"It is not a choice to be made lightly," Maia said.
"Your Heart Bonds are limited in number," she added, when I failed to elaborate further. "It is clear that each will be more difficult to obtain than the last. The consequences of making a poor choice here would be significant, and far-reaching."
The object of our discussion lay on her side at Maia's feet, seemingly rendered insensate by her injuries, and was in the process of slowly bleeding out. It was honestly a bit of a mystery to me that she wasn't dead already – Naomi could have killed her easily enough, after the fact if nothing else, and I didn't understand why she'd stayed her hand. Had it been an act driven by conscience, or by cruelty?
Whatever her reason, though, leaving her victim in such a state inside an active Dungeon was as good as doing the deed herself.
Well, it would be under any ordinary circumstances, anyway.
Not being a doctor, I couldn't diagnose exactly what was wrong with the woman. However, I could say with complete confidence that her condition was well beyond my ability to fix with my rudimentary knowledge of first aid and the limited resources I had on-hand.
My first instinct was to offer her the Bond, and thereby save her life, of course. But...
"This woman is weak."
Honestly, I had no idea what the now-deceased party leader could possibly have been thinking, bringing a Level 1 Hero into my Level 10 Dungeon – let alone one with a Rank-F Core. Sure, I had promised them safe passage, but still. Did she have a death wish or something?
"She has done nothing to prove her bravery." Maia's tone remained as politely neutral as always, but I thought that I might have detected just the slightest hint of petulance creeping in. "Nor her worth."
Unless you counted stepping into a Dungeon at a 9-Level disadvantage while armed with nothing more than a camcorder, anyway.
"...yet you intend to offer her the opportunity to ascend to godhood, despite this."
I didn't sigh, but only because I was currently in my disembodied state. My Avatar body remained on the floor in the [Drill Hall] where I'd left it – not dead, thankfully, but I'd released my control of it when it was temporarily paralyzed by the unexpected [Lightning Bolt] that had opened the fight, so that I could at least exercise control over the remaining Monsters, rather than flopping and twitching around on the floor.
Dungeon Run In Progress:
Rooms: 21
Rooms Remaining: 19
Reward On Exit: 90%
As the always-present floating display confirmed, there was still, technically, a Dungeon run in progress, which prevented me from returning to my physical form by activating Avatar mode again. Mildly annoying, because I really would have preferred to have this conversation face-to-face, rather than face-to-ceiling.
Like the song goes, though, you can't always get what you want.
"She would not be the first to meet her end under your watch," Maia noted clinically, taking a half-step back to prevent the gradually spreading pool of blood from reaching her stockinged toes. "Is this one different because she is human? Or is it because her plight reminds you of your own experiences?"
Ouch. Touché. Maia's blunt, honest nature made it all too easy to forget that she'd been a princess, or whatever the shouriioku equivalent was – born and raised in a cutthroat political environment, and incredibly perceptive when it came to reading people.
Worse, it was a fair question. Why was this different for me? I'd seen aeln and shouriioku die before, some of them by my own hand.
...was it because she was a human? I didn't think so. Strange and alien though their appearances might be, I'd never had any difficulty recognizing Maia and her people as living, breathing, intelligent beings – not all that different from me beneath the skin. Besides, I hadn't really felt any compunctions of this sort when it came to the pair of unfortunate human Heroes whose bodies were currently cooling in the [Drill Hall].
Did I sympathize with her because she'd been betrayed by Sean and Naomi, in a way similar to what I'd gone through? That was possible, I supposed, but it didn't seem like the right answer either. I certainly hadn't felt any sort of a rapport with the annoying party leader who'd gotten himself pasted by Sean, at least.
No, there had been another time – two of them, in fact – where I was presented with a helpless, defeated opponent, and made what a neutral observer might possibly consider the less-than-optimal choice of granting them mercy.
Laenlianen, the aeln party leader I'd spared back on Hero World 356.
And Maia.
Putting it like that, it was immediately obvious what my actual hangup was.
Damnit.
I highly doubted Maia would consider "Mom raised me not to hit girls" to be a compelling rationale for my decision, even if I presented it as the timeless wisdom of my Clan's Annals.
And that left me in a conundrum, of the unpleasant moral sort that I seemed to be finding myself in more and more since I'd been reclassified by the system as a Dungeon Heart.
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Maia would accept it, I was sure, if I simply ordered her to quit arguing and deal with it. She probably wouldn't even take it personally.
But doing that would make me feel like an ass.
Even though I'd had some time to mull over it, I still hadn't entirely come to grips with Maia's matter-of-fact assertion that – by the traditions of her people – we were husband and wife. Married.
I liked her, of course. Maybe even that other word that started with the same letter, the one I had so far avoided thinking about. But married? Already? We'd known one another for less than two months, and the word marriage had a ring of irrevocable finality to it.
Nevertheless, officially married or not, we were together, and unless there was something I'd seriously misunderstood about how being a Dungeon Heart worked, we would be staying together – in it for the long haul, as the saying went. The very long haul, assuming what I learned from the Dungeon Chat was accurate. Dungeon Hearts were apparently immortal, provided you didn't allow yourself to be full-cleared by marauding Heroes too many times, and there didn't seem to be a divorce option when it came to a Dungeon Heart's Bond.
I'd spent a lot of time trying to convince Maia that I had no intention of treating her like a servant – that I valued her opinion as a peer and equal. For the most part, I think I'd succeeded in achieving that goal, as her current disagreement showed. The Maia I'd first spoken to after she accepted the Bond offer wouldn't have dared to question one of my suggestions, and it was a great sign of progress that she was now willing to push back against me like this. It would be incredibly disrespectful of me to push aside her (perfectly valid) objections... not to mention incredibly foolish.
So. For selfish, personal reasons, I didn't want to let this uninvited guest die. But for somewhat less selfish reasons, I also didn't want to ignore Maia's well-founded and practical criticisms of the only plan I could come up with to save her.
Alright. What options did that leave?
Somehow, I supposed, I'd just have to talk her into accepting a decision that I myself thought wasn't very smart.
Easy, right?
"I understand," she said.
Huh, maybe it would be easier than I thought.
Wait. What?
"Yes, Damien, I do." A faint but perceptible smile tugged at the corner of her full black lips. "I merely wished to register my concerns. In truth, I am unsurprised by your decision. It is entirely consistent, and I believe I may have even felt... disappointed, if you had chosen otherwise."
"But," she added before I could respond, "that does not mean I believe this decision is ideal. You desire my approval, do you not?"
Maia's smile grew wider, a rarity given her usual stonefaced demeanor. "I appreciate your consideration. If you seek my approval, I will happily concede... under one condition."
The condition she requested was, I thought, reasonable under the circumstances, and after only a moment of hesitation I agreed to it.
Which meant there was only one more person whose acceptance I needed to finalize this. Focusing my attention on the injured woman, I made my choice, and saw the window pop open beside her.
Moments later, it disappeared as she accepted it, triggering a deluge of notification Messages.
Dungeon Run Results:
Rooms: 21
Rooms Remaining: 19
Reward: 90%
Dungeon Portal:
Exit Location: Hero World 1095
Time Remaining: 91:14:26 (339:25:47)
Status: Locked
Thus far, there'd been nothing unexpected. The lockout time was on the long end, but even with the short duration and limited progress the Hero party had made, that made sense – they were overleveled for my Dungeon, and had taken several casualties.
The Messages that followed, however, were more interesting.
New Message:
You Bound a Heart to your Dungeon!
(You have 0 available Heart Slots.)
Basic Monster Core (Human) is already unlocked.
Additional Core Fusion options for Basic Monster Core (Human) are now available.
Next →
New Message:
You have reached Level 11!
You unlocked room function (Throne).
Your Dungeon Portal access limit has been increased.
Your Potential limit increased.
Your Mass limit increased.
All of these developments were extremely interesting, of course, and I made a mental note to examine each of the new unlocks in more detail as soon as I got the opportunity – that is, as soon as I wasn't otherwise occupied by trying to prevent my newly-acquired Dungeon Heart from bleeding out all over the floor.
Impatiently waving away the notifications crowding my view, I reactivated Avatar mode, feeling the brief dislocation as my perspective shifted and narrowed to that of the Monster's body, and then jogged into the room we'd termed the foyer.
"What do you plan to do now?" Maia asked as I stepped around her to approach the fallen Hero.
"She's too badly injured for our usual first-aid methods to handle," I said, kneeling down next to the still figure and carefully lifting her into my arms. For a Monster with some cuts and bruises, wrapping it in crude bandages and throwing it into the [Barracks] to recover had proven sufficient, but this was a much more severe situation. "I think we've got to put her into the Summoning Circle and then re-Summon her."
I stood, turned, and began walking as quickly as I could without unnecessarily jostling her. Ordinarily, the length and circuitous path of my Dungeon layout was an advantage, but in this particular instance it was making my life more difficult.
My boot heels clacked against the wooden floor, the sound's echoes preceding my hurried journey through the dimly-lit halls. Fifteen rooms away. Fourteen. Thirteen.
"Whazzat?" my passenger mumbled as I carried her through the tunnels.
"Hey," I said, without slowing down. That's me, master of conversation. But really, how are you supposed to greet a slowly dying woman who just agreed to bind herself to you for all eternity? Try to be reassuring, I figured. "You don't have to worry, you're safe now."
"Oh," she replied, sounding as if she was understandably still somewhat out of it. "Thass good."
"Yeah. We're going to get you fixed up. You'll be fine. But, uh, it might feel a little weird."
"Mmh." She glanced up at me, and her eyes widened. "Wait, you're the Dungeon Monster."
"Err, yeah. Well, actually I'm something the system calls a Dungeon Heart –"
"I'm being carried off by a Dungeon Monster!"
I narrowly avoided stumbling to a halt as she suddenly twisted in my arms. Grasping the front of my robe, she pulled herself up to face me, her gaze oddly intent and... excited?
"Are you going to take me back to your lair and tie me up?" she demanded. "Ooooh, nooo!"
"What? No!"
"...then you don't even plan to wait that long? You're going to claim me right here? Stop, please, my heart isn't ready!"
"I... huh?"