit coldly and impolitely toward you.”

“Garnet failed to make your dagger?”

She sighed. “She had told me that a great deal of her success had been because you were helping her. She insisted that she couldn’t do it without your direct support. I… didn’t listen and grabbed a random blacksmith assistant. The dagger ended up failing.”

“So, you need me to help remake it.”

“The… material is wasted.” Xin bit her lip. “I don’t have enough to make another. My chance of having a weapon that could fell Aberon is now gone.”

It was my turn to look irritated. “Had I known that there would be no chance at a redo, I might have been a little more aggressive toward finding you.”

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

“You would have failed.” She shrugged, “And even if you did, I would have refused your help, convinced I didn’t need you.”

“Then, if you don’t need my help, why are you here? What changed?”

“I’m here because of Garnet. She strongly urged me to work with you. She is… quite fierce for such a small woman.”

“True.”

I nodded, but then remembering how Xin was a lesbian, and Garnet was very sexually progressive, the words suddenly took on a new meaning. I felt if I said anything though, I’d destroy our current fragile communication. It was obvious to me that she was putting herself out here and was already forcing herself to act against her nature. I wasn’t sure if it was because she was a Hero, strong, or a princess… but she was an extremely bullheaded woman. She reminded me a bit of Carmine.

“As for what changed… the dungeon changed.” She responded.

“Huh?”

“At first, the actions you took ultimately were absorbed by the dungeon. This was why I didn’t take you seriously. You tried to rescue the princess, but she ended up in his clutches. You tried to initiate the war, but the humans were still scattered. That was until I started noticing changes a few weeks ago. The entire dungeon has started changing. I used to be able to map the paths of every demon down to a footstep, and now it’s like a beehive has been stirred up.”

“The bandits who always stayed out of the way became active. The commoners have all started to gather. The monsters are moving in extremely strange ways. This has spread to the demon lord’s castle. They’re rearranging troops as if preparing for war from an external source. I have now confirmed that source to be you. There is no point in denying it. You have caused more change in this dungeon in a single cycle than I could in a thousand.”

Of course, I knew exactly why that was the case. I was a Dungeon Master, and I was taking it from the true Dungeon Master. It seemed like my new status had even caught Xin’s attention now. I just hope she didn’t realize the truth, or she may decide to kill me!