My Dungeon Life: Rise of the Slave Harem

Chapter 1463

“You certainly had a lot to talk about with her.” A huffy voice stated as I walked away from the ring.

“You’re not jealous, are you?” I asked teasingly.

Bernice’s face turned red. “H-how could I be? Not at all! You’re a well-known philanderer who seduces every woman!”

“Yeah…” I sighed. “Well, this one is taken.”

Her argumentative glare quickly slipped as she noticed I wasn’t in the mood. “Is everything okay?”

I nodded. “It will be.”

As I was saying that, I noticed a face that I was hoping not to see again. It was the well-dressed man who was running this ring. He was waiting for us as we entered what constituted a locker-room in this place, which was more just a back room where the contestants could dress wounds in peace.

“Hello, Deek Deekson.” The man smirked as he looked at me.

I froze where I was. “You know…”

As soon as I heard that name, I felt my spine tingle. During the match, the lioness had guessed my identity, but the cheering was so loud I didn’t think anyone would have heard. I didn’t know if this was a coincidence or if he had listeners.

“You’ve been climbing the ranks quickly this last week, people would naturally look into your identity. It’s not particularly difficult to reason out who you are. You are traveling alongside the current Lord Reign, after all.”

It was Bernice’s turn to jump. She had not hidden her presence as Bernice, but without the crown on no one should have been able to guess it was Lord Reign. The illusion magic that made Lord Reign was top-notch. It not only had fooled identification magic, but Lord Reign should also have had a drop of blood on file with the Capital for life insurance, although perhaps they had a fake. A well-placed bribe probably would have been enough to get that switched.

As for Bernice giving me away, she was known down here, but we thought that being known would only help our alibis. Bernice was a former champion and gladiator who was training a young apprentice, using the underground rings as a whetting stone. That was our official story. Since we both used swords and my skill outstripped most of the riffraff here, this seemed believable for most. As for connecting Deek Deekson, Bernice, and me… the last time the public ever saw me was in Alerith before my physical change, so as long as my face was covered, who’d guess I suddenly grew a foot taller?

“What do you want?” Bernice asked, her eyes narrowed dangerously, and an aura of battle emanating from her.

Bernice was somewhat hot-headed and only knew violence. I wasn’t as quick to jump to fighting, but I understood her feelings. I held up my hand in front of her to keep her from leaping at him. He only glanced at her, seemingly unperturbed by her actions. The man didn’t give me any pressure, but there was something about the way he held himself. Bernice was known as the top gladiator in the city, and he didn’t feel threatened by her at all. It made me a bit wary as his eyes fell on me.

“That depends on why you’re here.” He finally responded after a tense moment.

“I’ve been climbing the ring for two reasons. One… I’m looking to find people with the ability to fight. Alerith is currently barebones when it comes to guards. The former… Lord Reign… he stripped the countryside clean of the military when he left. You see, Dioshin is attacking, and I need every person I can get.”

“Oh? Is that all? You should have come to me sooner. I can put out the request for you.”

“I would have, but someone said I needed cred…” I gave Bernice a side-glance and blushed.

He nodded. “It’s true that they’ll be more willing to follow someone well-known.”

“There is… um… one more thing.”

“What is that?”

“I need to speak to the Catgirl of Doom.”

His originally relaxed expression suddenly turned serious. “That is something I cannot do.”

Chapter 1464

“Why is that?” I demanded, trying to keep the edge out of my voice.

He gave me a hard stare. “What is this… woman to you?”

“I don’t know for certain,” I responded honestly. “I think she is someone meaningful to me. This is why I need to speak to her. Is this a problem?”

“The Catgirl of Doom wishes to keep her identity a secret.”

“Not from me!” When he raised an eyebrow, I flinched slightly. “I mean, I believe her to be a woman named Lydia. She is essential to me, and I will find her, no matter what it takes.”

I didn’t mean that last part to sound like a threat, but I didn’t pull back either. He seemed to be watching me carefully as if looking for something. His entire demeanor seemed to have changed once I mentioned her. Was there some kind of connection between the two?

“She has been under my care for some time. I am unwilling to reveal her identity. I will also not arrange a meeting between the pair of you.” As I opened my mouth, he raised a hand. “However, if you wish to meet her, there is only one way. You must fight her in the ring.”

“That was my intention from the beginning,” I responded.

He nodded. “Then, I will schedule your match for tomorrow night. As for whatever happens after that, it’ll be between the two of you. I will provide you the remainder of your winnings, but I would as that you engage in no more underground matches. After this match, your rank will also be revoked.”

“I understand.”

None of that particularly mattered to me. I would have been a Gold-rank by the end of the day, but ranks only mattered if you were fighting in the arena, and if I got the things I was looking for, I had no intention of coming back here anyway.

“There is one other thing I’d like to say as well.”

“What is that?” I asked.

“If this woman isn’t the one you remember, what will happen?”

I blinked at his strange question. “I will keep looking.”

“What about if you learn the woman you love is no longer there?”

“I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”

“Would you make a dungeon duplicate? Would you replace her with a clone created from your own lore?”

I couldn’t help but feel side blinded again. I had only met this guy twice, yet he seemingly knew far too much about me. He knew about dungeons, and his question about creating duplicates hit far too close to home. I had even considered such actions when Terra had seemingly died. I had told myself I’d just create a duplicate of her in the dungeon. Of course, then I’d end up like King Aberis. He remained in Widow’s Dungeon, facing a woman who wasn’t his wife, but he was unwilling to leave because of the memory of his life. If I hadn’t come along and broke him from that illusion, he would have wasted away down there, and the demon lord would have gotten everything he had wanted.

“There is only one lore… the lore between us. The lore and memories of my time with Lydia are what bind us together. If I don’t have those… then I don’t have Lydia.” I answered after thinking of an adequate answer.

“I’ll hold you to that.” He turned and walked away without another word.

Chapter 1465

The next day, I had another meeting with the team to get an understanding of our current progress.

“How bad is it?” I asked.

“Celeste and I finished surveying the enemy forces along the border,” Shao spoke up. “It’s not as bad as we originally feared. Only eight tribes are currently alongside King Roth, only I still estimated close to 9000 troops.”

“This makes sense.” Elaya nodded. “It’s very difficult to mobilize all of the tribes. Some will always resist.”

“Which tribes?” I asked.

“Catkin, Wolfkin, Bearkin, Apekin, Birdkin, Beastkin, Hoovedkin, and Squirrelkin.” Shao declared.

Twelve tribes made up the Dioshin. Tribes didn’t necessarily mean a single species, although types certainly congregated together. Some tribes only had variants, like the Catkin, while other tribes like the Beastkin were made up of rare species, like Elephantkin and Crockin and such.

The ones that didn’t come along were the Murinekin and the Rabbitkin. They had been at odds with them prior. It looked like they hadn’t convinced them to join. Perhaps, it was merely a cease-fire. I didn’t know anything about the dragonkin, but just by the name I’d guess they were loners. As for the foxkin, their absence was obvious. I had only taken one village of the foxkin, but in general, their tribe were outcasts and their numbers were small thanks to their inability to handle their spiritual curse.

“So, the Wolfkin are against us?” I sighed.

“Not necessarily.” Shao gave an uncertain look. “The wolfkin were being kept close to the catkin, and I didn’t see any wolfkin leadership out and about. It wouldn’t be surprising if they were under some coercion of King Roth at the moment.”

“Is there any chance we could convince the Rabbitkin and Murinekin to join our side?” I asked.

“They have a great deal of animosity toward the predator class animalkin, but they also have a great deal of fear.” It was Elaya this time who spoke. “As we discussed, I sent envoys, but we have yet to receive answers. I believe they are waiting to see the results of our battle.”

“Have we managed to gather any more forces recruiting?”

“We’ve managed to gather another 500, however, these are mostly volunteer militia, and are barely better than filler,” Xin explained. “They will only serve to make our forces look larger on sight.”

I nodded. “I understand. We’ll keep them anyway.”

Xin wasn’t the type of woman to mince words. If she said they weren’t qualified, it was because they weren’t qualified. However, we had to take everyone we could at this point. That only brought us to 4500 soldiers. Even if the Osterian could fight two to one, that still put us at 2500 less than the opposing forces.

“What about armor?”

“Production has begun,” Lapis answered. “We’ve experienced problems.”

“What problems?”

“Few of the men are a high enough level to handle our equipment. Our equipment is turning out to be too good for the majority to handle. The blacksmiths have started depending on their apprentices to make lower-tier gear. This has stifled production. I can only promise complete fittings for five hundred by the time they arrive. I apologize.”

“No…” I shook my head. “To produce sets of armor and weapons for five hundred soldiers in a week, that output is miraculous. Xin, see that they are fitted and awarded to the best soldiers.”

“Yes, Master.”

I lifted my hands and rubbed my eyes. This had been an extremely long week filled with fretting all day and fighting all night. The end was almost near, but what I wouldn’t give to put that end off a little longer.

“Master, how is you work in Alerith going?” Miki asked curiously.

“I’ll tell you after tonight.”

Tonight was my last chance to change the course of this upcoming battle.