The beastkin did, indeed, return. Elder Anaya wasn’t there, and neither were the other familiar faces like Uzar and Yla (then again, they don’t expect Yla to show up in their Dungeon anytime soon).
Instead, the group that came inside was composed of eight younger members of the tribe, including Keran, the novice shaman and Anaya’s sidekick.
Izuku didn’t consider him to be a ‘familiar face’, if only because they’ve heard him talk a whole one time, and very briefly as it was only him saying how much he’s ready to do what elder Anaya told him to.
The group was composed of Keran, two catgirl rogues and five wolfkin warriors, three of them male, the other two female. All of them geared up in the standard tribal outfit that they’ve seen most of the other tribal younglings wear.
Starting from Ekana.
So, are we going to listen in on them, hoping to learn some interesting and useful things?
yes
Alright.
I guess we can leave Lorae and her tomb to Ochako and the party.
Wait, why aren’t you already manifested?
I told Yanagi to grab the letter and go up to meet me right at the top of the Second Level.
I have a while
Okay.
They did learn a few things, but nothing truly groundbreaking.
Keran did his best to herd the group that he was nominally in charge of, having them massacre the elementals in an organized and fairly efficient manner. They were just skillful enough to be able to do it without any injuries for as long as none of them tried to do something extremely stupid.
Like running away to fight them on their own to prove how strong they were. Which, to be honest, would be very in character.
A fact that they proved by almost doing that three times, each time requiring Keran to yell at them to get back in formation and treat it seriously. Man had at least some authority among them, and that has probably stopped them from getting some otherwise avoidable injuries.
Within maybe thirty minutes from entering the First Level, they’ve managed to thin out the elementals and earth golems enough for them to start appearing in smaller and even more manageable groups as they were spat out from the [Elemental Overflows] on the level.
As the pressure that the mobs applied to them lessened, they could move over to harvesting. And that was one of the most interesting parts of observing their first ‘commercial’ visitors at work.
Namely, they could see what they were actually interested in, allowing them to tailor the floor further with commercial exploitation in mind.
There were clearly two things of interest to the beastkin on the First Level. The first one were the corpses of the earth golems. Once the beastkin properly eliminated one, Keran ordered the others to guard him while opening up their insides and scooping out some… dirt from their insides?
Some slightly discolored dirt, huh.
Dirt?
Weird
They don’t snort it or anything, right?
That would be really weird.
It might be some sort of alchemical reagent, we’ll ask one of our alchemists later.
They were both, unfortunately, busy talking with Lorae right now. Now that Izuku knew what sort of questions he should ask about their craft, they should actually be able to answer them.
Receiving crafting skills from a Dungeon was… weird. And that was putting it mildly.
The other thing was, strangely enough, the strange kind of colorless liquid that the spiritually manifested spirits (in this case, elementals) were turning into when they were slain.
However, the method of harvesting it seemed weird. Which automatically made it interesting.
One of the warriors was carrying an odd tool resembling a… honestly speaking, Izuku is lacking a good comparison there.
It seemed to be a small pouch, filled to the brim with small solid objects, sounding a bit like… marbles? Each time an elemental died and collapsed into a smear of that strange liquid, he wiped the floor with said pouch, looking as if the very act was indescribably annoying to him.
There wasn’t enough of the liquid to form even the smallest pool on the floor, and in fact it seemed to immediately merge with the floor and then quickly vanish.
Strange.
“This is stupid.” The warrior tasked with the process finally has enough. “There isn’t enough aether for it to be worth it! We’ll get maybe a few drops of it by the end of the day. What’s the point?!”
“Tekhan, I think I missed the part of this talk where I asked you for your opinion.” Keran responds immediately. And in a surprisingly savage way. “Get to it. And I better see you put your back into it, or you’ll be on the aether harvesting duty for the next month.”
The warrior grumbles loudly but decides not to fight the shaman and returns to his job.
So, it’s called aether
Sounds like something magic-related
Maybe it’s something the locals need for mana potions?
Drinking dead spirits (or even dead daemons) to make yourself stronger sounds kinda metal ngl
Tokoyami-kun would absolutely love it.
And so would All For One
… I still can’t comprehend how the boogeyman of the underworld just keeps giving me stronger and stronger chuunibyou vibes the more I get to know him.
Tell me about it
Getting the elementals roaming the level under control did make the beastkin get a bit more open up with each other. They even started talking with each other more or less freely. Thus allowing Midoriya and Shigaraki to get to know them a bit more.
In the process of that they learned that the beastkin were kind of bad people. By the standards of Earth, that is. A fact that opened up an interesting philosophical quandary on whether judging them by those standards was wise.
It was even worse considering the recent changes in Izuku’s morals.
During the twenty minutes between the start of the harvesting operation and Shigaraki finally manifesting as a Dungeon Lord and thus leaving the Core, they’ve ended up hearing the following conversations:
1. Two beastkin wondering when their tribe would next try to raid anyone, as they were feeling pretty bored nowadays. Thus proving that their tribe was alright with pillaging others unprompted.
2. A brief argument revealing how two of them have apparently stolen something from another beastkin that wasn’t part of their little friend group, the other ones in said group clearly finding it funny rather than questionable.
3. Two other beastkin having a ‘lighthearted’ conversation about a body of some slave that they had some fun with a while ago. Thus proving that not only did they have slavery as an institution, they also seemed to not really care a lot about their slaves.
Not to mention being strangely neutral about the concept of ‘using’ slaves that way. As in, to them it seemed to just be a fact of life. No one else seemed to really mind it, even the women among them.
It was one thing to treat slaves as a forced workforce, it was another to not treat them as really human (or, well, mortals in general).
To say that it was disturbing to listen to was to say nothing. This world - or at least the beastkin of northern Vestiria - seemed to be much, much different from any modern culture on Earth.
Which made sense. It was a different world, after all. The beastkin were worshiping gods of war and slaughter and of cunning trickery. They were warriors, who didn’t seem to have a problem with raiding others, who bowed only to strength and wiles of others rather than law.
Of course, they were only a small part of the wide arrays of subjects that Izuku and Shigaraki heard being mentioned. Crushing the majority of them was pretty… normal . Disturbingly so, concerning the rest of their culture that they’ve just begun to learn.
A few of them joked about one of the others who couldn’t hold his alcohol and did something incredibly embarrassing while drunk (they didn’t mention what exactly, they all seemed to know what it was), with even the target of their joke ending up laughing about it.
Another one boasted to others how he could defeat that incoming elemental faster and how their training was showing fruits. And how sooner or later they’d officially become a warrior of the tribe.
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
Someone was complaining to their friend how another person (not from their group) wasn’t noticing their attempts to court them, and how he worried that someone else could snatch her from them.
One of the wolfkin was openly hitting on one of the catkin (to some mixed results and a lot of laughs).
They even laughed about Yla, one of the wolfkin making a spicy joke on how they might all get to see a lot of funny things if any of their rogues would be mean to the Dungeon with such a taste (Izuku absolutely hates that Shigaraki made the beastkin see them that way), leading to the one of the catkin shooting back that she’s going to act nice, but if he keeps calling Dungeon a pervert, he might end up being the one to run back to their tribe in his underwear, and that she’ll definitely enjoy those sights.
Prompting everyone else to laugh, even Keran chuckling quietly despite clearly trying to look as serious as possible.
Those beastkin were really questionable people by Earth’s standards, but they seemed to be pretty normal by those of their tribe. Just a group of young adults, getting drunk, getting laid and getting into fights together and having a good time while at it. While clearly being friendly towards each other.
They didn’t feel like villains . They didn’t feel like deranged sociopaths. They were… normal.
All while being alright with stealing from people who weren’t smart or strong enough to protect what they own, and seeing no issue with capturing people for the purpose of slavery, for as long as it wasn’t one of them.
That somehow made them even more disturbing to Izuku. Especially when he realized that sooner or later he was going to have to get used to living in a world where such people were the norm, at least in some parts of it.
Even if they grew to their full-size, they were going to be far from the strongest thing in Karadia. They couldn’t hope to enforce their rules anywhere outside of their Domain. They would have accepted a lot of weird things happening often right outside them.
On a sidenote, Izuku doesn’t know a lot about the Roman Empire, but he is fairly sure that they wouldn’t feel very out of place in it. Or, to be exact, as a part of one of the many tribes that surrounded it at the time.
It really made you realize how much ‘their’ humanity grew up since then.
There was also another interesting exchange that happened right after Tomura finally left the Core, leaving Izuku alone in it.
“Hey, Keran, so I’ve been thinking…” One of the wolfkin speaks suddenly while turning his head to face him.
“It had to be a shocking new experience for you.” One of the catkins says in the background, prompting most of the group to laugh. Even the target of the joke himself laughed briefly before speaking again.
“Is it true that there’s an envoy from the Grand Empire making rounds through the Twenty-Four Tribes?” The man finally asks. Was the Twenty-Four Tribes the general term for the beastkin inhabiting the region? “I heard that they’re discussing recruitment of auxiliaries for a military campaign.”
Keran sighs. He clearly expected this question to show up sooner or later. And yet didn’t want it to happen.
“Yes, it’s true.” The novice shaman eventually replies. “What about it, Talan?”
Izuku doesn’t even need that question answered. He can see a few of the other beastkin being suddenly… interested and almost excited at the words.
“You think that we can volunteer?” Talan asks, looking at Keran with fire in his eyes.
“Ugh.” Keran groans. “Yes, I know that you’re all getting very excited by the idea of leaving your tribe for a few years and getting to fight strong enemies before returning to the tribe with spoils of your victories…”
“Hell yeah!” One of the wolfkin women says while raising her sword up, to popular acclaim. It really reminds Izuku of Ochako.
Just… her evil cousin or something like that? She even has brown hair, even if that’s where the similarities ended. How awkward.
“... but it’s not a good idea.” Keran finishes his words, ignoring her interruption.
“What, why?” Talan asks, clearly surprised. Keran sighs. He’s really reminding Izuku of the elder Anaya right now. Not in methods or behavior but in being clearly irritated with how simpleminded many members of his tribe were.
“I asked elder Anaya a similar question.” Keran replies. “She hit me in the head with a stick and told me to start using my brain. Then told me to ask myself the following question: who exactly might be the target of the campaign that the Grand Empire is preparing on this island?”
When it’s clear that the others have no idea what he is talking about, Keran sighs again.
“The only two targets that might warrant imperial intervention on the island right now are the undead on Mount Kalenir and the forces of the Pentagram in the ruins of Aelvharia.” Keran replies. “But the former is currently the target for a Chosen One of the Sun. So it’s almost certainly going to be Aelvharia.”
The other seems to start to realize what he was trying to tell them, but just in case, he continues his explanations.
Just as Izuku realizes that they’ve just obtained a very important piece of intel. The Chosen One of the Sun that was supposedly attacking Mount Kalenir (whateever it was) had to be ‘their’ target.
He had no idea how powerful the undead holding the mountain were, but he wished them the best. There was no way that they’d actually eliminate that hero, but they should at the very least keep him occupied for some time.
No. He didn’t want to kill that man/woman. But he suspected that if they did know that they were aligned with Luna, they’d definitely try to kill them . And he really doesn’t think that they have a slightest chance of surviving that.
“This means that the auxiliaries are going to be used as meatshields for a bloody campaign, risking not only your bodies but also your minds, all so that the elves and humans won’t have to.” Keran continues. “And there won’t even be any spoils of victory, because everything there is corrupted and will have to be completely destroyed to make sure that it doesn’t spread the touch of Pentagram. You’ll be happy if one in five of you will come back.”
Silence, as the beastkin look at each other, clearly digesting what Keran just told them.
“But what sort of fame and respect we would get if we returned home after conquering Aelvharia.” Talan says, stars in his eyes, a few of his companions nodding, showing how much they agree with him.
Keran groans painfully and shouts at them to keep moving as they have a quota to make, having clearly given up on trying to make them see reason.
Wow, Izuku is genuinely impressed. Those beastkin might have come from a completely different culture that was much less civilized and developed by his own, but in spirit, they resembled him sooo much. He, too, didn’t seem to care about his own injuries in the pursuit of his goals. They only differed in terms of the goal in question.
Jokes aside, the beastkin seemed to suffer from a terminal lack of a self-preservation instinct. Or, at least, the younger ones.
The younger warriors were striving to prove themselves and rise up on the social ladder, which resulted in a lot of them kicking the bucket without getting anywhere. Which seemed to be what annoyed elder Anaya so much.
An average warrior society in a nutshell.
***
To Izuku’s surprise - and slight disappointment - the rest of their short ‘mission’ concluded without much issues.
Shigaraki manifested as a Dungeon Lord and climbed from Second to First Level with the help of a ladder placed in the vertical cave segment that acted as a level change. And he did that right after taking a sealed letter that they had Yaoyorozu write for them before leaving the Dungeon from Yanagi, who brought it up from the Sixth Level, before starting her return journey to indulge in her ‘crafts’ once more.
Yaoyorozu wrote down Shigaraki’s words in order to maintain the ‘manchild’ vibe that they needed to make it appear genuine. As for the contents: it was a rant about the Ecstasy’s forces seizing a nearby iron mine, with a mention that they seemed to come from Labyrinth, which was enough for the Dungeon to be furious about them not letting its servants explore the Labyrinth for more stuff.
In short, it was a rant that was perfectly in character for Shigaraki and should have the beastkin tribe go absolutely militant. Even if they didn’t want to just fight the Rapturous Ecstasy, the ‘iron mine’ - and one that was already largely established and only needed to be manned to start working - should do the job.
And there was also the part about it being a point of breach to the Labyrinth. They just aren’t sure how valuable that is.
Just in case, they’ve also mentioned in the rant how much they’re open to letting the beastkin operate the mine for as long as they don’t forget that it belongs to the Dungeon and that it wants a safe passage to the Labyrinth beneath.
And yes, since they decided to start unleashing the beastkin at their problems (just like what they already did with the purifier), they’ve also mentioned being attacked by a bunch of annoying cultists of the Rampant Bloom.
There was a sign that this was the end of the segment of the Dungeon open for commercial reasons. Literally, a sign. Large, wooden and with the words written all over it. Once again, Yaoyorozu proved to be a godsend.
Shigaraki passed by all of that, and Izuku then ended up guiding him to the beastkin’s current position.
No one attacked him, mostly because Keran immediately realized that he was facing the Dungeon Lord and decided to be as cordial as beastkin could.
“How may we help you, Dungeon Lord?” Keran says before any of his companions can do anything stupid.
“Letter.” Shigaraki says dryly. “To the elder. Her eyes only.” He adds while extending the hand with a sealed letter inside it towards the shaman.
“We’ll deliver it without fail.” Keran replies immediately while grabbing it. “There are no… problems with our presence here, right? We can still be here?” Is he afraid that the Dungeon is for some reason breaking the deal?
“Yes?” Shigaraki makes a very convincing emulation of being actually surprised by his words. Or maybe he just really was surprised by them? “I made a deal and I won't break my word. Keep doing whatever you’re doing, I don’t care.”
Then he just walks away,
Yes. He absolutely nails the ‘manchild barely interested in human interaction’ vibe. He’s absolutely perfect as a face of the Dungeon while it’s still supposed to be mentally underdeveloped.
Then Izuku has an idea. And he quickly contacts Ochako, who was clearly about to leave Lorae’s tomb, just waiting for Lorae to pick the three lampades to leave her domain for some time.
Ochako, a quick thing.
I need you to ask Lorae where Mount Kalenir and Aelvharia are.
“Alright!” Ochako replies cheerfully. “I’ve got a new question to relay to you if you don’t mind it.” She then says to Lorae.
“Go on.” She replies. She’s really calm about it, isn’t she? It reminds Izuku of Aeonia somewhat. Although he’s certain that both of them would be annoyed if he compared them to their faces.
“We’d like to know the location of two places. Mount Kalenir and Aelvharia.” Uraraka replies. Izuku, now seeing the world through her eyes, can immediately tell that she doesn’t like the former name. “And what are they too?”
“Mount Kalenir is the largest bastion of the Breathless Tide on Vestiria.” Lorae replies. “It was created when a group of mages from the south went renegade and switched their allegiance to the Tide, adopting the name of the Cabal of the Dying Breath and fleeing north. They used undead workforce to cover the entire mountain in fortifications and began to slowly expand outside, securing nearby resources and grabbing every corpse they could get their hands on. They even got a few of their members to become liches. They’re close to the north-western end of the isle, quite a distance away from the Iron Brook Valley. You’d have to pass through the entire beastkin territories.”
So, nothing immediately dangerous to them. And it sounded like something to make Sol’s hero busy for a moment.
Then again… was he (or she) heading there alone ? Or just with their party? Like… just how incredibly powerful did they have to be? Their mission (and no, Izuku still doesn’t really want to fulfill it, even if he’ll likely have to) was really going to be a long one.
“As for Aelvharia, it’s a small elven state to the east, close to the coast.” Lorae continues. “Puppet king ruled from the backseat by the nobility, partially surrounded by the Lost Lands, and entirely dependent on Vestiria’s government to stay afloat. Tail end of nowhere, really. What brought the question? I don’t remember it being in any way interesting.”
Uh-oh.
“The beastkin visiting the Dungeon right now mentioned something about the Grand Empire mobilizing forces to clear its ruins from the presence of Pentagram’ forces.” Uraraka replies. Lorae immediately gives her a look that’s equal parts disgusted and disturbed. “We were wondering if that’s anywhere close to us.”
“Thankfully, no.” Lorae replies. “Other side of the island, almost. Weeks of travel through the territory of groups that will do their best to stop any group of Pentagram worshipers and will cooperate with each other to achieve it, even if they hate each other.”
Reassuring.
“But I have to say that it’s increasingly confusing how little you seem to know about this island.” Lorae then says, squinting at them and making them immediately realize that it was one question too far. “How come? No, I’m not convinced by the answer that I got earlier.”
Which was kind of awkward, as Monoma said the truth back then. Just one that they disregarded completely.
“You could say that our Dungeon got an access to a group of people that were… very sheltered in the past.” Yaoyorozu replies, clearly picking her words very cautiously. “And our presence in its vicinity wasn’t, how should I put it, something that happened with our consent.”
“And is Northern Wind somehow involved in this entire… scheme ?” Lorae asks back, on her face an expression of pity but also caution. Oh, so that’s what she suspected them to be. A bunch of kidnapping victims that the Wind used in order to build themselves their own Dungeon. Or something like this.
“We’d prefer to keep our secrets if possible.” Yaoyorozu replies. “All we’re willing to say right now is that things are getting better and we’re free to make our own choices. Are you still willing to trust our word?”
“Yes.” Lorae replies after a second of considering it. “But this won’t stop me from observing your action’s closely.”
Izuku really can’t blame her for that, that’s for sure.