My Dungeon Life – Chapter 1764-1766

Chapter 1764

“Dungeons… can be a useful.” I tried to keep my word vague.

Lord Vandeer let out a laugh, slapping his knee. “I also think that dungeons are an incredibly useful tool.”

I resisted the urge to clench my fist, making sure my face gave nothing away. I also tried to avoid holding such words against him. After all, there might have been a time when I called dungeons a tool or a resource and agreed with him, but that was before the dungeon had taken on the soul of my daughter. Eliza was neither a tool nor a resource. What kind of father would I be if I treated her and her kind that way? I understood that my entire way of seeing dungeons would have to change, but only a little. After all, if my daughter was a human, that wouldn’t mean I wouldn’t kill another human if they proved to be a danger to me or my family.

“So, Jespain used dungeons to help support your infrastructure?” I asked as if I just had this revelation.

Lady Seeired had already confirmed this, but I decided to play dumb while I was talking to this man.

He nodded. “The Imperial Cloud Meadow had always seen dungeons as some kind of burden on the world, a great evil. The emperor spent too long listening to the church, and now it’s not even clear who is in power anymore. I heard that the church has also infiltrated your country, but that it’s broken apart and is less threatening now.”

“The church is threatening?” I blinked.

I had once thought the church might be a problem too. When I had first encountered Carmine and we had battled that clockwork dragon, I had thought that the church might have nefarious purposes. They were intrinsically against the dungeons and miasma creatures and sought to purify the world. Their hypocrisy became apparent when one realized just how humanity came to this world, and what the religion was originally designed to do. They had allowed humanity to continue as invaders. We came from a dungeon and were once the so-called demons of this world. Now, there was a new group of demons, although if they had another name, I hadn’t heard it.

“Not for us.” He chuckled. “The Abyss and Dioshin have created a perfect barrier to keep the church from infiltrating outlands.”

I froze slightly, my smile turning a bit awkward. “Ah, you do know I’ve brought people from the church here. Mary and Anne were invited…”

“I’m well aware of those two. They are more a curiosity for our youth. From the moment Dioshin decided to allow Aberis to travel across their land, I was expecting the church to arrive as well. If I denied them access, it would only cause a group of people to become fascinated with them. Instead, we invite them and offer them every curtesy, and the ridiculousness of their religion will speak for itself.”

He let out another laugh, his eyes looking at a certain corner where Mary was surrounded by a group of noblemen who seem enraptured in everything she was saying. Well, at least enraptured in something, or possibly a pair of something. Meanwhile, a slightly bitter Anne was speaking with several of the younger ladies, including those who had been trying to pursue me earlier. It wasn’t that I necessarily disagreed with what he said, but how he said it showed just how arrogant and full of himself he was. I already found myself not liking him.

“Alright then, what about me?” I asked, not feeling like beating around the bush. “What are you looking for from me?”

“That… is a very interesting question.” He nooked a finger, and a few men moved into the hallway, a few seconds later coming back with a woman.

She was led into the room, but as soon as she saw me, she jumped. I felt a small amount of familiarity, but it took me a second. It was the magician who worked under King Roth. She had usurped First and become the new First, but her plans failed and she was left the ground in the dirt. Now, she was standing right in front of me.

“So, rumor has it you have a fairy fountain.” Lord Vandeer’s smile grew.

Chapter 1765

I was shocked to see the magician who had once worked under King Roth. She had actually survived that battle, and she was allowed to leave. I didn’t want to imprison or enslave them. That would have violated the agreement and my consciousness, even though I knew King Roth would have gone after all of my women if he had won. The magician wasn’t an animalkin woman, so she had no loyalty to Dioshin. So, she had come to Jespain? Of course, where else could she have gone? She could stay in Aberis after everything that happened, and she had no place in Dioshin.

Maybe, she could have gone north to Imperial Cloud Meadow, but she was a pretty powerful mage. Down here, she would have had the right to be a top general or even a lady. In Imperial Cloud Meadow, that might not be the case. She was a big fish in a small pond, and she was unwilling to swim to the ocean and risk getting eaten, so she found another pond. Unfortunately, the new pond had a net. Lord Vandeer’s words echoed in my head.

I had hoped King Roth had told no one about his reason for invading. It looked like he had told his First. Now that Jespain also knew, I couldn’t trust that it wasn’t well known. The feeling that my daughter might be in danger didn’t feel good. I started thinking about all the mobs and traps I had left behind just in case she got invaded.

“Don’t be so stiff… we’re a civilized people, and I am not some wild animal like King Roth. Even if we could get through Dioshin, we never would.” He noticed my behavior and immediately tried to reassure me.

The magician girl who was standing nearby also stiffened, apparently not liking the man she had dedicated her life to being called a wild animal. He ignored her, waving his hand, and she was pulled back away.

“What do you plan to do with her?” I asked, watching as she was taken away.

“Her? Oh, don’t mind the woman. Her behavior was mostly nervousness overseeing the man who killed her lover. I promised her the chance to see you again, but I don’t want her to say or do anything any of us would regret. She has some magical talent and is pretty useful to me. She is merely one of my employees, and she lives a comfortable life as a widow and magician.”

“Celeste?”

“He’s telling the truth,” Celeste responded.

The words he was discussing were not being hidden at all. Hearing over Slave Communication that she would be fine put me at ease. I didn’t set her free just so she could be turned into someone else’s slave. The lionesses had a survival of the fittest mentality. They supported who was strong. They may be supporting me, but they had also quickly left King Roth to do so. They said this change was permanent, but I would have expected them to act more like this girl. She had been indoctrinated into King Roth’s harem cult. That sort of love and devotion wouldn’t just disappear. Most of the girls other than the lionesses would never join me and would live the rest of their days wishing I was dead. Wait, were they the ones that put the hit on me from the assassin’s guild?

Either way, this was one of the main reasons I didn’t allow myself to get too intimate with the lionesses and had even abandoned them when I had the chance. They may be loyal to the strongest, but that wasn’t enough for me. I would treat them kindly, but until I could sort out the difference between blind loyalty and love, I could only keep them at an arm’s distance.

I was allowing myself to get distracted though. It was because I was faced with something I didn’t want to talk about. While I was trying to change the subject, Lord Vandeer was hardly so easily distracted.

“I’d like you to help me with a problem. A fairy problem.”

Chapter 1766

“Fairies?” If my attention had been distracted before, it was undivided as soon as he said that word. “What about fairies?”

“Come with me for a moment.” He stood up, gesturing for the other men to leave.

Without seeing if I followed, he turned and started moving toward the door the magician had been dragged a short while before. I exchanged a look with my girls, but they were all disposed at the moment and none could follow or scout ahead. It would have been hard to anyway, because he seemed to have servants lined up all along the way, controlling this entire area. He seemed to have had this all planned from the moment he started talking to me. I couldn’t help but follow him.

“Master… I feel mana… it’s a fairy queen!” Celeste warned.

I gave her a little nod and followed Lord Vandeer into the hallway. It wasn’t like he was going to attempt my assassination there. With that many guards, it would have been impossible anyway. He led me down a short hallway, and then into a side room. We entered a cozy bedroom, and in the center of the room was a bed covered in a canopy. There was a strong medicinal smell, and a woman was sitting next to the bed with a mortar and pestle and seemed to be mashing up ingredients.

He stopped, looking back at me. I continued forward, walking up to the bed on the opposite side of the alchemist and pushing back the curtain. Lying on the bed was an extremely beautiful woman with bright red hair. She had a small chest, a slim, tall physique, and big lips. Her eyes were closed like she was sleeping. The most eye-catching thing about her was what was behind her, a pair of two thin red wings folded carefully under her body. Her hands were on her chest, and if she wasn’t breathing regularly, one would be forgiven for thinking she was dead.

“A fairy queen.” I had already expected it thanks to Celeste’s warning, although I wouldn’t have needed her words to know what this was.

“Yes.” He nodded. “She’s very ill. Her entire hive has seemed to have caught a contagious curse. It’s been causing the fairies to die.”

“Hive?”

“It’s what we call a colony of fairy.” He responded quickly. “As we said, we use dungeons in this country to provide for us, but we understand that dungeons cannot be used without a renewable energy source. This is why we have… planted various hives across Jespain. They maintain the dungeons. There was an accident a month ago and one of our dungeons got out of control, sending a curse that struck our fairy.”

“This is what you wanted to talk to me about?” I asked.

He gave a helpless smile. “Despite our best efforts, none of the hives have successfully created a fairy spring. Our lead… fairy expert says that the waters of life can be used to make a potion to curse the hive.”

“Fairy expert?”

“That would be me.” The woman who hadn’t said a word or looked up when we entered finally shot me a look. “Waters of life used to be more plentiful twenty years ago when Karr used to sell it, but they have slowly dwindled over the years. Rumor says you have it, yet you haven’t sold it on any market.”

“It’s said that the waters of life can only be produced by the presence of a Fairy Empress.” Lord Vandeer added. “Is this how you came to make your fountain?”

“Don’t believe everything you hear.”

“I wouldn’t dare.” He chuckled.

I frowned. He likely knew I had a fairy empress if that magician spoke, but he might have thought I had a second one to make the fairy fountain. It was clear this was at least one of the things he wanted from me. I felt a bit uneasy about it, but I could see no reason not to give them the fairy water, especially if it could save a queen’s life. That said, I wouldn’t offer it for free.

“I can provide you enough for your remedy.” I stated, “but what will you give me?”

“I was hoping you could consider it a gift, such as all the items graciously purchased for you earlier today.” He responded immediately. “It only seems fair, no?”

He had planned this request from the beginning. I couldn’t say ‘no’ without seeming ungrateful. I still had a long way to go in this political game. I handed over a vial of waters of life.