Chapter 1 - I spy a fairy

[Like this?]

[It fits perfectly now!]

In front of me stood a bookshelf made of wood. It took the core a few tries to figure out what we wanted without a blueprint, but it eventually got it correct. Glancing over to my brother, I can see him still typing away over the dungeon system console. I could never comprehend how he can do such monotonous tasks for so long.

[Remind me why these books are important if you already know everything within them.]

[For starters, you don’t know them yourself.]

[Also, we may not be good at explaining the things we do know.]

[In the future, people will spend a lot of time in this library.]

[More people, more mana.]

[But what if I don’t want more intruders.]

[Bookworms generally can’t fight to save their lives.]

[The magical ones obviously have magic, but they are almost never physically strong.]

[Shouldn’t we focus on monsters and traps first though?]

[Can’t have monsters unless you choose amongst your free species.]

[Otherwise, you need to make an entrance to gather them yourself.]

[Speaking of which, when can I make an entrance?]

[Anytime. Can’t have a functional biome without samples and you don’t have the mana capacity to support more than a few monsters that a child can deal with.]

[Alright then. I think I will open up my 1st entrance in an orchard. Close enough to intruder dwellings that you can steal everything we need.]

[I better get moving then.]

[Be careful. Don’t get caught. Stay hidden.] I could hear the concern in its voice at the mere thought that I might die. Perhaps if we were different fairies, but not us.

[Yea yea!] I wiggle my hand at it for a bit before flying off through the newly made portal in an empty room. It had such a dad personality and hopefully it won’t understand a mother’s personality. Before I left, however, I heard my brother mumble something.

[Its everyone else who should be careful...]

***

On a plain apple tree, a rip in the fabric of reality appeared. It began as a line that gradually became large enough to fit a grown adult before it expanded into an elliptical shape. Once the portal had finished stabilizing, a green fairy flew out of the portal.

Inspecting the surroundings, my gaze landed upon the portal. [Edgy, but perhaps something more accessible. I don’t trust the edges of this portal.] Saying so, I then project my opinion through our soul link to my brother. [On it!]

*Thump*

Looking behind me I saw a young girl who dropped a basket half full of apples. Her gaping mouth is all the warning I got before she ran off.

“MOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!” The sheer volume of her voice nearly made me crash into the soil. I knew children just had the right kind of shrill pitch, but still. Earmuffs are definitely being added to this impromptu shopping trip.

Shaking my head to clear the slight headache I received, I then telekinetically lifted the basket and threw it through the portal. Afterwards, I flew into the village proper before anyone can respond to my presence.

It was a fairly mundane village with self made log cabins. Humans went about their daily life supplying the village with food from their orchards and livestock. A plume of smoke drifted from what I assume is a smithery for daily village necessities. Children were playing with toys in the plaza while their mothers watched over them. Pity their lives will become more chaotic from the influx of pure mana. Still better than being near an actual city.

Everyone who saw me flit by were befuddled for a few moments before realization sunk in. A clamor had arisen in the wake of my presence as people knew what I symbolized. For good or ill, change was coming.

Before long I had approached a cabin somewhat bigger than the rest. If it’s not the mayor, then it must be the guy with the fattest wallet. I conveniently unlocked the door with a bit of telekinesis and glided inside the house. Inside was a bunch of plain furniture for a living room made of polished wood. A few paintings of old men and women lined the walls. A couple of cotton sofas sat a healthy distance from a fireplace.

I could hear noise from what sounds like a kitchen, but there was no need to steal kitchen supplies. Maybe in a few months or years we can have flying cutlery to fight our foes.

As quickly as possible, I flew deeper inside the house in my quest for valuables. Ignoring a priceless vase and some woman’s purse, I then came upon a quaint study room. A few documents were haphazardly spread across the desk with 1 of the papers laying on the floor.

Leaning against the wall was a bookshelf so I eagerly snatched up blueprints numero uno and dos for this trip. A book by the name of “Princess Knight vs Black Knight” which sounds like a superhero comic. The other was a picture book called “Scenic Views from Around the World.”

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Nothing else of importance was revealed after a quick look around so I flew out of the room with my spoils and promptly crashed into some giant face.

“Ugh” *Thump*

If it was just me, then it would be a minor inconvenience. Unfortunately for this guy, being slapped by a book moving at the speed of a fairy’s dust is not a pleasant experience. I took advantage of him stumbling back and flew faster through the house. It’s not cowardly if I am perfectly capable of defending myself, but why give people the chance.

In another room is some teen with wild bed hair that is laying on the bed while reading some thin book. A brief overview of the room tells me I hit the motherlode as there are action figures, posters of heroic figures, stuffed toys, and board games. Being the conservative entrepreneur that I am, I took 1 of everything available. If the noise I made did not alert the teen, then the giant of a man who charged inside definitely did.

“Dad? Wait, what’s going on?” Says the dumbfounded young man after removing the book from in front of his face and realizing the oddness that was his room at the moment. His father ignored the question in order to stare unflinchingly at me in all my glittery fairyness. My response was to simply shove him aside with a tidal wave of flying loot.

“Sorry, I don’t do married men!” I yelled towards the fallen giant.

A quick flap of my wings sent me soaring past the faceplant giant and into the hallway. I could still hear some woman humming a tune in the kitchen as I fled the premises. Whoever was in that kitchen must have really been in a world of their own to miss everything that happened.

Surrounding the cabin was a horde of villagers all gawking at my fairy visage riding a flying pillow while being trailed by a conglomeration of random objects.

“Nothing to see here folks. Just standard dungeon fairy procedure. You know how it is. Also you should expect an increase in monsters wanting to feed off the ambient mana, bandits wanting to make a quick buck, nobles wanting a slice of the pie, guilds wanting full control of the territory, priests wanting to spread the word of their faith, and last but most important of all… family wanting to know where their relatives are after they didn’t return from a delve into the deep dark depths. So um yea. Have fun dealing with all the chaos in the future. Bye-bye!”

With a wave I bid adieu to the masses and head towards my new home. Hopefully, cosier than I left it. Seeing that the apple tree had grown larger to accommodate a rotating door that can fit at least 2 people at once made me think everything would be just fine. Maybe.

***

[What took you so long? Were you hurt? Why do instruction manuals taste so weird? Do i need to go on a murder hobo dungeon spree?]

[Chill. Give her a moment to get a word in edgewise.] After a few moments pass for my sister to catch her breath and for all of the loot to be eaten, she began explaining her adventure to it. I am already aware so I tuned it out.

[If I had to describe the experience, then I would say it was too easy. The people here acted like deer caught in the headlights. It’s almost as if there are no dangerous monsters near the village.]

[That’s a good thing right?]

[Not exactly.]

[It means that this village can’t fight its way out of a paper bag if a stronger monster does appear which it will now that your leaking mana is acting like a beacon to anything and everything.]

[To put it succinctly.]

[They need help.]

[Badly.]

[Oh. But I don’t want to help them.]

[That’s fine.]

[But as a dungeon-][You need to learn-][How to help others-][To help yourself.]

[That makes no sense. Helping them hurts me.]

[Think of it as a business.][You make a small amount of profit in mana from each person.][But you can increase that by investing in them.][Costs you in the short term.][Helps you massively in the long term.]

[I see, but I have just 1 question. Why do you 2 keep finishing each other’s sentences?]

Looking at it, we both shrug our shoulders.

*** Interlude of Villagers ***

2 tables and a sofa have been pushed together in order to serve as a conference meeting. At 1 table sat the village head, the owner of the largest orchard, the blacksmith, and the herbalist. All of them would technically be considered big names to outsiders, but are just ordinary people living their ordinary village life.

At the second table were a few witnesses to the incident. A young girl, a mother of 3, and a couple of sheep herders. On the couch lay the son of the village head who is just reading his book as if none of this matters. The village head’s wife has served everyone juice, tea, or milk depending on their preferences. Alcohol is not a staple of this village’s crops and its too expensive to have regularly.

[I thank everyone for coming to speak with me today regarding the sighting of a dungeon fairy and what this means for the village.]

[Stop being formal and just tell it how it is. We are all gonna die aren’t we?] Yells the blacksmith.

[Not if we act quickly. We just need to hire some guards and get the adventurer’s guild to come.] Says the mother of 3.

[With what money? The reward for first sighting of a dungeon is nowhere near enough to hire some guards. Much less trustworthy ones.] Says the sheep herder.

[Then we just have to hope a few adventurers jump on the bandwagon to a new dungeon.]

[Before or after some noble rushes here to swindle us for all we have?] Says the orchard owner.

[Perhaps beseeching the church would be the safest. Nobody would openly mess with pious devotion.] Says the herbalist.

[That’s good and all, but which one. They all have their quirks.] Says the 2nd sheep herder. At this, everyone has a heated debate about which religion would have the smallest effect on their ordinary village lives. Seeing that their arguing would not be coming to an end, the village head banged the table in order to get everyone quiet.

[Enough. Why don’t we leave the decision to the children in the room before we are at each other’s throats for something so trivial.]

[Emma sweety, which deity do you like the most.] The village head’s wife kneels before Emma and asks her in a soothing voice. Emma, for her part, took a small sip from her glass of juice before answering.

[Hmmm, I like the story of the champion of love who serves the goddess of light. Me and my friends are deciding who gets to marry him when we grow up.] It took a moment for everyone to process her words before shrugging it off as a childhood crush.

[The goddess of light is very popular amongst women and children isn’t she.] Says the mother of 3.

[Mhmm.] Hums the herbalist.

[Now, Jeremy, what about you?] At this, the young teen on the sofa marks his spot before closing the book. He coughs for a second to clear his voice.

[All of them.] Says Jeremy.

[Uhm Jeremy, you can only pick one.] Says the father in exasperation.

[They are a pantheon and must at least work together on the surface.] Says Jeremy.

[Even so, their infighting might kill us all!] Says the blacksmith. Everyone else hums in agreement. It’s no rumor of how legendary the fights between religions are. Heaven forbid they unleash a crusade upon the world.

[And that right there is the heart of the matter. You see, any city with more than 3 churches can’t afford too much infighting due to the risk of another church catching them flat-footed.] Explains Jeremy. Everyone pondered his words and admits that it sounded plausible.

[Or at least that’s what was written in a book.] Says Jeremy as he lays back down and returns to reading his book.

[[[[[[[Arrgh!]]]]]]]