I did not know how much time had passed but I knew my party members – my potential friends – were in a sort of danger from Edbert. I also knew that no matter how hard I hit, or dirty I fought, he had the advantage of age, size, and experience on him. His monsters were likely stronger than mine and, his uncle was the Lord of the Tidewarren region. His taunts could have meant nothing; because he was not an actual authority figure – however, there was something that stuck prominently in my mind as I moved through the hallways and stairs to get up from the area of the dungeon I had fallen into.
Edbert had mentioned some sort of contract and debt between Eris, Jose, and Lord Charles Darville. He had mentioned it required at least one more year of work added to it because of this ‘failure of an endeavor’, and I remembered distinctly from my first meeting with Lord Darville – many nobles put their outworlder adoptees into what effectively was indentured servitude.
I didn’t know the details, but I also knew that if it was true I couldn’t allow it to happen. It was repugnant, and more than any moral outrage I had about it; some deep, dark rage of mine wanted to hit Edbert as hard as I could and to shout at Lord Darville for doing that to Jose and Eris. It was as if the anger I felt as a child in my original life, often bullied, and depressed from my family situation, was rolled into the anger I had felt when I saw my children or other children bullied or abused. The red hot and quick emotions that had driven me as a child of a single parent who struggled to take care of my siblings and I rolled in with the colder and more tempered righteous anger I felt as a parent after I had gotten my life together.
I was going to figure out how to knock that cocky grin off of Edbert’s face and make sure that he never bullied anyone else. I was going to do it, and make sure that there was a reckoning for Charles Darville as well. I would have to remind him that I may look like a child but I had lived a life of my own already, and I was an adult with plenty of experience to bring to bear.
Before anything though, I needed to control myself. The battle with the Cobliath was something I needed to remember; because a monster was in most cases probably not as complex an opponent as a human could be. I already was aware of most of Edbert’s abilities. I also knew that he was cocky and capable but a teenager. He knew plenty about this world and its systems, but that did not mean he was infallible.
And Charles? Anyone greedy enough to play a long con on someone he wanted as a partner just to get over on another partner and get greater wealth from it would be able to be someone I might be able to trick if I was careful.
The answer was not to confront them now. I could apologize to Eris, Calvin, Kieran, Kenneth, Alec, and Moriah later but the answer was to get out of here without being caught and to make my way to the castle or town square.
Then I would enact my plan. As I looked over the system prompt that appeared when I thought about taking an item out of my new satchel, I counted every point of crystalized experience that I now possessed.
As I strode, Bagheera was practically prancing. I guess she approved of the seething rage and other emotions I was showing. Maybe she could feel it? Monster Partners were supposed to be metaphysically connected to their owners.
***
I won’t bother to detail my escape from the dungeon, because there was not much to say of it. The cobluchins seemed to have not recovered, and Bagheera seemed to know her way around as we went through the levels. That, and after we reached the top floor, I received a prompt to exit the dungeon. When I accepted it, I suddenly found myself atop the hill on which the dungeon was built.
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The travel back to the town was not as quick, because by now it was dark, and even with Bagheera leading me and the multiple moons of Hekatondrona above, I could not go quickly. I didn’t have dark vision, or low light vision, even if my partner did. The ossicarn was striding through the plains like she owned the place, and I was careful to watch out for an uneven step or obstacle to trip on.
The lightening sky of dawn heralded us as we came into the shadow of Strongbridge’s outer wall, and approached its gate. Despite the way that Edbert and his friends had acted, the guards upon the town’s outer wall did not even challenge me with more than that.
“Wade, where have you been out at this hour? Trying to get revenge on the Jackanacks?”
I grinned and attempted a joke, thinking it’d keep me from being mentioned up the chain of command. “No, was too busy in the Cobluchin Wrestling Federation.”
The guard didn’t get the joke, based on his confusion. “You were wrestling cobluchins? Glad they didn’t steal your shoes.”
That time it wasn’t even some sort of calculated move. They had tried to steal my shoes and I was never going to let that happen again. “I’m glad they didn’t too. Can y’all open the gate for me?”
They did, and I went about my plan.
***
By the time the sun was already up, I was hiding out in the Tipsy Tauracean Tavern’s basement and had sent word to Moriah, Calvin, and Alec after I found out they had not been arrested or otherwise punished – despite Edbert’s threats.
Now, sitting on a stool, at a table in the corner of the basement, I waited for them to arrive and I planned. I looked through the experience point counts on the crystalized experience and I looked over the other items that I had claimed in the dungeon. We had not discussed any sort of shares or other distribution of treasure we found so I could have kept it all to myself, but I didn’t feel that was right and I needed their help further. I had already briefly talked to Kenneth and Kieran; but besides the utility of cooking in healing, they weren’t necessary for my plan.
When they arrived, they were quiet. Even the normally belligerent Moriah was silent as a grave, and when they laid eyes on me they almost jumped as if they had seen a ghost.
Predictably, the first of them to comment was Moriah and the fiery redhead. “We thought you were dead. Either from Edbert chasing you and extracting revenge for embarrassing him like that or from the dangers of the dungeon itself.”
Calvin gave a nod, none of his snide commentary present despite the fact the boy was more prone to sniping remarks than the stereotype of a clever teen would be.
Alec meanwhile crossed his arms. The tall shepherd boy managed to do it and make it feel like a sign of giving me his full attention; instead of showing distance or anxiety. “So why did you call us here? We all got the experience we planned from the dungeon, even if you didn’t notice it. Are you afraid Edbert will try to exact his revenge? If so, you can stay with me and my family.”
I looked at them each and then pulled out one of the orbs of crystalized experience I had gotten before. Its sickly green LCD glow could be seen across the room as I held it in my hand, and spoke up.
“I didn’t die, and Edbert didn’t find me. Instead, I found a treasure room. We didn’t discuss the distribution of prizes, but I felt it was wrong to simply take its wealth on my own.” I explained what I found, and if they looked like they had seen a ghost before, they looked now like they were about to become ghosts themselves.
“So, by all rights this is mine, but there’s an orb for each of you to use as you wish, and some gold too, if you help me with my plan. Kenneth, Kieran, and Eris get a share too. But it will be risky, and for my plan to work, I’ll have to use most of the orbs I found. Each of you will get one, but the rest are necessary for my plan.”
It was then that I told them it and as Kenneth and Kieran joined us we began to work out the details over a meal of beef stew, fresh bread, and tap-pulled root beer.