Memory Lane
Bella quietly made her rounds through the dungeon. Unlike Ralia and Hope, she took her duty as an administrator seriously. So far, the fabricators were on track with their latest batch of weapons and goods meant to be sold. The extractors were behind on their quotas, but that’s because Seneschal had them clearing out areas for future expansion. The guardians and sentries stood at the ready, but there hadn’t been any major threats to the dungeon lately. All in all, everything was running smoothly.
Bella rounded the corner and noticed a door slightly open. It was to one of the sleeping quarters that were built a few days ago, so that they could sleep in the dungeon if they needed to. She approached the door and saw Ralia sitting at the table with her back to the door. A projection sat in front of her.
“What are you doing?” Bella said.
Ralia shot to her feet and blocked the projection, “I’m not doing anything,”
Bella scoffed, “Seneschal,”
“She’s perusing the master’s memories,”
“Traitor!”
“I can only withhold information by orders from the dungeon master.”
“So, you’re looking at the master’s memories,” Bella scoffed and pushed her to the side.
The image displayed a large group dressed in fine clothing. It showed Nathaniel as a child of five. He wore a black suit with a tie around his neck, and he was dancing along with a group of people. Well, to call the flailing arms and legs dancing would be a stretch.
“How adorable,” Bella couldn’t stop laughing.
“For some reason this memory intrigues me,” Ralia laughed too, “It had the master performing in some sort of bonding ritual.”
“It’s a marriage ceremony,” Seneschal chimed in, “The master had the honor of being the ring bearer.”
“How interesting,” Bella rewound the memory to watch the ceremony, “We don’t have such ceremonies since our groves have so few people. I think the closest thing to it is when groves trade members.”
“I understand,” Ralia nodded, “We don’t have these ceremonies either. Whenever two people wish to mate, they just do it.”
“What are you two doing?” They turned to see Hope standing in the door.
“Looking at some of the master’s memories,” Bella said.
“I want to see them too!”
Hope pushed her way in between them and took control of the projection. She flipped through several memories until it stopped on one with an adolescent Nathaniel. He was sitting on a wire bench with a beautiful young woman eating some kind of pastry.
“Who is she?” Ralia growled at the girl leaning on Nathaniel’s shoulder.
“That is the master’s high school girlfriend,” Seneschal said with a strange tone, “They were quite close.”
“Don’t make fun of me!”
“What are they eating?” Hope drooled over the pastry.
“It’s called a donut. It’s a type of sweet bread that is fried rather than baked, then topped with a glaze.”
“What’s a glaze?”
“It’s a coating made from sugar, milk, and butter,” Seneschal said changing the image to show each ingredient.
Bella tapped her chin with a small smile, “Maybe I should try making some,”
“You could try, but without the master’s help you’d most likely fail,” Seneschal replied, “Without the sugarcane plant, we are unable to make sugar.”
“There are other plants that are used for sweets, we could try using those instead.”
“Good point,” Seneschal said with a warm tone, “I’m glad that the master took you on lady Bella.” The other two women glared at her. “Would you like to see other memories?”
“Yes,” they smiled leaning closer.
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Fashionista
Nathaniel quietly eased himself out of Hope’s grasp as he got out of bed. She groaned in complaint, turned over and started hugging his pillow. He smiled at the scene before heading downstairs to get a glass of water. On his way back, he noticed a light coming from the sewing room.
Inside, he saw Bella stripped down to her underwear standing in front of the mirror. She ran a hand over the fabric as she inspected her image. She sighed and shook her head as she went to inspect a different part.
“What are you doing?” Nathaniel laughed as he stepped inside.
Bella shrieked and tried hiding herself with her dress, “Master… I-I was trying to see if I could learn how to make these bras,” she blushed heavily as she looked to the floor.
“You could have just asked you know,” Nathaniel said turning around, “You should get dressed.”
“Yes sir,” He could hear Bella’s dress rustle as she put it on, “You’ve been busy lately… and I didn’t want to bother you. That’s why I didn’t ask; I’m finished,” Nathaniel turned to see Bella back to her prim disposition, except for the purple flush to her face. Bella cleared her throat, “You didn’t need to do that, as my master… you’re free to look… whenever you want.”
“I’ve embarrassed you enough, and besides,” Nathaniel chuckled, “I got a good look,” Bella covered her face, “I’m sorry, I couldn’t help it.”
“You can be terribly mean sometimes,” Bella whined.
“I’m sorry,” Nathaniel hugged her, “I find this side of you cute. What can I do to make it up to you?”
“Well, firstly, you could teach me how to make these undergarments,” Bella smirked at him, “Then there’s something else I want you to make.”
The next day, Nathaniel stared at the projected image coming from the dungeon core. He sighed heavily and shook his head.
“You want me to make this?” He groaned in disbelief.
“Yes,” Bella smiled deviously, “Ralia, Hope, and I were going through your memories the other day, so we could better understand your preferences, and I found this quite intriguing.”
“You want me… to make a cocktail dress,” Nathaniel said incredulously, “Doesn’t this go against this world’s sensibilities or something?”
“I… won’t deny the dress is rather scandalous,” Bella said trying to stay calm, but the blush on her face gave her away, “But, it’s from your world, and I thought it might help you get more accustomed here. Besides, I’d…only wear it for you.”
Nathaniel gave her a small smile, “I see, thank you for thinking of me, Bella,”
“I just want you to be happy,” Bella smiled back, “But, could you make it less… revealing?”
Nathaniel nodded as he looked at the image, “Of course, I’ll start by lengthening the dress to the ankles, and then throw in some elbow length gloves,” he hummed in thought, “Unfortunately, I don’t have the materials to make this exact style, I’ll have to make it out of silk or satin.”
“I think silk will be better,”
It took two days for Nathaniel to make the dress, but he did finish. Now, he stood outside of the sewing room waiting for Bella. Should I be concerned that I’m possibly changing this world’s cultural values? He hadn’t thought about the repercussion, since he didn’t understand fashion at all.
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
“I’m done,”
Nathaniel stepped into the room but was stopped in his tracks. Bella stood in the center of the room with one hand around her waist. The black silk dress she wore clung to her lovely figure with a slit showing off her legs up her mid-calf. The black gloves ended right before her elbows leaving her upper arms exposed, and the straps of her dress were wider than on the image. It showed a decent amount of cleavage without being tasteless.
Bella patted at her bun and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, “How do I look?”
Nathaniel shook the shock away, “Beautiful,”
Bella’s smile grew, “Thank you,”
“What are you wearing!” Ralia and Hope stormed into the sewing room.
Ralia turned to him, “Master, I want a dress like that too.”
“Me too!”
Nathaniel gave them a tired sigh as Bella laughed.
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Dark Ages
During the age of the Archons, we lived in paradise. Through their abundant wisdom and mercy, we didn’t worry about wars, poverty, hunger, all the sufferings we know of today weren’t on our minds, but then, it all fell apart. The other races, in their arrogance and greed, sought to usurp the power of their creators, and they did. After harnessing the power of the dungeon cores, their corruption transformed them into hideous abominations that scoured the land, destroying everything in their wake. We did our best to fight back, to serve our creators, but it was in vain. The Archons, seeing the abhorrent state that our corruption could lead to, fled our world, and the Abominations tore through the once great palaces, and destroyed every dungeon core they could find. Then, they disappeared to the south, never to be seen again.
In the days following the devastation, we humans were forced to wander, for the fairies quickly took advantage of our weakened state and began covering the continent in forests. Slowly, we rebuilt by relearning all the Archons taught us, and that is when we found the mana chambers. The last remaining artifacts of our creators. We searched the land, locating every dungeon we could find, and extracted their cores. After purifying them of their corrupting influence, we were able to restart the ancient device, and with its power, we retook the lands that were rightfully ours.
Nathaniel stood by the church doors listening to sister Rose’s tale. She sat in front of a group of children with a book in her hand. Something doesn’t seem right. He scratched his chin. The dungeon core doesn’t corrupt… does it? He quietly stepped out of the church and made his way to the dungeon. Thankfully the summer heat was starting to die down, so the walk wasn’t nearly as unbearable as it usually was.
As soon as he was in the domain field, he [Warped] into the central chamber. He was met with blaring music. Hope, Ralia, and Bella stood by the core shouting at each other, but their words were drowned out by the annoying pop song from Nathaniel’s youth. He regretted learning that the core could play music from memories.
“Seneschal, shut it off!” Nathaniel screamed at the top of his lungs. He sighed in relief when it stopped, “Thank you,” His gaze turned to the women, “Are you trying to make yourselves deaf?”
“I’m sorry master,” Bella rushed over, “I tried to stop them.”
“We were trying to find a good song to train to,” Ralia scoffed glaring at the fey girl, “But the brat has no taste in music.”
“It’s a good song!” Hope glared back.
“Enough,” Nathaniel silenced them, “Seneschal, music is not to exceed volume levels that could deafen us.”
“Understood,”
“Now then, Seneschal, are there corrupting influences in the dungeon core?”
“No sir,” Seneschal said projecting an image of the core’s mana flow. It reminded him of a tree, “The dungeon core draws energy from the World’s core and then distributes it out into the world. It then pulls impure mana from the land, filters it, and returns it back to the World’s core.”
“So, Rose’s story on the Dark Ages is wrong,” Nathaniel tapped his chin, “But what happened then?” He looked to the three women. Ralia and Hope shook their heads in confusion.
“Well, the fairies believe that the Abominations were caused by an imbalance in the world,” Bella said.
“What do you mean?”
“Fairies are one of the longest living creatures in this world,” Bellas replied, “They’re only rivaled by the dragons, and a few sub races of demons. To preserve their memories of the past, the fairies used their magic to create the Tree of Knowledge. This way we fairy-races could remain connected to the past, since we have long lives, but this resulted in most of the fairies giving up their lives. There’s only a handful left.”
“But what does this have to do with the Dark Ages?”
“There should be memories of the Dark Ages in the tree,” Bella said with a heavy blush, “But since I’m only seventy-nine, I’m still too young to partake of the tree’s fruit. I should be able to once I reach one hundred and twenty.”
“Seventy-nine, that pretty much makes you a baby,” Nathaniel chuckled. Bella gave him an angry pout, “I’m sorry Bella. So, in other words, you don’t know either.”
“I’m sorry,” Bella bowed, “All I know is that the world was ravaged by the Abominations and that they later fled to the south.”
“To the south…” Nathaniel felt something nagging at the back of his mind.
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Blackmail
The tavern was packed. Everyone from the village were there enjoying the last few days of summer before needing to prepare for the harvest. Oden and Sierra were running around trying to tend to everyone, but they weren’t alone. Many of the village’s young women helped tend to the young men, hoping to garner their attention, and Bella was helping as well.
Elias and Rose sat at a table talking with each other. Elias blushed heavily as he spoke which earned a polite smile from the priestess. Daisy, Hope, and the younger children sat at their own table playing some kind of game with sticks and rocks. Ralia was in the back with a few of the youths. She had a small pile of bronze coins which she earned from arm wrestling, and she was downing another mug of beer as another young man failed to beat her. Barin and the village elders sat by the fire watching everyone.
Nathaniel sat at the bar smiling at the lively atmosphere. Yet, he couldn’t help but feel isolated from everyone, as if he didn’t belong, and in truth he didn’t. He took a sip from his mug when Barrett threw himself into the stool next to him. The boy glared at Nathaniel as he chugged his drink.
“Is there something you need?” Nathaniel sighed.
“I want you to leave,” Barrett said eyeing him, “Pack up and take your filthy slaves with you.”
Nathaniel set his drink down and glared back at the boy, “Why should I?”
“Because I know your secret,”
Nathaniel glanced back at the tavern, “What do you know exactly?”
“I know you’re working with the monsters,” Barrett leaned closer, “You’ve been reporting to them daily at the dungeon.”
Nathaniel couldn’t help but chuckle. His [Intuition] marked the side of his vision which pointed to Barin. He was glaring at his son and shaking his head.
“What will you do if I don’t leave?”
“I’m going with my father to Rumand next week,” Barrett smiled victoriously, “If you don’t, then I’ll bring this to the nobles.”
Nathaniel nodded, “So, you’re trying to run me out of town!” he shouted for all to hear.
Silence fell over the tavern. Barrett snarled at Nathaniel while trying to make himself smaller. Barin stormed over to the bar and slapped his son across the back of his head.
“Dammit boy,” Barin snarled, “What do you think you’re doing?”
“I’m trying to protect this village,” Barrett growled back, “He’s working with the monsters hiding in the dungeon. Why won’t you believe me!” he looked around the tavern, “Why won’t anyone believe me.”
“Why should we?” Sierra scoffed at him, “All Nathaniel’s done is help our village.”
“And what about them!” he pointed to the non-humans, “He’s taken monsters and fairies into his home. The same filth that –” Nathaniel struck Barrett, forcing him to the ground. He stared dumbfounded at the smith.
“I won’t have you talking about my family like that,” Nathaniel said rubbing his knuckles.
“See!” Barrett spat, “He admits it.” The villagers mumbled with each other while giving the non-humans wary glances.
“How dare you!” Sierra screamed with tears in her eyes, “They may not be human, but that doesn’t matter,” she looked around, “I may not like her, but Ralia saved my life. Not to mention, she constantly patrols the village chasing off dangerous animals,” she gestured to Hope, “Do you truly think Hope is a monster. She’s always playing with the children, and keeps them out of trouble, and she helps bring the kids to sister Rose’s lessons,” Hope blushed at the compliment, “And even though Bella hasn’t been here long, she’s proven herself to be valuable. She makes deliveries around the village for everyone, and she makes clothes and food for anyone who needs it.”
“But…”
“Just shut up!” Sierra glared at Barrett with crimson cheeks.
“I’m doing this for you!” Barrett replied. An awkward atmosphere blanketing the room, “I…love you.”
Hatred filled Sierra’s eyes, “I don’t love you. I never have.”
Barrett stared at Sierra with glistening eyes, then he turned to Nathaniel with a hateful glare, “Why did you have to come here?” he ran out of the tavern.
Sierra started crying and ran upstairs. No one moved as they stared at their cups. The was… unbearable. Nathaniel noticed his three slaves staring at him worriedly. He nodded at them and gestured for them to follow Sierra. They quietly headed upstairs.
“I’m sorry about that Nathaniel,” Barin rubbed his face in frustration.
“It’s okay. He’s just being a stupid kid."
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A Future Target
Geega’Bulmesh sat on top of his iron golem as it slowly trudged through the southern wilderness. He quickly glanced back at the small army of goblins and hobgoblins following them. Many were worn, tired, and injured. The humans in this area were well equipped and had proven difficult to defeat.
Geega growled at the state of his forces and pulled out one of the swords they took off the humans. It was made from arcane bronze, but why someone would waste valuable arcanum on bronze weapons was a mystery, as were the unfamiliar runes carved into the blade. Geega slowly looked over the blade, letting his [Intuition] provide the details.
[Arcane Bronze Sword. Effects: Durability, Telescopic, Damage+]
[Durability Rune: Increases the items hardiness by a percentage equal to the crafter’s rank.]
[Telescopic Rune: Allows the item to change its length.]
[Damage+ Rune: Increases the amount of damage inflicted on a target by a percentage equal to the crafter’s rank.]
“Did a human make this?” Geega scoffed at the idea, “Most likely a dwarf.”
“Master Geega?” Ubaal squeaked from behind him.
“What have we done with the rest of the equipment?” Geega stared down at his apprentice.
“We’ve secured it as you commanded,” Ubaal said with a bow, “Once our reinforcements have arrived, they’ll take it back to Kuka Bahl for study.”
“Good,” Geega said with a snarl, “To think that there is crafter here who could rival us is… disconcerting.”
“Surely it’s more than one person,”
“No, my [Intuition] tells me that one person made all that gear we collected,” he said looking beyond the tree line. His [Intuition] could make out the silhouette of a castle on the horizon, “The soldiers came from that castle, which means the crafter is there. Once we’ve captured the dungeon, we’ll find this crafter and make him squeal.”