The dungeon helper saluted. "Aye-aye, master!"
Chapter 36
Ambush, Part II
The afternoon passed without any incident. When nightfall arrived, Kurosa ordered the caravan to make camp on the side of the road. The wagons were placed in a circular formation and a campfire was started at the center. The wagons created a wind barrier and prevented the campfire from extinguishing.
Kurosa retrieved a large pot and a stand and set up the pot over the fire. She poured water from a barrel into the pot. Once the water was boiled, she added ingredients to make a simple and inexpensive vegetable soup. The cook added some salt and spices into the mix to add flavor to the soup. When she judged that the soup was sufficiently simmering, Kurosa started distributing a bowl of soup and bread to every member of the caravan.
As Sibalt and his companions ate their meals, a guard joined them. She was middle-aged and wrinkles lined her face; there was a big scar over the bridge of her nose. Her light blonde hair was shortly cropped and her faint blue eyes were sharp. She was of average height and build. She wore boiled leather armor and a scabbard rested on her left hip. "I would like your group to take the first half of night watch duty. My group will take the second half. Then we flip the next night. You decide amongst yourselves your individual rotation." With a nod, the guard departed.
"Not very friendly, is she?" Tensa commented.
"Understandable," Ryota spoke up. "Those guards seem to be well-coordinated and have experience working together. We are messing up their routines and they don't like it. But to the question she raised, I would like to volunteer for our portion of the watch. I don't need sleep," he reminded them.
Sibalt nodded. "I appreciate your offer. I think the rest of us should take one hour each. With six wagons, there is too much for one person to watch over."
"Okay," the undead lord nodded. "I will remain alert during the second half portion of the night watch. Better safe than sorry."
The group agreed. They were mindful of how Ryota had saved their lives back in the human village that turned out to be an exit point for the dark elves to reach the surface.
Shortly after midnight, a group of bandits spotted the campfire and furtively approached camp.
People approaching, Fast Runner alerted Markos.
The dungeon core immediately awoke. Markos saw the bandits through the alpha wolf's eyes and warned the camp through Sibalt's lips: "Bandits! Bandits!"
Everyone woke up immediately and took positions while using the wagons as cover.
Alethea doused the flame with her waterskin and darkness fell over the camp.
Attack? Fast Runner asked.
No, the dungeon core replied. He did not want the merchants and guards to learn of his relationship with the wolf pack and assume that he was a werewolf.
Sibalt closed his eyes and reached for the life energy of the bandits. There were six of them hiding behind trees. Each one held a bow but the lack of illumination made it difficult for them to target the members of the caravan.
The human emissary took a moment to gather his mana and then used Earth Work against all six bandits at once! He created two grasping hands for each person: one hand around the torso and the second around the feet or ankle. The hands were made of hard stone and the sword strikes had no effect in dislodging them.
The elementalist opened his eyes and turned toward Kurosa. "I captured all six bandits with stone hands. But some of them are still holding onto their bows," he reported.
"Excellent work!" the merchant praised. She saw a faint glow when the young man cast his spell. Kurosa didn't realize he was such a powerful elementalist! She turned toward her guards. "Disarm and capture them for questioning!" she ordered. "Can you show my guards where they are?" she asked in a softer tone of voice.
Sibalt nodded.
"Be careful, husband," Alethea said. "They can still fire arrows at you."
The young man shook his head. "I can make my body as hard as stone. Arrows won't hurt me."
"I should go with him," Ryota told Kurosa. "The arrows won't penetrate my armor. Your guards have no protection against arrows."
"But how will the two of you take custody of six people?" someone asked.
Sibalt smiled. Tapping into the earth, he called forth three normal Earth Elementals and ordered each minion to approach one captive.
"That's not possible! How can you summon three elementals at once?" someone shouted.
The dungeon core ignored the question and focused on his task of bringing back the six bandits.
Some of them fired arrows at Sibalt but the elementals shielded him from the arrows.
In response, the elementalist impaled each offender with an earth spike through the hand, causing the bow to be dropped.
Markos smiled maliciously at the sound of yelling and screaming in pain. It was about time that the tables were turned on the bandits for once.
When Sibalt reached their location, he was not surprised to discover that the bandits were all women--and dark elves.
Seeing that the bandits were dark elves, Ryota immediately stripped them of their weapons, which could be laced with poison.
Then Sibalt commanded his elementals to grab hold of his captives, one in each hand and took them back to camp.
By the time they returned, the campfire had been restarted.
The people were alarmed at the revelation that the bandits were dark elves. Some of them made religious symbols with their hand to ward off evil.
One guard spat on the floor. "We should just kill them," she suggested with a malicious stare at them. "If they break free, our throats will be slit."
The other guards nodded their heads in unison. There were rumors of bandits targeting travelers on the road. But they didn't expect the bandits to be dark elves.
Kurosa looked at her companions, who also nodded. "If you are all in agreement, then I will order these bandits to be put to death. This way, no more travelers will fall victim to these bandits."
Sibalt shook his head and objected. "There's no need to kill them."
"What do you suggest then, huh?" a guard retorted. "You plan to turn them into your sex slaves or something similar?"
The other guards chuckled.
"Yes, I will turn them into my slaves," Sibalt replied coldly. "Watch." He reached into a sack and pulled out several Slave Collars of Compulsion. He was glad that the dungeon core had the foresight to create a bunch of them for this situation.
Seeing the stack of collars, the dark elves immediately struggled to break free. To be enslaved by humans was a humiliation worse than death itself. Yet, none of them asked to be killed. To plead for this mercy from a human man was not acceptable to the proud captives.
As Sibalt collared each dark elf, he sent mana of fire, water, air, and earth into the magic diagram.
As the magic compulsion took effect, the enslaved elf had a glazed look in her eyes. Soon, all the enslaved elves became noticeably relaxed and calm.
"What did you just do?" Kurosa demanded to know.
"I activated a special magic embedded in the slave collar. Now, they will obey me," Sibalt answered nonchalantly.
The merchants and the guards were stunned by this answer. They had seen his talent with Earth magic. Now, they just learned that Sibolt was also talented in Water magic.
They were shocked to learn that the unassuming young man was a dual-elementalist! The merchants and guards started whispering amongst themselves.
Kurosa clapped her hands to silence them. The leader then turned her attention back to Sibalt "You're certain that the dark elves won't break free of your mind magic?" she asked.
"Yes," Sibal confirmed with a smile. "With your permission, I will chain them together and then tie the chain to the rear wagon," he proposed.
Kurosa looked at the enslaved elves for a moment. If they were brought back to Lamour and turned over to the guards for questioning, the Queen will undoubtedly reward the group handsomely. Her greed
took hold and she made a decision. "Do it," she ordered.
The guards started to protest.
Kurosa held up her hand. "We will turn them over to the guards for questioning. We will receive a nice reward and we can split it equally," she explained. The leader turned toward Sibalt. "Is that alright with you?" she asked.
He quickly agreed. Even though Sibalt was the one who had captured the bandits, he didn't want to stand out and draw too much attention. Besides, his Godly-ranked Earth Work already allowed him to create as much gold as he desired. Thus, a monetary reward was no longer attractive to him.
Kurosa looked up at the sky and saw that it was still dark. "We still have a few hours before daybreak. Please put our captives under guard. The rest of us should return to bed," she ordered.
A guard approached Sibalt and said, "The guards will take turns watching the captives. You need your rest to regain your mana."
"Thank you," the young man smiled. He returned to his bedroll by the campfire and Alethea joined him a moment later.
Chapter 37
A Frank Discussion
As the party slept above ground with the caravan, the dungeon core was busy converting the rocks into materials for his dungeon. For the hundredth time, Markos wondered how he will evolve to the next stage. The reason was that at Stage 3, he had a limit of 80 minions that he could control. But the dungeon already had more than half that number of minions in existence, split between guarding the miles-long barrier underground, the 6 secondary cores, plus guards for his assimilated beings and allies. If an army of dark elves shows up in his dungeon, 80 minions will not be enough to defend his primary core.
Frankly, the existence of the underground city made Markos extremely nervous because the dark elves were dangerous and hostile. While the party was traveling with the merchant caravan above ground, the dungeon core spent an enormous amount of time brainstorming ways to defend against the dark elves.
The only solution he could come up with was to make more allies, make the dungeon invaluable, and convince his allies to defend the dungeon against any dark elf invasion. Thus, he was quite pleased with the fact that his emissaries, Sibalt and Yozka, had joined the Adventurer's Guild in Bethmund and Sibalt will be seeking an audience with the Queen herself.
The decision to visit the capital city of Lamour and request permission from Queen Levioda for a charter to establish a town next to the dungeon entrance was totally unexpected but quite intriguing to the dungeon core. Markos was mindful of the risk that the Queen would deny Sibalt the charter but torture him to make him give up the dungeon's location.
Heck, the presence of the dwarves would give her an idea of where his dungeon was located. To prevent this outcome, Markos had to claim the underground areas of Lamour as his domain in order to exert influence and protect his young emissary.
Of course, using Sibalt to seduce the Queen was also a possibility and Markos wasn't opposed to it. But the problem, though, was Alethea. It was obvious to everyone in the party how infatuated the dwarven priestess was with her husband. As a newlywed, this was quite understandable.
However, if the Queen made romantic overtures to Sibalt or vice versa, Markos wasn't sure how Alethea would react. Given the low male to female ratio in this world of Enwald, he would assume that polygamy was practiced. But he wasn't 100% sure if this was an acceptable part of the culture, at least amongst dwarves. Thus, Markos resolved to ask Alethea about it through Sibalt before the party reached the capital city.
Thankfully, there were no further encounters with dark elves overnight. The merchant caravan awoke at dawn, ate breakfast, broke camp, and resumed their journey. They traveled for the next 4 days with any further incident.
The night before the party reached Lamour, Markos decided to have a heart-to-heart talk with Alethea through Sibalt. "We need to talk."
"About what?" the wife asked quietly
"What is the dwarven view on polygamy?"
Alethea sighed. "You are concerned that you will catch the Queen's eyes, right?"
"Yes."
"I've heard that Queen Levioda is in her late-40s with an insatiable appetite for young male lovers. She keeps some male concubines in her castle and she entertains a young lover in her bed every night."
"Now, I admit that you are very handsome and your body is pleasing in bed." She blushed at the admission. "There IS a chance that the Queen will want you to visit her bed for a night. But to actually marry you and elevate your status to become the King of Vessar? I highly doubt it."
"Then you would have no problem if I spend a night with the Queen? As payment for the charter?"
The Earth Singer frowned. "I wouldn't say 'no problem.' It's more a question of what can I do about it?"
"Would you consider a threesome with the Queen?" Sibalt knew that he was pushing Alethea's boundaries, but he decided to take the gamble anyway. After all, she was into exhibitionism.
"Boy, you love to ask me hard questions, don't you? I'm hesitant to say 'yes.' But I'm mindful that this would allow me to keep an eye on you--in case she tries to poison you or keep you locked up in a cell."
"My master will do whatever he can to keep me safe," Sibalt promised.
"I'll hold him to it." Alethea snuggled in Sibalt's arms and closed her eyes.
* * *
While Sibalt's party traveled with the merchant caravan, Yozka and Sin stayed overnight at the Adventurer's Guild in Bethmund as VIP guests awaiting the return of the Guildmaster.
As promised, Fieyara the Guildmaster returned the next morning. When the tall woman with a broad, muscular frame stepped into the lobby of the guild building, she was greeted by a chorus of "Welcome back!"
The Guildmaster wore a black eye patch over her left eye and she quickly scanned the room with her right eye. She had shortly cropped curly hair colored dark brown and peppered with gray. A large claymore was fastened to a scabbard on her back. The taciturn woman offered a wave and strolled across the floor.
A clerk saw her arrival and quickly approached the Guildmaster. "There is someone waiting in the VIP room for you," Fukie said quietly. She matched Fieyara stride-for-stride and continued. "Their names are Yozka and Sin. They claim to be representatives of a newly reincarnated dungeon core named Markos Turloch. They desire two things from the guild. First, they wish for a party from the guild to visit the dungeon and confirm its existence. Second, they plan to establish a new town near the dungeon's entrance. And they wish for the guild to set up a branch office in the new town. Gormanda has questioned them and confirmed, magically, that they were truthful."
Fieyara continued walking without comment but her eyes were alert and her mind was sharp. She was shocked by the words spoken by the clerk but the Guildmaster had no reason to doubt Fukie or Gormanda, for that matter. The leader simply accepted the summary as facts and made a decision on these requests. But first, Fieyara had to do a meet-and-greet with the dungeon core's representatives.
The veteran warrior walked up the stairs with very light steps despite her size. She soon entered the VIP room. She saw two women looking out the window. One was an older woman dressed in a robe. A faint odor of herbs drifted from her. The other woman was a surprise: a dark elf!
Fieyara's remaining eye quickly landed on the slave collar on the elf's neck. The Guildmaster had never seen an enslaved dark elf before and she didn't know what to make of it.
"Greetings," she nodded slightly. "My name is Fieyara and I am the Guildmaster of the Adventurer's Guild. You are here to make certain requests of the guild?"
The older woman nodded back. "I am Yozka and my companion is Sin. I am a representative of a reincarnated dungeon core named Markos Turloch. He invites the guild to send a party to explore his dungeon, with the proviso that his dungeon core is not to be removed. My master is generous and he is confident that the expedition will be a profitable one. In addition, we are in the process of getting a charter to establish a new town near the dungeon's entrance. We wish for the Adventu
rer's Guild to open a branch office in our new town," she said.
"Let's be seated before I discuss your requests." The Guildmaster took a seat at the head of the table.
The two guests sat to her right.
"First question. Why is the guild being invited to explore the dungeon? Wouldn't your master be concerned about unruly guests who would destroy his minions?" Fieyara asked.
"My master sees this as a give-and-take relationship with the dungeon explorers. He wishes to improve his dungeon and in order to do so, he has to observe how an experienced party would explore his dungeon. If, for some unfortunate reason, the party members fail and die while inside the dungeon, their bodies and equipment will belong to my master," Yozka replied.
Fieyara's left brow arched. "How dangerous is the dungeon?"
The emissary raised both hands; she held up six fingers--a left thumb and all five fingers from her right hand. "There are six levels in total. It will take skill, rather than brute hack-n-slash, to reach the core room. My master has added chests and other valuables inside the dungeon."
The Guildmaster was intrigued by this answer. "Skill you say? Hmm." Her mind pondered the meaning of this word. Most likely, there will be plenty of traps and thus, a thief with superior trap detection ability was crucial to the party. "What else can you tell me about the dungeon?"
Yozka smiled. She was reeling the officer in like a fish on a rod. "I've said more than enough. But do note that Sin and I will accompany whoever you send to explore the dungeon."
"That's a non-negotiable condition?"
"Correct."
"That's fine," Fieyara replied nonchalantly. She couldn't imagine Yozka sabotaging the party while dungeon delving as that would defeat the purpose of the invitation.
No, the Guildmaster suspected that Markos wanted Yozka to tag along to extricate the party if they come across trouble they couldn't handle. With a simple word from the emissary, the dungeon keeper's minions will stop attacking the explorers. Thus, Yozka's presence was meant to protect the guild members. "Why does your master want us to set up a branch office near the dungeon entrance?" she asked.
CONQUEST: The Dungeon Core Gambit Book One Page 18