Dungeon Annihilation 2 - 25 (Patreon)

Evening everyone.

Louella

Impossible. That was what I thought the entire time that we were in the cathedral. Earle freed all the slaves over the course of an hour. Not to mention the tale of his clan from over the mountain. The north had basically been a wasteland for the last four decades. There was little chance that I could believe that story, but at the same time. There was a sort of truth to it that I found myself drawn to.

“How do you feel?” I couldn’t help asking each person as they were freed.

“Amazing. Its like there are chains that I’ve never felt before dropping from my mind!”

“That’s good.”

So far, only one slave hadn’t been released yet. That was due to her inability to trust in the goddess according to Earle. I hadn’t no idea if that was true or not, but the look of disappointment was evident when the magic failed to operate. Earle had only shaken his head, but he couldn’t do anything about her own mind.

I walked over to my bodyguard. I had an idea on how to test if this was real or not. “Ezal. Go and fetch one of the assistants that you trust.” While it had rubbed me the wrong way every day that we used them, the town did own a few slaves that helped out in the townhall. I could only hope they would stay on even after being freed. Their lives wouldn’t change all that much considering I was treating them like regular citizens anyway.

“Yes, my lady.”

Nodding, I moved over to where Sir Earle was standing with some of the clergy. He was discussing how to treat the newcomers. Apparently, his goddess had really reached out and there were thousands of rooms for people to use in the cathedral and the tower connect at the back. Cracking a smirk, I couldn’t help but wonder if I could ask her to create a castle like this for me.

“Sir Earle. While all this seems too amazing to be true, I have sent my bodyguard to ask one of the slaves that we have to come here. I’ve wanted to free them since I first saw them, but sadly, I had to settle for giving them the potential of having a life as close to normal as possible.”

“That is what my goddess stated when she convened with me. She appeared quite enamored with you, in fact.”

I blushed at that. I still wasn’t sure I believed him about there being another goddess, but if it was true, then that was quite the honor. The vicars usually talked for years if the goddess gives them a message. “I’m not sure I deserve such an accolade.”

“I know this might seem blasphemies to a worshipper on Lelune such as yourself, but my clan has only had Nyx in our lives.”

“No. I can understand.” For those outside the clergy of the church, religion was a sort of whispered threat hanging over our heads. Nobles in particular are in constant danger of accidentally disrespecting a vicar or high standing priest and end up with the short end of the stick. My father has had to pay large amounts of gold to the local church on more than one occasion to make sure he got away with one thing or another.

“I do need to apologize. I know this is going to cause no small amount of turmoil for your town but know that the Goddess is on your side if you should so need aid.”

“Thank you.” I walked away from Earle as his attention was needed. I moved over to Commander Yin who’d had a sour face the entire time we’d been here. “Commander?”

“My lady,” she replied with a nod but nothing else.

“You going to stay upset all night?” I asked worried she might get stuck like that.

“Forgive me. I’m just thinking about the ramifications of this.”

“I know the church is going to have issues as well as the nobles, but as long as they don’t do anything violent I’m not sure the church will do anything.”

Commander Yin shook her head. “Outsiders don’t know about the truly bloody side of the church. The future might be quite dangerous for us all.”

“Do you think they will send an inquisitor?” They were the elite force of the church that carried out their more deadly agenda. The last time an inquisitor was seen was close to five years ago when a village was wiped out for allegedly being necromancer worshippers.

“Its hard to say. The Grand Vicar might just think its another cult forming around the dungeon and leave it be. The biggest thing is the fact that her followers can heal with shadow and dark mana.”

“It might be best for us to remain disinterested bystanders then?” I asked guessing at her train of thought.

“Yes.”

“Duly noted then.”

Ezal returned at the moment with a woman I’d seen a few times around the townhall. She looked tired likely having been awoken by Ezal. She woke up quickly thought when all the attention was suddenly thrust upon her. A cat beastkin, her cat ears were standing straight up and twitching.

“The night smiles upon you sister,” Earle said moving towards her with a big smile. I frowned when I felt something in my chest twinge. Was I jealous of him giving his attention to another woman? I rapidly shook those dangerous thoughts from my head.

“What… What is going on?” she asked looking to Ezal then me in quick succession.

Sir Earle looked at me and I nodded. “You have been offered a chance at freedom. My Goddess, Nyx, has given me an artifact that can free you from your bond, but your heart must be open to the goddess.”

He handed her the book as he explained. She opened it and began to read as the other slaves had. When she reached the end, she turned to look at me. “My lady. You’ve given me a life that few other slaves could say they’ve even seen. That’s why I have to say I’m sorry, but I will accept the goddess. I hope you will still allow me to work for you afterwards.”

“Of course! You are a good employee. That is harder to find than a slave.”

She smiled in appreciation then closed her eyes as the books began to float in the air. Like every time before her, the metal bands floated in the air in front of her slave rune and it morphed into the symbol of the goddess. When it ended she looked over to me. “Tell me to do something!”

“Um, run to the entrance!” I ordered not able to think of anything else.

“No… NO!” She exclaimed then jumped up and down in the spot cheering. “Free! I’m free!”

“Its real…” Commander Yin whispered next to me. “This is going to make you one of the most powerful lords on the continent.”

“Huh? What do you mean?” Sure, slaves could be freed if they came here, but that wouldn’t change too much. They would still have to make it here and then their owners would have to let them get near this place. Once news got out about this, I might face more than enemy from lords that wish to see this place destroyed.

“My lady… At last count, slaves were almost equal in count as the commoners. You could buy slaves from all the nearby towns and villages then bring them here to be freed. Even if only a tenth stayed, you’d boost your population by an outrageous number in a matter of weeks.”

“I didn’t think about it like that. I don’t have to worry about another lord’s army, if some of them join mine.”

“Exactly. There are thousands of war slaves that lost a battle due to the stupidity of their lord. You could have a competent army swiftly.”

Being a countess, I could recruit for a standing army. That was an issue I had planned to leave for after the tournament. Mainly due to the fact that we planned to make Ezal the commander of the forces. She had training in that department even if she didn’t have much experience. An experienced commander was almost a treasure for lords and few would let them go easily. Recruiting one was almost impossible, and most lords trained them from the ground up.

“While I don’t mind if they choose to join willingly, I recommend that you discuss such plans behind the walls of your war rooms in the future,” Sir Earle said causing both of us to jump. I wasn’t sure when, but he had somehow managed to get behind us with our realizing it. I felt my face flush, as I worried that he thought I was being a warmonger.

“Of course! Why would we enlist them right after they got their freedom?” I replied waving it off with a small chuckle.

“Good.” Sir Earle turned to look at the entrance and I noticed that Raven was walking in with a bunch of people behind her. Some of them were looking at her with wide eyes but weren’t saying anything even though they looked like they really wanted to. “Ah! The last guests for tonight.”

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