Dungeon Chapter 31 (Patreon)

The nurses office looked like any other. It had six curtained off beds and a lady that looked bored as she twiddled a pen. She was reading over some sort of paperwork.

I knocked on the door frame as I carried the security council girl in. “Hello, this girl needs your attention.”

“She attacked Ken.” Fayeth added with a chipper tone.

“Oh?” The nurse stood up, and I realized it looked like she was dressed for a date underneath her lab coat. She was showing far too much cleavage. “So, then you knocked her out?”

“There was a misunderstanding.” I didn’t explain further, but I didn’t lie like Fayeth wanted.

The nurse pulled a curtain aside, and I placed the security council girl on the bed.

The nurse had her stethoscope out and was checking the red headed girl to make sure she was okay, but she spoke to us as she worked. “You know, I had been waiting for the first male and first elf to attend Haylon to show up. I didn’t think you’d both show up together.”

“Of course we are together. He’s my Fieore.” Fayeth said proudly.

I was starting to feel like she used being my fiance as an excuse for everything.

“Ah.” The nurse made a noise that told me she had no idea what Fieore meant, but she just accepted it. “Well then, welcome to the nurse's office. If you ever need anything checked out, you can come here. Accidents happen in a school full of adventurers, so don’t be shy. I have a policy of not judging. My job is to heal and let things settle elsewhere. Would you like me to wait until you’ve left to heal her?”

The nurse eyed me, seeming to understand more about the current situation than I would have preferred.

“Uhh… yes please.” I wasn’t expecting the offer.

“Wonderful, then hurry on.” She twirled her pen with a look of boredom, but she watched us carefully.

Fayeth grabbed my arm and headed out. “See, telling the truth always works.”

I wasn’t so sure that was true, but I’d do my best to be honest for Fayeth.

“We need to get to class or we’re going to be late.” I pulled ahead of her even though she kept her arm linked in mine and followed along.

I pulled her faster, dodging between students to make it into the building.

Moving quickly, we were almost to the door when Crimson slipped past me.

“You’re late Ken.” Crimson pretended as if she’d been there the whole time and hadn’t just darted past me.

“That’s not even fair.” I said.

She pointed up at the clock on the wall. The second hand was ticking ten seconds past eight o’clock. “Late. We’ll come up with a suitable punishment later. Maybe you shouldn’t stay up so late reading comics.”

I froze. She knew about the comic I had of her. There was no other reason she would have made that comment.

“Sure.” I swallowed hard.

“Now, let’s have Fayeth introduce herself.” Crimson smiled at the elf.

“Wait, she’s not late?” I frowned.

“No, it’s her first day. She gets some slack.” Crimson’s eyes gleamed with sadistic glee.

I let out a small sigh and walked back to my desk.

Harley made a questioning look and a lewd gesture, clearly deciding her own reason for my tardiness.

“No, get your head out of the gutter Harley.” I sat down in my seat and Charlotte leaned over the aisle to pat me on the back.

I couldn’t help but notice that Charlotte seemed extra dressed up today. But I didn’t have time to focus on that as Fayeth started speaking.

“Hello fellow classmates.” Fayeth smiled at the front of the classroom. “I’m Fayeth Lyntean, daughter of the emissary that’s come to your world to negotiate on behalf of the elves. I love keeping a clean house, cooking, and spending time with my Fieore, Ken.” She smiled at everyone, but their attention shifted back towards me at the end of the statement.

I couldn’t help but feel the intensity of all of their glares as I tried to just stare off straight ahead.

A few looked clearly confused, and Fayeth seemed to take it upon herself to clear it up. “A Fieore is like an Elven fiance, but we have arranged marriages. I am so happy that Crimson was able to work out the arrangement with my father. Now we are working for our souls to become one.” Fayeth was completely oblivious to the looks that the rest of our classmates were giving me and continued to make it worse.

Harley gave me a wink and a ‘nice’ sign from behind Des.

The warlock just had a simple manicured brow raised in question.

Charlotte had her cheeks puffed out and was muttering under her breath.

“Later.” I grumbled. I felt like I owed them a conversation in the near future.

A girl’s hand shot up. “What is the Elven World like?”

Fayeth paused and thought about the question for a moment. “It is beautiful. There are many giant trees and we use them to shelter our cities from the harsh sunlight. But there is one tree that is far larger than the rest. It is worshiped as the great holy tree. I am a Saintess of the tree, and before I came here, I was training to fight in the dungeon.” She did a small bow and excused herself to come to the back of the class room, but when she realized her desk was on the other side of the row from me, she instead grabbed the chair and dragged it over, sitting right next to me.

Charlotte’s cheeks were puffing out to a dangerous degree and I shot her an apologetic smile as Bun-bun did his best to console her.

“Thank you for that wonderful introduction.” Crimson took over the classroom again. “Today we are going to return to the normal curriculum and discuss the dungeon itself and what it is. Ken, what is the leading theory on the dungeon?” Crimson picked on me, but I was ready for it.

“The leading theory is that the dungeon is a multidimensional living entity. It creates monsters and rewards us for killing them both with loot and strength. It purposefully tries to incentivize us to continue to delve deeper. It uses organic material like hairs or skin cells that we constantly lose to feed on and grow. This was hypothesized by Openzeimer based on his research that found that dust doesn’t seem to exist within the dungeon.” I quoted the book, adding a little extra of my own interpretation. “But that’s hard to prove or disprove.”

“What do the elves think?” Harley’s voice rose up as she looked down the row at Fayeth.

Fayeth looked to Crimson, who gave her a nod.

Fayeth opened her mouth a few times, seeming to contemplate how to answer before she finally spoke. “Elves are split in their beliefs. We’ve had access to the dungeon longer than humans. And it’s been long enough that some elf clans actually had dungeons in their origin stories, often calling it the origin of all life. But our scientists more recently have started to analyze the dungeon and have come to similar conclusions as the humans. They believe that it is a living organism and our diving provides it with needed sustenance. Most elves as a result have a blended philosophy that the growth of our world might have been a cycle of the dungeons’ growth.”

Her words caused some excited conversation among the class.

“Thank you Fayeth, Ken.” Crimson nodded to both of us. “We still don’t know how deep the dungeon goes, or what could change on lower floors that might give us a clue as to the dungeon’s origins. But we do know that the dungeon responds to stimuli such as too many people fighting as a group, and it does so in an intelligent way. It isn’t mechanical. The changes require a level of judgment.”

Crimson put her hands on the lectern and looked over the class. “So, why does the dungeon give us classes? How do classes work to give skills and how does the dungeon know what is compatible with us?”

Her question made the class quiet with thought.

From the textbook, I knew that the dungeon wanted to reward us, but I found it interesting at how it was able to grant us starting skills and our classes in general.

“Let me say that there is no correct answer, yet. But one of you could be the ones to discover it. There are no known markers for what your class will be, yet there are oddities. For example, Desmonda Renard’s family is somewhat famous for all of their children being Warlocks.” Crimson pointed to Des in the back row.

I was only ending up with more questions. And murmurs were sounding all over the classroom. We all were curious how it all worked.

I had accepted that Des’s family’s secondary classes were part of the reason that they were all warlocks, but there was nothing that said that was why.

Elves treated my class as an auspicious event, like it was something created by a larger power.

Then again, the dungeon was in its own way a larger power than humanity, or even the elves. It created the monsters and the loot that they dropped.

Really, creation on that scale was beyond the realm of just magic; the dungeon was practically a deity.

The class settled down, quiet descending as the weight of the dungeon’s power settled over us.

Crimson slapped the lectern with a stack of papers. “Good. You understand the gravity of all we don’t know. Now, let it go. You don’t know the details of how a car works, but most of you can likely drive. Diving the dungeon is the same. You don’t need to get lost in the minutiae of how it all works. Instead, focus on what you can control when you dive.” Crimson pushed the text book off her lectern. “Feel free to cut out chapter 8 from your book. It’s worthless.”

Crimson paused, and I realized she actually meant for us to tear chapter eight out.

I pulled the book out of my desk and my knife out of my CID as I found the pages and started working my knife across them.

I wasn’t alone. Everyone in class was doing the same.

“Can I borrow a knife, Ken?” Charlotte asked.

I tossed her a spare and kept working at the pages.

***

After another signature Crimson lesson, the five of us were off to the dungeon.

“Are you really a tank?” Harley squinted her eyes at the delicate looking elf, clearly comparing her to the fighters we passed who had ripped arms and liked to show off their abs. “Really?”

“She’s a tank. I promise you.” I chipped in.

“If Ken says she’s a tank, then she’s a tank.” Charlotte joined my side as Bun-bun nodded vigorously on top of her head. She has been a little clingy since class. “Besides, let's just let her go tank a few things to show us.”

The rabbit seemed chipper. I had a feeling it was done being a tank and wanted to be back guarding Charlotte again.

I couldn’t wait to see Harley’s face when she saw Fayth fight for the first time.

It had certainly been a shock for me that the thin girl could fight so well.

“So, Fayeth.” Charlotte started up a conversation that I knew had been growing since I entered class. “You said that Ken was your fiance?” Charlotte narrowed her eyes.

“Yes, he’s my fieore. Our souls will harmonize over time to become as one.” Fayeth was oblivious to the jealous energy coming off of Charlotte right now.

Des cleared her throat. “We knew this was going to happen.” She reminded Charlotte.

“Not this fast! They are engaged!” She clung to my arm tighter. “Ken, you got engaged?”

“Eh.” I scratched at my cheek. “It was an arranged thing between Crimson and her father.”

“Yes, he even got down on one knee and proposed.” Fayeth added fuel to the fire when she spun and showed off the ring.

“I wouldn’t--”

But it was too late.

The circulation cut off in my arm as Charlotte’s arm squeezed tighter than any python could dream of. “You gave her a ring.” Charlotte’s voice was dangerous.

I knew I was in unprecedented danger with an upset healer in the party.

“Yes, but I’d like to take you on another date, Charlotte. This weekend? Somewhere nice and just the two of us.” I smiled.

Thankfully, the blood started to flow in my arm again as she eased up.

“Yes, I’d love to go on a date.” Charlotte was all smiles.

Phew, crisis averted. I think.

I checked on Des and she shrugged, the warlock seemed more than comfortable with the arrangement.

Fayeth herself was oblivious to the tension from Charlotte and happily chatting with Harley who was watching with twisted glee.

“I think after Charlotte’s date, I should get one too.” Des pointed out as we got closer to the UG.

“Oh yes.” Fayeth pulled away from Harley’s distraction. “It is important to keep up all of your relationships my Fieore. But we should also do things as a unit, so that our souls can all harmonize.”

This was my chance. “Maybe you should work on harmonizing with Charlotte some.”

Fayeth tapped at her lips in thought while Charlotte gave me an odd look. “Yes, that would be good. Come, Charlotte, tell me about yourself.”

I was trying to get the blood flowing back in my arm as we entered the UG building, heading for the dungeon.

As we moved, Katie spotted us and waved hurriedly as she rushed over. “I’ve been waiting for you to show up.” She panted as she came to a stop in front of me. The mage wasn’t very physically fit. “Someone wants to talk to you.”

“What about the rest of us?” Harley pointed at herself.

“Why don’t you look around the shop for a minute. Show your newest member what the UG has to offer.” Katie gave the rest of the group a pleading look.

Des hooked Fayeth’s other arm. “Come with me. I’ll show you lots of pretty things.”

Fayeth looked at me, clearly not deterred by Des from her desire to be next to me. But with Charlotte and Des holding each of her arms, she had no choice but to head towards the shop with them.

“Sorry, just Ken for now.” Katie gave a small smile of apology and pulled me along before the others could protest.

“Who wants to meet?” I asked.

“The President of the UG.” She replied with a frown.

I couldn’t help but make a startled noise at her words. “What does he want with me?”

“Hell if I know. This is way above my pay grade” She pulled me into a back hallway, dropping me off at a door before hurrying away.

Not seeing any better option, I pushed open the door, finding the same scared man I’d seen in the negotiations sitting behind a desk that looked far too ornate for the man in tattered fighters clothes and covered in scars. “Hello, you wanted to see me?” I felt like I was called to the principal's office.

The president of the UG looked up with a smile. “Yes, please sit.” He seemed friendly, despite his battle scarred body. “First, let me thank you. After whatever discussion you and Crimson had with Adeane, the negotiations went smoother. We actually made some headway. Crimson also personally came and made sure your CID was updated with data from the elves for your class. I must ask, what did you discuss?”

“A marriage proposal to Fayeth.” I said simply, not wanting to draw out a discussion and say more than I should.

“Huh.” He scratched at a particularly large scar that peeked out of his shirt. “Okay, well, that seems to have helped with relations between our two groups. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t people who are against elven-human cooperation in the dungeon.” He looked down at his desk.

I followed his gaze, noticing familiar names along the documents on his desk. There was a thin folder with my name, along with folders labeled with my grandmothers’ and my grandfather’s. Though, the one with my grandfather’s name was more akin to a tome. Two thinner folders included my mother and father’s name as well. My heart dropped seeing their information cut far shorter than my grandfather’s.

“Yes, your family has some pretty impressive history. Especially Uzamaki.” The guild leader misread my emotions and commented on the folders. “I needed to know everything about you. I’ve researched your entire party given you will be diving with Fayeth.”

That caught my attention. “Why?”

“The UG has started to receive anonymous threats. There are some that would prefer that humans not work with the elves, some who would rather war.” He glared at the folders. “Fucking idiots.”

“There are threats against Fayeth?” I hadn’t expected that to be the reason that he brought me to talk to him.

The president of the UG crossed his arms and leaned back. “Yes. And the threats have become specific enough that we believe they have a presence in Haylon.” He turned around a folder that had pictures of spray painted walls with derogatory terms for elves. I recognized one of the walls. It was just outside the college grounds.

I felt my blood run cold at his implication, and my fingers itched for my knife. “I understand.”

He watched me critically. “I see that you do. Be careful out there. Don’t let anything happen to her.” He patted my grandfather’s folder. “Given who trained you, I hope I can put my faith in you?”

“You know about my grandfather?” I probed.

“I know that he used to do clandestine assassinations outside the dungeon.” The UG president flipped open the folder and licked his thumb before leafing through the pages. “He was retired for a long time, then about five years ago he had a spurt of activity.”

I swallowed. That would have been around the time my parents died.

Everything about that time was a bit hazy. Grief had covered those moments with fog. But I did remember that he had been gone quite a bit right after.

I thought he was drinking, but assassinating those who took his daughter from him made more sense.

“Given his history, I hope you can keep Fayeth safe. If you need anything, please contact your UG rep and just tell them what you need. We’ll get you help into the dungeon instantly. We cannot allow for relations to fail because of a small rogue element.” He gave me a serious look, putting a lot of pressure on my shoulders.

“Understood.” I pushed myself up from my seat, feeling oddly detached.

I was replaying my grandfather’s lessons in my mind.

They had a bit of an edge to them. The carefree manner in which he explained that if you could steal panties or watch ladies unseen, you could kill a person without others knowing floated through my head.

He was full of stealth, and I knew in some moments he’d been filled with anger, yet he stayed the happy, silly grandfather that I remembered. Only little peeks of the lethality showing through.

If people went after Fayeth, then I would use my grandfather’s lessons to take care of the problem myself.

I walked out of the UG back office and into the shop, finding Harley dancing with her big poofy dress.

A smile crept back onto my face as I stuffed down the bloodlust that had risen in me.

“What are you smiling at?” Harley twirled with the dress. “Wait! Don’t tell me. It’s that I look that damn cute, isn’t it?” She held the dress aloft and put it back on the rack. “Okay. This dress is meant to be on me. Let’s go get some more coins.”

AN - Dungeon will conclude at chapter 34, softer ending than most of my books, but we'll keep this one going.