My Dungeon Life – Chapter 1707-1709

Chapter 1707

I was pleased to see that we were let into the castle without much fanfare and shown a receiving room large enough to accommodate our party. It was only five minutes later when the door opened and a familiar face showed themselves.

“Well, look at you. It seems you’ve managed to find all of your women.” A slightly irate voice spoke.

I smiled. “Pait, that’s where you went!”

Pait had entered the room, and right next to his was his trustworthy maid Dav. He was an esmere, which were a short people not unlike dwarves, although they preferred to live on open plains rather than mountains and caves. They’d be closer to a halfling, although they were named after their country Esmore. I had honestly lost track of him when I was dealing with the invasion of King Roth.

He stiffened. “Hmph! You were so busy after we returned from the deep, I thought you had forgotten about us. I ended up returning to Dioshin with Lord Duran. After all, that’s where I was supposed to be before you kidnapped me.”

“Y-yeah… sorry about that.” I laughed. “But it worked out, right? Have you been in contact with Esmore?”

“Of course, I’m in regular contact with them through Gram’s Passage.” He sniffed. “They’ve approved me for this expedition.”

“Expedition?” I blinked.

“Do you think you’re the only one who wants to see Jespain? From what I understand, they need a lot of materials. The mining of Esmore has provided them the necessary ingredients for years, but we’ve always had to trade everything third party because of Dioshin. With this trade route you’re opening up, Esmore had an extremely invested interest in such things. It wouldn’t be inaccurate to say that it’s the most important thing they’re worried about right now.”

“You shouldn’t be discussing such things with an outside.” A deep, smooth voice came from the hallway.

The voice was so baritone and smooth, it reminded me of the voice of the movie announcer. I glanced at the doorway, but they hadn’t entered the room and I couldn’t see them.

“You’ve brought someone?”

Pait shot an annoyed look at the doorway. “As I said, Esmore has a lot of invested interest in all of this. That’s why they sent one of our nation’s top speakers with me. I could have handled this deal on my own. I don’t need a babysitter.”

“Haha… please don’t feel offended.” That buttery voice came from behind the door. “I’m merely here as an orator.”

“H-his voice makes me feel funny,” Celeste whispered.

“Shhh!” Miki elbowed her.

I was starting to grasp Pait’s annoyance. Dav was sneaking peeks behind her at this guy, and every time he spoke, her face flushed pink. This was some kind of smooth-talking panty-dropper. I didn’t want him anywhere near my girls. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust them, but what man would be okay with his girls talking to a guy who could make your heart beat faster with just the sound of their voice? I instantly had an image of this guy in my mind.

“Then, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” I forced myself to be polite.

Dav stepped aside, and the man himself finally entered the room.

“The pleasure is all mine.” He spoke in a voice that caused all of the girls nearby to flush.

However, I immediately felt calmer as I grasped his tiny hand. He was a middle-aged man that had nothing remarkable about him, except that he was shorter than Dav. He was from Esmore, so was it that surprising he was an esmere? My girls shouldn’t be interested in him, right?

I did learn something though. As far as I had come in this world, and as much as I had done with my girls, I could still get insecure at times. The other thing I learned was I used to think this world had a problem with proper game balance, but seeing this esmere, I was thinking this world balanced out pretty okay.

Chapter 1708

“Lord Deek, Ambassador Pait, thank you for your patience.” Duran entered our room a short while later, a gentle smile on his face.

“Lord Duran… ah… should I call you King now?”

He stiffened for a second and then raised his hand defensively. “No, no, it hasn’t gone that far. I may have been in a situation where I could speak for the tribes and lead the army temporarily, but that doesn’t mean they’ve made me the king.”

“Oh?”

“It’s not easy being the king of all the beastkin. I have many skills, but even I wouldn’t say I had those qualifications.” Lord Duran explained. “A king would be someone with the power and command to control all of the tribes and keep them in line. We wolfkin have a pack mentality. We depend too much on each other for our strength. Regrettably, the beastkin who might have the individual strength come from a tribe that is too small and fractured to be likely to become king.”

“You guys don’t have some selection method, do you?”

I was already imagining some kind of dungeon test like the King’s Selection mixed with the Champion’s Gauntlet. That would make a lot of sense if every country had its own form of test.

“Normally, the one who would become king was the one who defeated the previous king.” He responded dryly. “However, you’re not an animalkin, technically, and you belong to another country. This is the first time in Dioshin’s history that a king was killed by someone outside of Dioshin. It might not have been such a problem, but King Roth was ruthless in the destruction of his competition. There was no other strong opposition that could take his place, which is why things are in limbo.”

“Is it that bad?”

“The catkin tribe is still searching for a new leader. King Roth had spent generations snuffing out any males with potential, including his children. Although there are many powerful women from the catkin tribe, they had a long history of male rulers.”

“It is only right that a man rules while his women hunt.” First, cut in with a snort.

The other lionesses were nodding in agreement. It was no surprise that the lionesses would feel this way, but not every cat species depended on a patriarchy, so I wondered if one of them might not have risen.

“If only the tigerkin were still alive. They were the rulers before King Roth rose and displaced them. That’s why he had such a history with the tigerkin.”

“I thought it had to do with some kind of prophecy or something.”

“That only happened later. After consolidating his power, King Roth had grown paranoid. He went to the Abyss and spoke to the soothsayer. It was her that warned him that the tigerkin threat he thought he had dealt with was were going to be his undoing. That’s when he tried to eradicate them outright.”

As Lord Duran spoke, I glanced in Lydia’s way, but she didn’t show any expression. She had been raised a sex slave, so whatever past she could have had seemed meaningless to her. I had asked her if she wanted to know more about her origins. Who was the family who saved her? Are any of them still alive? Lydia hadn’t been interested in her past.

“I am happy with Master here and now. I’m only interested in my future by master’s side, not a past where I didn’t have him.”

That’s what she had told me.

Either way, as a dungeon master, I had an increasing interest in lore. I had a running theory that a person’s understanding of their own lore influenced their strength. If Lydia wanted to reach her true potential, then she would one day have to face her past. In the meantime, I’d ask Lord Duran to look into it.

“Alright, since everyone is here, shall we head to the airship?” Lord Duran asked.

Chapter 1709

I could have likely spent an entire evening discussing things with Lord Duran. The future of Dioshin was directly related to Chalm’s success, after all. Chalm would be the gateway between the east and the west of the continent, and so the more I understood about our neighbor’s political situation, the better off we’d be. However, as soon as he mentioned the airship, my interest was piqued.

For the longest time, I hadn’t even known airships existed in this world. There had never been one floating over Aberis. Dioshin was previously a no-fly zone, the birdkin made sure of that, and so very few Jespain airships ever made it to this side of the continent. Supposedly, airships were extremely expensive, and even the King of Aberis didn’t have the kind of money to afford one. The Imperial Cloud Meadow was rumored to have a few, but given their extreme cost, it wasn’t surprising that they weren’t regularly used.

So, why was there one currently docked in the home city of the wolfkin tribe? This was something Lord Duran had managed to set up. We were being allowed a cultural exchange with the Jespain, and to bring us to their country, they sent one of their airships. When we headed outside and I saw the massive ship, I had to admit I geeked out for a moment. This was the ultimate dream of every RPG video gamer.

The ship was exactly as I imagined it would be. It was a wooden ship, but it floated in the air. There were massive cloth balloons, as well as various fans. I didn’t understand what they were there for, but they were pretty cool! I mean, the ship could never fly with just propellers and a few balloons. They were powered by magic. If you were using magic to defy gravity to that extent already, what was the point of all of the other stuff?

The airship was floating just above the tree-line. It was anchored with ropes to several trees to keep it in place, and even then, the beating of the propellors caused the trees to push away slightly, giving it a real presence.

“We-we’re going to fly on that?” Terra asked with a gulp. “Did I ever mention I was scared of heights?”

“Terra is scared of heights?” Lydia asked. “It’s not good to hold onto these irrational fears.”

Miki pointed behind Lydia. “There’s a ghost.”

“Ahh! Where?” Lydia’s tail shot straight up and she spun around wildly, before jumping at me, her claws digging into my flesh.

“Miki, stop teasing Lydia.” I spoke in a voice used to such things.

“Yes, Master.” Miki pouted, turning back to the airship.

“Hmph, what’s so impressive with that?” Celeste looked up at the flying airship dismissively.

“You have wings, of course, you wouldn’t be impressed.” Shao snorted.

“And if she can fly even with those massive balloons, then a flying ship is much more believable.” Terra started giving Celeste’s chest a scathing look, but before Celeste could respond, they were immediately overshadowed.

“I haven’t flown on an airship in a long while.” Mary stretched her back, her massive melons nearly casting a shadow over the fairy.

“S-sorry… Celeste.” Terra glanced away sheepishly.

“Hmm? What for?” Celeste asked, not even realizing what Terra had been glaring at.

“Just when you think you’ve reached the peak, there is always a larger one.” Shao patted the golem comfortingly while looking at her own chest, which could only be counted as modest amongst these giants.