Raksha honestly believed that delving on the first floor of most dungeons was nothing to be excited about. Women he had delved with in the past treated it like it was a god given right for them to be able to kill monsters, a sacred duty that women were to uphold. But the truth was, you didn’t need spells or enchantments to actually kill first level monsters, you just needed to know what you were doing. Normal armor, or a shield along with a sharp sword or spear was all you really needed for equipment, the hide of most of the monsters not too tough yet.
It was how he had survived in the dungeons for his first few years. It wasn’t until you got to level three or four where normal equipment just wouldn't be enough.
But, a man killing a monster, no matter how lowly, some women took it as a personal affront. Even when Raksha had been with the army, there were many times the women of his group simply wouldn’t let him in on any action, treating him as a mascot or trophy. Thankfully, the women of the Ravenous Jaws had a little more sense than that, but it still looked like they had trouble accepting the idea that you didn’t need magic to kill a wood wolf.
Which is what Raksha ended up doing after getting annoyed by Vinny’s comments about how unfair his multitude of enchanted items were.
Despite Irrellia’s and Alesby's protest, Raksha stripped off his enchanted items and borrowed one of Ershwal’s normal blades, a long serrated dagger, as well as a small shield from the upset Irrellia.
“This is stupid!” Alesby said, shouting at Raksha and Vinny while Raksha was stripping his armor off. “There is nothing you need to prove to us. We’ve seen you kill enough wood wolves already!
Vinny was looking sheepish and guilty while Ershwal was contemplative.
“Yes there is,” Raksha replied, annoyed, strapping the shield to his left arm. “This whole delve is about me proving myself, to see if I am good enough for your team.”
“But this is just reckless!” Alesby pleaded. “Just because Vinny said some stuff, you are going to risk injury and death?”
“What? You don’t think I can do this?” Raksha said, feeling a bit angry himself. He looked up at the upset eyes of Alesby. “It's a level one wood wolf, not the floor boss. Any of you could kill it with ease without using your magic, but I can’t? Because I am a man? This is how I delved for three years.”
“Captain, stop him!” Alesby said, turning to Ershwal.
But the woman just scratched her chin and replied, “Vinny will be here to prevent anything serious, and I want to see what the man can do.”
Alesby glared at her captain and the group fell into silence as Raksha finished preparing himself, the atmosphere feeling oddly like a funeral.
Taking a deep breath, Raksha centered himself. He knew Alesby was right, he was being dumb about this, but he didn’t care. The pandering and patronizing the team had given him for the first few fights had really irritated him. He knew he had issues, it was always like this with new teams, no matter what Raksha said or did, he always felt he needed to prove himself, to show the ladies that he was capable.
It was insulting, he realized, everytime the women doubted him, or praised him, or looked at him with surprise. Ten years he delved dungeons, the pain of it inside of him, and with every patronizing look women gave him he felt it burn in his heart.
This world forced him to learn how to dungeon delve upon pain of death, and then had the nerve to be surprised when he succeeded? It angered him beyond belief, he had lost many friends over the years, his own skills built upon their deaths. What meaning was there for them if he couldn’t use what he learned?
What would they say if they saw him now, risking his life to prove a point?
Raksha tried to calm himself as he pushed forward in the bushes, looking for his prey, banishing his distracting thoughts. Behind him the group followed at a distance, ready to jump in if needed.
He didn’t have his gear on him to help him locate the monsters, his right greave, specifically, so he had to do it the old fashioned way. Waiting and listening carefully.
Noise in the dungeon was never random, as the dungeon itself was an artificially constructed environment. Wind rustled in the trees above in a set pattern and the sounds of the forest circulated in reoccurring noises, if you knew what to listen for. It made it easy to spot the irregularities, like the rustling of bushes to the left of him.
Raksha already had his shield up to cover his left side when the wood wolf pounced. Wood wolves were larger and stronger than their native counterparts, but Raksha had been ready for the momentum, bracing himself against the charge. His shield caught the wolf and he was able to arrest its momentum and shove it away, getting a decent bash on its face as well as a slice with his dagger on its right front leg.
The wolf fell back onto the ground, its injured leg giving out on it before it could recover and pounce again. Raksha felt a wild grin cross his face. He took the opening and returned the favor, jumping down on the wounded monster, his shield pinning the head to the ground while he kept his weight on the creature's back. His right hand hadn't stopped moving either, he expertly slashed at each of the legs in succession, crippling the creature before it could recover.
Soon enough, the wolf got its senses back and was thrashing and snarling, trying to get Raksha off of it, but with its legs out of commission there was little it could do. Raksha held the wolf steady, waiting for an opening in its thrashing before reaching down and slicing the throat of the beast open.
Another peculiar trait of dungeon monsters was that they never cried out in pain. No whimpering came from the wolf as it died, its red blood pooling onto the forest floor. Raksha knew the monsters could feel pain, but it always seemed likwas it only made them angrier and more frenzied when they were hit. He didn’t think they had a concept of self preservation.
The wolf died soon enough, going still on the ground, and Raksha stood up covered in blood. “One of the nice things about dungeon monsters,” he added, feeling smug, “Is that the blood dissolves along with the corpse back into the dungeon. I don’t have to worry about cleaning up.”
The four women stared at him with varying looks of shock. Vinny was a little green. Raksha ignored them and turned back to the corpse, digging through it and finding a beast core.
“Well, that was enlightening.” Ershwal said as Raksha stood back up, the corpse slowly disintegrating now. “Looks like you have a pair of tits, yourself. I’ve never seen a man enjoy stabbing a monster like that before.”
Raksha felt a little sheepish as he unstrapped the shield.
“He looked about as happy as you get when you start stabbing,” Vinny replied halfheartedly, “I guess you two have that in common.”
Ershwal gave Vinny a glare, but the woman didn't appear to notice. Raksha handed the shield back to Irrellia who looked back at him with a small smirk.
“That was the sexiest damn thing I have ever seen,” Irrellia commented.
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Caught off guard, Raksha snorted, “What, you’ve got a thing for dagger wielding men?”
Irrellia smiled shamelessly and said, “Swordmen, definitely. Some of the guys at the Lady’s Night will dress up for you, one of the options is as a crossdressing delver. But seeing it in reality is a whole different thing, somehow seeing a man cut up a monster like that gets me excited.”
Raksha didn’t know how he felt about that, so he just moved away from the woman as she strapped her shield back on.
Raksha looked over at Alesby, who was sporting a big frown on her face. “What’s the matter, Alesby,” he asked, grabbing his enchanted gear back. “You didn’t like what you saw?”
“No, I didn’t,” Alesby replied bluntly, “Despite your apparent skill, you still shouldn’t have done that. It was a needless risk.”
“We are delvers,” Raksha replied easily, starting to equip his enchanted gear again, “our whole profession is risk. Ask your husband how he feels about your delving. You don’t need to do this either, you know. With your skills you could find a normal job in the city.”
“That’s different,” The woman said back, looking away, “I am a woman providing for my family.”
Raksha snorted in amusement, “it's not different. Women have the right to take risks, but men don’t?”
Alesby was glaring now, looking at him, “Women shoulder the burden of leading the family, it's up to us to make the best decisions.”
“And men should just shut up and stay at home,” Raksha replied with a scowl of his own. “And let the women do what they want. Admit it, you just don’t like the idea of a man succeeding in a job where you thought only women can work.”
Alesby looked to bite back, but Ershwal interrupted with a clapping of her hands. “Oy, that's enough. Alesby, I can't tell you what to believe, but let's not antagonize each other. Raksha is a fully qualified delver, and is allowed to make choices of risks himself.”
Alesby grunted, and turned away. Raksha felt a little bit of vindication at Ershwal’s words, but then she turned to him too. “Raksha, you too. I can tell you have skill, and with your enchanted gear, you’ll likely be a very powerful delver. But as a delver, it's important to understand the risks of every action. Alesby was right and I was a little blinded by curiosity. You handled the wood wolf like a professional, but still it was an unnecessary gamble. Our group is one of the best in the guild, and that is not only due to our skill, but also our decision making. We play it safe as much as we can, we plan our delves carefully and we minimize risk as much as we can along the way. Vinny is a very good healer, but if she needs to use her skills, then it means we have failed in our mission. Do you understand?”
Raksha sighed, feeling a little chastised. He nodded in response, finishing up the armor he was equipping.
“Good,” Ershwal replied. She looked back at her team and sighed, “Alright let’s end this for today. The good atmosphere is ruined now, thanks Vinny. Hopefully we all learned something.”
Vinny scratched her cheek, not saying anything.
The group marched back to the exit, not speaking the whole way. One wood wolf jumped out at them, but Alesby just shot it with a quick spell and walked on, not bothering to check for a core.
Feeling irritated at the woman’s attitude, Raksha stopped and checked for a core and found none. The group hesitated between following Alesby and waiting for Raksha. Ershwal gave another sigh of frustration, having to signal the group to halt.
The group exited the dungeon together, looking grumpy and stepping out into the warm afternoon air of the guild hall. A few groups were lined up, waiting to enter and as soon as they saw the Ravenous Jaws they looked on with smirks.
“Oh, judging by your looks, the man must be a terrible whore.” one of the women said with a broad smile, “Either that or you couldn’t decide the order without a bunch of fighting.”
“Shove off,” Irrellia replied irritably, leading their group and pushing through the throng of delvers. Raksha felt a pang of guilt at their treatment from the guild members. He could have handled things better, inside the dungeon.
After they exited the entryway, Ershwal signaled for the group to get into a booth together, Vinny executing a privacy spell again when they all sat down.
Once it was up, Ershwal let out a sigh before straightening. “Alright ladies. We’ve all seen Raksha here in action. I don’t think there is any doubt as to his skill in the dungeon. Plus, his experience in exploring new level’s will be of great help when the next three floors are granted. Remember, Raksha would only be a part time member, there to help us out on a case by case basis, as he requested. We’ll take the official vote in two days and tomorrow we’ll get together to discuss. For now though, any questions for our intrepid male here?”
Ershwal looked expectantly at the group and it was Vinny who first responded, “Who taught you how to use mana? Or make enchantments and talismans? How come we’ve never heard of this before?”
Raksha frowned, thinking about the question. “Well, honestly, I just figured it all out myself. I had some help with friends in the slave corps and while in the army, but it was my idea. I guess nobody else thought of it. You’ll probably hear more about it in the next few decades, maybe. I know when I was in the army, some of the commanders were looking into my techniques, but who knows if they’ll get anywhere with it.”
Vinny and Alesby didn’t look like they wanted to believe what he was saying, but they stayed quiet. It was Irrelia who spoke next, “What do you plan on doing long term then? It doesn’t sound like you plan on making delving your career.”
“I’ve been thinking about opening up an enchantment shop of some kind. Sell some talisman’s and some other gear. I’m not exactly clear, I mostly came here to get away from the capital. As it is, I'll delve some to pay the bills and think about my next steps. I’ve got to be a little careful about how I do this, though, I can't just start selling enchanted gear.”
“You could join one of the houses,” Vinny replied thoughtfully, “They would be happy to have a skilled enchanter as part of their personnel. Well, if you can manage to convince them that you actually can enchant, I guess.”
Raksha made a face. “There’s no way I am joining any house.”
Silence passed over the group again and Raksha leaned back in the booth. Alesby spoke up at last, “I’m sorry for how I acted in the dungeon. I do recognize your skills, and with your enchanted gear, I know you’ll be a force to be reckoned with. But I’m not ready to vote today. I think we can all agree that there are other issues we’ll need to deal with if we vote him on in two days.”
“That’s fair,” Raksha replied with a nod. Ershwal looked around for any more comments, but everybody looked to be in contemplation.
“In that case, you all have the rest of the day to yourselves,” Ershwal said, “Think it over and be prepared to discuss this tomorrow.”
The group nodded and Vinny dispersed the privacy bubble and the members filtered away, out of the hall. Ershwal stayed with Raksha for a bit, selling their cores to the guild artificer.
“You’ve given them a lot to think about,” Ershwal commented, waiting for the artificer to bring out the coin.
Raksha looked around the hall, eyeing the women who kept glancing back at him like a street performer.
He said moresly, “I’d like to think I've gotten used to all the attention, but mostly I just do my best to ignore it. It will be hard for the group if they do vote me in, if today’s reaction is anything to go by. It might not be worth it.”
Ershwal scowled, taking the money and moving to the exit, gesturing for Raksha to follow. “We won’t let a bunch of weak pansy’s opinions stop us,” she spat, “But you are right, even I was surprised by what some of the women were saying. I’d like to think I would be better if I was in their positions, but I really don’t know. The past few days feel unreal. Here, your share of the loot.” She added handing a few silver over to Raksha.
He took it and slipped them into his pocket without comment. They walked together down the street, and Raksah turned to move towards The Day’s Rest, but Ershwal grabbed his hand to stop him.
“Got any plans for this evening?” Ershwal added with a small grin. “I’ve got a friend who would love to meet you. She’s the master at the Smoking Pit and is one of the only qualified people in the city to be able to work on enchanted gear. She’ll keep your secret’s too, so don’t worry, her love of smithing supersedes anything else. It's a wonder she ever got a man to marry her,” She added with a chuckle. “We can get some dinner together too, if it's not too much. I was hoping to talk with you more about our plans.”
Raksha weighed the offer, but he wasn’t really looking forward to another evening at the day’s rest. Despite his first impression, Ershwal had turned into a likeable woman, so he ended up agreeing.
“Excellent,” Ershwal replied, pulling him away, “You can help me find a way to ask the receptionist there on a date while we are at it. He’s been giving me the cold shoulder for years now.”
Raksha rolled his eyes and smiled.