The shocked faces around her made Aurelia want to start laughing, but then they might think she was joking. And if they thought she was joking, they might not take her seriously as she meant to tell them all the truth. Aurelia began to fiddle with the sleeves of her shirt, more nervous now.
“How could you claim the dungeon, Aurelia? Only someone of the Lord rank or higher can claim a dungeon, and my identify skill clearly shows that you only have the knight rank.” Corbin started.
Belle also looked confused, “Yeah, when Marge identified you, she told us that you were of the knight rank. Is that somehow a lie?”
“To be frank with you all, I don’t have all the answers. That’s not because I don’t want to share that information and I have a feeling I can trust each of you. It’s just that I have only been in Eldria for maybe two days now.”
That last statement resulted in more verbal disbelief from the Evertide team. Corbin was the first to catch on to what was happening. “You’re from another world, right? Somehow you got transported away from your world and you got introduced to Eldria with a tutorial.”
“Yes, the world I come from is called Earth.”
Aurelia began her tale from the beginning, explaining as clearly as she understood everything. From when the four mysterious men from the knights of Armund started following her, to talking with Goldie about some weapon and not knowing what was happening, then getting sucked into a portal just outside Rainy Hollow. She explained how she accepted a prompt to begin the tutorial, before being forced to enter into the new dungeon. They all listened in stunned silence as she explained how she had to finish the dungeon all on her own, fighting all the monsters by herself, and reaching level twelve by the end. When Aurelia explained how she had received a skill that obscured her true stat sheet, Corbin asked her what it really said.
“My real class is called a Spatial Mage, and my true rank is princess,” Aurelia answered.
Zen let out a breath of disbelief, “I can’t believe this,” he ran a hand through his hair, “Your story is too incredible. So, you really have no idea why you would have the princess rank or who your parents are?”
“None. My parents never gave me any indication that our family was actually from another world. I mean, on Earth, most people don’t believe in magic or alternate worlds or universes. We have science and technology completely different from here. What I do know is that Earth and Eldria are somehow connected, making it possible to go between the worlds.
“After getting sucked through the portal, I received a system message saying that I was transported to Eldria both because I had contact with an Eldrian native as well that I either was born in Eldria or my parents were. Honestly, my main goal right now is to figure out if I can even go back home to Earth.”
Corbin seemed to straighten in his seat, “Well according to what I have read, that might be more of a challenge than you realize. I know of the knights of Armund, they are the elite force under the king. It took them over two decades to find a way to Earth, with even my father having heard about the search.” Corbin folded his arms, “It would take a miracle to find a way back for you.”
Aurelia felt annoyed by the condescending note in Corbin’s voice. “You don’t have to help me if you don’t want to. I just wanted all of you to know where I’m at.”
Belle placed a hand on Aurelia’s arm, “It’s all right, Aurelia, he’s been stuck inside his mansion for too long, he doesn’t know how to talk to normal people,” she glared at Corbin.
“You know nothing about me,” Corbin said coldly.
“Okay, settle down children,” Zen said, gesturing at them to calm down.
Belle and Corbin continued to glare at one another, but thankfully they didn’t escalate their anger anymore. Aurelia wasn’t sure what she should say after that, but thankfully Justin jumped in with a question.
“So what is your intention with the dungeon, now that you have claimed it?” Justin asked.
Everyone perked up at those words, all seemingly had the same question. “Well, I don’t know. When I got the notification saying I could claim the dungeon, I accepted in more of a spur-of-the-moment thing. I don’t understand a lot about the rules of this world, but I am pretty sure I don’t want everyone to know about me. I have a feeling that the knights of Armund will be on the lookout for me.”
“Could I give you some suggestions?” Belle asked.
“Why not? What are you suggesting?” Aurelia agreed.
“Well, if we are sharing secrets, I guess I can let all of you know where we are. As long as you all promise not to share the secret of this place with a system-bound oath.” She stared intently at everyone.
“Seriously, a system-bound oath? Who do you think we are?” Zen asked, annoyed.
“I do not make system oaths lightly,” Corbin added.
“Well once I share the secret, you all will understand why it was necessary,” Belle said defensively.
“I am sure she has a good reason for it,” Justin said, “I would make an oath to keep Aurelia’s secret as well.”
“Wait, you guys. What even is a system-bound oath?” Aurelia asked.
Belle turned to her, “Oh, I am sorry, I forgot for a moment that you wouldn’t know. A system-bound oath is a promise made through the system. If you don’t keep to your oath, the system will enforce penalties on you and some of those could be nasty. Imagine permanently losing stat points or having some sort of affliction keeping you from being at full mana or health.”
“That does sound pretty bad, but I do intend on keeping your secrets, Belle. I hope you all will keep mine as well,” Aurelia replied.
“I agree, I will take the oath to keep both of your secrets,” Justin said.
After some more convincing by Justin and Belle, the other two young men agreed to the oath. Aurelia followed the example of the others, promising to never share any of the secrets said in this room with anyone else. They would only share those secrets if they had permission from their teammate first. The wording of the oath was formal and they each received a system notification confirming that the oath was made and recognized. Once finished, Belle began her story.
“I am not fully ready to share everything, but I’ll say this. My brother and I were raised here in Rainy Hollow by the members of Moon Raven,” she paused when the three boys all made exclamations of disbelief.
“I just assumed you guys were some cult, not a faction of the rebellion,” Justin said in disbelief.
Corbin seemed frustrated, “How did we not know about this? My father should know at the very least, that we have been the ruling family of Rainy Hollow for generations.”
Belle smiled, “To my knowledge, the leaders of the Rainy Hollow faction have gone to great lengths to keep our existence a secret. Besides, many people have found out about us, they just don’t remember.” Belle turned to Corbin, “Besides, I am pretty sure your father does know, he is just wise enough not to say anything about it.”
“What do you mean, a rebellion?” Aurelia asked.
“I’ll try to make this short, so Gildenshores has been in turmoil for decades. The current King, Darrius, was second in line for the throne after his brother. His father, King Norman, was a good king, but according to some people in the rebellion, he was also naive. King Norman also had a daughter named Marie whom he intended to marry off to the neighboring kingdom of Purneer. Unfortunately, Marie disappeared on her way to meet her betrothed, and many believe she was murdered. Either way, the king of Purneer became mad at King Norman, even though it was King Norman who had lost a child. Two years later, the Queen died, leaving the royal family with just King Norman, Darius, and the eldest son, Aivan.
“As neither son was married and King Norman was growing old, both sons were ordered to find a wife. Darius was betrothed to a Lady Sophia and Prince Aivan was set to marry Princess Leandra from the elven kingdom of Yornin. Then, rumors came about that Darrius set to become king after his father died, rather than his older brother, and started gathering support from the people. King Norman was still too distraught over the loss of both his daughter and wife to notice what was happening.
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“As Darius was a famous adventurer by this time, having taken down a dragon with his adventuring team, he was loved by the people. Prince Aivan’s deeds were less well known, even with him also adventuring in his teenage years. Prince Aivan was the one who started Moon Raven, as he believed Darius would find a way to get rid of him before their father died.”
“Wait, Prince Aivan started the rebellion?” Zen asked in confusion.
“Of course? Who else would have had enough power and influence to do something like that?” Belle answered. “Now can I finish before you ask any more questions?”
“Yeah, yeah, sure.” Zen waved his hand.
“Okay, so over the next year, the rebellion grew in secret, their goal to make sure Aivan is the next king rather than Darius. Unfortunately, Darius had already put his plans into motion. It all happened within a couple of weeks, starting with King Norman, who was killed in action, trying to prevent conflict between Gildenshores and Purneer. Because of that, the wedding of Prince Aivan and Princess Leandra was pushed forward, and the wedding took place in Yornin. During the wedding, assassins were caught taking out Prince Aivan, and unfortunately, Prince Aivan died. So with both King Norman and Prince Aivan out of the picture, Darius became King.”
“Wow, that’s a lot of death and subterfuge,” Aurelia commented.
“Yeah, I can’t imagine having that dysfunctional of a family,” Zen said.
Justin turned to his friend, “Have you seen your family?”
“Oh come on, at least we don’t go around killing each other,” Zen protested.
Justin leaned over to whisper to Aurelia, “He has five brothers, so you can guess what that’s like.”
Aurelia laughed, then asked Belle a question, “What happened to Lady Sophia? Did she become queen?”
Belle shrugged, “King Darius has no queen, the betrothal was called off soon after the coronation and no one knows what happened to Sophia.”
“So, how did the rebellion stay alive after Prince Aivan died?” Justin asked.
“Some of the nobles loyal to Prince Aivan were involved in the rebellion, and they have helped keep it alive since then. Besides, while we do not have the King of Gildenshores on our side, we do have Princess Leandra.”
“Princess Leandra is involved with Moon Raven?” Zen asked.
“Yep! That’s one of the reasons that the kingdom of Yornin joined Purneer in the war against Gildenshores. Purneer may just hate the royal family in general, but Yornin just wants to get rid of the king. If he were gone, then whoever ended up taking over might finally be able to make a peace treaty with us.”
“Maybe,” Corbin said, “My father doesn’t talk badly about the king, but only because there are eyes and ears everywhere. He has said before that it would take more than just a treaty to placate Purneer in ending the war.”
“Either way, Moon Raven has been gathering influence where they can to continue opposing Darius. I am sure the higher-ups would be interested in making a deal with someone who perhaps has access to a never-ending resource of money, magical items, and basic resources,” Belle looked to Aurelia.
“Yeah, I think that is something we should discuss. I still don’t know a lot about what I am doing, especially concerning the dungeon. How do people normally deal with managing a claimed dungeon?”
Corbin looked thoughtful, “I have had some education on the matter, mostly through books, but my tutors have also given their thoughts on the matter. When a new dungeon is claimed, usually a representative from the adventurers guild will meet with them to make a deal. The adventurers guild wants to make sure dungeons are regularly cleared, or else the dungeons may overflow into the surrounding area. They will try to make sure that whoever claimed the dungeon won’t set their restrictions too high to allow the most people to keep going into the dungeon. Of course, the dungeon master can set a tax or even an entry fee to make it profitable for them but also may add more restrictions so only a select few may enter.
“My suggestion for you is to add a tax, but no entry fee for now. That will encourage adventurers to at least try out the dungeon without worrying about losing money. With it being a novice-ranked dungeon, even nonadventurers may give it a try. However, it might be wise to add a level requirement. Children under twelve can’t just wander in, but those new to the system should at least be somewhat prepared before going into a dungeon. After that, maybe wait to make any more changes. I need to do more research to know what the best thing to do is.”
Aurelia thought for a second, before nodding, “That sounds good to me, I’ll need to talk to someone about it at some point.”
With that, Aurelia pulled up her dungeon tab and looked through her options before finding the tax option for her dungeon. “So, how much should I do for a tax?”
“I would say ten percent is a good starting point,” Corbin answered.
“Okay and what about the level requirement?”
Corbin thought for a few seconds before saying, “Just put level five. It takes some effort to even get to level five for most people.”
As Aurelia was making the changes, Justin added, “I can’t believe you have your own dungeon. Every kid grows up wanting to be an adventurer, but those of us who still want that also dream of owning a dungeon. It means you never have to worry about when you can no longer go adventuring.”
Aurelia closed the screen in front of her and looked at her team. “Well, is there anything else you guys want to talk about?”
Justin laughed, “I don’t think I could ever top growing up in the rebellion or being a princess.”
“Yeah, being a baker’s son is such a different experience than what you two had,” Zen slapped Corbin’s back, “And our resident lord over here has had a much better education than I will ever have.”
Corbin didn’t say anything to that and neither did Aurelia. One part of her was still screaming about the fact she was in another world and another part of her was feeling excited about the adventure she was having. Yeah, the chance of death was much higher when you were fighting monsters and consorting with a rebellion intent on overthrowing the current king. But, hey, she could throw lighting from her hands and teleport from place to place. Aurelia wanted to go home to see her parents and her friend, Irene, again, but she also wanted to see where this world would take her. How could a nine-to-five job compare with a magical world?
“So, Aurelia, when Admium knocked you out and Marge looked through your stuff, they didn’t find too much on your person. You mentioned you got a lot of things in the dungeon. Is there anything you're willing to show us?” Belle asked.
“Oh! I meant to ask someone about that, I have so much meat and pelts in my spatial storage, as well as some magical items I know nothing about. Do you know who I could talk to about all that?”
Justin perked up when he heard about the pelts she had, “My parents are hunters, and we have a deal with a tanner named, Harold. He would be willing to buy it all off you, though he might pay less per pelt than if you were to sell one at a time.”
“Okay, I don’t mind getting slightly less for the whole lot, it’s not like I can do much with them,” Aurelia agreed.
Belle nodded as well, “I think Ivan would be willing to buy some of the meat and I know Marge would be able to identify your items. We would have to come by later tonight to ask her.”
With everyone in agreement, Aurelia started pulling out items to show the Evertide team what she had found. She first showed off various beast items such as the pelts, claws, leather, fangs, and poison glands. Belle let Aurelia know Admium might be willing to buy some of the poison glands, fangs, and claws off her. Then, Aurelia started pulling out her more exciting finds including potions, a wand, daggers, her cloak, two skill books, a random yellow gemstone, and even the carved ivory longbow. Each new item brought excitement from her fellow teammates, though they couldn’t know for sure what everything did.
When Justin first saw the longbow, he almost drooled at the sight. “I would give you anything to have the chance to use that,” he said with a dreamy look on his face.
Aurelia smiled, “Well after I get Marge to examine it for us, you can have it. I do not need a bow with my current skillset.”
Justin’s mouth dropped open in shock, “Are you serious?”
“Absolutely! You’re my teammate, and if we are to adventure together, I want you to have the best equipment we can get you.”
Zen looked at one of the skill books intently, “Are you planning on using either of these skill books?”
Aurelia looked at the books, one indicating it was an earth manipulation skill book and the other was a speed burst skill book. “No, I can’t use one and the other would be pointless with my teleportation skill.”
Zen eyed her, “Okay, ignoring the fact you have one of the rarest skills in Eldria, I would like to ask if I can have the speed burst skill. As a melee fighter, it would prove useful when needing to get in range of an enemy quickly.”
“Of course! Would anyone like the earth manipulation skill, then?”
There was a pause for a moment before the other three members of the team all spoke up at once, arguing for the chance to have the skill for themselves. As Aurelia heard all their exclamations, she decided it might be more difficult to choose the right teammate for the skill. “Okay, stop, you guys. We can talk more about this one later. Maybe once Marge examines everything else, we can properly divvy all the items up. It may not be completely fair, but remember, I own the dungeon out there. We can go in and get more loot anytime.”
They all paused at that before agreeing to her words. Deciding the time for talking was over, Aurelia packed everything back up in her inventory. The five of them stood up, ready to leave the underground hideout. Corbin turned off his privacy ring, and they all headed out. When they reached the main floor of the tavern, they left in smaller groups to draw less attention to themselves. It was nearing dinnertime now, and the tavern was more crowded than when they had first entered.
Aurelia and Belle were the last to leave the storage room, and the last to hear what was happening on the street outside the tavern. Aurelia started to hear the yelling and loud noises once entering the tavern’s main common room, and worry began to clench her heart. The common room was empty of people, except for two barmaids who were looking out the window. As Aurelia walked through the front door, leading Belle outside, she got a better sense of what was happening.
The residents of Rainy Hollow lined the main street as they yelled at a passing group of armored soldiers. Behind the soldiers, an opulent carriage was pulled by two black horses, rattling on the cobblestone street. Aurelia could see Corbin pushing his way through the noisy crowd, heading in the direction of the group of guards. That’s when Aurelia realized that the guards weren’t alone, two of the guards had a man held between them, the man’s feet dragging on the stones behind him. The man looked haggard and bloody as if he had been beaten up. Aurelia’s face turned white in fear and horror as she recognized the man. His hair was a pale blonde, identical to Corbin’s own hair. The man being dragged through the streets was none other than Robin Gray, Corbin’s older brother.