My Dungeon Life – Chapter 1743-1745

Chapter 1743

“Please, with the time remaining, feel free to prepare for the welcome ceremony. The house of lords will meet with you and you will be given a proper Jespain welcome.” Marina declared, even holding out her hands like it was some great announcement.

We had finished up shopping, and I was pretty sure that we had spent far more money than I had even brought in coin. Well, I couldn’t use any of my coins and Marina had paid for everything, but it still made me sweat. Who knew that keeping a positive relationship with so many women would be so expensive? I was just happy that I had talked Carmine out of getting a new set of armor. Sapphire managed to convince her that anything the deep dwarves could make was every bit as good if not better. Our armors were currently being fixed by Sapphire’s uncle and would be as good as new when we returned.

Overall, the trip had been a worrying expense.  On the upside, I had managed to find a Jespain coin. It hadn’t required some trick or subterfuge. In a place where a lot of coins were exchanged, it was common one would fall out of someone’s pocket. I had just found it on the floor. It wasn’t my proudest gain, but I would take it. We still had an hour before we’d be leaving, so I was going to return to see Eliza and we’d absorb Jespain’s coin and resolve our coin problem.

What? I just wanted to check on the coin. I didn’t want to return to Chalm because I was missing my daughter after not seeing her for thirty-seven hours and twenty-three minutes. I just wished I could do it without all of my girls learning about it. As soon as I portaled away, they’d all feel the sudden and vast movement in their bond. I watched as the girls headed back to their room to change and clean up.

I had already left them better and more formal dresses which also included my emblem and colors. I was originally going to go representing Aberis, but Elaya advised me to go under Chalm. First off, if I messed something up, it would prevent all of the blame from falling on Aberis. Likewise, any relationship I formed with Jespain would be connected to my territory and power, making me more valuable to Aberis. In short, it was a card I could play to cement my power and the future king’s need for my presence. I would have once felt bad about strategizing against Prince Edward, but I had come to learn that even friends could take advantage of you if you let them, and this was just part of playing the game.

I cleared my throat and turned to Marina. “Could you explain the house of the lords a bit better for me?”

Marina politely nodded her head. “Of course. Jespain is broken into ten districts. Each district contains votes based on the population that lives within the district. They elect a lord, and that lord acts on the behalf of their district. The ten lords gather once a month to vote on country policy, but otherwise, each district acts independently.”

It sounded rather reminiscent of a representative republic. “Lords are elected officials here? How long is the office?”

“For life, of course.”

Well, I guess it was too much to expect a full democracy.

Chapter 1744

There were more questions I wanted to ask, but I didn’t feel like Marina was the right person to ask. I wanted to know more about the lords and how to deal with them. I still didn’t have a great understanding of the power structure here. Was I supposed to treat them each like a king? Was the lord from the largest district, and the one who had the most deciding votes, the leader? Were there any taboo things that would cause an international incident?

“You shouldn’t worry so much. This is a cultural exchange. They already see us as uncultured and uncivilized.” Mary stepped next to me and spoke, seeming to guess why I had a worried look on my face. “I don’t believe they’ll be quick to anger. If anything, they’d find such displays of ignorance amusing.”

“Hmph! They are treating us like performers at a circus. They’re lucky that the church preaches humbleness and modesty.”

“Humble and modest?” I raised an eyebrow.

“Well, half of our church does.” She shot Mary’s exposed chest a scathing look.

“Perhaps sister should add clandestine to her list of traits,” Mary spoke up, shooting her sister a warning look. “I had hoped to be able to speak to the citizens freely, but every encounter is watched very carefully.”

“I’ve noticed.” Anne frowned. “They’re quite something to both think less of us and to act so paranoid around us.”

“Huh? What do you mean?” I frowned.

“Have you not noticed?” Mary asked. “We’ve been carefully watched. Every encounter wasn’t just monitored, but rehearsed. That restaurant had been cleared out before we came. Even the waitress was not an employee, but someone like Marina.”

“Is that true? The mall was pretty busy though.”

“Yet, not a single one of them would speak more than a polite word to us before scurrying off,” Anne spoke up. “Every shop owner seemed afraid to say anything. Your girls draw every eye. The sailors certainly stared, but since we landed, no one has given them even a single look.”

“Really?” I had been focused on other things, so I hadn’t noticed.

“You should be more aware of your surroundings!” Anne accused.

I didn’t have any excuse. I had never developed such a skill as telling if someone was watching me. If I felt danger, I’d react immediately. If there were red dots on my map, I knew about them. However, when it came to just being watched without any killing intent, I had no awareness. It was a hole in my development I had never even considered.

“Celeste…” I called her over, as she had been lingering behind to look at a water fountain display in the hotel’s lobby.

“Yes, Master!”

I dropped a gold coin, which rolled down the carpet before landing next to a group of young men who were speaking to each other in the lobby. “Can you get that for me?”

“I’m on it!” She ran over and then bent over in front of them.

Since she was wearing a somewhat short dress, her entire backside was exposed in their direction. Yet, despite this, the men refused to look her way.

“It is that way…”

“You pig!” Anne glared at me.

“Ahh… Master… my boob popped out!” Celeste cried out.

They still didn’t look. A moment later, Anne stomped on my foot.

“Ahhh! What?”

“Hmph, you deserve more!” She spun away and walked off.

Mary let out a gentle laugh. “It’s always fun around Deek. I look forward to spending the rest of the week by your side.”

“Huh?”

She didn’t say anything else, following after Anne quietly. I stared after the pair, not sure what to say.

“M-master… I need help…”

I looked back at Celeste, who rather than having picked up the coin, had somehow tangled herself up. Her butt was in the air and her head seemed to be stuck between her legs.

“What did you do?” I cried out, running up to her.

“I failed!” She whined.

This was the alleged air goddess who dominated the skies and made lesser fairies tremble in her wake. She could decimate an army with pinpoint air blade accuracy, but she was so clumsy she couldn’t pick up a coin without tripping over herself. I let out a sigh as I helped her get back up. However, I noticed that during that entire time, no one looked at us directly. It was a creepy feeling.

Chapter 1745

After sending Celeste on her way and reminding her she could fly, I went up to my room. I opened the door and stepped in.

Snap. Twang!

“Master!”

I caught the crossbow bolt heading straight for my heart. “See, now that is a danger I can sense. Who pays attention to where other people are looking?”

“You say that, but you almost died!”

I ignored Alysia and started looking around the room. I very quickly found the simple mechanism. It was just a rope that broke when I opened the door, triggering a crossbow bolt that was aimed at the door. Whoever ended would get shot, and since it was my room, it was pretty clear it was meant for me. I wasn’t too worried about the others though. I didn’t think any of my girls would be taken by surprise by such an arrow. Mary and Anne had the protection of their paladins who would enter any room first. As for the Esmere, well, the height was too tall for them.

I broke the arrow in two and then tossed it to the side. “A dungeon trap?”

The design felt similar to something that would come from a dungeon. I had enough familiarity with dungeons at that point that I could recognize them easily. It had a feeling of lore about it. It was a basic dungeon trap that could be replicated hundreds of times across any number of dungeons. Most of the time, people in dungeons were on guard though, and such traps weren’t particularly effective. I walked over and picked up the crossbow that had been mounted in a position on the wall across from my door before tossing it into my soul world.

“Who has tried to assassinate you?” Alysia asked.

“I can give you three guesses, but you’ll only need one.” I turned back to the door.

“Deek! Ah… you’re okay!” Rea appeared at my door. “Ahem, I mean, are you okay? I heard something…”

I made use of my mimic skill to hide my incredulous expression. “Yeah, I’m fine. Did you need something?”

“N-no… I was just coming over to see… um… if you wanted company?” Rea asked.

“My, my… things between Master and Rea are moving along quicker than I expected.” Lydia appeared right behind Rea.

“Eh?” Rea stiffened as Lydia stroked her arm with a finger.

“How bold… trying to sneak into his room in the time before the Welcome event while the rest of us are busy.” Terra joined her with several of the other girls.

Their room was across from my room, so with the door opened, they all could see Rea standing in my doorway.

“She might have a record for becoming Master’s the quickest.” Miki sighed.

Rea’s face turned red and she spun around t confront them. “Th-that’s not it!”

“Oh, then what is it?” Shao asked.

“It’s nothing!” She ducked under Lydia’s arm and ran down the hall, fleeing the scene as quickly as she could manage.

It turned out that she wasn’t able to face the somewhat knowing looks of all the girls grinning at her. Soon, it was just the girls looking into my empty room where I stood.

“You guys do know she’s trying to kill me, right?”

“Tsk… we’re not fools, Master.” Lydia snorted.

“Master worries too much.” Miki sighed.

“If a woman hasn’t tried to kill Master, is she truly Master’s woman?” Shao pondered out loud.

“Wh-what? Don’t look at me!” Bernice cried out. “You all have tried to kill him too!”

It did seem that way. Miki tried to kill me as Lady Death. I fought with Lydia in the underground arena. Carmine had attacked me as a puppet of the fae. Shao had tried to kill me when she became a demon lord in the city the first time. Celeste had attacked me in her confusion on our first meeting. Meanwhile, my first meeting with Terra was when she was acting as a boss in her dungeon. It should go without question that I had battled Astria, Elaya, and Xin. First and the lionesses were obvious. Even Faeyna had been the master of the Maid’s Lament and could be considered responsible for an attempt on my life in that dungeon.

“I… I didn’t try to kill him.” Sapphire hesitantly raised her hand.

“Oh! That’s true…” Lydia nodded thoughtfully.

“So, just Sapphire then…” The girls gave her a disappointed look.

“I’ll try to do better in the future!” Sapphire declared with determination.

“That’s not a promise you should be making!” I cried back.