After the others had left, Dominik sealed the wall shut and went to the woman who had stayed in the dungeon. “What is your name?” He asked.
“Xiaofang.” she said, only briefly looking up before speaking, then quickly looking down again, averting her eyes from his.
“Well.” he began. “I can make you your own room and training area, but it could take a few days. For now, would you like a room near the others, or would you rather stay where you have been alone?”
After a brief pause, she responded. “I’d like to stay alone. I don’t need anything else.”
“Alright. Dominik said. “Then I’ll bring you to meet the others, you’ll see them when you eat anyway, better to meet them now. Then I’ll let you stay where you have been, but you’ll have the whole living area to yourself, and you won’t be locked inside it anymore.”
He gently grabbed her wrist and helped her up, then he let go of her and led her to the living area of the other freed slaves. He had the troglodytes bring the others, including the lizardmen. He introduced her to everyone, including the hobbits while they were still there, and showed her the bedrooms, in case she changed her mind later. She didn’t say much, so he soon brought her back to her living area, the prison, and left the opening in the wall for her to come and go freely.
Then he got to work on building a real living area for her, a few floors down. He had already added mana crystals to the walls of the dining area, as well as the living area, and main hallways on the upper floors of the innermost dungeon, but he added more to the halls going down to her floor. He dug out a long hallway, then made a large room with a high ceiling.
He’d seen her practicing combat techniques, from basic punching, kicks, knee and elbow strikes, to various stances and rolling maneuvers. He built a large punching bag coming out of the ground in the middle of the room, with a base built into the floor. The punching back stood ten feet tall, it was made of eldritch flesh and meat, with a strong spine in the middle. The base had mana crystals to help support it, and it could regenerate from basic damage.
Then he covered the stone floor with flesh, like a sort of thick leather, it was similar to what they used in basic combat training when they practiced hand to hand combat and grappling. Underneath the flesh was covered with small mana crystals to keep it from rotting. Then the walls and ceilings were covered in large mana crystals made to create light, with Fran’s help they could sustain an illusion spell to emit light. He made the ones in this room brighter than the dim light in the hallways.
Then he dug another hall leading to a bedroom, then to a restroom, and a small study area with a desk, and a bookshelf. He built this over the next few days, while working on other things. The finishing touch was a small entryway going into the training room, with benches placed along the walls near the door. This would allow her to rest if needed, and it would allow some of the troglodytes to sit and watch to keep her company. He was sure some of them would enjoy seeing her techniques from time to time.
Finally, when her room on the fifth floor was finished, he brought Xiaofang to her new room. She seemed surprised, and took her time taking in the training room after he’d shown her the rest of her living area. “Is this all for me?” she asked.
“Yes, though you can bring others here if you want. My friend helped with the lights. You’ve already met her.”
Xiaofang looked confused, but then she realized what the man must be referring to. “The ice mage?”
“Yes, she’s better with illusion magic. I can cast basic light spells of course, but for more complex lighting she’s better with it. Though I made the mana crystals, and the punching bag. And the mats on the floor.”
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“Go ahead, try hitting it a few times.” he said, gesturing to the punching bag. She paused for a moment, then finally went over to it and tentatively gave it a few light punches, then a few kicks. Soon she started hitting harder and faster, testing it out while the man watched.
After a few minutes, the woman stopped and turned toward Dominik, then asked. “How did you make this? I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“I made it with my flesh.” said Dominik plainly.
Xioafang looked worried. He promptly elaborated.
“Don’t worry, it’s not human flesh, it’s eldritch flesh. It’s got thick skin on the outside, meat on the inside, and a spine in the core. It’s alive, but it doesn’t have a soul or a mind really, and it doesn’t really feel pain. It’s using mana to keep it alive, so it should regenerate from any damage you inflict upon it, that goes for the mats too.”
Xiaofang took a moment to take in all of the information presented to her, and a few more moments after that. Then she finally responded to Dominik’s gaze. “You made this from the dungeon lord’s flesh?”
“Well yes, but it’s mine really. Do you intend to stay here for the foreseeable future?” He asked.
“Yes, I don’t have anywhere else to go. I don’t have a home anymore. When the hero came to my country a few years ago, I had been training at a temple. I was the best of the female disciples. He found my family and offered to buy me, and they accepted the offer. I’m seventeen now, so I was too young to refuse, I was their property, and I was sold to him. They let him put the collar on me.”
She paused for a moment, then continued. “I don’t have anywhere to return home to. My family abandoned me, and I don’t wish to join the northern kingdom either, so I chose to stay here.”
Now the man, Salvator, was being quiet. He had little if any reaction to everything else, but the silence went on for a few moments now. She started to wonder if she’d said something to anger him.
“Things really are the same around the world. Even in the far eastern kingdoms. I was sold by my family when I was a child. In fact, I’m only a few years older than you.”
Now Xiaofang was silent, unsure of how to respond.
“You can stay here as long as you want, as long as you don’t hurt the other residents of the dungeon. And if you’re going to stay here, I might as well show you my real face, and tell you the whole truth.”
The man’s skin changed, and he took off his face, which had become a thick mask. Underneath was a face as white as snow, and soon his eyes and hair changed color as well. Thick black hair coiled around his face, and his eyes were a dark grey.
“I am Dominik Jaeger Ostragoth, and I have taken over the dungeon core. This is a recreation of my body, when I was just a human. Now my main body is the dungeon core. That’s how I shaped the earth for you, and that’s how I made the mana crystals and the flesh you see in the dungeon. I wasn’t lying when I told you I serve no masters.”
“But if all of this is true, why do you want me? Why make all of this for us? What can we offer you if you’re already so powerful?”
Dominik seemed confused by these questions. “What would I want? The dungeon is mine already. I just want you for the sake of having you, but not as a slave or a servant. It’s the same reason a man should want a child, that he should want to build a family or a kingdom.”
Xiaofang’s eyes began watering, she was being overwhelmed by everything that happened in the past days, especially in the past few moments. “What does that mean? Parents sell their children, kings sell their people! What does anyone get out of anything?”
He approached her and looked down into her sparkling hazel eyes, wet with tears that had started flowing down her soft cheeks. “I know you’re already an adult, but I’m going to take care of you the way your parents should have. I’m going to take care of the people and the land the way kings should have.”
Xiaofang wrapped her arms around him, and began crying openly, sobbing hard against him. Dominik dropped the mask and wrapped his arms around her. He found out yet again how perfect his design was, as his eyes began to water. He began remembering the younger children he’d tried taking care of in the kingdom, before they were snatched away, sent off by the slavers. The few moments he’d gotten to hold little children and infants, and how they looked up at him smiling. The innocence that would be lost over and over again in this rotten kingdom. He held her there for several minutes, until her crying stopped.