(Cynric Duskbane/Mercenary/Paladin/200cm[6.5f])

I silent night again and the sun is waking up. I should wake up the group soon, don’t wanna waste to much time. If we are fast enough we might be able to reach the dungeon. I just hope something strong shows up. If something strong does show up I can charge a bit more gold. I grin at the thought of more gold. I became a mercenary because the guards just don’t give me enough money to sustain a normal life. Well, I already quit over a year ago and since than I have managed to become an A rank mercenary. I hear a loud yawn from one of the tents. One of them woke up. I small girl, around 155cm(5f) comes out of the green tent.

”Morning”

The girl looks at me with her red eyes.

”Morning Cynric”

”Feel free to call me Ric”

”Ric”

She smiles as she says it.

”How about the rest of your group?”

”They are still asleep”

”I will have to wake them”

”Why?”

I pull out a map which shows the southern part of Greenwitch farm and a little forest with a path going through  it. I hold it up so that she can see it.

”If I am correct, we should arrive to the dungeon today”

”Yeah, but we will take a rest before we enter the dungeon”

”I know, but the more days passby the more my services cost”

She looks at the tents.

”Yeah, I know. I will wake them up right away”

She goes into the tent she came out of. After a few seconds I hear a yell.

”Argh. Why did you kick me?”

I couldn’t hear the anwser, probably because she was talking instead of yelling.

”Oh okay, but next time don’t kick me. There are other methods to wake people up”

After the conversation two people come out of the tent. The first one is the girl who is now holding a wizard staff. The second person is a tall tigerfolk, around 190cm(6.2f). He only has pants on. The girl goes into the other tent. This time there is no yelling. The only sounds I could hear were a few yawns and some whispering. After a minute the girl comes out.

”They will quickly get their gear”

The tigerfolk turns to her.

”Then I will get my gear as well”

He goes back to the tent. I get up and put my glavier on my back. I look at the girl.

”What about your gear?”

”I will wait for the cat.”

”Okay, I will pack up my stuff, can you guard until than?”

”Yeah, go ahead”

I get up from the log I was sitting on and go towards the campfire. I started to make some coffee around an hour ago. The fire is already out. I take the pot of and pour the tasty black  liquid into an iron cup. I blow it a bit before I sip it. It is delicious.

”Can I have some?”

I look over to the girl.

”Do you have a cup?”

”I don’t”

”Do you mind drinking from someone else's cup?”

She stops for a second before anwsering.

”I don’t”

I extend my hand with the cup towards here. She grabs it and starts to sip from it every now and then. After a few seconds an elf girl comes out of the second tent, around 175cm(5.7f). She has leather armor and a bow on her shoulder. She also has a dagger on her hip and a quiver full of arrows. After her a Human comes out. He is around 180cm(5.9f) and has a padded armor. He has a shield on his back and a shortsword on his hip. The elf sees me and turns towards me.

”Morning Ric”

”Morning Greta”

She turns towards the small girl.

”Liz, what about your gear?”

”I don’t wanna dress up in the tent while the cat is inside”

”You know A’lrek doesn’t like it when you call him a cat”

”I know, but it is funny to see his reaction each time I call him that”

She smiles as she says this. A yell comes out of the first tent.

”I hope you know that my ears are not just for show”

Liz rolls her eyes.

”Ric says that if we are fast enough today, we can arrive at the dungeons entrance.”

The human answers quickly before the elf could.

”Finally, I was getting rusty here. I need some action already”

The elf turns around to face him.

”Just don’t slow us down to much in the cave.”

She chuckles a bit after saying this.

”I will try to”

He smiles back at her. They are probably a couple. After their little laugh, the first tent opens to reveal the tigerfolk in full chainmail and a huge greatsword on his back.

”I am ready”

Liz turns towards him.

”Would you mind packing up the tent?”

The tigerfolk rolls his eyes.

”I will do it”

He turns around and starts to get the metal rods out of the tent which are holding it together. I turn back to the fire and put it out by just stepping on the burnt wood remains. They easily break. I turn back to them to see the two tents already gone. Liz gives me my cup back. I pour the remaining coffee into it and drink the rest before putting them into my backpack. I turn towards them.

”Is everyone ready for four more hours of walking?”

The human answers almost instantly.

”I am”

The rest of the party just nods. We start walking, nothing really happens other than a few other groups walking in the opposite direction and a few merchants trying to sell gear way to overpriced. I still have enough food for the way back so I didn’t buy anything, but the group did buy more rations. After 2 hours we stop to eat a bit, but we quickly get back on route. After two more hours, we hit the destination. The side of a mountain. I never saw this cave before, even though I have done a lot of guard duty for other groups as a mercenary in this area.

”Is this a new cave? I have never seen it before.”

Greta turns to me.

”Nobody knows who made it. The locals just found it one day and reported it. They don’t know what is inside, but they didn’t want to send in famous adventurers so they displayed it as a low level dungeon.”

”So this is either a suicide mission or a cakewalk”

”Yes”

Liz turns towards the human.

”Jarus, I hope you are not planning on going in already”

Jarus looks at the girl confused.

”Why? It is almost the middle of the day, we have a lot of timet to clear it.”

Liz looks at me. I don’t know what to say to her. Before I could think up something to say Jarus yells out.

”Lets put it to a vote than shall we? Everyone who wants to go in now raise your right hand”

Jarus lifts his right hand up. A’lrek does the same while Liz and Greta keep theirs down. Jarus look at me.

Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

”Ric, what do you think?”

”I am not a member of your party so my vote doesn’t count. I am just here if something goes wrong.”

”I meant what would you do?”

I look at the two girls. I can’t really lie to them. I sigh.

”I would go in and check what are we dealing with and than decide to either clean it or wait untill everyone had a good sleep.”

While the two males were excited by my answer, the two women were not. I gave them a nervous smile. After Jarus and A’lrek stoped dancing in joy, we went into the cave. In the front was Jarus with his  shield raised and shortsword at hand. Behind him came A’lrek just walking without his sword still on his back. After them came the two girls, the elf had her bow in one hand and an arrow in the other, she hasn’t loaded it yet, but she is ready for an ambush. Liz was shorter than the others so she couldn’t see well, but she did have her dagger out just incase. And than there was me at the back. I was just looking around to see if something interesting would catch my eye. The dungeon was lit very well so I didn’t have to use any magic or use one of my lamps to see. There were drawings on the wall and other weird things, but I didn’t really care. I was just a backup, a hired gun who was way stronger than the whole party. If I remember correctly they are E rank adventurers while I was an A rank mercenary. It didn’t take long for the first monsters to show up.

The first fight was very quick, only 4 goblins each of them armed with a rusty dagger. Jarus quickly rushed at one of them. Using his shield, he hit one of them knocking it down ont he ground after that he turned to a different goblin slashing him with his sword. The goblin stepped back the slash barely hitting it. The other two goblins were trying to ambush Jarus when one of them got shot in the head, dying instantly to it while the other got cut in half by A’lrek. I was surprised how quickly he grabbed his greatsword out of its holster and quickly closed the gap to save Jarus. The goblin on the ground was killed by a small level lightning spell by Liz. The last goblin was quickly cornered by Jarus and after toying with him for a few seconds he stabed the goblin in the head with his shortsword.

The rest of the dungeon was a bit more interesting. The further we went in the more and stronger enemies showed up. A few wolfs,skeletons, undead, even a bear. I almost had to jump in at the bear, but they managed to push through. We did find a lot of gold and a few weapons which were stronger than theirs, but my weapons were clearly better. After the bear it got quiet. Only a few smaller groups of monsters and more loot. After 1 hour of walking we found ourslefs at a huge door, around 15 meters tall(50f) and 20 meters wide(65f). The first to speak was Jarus.

”Wow, I bet this is the treasure room.”

Greta quickly answered.

”Don’t get your hopes up. The treasure rooms are usually defended by the strongest monsters.”

”That just makes me more motivated”

He quickly ran to the door trying to push it open, but to no avail. A’lrek went to help him out, but the huge wooden door didn’t move an inch. Greta turned to me.

”Ric, any idea what we are gonna face?”

”None, dungeons with weak enemies usually have a weak boss, but I have seen easy dungeons with strong bosses at the end.”

”What happens if we open the door?”

”Well the first thing that usually happens is a trap getting triggered”

Jarus and A’lrek quickly stopped pushing the door after my last words.

”How can we see if a door is trapped?”

”Well the easiest way is to use magic or just open the door itself and dodge it, the harder part is disarming the trap once you found it”

Greta turns to Liz.

”Liz, do you have a magic that can detect traps?”

”I only know spells that detect magic”

Greta turns back to me.

”Any tips on how we can get in without getting hurt?”

I turn to Liz.

”Liz, do you know how to cast shield?”

”Yes, I know”

I turn back to Greta.

”The only other way is to cast a spell that can absorb the traps damage”

”Yeah, but she can’t use it on all of us, and none of us are strong enough to open it”

”I can try.”

Greta looks at me surprised and angry.

”And how much would that cost?”

I think for a few seconds.

”If I try, but it doesn’t open, nothing, but if I do open it than an extra 20 gold”

Greta thinks for a few seconds before answering.

”Deal.”

I ask the others to step back and than ask Liz to cast the spell on me. The spell won’t protect me fully from the traps that will probably activate, but it will absorb enough of it for me to be able to walk. I try to push the door open, but I only manage to move it a few inches before I hear a loud clanking sound after which I jump back to find around 5 volleys of arrows fly by. I barely managed to dodge it. Jarus yells at me.

”Nice dodge man”

”Thanks”

I quickly turn back to the door and walk up to it again. Pushing it agian. No clanking sound this time. I was able to open the door enough for us to passby. I let he others go in before I did. I wasn’t prepared for what I saw inside. I huge room full of gold and a few crowns and other accessories. I was amazed at the sight of the mountains of gold before me. The others couldn’t say a word. The rooms walls were made out of gold and the floor was made out of marble. The room was lighted up by huge torches. I was actually jealous since I couldn’t keep the gold. The inn would probably find out if I was trying to steal all of this for myself. After a minute of no sound I heard footsteps. Jarus was walking towards the pile, backpack in hand. A’lrek followed behind him with his own backpack which was way bigger. The two girls were just standing there and looking at how beautiful the room looked. I just turned towards them to tell them something.

”I am going to wait outside until you gather everything you want to, just be quick, for each monster you attract I will charge 5 gold.”

Greta looks at me smiling.

”You will get 15 for each, with this amount of gold in our hands, I will double your payment at the end.”

I smile at her.

”I appreciate that”

I quickly walk out the huge door to stand guard. The party was loud in there which did attract a few monsters, but they were so weak, I was able to kill them in a matter of seconds. After 15 minutes I heard a loud roar which echoed through the dungeon. After 15 seconds of trying to recover fom it, I quickly ran into to the room. What I saw was horrifying. A huge snow white dragon is standing on top of the gold mountain.