"I am very deeply sorry."

As soon as I opened my door, the orc witch kneeled in front of it, her forehead on the floor, refusing to move until I took her apology. It's not like I was mad, but her drunken behavior scared me. Then there was that incident, where she forcibly uncovered the truth about my magic crystal.

"Raise your head, Omerta," I asked, scruffing her black hair. "As long as you understand, please keep quiet about it."

"I don't know what took over me, Nati, but please, allow me to look at that artifact." She begged me before standing up. She was probably the only adult orc that wasn't taller than me. Considering how her late brother was by far the largest in the tribe, it was somewhat surprising.

"Is it such a big deal?" I asked, pondering. I decided it couldn't hurt to invite her into my room. It didn't have much to offer still. I had my bed, a simple desk with a chair, and a closet for my clothes. I got most of them from Fenna, and the crystal too. The witch was dying to see it. "It looked expensive, and I didn't want to accept it first but I won't deny how useful this is. You surprised me back there though."

"You can't even imagine." She nodded, her eyes glistening as soon as I grabbed the artifact. "If it's imbued with magic, the price might be nothing compared to its value. I forgot that the fox girl is Fang's daughter. I take it you haven't heard of her mother before?"

"Um, not much. Fenna said she was a tailor in the old capital," I confessed. The beastfolk girl had to return to her village to bolster its defenses. "Her mother recorded memories within this item."

"That's a dungeon core." The orc witch explained, looking excited to hold it in her hands. "Not a tiny one, used to create a bag of holding. It's the real deal. Those shards are merely the byproducts of refining these. Probably less than a hundred remains on the continent."

"Okay, I guess it was more valuable than I thought," I noted, surprised. "How could a simple tailor afford to get one though?"

"The way I heard, she didn't exactly buy it. But calling her a simple tailor wouldn't do her justice either. Where do I even start?" Omerta pondered, before beginning her story. "That gem was extracted from a dungeon by Fang. Gorgon said something about being given as a wedding gift. Though the order of the events doesn't seem to line up."

"Wouldn't have thought that Fang was such a romantic," I noted, looking at how she was turning the crystal in her hands. Her eyes were opening wider and wider. "Is it that difficult, to clear a dungeon?"

"I never had the chance to try, but I'd assume it's something. Abyssal monsters like those Nightmares would be the least of your worries. Of course, Fang wasn't going alone, but this crystal is amazing." The witch told me enthusiastically. "I'm sure it was worth all the effort to acquire it. And Fenna simply gifted it to you? I barely touched it, but it was already talking to me. And the explanations it gives me are way better than in any books or parchments I could find. My master would be ashamed."

"What is it telling to you?" I asked curiously. "Fenna said the crystal was useless to her since she has no affinity. And her father did not want it for some reason, so she gave it to me."

"What a waste!" Omerta yelled, then quickly corrected herself. "This is such a valuable item, and Fang refused to take it?"

"I don't know the details," I admitted, sitting on my bed. The witch plopped down next to me, still obsessing about the stone.

"It speaks to me, without me even asking. It shows me methods to enhance my spells. It tells me exactly what I wanted to know, without me even realizing it. This is truly amazing." She said, playing with the gem. "I wish I could have it and if there was only a way to learn its secrets. Argh, Nati, this is driving me crazy. Is this the only one?"

"Um, As far as I'm aware," I noted, getting worried about her. And she was certainly not drunk this time. "I don't know anything about Fenna's mother, or how the stone was made."

"Right, her name was Anna. Among the first of the Lesser Races to enter the Magic Academy." She started, leaning back on my bed. "It was right after Alexandra demonstrated her prowess to the nobles of Cranta. So the gates of the Academy had to be opened. Gorgon told me the full story very recently. There were a few details I didn't even know."

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

"Such as?" I looked at her through the opaque gemstone.

"The school had five very talented students. One's name eludes me, but the other four were Anna, the current Demon Lord, Alpha, and his brother, Gamma. And apparently, Gitaut." She claimed, shocking me quite a bit. "Only three survived the disappearance of the city. I knew the shaman had a bounty on his head, but had no idea why. He's more powerful than I thought."

"I had no idea," I noted in disbelief. "He was kind of sketchy looking and he's a shaman, not a sorcerer anyway."

"I can hear you, you know." The orc in question suddenly announced and made us both jump. I thought I closed the door, but we were too deep into the conversation to notice him. "I had some potential, but the Academy was gone before I could finish training. But the spirits recognized my talent, and offered their services."

"W-we weren't talking anything bad about you," Omerta claimed quickly, hiding the gem behind her back. "And I'm immensely grateful that you saved us. I never thought you were this powerful."

"I preferred it this way." The shaman shrugged, standing in the open door. I was curious, how much he heard over. "I didn't know Alpha put a bounty on me before you told me, but I expected something like this might happen, so I laid low here until people forget about me."

"Is that why you hate your name so much too?" I asked, curiously.

"Huh, no, I just... Don't like to be mocked." His demeanor changed immediately, once he was talking to me. Yes, he was still a bit creepy after all. "I always liked to be left alone, so if someone bothered me, I told them to get out. It happened so often, that they started to spread a rumor, that I was not trying to chase them off, I just announced my name. What kind of stupid bullshit is that? Ever since then, they have been calling me Gitaut. Of course, I would hate that name."

I couldn't help but giggle upon hearing that explanation. I tried to hide it because he seemed upset about it, he looked at Omerta though, or rather, right through her, as if it was possible.

"Anna made that gem. It should contain all the knowledge the Academy could offer." The shaman claimed. "Not just the basics of casting. And it probably has some permanent augmentation spells embedded in it too. I can feel it from here. It would make a perfect core for a wizard's staff, and I could finish my training as a mage. Or warlock."

"You can't have it!" The witch yelled, tightening her grip on the crystal. My crystal. Considering how grateful she was a moment ago, she seemed rather hostile now. "I want it more than anything."

"Um, it was entrusted to me by Fenna, so..." I tried to interject while almost literal sparks flew between the two orcs. "I'm sorry, but since only one exists I'm going to hold on to it."

"Right, please excuse me my rudeness, lady Nati." Gitaut gave in so quickly, but his way of trying to act polite freaked me out. "I understand how valuable it is to you since you too can finally learn to cast magic thanks to it. But with the help of the spirits, it would be possible to make copies of it, if only we had another dungeon core available."

"Hah, right, because they are so abundant." Omerta protested, still holding on to my artifact. I worried about ever getting it back. "And there are no dungeons anymore to conquer either."

"You guys are talking about dungeon cores?" Another intruder showed up on the scene. This time the beastfolk Fire Witch, who came with the Demon Lord's army. She got the room next to Omerta's and must have overheard our discussion. My secret was already spreading like wildfire. "They sure are pretty rare, and hard to get. What would you be willing to pay to get one? Or maybe two of them at the same time?"

"Anything." The orc witch answered greedily before I came to terms with her presence. "But where would we even get one?"

"One like these?" Ember grinned, pulling out two crystals, glowing crimson. It went well with her red garments and glistened like her eyes under that large pointy hat. But just like her entire person, they all looked somehow menacing to me.

"How? When?" This time even Gitaut joined the fray. "So that was the immense power I felt around you. I couldn't believe you had that much potential, but it must have been these gems after all."

"Hmpf, I'm plenty powerful myself, I'll have you know." The cat girl pulled up her pointy nose. Even I could tell, she was younger than me, her behavior was rather childish. "So you want them or not?"

"W-what do you want for them?" Omerta asked, looking desperate.

"Hmm, I don't know yet. You guys were pretty excited about something earlier. I want in on that too." The Fire Witch shrugged, sinking those crystals back inside her pockets. Yes, my secrets were out. After getting worked up about this prospect, I couldn't hope these orcs would hold back. "What do you say?"

"It… It's not my privilege to decide." The orc witch looked down, still hiding the crystal behind her back. She looked so sad all of a sudden. No matter how happy I felt about her not selling me out, I couldn't help it.

"It's… I got a valuable magical item from Fenna, and they wanted to make two copies of it." I tried to reveal as little as possible, but The flames in Ember's eyes still scared me. I said too much.

"Okay, if they want it so much, I want one copy too." She claimed, pulling out her red crystals again. There was only one problem with that.

"But there are four of us and only three stones," Gitaut noted.

"Just clear a dungeon and get one more." Ember shrugged.

"Too bad, no dungeons exist anymore," Omerta said.

"Young ladies, did I hear it right?" Yet another voice appeared. This time it was the dwarf smith. My room started to get crowded. "There happens to be one in Baran, where I acquired my splendid horses too."