The Dungeon Fairy: Two Choices: A Dungeon Core Escapade (The Hapless Dungeon Fairy Book 2)

by Jonathan Brooks

  The exhausted Hill Dwarf had originally protested creating a building that was to be used exclusively for the “leadership” of The Village, especially when there were so many visitors that needed somewhere to stay. It was why he had been so adamant about constructing the Inns, because the more Raiders that stayed inside their walls, the less there would be camping outside at night, creating somewhat of a dirty tent city in an empty field left unplanted for them. Even with 18 Inns, though, their capacity wasn’t enough to fulfill the need; they couldn’t really create any more, however, because they were essentially out of room. Unless they started to eliminate more farmland, which was the last thing anyone in The Village wanted to do.

  Hence, he initially hadn’t agreed to the construction of The Village’s governmental building, because it had taken up too much space – space that could be used to build another Inn. Later, though, it had been explained to him that they really needed a specific place where the authority in the area could be reliably found, and which could be used to house those connected to the running of the whole operation. Not only would he – as the “Chief” – and Gwenda be living there now, but Jesper and his crew of Raider organizers would live in the building, freeing up room from one of the Inns nearby.

  This was beneficial, of course, but it was the real reason they needed to build the structure that convinced him.

  “We need somewhere to store our income; it’s as plain and simple as that,” Gwenda had told him when he originally questioned the need for the building.

  “What do you mean?”

  She had just smiled at him. “You do realize that we’re making a bit of money here, don’t you?” she asked, before explaining further. “Granted, most of the income from the Inns and the Supply Store has gone right back into paying for food, wages for those we’ve hired for help, more supplies, and towards constructing additional Inns. Even with those expenses, there’s still a sizable chunk left over. It’ll be split between every one of the original villagers, of course, but right now it’s more than any of them want to store either on themselves or in their homes. We need somewhere secure where we won’t have to worry about keeping track of it – that’s where this building comes in.”

  Sterge hadn’t realized they had been doing so well, so with Gwenda’s explanation he had felt a little better about constructing the governmental building. Unlike the others, this one had a basement vault of sorts, though until they were able to find material to make it even more secure it was basically just a stone-brick box with a metal door secured in the entryway. Someone with enough time and strength could break into it by physically destroying the structure, but it was still much more secure than trying to stash hundreds of copper and silver coins throughout everyone’s houses.

  The Hill Dwarf finished up a few more details along the outside of the Inn that was just finished, leaving the furnishing and minimal decoration along the inside to those assigned the tasks. As far as Sterge was concerned, he was done with the project – and what a project it was. This last Inn was by far the biggest, tallest, and most impressive building in The Village; after quite a bit of practice constructing them, he and his core group of construction workers had decided to make their last Inn a bit fancier than the rest. It stretched up 4 floors, had a wider bottom floor and common room than the others, and each bedroom was just slightly larger than the others they had created. It wasn’t “luxury” by any means, but it certainly was going to be nicer than the others.

  Since it wasn’t quite done yet on the inside as far as the kitchen and common room (though the lower half of the Inn already had residents renting rooms), Sterge went to his favorite Inn for dinner. The Farmer’s Hope was the first Inn that they had constructed, and though he looked at it with a more scrutinizing eye now that he had much more experience perfecting his construction techniques, the comparatively ramshackle Inn held a place in his heart.

  He wasn’t surprised to see Gwenda arriving just before him, saving him a seat in the busy common room after she acquired her own. She was lucky to have found a place to sit, in fact, as occasionally it was standing room only around dinner time; a few times they had been forced to eat holding their food in their hands, though it wasn’t that much of a hardship.

  Sterge sat next to her and relayed his thanks for saving him a seat, nodding to the 3 other people sharing their wooden table before looking around for a server. It appeared as though the real rush hadn’t started for dinner quite yet, though that didn’t mean that those working in the Inn weren’t being run ragged already. He caught the eye of one of the Elven servers and held up 2 fingers, indicating they wanted meals for the both of them, before he hesitated and looked back at the others at the table.

  They were three Raiders by the look of them, which wasn’t surprising since 98% of the people visiting their village were part of the Clan. Unlike most of the Raiders they saw, however, these three were staring down at their drinks – which appeared to be water, from what he could tell – with morose expressions on their faces and not the usual excitement and bravado he normally saw. Not only that, but they looked malnourished with their skinny bodies and exhausted postures. Seeing that, Sterge caught the eye of the server again and held up all 5 fingers, before turning to Gwenda.

  “How was your day today?” she suddenly asked before he could.

  He laughed, amused at how well she knew him. That was the first thing he always asked when he saw her, so it was funny to hear her ask him first. “Well, we finished the construction of the last Inn; there’s still a bit going on with finishing the interior, but it should be complete tomorrow. After that…well, I’m suddenly short of work with that being the last one.” He hadn’t really thought about what he would do after he was all done, as all of his focus had been on construction. Though by appointment he had the job of “Chief”, as a construction worker, he would technically now be unemployed, as would all of the others working with him.

  Half of those working with him were villagers that had started with him from the beginning, and he knew they were eager to get back to their farms and see to them; despite the help from Raiders who had assisted with the planting and harvesting, there was still a lot that was being neglected. Sterge supposed he could see to that on his own farm as well, but Gwenda had somewhere found a few non-Raiders who had some farming experience to help take care of both of their farms. Apparently, they were looking for work and had heard about the booming economy down south; he knew exactly what that felt like, as that had been the same as many of the villagers before they were able to lease the land they now worked.

  The others on his crew, however, were primarily Raiders. From what Gwenda had told him, they all had made a hefty sum from their work helping to construct the building so quickly, which he couldn’t deny that they entirely deserved. For them, they already had another job to go to: Delving through dungeons as a Raider. That just left Sterge with nothing to do; he didn’t think that standing around trying to look important as The Village “Chief” would occupy him more than an hour, nor was that something he wanted to do in the first place.

  “Did you say that was the last of the construction jobs around here?” one of the Raiders sitting at the table looked up and asked, a Human dressed in a threadbare-looking robe. He looked even more depressed than he had before, if that were possible.

  “Yes, unfortunately. The Village is out of room to create any more buildings without encroaching on some of the planted fields, so that was it. Why do you ask?”

  The Human Raider looked at the others with him and sighed when they seemed to take the news badly as well. “Well, we were hoping to find some work to earn enough to get back home. Everything else around here is apparently already staffed and doesn’t need any assistance, so we were going to see if the construction people needed some help tomorrow. I’m not sure what we’re going to do now.”

  The others looked crestfallen as they nodded at the Human’s words. They were a female Elf and a male Gnome that were appar
ently who the Raider meant by “we”; unlike what he usually saw with Elves, however, this one was outfitted in leather armor and had the look of some sort of Melee Class. She reminded Sterge of the intimidating Clan Outpost leader he had met in Heftington a little – though she was obviously a much lower Raider Level. Probably even Raider Level 1.

  The Gnome was small even for his race, and a quick look at him revealed that the only weapons he had on him were a pair of braces full of iron throwing knives. He kept looking around every once in a while, as if he was worried someone would sneak up on him when he wasn’t paying attention.

  “Back home? Aren’t you here to delve through the dungeon?” Gwenda asked.

  The Elf let out a big sigh before answering for their small group. “Yes, of course. But we didn’t realize that because of the demand, they are only letting in full groups of five to the list. At first, we tried to find some additional members for our group to fill us out, but everyone that came here already has a full group. There were a few that had lost members to the dungeon already and were willing to take one of us, but we didn’t want to be split up; we’ve been through too much together to get here that the thought of going our separate ways is…distasteful.

  “Just this morning, due to our funds situation – or lack of funds, as it were – we figured it was our only chance of surviving and resolved to do it anyways…only to find out that all but one group had already replaced their members. Therefore, we’re planning on heading back home to see if we can find some work there, or even find some additional Clan members to bring us up to five. We can’t afford to wait around here hoping that something might fall into our laps, and we’d rather be doing something than sit around here all day starving to death.”

  Just then, the server Sterge had signaled earlier brought a tray filled with food, which she immediately started to empty as bowls of steaming hot stew were set down in front of everyone, along with small loaves of bread that appeared to have just come out of the oven. There were also some mugs of water for Sterge and Gwenda, who hadn’t had anything to drink quite yet.

  “What’s all this? We can’t afford to—” the Gnome said sadly, looking at the food in front of him hungrily. The others looked about the same, and they all hesitated to touch it.

  “It’s on me; there should be no reason for you to starve while you’re here in The Village,” Sterge said, before he dug into his own food. It was delicious and he was practically starving – even if he had eaten quite a bit at lunch. Constructing Inns was labor-intensive, and it worked up quite the appetite.

  The three Raiders hesitated for a moment before they practically shoveled stew into their mouths and stuffed their cheeks full of bread. Sterge was glad that he was able to help feed them, because it certainly did appear as though they were slowly starving. They were finished eating before Sterge and Gwenda and sat back looking uncomfortable, likely having eaten more than they had in a while.

  “So, you all need some coin?” he asked them when he was finished, himself.

  Gwenda put her hand on his arm as if in warning. “Sterge, you can’t just—”

  “I know that,” he said softly, putting his hand on hers for reassurance. He was pretty sure Gwenda thought he was going to give them some of their coins, out of the generosity and charity of his heart; truthfully, the idea had crossed his mind, because that was just who he was. Sterge didn’t like to see anyone suffering unnecessarily – especially when he could do something about it; what he had in mind, though, wasn’t charity in any sense of the word. “I have something else in mind.”

  His friend understood immediately. “You mean…?”

  “Yes, I think I’m ready. I never thought it would be the case, but I’ve actually been looking forward to it.”

  “Good. I didn’t want to mention it before because we’ve been so busy, but now with the construction done….” She left her statement open, but Sterge knew exactly what she was talking about. She wanted it just as much as he did.

  “Uh…what are you two talking about?” All three of the Raiders were staring at Sterge and Gwenda as if they were crazy.

  “Sorry, I guess I should explain,” Sterge apologized. “We’re talking about going into the dungeon—” he pointed in the general direction of where the dungeon was located in the mountains— “up there.”

  “You two are part of the Delving Clan as well?” the Human asked with a hopeful look on his face, before he shook his head sadly. “Doesn’t matter, though. Even if we wanted to, the current wait list to get in is at least 5 weeks, and that’s even with all of the Merchants speeding up the process by paying groups to remove themselves from the list.”

  Gwenda snorted disdainfully, showing her extreme dislike of the Merchants that had come. Sterge knew that, ever since they had arrived, the Minister and/or his subordinates had been after her (as well as nearly every other villager) to sell the land’s lease to them; it was getting to the point where some of the villagers were refusing to come out of their houses so that they wouldn’t be accosted. No violence or overt threat had been made as of yet, but he couldn’t help but worry that it was coming.

  “That certainly is a long wait, but fortunately, we don’t have to abide by the list. Be ready tomorrow morning, and we’ll head on up and do a delve through the dungeon. By the way, what are your names?”

  To say they looked skeptical was an understatement. “You’re…not planning anything…illegal, are you?” the Gnome asked softly, which Sterge was just barely able to hear over the noise of the crowd in the common room. The Raider was looking around nervously to see if anyone else was listening in.

  Sterge and Gwenda looked at each other seriously and then laughed, before his friend finally answered the three now-uncomfortable-looking Raiders. “No, of course not. Nothing like that. Let’s just say that we have…connections. I don’t want to say any more here, though.”

  Now it was the trio’s turn to look at each other for a long moment. Eventually, the Elf turned to them and said, “Seeing as you bought us dinner, I think we’ll trust you enough to see what you have in mind. We don’t want to get in trouble, though, so if you want us to do something…unethical or illegal…then we’re backing out.”

  “Fair enough.”

  “Okay, then. Name’s Evy. The Gnome on my right is Mordecai, and this bag o’ bones in a robe is William. I hope you’re in need of a Melee, a Ranged, and a Healer Class.”

  “Absolutely,” Sterge said, as he and Gwenda were getting up to leave. They had to make some arrangements that night if they were going delving through the dungeon in the morning. “Get some good rest, because we’re going up soon after dawn—you have somewhere to sleep?”

  It was obvious by their expressions that they really didn’t; judging by their dirty clothes and armor, he wouldn’t be surprised to learn that they had been bedding down in the empty fields without much in the way of covering or protection.

  “Head over to the new construction and let Maxine know that Sterge said you could stay in one of the newly completed rooms up top for the night. They should be just about finished with them, and they weren’t going to be rented out until tomorrow.”

  “What? Why? How do you know all of that, and who are you that can just order someone to do that? Better yet, I didn’t see you pay for the meal; you’re not trying to stiff us with the bill, are you?” the Human said suspiciously.

  It took Sterge a moment to realize what the Raider was talking about. Then it hit him: They didn’t know who he or Gwenda were. Granted, not everyone knew who they were, and their status as Raiders was even less known; almost no one knew they had been the ones to find the dungeon.

  He hadn’t paid for their meals since the first few days, when they were still trying to figure everything out. Now, none of the villagers had to pay to eat inside the common rooms of the Inns, though only a few actually took advantage of that; they didn’t want to spend any more time around the Raiders than they had to – which he couldn’t blame them
for. The servers automatically got a bonus tip whenever they were served, and Gwenda and her assistants (it was strange to think she had assistants, but there was a lot that went on that she couldn’t handle herself) did an accurate job of tracking everything.

  “Oh…no; nothing like that,” Gwenda replied, smirking at them – though more in a joking way than a mean one. “We just don’t have to pay when we eat here.”

  “Huh? How did you swing that?”

  Sterge answered this time. “Because we happen to know the owners, that’s why. They give us a special discount.” He didn’t necessarily want to lie to what he hoped were their new groupmates, but he didn’t feel like explaining everything with all of the others around in the increasingly crowded common room. “We’ll tell you more about it tomorrow. Now, go get some good rest – you’re going to need it.”

  As Sterge and Gwenda fought their way through the crowd to the exit, the “Chief” of The Village couldn’t help but be excited about the next day. Despite the danger that awaited them, he was looking forward to delving through the dungeon again; it was strange, but he felt a very subtle connection to it and missed it for some reason. He put it down to the special fact that they had been the first ones to investigate it instead of anything else, but he also remembered the unique Abilities they had earned as a result.

  Neither of them had mentioned them to anyone else, not even the other villagers, because they now understood the warning the dungeon had given them. The fact that the Merchants were paying normal Raider groups to drop themselves down to the bottom of the waiting list – just so they could get their own people in there faster – was an indication that they would stop at very little if they suddenly had access to something that would allow them to increase their Raider Levels even quicker.