Dungeon Chapter 28 (Patreon)

As soon as we finished up in the dungeon, I said goodbye to my party and hurried back to the Visitor’s Center.

But there were two UG members with their arms crossed at the doors. It didn’t miss my notice that both were women here at Haylon. It took a damn good reason to bring a man into the college. No doubt Marlow fought any tooth and nail.

“What do you think you are doing?” One lady asked, but didn’t let me pass.

“I live here.” I said, sounding a little dubious.

The other lady laughed. “Doubt it.”

“Go ask Crimson.” I scowled at the two. Part of me understood they wouldn’t believe me, but the other part just wanted to punch them in the face.

Yet they were both above level thirty and ladies I hadn’t seen before at the college.

“Ken?” Katie was walking out of the dungeon and saw my stand-off, calling across the yard.

“They won’t let me in.” I pointed at the two guards.

Katie gave me a wry smile. “You mean they won’t let Crimson’s Protégé that she dotes on so much that she went to the forty-fifth floor to gather ingredients for into his home that he shares with Crimson herself?” Katie dropped far too many details, but they weren’t for my benefit.

The guards shifted uneasily, and Katie pushed further.

“I wonder what Crimson will do when she goes searching for him when he doesn’t show up tonight? When she thought he was missing in the dungeon, she nearly blew a hole between the second and third floors.” Katie’s words were making the guards look at each other.

Blowing a hole between the layers of the dungeon sounded impossible, but leave it to Crimson to do it if anyone were able to.

“Is he really Crimson’s Protégé?”

“Yup. She says he has the potential to join her in dives, eventually.” Katie embellished the rumors, though. I had heard a few of them myself.

“Fine. If he’s Crimson’s, then there is no reason we shouldn’t let her protégé in to see her.” One guard reasoned.

The other bobbed their head in agreement. “Right, and if something goes wrong, we were just letting Crimson’s protégé in to see her.”

As they stepped aside, the doors burst open to a beautiful elf. “My Fieore!” Fayeth shot out and grabbed my arm. “Were they not letting you in?” She frowned at the two guards.

“There was just a little confusion.” I smiled at Fayeth, not wanting to ruffle any feathers.

“Nonsense. I’ll tell my father. He wants to know everything about you.” She seemed to not be trying to get the guards in trouble, yet her actions would do exactly that.

I wasn’t sure if she was just oblivious to the consequences or if there was yet another cultural barrier I wasn’t seeing.

“Miss Lyntean.” One guard wrung her hands. “Please, there was just a minor confusion. We just got placed her on guard duty and didn’t recognize your --err— Fieore.” The guard struggled with the elven word.

“You have disrespected him, then you have disrespected the Lyntean family.” Fayeth puffed out her cheeks.

Now the guards were starting to sweat bullets, and even Katie looked like she was having regrets about helping me.

I didn’t realize her joining my dungeon party carried so much weight between the two people. No wonder that elves delved so deep if they took their party members so seriously. This would be a good thing for humans to learn from them.

Yet, I couldn’t let this continue on.

“Fayeth. These guards were doing their best to protect your father. Please, a little extra scrutiny from them should be awarded, not punished. What happens if they don’t stop the next person because of this and you or your father are in danger?” I tried to make up an excuse.

My words had the two UG guards nodding rapidly in agreement. “What he said. We were just being thorough, and he isn’t even bothered by it.”

Fayeth frowned, her cute brows and shifted her attention back to me. “Are you sure this is okay? I’m sure father would take care of it. He takes care of everything really well.”

“It’s fine. Come on, let’s go into the house. It’s getting cold outside.” Not that the weather bothered me, but her dress didn’t seem built for the cold.

One guard slipped up next to me. “It’s an honor to meet you. Crimson has always refused to take on a protégé. I heard some rumors, but kind of assumed they were just that.”

I shook her hand. “No problem. Crimson is… a lot sometimes. What’s your name?”

“Rebecca.” She shook my hand with a firm grip. “I’ll make sure the rest of the guards on duty know to let you come and go. Last thing we need is to upset anyone.” She seemed like she’d have nightmares tonight about what almost happened.

“Thank you.” I wasn’t used to being treated with such prominence and didn’t know what else to say.

“Come on. There is food, and you are likely hungry from the dungeon.” Fayeth pulled at my arm and dragged me through the visitors center to the kitchen where another high level UG member was pretending to be an in-house chef.

Rebecca trailed after us, making a few hand signals at the chef to prevent any further issues.

“Of course. I can make you anything you want. We even have some rare materials from the elven lands.” The chef smiled at Fayeth.

“Oh, can you make—“ She trilled something out in her language and the UG member tapped on their CID and read something.

“Yes, I can. One moment.”

Fayeth grabbed my arm and firmly planted me in a chair. “I was so worried that I was going to be stuffed up here all on my own for a long time.” She rolled her eyes. “Father always gets dragged through meetings at the Emperor’s Palace, but now we got out, I was hoping that he wouldn’t be in meetings all day.

“Yet we get here after the niceties he has been sequestered away with the other humans.” She let out a heavy sigh, and I understood a lot more about Fayeth in those few sentences.

“So, you live in a palace?” I tried my best to make it a good thing.

“It’s huge and we live in one of the separate structures. We are distant family from the Emperor’s line, but still related. So father has been working towards a job like being the ambassador to the humans. At least I got to get out and see the dungeon. So far, it’s been lots of training for my class.” She explained.

I wanted to just keep her talking, curious about more of her world. “So that was the first time you entered the dungeon?”

“No, the third I think. I just reached the age in which elves get their class and start entering the dungeon.”

“You’ll fit right in with the class, then. We are all at the same stage. We’ve been going into the dungeon for about a week.” I added helpfully.

“That’ll be wonderful.” Fayeth had a dreamy look as she stared off into the distance. “The other saintesses were all old crones.”

The UG member set down two dishes in front of us.

It was a sort of rice in a simple, clear golden liquid, but it appeared to have been quickly baked in a firm leaf.

Fayeth dug right in and hummed in appreciation. “It’s good, try it.”

I dipped my spoon in like she had and ate it like porridge. “That’s great.” It was just a little sweet, with a more complex herb as an undertone. It was likely the leaf imparting that herby flavor. “What do we call this? Elven Porridge?”

She frowned and checked her dictionary on her CID for a moment. “Yes. Yes, let’s call it Elven Porridge. It is a common breakfast or comfort food among the elves.”

“What’s the leaf?” I asked, realizing it was the key to the dish.

“A Great Leaf. Umm…” She frowned. “You wouldn’t understand. So in the elven world we have the Great Holy Tree. It gives us our air, magic, shade and rain. From our scientists, they would say that the tree makes something like forty percent of our world’s breathable air.”

I had heard such a number from the giant forests of Earth, but to attribute that all to one tree was incredible. “That tree has to be massive.”

“It is. The surrounding island is in permanent shade, while the rest of our world is fairly sunny.” She pinched at her tanned skin as if to give an example. “So, it has many off shoots where its seeds have gone far and wide. We call these smaller trees Great Trees, but not the Great Holy Tree.”

I nodded along. It made sense to me if this tree was that big that it not only produced tons of oxygen but also absorbed and cycled enough water to create rain.

It was no wonder something so vital to their world became a holy symbol, even if they understood the science now.

“Anyway, they are the same breed of tree, but to use a Great Holy leaf for a meal like this would only happen on special occasions and then it would be a single leaf to feed the whole family.” Fayeth had some more of her Elven Porridge and smiled at the taste of home. “But that’s just a little about the Elven World. What about yours?”

“Well, we are at Haylon College. Once we come of age to enter the dungeon, we test in a large field while the colleges watch and they invite the best and brightest to come to their college to learn to dive the dungeon.” I explained a little about it.

Fayeth nodded rapidly. “Yes, but this one is all girls. Except for you? Because of Crimson?”

“Pretty much. She was brought here to help with your father and whatever negotiations are happening. I was dragged along with her.”

Fayeth looked up at what I guessed was the room they were all in. “Yes. Crimson is very special. Even our people have stories of her. She’s been seen in the Fifties all by herself, while she destroys hundreds of dungeon monsters. There are even a few ghost stories about what happens when you anger the crimson human.” She chuckled nervously and played with the device on her wrist.

I had been thinking of it as her CID, but it looked like a sort of gnarled root with a crystal pane on one side. “That’s the living tech, I’ve read about?”

“Yes.” She held it out to me and touched it to active it. It showed her screen, but everything was in a flowing script that I couldn’t read. “Let me see yours. My father explained it that humans do with chips and small wires what we do with plant nerves to create circuits.”

I showed her the CID, but the circuits were hidden behind the panel, even as she tried to peer through the screen to see into it.

“Huh. You’ll have to show me a broken one some time. I think it is very cool to see how we evolved similar systems but with completely different… different…” She checked her CID. “Substrates.”

I think that was a fancier word than she meant to use, but it worked. “It is kind of cool, isn’t it?”

“Oh right. Since you know my class, tell me yours.” She went back to drinking her porridge and I could tell she wasn’t expecting my answer.

“Actually, we don’t know my class. The UG makes the CIDs and the programing for them, and they haven’t seen or studied my class before.” I said.

Fayeth gasped and nearly spilled her meal. “No.” It came out as a whisper.

“Yeah. But Crimson says there is a ton of potential in me and I was trained by my grandfather before coming here to be an assassin. So, I’m petty good in the dungeon.” I felt like I was being a little defensive.

She had agreed to join my party and treated party members like family.

Maybe I didn’t want to lose that just yet.

“I’m so sorry. Maybe we elves know your class?” She perked up. “Yes. Maybe we do.”

“I figured out one of my starting skills. Maybe that would help?” It wasn’t as if I hadn’t been thinking about how to do this and keeping myself up at night.

Alright, I had been.

“Yes. That’s a great starting point.” Fayeth flipped through her CID for a moment, coming up to something that was clearly a sort of menu. “Okay, what is it?”

“Earth Stomp.” I said, trying to keep my voice steady.

This was a tremendous moment.

Fears flit through my mind that she wouldn’t know or wouldn’t be able to help as she translated and put that into her CID and hit enter.

It felt like my life flashed before my eyes as her system returned a list.

This was my last chance to learn my class. If the Elves didn’t know, I would likely end up diving the dungeon without the knowledge of my class.

But when it finished its search, there were four flickering lines.

“Wait. Mine only has three.” I felt like I couldn’t breathe.

No way. There was at least the possibility. My heart clenched and my throat felt like it was closing.

“Then we figure out which one isn’t on your list.” She frowned at her list, though. Something on it had caught her attention.

I was too eager and just recited the classes I’d stared at for far too long. “Earthen Guardian, Shaman and Elementalist.”

She had to punch two of those into her dictionary before she returned to the list, the entire time her brow furrowing further. “Really? Is this a joke, Ken?”

“No. Not at all.” I frowned. Why would this be a joke?

“You are telling me you think you are a Trelican?” She pointed to what I assumed was the last one on the list.

I wasn’t sure why this was making her frown, but I shrugged. “It’s the truth. I don’t know my class or what my second starting ability is. Let’s try their second starting ability and see if it fits before we get too worked up.”

Fayeth seemed nervous to even open up the class and read its details. “One second, I need…” she trailed off as she put it into the dictionary again. “Okay, try ‘Absorb’. But don’t be disappointed if it doesn’t work.”

I didn’t care. I was too eager. “Absorb.” There was a slight warping of the air in front of my hands, but the skill itself was hard to see, yet I felt the pull of my mana.

“No!” Fayeth shouted and grabbed my hand, shoving the table out of the way and knocking over several of the chairs.

The guard pretending to be a chef bristled and was ready to intervene.

“Do it again.” Fayeth demanded.

“Absorb.” Now that we were both paying attention, it was clear that the air warped in front of my hand, but nothing else happened.

I guessed with a skill called ‘Absorb’ it needed something to actually absorb.

But before we could do anything else, Fayeth was knocking chairs out of her way. “Papa! Papa!” she screamed at the top of her lungs and raced up the stairs.

I didn’t know what to do except race after her up the stairs and down the hall.

Had my class upset her that much?

“What did you do?” The chef caught up to me outside the door as the two UG guards at the door didn’t know what to do and Fayeth opened the door and bolted between them in their indecision.

Her words switch from English to Elvish in a flurry and I saw through the door and it looked like things hadn’t been going well.

Crimson was the only one with a smile on her face and Fayeth’s father’s face switched from disgruntled to a mixture of confusion and shock before he buried it deep with his political training.

I caught a few of the words Fieore and Trelican both stuck out to me now that I knew them.

It was the elven guards that surprised me.

One even dropped his sword as they all looked out the door in shock, followed quickly by Headmistress Marlow glaring dagger out at me as if I had just spoiled the whole thing and the UG president standing from his seat looking like I was about to find out what happened if I fucked around.

“Give me your CID.” I grabbed the chef’s wrist, but she pulled back. “I need you to use that dictionary app and look up a word so we can figure this out.”

She frowned, but gave her wrist back to me after several swipes.

“Trelican.” I said aloud, spelling it out as best as I could in English, hoping the app would work.

It returned a word. ‘Emperor’.

I frowned, not sure what kind of class that was.

“Ken Nagato. How dare you interrupt.” Marlow looked like she was about to remove my head.

The guard lifted his CID and looked at it too. “Emperor?” He said loud enough for everyone to hear.

Fayeth’s dad looked up from his daughter, who still hadn’t stopped her rapid speech. “No, that would be an understandable mistranslation, though.” The graveness in his tone seemed to give everyone pause including Headmistress Marlow and Fayeth.

“Yes! And he’s my Fieore!” Fayeth was bouncing with excitement.

“Yes.” Though her father frowned at that. “I think before we continue this discussion, there needs to be a more important one first.”

“What?” Headmistress Marlow frowned. “His class is more important than an alliance between our two people?”

“Yes, it is.” Fayeth father nodded. “The mistranslation is because there have only been two in our history. The first Trelican was the man who united all the elven clans under him and became the first emperor in our history. The second was born twenty years ago and is the current heir to the throne. We elves believe that magic and the magic of the dungeon have a purpose, even if we don’t fully understand it. To see another Trelican among our people was cause for much concern and celebration. To see another among your people is auspicious.”

He frowned and the tension in the air simmered, but at least there wasn’t the feeling of pure murder from the Headmistress anymore.

“There is also the matter of being my daughter’s Feiore. I suspect that was a misunderstanding as two people tried to meet on each other’s grounds for the first time. Crimson’s reaction confirmed it for me.”

Everyone looked at the powerful adventurer, who just shrugged. “I have no idea what Ken did, but I’ll stand behind him.”

“That’s my hope. Please, everyone leave. I need a private conversation with Crimson and her Protégé before we can continue negotiations.” Fayeth’s father said.

The chef held his CID out to me with a snicker.

I saw Fieore in the search field and the result.

‘Soul’s Heart, or Fiance.’

I stumbled, using the wall to catch myself.

That was too much for the chef, who bellowed in laughter despite the tense situation.

AN - I heard you guys the revelation of his class should be the end of this book. I'll just save to the other 6 chapters for next book in the series. This seems like a fun place to stop. Kidding, we'll keep on going. I think I'm about to end it on Chapter 34, but I've been editing the first half of the book for the last few days and Just need to go back and cap it off. Though, I feel like I'm finding too many open or potential plot threads. Going to do better on this one and make lots of notes as I edit. It is much harder to keep things consistent and top of mind when writing a book takes a month, versus reading a book in a day. Also, I cannot read my own books, I can only edit them, it's kind of a curse.