Dahlia was still dreaming. This must be a dream. Nothing else could explain this ridiculous situation. But... She couldn't wake up. King Theon had explained to her that she was rescued at the last moment and brought to Avalon. He even tried to convince her she was not dreaming, but his attempts had failed so far. They walked slowly through the streets of the town called Everlight. Dahlia was overwhelmed by its incredible size and beauty. Even now, during winter, everything was clean, and the air was incredibly fresh.
"Excuse me, my Lord, but where are we going?" Dahlia asked after they crossed three streets and stopped in front of a big building.
"I assumed you would like to meet with the other people that were with you," the King responded and opened the doors.
Dahlia entered the big building, and the happy screams of playing children almost deafened her. Even the empty, spacious main hall echoed with the children's voices from other parts of the building. King Theon walked towards the nearby hallway, so Dahlia had to jog a bit to catch his fast walking pace. The building was very warm and brightly lit by magic chandeliers despite big windows, outside which the young Wolfkin could see the streets of the town. On their way, Dahlia saw a row of doors leading to classrooms, a dining area, and even a lavatory of sorts. The children's voices grew louder with each step and she quickly found herself in a large room where dozens of children were playing with balls, playing tag, and even playing on some strange obstacle course...
"Dahlia?! Dahlia!" She looked around with tears in her eyes before dashing toward a small boy who was maybe seven years old.
"Clovis! You are alive!"
•••
I watched Dahlia's reunion with her brother. If this didn’t convince her she was not dreaming, then I was officially out of options. Fortunately, she seemed to rethink her life choices, which was quite easy to discern by the terrified look on her face, realising what she had done from the time she was left dying in that forest until now. The children needed just a few moments to register my presence in their indoor playroom before they rushed towards me with big grins on their small faces, wanting me to play with them. It always raised my spirit to come here and watch these children. There were almost thirty children up to the age of about twelve here who could carelessly play and just be what children should be, even in a world full of darkness and despair.
The older ones were not to be found here, as they had already started their practices at various places or became fledgling adventurers. Ragnar, Bjorn, Verni and Wendy were teaching older children as well as adults who wanted to become crafters. So far, the most successful crafter from Everlight was Nadi, who was not only a talented tailor but also a skilled light armour maker. However, she was not the only one, as three kids from the orphanage showed exceptional talents for woodwork and metalworks. The teachers were certain that these three had enough talents to achieve greatness. I sighed and looked around, patting a few smiling children. Fortunately, the children were too absorbed in their games to pay me too much attention. As fast as I was engulfed by the crowd, everyone was already gone, satisfied after receiving a pat. But my break from reality wouldn't last for long. Stella informed me that my presence was required in the Palace.
"Dahlia, you can talk with your brother later. We must go now." I gave her a few moments and put my hand on her shoulder.
•••
We teleported to the part of the Palace where I was holding the Kitsune girl saved by Sebastian and the Gorn people while on their way here. Well... mostly Sebastian. The slimes that stayed behind to delay the snow monsters returned after a few hours, but they had nothing interesting to report. They fought something that could be only described as a mix of a polar bear and a wendigo. It was interesting that this world possessed not only English curse words, but Japanese and European legendary creatures as well. It looked like we had North American cryptids as well here.
Just fucking great.
Stella was waiting for me outside the Kitsune's room with Amber and Irene. Dahlia gasped when she saw Stella's wings, which made all three of them turn around. Dahlia panicked when Amber and Irene looked at her, which made her freeze in place, almost bouncing off my chest. Dahlia was much shorter than me, barely reaching my shoulder.
"Stella?" I asked, ignoring the gazes of Amber and Irene for now.
"My Lord, the Kitsune finally woke up, and she is ready to be questioned. I don't believe we have any reason to be alarmed, because she is just level five," Stella reported, looking at the young Wolfgirl.
"Dahlia, these two Ladies are the crown jewels of Avalon. Amber va'Theon and Irene va'Theon are my... wives and your Queens." I patted the head of Dahlia, who started freaking out. "Amber, Irene, this is Dahlia. She is our newest resident and I hope I'll be able to put her skills to good use. Dahlia, for reasons unknown to me, still believes that she is dreaming. You will learn a few things today, young Inquisitor. When we finish, you will prepare a report and start learning interrogation techniques from Thor and later from Stella, who are my scions."
Amber and Irene smiled at the young Wolfkin, whose face started turning red. Stella giggled but quickly covered her face with her hand. I opened the room doors and walked inside. It was a high-ceiling room you would expect in a European-style palace outfitted with advanced technology. Well, here and now, it's called magitech. Anyway, the room was twelve by seven and a half metres, with its own bathroom attached. While it was one of two guest rooms, I was not expecting to have any proper guests so early to begin with. While I took all the warnings to my heart about the Kitsune, I simply could tell she was borderline terrified.
She looked young, but it was hard to tell how old she was. Really, she could have been anything from seventeen to twenty-five years old. She was curled up in the bed, examining her surroundings in panic.
"My name is King Theon of Avalon. With the help of a few people from the village of Gorn, my butler saved you from the maws of winter beasts and Queen Irene saved your life," I told her while shaking my head in amusement. "Who are you? And what are you doing here?"
She slowly crawled out from under the duvet, shaking a bit from anxiety or straight-up fear. She was in her Foxgirl shape, with characteristic fox ears in a strange black and white colouring, which was strange for a fox... Or maybe not? There were arctic foxes or perhaps that one black and white that lived in Canada. Yeh, the Canadian Marble Fox. So she would be a Marble Kitsune? But when I looked at her face, I was struck by her somehow familiar beauty. She was not as beautiful as Amber or Irene, but she somehow was familiar. I looked at Stella and quickly asked through the link if Kitsune used any magic, or if any magic was used on me, but no.
I summoned three thrones for myself and my Queens and we sat down. Stella flew closer to the bed and Dahlia sat on the chair given to her by a slime butler. I was now sure that the Foxgirl was frightened, but she got out of bed, regardless. She wore a simple dress that was cut right at the knee, from under which dangled her fluffy black and white tail. She crossed her hands over her belly and deeply bowed towards me.
"Thank you, oh gracious Lord, for your mercy and for letting me live. I'm Kitsune as you already know, but I'm one of the Zenko! Please don't kill me..." she begged in a timid voice. It sounded like the voice of a young girl I knew, but I wasn't able to match the voice to the face.
"I'm not aware of your deeds that would require such punishment. You are safe in Avalon as long as you follow the laws," I replied. "What do you mean by you are Zenko?"
"It means that I'm a good fox, my Lord," she responded quickly, and my Truth Seeker told me it was the truth.
"So, what makes you good?" I asked with a smile, fixing myself on the throne.
She was still prostrated, so I couldn't see her face, but her hands began to nervously rub at her dress. For a long moment, she thought about her answer in the uncomfortable silence.
"I ask you, Foxgirl, because I want to know what is the meaning of being good. I ordered slavers and mercenaries to be killed. Because of me, Amber and Irene can't leave this place." I spoke slowly, checking my fingertips. "Am I a good person? That depends on who you ask. For slavers or mercenaries, I'm the evil incarnate. Amber and Irene, on many occasions, told me I'm a good person. For people who live freely in Everlight and Avalon, I'm probably a good person. So what makes you a good fox?"
"I... I don't know. This is what the World's Words insist I am," she answered flatly.
"We can start with that." She relaxed a bit. "Raise your head. Please, everyone, sit down. What's your name?"
"I don't have a name, my Lord," she responded softly, sitting on the chair given to her by one of the slime maids.
"Mhm." I almost gave her a name to ease the conversation, but held myself. "What have you been doing in the nearby forests?"
"I was running from the slavers who wanted to capture me and I got lost." She looked at her hands resting on her legs. The Foxgirl tried to fix herself in the chair to not sit on her tail, and after a few tries she found a comfortable position. She sat delicately on her side, resting her arm on one side of the armchair, allowing her tail to lie comfortably at her side.
"Listen... You don't make it any easier. I want to know more about you. Right now, I'm convinced that you are not a threat to me or the people under my protection." I sighed.
"People under your protection...?" She looked at me strangely and I saw anger in her eyes. "You are a Dungeon’s voice! And yet you claim you protect anyone?!"
"How dare you?" Amber asked, extremely calmly and coldly.
Kitsune looked around for the first time, startled by Amber's tone. She was clearly lost, wondering why Amber was so angry. When I looked at Irene, I saw fire in her eyes, and Dahlia looked like she was already preparing a stake for the Kitsune. But I felt nothing in particular. To be honest, it even amused me, so I decided to play dumb.
"So it is illegal for dungeons to protect people?" I asked, barely masking laughter.
"For thousands of years, that has never happened! All dungeons sooner or later succumb to the madness of immortals and kill indiscriminately!" I saw tears in her eyes, but what was interesting was she knew more about something I wanted to know. Something I had suspected.
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"What do you know about this madness of immortals?"
"I know who you are, King Theon. You are the dungeon core, so you should already know this. But let's pretend you know nothing." She was passive aggressive, and I had no clue why. She was grateful for saving her life, but she... I tilted my head to listen to what she had to say. "It's a sickness of the mind that plagues every semi-immortal being. It will not attack you quickly, but it will take root and become more apparent with the passing decades. If you still have any feelings inside you, they will wither. Happiness and pleasures will be replaced by bitterness and resentment. Laughter and joy will change to sadness and depression. Love will give up its place to hatred. Why, you may ask? Because those around you, people you consider friends, will die. Because your Queens will die. Everyone you ever loved will always, inevitably, die. At first, you will try to replace your friends with new friends. But after centuries you will be too tired to bother and look for new friends. And once those who you love will die, you will become apathetic and indifferent to the fate of mortals. You will stop caring who you kill. You will just kill to survive. Because you will be afraid to die."
She almost yelled her answer at me, and my Truth Seeker confirmed it. What she told me made a lot of sense, to be honest. But I had Amber and Irene who will be with me for eternity, or at least until I fucking mismanage my mana and wouldn't be able to pay for the upkeep. I leaned back on the throne and tilted my head back, staring at the ceiling. I recently learned how to make my journal entries without the need of touching it personally, so I made use of that right now, adding a new entry to it. I looked at her with a warm smile that took away all her earlier confidence.
"Thank you for your warning. What you described is not only possible, but could be my fate if not for some facts you are not aware of, though I will not tell you about."
"Humpf... I don't care about your secrets. I promise I'm not your enemy..." I could literally see the defiance in her fox-like golden-blue eyes as she barely held herself to not say 'for now'. "So, can you release me?"
"Not yet," I responded, still smiling. "If I let you go right now, you will die. Outside, the winter took reign over the world and the winter monsters spread their terror. While you are not considered my enemy, I can't let you just go and die out there. What's so important out there to risk your life over?"
"Will you let me go if I tell the truth?" she asked quietly. "Even if it would mean that one day we may meet as enemies?"
"That's somewhat a very specific condition, but yes. I can promise you that I will let you go from Avalon," I promised, feeling the burning gazes of Amber and Irene on my neck.
She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, perhaps deciding how much and what she should tell me. I was not in a rush. I hoped to keep her around since she could potentially be a valuable ally, but judging how much she wanted to go, that would not be an option. While I promised to let her go from Avalon, I would not risk her turning into my enemy, so depending on her answer, her days might be counted the moment she left my kingdom. That might be cruel, but judging from what Stella and Irene told me, I couldn't risk having a Kitsune as my enemy.
"I'm a Kitsune from the Holy Grove, created thousands of years ago with all other Kitsunes who served the other Heroes and other Gods. I was asleep, never born back then, waiting for the champion of my God to be summoned to this world. That's why I'm so weak, unprepared and young. I will accompany my God's Hero when I find him and, depending on his decision, I might become your enemy. But please, allow me to go and help my Hero to save this world."
"Ummm... Tell me, what God do you serve, exactly?" I asked with a faint hope I would not have to kill her.
"I..." She pouted, and I saw tears in her eyes. "I DON'T KNOW! Go ahead and laugh at me! He never spoke to me, even when I begged him! I only know his name."
I snorted and coughed to mask my laughter. But Irene and Amber were not as subtle as me, laughing out loud. I saw tears on the Foxgirl's face and decided it was time to ask the last question.
"What is your god called?"
"Eriar. This is the only thing I know," she replied, sobbing while Irene and Amber almost lost it.
"You see... the funny thing..." I started slowly and carefully choosing words. "I was sent here by Eriar. I'm his champion and the chosen hero."
"Stop joking..." She wiped her eyes from tears and I could see her anger.
"Appraise me," Irene ordered her, holding her laughter with a significant effort.
Kitsune looked at Irene with a fury that swiftly was replaced by confusion and then by an overflow of happiness. She stood up and outstretched her right hand towards me.
"If you are truly sent by Eriar, take my hand. I will know the truth." She pursed her lips, her face still red with embarrassment as she waited for me.
I looked at Stella, who shrugged her arms. Amber looked a little worried, but Irene was amused by this situation. I sighed and went to her to shake her hand. To be fair, confirming the identity of Hero by a handshake was genuinely brilliant. In my old world, that was the customary way of making a new acquaintance. After a thoughtful moment, I decided to shake her hand. After all, what was the worst thing that could happen?
Kitsune are guardian spirits who were created millennia ago by the powers of order and chaos alike. This Kitsune serves Eriar, the silent Guardian. She will accompany you, the chosen hero, in your quest to save the world as one of your closest allies.
You are required to give her a name.
I tried to let her go, but I was locked. What's more, everything around me lost its colours, frozen in time. I couldn't even sigh. That's what you fucking get for asking red-flag questions, you moron. I tried to teleport away, but that failed as well. I reevaluated my life choices. Fuck it. What choice do I have? I focused as much as I could to NOT give her a true name. At least I could give her a nice name. She is a cute platinum blonde Foxgirl with black-and-white fur similar to a Canadian marble fox, and in this light, she shimmered a bit with a silver hue. I tried to simply say her new name, but...
"Will you allow me to call you Luna?" I asked in a voice full of resignation.
I saw her blinking a few times and... Oh, fuck you... One hundred thousand mana was gone, as well as was my cool head. Luna fainted, but I managed to catch her and lay her in bed.
"OH OF FUCKING COURSE!" I yelled and turned my head towards the ceiling, but with the eyes of my soul, I was looking at the sky. I straightened at my full two meters height and raised both my arms with middle fingers aimed at the general direction where Eriar should be, and continued my rant. "I FUCKING HOPE YOU'RE ENJOYING THIS! NOPE! NOPE! FUCK YOU!"
I looked at the Foxgirl and identified her. I read her new description and very loudly sighed while I ruffled my hair in powerless anger.
Luna va'Theon the Guardian Spirit of Avalon.
The Guardian Spirit of Avalon, Luna va'Theon protects the sanity of her husband and King as well as everyone who found refuge in his domain. She is a powerful Kitsune, blessed by Eriar with the mystique powers of ancient rune craft and spirit manipulation. She agreed to...
"Oh, how fucking nice of you! She agreed. What about me?! Nah... Let's ignore that dude..." I sighed very loudly. "What the fuck is that? A fucking Pokemon-waifu collector story?! Eriar, you bastard!"
She agreed to become Theon's wife to avoid loneliness in her immortality.
Oooohhhhh... My anger subsided a bit, in the light of what she told me, at her at least. But I looked at the sky once more and sighed. I stood motionless for a while and felt a warm touch and heard Amber's worried voice.
"Are you all right?"
"What happened?" Irene asked with the same concern about me as Amber did.
I noticed in the corner of my eye a flashing World System notification. I decided to read it before I did anything else.
King Theon of Avalon, the Righteous Dungeon, received a gift after forming an intimate bond with a Kitsune. Arch Princess Luna allows you to obtain a class for your physical body in accordance with the gifts received from Queen Amber and Arch Princess Irene.
Arcane Blade Master class obtained.
*error* no description *error*
*error* Hahaha! Fuck you too, my champion, but you will thank me later :D You can trust me. And yes, this is extremely funny.*error*
You can use any sort of blade weapon.
Class skills:
Blade mastery (lvl.1)
Dual wielding (lvl.1)
Fencing (lvl.1)
Blink (lvl.1)
You receive active skills (gifts from Amber):
Magic parry (lvl.1)
Magic shield (lvl. 1)
Arcane bolt (lvl. 1)
You receive passive skills (gifts from Irene):
Health Point regeneration (lvl.1)
Magic Point regeneration (lvl.1)*
Stamina Point regeneration (lvl.1)
*Your physical body receives a secondary, combat-related MP pool independent from your main mana pool. You can still use the entire mana in your physical body, but mana regeneration will replenish only your combat-related mana pool. You can't use this mana pool to recharge your Vault.
I looked at the World System information with a blank stare and mixed feelings. The only thing I had in my head was a thought that Eriar, this unhinged wanna-be god, was having good fun at my expense. I sighed, suddenly tired of this bullshit.
"I think it will be alright. It turned out, Amber, that Eriar pulled a joke on me. You both know what I felt when Irene became my wife." I looked at them with as neutral a face as I was able to pull out using my Poker Face and pointed at the sleeping Kitsune. "Her name is Luna va'Theon. Technically, she is now my third Queen."
I exhaled, trying to calm myself after my explosion of anger. In silence, I started slowly raising my middle finger once more toward the sky, but I hesitated and looked at Luna. She absolutely was my type, which was not helping at all. Right now, after all the buffs activated from her status as my next Queen, she became as beautiful as Amber and Irene right in front of us. But I couldn't say she was to blame here. Or even I am. Only Eriar, the merry prankster, thought this was a good idea. However, when I calmed down, I would probably have to rethink this whole situation. Even in my boiling anger state, I thought that Luna's sanity protection was incredible. Amber and Irene started laughing, but I noticed all their previous suspicions and even hostility were gone.
"That's good, Theon." Amber hugged me from behind, slowly lowering my half-risen hand. "Now she will never become our enemy."
"And she will use all her strength to save who you are, Theon." Irene softly added.
"You know that this doesn't help me at all?" I answered after a few moments of silence. "I hate the very idea of... this? This is some sick forced marriage. I mean, I don't even know her. And Eriar, fucked be his name, decided that I need a third wife while I still barely came to terms after Irene..."
"Sorry..." Irene smiled without a trace of regret.
"You know what? Fuck this. I'm not angry at you, at Amber or Luna..." I hesitated. "Maybe a little at Luna. But if she couldn't choose anything else, then the only guilty one is Eriar."
I sat down, wondering if Annika had managed to brew any whiskey. Probably not since I didn't have corn. Maybe something else? Vodka would do. I sat down and covered my head with my arms. Oh, I almost forgot, it's not exactly a family meeting. Right...
"Dahlia, I would be extremely happy if you could forget about everything you saw here today. I'm sorry you had to witness… this." I asked, without daring to look at the poor girl. While Amber and Irene are not only used to seeing me in my tantrums, Dahlia barely knew me.
"Ekhm... I really don't mind, my Lord," she responded seriously. "It was not only reassuring but also... Good? I don't know how to describe it. But it was good to see you also can get angry. For a dungeon core, you are very human, my King. I swear to never tell anyone about this without your allowance, my Lord."
"That's fair, Dahlia." I was thankful that at least she could stay serious.
•••
Fuck you, Eriar.