My Dungeon Life – Chapter 1205-1207

Chapter 1205

“You can do that?” I asked. “You can really help?”

Pait nodded. “It’s lucky that you ran into us today. We were just on our way to the traveling guild when I saw you. We’re heading back to Esmore today.”

“You’re leaving the Capital?”

“Hey, even diplomatic ambassadors need some time to themselves!” Pait growled. “You should be lucky I’m willing to take you with me and use an invite to get into Dioshin.”

“You’d really do all of that for me?” I asked.

“Don’t act so surprised. It isn’t like it won’t have some advantages for us. I do keep informed. I’m well aware of what happened to the Ost Republic. Their Osterian support collapsed after their king died. Aberis and the Ost Republic are in the middle of a peace treaty now. This is only going to cause Aberis to grow much stronger, never mind whatever you’re doing in the west. Esmore has always been a neutral country, but if Aberis grows stronger and you start settling the wilderness, this is going to create tensions with Dioshin.”

“I suppose that’s true…”

“So, you can just call this a preemptive intervention. I have a feeling that if you can get into the country, you might be able to smooth things out with Dioshin so that Aberis doesn’t enter any future battles with them. At the very least, your city that is made up of beastkin will let them see humans as less of a threat.”

Spoken like a true diplomat, Pait was helping me but also helping himself and his country. I tended to not focus on the political stuff that much when I made my decision making, but I guessed that there were long-term ramifications for everything that was happening. I could only hope that my advisors, Elaya, the mayor, and such did consider these things. However, it’d be a good idea if I was more mindful of that in the future.

“I understand. Then, I will take you up on the offer.”

He looked up at me and then winced. “Also, there is a second reason that I’m doing this. You’d be helping the Esmore out by entering the country.”

“There is more?”

“Aggghh… I shouldn’t be telling you this, but since I’m already recruiting you I’ll just speak the truth.” He rubbed his hand through his hair sloppily. “Lately, Dioshin has been acting suspiciously. We think that they are up to something. They’ve been turning away convoys, merchants, and travelers. News has become extremely scarce. We have a traveling guild that connects to one of theirs, and that has been shut down until further notice.”

“If they aren’t letting people in…”

“Well, they’ll let a diplomat in. I did a favor for the beast king and he gave me an open invite. Refusing me would be the same as saying the beast king’s word accounts for nothing. This is why I was recalled. My government wants me to enter the country and investigate. I need to determine if whatever is going on is a threat to Esmore. That invite can include two servants. One of them will be Dav, the other can be you.”

“What about Celeste? She is a fairy, so…”

“She counts!” He coughed. “I mean… you’re the only one I can take. I’m already stretching things by bringing you, so please don’t push me into a difficult situation.”

I nodded. If she masqueraded as a house fairy, they might not treat her as a whole person, but that was being deceptive. Pait was doing enough by giving me a means of getting in. I needed to take the opportunity.

Chapter 1206

Just because I had secured a path into Dioshin didn’t mean all of my business was concluded. I still needed to know as much as I could. Pait would be a great deal of help, but I was still determined to speak to Figuro and learn a little more. It was also probably best that I didn’t put all of my hopes on Pait, just in case. Thus, I split off from Pait, agreeing to meet him at the traveling guild later. Then, Celeste and I headed to the slaver’s guild to speak to Figuro.

“He’s gone.”

“Gone?”

The receptionist nodded. “Figuro is on an expedition right now. He’s trying to find a path to enter Shie Gescar.”

“Shie Gescar? Isn’t that area kind of mysterious?”

Shie Gescar was a large country that took up nearly 1/3d of the continent, but no one in the five countries seemed to know very much about it. The entire country was blocked off by impassable mountains and rivers, and the place was quiet and never did much. They bordered half the demon lands with the Imperial Cloud Meadow, so they must be able to keep back the threat, but they were still a complete mystery. Allegedly, Terra’s parents had come from this place, but that was all I knew about it.

“Figuro does this every couple of years. He tries to find a safe passage into Shie Gescar.”

“A safe passage? Does that imply there are unsafe passages?”

“Several… but the results are that few ever come back.” He shrugged. “Those that have made it back half-dead don’t seem to remember anything about the other side.”

That last comment was new. I had heard that the trip was seemingly one way. However, I didn’t hear about some making it back. It only added to the place’s mystery. It looked like even Figuro had some dreams and ambitions, although I couldn’t get myself excited about a slave trader breaking ground in a new location. In my opinion, it probably wasn’t a matter of the journey, but the destination. Whoever lived in Shie Gescar didn’t like trespassers. I hoped Figuro the best. He had made it back before though, so he’d probably be fine.

However, those thoughts didn’t help me in my current situation. “I needed some information on Dioshin.”

“Ah… we’re not an information guild. We have to protect our clients.” The receptionist shrugged.

“But… I need to know about one of my slaves.” I sighed helplessly.

“A slaver? Ah… so you are a client then.” The tone of the receptionist’s voice restored a bit of my hope.

“Do you know about Miki?”

“Ah… I can look up information about slaves you’ve purchased. We keep thorough records of all previous sales. If you own someone, you have a right to their personal history. Is there something I can look up for you?” As he said this, he also held out a hand.

I didn’t even care that it cost quite a few gold. At this point, I didn’t worry about money all that much. I immediately paid the cost and told him what I wanted to know. He wouldn’t give me personal information about Dioshin, which violated some international noninvolvement treaty. I had heard about a similar thing in adventuring guilds. Since they transcended borders, they wouldn’t provide aid or information that would benefit one nation over another. However, they were happy to give me the name of Miki’s hometown as well as mark it on a map.

“Jun. The city of Jun.”

Although I wasn’t able to speak to Figuro, I had found a path into Dioshin and a place to start. I knew that this trip wouldn’t be easy. I had lived in Aberis all of this time and had still only seen half of it. Dioshin was every bit as large as Aberis, and I had to find a single foxkin girl amongst a sea of beastkin. Furthermore, she could be in trouble. I had to get moving.

Chapter 1207

I ended up sending Celeste back to Chalm. Her task was to assist everyone else and wait for any rumors regarding the other girls. Raissa, Lydia, Garnet, and Terra were all still missing. Shao was the only other girl that I knew her location. I would probably go fetch her next, but I had waited for so long because I wasn’t even able to cast the spell to get to her.

The dimensional portal had a week-long cooldown. I had used the spell to send Shao away right before I went to the Ost Republic. Since then, only a week has passed for me. It might have been two months for everyone else, but my skills didn’t refresh based on everyone else. I had taken a couple of days to get through the Illusory Sword Dungeon and a couple of days to get through Maid’s Lament. That’s to say I had only regained my ability to cast the spell recently, and if I cast it again, that would be another week I was stuck on Earth before I could return.

Thus, when I entered the traveling guild, I was alone. Dav and Pait were already there waiting for me, as was a blue mage. I didn’t know if this was the same blue mage that had sent me to the Ost Republic sometime before. Most of them seemed to be old men in robes with beards. Siti seemed to be a single notable exception to this rule. It was no wonder she had caught the interest of the country’s grandmaster.

“Are you ready? You’re not going in that, are you?” He eyed my armor up and down.

“Is there a problem?”

“I said I had permission to bring a servant, not a warrior.”

“Is it that uncommon?” I asked. “Wouldn’t a diplomat that was visiting a foreign country need some kind of protection? I’d think it’d be common that one of their servants double as a bodyguard, don’t you think? Ah… I can also do this.”

I lifted my hand, and a moment later my features changed slightly. It was a slight change, but now I looked like an Osterian. I was already tall enough, so it only involved darkening my skin a bit and changing my facial features slightly. I figured that given the countries tensions with humans, it might be preferable if I was Osterian. At least, that’s what I thought.

Dav and Pait both let out words of surprise as they saw my face change. Even the blue mage seemed surprised by such a spell.

“You are full of surprises.” Pait declared, eyeing me up and down. “I guess you’re right. Bring an Osterian bodyguard as a servant wouldn’t be suspicious at all. In this case, we’ll leave it.”

I gave a nod. I wasn’t going to start running his bathwater or anything, so it was best that I established my disguise early on.

“In that case, our first teleportation will take us to a town on the border of Esmore.” He explained for my sake while paying the blue mage the fee.

I nodded again and the group of us entered the blue mage’s teleportation circle. It was only a few moments later when the light appeared and we left Aberis.