My Dungeon Life – Chapter 1701-1703

Chapter 1701

With the girls present, it didn’t take very long to repair most of the damage caused by the assassin’s attack. The paladins who were injured were healed and the paladins who died were resurrected. Mary also made a full recovery, while Anne remained nearby watching her silently. Since Mary had sacrificed herself to protect those children, Anne’s insolent behavior hadn’t seemingly disappeared. What Mary said wasn’t wrong, but it didn’t take a mother to protect children.

It didn’t seem that strange to me. Anyone would have stood in front of those children and protected them. Mary just happened to be in the right place at the right time. I never imagined that such a simple thing would seemingly throw Anne into a crisis of faith. It’d be too easy to think this would solve all of their issues, but it did seem to be a step in the right direction. At least, I was fulfilling my promise to Mary. That was the other reason I had put them in the same church, as a means to carry through with Mary’s dream.

As for the assassins, neither side took ownership. A brief investigation that included Celeste’s ability to tell lies through the vibrations in people’s voices, and Miki’s ability to discern the truth through their souls, verified that no one was lying. Even Mary wasn’t so powerful as to deceive both of them. When we tried to find out who owned the crates that had the explosive in them, both sides had thought it was the other side. It seemed like they had been slipped into their respective inventory without them realizing it. In the end, there was nothing I could do to reveal the truth.

Once, Elaya had suggested that I could make the entire city the 1st level of the dungeon. I had originally rejected the idea, feeling like such a move was too invasive. However, it worked well enough for the Champion’s Gauntlet, so why couldn’t we do something similar? If I worked with Eliza to make the entire city a miasma-free level of her dungeon, then that would lead to many benefits.

I’d truly gain a home-field advantage. No one who wished us harm would ever be able to enter the city without us immediately detecting them. We could summon monsters anywhere in the city to maintain order. Of course, those monsters would take the form of soldiers or at most bandits, so their appearance wouldn’t be so upsetting.

I’d be able to teleport anywhere in the city instantly. The situation that arose earlier where Carmine and I were surrounded wouldn’t have happened. We could build or reshape buildings with the snap of a finger, and we could infuse the walls with miasma, making them extremely durable. Even if a building was damaged, the dungeon could heal that damage in hours. The damage from those explosives would have healed themselves already without Terra needing to do any earth manipulation.

Furthermore, something from my jobs told me that the citizens who had the karmic infection would actually end up having more buffs and benefit greatly from continued exposure to the dungeon, even if the miasma was nearly non-existent. Regretfully, Eliza didn’t have the kind of mana for such an upgrade, so this was something that would need to wait for a later date. I still had plans though. With the fae causing issues from overseas, and Twilight coming from below… we needed to get stronger. That, I was certain of.

Chapter 1702

As I was just planning to leave Mary and Anne to sort out their moving agreements to themselves, Shao appeared in front of me, a startled man stumbling forward.

“I found this guy lurking nearby.” Shao declared, looking at me like she wanted praise.

“Hmm?” I crossed my arms and looked the man up and down. “A wolfkin?”

Much of Chalm was made up of animalkin. This was because Aberis’s slave market had a lot of animalkin who were flooded in from Dioshin. One of Dioshin’s largest exports had been slave labor. The enhanced stats of many animalkin, not to mention the exotic traits they sometimes possessed, made them desirable for all manner of people. I had been buying them up and freeing them, and that left a city that contained many animalkin.

“I was not lurking!” The wolfkin cried out defensively. “I was sent with a message to find Lord Deekson.”

“Wouldn’t it make more sense for you to go to the mansion to find me?” I frowned, giving his story just a bit of doubt.

The man straightened his coat, which looked rather fine. “With all due respect, I am a rare variant breed, a bloodhound. When I am tasked with a message, I travel by scent, and I always take my message directly to the source.”

“In that case, you’ve already found me.” I cut in. “What is the message?”

“I have arrived under the orders of my master, Lord Duran. He has invited you to visit him in his castle.”

“Oh? Lord Duran wants to meet me?” My eyes brightened.

“Yes, he says he’s finished what he’s needed to finish, and he’s ready to escort you to Jespain.”

“Jespain?” Terra walked forward, her appearance a golem causing the man to become startled for a moment, but he seemed to quickly recover.

“Y-yes, as Lord Duran promised, he’s managed to secure an airship.”

“An airship!” Celeste appeared this time, her small size becoming full-sized right in front of the man, and causing him to become even more nervous.

“Y-yes… Lord Duran has gotten permission with all of the necessary tribes, and you’ll be able to take a route along with the Abyss to Jespain.”

“The Abyss!” Miki cried out.

Everyone glanced at her.

She blushed. “I just wanted to be excited about something too. What’s the Abyss?”

“It’s a massive canyon that separates Dioshin and Jespain from Shie Gescar.” The man explained. “It’s a very strange area magically, but it can also be quite beautiful. People in the south like the call at the end of the world.”

“Doesn’t that sound romantic?” Lydia asked. “Sailing through the sky with Master at the end of the world?”

A place called the Abyss didn’t sound romantic to me, but the girls all looked misty-eyed as if they were imagining some kind of beautiful scenery.

“Well, you’ll get to stay one week in the capital of Jespain, New Yan. You’ll be treated as a personal guest of the Prime Minister. This will be a cultural exchange. Jespain and Aberis have been divided by Dioshin for far too long. These two countries have had almost no contact in centuries. This is a so-called cultural exchange. They will offer you access to their workshops, and in exchange, they also want to learn about Aberis. This is the agreement Lord Duran managed to work out as repayment for your previous assistance.”

Based on his explanation, that sounded kind of fun. An airship ride to a new country? Cultural exchange? A week as the guest of the prime minister? Wasn’t this exactly the vacation I had been hoping for? The girls seemed to think so as well, as they were all chatting excitedly amongst themselves. One by one, they finally quieted down and gave me desperate looks.

They had all been working hard, and the last time I left, I didn’t take them with me. How could I resist their pitiful looks now?

“It looks like we’ll be going to Jespain.” I agreed.

Chapter 1703

“You’re sure you don’t want to leave? Even if you’re away from the dungeon, you can still enter my soul world and get miasma.” I declared.

“Master doesn’t need to worry about us.” Elaya waved her hand dismissively. “I’m not as adventurous as I once was, and someone needs to watch your daughter and keep the city in order. Since you’re taking all of the other girls, us older ladies will stay behind and watch after things.”

“Yeah, but the last time I left you to watch after things, the dungeon was eaten, the populous turned into dungeon rage monsters, and you did unholy experiments on children…”

Elaya, Astria, and Xin broke into a flush, Elaya quickly waving her hands defensively. “That was extenuating circumstances. Even if you mysteriously disappear again, things won’t turn out this way again. I promise.”

I still wasn’t sure about it. These girls were all my slaves, but they used to be dungeon bosses, and thus there was no limit to the kind of trouble they could start. However, I did have someone to look after them. I turned to the side and kneeled in front of my daughter, reaching out and patting her gently on the head.

“You watch after these three and don’t let them get up to trouble, okay?”

“Yes, daddy!” Eliza saluted cutely, and I felt my heart melt once again.

“She was just born a few days ago, and she’s supposed to watch us?” Astria complained.

I ignored the complaining women and continued to give my daughter a reassuring smile. “Daddy will be back in two weeks, and even if he isn’t, just remember that you have to remain a good girl. Daddy will come back, no matter what!”

It felt a bit odd wording things that way, but how often had something come up and I inexplicably ended up being held back? That was a staple of fantasy worlds, and it turned out to be completely true. This was just supposed to be a nice little vacation, but I honestly expected some event to occur where we ended up struggling for our lives. It would probably involve a dungeon. I would experience things, learn about some aspect of the world, and then return even stronger and more knowledgeable, possibly with another female slave.

This wasn’t my first rodeo! I wasn’t going to be caught off guard this time. I planned this trip like there was a possibility I might not return right away. Two events were coming up shortly after I returned though. The first was the meeting of the dungeon council. Lydia’s mysterious master Dirage invited me to come, but I supposed I had no specific need to go.

If I missed it, I didn’t see that causing any real problems. The other event was the Kingsmeet, the test Prince Edward needed to take to become a King, and what I needed to do to be allowed a Marquis or Duke rank. They had been pushing off the meet for some time now, but the way Edward had spoken, it sounded like the noble houses were getting restless and he was running out of time. He definitely wouldn’t be able to push it back for my sake. Well, if I didn’t go, it just meant I’d be stuck as an Earl. I could live with that.

I gave the girls one more farewell and then used Return to appear in my mansion where the rest of the girls were waiting on me. They were all coming along. This wasn’t just a random trip like before, this was a cultural exchange between Aberis and Jespain. Prince Edward told me this was very important, as I’d be representing their country and setting the tone for all future trade negotiations.

Lydia, Miki, Celeste, Terra, Shao, Sapphire, Carmine, and Faeyna were all coming. Mary and Anne had overheard the wolfkin, and they had pushed their way in too, seeing as the Jespain was a country the church had never reached. The two little girls Cici and Chance were now my official guard and head maid for my capital residence, but since their roles were decided they were coming along for more training directly under First and Faeyna. Faeyna also brought two other fairy maids. Overall, we had about twenty-five people in our entourage. It was time to go on vacation.