Rise of Winter, Week 3, Day 7

“Do we know how old it is? How many floors? What it produces?” The questions were rapid fire as the Duke spoke.

Tiltham glanced down at Freddie, thinking, before she looked back at the Duke.

“Based on the escaped creature’s ability, we expect it to be at least ten years old —maybe twenty. Sir Yllwood wasn’t the best of us, but he was far from the worst. At that age, it’s likely gone through its boost for the first five floors and has breached during an expansion into its sixth or seventh. We have not found its source yet, so there is no way to know what treasures it holds.”

No one was watching Freddie at that point, so consumed by the implications were they. But she was fighting back a smile. Her face screamed excitement better than anything she could have said.

The Duke rubbed his eyes, “Seven potential floors—that’s into Tier 3 for [Common] monsters.”

Freddie blinked, then looked up to her grandfather, “Do monsters on each floor conform to specific levels?”

She kept her voice neutral, but still, her father shot her a look.

“Yes, my star, seven floors mean up to seventy levels: twenty for Tier 1, forty for Tier 2, and ten out of eighty for Tier 3. Though that doesn’t account for the occasional [Uncommon] monster that appears.” His voice was thin, and the Duke narrowed his eyes at the sparkle in Freddie’s eyes. “Don’t even think about it.”

Freddie finally released her grin, “But–”

The Duke held up his hand, and Freddie shut her mouth, a frown quickly forming.

“Hanlon, Jedni, out, both of you,” was all the Duke said, and Freddie’s frown lightened slightly. Not entirely. But she waited until both aides fled the office to speak up any further.

“I want to go.” It was out of her mouth before the door was fully shut.

“No.” Duke Frederick said harshly. Harsher than Freddie ever remembers him being.

So, she stood up, facing the towering old man.

“I have a [Rare] Class. I can keep up with [Common] monsters mid-Tier 2,” Freddie said, her tone pointed, “That’s several floors to clear with ease and for practice —and several more with challenge and training. It’s perfectly timed.”

“There is nothing easy or safe in a Dungeon.” He grit his teeth. “ And we need to clear it before the Queen gets wind of it. Or before it really breaks.”

“Send me with a contingent of knights, then,” she pushed, “It’ll be perfect. They’ll keep me safe, and I’ll have time to grow. And then there’s a Nemo who can take credit for clearing it.”

At that, her father stood, grabbing her shoulder, “Fred, you do not even have any fighter Skills. Not to mention you’ve just hit competence in the Skills you do have. It’s not safe.”

Freddie turned around, pulling Bridian’s hand off of her with ease, “I don’t care if it’s safe. It’ll help me grow. And that’s what I need.”

Bridian looked down at his wrist, gripped tightly in his daughter’s hand, and defeat filled him, and his shoulders slumped.

“My star, please—”

“Enough, Bridian,” the Duke said sharply, then peered down his nose at Freddie. “If she wants to go, she’s made her point. I will permit her to go down the first four floors. If she hits Tier 2, she may go to the fifth floor. No further.”

Freddie clapped her hands, “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me yet,” her grandfather stated, crossing his arms. “You’re not going until after your Affirmation and the accompanying party in five days' time.”

It was Freddie’s turn for her shoulders to slump, “But–”

“No buts. We’re in a hurry, yes, but not such a hurry that we would scorn your mother —who has spent the past several months planning a party to celebrate your Affirmation. We have already pushed it back far enough.”

Freddie simply nodded. I’m not strong enough to fight it yet… Besides, I don’t want to make mother sad.

Looking over, Freddie’s eyes met TIltham’s. The Knight Captain had a pinched expression on her face.

“My Lord,” she started, her curt voice breaking the silence that had permeated. “If I may continue?”

Duke Frederick waved the woman onward. “Yes, of course. Continue, Tiltham.”

Thus, after calling back in the Duke’s aides, they discussed the logistics of a dungeon dive. The funding required, the supplies needed, and the amount of knights they should allocate. The discussion was rather droll for Freddie, who only cared that she was going along with the knights. Thus, when she found herself alone with her father and grandfather, she barely noticed. Freddie was just relieved that the discussion was over and she was free.

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“Stop,” the Duke commanded as Freddie started for the door.

Pausing, Freddie turned on her heel and looked back at her grandfather expectantly.

“There are going to be rules about how you spend the next five days, Freddie.” He looked older than she’d ever seen her, and she felt responsible.

That didn’t stop her from sniping, “Always so many rules.”

But the fire in her dimmed as she watched her grandfather shake his head, exhausted. Freddie shook out her shoulders and plastered a smile on her face, “What do you want me to do?”

“Freddie,” her father gasped, “What has gotten into you?”

Freddie wondered, then, if she was really so different than the old Freddie. The Freddie before Kalina. She wondered why she couldn’t be calm and malleable. Perhaps it was that in elsewhere, malleable meant she was taken advantage of —there was no one she could trust with her future, after all. She only had herself. It meant bruised skin and burned hearts. It meant pain and betrayal.

But the before, who had that Freddie been? Wild, sure. But hateful? Never. She grew up loved and spoiled, filled with warmth and entitlement. It was the warmth that Freddie was having a problem with. She wasn’t used to it. Her shoulders had been heavy with the burden of her survival, scraping together her winnings until she was the highest-paid gladiator in the ring.

Freddie closed her eyes and took a deep, slow breath, dropping her smile and voicing the truth, “I’m sorry. I’m still on edge from last night. My body hurts, and I’m in a foul mood from my spar with a Knight of the Void earlier.”

Bridian placed his hand on Freddie’s shoulder, giving a gentle squeeze.

“It’s all right, we can take a foul mood. What really matters is if you’re okay.”

Freddie opened her eyes, orange eyes meeting orange eyes, and she felt tears prick, “It’s been a really long few weeks.”

The Duke and Bridian were kneeling down at once, getting on Freddie’s level. Arms wrapped around her, and soothing hands ran through her hair.

“It’s okay, Fred, it’s okay to not be okay all the time.” Was her father.

“My star, you’re not just the heir. You’re my beloved granddaughter. Nothing I would do would be to hurt you.”

It was several moments before the Duke let go, looking down at Freddie with a small, shaking smile, “Now, what do you mean your body hurts?”

Freddie swallowed thickly, wiping a stray tear from her face, mumbling, “I think I was poisoned by the serpent. My arm and leg hurt so bad.”

Both men blinked at Freddie before Bridian was a flurry of movement, “Keep her company, dad. I’ll be back with a [Healer] soon. Freddie—just. Just stay.”

And then Bridian was running out the door, frantic worry written across his face.

To his credit, Freddie’s grandfather was much more collected.

“My star,” he said calmly. “Tell me, why are we only hearing about poison the next day?”

Freddie rubbed her injured arm, feeling the tightness under her fingers, then decided the truth was the best.

“I figured it would go away, but it just… settled in. I thought it was getting better until I went for the knight’s kidney earlier, and I couldn’t put my full power behind it —my leg just didn’t push off as much as I wanted.”

By the end of it, Freddie was speaking fast and waving her hands in frustration.

If I’m honest, who cares about that dude’s chivalry? I wanted to send him to his knees with my punch and all I got was him bending over.

The Duke blinked slowly, processing, “You went for the kidney?”

Freddie was too in her own head to censor her thoughts, so instead of picking up on the disconcerting look in Duke Frederick’s eyes, she grumbled, “Yeah, I had [Bright as a Flickering Flame] active to see if it’d make him underestimate me. It did, but when I went for the finishing blow, he recovered so fast.”

“Fredericka,” the Duke gasped.

At that, Freddie stopped in her tracks and looked back to her grandfather, “What?”

He just looked at her, bewilderment written in the way his brows were pressed together and the way his mouth was hanging slightly open.

“What?” Freddie repeated, playing back what she said to herself.

“That’s underhanded, and cruel, and—and—” the Duke threw up his hands, “And I didn’t think you had it in you!”

“I definitely do,” Freddie said slowly, unsure at the enthusiasm in her grandfather’s voice.

That was when she found herself wrapped up in a tight embrace once again.

This time, when the Duke released her, he had a smile on his face.

“Oh, that puts me at ease,” he said lightly. “I was worried you were too soft for a dungeon.”

Freddie couldn’t help it. She cracked a smile and then burst out in laughter.

“That’s not something you ever need to worry about—not ever,” she said through her fit. As she sobered up, her smile had a hint of the battle madness Freddie knew herself capable of.

It was a few more minutes before Bridian burst back into the Duke’s office, a woman quick on his heels, “She’s here. And she said it hurts.”

Freddie waved her hand, the one that wasn’t attached to her actively poisoned arm, “Hello.”

She actually recognized the [Healer]. Her name was Georgia and she’d been at the service of the Nemo’s since before Freddie could remember. One of her earliest memories is falling down, getting a terrible scrape, and Georgia healing it over without so much as a scar.

“Lady Fredericka,” Georgia nodded her head, then kneeled down to get eye level with Freddie. “What has happened? Tell me where it hurts.”

Freddie held herself back from rolling her eyes at the soft tone, “It’s not that bad, really, I just feel a tightness in one arm and one leg.”

Gesturing from her shoulder to her elbow, she said, “From here to here and from here—” she pointed at her upper thigh to her calf, “To here.”

As she pointed it out, Freddie attempted to stretch both limbs and winced. The woman tutted, “Stop that. Do you know what beast did this?”

Freddie did not remember the serpent's actual name, so she had to pull up her past notifications and look over the combat report to find it.

“It was a Level 22 Adult Winterdeep Grassroot Serpent.”

Georgia nodded and peered over the injured limbs for a moment, “I see four circular scars that look fresh. Did someone else heal you? Whoever it was must have been inexperienced, not only to leave the scars —but also to ignore the poison? Amateur.”

Prodding the scars for a moment, Georgia looked back up to Freddie expectantly when the girl did not answer, “Well? Who was it?”

The room was filled with an uncomfortable silence, and Freddie shuffled on her feet. The Duke was eyeing her skeptically, and her father’s face was a bit red.

“Georgia, maybe we could let it be,” the Duke said gently, his hand splayed out before him in a comforting motion.

“Absolutely not,” she shot back. “This was shoddy work, and I’ll not have someone endangering the family I serve under my watch.”

The silence began to grow again just as Freddie spoke.

“It was me.”